Chapter 35

Adrien rubbed his chest and leaned against the wall. He’d been quiet the entire time, and his focus hadn’t wavered from Helen sitting next to him. The man was smitten as well as very injured. And from the sound of it, lucky to be alive. If Iyla hadn’t stopped mid-healing, then he would have been one hundred percent okay.

As Helen finished recapping the attack, I pulled my hair into a ponytail with a frilly hair tie she’d admitted to stealing from me.

We’d been talking for a while, and the guys were probably going feral at the barrier right about now.

“We need to find a way to get that barrier down. Are there any kitsune around? The guys are stuck outside the force field.”

“Kitsune can’t teleport in or out. It’s been tried.”

There went that plan.

It wasn’t like we could call a witch from the outside either since our cell phones didn’t work. I may not know anyone, but one of the guys likely did. Tanner’s connections remained unmatched. Even Elliot seemed to have a vast network.

“There is one option . . . but he’s having performance issues.”

“Who?” I didn’t care at this point, we needed to try something. There were only a couple hours until dawn.

“Danny Dinko.”

I sat up straight. So, he was a witch, and the only witch not under Osmodus’s control.

“Find Sam, he can get him through the woods.” I trusted him in a life-or-death situation?—

“Sam’s dead.”

I froze and faced Helen. Her gaze remained downcast.

Thump . My heart shuddered as another loss wrote itself into the muscle. “What about Perry?”

“You trust him?” Helen frowned, and I didn’t have to ask whether she was uncertain. I read it all over her expression.

He was a bit flighty, but good people. I nodded in answer, and her mouth pursed before she turned to Claudia. Tanner’s sister audibly swallowed and stood up.

“I’ve stayed in the background. I’ve left once to contact you. Adrien can’t leave either, because he’ll get thrown into the cage with the rest of the non-matured, so Claudia’s the one that’s been in and out of the building for us.”

She didn’t look back as she slunk away.

I didn’t get worked up about her absence because Perry’s dorm was in this building. It shouldn’t take her long to get him in here. But if I were honest, what weirded me out most was that she listened to Helen’s order with just a head nod. The Claudia I’d met when I first arrived would have sneered and tipped her perfect nose up at Helen.

“This place is a shit show,” I muttered.

“You’re telling me. When we get out of here, we need a long vacation.”

I dropped onto the bed Claudia had vacated, and the springs creaked. It felt surreal being in a dorm with Helen again. Yeah, Adrien was here, but he rested quietly against the wall.

“Do you sometimes think about what you could have done to avoid the massive pile of shit we’ve found ourselves in?” she asked and rubbed her fists against her eyes.

Sometimes I thought about how things could have been, but I didn’t have much control over the bullshit that had happened to me. My life had been fucked since birth. Helen didn’t know that though, and it was much too much to lay on her now. Plus, it involved the history of more than myself, and it would be unfair to spill everything.

“I’d dwell on it, but at the end of the day, it led me to my mates.” I bowed my head forward and rubbed the muscle on my neck. “Without them I would have fallen apart a million times.”

“You big sap,” Helen scoffed, but her fingers tightened on Adrien’s thigh. She felt the same way, I was sure of it. “After all the crap they pulled, I hope you made them work for it.”

I scoffed and reclined on the pillows. “We worked through it.” The flippant words didn’t hold the weight of the truth, but they weren’t a lie. The journey between me and the guys had not been close to smooth sailing, but on the other side, I saw how far we’d come. Both together and individually.

Helen and Sandra had been with me from the beginning. Helen had seen how it all started and considering she knew the guys way before me, their change still seemed to shock her.

She wasn’t the only one . . . and she had yet to discover I had another new mate.

She would be stunned when she met Elliot. Instead of telling her and squealing over it, I kept that in and waited for her to see him for herself.

The door slammed into the wall, and I was off the bed—prepared for anything. A red streak barreled toward me, and arms wrapped around my waist.

“Thank God,” Wendy gasped into my hair. I patted her shoulder as a dry sob wracked her body. “You were such a psychopath,” she hiccupped between sawed breaths.

I winced. “Sorry about losing my mind,” I muttered. The last time she’d seen me, I’d been on a rampage across campus, taking sick pleasure in torturing my mates because they’d blocked me from hurting anyone else. My moral-lacking side was a bitch to deal with, so I kept quiet and rubbed her back.

“You should have called me the moment you were back to yourself.” She smacked my shoulder with each word. Then shook me for good measure. My head flopped around, and my hair mussed around my face. She gave me a final squeeze and dropped her arms.

She was nowhere near as neat as usual and there were dark circles under her eyes.

“How did you know I was here?”

“Claudia. I dashed out of Perry’s room when she mentioned you’d returned. They should be coming in behind me.” She grimaced sheepishly. “You’re that girl who disappeared a few semesters ago.” Wendy pointed at Helen.

That’s right. They weren’t friends before shit hit the fan.

“You chose to come back at the worst time,” Wendy tucked her messy red hair behind her ear.

“Wait a moment, you said you were with Perry?” I arched both my eyebrows high. That was news to me. Wendy cleared her throat, and a small smile tipped the corner of her lips. Were they together? “When did this start? What about ‘he who you are trying to forget?’”

Before she could answer any of my questions, the door opened and shut just as quickly.

“Here he is,” Claudia murmured and returned to the spot on the bed.

“Maya,” Perry sputtered gruffly and pulled me in for a tight hug. I grunted, but it didn’t stop him from squeezing tighter. “Glad to see you not killing anyone.”

My smile wobbled. Damn, they had all witnessed me at my lowest, but they were still happy to see me. I couldn’t deny that felt fucking good. They’d accepted me, just as I was.

I tugged at the collar of my shirt. It was feeling a bit cramped in here. Or maybe it was my throat. I cleared said throat and took a deep breath when he released me.

Did Wendy and Perry exchange knowing looks? Wendy rolled her lips into her mouth. Ohhh , they definitely fucked.

Wendy flitted her eyes to the side and a faint red bloomed across her cheeks. The corner of my lips twitched, and Wendy knocked her toe into my ankle. I bit back the flurry of questions aching to release.

Not seeing her stress over Thomas was a nice change. He wasn’t here—no. Did that mean . . .

“Is Thomas . . .”

“He’s been corralled into the fighting arena with the rest of the humans that are still alive, but he won’t make it out after today.” Wendy clasped my arm, and her hand trembled slightly. Everyone quieted. We needed to move fast.

“We need Danny.” He couldn’t be too far, but I couldn’t even volunteer to talk to him because Claudia jumped to her feet.

“I’ll get him,” she sashayed out with fae speed, disappearing with my next blink.

“She’s . . . helpful,” I commented, and Helen smirked.

“What a fucking turn around on her, right?” Helen whispered to me. “You’re about to see why.” Helen’s secretive smile made it dawn on me that Claudia had been a bit too enthusiastic in offering to get Danny.

“No. Fucking. Way.” A laugh burst from my mouth, but I managed to stifle it as Tanner’s sister guided him into the room.

The new version of her faded, and I caught a glimpse of the hoity Claudia I’d known and kind of hated. Danny peeked at her from the corner of his eyes. I’d always felt a bit of kinship with him, and now we were mates to siblings. I put my hands together in a soft clap.

“We’re running out of time. Perry, you and Danny, find a way to get Enzo, Tanner, Beckett, and Elliot past the barrier,” I said.

“My magic—” Everyone turned to Danny, and he dropped his gaze. Claudia directed a sneer at me, ready to sear my guts. Danny cleared his throat. “But I will try.”

Damn, I totally shipped them together. I liked how he softened her.

“Your guard dogs are fucking assholes, but since you’re asking.” Perry rubbed the back of his neck. “You know what a favor means?” He smiled slyly.

I snorted and shook my head. Unfortunately, I did.

“I will give you the brushing of a lifetime,” I vowed. Or my friend would. Wendy winked at me.

“Let’s go, Danny,” Perry muttered and cracked his knuckles.

Danny turned to Claudia, and his fingertips grazed her arm. She tensed, but also didn’t move away from him. He didn’t make any other move toward her and instead followed Perry out of the dorm. Her gaze followed him all the way out.

I paced to the other end of the room. When Osmodus put his plan into action, I’d strike. If I blended with all the other students, then it would be easier to catch him off guard.

“What’s the plan for us?” Helen said.

The door creaked.

“I thought you guys had left?—”

Wendy cut off with a scream as a long bolt of electricity spiked through her stomach. Blood sprayed from her back, and she crumpled to the ground.

I bolted to the window, since jumping out to escape was the other exit, but a shifted griffin hovered right outside. Getting ready to bulldoze through a wall, I careened to a halt when I heard another cry.

Claudia lay crumpled on the floor at Katrina’s feet.

There was no way out.