Page 59 of Demon Reform Academy, Term 3

59

brAM

“ W e should kill her.” I glared at the bitchy fear demon who had her brown eyes narrowed coldly at my mate.

We were in Demonic Powers for our final, and Firewood kept glaring over at Pandora. There was a simmering threat in her eyes that I didn’t fucking like.

My chaos magic went haywire in my veins, begging to be let out to devour more than just that bitch’s finger. I remembered when she pointed her finger at my mate the first term and got it bit off for it. I didn’t even know I liked Pandora back then, but my magic protected her anyway.

Now, it was me wanting to protect her. Not just my magic.

It was a primal, nearly painful, need to protect Pandora.

Dex caught my eye and smirked. “That’s a great fucking idea. I can do it right now. Nobody would know it was me. I know how to make it look like an accident.”

“Do it,” Skel encouraged me.

“I’m not going to argue.” Reed shrugged.

Unfortunately, Pandora shook her head. “We can’t. Not unless she actually tries something.”

“Yes, we can,” Dex argued. “It’s easy!”

“He has a point,” Jenni agreed. “It is easy, and she sucks.”

Pandora leveled us with a look, and we all pouted.

“Why not?” I furrowed my brows. “Even Reed thinks it’s a good idea.”

“I’ll back whatever Pandora decides, but for what it’s worth, I do think it’s a good idea, dream girl.” He pecked her cheek.

Pandora tossed her head back with a giggle, and my heart skipped a beat. Her laugh was the most pure thing in this fucking world. I craved more of it, more moments like this where nothing else mattered but hearing that sound.

Then, a black blur surged at us from across the room, moving with deadly precision. My instincts screamed out in warning, and my blood ran cold.

It was headed straight for Pandora.

Before I could even think, my body moved on its own. I shoved her behind me, putting myself between her and the attacker.

The world seemed to slow as something cold and sharp plunged into my back.

Pain.

Blinding, searing pain exploded through me as the blade pierced clear through my chest.

Gasping, I staggered back, disbelief coursing through my veins. Glancing down, an enchanted blade had been lodged in my back, and the sharp tip came out about an inch from my chest.

It fucking impaled me.

A chilling realization settled in as the blade dripped with dark magic. The goo mingled with my blood.

Jenni’s scream shattered the suffocating silence. “That’s the dagger that killed my dad!”

Pandora’s eyes widened in horror. Her gaze darted to the blood spreading rapidly across my chest, then back to the dark blade.

She didn’t hesitate.

Dark smoke slipped from her lips and surged into me, reaching for the dark magic festering from the wound and devouring it completely. Another portion of her dark smoke snaked around me toward the figure that had stabbed me.

I turned, dazed, to see her power siphoning his soul and consuming the dark magic inside him. The way she wielded it—calculated, unrelenting—was terrifyingly beautiful.

It was much better than fighting with that damned relic when she was unconscious.

Pandora was so fucking strong.

I stumbled. My vision swam as pain from the blade still lodged in my chest seared hotter.

Dex was there, catching me under one arm and Skel under the other. They eased me down to the ground on my knees.

The agony had lessened since she took the dark magic away, but my blood continued to pour out. My breaths came in short, weak gasps.

“Fuck,” Dex muttered, his jaw clenched as he stared at the dagger.

“We got you, dude,” Skel said, though his voice wavered. “You’ll be fine. You’re not going anywhere.”

Pandora’s smoke dissipated, and she dropped to her knees beside me. Her trembling hands hovered by my chest like she didn’t know where to start. Her magic might’ve stripped the dark magic, but the dagger was still in my chest.

Blood soaked through my clothes, pooling beneath me around my knees.

“Hold still.” Dex gritted his teeth and yanked the blade free from the back.

White-hot agony tore through me, and I cried out as blood gushed from both the front and back of me.

The edges of my vision darkened.

Flashes of memories played in the void: my grandfather’s dying words about treating my mate right, the cold cruelty of my parents, and finally— Pandora . She was everything I didn’t deserve. Someone who saw past the mask of arrogance and the drunken mess I pretended to be.

She saw me—and fuck, I loved her.

“Pandora...” I tried to speak, but blood bubbled up in my throat.

“Stay with me, Bram,” she pleaded, her shaking hands pressing against my chest from the front. I vaguely felt Dex pressing on the hole in my back. “Please. I care about you. Don’t leave me.”

The raw panic in her voice made something inside me ache more than the dagger ever could.

I choked on the blood in my throat—I wasn’t healing fast enough.

Hunter rushed in, probably feeling all the chaos through the bond with Pandora. He immediately rounded on Ashenfell. “How could you let this happen?” he snarled. “You’re a terrible professor. Sunstone Revive, now, Dex!” Hunter barked as he ran over to us. “Take your fucking professor with us.”

Dex wrapped his shadows around us, and in a heartbeat, we shadow-traveled straight onto the sunstone.

Sunstone Revive’s glow wrapped around me, and warmth flooded the wound in my chest and back as the tear in my lung slowly knitted itself back together. I could feel the hole closing up and the pain ebbing away.

Pandora was beside me, her hands still on my chest, though the glow of the Sunstone had already healed the hole that tore through the front and back of me.

“It’s healed,” Dex muttered as his hand moved away from my back.

“Look,” I rasped, my voice hoarse. I placed my hand over hers and moved it, showing her the smooth, unbroken skin where the wound had been. “It’s gone. I’m okay.”

Her wide, tear-filled eyes flicked to mine.

I didn’t need the bond in place to know that relief hit her like a crashing wave. She threw herself at me, wrapping her arms around me so tightly it stole the breath I’d just gotten back.

“Thank the Fates,” she whispered, her voice trembling. She clung to me like she was afraid I’d disappear if she let go.

Heat pricked my eyes—not from the pain or the fear, but from this . From having someone who cared if I lived or died.

I’d never had this before.

Ashenfell cleared his throat awkwardly, stepping forward. “You all pass your final,” he said, his voice subdued. “There’s no need to come back. Clearly, you know your powers well enough.”

Hunter shot him a withering glare. “Shut the fuck up, Ashenfell.”

Dex and Skel chuckled, though their laughter was strained, relief lacing every sound.

Pandora didn’t laugh.

She just held onto me, and for the first time in my entire life, I felt like I belonged.