Page 79 of Mortal Shift
“Anyone who’s a part of this pack,” he qualified. “Otherwise it’s a declaration of war—something we all work hard to avoid.”
Which brought me back to Kallan’s threats. I hoped Cole was busy telling his father about them—and, selfishly, about how I’d been the one to get the information. Because murder might be off-limits at Darkveil, but I wasn’t at Darkveil right now, and I was pretty sure Cain wouldn’t hesitate if he thought it was best for his pack. I wouldn’t mind his gratitude right about now, and for the foreseeable future.
Because if one thing was becoming abundantly, simultaneously joyously and painfully clear, it was that my mom was improving here—and that here was where she needed to stay. And no matter what she said, that meant only one thing for me.
I was going back to Darkveil Academy.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Let’s get you back inside.”
“Or, alternatively,” I suggested, “we couldnotdo that. I hear the woods are a great place to explore. Or, you know, hide until a certain sect of vampires have forgotten about their desire to publicly drink my blood.”
Cole eyeballed me. “I don’t think humans live that long.”
Naturally. I groaned and straightened my dress. I’d really been hoping I wouldn’t see this thing again—and, incidentally, with it the whole of Darkveil Academy. But here we were, back inside its ground, and here I was, back in my shorter-than-short dress. At least I hadn’t had to ride Cole back here, thanks to a tame warlock hired by the pack to handle portals for them. Small mercies and all that.
Or at least, most of me thought it was a mercy. And I was ignoring the part of me that was bitterly disappointed, because the sensible part of me was still furious with Cole.
“Come on, out with it,” he said, regarding my face.
“Out with what?” I demanded.
“Whatever’s had you so riled from the moment we left my pack. Are you really that furious that your mother is getting better? Because I’d have thought you’d be grateful.”
“I am,” I admitted grudgingly. “Grateful, I mean.”
“You might want to tell that to your face.”
“It’s busy being pissed off about other things.”
“Is coming back here really that bad?”
“Yes.” I narrowed my eyes at him. “But if you think that’s why I’m furious, you don’t know the first thing about me.”
“Furious?” He smirked. “All right, I’ll bite. What’s got you ‘furious’?”
I shook my head. How could he not have the first idea? What an ass.
“You lied to me! You told me less than half of the students make it out of Darkveil alive. Blaine says that’s bullshit and that students aren’t allowed to kill each other. Outside of sanctioned trials, whatever they are.”
Which, to be fair, made a lot more sense than half the supernatural community running around finding inventive ways to wipe each other out. Wow, I really was naïve. Didn’t mean he had to take advantage of that, though.
He shrugged, looking completely unrepentant. “I told you what you needed to hear.”
“And what I needed to hear was a bunch of bullshit?”
His eyes hardened. “What you needed to hear was anything that would make you pull your head out of your own ass and realize this is happening to you, whether you want it or not. You’re welcome, by the way.”
I gave a huff of incredulous laughter.
“You think I should be grateful?” I slashed my head in a sharp shake. “You told me what you thought I needed to know so I wouldn’t makeyoulook weak. So don’t pretend you give a damn. And hell, if you lied to me about that, what else have you been lying to me about?” I took a step back from him. “And how many times am I going to keep falling for your shit?”
He took a step toward me and I backed up again. “Stay away from me, Cole. I’ll stick around at the academy, and I’ll play at being your mate when people are watching, but that’s all there will ever be between us. Outside of that, I wantnothingto do with you. Nothing.”
A loud tut sounded from behind me and I buried a yelp as I spun around to see Thaden standing there.
“Have you been a naughty boy, Cole?” he asked. Cole slanted his eyes.
