Page 47 of Coveted

“We agreed to this.”

I rub my forehead. “I think I’d remember agreeing to a camera on my dorm door. You can see everyone who comes to visit me.”

“So?”

“So it’s invasive. Plus I have roommates. It’s not fair on them.”

“I’m sure they don’t want you being killed either,” he says in a reasonable voice.

Flopping on my bed, I eye my room with new suspicion. “You didn’t put cameras inside my bedroom though, right?”

“I did not.”

“I guess that’s something.”

“I do have access to the campus cameras,” he says. “Just so you know.”

“Oh, fantastic. You can watch me wherever I am at Darkbloom? You can find me at all times?”

“If it makes you feel better, I could already do that—” Lucan raises his voice over my furious cry. “But let’s focus on what matters. If you’re attacked again, you need someone to locate and defend you.”

“What makes you think I can’t defend myself?” I demand.

He pauses, and I have the awful feeling he’s holding in laughter. “Just a hunch.”

“What if I can defend myself? Will you back off then?”

“No. But adding self-defense is a good idea. Do you want pepper spray? A stun gun?”

“Are you serious?”

“Always,” says Lucan.

My gaze falls to the fingerprint bruises on my arm. The hooded man’s harsh voice replays in my head.

See you soon, Sadie.

“Maybe I do,” I reply, my anger at Lucan fading.

He did save me last night, as much as my pride hates it.

“O’Connor will pick you up after your last class,” says Lucan. “He’ll bring you to my family armory.”

I frown at the ceiling, unsure if I heard correctly. “Your family what?”

“Armory. I’ll have details about your attacker’s car by the time you get here.”

“Wow, that’s fast. Money really is a magic wand, isn’t it?”

Lucan snickers. “I have a cattle prodder in the armory. That’s a magic wand.”

“My last class finishes at⁠—”

“Four o’clock,” he says. “I know.”

“How do you know that?” I ask.

“I have access to the faculty server.”