Page 83 of A University of Betrayal

Hunting. What the...

“No, Adrian. She won’t learn to hunt. The blood bags are enough.”

“Damn it,Miles! She won’t learn control otherwise,” Adrian returned impatiently.

“I’m not going to drink blood. And I’m certainly not goinghunting,” I pressed out, looking for his black moonstone.

Every DeLoughrey wore one. Camille had explained to me that this stone protected us from burning in the sun, whatever that meant. Transformed people always had to wear it; Legacy Ruisangors – like me – only when they were using their powers or transforming someone.

And so, I had spent the last few days trying to find out where the others wore their moonstone: Camille wore a ring, like Tristan; Bastien a simple bracelet, like David; Miles wore a chain beneath his shirt, and the moonstone on it bore the DeLoughrey crest in gold, seamlessly attached to its surface. The only ones I hadn’t found out about yet were Laurent and Adrian.

Camille had promised me my own moonstone, but said it would take longer to find one that worked.

I didn’t even know if I wanted such a stone, because I wasn’t going to use any wild powers or turn innocent people into infertile bloodsuckers.

“Your stubbornness will endanger you and our family line.” Adrian’s words sounded cool. Just as he always was.

“To hell with this family!” was all I could say in reply.

Adrian raised an eyebrow scrutinizingly, then looked at Miles. “What did you do to her?”

“She knows…” Miles sighed and grabbed me by the right wrist. So firmly, in fact, that I had no chance of getting away from him.

“Let. Go. Of. Me!” I hissed.

“About time,” came from Adrian, who eyed me strangely.

“She may be a Ruinouveau but, with all due respect, she’s strong,” Miles sighed.

“Newbie,” Adrian murmured darkly without changing his expression, and suddenly his hand was on my back.

I swallowed and my whole body tensed. The last time he had touched me had been a while ago, but it gave me the same electric shocks as a few weeks ago.

I cursed my body because there was no reason for this reaction. Adrian was an arrogant prick.

He pushed me, his fingers resting firmly on the new leather jacket, applying light pressure so that I was forced to walk. Only now did I realize Miles had already let go of me and was on the phone.

“All right, give us three minutes.” I looked at him questioningly. “David. He’s waiting for us. And we’re going to show you a place where there’s plenty of prey.”

Why did it sound like evenhedidn’t feel like going there?

She Knows

Christopher Tyng

I didn’t know what I’d done to deserve the honor of sitting in the front seat next to Adrian, because just this morning, Miles and he had fought over the driver’s seat and then Miles and David had fought over the passenger seat like little teenage boys. And as if the two men had managed to offend him, Miles had decided to drive his own matte gray sports car.

I had noticed that Adrian and Miles had special models with five seats, which – as David had explained to me – had been made especially for them.

Now David and Miles were sitting in the back talking about Bitcoin, while Adrian’s hands rested on the steering wheel, or rather clawed into it. He seemed to be just as uncomfortable, although he barely showed it.

One of his hands suddenly wandered over my lap and I startled. What the... He was half leaning into me, and only now did I realize what he was doing. I blushed when he said to me, “Sunglasses.”

I stared at him like an idiot as he pulled his hand away and sat up straight again. I spotted a streak of light blue paint on his wrist.

“Somefoolhad apparently forgotten where the proper compartment for it was.”

In the rearview mirror, I caught Miles’ grin. He was the aforementionedfoolwho had played with the glasses just this morning, not to mention the suspicious look on Adrian’s face, as if the item was a fragile crystal.