Page 44

“I— what? No. You cannot—stop! Mr. Lawr- Jackson, it’s highly inappropriate for me to act on this. Can you imagine what the board would say? Absolutely not.”

“I think you’re scared of your sister still. Tell me, is she some like mega powerful super or something? That’s it, isn’t it?”

“No, it’s— I just—"

“You know we can help out with whatever it is you’re dealing with, right? You’re one of Delaney’s mates, you just gained a whole group of loyal supporters.”

“You mean college students. Hardly a flex.”

“Nice vocab, old man. I’m feeling so much more relaxed about this whole situation. Let’s play ‘speculate’. You just grunt or something if I say something true, okay?”

“That sounds ridiculous.”

“What’s ridiculous is Delaney’s ass and how it looks taking a dick.”

“Are you always so vulgar?”

I smile, imagining that exact scenario I just painted. “Only with Delaney’s other mates, I promise.”

“I’m not sure that makes me feel any better.”

“But now you’re imaging it too and we’re all one step closer to you making a move. She needs you, don’t be a dick.”

“She does not.”

“Shall we do a little research then on mates that purposely delay creating a bond? I don’t think the stats are going to lean in your favor. It always ends with bad things.”

We’re getting closer to the dorms now, and at this point I’m sort of giddy at the idea of forcing this man to own up to the bond our goddess bestowed upon him.

“You’re not…actually going to make me do any of that stuff, right? We’re just going to have a nice chat with Shelly, and I’ll explain how her behavior was absolutely reprehensible—"

“And you’ll suspend her,” I interject, knowing exactly what the rules of the school are.

“I-I’ll give her a stern talking to.”

I stop in the middle of the pathway, forcing a few students to move around us. They give a polite, “Sorry Mr. Aspis,” tothe headmaster, looking at him like he’s some sort of unsavory fungal growth they’d like to avoid, because really, finding him here in the dorms after hours is probably pretty weird for these people. “You have a lot of friends, Zac? I’m calling you Zac. We’ve talked about a hypothetical gang bang; I feel like we should be on a first name basis.”

“Not that it matters. I won’t be able to tell the difference between you and your brother anyway.”

I lift up my shirt and bare my hip. “Besides this stunner,” I say pointing to my ‘Willy’ tattoo, “I’ve been told my lower lip is more luscious than my brother’s. August’s tattoo says ‘free’ in a fucked-up hand because Delaney did them while she was completely shit faced. It was a good time. So when in doubt, just pull up our shirts.”

He huffs. “I’m not going to expose your abdomen so I can address you by the correct name. Look, I shouldn’t be here. What do I need to do to get you to release me?”

“You didn’t answer my question about friends.”

“Not many people feel like friendship is a good option with a Naga. I’m close to my sister though, I basically raised her.”

“Fabulous. She can be like our pet or something if she fixes her attitude. Also, I’m nominating myself as your friend, okay? You don’t get a say in this. Sometimes, we need to make tough choices. Do you want Shelly to be a successful contributor to society? Or do you want her to go through life thinking she can manipulate her way into artificial happiness?”

“Must I answer that?”

“Yes.”

“You want me to punish her, don’t you?”

“I think that if you don’t, other students will learn of it and know that there aren’t any consequences for wrecking school property. Or vandalizing personal property of other students either, for that matter.”

“Fine. It won’t be pleasant, but I’ll see it done.”