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I knew he’d try this shit, which is why I’m standing at the door when the last student exits. I flick the lock and start down the stairs toward him.

“In a hurry?” I ask.

He doesn’t even look up as he nods. “Yes. I promised some of the other professors that I would eat dinner with them tonight.”

I hum. “Isn’t that nice of you?”

“Believe it or not, I have friends here,” he says, lifting his bag onto his shoulder and stepping toward the door.

He frowns when I step in his path, his eyes finally meeting mine. He shakes his head, trying to step around me, but I move with him.

“What are you doing, Audrey?” His voice is dripping with exasperation. If he’d spoken to me like this before my final, I would’ve felt like an idiot—which is what he’s trying to make me feel like.

But now I know his play. Too bad for him.

“We still have a conversation to finish,” I inform him, crossing my arms over my chest.

His eyes follow the movement, lingering on my tits before jerking his gaze upward. “We’ll need to do this another time. As I said, I have plans tonight.”

“That’s too bad. I guess you’ll have to be late because I’m not letting you leave until we talk about this.”

He scoffs. “And how do you plan on stopping me from leaving?”

Smirking, I shrug. “That’s the easy part.”

I call on my hellfire until it’s circling us. Nex flinches away from the heat, and I have to bite back a sigh of relief.

I wasn’t actually sure if he would be able to just step right through them or not.

“What is this?” he asks, shock and awe clear in his voice as he stares at the purple flames.

“Oh, you like my new party trick? On Saturday, we discovered that my magic had changed. I can’t call on my usual fire magic anymore. All I can do is use hellfire. Apparently, that’s unusual.”

“Highly unusual,” he agrees. “I assume you showed Wraith?”

I nod slowly. “I did. I told him, Brenden, Donovan, and Cassian. Hmmm, right. You don’t know about Cassian, do you? My fifth mate and apparent ex-lover of two of my mates.”

“Cassian?” Nex shakes his head. “Yeah, good luck with that one.”

“Doesn’t really matter if I can’t convince you to give this a chance,” I tell him. “The Fates were very clear. I either have three mates or I have five. Four isn’t an option.”

He makes a face. “Don’t put that on me.”

“Put what on you, Nex? It’s the truth. If either you or Cassian decides not to become my mate, then I get neither of you. That’s not me putting anything on you. It’s just how it is.” I shake my head. “I’m not trying to make you mad. I just want to talk to you about this.”

He runs a hand through his hair, staring at my flames once more. “There’s nothing to talk about. I told you, Lucifer cursed me.”

“Wraith believes he would have put a loophole in for finding your fated mate,” I tell him, already feeling him shutting down.

“What?” He frowns but still refuses to meet my gaze. “What would make him think that?”

I shrug. “He says Lucifer is a firm believer in fated mates, and he doesn’t think that he would go against the Fates like that.”

He’s quiet for a moment. “But he can’t know for sure.”

“Not without asking Lucifer, I guess.”

He’s shutting down. I can already tell he’s not going to listen to anything else I have to say.