Page 80 of Mortal Blood
“You opened my mail?”
“You are not entitled to receive ‘mail’ insidemyacademy. Need I remind you that you are remanded here under council orders and the supervision of my staff? Even if that were not the case, you would still have no right to have fae artefacts delivered inside this academy.”
“I didn’t ask anyone to send me that,” I said, examining the stone as well as I could from this side of the desk. It was almost identical to the one Aodh had sent me…except this one was still active.
“I ought have you pulled from the moon hunt for this.”
My eyes snapped to her at the threat, and my mouth popped open. Cole and I had worked so hard to be ready for this, and he needed it. We had to prove to the packs that he would make a strong alpha, and I couldn’t afford to let anything stand in the way of that.
“Luckily for you,” she ground out, irritating flashing crimson red in her eyes, “that’s not my decision. But rest assured that I will be recommending to Instructor Ryker that you and your mate are not permitted on any further hunts. I would ban you from the feeding den, if I thought for one moment you would consider that a punishment.”
She sneered at me, letting me see exactly how much lesser she considered me for my reluctance to feed…except on Cole, apparently.
“Instead, I am banning you—and by extension, your mate—from the canteen.”
“What?” I stared at her in horror, and she smiled maliciously back at me.
“You heard me. Neither of you will set foot inside that room for the next week. I trust that will be enough to remind you of your place inside this academy?”
“Yes, Domina,” I ground out.
“Good. Now take your trinket and get out of my sight.”
I grabbed the Cailleach and the envelope it had come in and thrust them both into my pocket, then hurried from Astor’s office before I could land myself in any more trouble.
I found Cole loitering outside, his face a mask of concern that eased once he caught sight of me.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Not here. Come on, let’s get ready for the hunt.”
I filled him in as we made our way out onto the grounds, showing him the stone and the envelope, because I was through hiding things from him.
“I don’t like it,” he said.
“Well, that makes two of us.”
“Show me that envelope again?”
I passed it to him and he examined it before frowning. “This isn’t Aodh’s writing. I don’t recognize it.”
“Great. So now some mystery fae is trying to yank my chain.”
“Ignore it,” he said. “If you didn’t make any more deals, then you’re not bound to go. You didn’t make any more deals, right?”
“I absolutely did not,” I said vehemently.
“Then forget about it. Let’s talk more later.”
He nodded ahead and I saw the gathered shifters, some in wolf form, some still human, and several of them looking our way. I shoved the stone back in its envelope and then pocketed them. Cole was right; we had other concerns right now. Like how the fuck I was supposed to shift without looking like a weakling who needed Ryker to tell me what to do and force my submission with his alpha command.
I groaned. “This is going to suck so much.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Everyone here?” Rykerbarked, looking around the gathered collection of shifters. Some I recognized, some I didn’t, but that was no surprise—there were shifters from all three years here, and I only knew those in my own year. The common room wasn’t my favorite hangout. I spotted Linc and Leilani, the other mated couple from our year, hands entwined and wearing identical looks of determination. This was their first moon hunt. Usually, they were too wrapped up in each other to cause trouble or catch Ryker’s attention, and I wasn’t sure if that was because their newly formed and sealed mate bond was so distracting, or just that Linc was naturally a slacker. He didn’t strike me as the type though. Would me and Cole become like that if we sealed the mate bond? We’d become more connected, I knew that from my studies in the library last year with Ling when we’d been trying to understand how I’d ended up fated to Cole. We’d share emotions and thoughts, and even lifespans. But would claiming me distract Cole from what he would need to do as alpha of the Iron Shadows?
Cole nudged my shoulder, pulling me from my concerns. He arched a brow at me and I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring nod. The way his eyes narrowed told me I was nowhere near pulling that off as well as I thought.
