Page 32 of Demon Reform Academy, Term 3
32
PANDORA
“ I can’t believe you and Skel bonded last night,” Jenni squealed, sipping happily on her passion fruit lemonade as we sat in the cafeteria next to a window. “Congratulations!”
“Thanks.” My nipple tingled from his mark throbbing at the thought of him.
“I’m happy for you both,” Reed murmured in my ear as I sipped on my water.
The cool water eased down my throat as I fought my smile. “Thank you, Reed.”
“Can I see your mark?” Jenni asked.
My face heated. “Um…”
“I haven’t seen it yet either,” Reed mentioned with a pout.
“It’s on my nipple,” I blurted.
Jenni’s head fell back as she cackled. “Oh, Fates. That sounds like you had a blast!”
Reed choked on his breath, pounding on his chest with his fist as he calmed himself down. “Oh, wow.” He leaned in until his lips brushed my ear. “Can I see it later?”
I nodded. “Of course.”
“You and your mates literally fill my reserves more than your dad does,” Jenni muttered more to herself, and I groaned.
“Didn’t need to know that.”
“Not that Death doesn’t fill my reserves. He does. Often.” She wriggled her brows. “But you and your mates have off the charts sexual tension! I knew you and Skel were going to fuck the moment you smoke shared with him.”
“Speaking of smoking, what happened to the pipe Sybil Shaw left him?” Reed asked.
We’d gone to my dad shortly after bonding, and he was furious over Sybil Shaw being so close to us. He tried not to focus on the fact that Skel and I had bonded, though.
“Dad has it. I removed the dark magic from it, but he’s going to give it to the Supernatural Council just in case.” I shrugged, taking a bite of steak.
Then, Jenni told us just how much Dad vented to her last night after hearing about Skel and I mating. He was not handling the five mates thing very well as a new dad. Jenni tried explaining that I was an adult, but he hadn’t wanted to hear it.
After lunch, we were heading to the library to work on our essays when we ran into Skel and Bram.
“Princess…” Skel purred as he wasted no time swooping me up into his arms and kissing me like it was only us around. “I missed you.”
“You just saw me,” I giggled, feeling the truth of his words through our bond.
Happiness reflected back at me in his green eyes. “I haven’t had any problems with my magic since we’ve bonded. You saved my life in more ways than one, Pandora.”
“Mine, too,” Dex grumbled, suddenly materializing beside us.
“Aw, how cute,” Jenni cooed, folding her hands together and blinking at me dreamily. “No wonder he marked your nipple.”
Bram’s breath caught before he wheezed, “ Where?”
“Ah, yes,” Dex moaned as he fixed himself. “On her nipple. Hottest marking I’d ever witnessed. Especially when you sucked on it after.”
I bit down on my lip as arousal flooded me at the thought.
What was I becoming?
“I’m still a little put off that you watched the whole thing,” Skel muttered.
“You didn’t mind.” Dex rolled his eyes, and Skel huffed. “Besides, I wasn’t watching you perversely. I was watching her to make sure she was safe.”
“Can’t blame you for that,” Reed and Bram muttered at the same time.
My powers surged with warning as I sensed a soul nearby vibrating with negative intent, making me freeze. Reed and Skel must’ve sensed it too, because they stilled with me.
Voidfire and Nightwind passed us in their nobility group, and each of them glared at us. But they said nothing.
“Bitches,” Jenni stated with a roll of her eyes. “They’re all bad news.”
“No kidding,” Bram muttered.
“Can’t argue there,” Reed said.
“I can kill them?” Dex offered with a darkness swirling in his eyes.
“Why do you keep offering to kill people?” Jenni asked.
“Because it’s a…permanent solution for problems.” He smirked.
“If they do anything else, have at it,” I said, anger flaring in my chest as I remembered what Nightwind had done to Reed.
“Good girl,” Dex purred, his eyes flashing with desire as if my encouragement of murder turned him on.
Perhaps it did.
“Abrupt subject change, but my magic reserves are stuffed.” Jenni cleared her throat and spun around. “Do you like my outfit?”
“Death’s shirt?” Dex tilted his head.
She inhaled deeply with a sharp nod. “Oh, yeah. Isn’t it cute?”
“ Super cute,” I placated her.
It was a statement, for sure. Dad’s black shirt hit her knees, and she wore pantyhose with it and a belt.
She smiled with a nod, and I went to twist the ring on my finger but froze. I glanced down to see it missing. “Where’s my ring?”
“What?” Dex frowned. “You had it on last night.”
“Yeah, you did,” Skel confirmed as he ran his fingers through mine. “Did you take it off for the shower?”
I shook my head. “I don’t usually take it off.”
“Maybe it fell off when you were sleeping,” Reed suggested.
“Or when you and Skel were fucking,” Jenni snickered.
I frowned, squinting at the shimmering horizon, out where Rapture Cavern’s ruins were. Maybe it did fall off when we mated. “I don’t technically need it anymore now that I can sense souls, but I liked it. It was my first gift, ever. And it was from my dad.”
“We’ll find it, trouble,” Dex said. “I’ll keep an eye out.”
“Thank you.” I grabbed my water bottle out of my bag and took a sip before putting the lid back on. As I went to put it back in my bag, I dropped it on the ground.
I crouched down to grab it, but as my hand curled around the bottle, a sharp, searing pain exploded from the back of my hand. I yelped and jerked back, spotting a scorpion scuttling away into the sand.
“What happened?” Reed and Skel blurted, feeling the pain through our matebonds.
“I think I just got stung.”
Reed and Dex froze, their eyes widening in horror.
“A scorpion?” Reed squeaked, his voice an octave higher than usual.
“Yeah, but it’s not?—”
“A scorpion!” Dex echoed, taking a step back as if the tiny creature might launch a full-scale attack on him.
I bit back a laugh despite the pain that was now spreading up my arm. “A little help here?”
Dex and Reed exchanged panicked glances, their faces paling considerably.
“What do we do? What do we do?” Dex’s hands fluttered uselessly.
“I don’t know!” Reed exclaimed, watching the scorpion as it got farther away.
I glanced down at my hand that was already starting to swell. “Well, for starters, maybe not just stand there screaming?”
Jenni was full-on belly-laughing. “Oh, Fates!”
“Are you okay, princess?” Skel frowned as he held my hand up gently.
“It’s throbbing,” I hissed.
Bram grabbed my bottle and put it in my bag as he threw it over his shoulder. “It’s not healing?”
“No.” I shook my head as tears sprung to my eyes.
“Oh, shit, Pandora. That’s bad.” Jenni stopped laughing, and worry glinted in her blue-green eyes.
Reed gingerly approached, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else. “Uh, do we suck the venom out?” he asked, clearly horrified at the idea.
“Pretty sure that’s a myth.” I winced as the venom spread.
“I knew that.” He blanched.
“Let’s just take her to Sunstone Revive,” Bram suggested.
“I—I can do that!” Dex stumbled over the words as his shadows enshrouded us and took us there. He kept his distance even in shadow-traveling me. As if I suddenly developed the plague after being stung by the scorpion.
Even standing on top of the sunstone, my hand wasn’t healing. It was now twice the size it usually was.
“Okay, okay, you’re going to be fine,” Reed said, more to himself than to me.
“Right? Right,” Dex muttered.
“Right,” I agreed as I started getting woozy.
Jenni frowned as she stared at my hand. “You sure, girl?”
“Yeah, I’ll live,” I assured them, though my voice was tight with pain. “But seriously, you two…scorpions?”
“They’re fucking petrified,” Skel told me, but I could feel just how afraid Reed was through our bond.
Chaos manifested from Bram and licked my hand with a low whine.
“Chaos is worried,” Bram murmured, his red eyes flicking to mine with pure worry. “That’s unsettling.”
“Hunter’s freaking out,” Reed commented as he messaged him. “He’s meeting us in Pandora’s room.”
“You need to rest,” Skel whispered in my ear.
“I’m fine,” I insisted, but Jenni leveled me with a glare.
As I went to take a step, blackness swallowed me whole.