Page 47 of A Lesson in Obedience
“Don’t call it that. Even though my mom and I are fine, I just think being here is my best option right now.”
“Whatever you say, but Mateo needs your mom’s address so they can have one of their wolf people on patrol.”
“That’s not necessary.”
I heard Mateo scoff. “I didn’t ask if it was necessary. I just asked for the address. We won’t bother her, but if something happens then you’ll be upset, which will makemi amorupset, which doesn’t make for a very happy Mateo. Does that make sense?”
I let out an obnoxious sigh but begrudgingly told them I would text Corrin the address. “And you trust these wolves?” I don’t know why but I was starting to get constantly skeptical of everyone.
“With my life. They are eager to help,” Mateo reassured.
Corrin’s voice came through the phone again. “Do you feel overly protected with the St. James brothers at your disposal?”
I clucked my tongue. “I guess. Grayson is here too.”
Corrin let out loud, obnoxious gasp, which caused Mateo to let out a loud fuck and I heard the skidding of tires.
“Fuck!Estás loco!?You can’t do shit like that. Made me almost have a fucking heart attack,” Mateo scolded, breathing hard.
“Gasping is a normal sound. And information like that deserves a solid, loud, chest-grabbing gasp. I’m sorry that I almost made you swerve into traffic, honey,” she apologized, getting a grumbling huff from her partner. “So, how is that going?”
It took me a minute to realize she was talking to me again. “It’s going. He wants to help and that’s a good thing. He’s sorry and I might believe him, but I don’t know…”
“Listen what the guy did was fucked up. Trust has been broken and it’s valid that you need time or whatever it is you need for you to come to terms and accept him back into your life. That is if you even want to. I say make him crawl and beg for your love, I’m sure he’s very cute on his knees, but I have a very active imagination.”
I pressed my lips together, setting up that entire scene in my head. There was something about it that intrigued me and it had me pressing my thighs together in a way I didn’t think was possible with something like that in my mind. I looked down at Beau who was casting his judgement face upon me. I scrambled off the floor, keeping the phone to my ear.
“You are quite the menace, but thanks for the idea. I just need to make it past this first day. Grayson is a mildly avoidable problem. Invisibility would have been a great power to inherit right about now.”
I heard an engine turning off and keys rattling. Muffled voices mixed with a car door slamming filled my ears.
“You’re busy, I should let you go.”
“Blegh, they can wait. Mateo has brought me to a shifter brewery like an hour away. An hour which felt like a million hours because they obey stupid traffic laws. I like the Marth Moon beer and that’s about it. I am far too picky to try anything new.” She made a disgusted sound. “Anywho, I’ll be right there by your sidetomorrow and I hate to say it, but I have a feeling you’ll get an invite.”
“Invite?”
“To Celica. Probably in your student mailbox for the dorm. Or maybe Chancellor Fowler will find some over the top creepy way to do it. I know he is basically the devil, but that coven despite its upbringing has a connection to you and well, I hate getting all sappy but if you join then that would make us like hot witchy sisters.”
I smiled to myself, but then that smile faltered. “Joining would be another way for him to control me.”
“Maybe, but infiltrate from the inside, right?”
We had already decided that going along with everything in small doses was the best way, so ideally joining the coven would be the most organic way to add to my supposed compliance. They wouldn’t like it, but I didn’t need to ask their permission. I rapped my knuckles on the wood of the bedside table. “You do make a point. I’ll think about it.”
“I’ll be just a minute, leave me alone!” Corrin shouted, letting out a harsh groan. “Mateo is getting irritated, which is very, very cute. Before I let you go, my mom got to talking with Samia about your necklace. Even if she wasn’t the one who created it, then maybe she might know who.”
“And?”
“Mom described it to her and she remembered your mom and dad coming in all those years ago. Dampeners are different, they subdue until you remove them. What your necklace did was hold your magic in a ruby encrusted prison, taking away any magical signature you could leave in your wake. Samia doesn’t do that kind of thing, so she outsourced it to someone named Evie Malcolm, she was a Celica coven witch but obviously before my time.”
“I’ll have to jog my mom’s memory, I suppose. Your mom didn’t have to do that, you know.”
“Hmph, well if my mom encapsulated my magic for years, I would want to know all the people involved just for my own knowledge.I think she thought you deserved to know all the facts, even when you didn’t ask.”
The door creaked open and River stepped inside. He raised his eyebrows and I pointed to my phone. “That actually means a lot. Keep me posted if anything else happens.”
“You got it.”
