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  “Silas!” My eyes widened and I shook my head.

  “You can talk about it with me,” he reassured me. “I’m not afraid of magic.”

  “I’m afraid for you when it comes to magic,” I told him. “You’re using it…recklessly.”

  The faintest cocky smile tugged at the corner of Silas’ lips. “I promise you I am not.”

  I held up the pendant between us, shooting him a dark look. Really?

  He shrugged. “You need to wear it. You need protection. By and large, everyone seems to have forgotten the demon-bear incident—”

  “Yes,” I cut in. “Actually, that’s weird too, right? You guys remember, but it honestly seems like no one cares about any of that.”

  If I didn’t know better, I’d think there was magic involved.

  “Humans are weird,” he said. “Anyway, we can’t forget there’s something strange about you.”

  I took a few steps toward him so I could be sure no one overheard us, and he stood from the door, pulling himself to his full height.

  “You mean there’s something strange happening to me,” I corrected.

  He tilted his head to one side. “If you want to phrase it that way, I’ll play along.”

  I frowned. “Do you know anything about a prophecy?”

  “You’ll have to be more specific,” he said. “I’d love to find one for lottery tickets and betting on the horses, though.”

  I frowned. “I am one-hundred-percent sure you’d never bet on horses. I mean—”

  The shower cut off in the bathroom. Silas raised a finger to his lips, stopping me.

  “If you’re trying to avoid telling me stuff I should know,” I warned him, “I’ll get it out of you eventually.”

  “I have no doubt.” Silas flashed me a smile that brought out the faint dimples in his cheek. “I don’t intend to keep any secrets from you, Maddie. Not if they’re mine to tell.”

  Chase came in then, holding his towel tightly cinched at the waist. Water was still beaded across his powerful shoulders and his pecs, and trickled down the washboard abs and the dark happy trail that led into the towel. I jerked my gaze up to his face a second too late, and his eyebrows arched knowingly.

  He smirked just slightly before he demanded, “Out, Northsea. Over to your side so we aren’t late for breakfast.”

  The guys just assumed we’d all go together, moving as one unit, and there was something homey and comforting about that.

  Penn would normally be with us, but he was avoiding me this morning, of course.

  I knew we’d make up, and there was something homey about that, too.

  Chapter Five

  Jensen

  When I got to the cafeteria after classes, Maddie was ahead of me, surrounded by Chase, Tyson, Silas and Penn, as always.

  Chase said something, and she laughed, her eyes crinkling at the corners. An ache rippled through me. Lust? Jealousy?

  I couldn’t fucking tell anymore, but I was sure of one thing: I hated the way she made me feel. I hated the way I wanted her, and I hated the way I didn’t deserve her.

  Even from across the cafeteria, I could feel Jason Adelman stalking Maddie through the lunch line. His gaze kept catching on her ass in her uniform skirt.

  I tried to focus on my conversation with Christian and John, a couple of the other second-years. I needed to make sure Beckett didn’t poison them against me now that my old roomie and I were on the outs.

  But as I kept a watchful eye on Jason, as he moved steadily toward Maddie. My hands tightened into fists.

  Jason had been quick to shove her around just a week ago. Now he thought he could stare at her, as though he hadn’t been just as ready to betray her as fuck her. He ogled her openly.

  Mine. He kept staring at her, and she was mine.

  When she stood alone at the salad bar, her pretty face focused as she used tongs to sift through the lettuce, he stepped up beside her and said something that made her smile. That fucking asshole.

  He rested his hand on her shoulder, his lips moving as if he was asking her to sit with him, and her smile ebbed as she looked up into his face. Good. Hopefully she saw right through him.

  “Be right back,” I said to my friends, before cutting through the crowd.

  Suddenly, Chase, Penn, Tyson and Silas surrounded Jason.

  I slowed, as if nothing had happened. As Christian caught up to me, his gaze flickered to Maddie.

  Tyson rested his elbow on Maddie’s shoulder, the gesture friendly but possessive, as he stared down Jason.

  “The vultures are circling, huh?” Christian asked, watching the drama playing out in front of us too. “Everyone wants a princess.”

  “Even if she’s a royal pain-in the-ass,” I said automatically.

  When I listened carefully, even through the din of forks scraping plates and low conversation, I picked out Maddie’s warm, honeyed voice and the other guys’ tones, too. I could always hear her voice in a crowd.

  As I went through the motions of choosing lunch, I was far more focused on their conversation. I automatically heaped food on my tray, not really caring what I took as long as I could eavesdrop.

  “Why didn’t you ask her to sit with you a week ago?” Silas asked. He tilted his head, his voice sounding genuinely curious, even though Penn’s glower at Jason was nothing but furious. “I could have sworn I saw you trip her.”

  “Didn’t mean to,” Jason said.

  “Oh, come on,” Maddie said impatiently. “It’s not worth it, you guys. Let’s go sit down.”

  “I changed my mind,” Jason said abruptly. “I changed my mind, okay? I thought girls didn’t belong here. But you changed my mind.”

  “I changed your mind.” Maddie’s voice was skeptical, and she regarded him with suspicion that warmed my heart.

  As much of a fool as she was for Lex and Rafe, who didn’t deserve her, she didn’t seem to be too trusting of anyone outside our small circle.

  “You’re a good fighter,” Jason said. “You hold your own in the patrols. You’re not like the other girls.”

  “Oh shit,” Penn muttered. “Here we go.”

  “I’m not like the other girls?” Maddie demanded. “Right, I get it, I’m supposed to feel special. Flattered. Like I’m better than the rest of my kind. Well, fuck that.”

  I ducked my head as I grabbed a burger off the grill line, not wanting anyone to see me grin. I loved her fury.

  When that anger was directed at me, a fantasy reel played in the back of my mind. I could imagine kissing her until her breath caught and showing her how good the heat between us could be.

  But it was also fun to see that ire vented at someone who deserved it.

  He broke into her lecture to say, “Hey, I’m sorry. But it’s not like I didn’t have reason for believing it. Look at Eliza McCauley.”

  My fingers tightened on the edges of my tray until it cut into my skin.

  “What about Eliza McCauley?” she asked, her voice acidic.

  They were moving toward our usual table. I waved Christian over to a table a few away from them. Fine, I’d sit with his house for once. If I went over there while they gossiped about my dead sister, I’d lose my goddamn mind.

  “She was one of the first girls here at the academy,” Jason explained. “A bunch of them didn’t stick it out to graduation.”

  “What a surprise,” Maddie said drily. “I’m sure you were very welcoming.”

  “I wasn’t here then,” Jason said, because he apparently didn’t understand the universal you. He was an idiot. “But she was the first girl to graduate, and then she got her patrol killed. It doesn’t set much of a precedent, you know?”

  “How many guys have made mistakes?” Penn demanded.

  “How did she get her patrol killed?” Maddie asked, and even from here, glimpsing between the bodies that blocked us, I could see the small frown that indented the space between her beautiful blue eyes.

  I focused on Christian as I felt her gaze
sweep toward me, and I carefully ignored her as she studied me. Christian was saying something about Professor Eyal.

  “I’m one-hundred-percent confident he hasn’t shifted since the Reagan administration,” I said. It was ridiculous that Professor Eyal was supposed to teach us tactics for the war against the covens when he’d never fought them himself.

  When I glanced back at Maddie, her gaze was fixed on Jason. She’d taken her seat, and he still stood at the end of the table with his tray in his hands, like he was begging for an audience with the queen.

  I tuned back in as Jason said, “She was supposed to have sealed the entrance behind them. Instead, she fucked up—and when the witches broke through, she turned and ran instead of fighting them. Not that it mattered. When they caught up to her, she was the first to die. She begged them—she got down on her knees and begged—and they still put a bullet between her eyes.”

  Rage tightened my chest until I could barely breathe.

  “And how exactly do you know all that?” Maddie asked.

  Jason shrugged. “Everyone knows. I’m surprised Jensen even came here with that family legacy—”

  Maddie leaned forward, her lips parting, a sharpness coming into her eyes. Penn slung his arm over her shoulder, pulling her back against his body casually, the gesture affectionate. But there was nothing casual about the narrow-eyed gaze he directed at Jason.

  Then Tyson said to Jason, “Why don’t you fuck right off?”

  “What?” Jason asked, frowning. “I didn’t—you all hate the guy, right?”

  “Can’t stand him,” Silas drawled. “But he is one of us. Sometimes you do hate your family.”

  “But not like you hate some weak asshole who tries to cozy up to your girl after bullying her.” Penn flashed Jason a smile that was all predatory.

  Maddie rolled her eyes but didn’t try to escape Penn’s possessive grip. Her fingertips drifted slowly over his arm across her chest, as if she liked his touch, even as she teased, “Your girl? I see we still have a lot to discuss on the feminism front.”

  “Please god no,” Penn groaned.

  “But they’re right,” Maddie said, flashing Jason an equally tight smile. “You can fuck right off.”

  “What do you think, Jensen?” Christian said, pulling me back into their conversation. “Who’s going to win the inter-team competitions?”

  “Probably mine, even with the girl,” I said. “But you know me. I don’t give a fuck.”

  I let the conversation at the table wash over me again, replaying what I’d heard when Maddie and company didn’t know I was listening. They had my back.

  And I didn’t know why.

  Half an hour later, as I headed out of the cafeteria, Maddie was ahead of me. She reluctantly pulled a folded sheet of paper out of her blazer pocket and handed it over to Tyson. He unfolded it and gave it a glance.

  “You’ll get it, kiddo,” he reassured her, resting her hand on the small of her back in a familiar way that made her smile—and made my jaw tighten. “It’s one quiz. It’s not that bad.”

  “I’ve always sucked at memorizing,” she said.

  I ambled alongside them, stealing a glance at the paper over her shoulder, and whistled at the red ink. “Failing Combat Medicine, Maddie? How? With all that time in the library?”

  Given my photographic memory, I remembered my homework easily. But Maddie was smart; she could handle the curriculum here. If she got kicked out, it would be because my father desperately wanted her gone.

  “I’m not failing,” she muttered, thrusting the paper back into her pocket. “Yet.”

  Tyson gave me a warning look over her head. Oh, he enjoyed being the friend, the big-brotherly type who cheered her up and called her kiddo and protected her from guys like me.

  Maybe it was genuine, but it pissed me off.

  “I can tutor you,” I offered. “We’re in the library together anyway.”

  She just needed to get her confidence back, run through the memorization cheat sheets a few times, and she’d be fine for the exam.

  “Sure,” she said, a smirk playing at the corner of her lips. “I’m sure you’d be very helpful, Jensen.”

  Fuck, maybe she thought I was trying to sabotage her. Then why had she and the others stood up for me back at the table?

  “Have it your way,” I said, irritation spiking in my chest.

  “Don’t be proud, Northsea.” Rafe rested his hand on my shoulder.

  Where the hell had he come from?

  “I already heard about your grades. Your teacher is worried about you. Let Jensen help.”

  Maddie’s perfectly shaped red lips compressed into a tight line.

  “You two idiots need each other,” Rafe added, clapping my shoulder before he disappeared into the crowd of students streaming back to the dorms to prep for hand-to-hand.

  Well. I wasn’t sure if Rafe was right about that, but Maddie and I both sure as hell needed something.

  Chapter Six

  Maddie

  That afternoon, between hand-to-hand combat practice and dinner, I slipped into my room and heard the sound of the shower running, more audible than usual. The water rushed through the pipes and pinged against the shower floor.

  Even though the doors didn’t mean much to any of us, there was only one person who would’ve left the door open to the bathroom as if it were an invitation. I tugged the elastic out of my ponytail before running my fingers through the damp waves, then slipped into the steamy bathroom. “Penn?”

  “Hey.” His voice was low, all honey-and-whiskey like always. I felt a deep throb of want for him; his voice always felt like a warm hand gliding across my lower back, full of comfort I never would have expected to find in someone with so many rough edges.

  He pulled the shower curtain aside. Water beaded across his shoulders as he swiped his hand through his wet dark blond hair.

  “I’ve been kind of a jerk lately,” he said in a rush. “But you’re still welcome. If you want m—if you want to come in.”

  I wouldn’t have expected Penn to slip like that.

  I always wanted him, but I didn’t want to say that and make things awkward between us. I pulled off my sweat-soaked clothes and left them on the floor.

  He pulled the shower curtain farther back, welcoming me in.

  When I stepped into the shower, the hot water ran through my hair and beat against my sore shoulders.

  “You’re not a jerk,” I told him, closing my eyes and bowing my head under the water so I didn’t have to see his face. “You weren’t wrong. I was asking to borrow your phone and scolding you for your other illicit activities at the same time. Doesn’t make sense.”

  “Yeah well, one is a little more necessary than the other,” he said. “I have the phone in case my dad takes a turn. I don’t like counting on a message getting to me through the academy.”

  My eyes popped open. “Your dad?”

  He nodded. Tension etched at the corners of his mouth and his eyes, as if Penn didn’t like talking about anything so personal. “He’s dying. Cancer. It started off as kidney cancer, but now it’s in his bones…it’s everywhere.”

  I caught his hands in mine. “I’m so sorry.”

  He pulled a face. “I wouldn’t make a big deal of it, except… I mean, it’s not an excuse.”

  It clicked together for me. That was why he was taking the edge off.

  “You didn’t do anything wrong.” I leaned up on my toes to kiss the blond scruff across his jaw. He’d started the morning clean-shaven, but the days were long here. “Lovers fight, Penn. Otherwise, it would be boring. But I’m glad you told me. I want to be here for you, any way that I can.”

  He grinned, a sudden flash of sunshine across his handsome face. “Lovers?”

  I bit my lower lip, scrunching up my nose.

  “No, I like it,” he said. “And I like your cute little nose, too, and the funny things you do with it.”

  He kissed the bridge of my nose, and I had
to laugh.

  “I’m trying to be a badass here,” I said, putting my hands on his shoulders to playfully push him away, but once I touched him, my hands seemed drawn to his body.

  “You are,” he murmured into my ear, drawing me into his arms. “But you don’t have to just be that. Not in here with me.”

  “Okay,” I whispered back. “If you promise not to be tough, unruffleable Penn when it’s just the two of us. I want to know all of you. Even the hurting parts.”

  He pulled back. “Is that really how you see me?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “I haven’t felt unruffled since you walked into my life,” he said before his lips came down on mine again.

  I kissed him back hard. His lips parted against mine and we traded deep, wild kisses. He wrapped his hands around my hips, holding me tight against him, his hard length brushing against my inner thigh.

  When I broke away, I took his face in my hands. Penn was all chiseled angles and hard edges, from his angular face to the hard ridges of his abs and even his strangely bony toes, and I liked every inch of him.

  I gazed into his eyes for a second, his gorgeous eyes, then realized that maybe I was being too intense yet again. I glanced away, heat flushing my cheeks. I couldn’t get goddamn Jensen McCauley out of my head, even in the sweetest moment with Penn.

  The water streaming across my back felt too hot now with Penn’s body seared against mine. He dipped his head, kissing the water beaded across my shoulders away, his movements slow and worshipful.

  And as he kissed me, everything that happened outside—every insecurity—slipped off my skin and washed away down the drain.

  “We should get out of here,” he murmured in my ear, with a meaningful glance at the wall; Silas and Chase would be on the other side. We were supposed to be back in school tie-and-blazers for dinner, and while there was usually a pass for showing up sweat-stained in our utility uniform, my roommate was getting lucky in the shower was probably not the best excuse.

  I nodded and turned off the water. It hadn’t even stopped trickling from the showerhead before Penn scooped me up like he couldn’t wait.