Page 51 of Friend
I’d warned him, and he’d underestimated me.
There was a movement in my peripheral vision, and my attention snapped up.
The wolf was cornered against the wall and had been watching me with the sort of distant horror that a person only felt when they knew they’d really,reallyfucked up.
“A-Abernathy!” His pale gaze tore from Bianca, shakily rising to meet mine. “I… I didn’t know that she was Mu!”
So… he had seen. Which meant my initial suspicions had been right.
“Do you think I care? It was still wrong, no matter who she is.” I wanted to cross the short distance between us and pummel his face. But Bianca’s tense form was relaxing against my knees as she faded out of consciousness.
“I told you to stay away!” I hissed.
“I know what it looked like, but don’t make any assumptions! You saw me holding her—she was falling, and I was helping! Of course, I wouldn’thurther.”
A bold-faced lie, because he already had.
“Just don’t tell your brother, he’ll misunderstand! They don’t know me like you do—we grew up together.” Adrian then rolled to his knees and pressed his hands to his mouth. He gasped as if he’d suddenly realized something terrible. “Or Jin…” he began, but then his voice trailed off.
“Oh my God,” he breathed. “Shui.”
The way he breathed the necromancer’s name caused the hair on the back of my neck to stand. Just the mention of the assassin, who then turned to love the torturous arts, was usually enough to stop the most trivial threats against Mu.
Even in his current form, Julian inspired a new level of fear from people. And although he didn’t know Bianca yet, if the history was correct, then anyone who ever harmed her would not be given the chance to live long enough to regret it. Nor would they be allowed to fully die either.
He’d already proven, even in this life, that he was relentless.
“What makes you think you shouldn’t be afraid of me?” I asked instead, trying not to let my thoughts linger on the necromancer. I’d rather not think about him now.
Besides, there was something more important. “What did you do to her?”
“I told you—I didn’t do anything.” Adrian’s voice was thick with defensive fear. “Even more importantly, why is she at this school? Why isn’t she with her quintet?”
“We don’t owe you any explanation,” I snapped.
My power was blistering under my skin, and my palms ached with the need to destroy him. The murderous intensity from Kiania, in turn, was growing in strength as she paced a path into the floor. Being a lower-level shifter, Adrian might not be able to see the shikigami. But he could feel her presence—and the pain of her attack.
“What did you do to her?” I asked again—I didn’t believe for asecondthat he was telling the truth.
Adrian had barely opened his mouth before Bianca stirred and opened her eyes. I didn’t even have to ask—Kiania vanished, a last-ditch effort to maintain our façade.
She stared blankly in front of her as she began to shiver. I glared at Adrian—her actions confirming that something haddefinitelyhappened—before attending to her once more.
“Bianca—” I softened my voice as I shook her shoulder, waiting until her large eyes dizzily met mine. “—what happened?”
“Oh…” Her gaze flickered to Adrian—almost as if she was afraid of his reaction—and I felt my eyebrow twitch. “N-nothing.” Her voice was so soft I could barely hear her.
She sat up, and I grabbed her hand, demanding her attention. I couldn’t let her avoid this right now. I didn’t want her to brush this off. “Then why is your shirt torn?”
She glanced down, seemingly stunned as she touched the garment, before answering. “I fell down. A-Adrian caught me.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit, he was threatening you!” I was almost completely certain. “Why would he be holding you like that? Everyone knows you’re a terrible swimmer.”
Bianca shook her head but wouldn’t meet my eyes. “No,” she said. “He was h-helping me.”
‘I don’t believe them either. But I only arrived a brief second before you,’ Kiania’s cynical voice echoed through my thoughts. ‘I did not see anything.’
“Bianca—” I placed my hands on her shoulders, commanding her attention. “—there isabsolutely nothinghe can do to you now. You can tell me what happened.”
