Page 33 of Mortal Shift
“Definitely.”
She pressed her lips together.
“Trust me, I’m not a shifter. One hundred percent human. And, actually, one hundred percent starving.”
I hauled the book back to the shelf and then scuttled back to my sandwich.
“Want some?” I asked, offering Ling one half of it. She eyed it with a wistful look, then shook her head.
“No, I’m fine, thanks. You better eat quickly, though. Shifter first years have combat first thing after lunch, and trust me, you don’t want to be late for that.”
Chapter Twelve
I made it through the rest of my lessons without showing up late or giving the instructors any reason to single me out—which didn’t stop them from doing it anyway, but there was nothing I could do about that. I grabbed some dinner in the canteen, sitting alone since Ling didn’t show and I had no idea where I was supposed to find her. The food was amazing, better than anything I’d had before, but I bolted it down and hurried from the room without pausing to savor it. I didn’t fancy sticking around with all the other students staring at me, and I had better places to be, anyway.
The corridors were mostly deserted, which was a blessing in itself. For a vast academy, it seemed like any time I stepped into any hallway, there were eyes following me, and with my asshole fated mate sharing a room, the lack of any kind of privacy was seriously starting to grate on me. Which was yet another lure of the library, assuming it was as quiet there this evening as it had been this afternoon. But this time, when I got there it wasn’t the history of supernatural races I was going to be looking for. It was the history of the academy. And, hopefully, a way out. Because today’s lessons had only served to underscore exactly how much I didn’t belong here. I’d spent half of them sitting on my butt, trying to ignore the magnetism between me and the asshole wolf while he trained, and the other half demonstrating exactly how far behind the other students I was when it came to theory. Which was very, very far.
“Going somewhere in a hurry?”
The voice was a growl from the shadows, and I started and spun to face its red-clad owner.
“What do you want?” I demanded as Thaden stepped into the light of the flickering torch above us.PrinceThaden.
“To finish what we started earlier.”
I swallowed hard.
“If you kill me,” I started, my voice trembling, “Cole will…”
“Be relieved of a very inconvenient burden,” Thaden cut across me, and his lips curved into a smile that sent shivers the length of my spine. “But don’t worry, sweetness, I’m not planning to kill you.”
“You’re not?”
He chuckled, a low throaty rumble that didn’t convey any sort of mirth I wanted to be a part of.
“What short memories you mortals have.”
I swallowed again, then jerked my chin up and met his eye. “If you think I’m going to apologize for biting you, you’re mistaken.”
“It’s not your contrition I want.” He lifted a hand and traced his fingertips across my face, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear as he trailed down to my throat, pausing as he brushed across my throbbing carotid. “That taste of you this morning wasn’t nearly enough. But what I really want is to see you on your knees, little human.”
“Well, keep wanting,” I snapped, but the quiver in my voice betrayed my fear.
“Oh, I always get what I want,” he murmured, lowering his lips to my throat, and closing them over trembling flesh. I flinched, but he just teased me with a kiss. “Your fear is almost as delicious as your blood.”
I tried to shove him back with my hands, but he caught them easily and pinned them between us.
“Yes, keep fighting,” he purred. “It’ll make your submission all the sweeter.”
“I’ll never submit to you, asshole.”
“Oh, but you will.” His flat black eyes seemed to glint with anticipation of the challenge. “And you’ll beg me to taste you. It can be quite pleasurable for the human, you know.”
“Not this human,” I snapped.
“Are you playing with your food again, brother?”
We both snapped our heads round to see the newcomer—a stunning woman with raven hair and pale skin that seemed to emphasize the redness of her lips and the dark pools that were her eyes. Even without her red uniform, and the way she’d addressed Thaden, there could have been no mistaking what she was. Vampire. I knew it as surely as I knew my own name.
