Page 54 of Darkening Truth

I’ll deal with that in a minute, right now, I have a threat to make.

“I’m going to kill you,” the girl under my blade hisses.

My laugh is dark and edged in violence, “Oh, that’s adorable. There’s just one tiny problem, the second that you make the move to try, you’ll findyourself gargling on your own blood. I can move quicker than you can, and I have far less to lose. Are you sure you want to make that threat to my life?” I dig the knife into her neck, a bead of blood rolling down it, and making her whimper.

“I-I-I won’t try to kill you,” she stutters, immediately taking back her words.

I laugh again, “I know you won’t, but there’s something more important that I want you to understand.”

“What?”

“Storm’s mine, touch him again and I’ll take your fucking hand,” I pause as she whimpers again, “got it gorgeous?”

“Fucking hell,” I hear Loki mutter, the heat in his voice evident.

My focus returns to the girl, and she nods quickly.

“I need a verbal vow,” I sing happily, aware of how utterly unhinged it makes me sound.

“I promise, I won’t touch him. None of us will. I’ll spread the word that Storm is yours.”

“All of them are,” I add for good measure.

“What?” She asks, a note of incredulity mixing with the fear.

“They’re all mine, and they’re all off limits,” I growl.

The guys all have massive shit eating grins on their faces as they simply nod in agreement, and the crowd that I am only just noticing gasps.

“I promise,” she screeches as the knife digs in harder.

I let her go, and she crumples to the floor.

“Good girl,” I mutter with a sharp grin.

Looking over to the woman still wrapped in shadows, I follow my instincts, twirl my finger, and the shadows unwrap, coming back to me and offering a surprising amount of comfort. While the majority of them dissipate, some stay, wrapping around my legs and moving up and down. Ilike it, it makes me feel protected, so I decide that since they aren’t causing any trouble, I’ll leave them where they are and not ask them to disappear completely.

The guys stride toward me, Kill and Storm, looking like they’re about to devour me, and I grin.

“Whoops?” I say.

“So fucking hot,” Rival grins.

“I think you had better all come with me,” an unfamiliar voice interrupts, and the crowd dissipates immediately.

The guys move closer, not shielding me, but standing next to me, and I smile.

My gaze quickly finds the speaker, not someone I recognise, but I would assume from the level of authority in his voice that he’s a teacher here, although he doesn’t look that much older than we are.

He’s not particularly dressed like a teacher either. He’s got combat gear on. If we were to come under attack right this moment, he would be ready, and the number of concealed weapons on him rivals mine, which is extremely interesting.

There’s an edge of violence to him as well that I recognise. He’s easily as tall as Reaper, with black as night hair, and eyes to match.

Huh.

“The new Headmaster, I presume?” Storm asks, his voice cold, and coming to the correct conclusion far quicker than I did.

The Headmaster smiles slightly, showing a flash of fangs that don’t look like any that I recognise, at least not from that small glimpse anyway.