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“Gently,” he whispered against my lips.“To make up for last night, no?”

“Yes,”I breathed and then he was kissing me, taking my mouth with his and parting my lips to taste me deeper.

I gave a little groan and pressed against him.Nowthiswas a first kiss to fantasize about!To remember forever.This was what I wanted—a guy who wanted me as much as I wanted him.

I wantedSaint.

The question was, would I get to keep him?

24

AVERY

The next day I waited to see if Saint would withdraw again.Hewaskind of quiet as we got dressed and I wondered if he was regretting our little make-out session the night before.But when it came time to go up to the Dining Hall, he took me firmly by the hand, interlaced our fingers, and we walked to the Norm table together—even though none of now sitting there were Norms, but still, the name persisted.

I saw my Coven mates’ eyes widen, but nobody said anything as we sat down side by side, just as I had wanted.

“Um, good morning, Avery, Saint,” Megan said at last, after a moment of awkward silence.She and Griffin were sitting across from us and Griffin had his arm around her shoulders.

“Good morning, Princess Latimer,” I answered, smiling as Saint put one long, muscular arm around my shoulders and nodded a greeting at them both.

“You appear to be feeling much better than you were last night, Avery,” Griffin remarked.

“I am, as a matter of fact.”I smiled at Saint.“I’m going to go get some coffee.Care to come with?”

“Of course,mi Corazon.”Saint rose with me and took my hand again.We passed by the long tables that hosted the different groups of Others, and I couldn’t help noticing the other couples and thinking how I was one of them now—I was actually part of a couple!

Although honestly, some of the couples were more obvious about their status than others.In particular, I noticed two Fae—Kalinda Mossworth and Darren Treeheart—who were making out in full view of the entire Dining Hall.Which is frankly tacky, to my way of thinking.I mean, a peck on the cheek or the lips is one thing but the kind of hot and heavy kissing and groping that was going on at the Fae table was kind of off-putting andnotfor public consumption.

So imagine my surprise when—just as we were opposite the Drake table—Saint stopped and turned to me.He took me by the shoulders and, ignoring, the disgusted looks and whispers from his fellow Drakes—drew me towards him and kissed me passionately on the mouth.

This drew boos and shouting from the Drake table.

“Fucking faggots,” Juan Gonzales snarled at us.“What the fuck is wrong with you, doing thatmariposashit in public?”He pointed a finger at us.“You won’t get away with that for long—you hear me?”

“Er…Saint, what are you doing?”I asked, breaking the kiss at last and ignoring Juan and his dire threats.

He frowned.

“You said to look for examples around me of how a ‘good boyfriend’ behaves.”He nodded at the Fae table where Darren appeared to be doing his best to give Kalinda a tonsillectomy with his tongue.“So that is what I am doing.”

“Okay, let meexplain—” I began but just then I was interrupted by a large dark cloud which suddenly appeared right in the middle of the Dining Hall.

“What the hell is that?”“What is it?”I heard people muttering.It even stopped Darren and Kalinda’s tonsil hockey for a minute.

The cloud was huge and black, its surface swirling and roiling and little bolts of lightning were flashing through it with ominous rumbles of thunder to accompany them.It hovered there, about ten feet from the vaulted ceiling of the Hall for a long moment, and then it began to move.

My heart sank as I saw that it was moving towards me—towardsus.

Saint saw it too, and he pushed me quickly behind him in a protective gesture that was both endearing and irritating.Icantake care of myselfsometimes, you know.Also, Saint was so tall, it was hard to see around him.

“Whatisthat thing—do you recognize it?”I asked, peeping out at the approaching thundercloud around his broad shoulder.

“It is a messenger,” he said shortly and then added, “It is Dark Magic.”

Well,thatdidn’t sound too good—I had a bad feeling that my previously perfect morning was about to get ruined in a big way.And the messenger cloud didn’t disappoint.

The moment it reached us, it came down to eye-level and hovered there, rumbling ominously to itself for a moment.