King Hall (Forever Evermore, #1)(7)

I gulped, staring wide-eyed. Alright, I got that. Slowly, I peeked at the Vampire who was going to bring the hurt on. This so wasn’t my favorite class.

As everyone’s attention quickly went back to their own business, Mr. Bertrand stated loudly and cheerfully, “Get used to your partner, everyone. The person across from you will be your sparring buddy for the next month.”

Closing my eyes in resignation, I sighed heavily…right before my back hit the mat, taken unaware and unprepared by a tormenting Vampire.


Where are you? Dominic growled inside my head, bringing on a round of déjà vu. Everyone’s already seated.

I’m almost there, I hissed, running inside the administration building. I wasn’t about to tell him I had been ganged up on in the locker room. I had known it would come sometime today. The Shifter women weren’t at all pleased I had mated with Dominic. I had barely made it out of there without bleeding all over the place. There had been five of them. My face stung from the few bruises on my face, which were hopefully disappearing as I dashed down the hallway to Mrs. Jonas’s office where we were supposed to have lunch with her, the Kings, and the Prodigies.

Plowing into her office a few seconds later, I stopped dead, catching my breath. All eyes turned toward me. I quickly flipped my hair over my own right eye — the bruised one — and hurried to the empty seat next to Dominic. “I’m sorry I’m late. I got lost in the halls.” Truth. I had run down the wrong hall twice and went to an entirely incorrect building afterward, not used to the new section of King Hall I was now in.

Dominic stood, kissing my cheek before pulling out my chair for me.

I dropped my book bag under the table and sat, keeping my gaze down.

King Venclaire asked calmly, “Did you also run into a fist while getting here?”

Dominic stilled on his chair.

I closed my eyes, thinking very unkind thoughts about the King Vampire. “No, definitely didn’t run into any fists.” I had dodged most of them.

“Your right eye,” Ezra, directly across from me, stated bluntly. “It’s bruised and I didn’t put it there during sparring.” Their damn Vampire sight was annoying.

Dominic jerked my chin up, leaving me blinking. I could see him just fine now from both eyes, which meant…he objected, “There’s nothing wrong with her eye.”

I kept the sigh of relief at bay, smiling at King Venclaire and Ezra. “See? Nothing’s wrong.” Truth.

Ezra raised a black brow and King Venclaire kept quiet. At least they weren’t going to blab or call me a liar. I would rather Dominic not know about me being bullied. He already worried enough.

I popped my neck, placing my napkin on my lap as a server brought a salad for me from the cart like everyone else had in front of them, and Dominic’s hand instantly moved to the back of my neck, massaging softly.

Across the table to my right, Pearl asked, “You’re Dominic’s mate? Lily Ruckler?”

“Yes,” I mumbled, trying not to groan as Dominic’s fingers worked their magic on my sore muscles. “And you’re Pearl Cooper.” I studied the guy sitting next to her. A Mage. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know your name. Are you Pearl’s mate?”

He nodded, smiling. He was the masculine equivalence to her feminine beauty. They fit. “I’m Gideon Brooks, and yes, I’m Pearl’s mate.” He stared at my hair curiously. “You’re a Shifter, but I’ve never met anyone like you before. Excuse me if it’s impolite, but I’d love to know what you shift into.” His accent was just as cool as Pearl’s. English accents rocked.

“A wolf,” King Kincaid stated, answering for me.

“Really?” Jack Collins asked. “In your shifted form, are you red, like your hair?”

“She’s beautiful in her shifted form,” Dominic specified bluntly, also not letting me speak. “A perfect red wolf.”

Pearl smiled, understanding what I already knew. He really did find me beautiful. Tiny and all. “What’s your mate gift? Ours is empathy.” She grinned with a twinkle in her eye. “We’ve found its uses entertaining.”

I almost choked on my drink, knowing full well what she was talking about. We had also been afforded empathy. We weren’t supposed to have two gifts, another oddity of my hybrid nature, so we kept the empathy strictly to the bedroom.

“Telepathy,” Ezra answered quietly. “They have telepathy.”

I knew he wasn’t unintelligent. Didn’t miss much.

“What’s it like?” Jack asked as he placed his fork aside, done with his salad, reminding me that I needed to eat my own quickly before the server took it away.

“It’s,” Dominic paused to chew a bite of his salad, taking his hand away from my neck to dab at his mouth with his napkin, “very helpful.” He left it at that.

I stuffed my mouth so as not to blab about how helpful it had been — many times — with my fearless wolf causing a ruckus during the month after my first shift.

“You know,” King Venclaire murmured, his lips twitching, “I heard the oddest conversation the other day.” He watched King Kincaid. “There was a fox seen taking on a mountain lion near your lands. Did you hear anything about that?”

My eye twitched.

Dominic choked on his water.