A Spell of Time (A Shade of Vampire #10)(31)

I grinned and shrugged my shoulders. He looked at me disapprovingly.

I waded back into the water, toward my brother and Griff rather than Micah, who seemed to be busy swimming. But the werewolf caught up with me in the water as soon as he noticed me. He stopped in front of me, blocking my way.

“Come with me,” he said.

“Huh?”

Before I could object, he pulled me toward him and fastened my arms around his neck. He began swimming in the opposite direction of my brother, deeper into the ocean.

Great.

I was beginning to feel nervous at how deep we were swimming. The waters were becoming rougher and rougher and we were nearing the edge of the island’s boundary.

“What are you doing?”

“I want to show you how I fish,” Micah said, tightening my hold on him.

“Micah!” a sharp female voice called. Micah stopped and turned around. Saira was swimming toward us, her bushy brown hair tied up in a bun over her head. She swam faster than I could have expected for such a short-limbed woman.

“Don’t go past the boundary again,” she said, swimming in front of us and blocking Micah. “Especially not with the princess.”

Micah looked disappointed but shrugged it off. He turned around and we approached the shore again. I let go of him once we were in shallower waters and swam over to join my brother and Griff. Micah followed me. I introduced the werewolf to those who hadn’t already met him, and we spent the next few hours until sundown swimming around in the cool waves, escaping the heat and humidity of the day, soaking in the warm sunshine.

Once the sun had set, we built a bonfire on the beach and Micah fetched some fish. Brett also joined us and helped him with the roasting. I made sure to sit next to Griff during the meal, talking to him about anything other than the werewolf.

I had to leave early, just in case my parents or Aiden checked in on my room. I hoped that they hadn’t already. Micah noticed me stand up and took the opportunity to walk over to me.

“I’ll take you back now?”

“Yes, please.”

I said good night to Griff and the others, annoyed that I couldn’t stay for marshmallows. Micah helped me climb on to his back once again and we headed back to my penthouse. I held on tight, my breath coming harsh and uneven as he leapt up the branches. I closed my eyes and buried my head against his back, scared one of the branches might gouge my eyes. When he stopped, I looked up. We were now parallel with my window. He took a giant leap that made my stomach flip and gripped hold of the window sill, pulling us both inside.

I was relieved to see that my door was still closed. Hopefully I had arrived just early enough to not be caught.

“Thank you,” I said.

“When will I see you again?”

I found his question odd. As though he was now expecting our meetings would be a regular occurrence.

“Tomorrow, after school, I guess,” I said.

I heard voices in the corridor outside.

“Go. Now!” I hissed.

He climbed back out of the window and hurled himself back onto the tree a few meters away. I closed the window and dove into bed, pulling the covers over me up to my forehead.

My door creaked open.

I’d made sure to bathe in the showers on the beach before leaving, but hoped the scent of ocean wasn’t still on my skin.

A weight pressed my mattress down. Too heavy for my mother. It was either Aiden or my father, but I dared not look up. I continued pretending that I was sleeping.

I felt a hand on my forehead, brushing hair away from my skin, and then a gentle kiss.

My father stood up, walked across the room and then clicked the door shut.

I breathed out slowly. If I’d arrived back even a minute later, he would have caught me out of bed. I didn’t think I could have borne the disappointment in his eyes that I’d betrayed his trust yet again.

Chapter 26: Rose

Micah was keen to see me most days after school. It seemed that he didn’t have much of an agenda of his own. While I gave Griff first priority on my time, since he had more homework than me to complete that week, I ended up seeing more of Micah than I’d expected.

I agreed to meet Micah at the bottom of our tree. I’d recommended this rather than the penthouse since he hadn’t exactly made a great first impression on my father, although my mother didn’t seem to have any objection to him.

One evening, we ended up walking by the lake—somewhere I hadn’t been with him before.

I still didn’t feel I knew much about this werewolf, and I wasn’t sure why he was interested in me so much. I also wasn’t sure why I’d agreed to spend so much time with him. Caleb still being very much on my mind, I began to wonder if I was just using Micah as a distraction. As some kind of rebound. Still, he was a good distraction. When I was in his company, it was easy to get lost in conversation. There were still so many things about him and the supernatural world I wanted to know.

As we approached the boathouse, I stopped in my tracks. I gripped Micah’s arm, pulling him back. He looked at me questioningly.

“Wait,” I breathed.

I crouched down in the bushes, pulling Micah down with me. I stared through the leaves, barely able to believe my eyes.

Our headmistress, Adelle. She was making out with… Eli?

All the other girls in my class were convinced that Eli would never get himself a girl—after all, he’d been a bachelor for several hundred years already. Now, watching him locking lips my teacher, it was shocking. It took me a few moments to pick up my jaw from the ground.