Page 72 of Rogue Witch

“Stony,” I call as I put on the first shoe. “I’m going to Grams’ You can stay—”

A mouse emerges from the closet and scurries across the floor toward me.

“About time,” I say, as I put on the other shoe.

She reaches me and I scoop her up and set her on the bed, then stand. “If my loophole for the blood pact doesn’t work, I might be knocked back on my ass. You sure you want to go?”

She squeaks.

I narrow my eyes. “I’ll make sure I don’t land on the pocket you’re in.” I roll my eyes and put on my coat.

I return to the bed and put an open palm on the mattress. She climbs on and I deposit her inside the front jacket pocket. She squeaks, but I ignore the recrimination and pull the note from the drawer. Guilt stabs and I look at the door. What will Blade think about my loophole? Will he consider my actions a betrayal? Raith will. I shake off the thought. Nothing has changed. Not only do I need to put distance between myself and these men, I need to work on Grams’ book. The danger is too great to decipher the book here.

I set the note on the desk, my attention on my signature. A sliver of Nova’s wickedness surfaces and I wonder what Raith would do if I signed Nova? Raith? What about the others? Who am I kidding? I’ll never tell them I know anything about Nova. Stony’s right. Raith wouldn’t believe me, and he would probably hate me even more for what he would believe was a pretense.

I retrieve Grams’ spell book from its hiding pace and slip it into the empty inside coat pocket. I slip my cellphone into my back jeans’ pocket, then grab my debit card from the desk drawer. I stuff it into the pocket with the spell book, then close the zipper.

I gently pat the pocket where Stony is, no doubt, snuggled into the corner and fast asleep. I’m glad to have her with me. She must be as exhausted as I am. When we get to the potionary, we’re taking a long nap in my room.

Fear uncoils in my stomach. Fear? What am I afraid of? But I know. I’m afraid of Grams’ influence. She may be dead, but she isn’t gone.

I ease open the door. All is quiet. I peek out into the hallway. As expected, no one’s around. I slip from the room and hurry along the hallway, then down the stairs. I reach the front door without a problem. The campus is still a ghost town. So far, I’m experiencing no ill effect from the blood pact. Then again, I’m still on Academy grounds. Oh, this is going to be interesting.

I reach the trees, then minutes later, the wall. I’m damn glad to be wearing my jacket. The temperature has to be near freezing. I scan the grounds for Watchmen, but even they’re absent. I reach the wall and stare up at the top. I kind of want to laugh. If I’m wrong about the loophole, the magic of the blood pact will knock me back on my ass. If I’m right, well…then I found the best loophole ever.

“Hold onto your ass,” I tell Stony.

A squeak emanates from my shirt pocket.

I leap, grab the top of the wall, then pull myself up, and swing my legs over to the other side of the wall. No problems yet, only the gentle push of the ward intended to keep out baddies. Of course, technically, I’m not off Academy grounds yet. I consider the possibilities, one of which could be the magic of a blood pact so strong it yanks me back up and over the wall. That could be uncomfortable. I drop onto the ground.

I freeze in a half crouch and wait several heartbeats, then slowly straighten and face the wall. How about that? I found a bona fide loophole in that damned blood pact. How long can I be gone before The Three figure out I’m gone? I’m betting until morning. That’ll work. I’ll take a nap, work on the spell book, and be back before dawn.

I walk a quarter mile, then order an Uber. Half hour wait. Damn. I reset the address for the intersection a mile down the road and start walking. A fifteen-minute walk with nothing to do but think. I’ve got too much to think about. As if Raith and Nova aren’t enough, I’ve gone and fu—made love with Blade. No, I’d rather think about Raith. I grunt a laugh. I never thought I’d see the day when I would think that.

I pick up the pace. So, I knew The Three in another life. No, not three…five. Five? What the hell? They had wanted to live with me as husbands? My mind whirls. How would that even work? God, I can’t go there. But my mind does go there and I see Raith as I saw him in the vision, eyes dark with desire and so tender that I want to wrap him in my arms and warm that cold vampire blood. The fire in Blade’s eyes when he—

My thoughts screech to a halt. Fuck. Blade knew about the sigil that night I ran into him after Ethan waylaid me at the Witching Hour Cabaret Club to inform me The Academy was drafting me. I blow out a breath of frustration. Did Ethan know who I was when he slapped his dragon sigil on me that night? Yeah, they all know me—the fucking wolf included.

I rub my temples. I don’t know if I can handle this. Truth is, I don’t know how I can face Raith again. Nova stabbed him to save his life, but she wouldn’t have had to do that if she hadn’t been fucking Cordero.

Raith loved Nova. He hadn’t tried to stop her—me—when I stabbed him, but remained motionless as if the hurt held him by invisible chains that even he, a powerful vampire, couldn’t break free of. No wonder he hates me. Fuck, I hate myself.

Forty-five minutes later, the Uber driver lets us off at the potionary. I hurry onto the porch. The comforting low pulse of the wards press against me as I enter the house. I lock the door behind me, then take Stony out of my pocket and set her on the floor. She shifts into pig form and shakes like a dog.

“I’m starting to get a little hungry,” I say. Her eyes light up and I laugh. “Yes, I’ll order Chinese.” Actually, Chinese sounds good.

I turn right in the foyer, walk through the arched doorway into the living room and halt. There’s no sign of the damage the Thol’guk wreaked when he attacked me and the stranger. Which one of The Three cleaned up that mess? Not Raith, that’s for sure. Ethan or maybe Blade when they came to make sure Stony was being fed that first week. Do they possess that kind of magic? I’m thinking no.

I phone in the order and, an hour later, Stony and I are on the couch in the living room. I locate a comedy on my phone’s Netflix app and we watch while eating. Stony finishes off her veggie lo mien, sweet and sour tofu, and egg drop soup, then flops onto the carpet and promptly falls asleep. I, on the other hand, can’t stop thinking about Raith.

I can’t return to The Academy. I don’t care that the Wall has named me as a High Potential, I can’t face Raith every day. Hell, I can’t face any of them. As for Blade…. Embarrassment warms my cheeks. Fuck, sex has never embarrassed me. Then again, what happened between us was more than sex. I unexpectedly recall Caleb in the Reaping when he’d thrown me on the bed and come down on top of me. That had been…very nice. Not to forget my first day at The Academy when that stupid spell backfired and my ass almost caught on fire—literally. I’d stripped off my jeans and was searching for cooling herbs when Ethan caught me in the classroom dressed in a t-shirt and a thong.

What had he said to me? “You need a little…” he leaned closer and added in a whisper, “taming.”

The same shiver of desire that had rocked me last time slid along my arms. The dragon is pure heat. The memory flares with a vividness that steals my breath.

I arch my back and push against him. His cock is rock hard—and huge. He grasps my hips and I draw a sharp breath when the fingers gently squeeze. I need him.