Zodiac Academy: The Awakening (Supernatural Beasts and Bullies #1)(86)

“Orion’s looking for you,” Caleb said to Darius, pointing back over to the bar where our teacher stood watching us. My gut plummeted and I shot a concerned look at Darcy but she was too caught up with Seth to have noticed. “Something about an assignment you haven’t handed in. I told him to chill the hell out and enjoy his drink but he gave me that look, you know the look where you’re not sure if he’s trying to set you alight with the power of thought alone or if he’s just super constipated, so I said I’d tell you.”

I snorted a laugh, knowing exactly what look Caleb meant and I eyed Orion over the top of my glass. He scowled at us in a way that made me think he’d heard us and I realised that with his Vampire abilities it was possible he had. For a moment I felt like a kid being told off in school and I frowned at the weirdness of that situation. I was out in a bar for God’s sake, why was I being chastised by my Professor? If I’d ever spotted my old English teacher hanging out at Joey’s in her loose fitting slacks and glasses on a string I’d have bust a gut over it. Although I guessed Orion didn’t exactly look like your standard teacher. He didn’t even stick out amongst us. It was more that I knew what he was that made it feel odd.

“I guess I’d better see what he wants,” Darius said, sounding resigned. He cast a final look at me but I pretended not to notice as I moved away and shoved my empty shot glass down on an abandoned table.

Caleb was where I’d left him when I returned to the dance floor. I followed his gaze as he threw a scowl at Orion’s back as he and Darius headed out of the bar to talk. A shiver raced down my spine seeing them together like that and I was forced to wonder about what I’d overheard the other night again. Could the guy I’d just been dancing with really be out to hurt me and Darcy? Orion had gotten Darcy alone back at the restaurant and hadn’t laid a finger on her. But he hadn’t denied it when she’d accused him of wanting to hurt her either...

I glanced at my sister again to find that she was still definitely okay with Seth’s tactile ways. I smirked at her as she leaned into him and he ran his hands down her back.

Caleb continued to scowl from his position in the middle of the dance floor as I made it back to him. A group of girls were dancing provocatively, casting less than subtle looks at his general hotness but he was ignoring them.

I caught his hand and placed it on my waist as I snagged him for a new dance partner. I might have been a little overfamiliar thanks to Mr Jack Daniels but I pushed through any concerns about being forward with an air of I-don’t-give-a-shit. As his attention shifted to me, I tiptoed up to speak in his ear over the thumping music.

“Did you hate Orion before he tried to poach my blood or is it all about me?” I teased.

Caleb snorted a laugh, pulling me closer as he leaned in to reply. His hands slipped around me, drawing me closer before he spoke and earning me a heap of scowls from the hopeful girls.

“It’s a Vampire thing. We’re always driven to secure the best Source available. We have a hierarchy that’s determined by power but his position as my teacher makes our relationship a little more strained than most. I should respect him because he’s a professor at my school and is technically my superior but I’m more powerful than him so... it causes a little tension.” Caleb shrugged before a playful smile captured his lips. “Do you like us fighting over you then?”

I rolled my eyes and slid my hands up his chest before linking them behind his neck. “Well if either of you wanted anything other than my blood then maybe I’d be flattered. But as I’m rather against the whole concept of being a walking juice-box I’ll have to go with no.”

“What if I did want something other than your blood?” he asked suggestively, his breath dancing across my neck.

I lifted my eyes to meet his, my body pressing closer without me really intending to do it. I shifted my hands a little higher, my fingertips pushing into the short hair at the nape of his neck before trailing up to brush against his soft curls.

“Like what?” I asked, adopting an innocent tone which I really doubted he was buying. How much had I had to drink? Why was this starting to feel like it might not be the worst idea I’d ever had? Hadn’t he hung me over a ravine and used me like a chew toy since my very first day? Why didn’t that seem quite so awful to drunk Tory? And why was I asking myself so many questions when he’d just run his thumb down the centre of my back and my skin was lighting up beneath his touch?

Caleb’s eyes glimmered with amusement. He pushed my hair back over my shoulder as he leaned down, his lips brushing my ear and sending a little shiver down my spine. “What if I wanted to-”

The music suddenly cut off and the overhead lights flared to life, filling the dance floor with way too much reality for my fuzzy head.

I squinted at the bright lights, releasing Caleb and taking a step back as I looked around, trying to figure out what was going on.

Professor Astrum’s voice blared over the loudspeaker. “Would all students of Zodiac Academy please make your way to the student shuttle buses for immediate transportation back to your Houses!”

I looked up at Caleb in confusion. “Is that normal?” I asked.

He shook his head vaguely in response, obviously trying to figure out what was going on.

A chill crept up my spine and I shifted away from him to find Darcy. She moved to join me too, pulling her Atlas from her clutch with a frown and holding it out as she spotted a message there.