Page 11

Whispers and stares wherever he went were nothing new, and Zane didn’t bother to try hiding the mark on his neck. On the contrary, he purposefully wore his shirt loose, the top four buttons open so that whenever he reached for something, the material would stretch and give anyone within a twenty-foot radius a good view of the sealed second skin bandage covering the injury.

On the outside, he was as stoic and unimpressed with their fawning as always, but on the inside, he was preening.

Zane had pretty much always been a secret attention whore—as Kazimir had once teasingly called him. Whether that was from being abandoned as a child or because he’d been adopted by a family who had struggled to recall his age the first four years was irrelevant. The reason for him being this way didn’t matter, because knowing wouldn’t change anything.

He wasn’t going to try, because there was nothing wrong with him.

Except for maybe the fact he was sitting here in the lab, during one of the room's busiest times, specifically so he could show off the mark on his neck.

So he could silently rub in everyone else’s face that someone wanted him badly enough to lose their absolute rational mind over him.

Maybe he should rethink that whole getting help thing after all.

The bite had hurt, and not only had he been taken advantage of, he’d been dominated in front of the entire class so the whole university would find out. He should be embarrassed and cross. Out for blood, even.

And yet that initial bloodlust had dimmed, ever since he’d noticed the usual stares of longing were now mixed with envy. Were they envious of him or Pavel? Both? Who cared when it meant greedy eyes peering at him more closely, covetously and boldly.

As the Prince of Medicine—a ridiculous nickname he secretly loved—he was often met with attention. Students and professors sent him suggestive glances and propositioned him all the time but he always turned them down. He’d taken a random lover now and again, but it wasn’t a common practice since he’d always had Kazimir to help scratch that particular itch.

Them thinking he’d changed his ways and caved for Pavel was…thrilling. The way they wandered closer to him than they would have dared before, as though he’d become somehow more unattainable yet they just couldn’t help themselves.

It wasn’t better than sex, but it was certainly helping to take the edge off in a different sort of way.

In the past, whenever he’d felt particularly down, all he’d had to do was come to campus. Literally anywhere on school grounds would suffice. The second he was there, attention flocked to him like moths to a flame, and he got off on it every single time.

Got off on the feeling of being coveted.

Even if it was superficial yearning.

Even if every single one of those people would use him once and turn their backs on him afterward.

Sometimes he got angry instead of soothed though. Sometimes the vapidness of it all, the thoughts about how they wanted his body but not really him ate away at Zane. It made him feel the opposite of important and necessary.

It made him feel alone.

He was curious about Pavel’s actual motives. The man claimed he wanted him, but in what capacity? After they’d slept together, would he lose interest? The bite was deep, but it would heal, and even if that wasn’t the case, marks like that didn’t hold any important meaning on Vitality.

Murdering Samuel had been a bold statement, and even though Zane had resisted that night in the forest, the thrill of the chase had been there. The rush from knowing someone was dead because of him…for him….

His conversation with Lyra soured his mood some, but not entirely. What did she know? Could she be aware that Pavel could shapeshift? Had she guessed that he was the one who’d really killed Samuel? Or was there something else? Something Zane was missing?

There was a very good chance it was that last one. It would explain Pavel’s actions, why he hadn’t simply come on to Zane like a normal person would have.

Why his advances had started up at the drop of a hat, practically giving Zane whiplash.

Was he trying to distract him from something? Keep him so mixed up and confused he wouldn’t have the time to see the real trap until it was too late?

“Um, Zane?” a female student separated from the rest of the group she’d been crowding around a nearby lab table with and approached. There was a glass bottle in her hand, the same brand that Pavel had been leaving for him. Tentatively, she set it down on the edge of the long desk Zane was working at, almost as though she’d used all her courage to speak and didn’t dare get any closer. “Would you…like this?”

He felt something behind him before he could speak, could tell the second someone else entered the room and he was being watched. Their gaze felt different than the others, heavier somehow, and even though he was notorious for turning down gifts from his classmates, Zane found his hand reaching for the drink.

“Thank you.” He leaned back in his chair and went to twist the cap open, interested in the spark of adoration and pleasant surprise that flashed across the pretty student's features.

She was cute but not his type, and this was merely a show in any case.

Sure enough, before he could fully remove the cap, a hand dropped onto his wrist, stopping him a second before it snatched the bottle away. Zane schooled his features and almost lazily turned to address the newcomer—

Only to find Berga standing there scowling at the bottle.

He masked his confusion quickly, not wanting to let on to the other medical student that Zane had mistaken him for someone else.

“Here.” Berga thrust a different glass bottle at him. “Pavel asked me to give this to you.”

“Did he?” Zane took it but frowned. “Since when were you his errand boy?”

“He happened to catch me in the hallway,” he said with a shrug, “that’s all.”

The female student scurried away and Zane's gaze followed her for a moment.

“You scared her off,” he pointed out.

“I’m sorry,” Berga began setting up the lab table next to his, “did you want to keep flirting with her? She didn’t seem like your type.”

“Since when were you interested in my type?” He tilted his head, scanning the items he set out. There was an anatomy textbook and a tablet, as well as an experiment kit that the professor of their fifth-period had put together for the class.

The rest of the class.

“It’s good you’re here,” Zane began, a running theory spurring him on. “I’ve been meaning to pick your brain about a few things.”

“Such as?”

“Shapeshifters.”

Berga opened the experiment kit and started setting up the Bunsen burner. “What about them?”

“You know the most about other species,” Zane reminded. “I only have to study Vitals.” His job was to keep the Imperial family safe, whereas Berga would deal with many types of people as the Butcher of the Brumal mafia. “How many are there?”

He thought it over. “Eight known species, but only three are still classified as active.”

“Which three?”

He glanced at Zane and then went back to work. “Why the sudden interest?”

“Humor me. What’s the problem? We ask each other random questions like this all the time.” They did not. Typically, the two of them went about their work separately and in relative silence.

“The D’vitar, Celeste, and Yurn,” Berga finally said. “The others are thought to be extinct.”

“Thought to be? As in they might not be?” Could Pavel be one of those? “Any that have glowing eyes and the animalistic drive to breed their partners?”

The classroom stirred, but Zane didn’t bother giving any of the other students’ attention. He’d spoken that loudly on purpose, after all. The corner of his mouth quirked upward when Berga sent them a dark look and then cleared his throat.

“All three of the species mentioned above have mating cycles,” Berga told him.

“Do you mean like heats and ruts?” There were planets that had alphas and omegas who experienced such things, though it hadn’t seemed like that’s what Pavel had been going through. Had he been slightly out of his mind? Yes. But he’d been sound enough to know exactly what he was doing, who he was doing it with, and why.

If only he’d been kind enough to give Zane the answer to those questions—one better than the simple, because he wanted him , one he’d been given.

“There’s the base instinct to impregnate their spouse,” Berga explained, “but it’s nothing as cumbersome as the person being forced into a heat or rut.” He hesitated, trying to cover it up by making it appear as though he was merely deep in thought. “There’s a type of imprinting for most of them, though the way of it varies. It’s sort of like they decide on a soul mate and their body agrees, then an attachment is formed. Of course, they’ll be driven to claim their mate then. Some need suppressants to help curb their…urges, however.”

“They need meds?” Zane pursed his lips.

“Yes, and not just to keep their sex drive under control. Some, like the Yurn, have the ability to completely alter their physical appearance right down to individual hair follicles and fingerprints. They can create a near identical replication of another living being, so long as they’ve studied that other person enough to memorize those details.”

“That so?” He set his elbow on the desk and turned to fully face Berga as he continued.

“Of course, tearing yourself apart down to a molecular level takes its toll. The brain is the most affected and can start to break down. This can lead to various mental health conditions, like schizophrenia, mania—”

“Is that why you get that psychotic, obsessive look in your eye sometimes?”

“Yes, that’s—” Berga clamped his mouth shut, too late.

Zane grinned. “Clearly you don’t have to pay attention to people’s actual mannerisms to mimic their physical appearance, though, I do suggest you start, if you want to try to trick someone else into buying this act.”

That explained why Pavel had been wearing a lab coat when he’d murdered Samuel. He’d needed props to help sell it. Like the ones scattered on the table.

Berga—or the man masquerading as him, as it were—sighed. “When did you figure it out?”

“Almost immediately.”

“Are you mad?”

“That depends on what you went through all this trouble for.”

“I don’t have a good reason.”

“Try me.”

“No,” Pavel, still looking like Berga, sighed, “I mean I don’t have any reason at all. I just wanted to get close to you.” He glanced at the drink. “You threw that away when I gave it to you last time.”

Zane stared at him, searching for the joke or the catch, a bit perturbed when he couldn’t find one.

“ That’s what’s made you uncomfortable?” Pavel seemed just as surprised as he felt. “The fact I like getting you your favorite drink? You know, for a future doctor, you’re not great at handling your body’s needs. There are days when you go hours without eating or drinking anything. That can’t be healthy.”

“How often do you change into other people to spy on me?” He wasn’t entirely serious. Or maybe he was. He wasn’t even sure anymore. Part of him felt like he would have known, in the same way he’d felt Pavel’s specific presence entering the room a few minutes ago. That was the only reason he’d accepted the offering from the female student, to piss the other Retinue member off. But then he’d turned and it’d been Berga…

Well. It’d looked like Berga, but it wasn’t the Butcher, not at all.

Which meant Zane could feel Pavel when he was being watched by him.

Was this a new development, or had he noticed the feeling before and simply brushed it off, unconcerned? He was so used to being stared at, especially while on campus, it wasn’t too far of a stretch to assume.

“Not that often,” he promised. “It’s easy enough to get away with stalking you as myself. You never notice me.”

“Are you…pouting?” And with the Butcher’s face? Zane rolled his eyes and stood.

“What are you doing?”

“We’re going to the dining hall.” He waved at the stuff when Pavel started to collect his things. “Leave it. None of that is useful. Berga probably memorized that textbook when he was fifteen, and he and I haven’t been given the same basic experiments as the rest of the class since Freshman year.”

Pavel grinned at him. “Oh. Rookie mistake.”

Thanks to that, Zane was more inclined to believe him when he said spying this way wasn’t common.

“Follow me,” he ordered, confident that no one would dare mess with his belongings if he left them behind. This wasn’t going to take long. They’d go grab something to eat—because as much as he hated it, Pavel was right and he was shit at remembering to refuel—they’d clear a few things up, and then they’d go their separate ways.

He could always make up some bullshit lie to Lyra later if she ever asked about the other member, and as much as he enjoyed this new type of attention from the student body, he knew it wouldn’t last. Better to put an end to this now, before his dick and the voice that sometimes whispered in his head could convince him to wait and see where this was going.

Wait and see if Pavel was as good with that thing between his legs as he was with his fingers.

“Does this count as our first date?” Pavel fell into step at his side, coming to a stop when Zane did.

He pointed at the bathroom door. “Go change.”

“Why? This face not doing it for you?”

His eyes narrowed. “I’m this close to changing my mind about spending any sort of time with you at all. You asked if I was mad? Of course I am, not about this,” he motioned to his form, “but this is nothing compared to all the other shit you’ve put me through these past weeks.”

Pavel hummed, the sound noncommittal more so than one of agreement. “But it worked, didn’t it?”

“Excuse me?” Zane frowned.

“All those things I did to you,” he took a step closer, “they got your attention.”

“Yeah.” He shoved him a full step back. “Because now I want to kill you.”

“Want to rip my heart out the same way I took Sam—”

Zane was on him in a flash, slapping a hand over his mouth as he shoved him against the bathroom door and into the room. He didn’t follow him, growling when Pavel’s laughter trickled through the thin wooden door.

“Better?” It was less than a minute later that Pavel stepped through, still dressed in the same clothes he’d been wearing to impersonate Berga.

Zane scowled at the lab coat. “Take that off.”

He shrugged out of it without complaint and draped it over one arm, motioning with the other for Zane to lead the way. The science building had an attached tunnel on the third floor that led straight to Breaker Hall, a building that acted as a student center, with a café, convenience store, school store, and its own smaller dining hall.

The walk wasn’t long, but they drew attention from nearly everyone they crossed paths with. Zane acted the way he always did, as in he gave off the impression he didn’t notice, but Pavel seemed rather pleased by it, even going so far as to smirk and wink at a few students, and even a couple of professors.

“Since when were you this cheerful?” Zane asked softly, not needing anyone to overhear. “All of the gossip I’ve heard paints you as this dark, mysterious club owner. Isn’t Ledger meant to be the bold and chaotic one?”

“My brother and I are close for a reason,” Pavel said. “And no one is ever only one thing, Doctor. Take you, for example. If I stopped anyone here and asked them to describe you using two words or less, I bet you they’d all say some variation of cold and unattainable.” He leaned in, neither of them slowing as they entered the dining hall. “But we both know that’s not true.”

“Isn’t it?” Zane scanned his student ID code with his multi-slate and grabbed a tray, getting in line.

“Come on.” Pavel followed close behind, sliding his tray along the counter, only selecting the foods Zane had already taken. “I’ve been inside of you. I know how warm you actually are.”

“Eat something that I’m not,” he demanded, aware of how childish that sounded yet unable to stop himself.

“Where would the fun be in that? I wish we were the exact same size in clothing too. Then I could steal your clothes and feel a part of you against my body all—”

Zane walked away as quickly as he could, not needing to hear where that was going.

There weren’t many students here, so the line moved at a steady enough pace, and there were plenty of tables to choose from. Zane selected one in the corner, where he could sit with his back to the wall and view the rest of the room. He waited until they were both situated and Pavel had just gone to take a sip of his drink before asking bluntly, “What do you expect from this?”

He choked a little and quirked a brow, silently asking him to elaborate as he dabbed at his chin.

“Samuel was annoying and an easy enough target, and the rest of the Retinue is taken or related to you. I can see how you could settle for me if you were bored enough, but—”

Pavel let out a low rumble, the sound akin to a growl, that had Zane pausing. “Don’t play dumb, Doctor.”

“I’m not.”

“Then it’s not an act, and you actually are stupid.”

Zane’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t bother countering, waiting to see where this was going.

“I got a lecture from the dean for disrupting class, did you know that?” Pavel said. “My brother gave me a ton of shit for it too.”

“Your point?”

“My point is,” he rested his arms on the table, “I bit you specifically in front of all of those people to get the rumor going about us. The last person I need denying it now is you. The bite was as much for you as it was them. A wake-up call, so to speak. I’ve always wanted you, Zane.”

He couldn’t help but grunt. “Why wait so long then?”

“Because you weren’t ready.”

“Sure.”

“You had Kaz and Lyra,” Pavel insisted. “With them taking care of your physical needs, there was no place for me. Not yet. Not like there is now.”

“So that’s it.” Zane wasn’t sure if that was relief he felt or disappointment, but he knew which one he wanted it to be. “You want to have sex with me. That’s all. A sexual relationship is—”

“I want you.” He dropped back against the glass chair. “I want all of you, but you’re too closed off to let anyone in that way. I bet Kazimir can count on one hand all of the personal things you’ve told him over the years.”

“You have no idea—”

“I know you,” Pavel stated. “I see you. You’re desperate to be needed, but you don’t trust anyone will actually invest their time and energy into you. Despite your loneliness, you prefer surface-level relationships because it’s safer. This applies to friendships as well. If you’re the one who draws that line in the sand, you feel like the distance between you and others is your choice. I don’t just want to breed you, Zane. I want to connect with you through more than just my cock. I want everything you are and everything you’ll ever be and more, and I want all of that to be mine.”

That was…Zane swallowed, trying to ignore the twitch of his dick in his pants.

“Zane,” Professor Diar interrupted them smoothly, giving away nothing as he approached with a paper cup of coffee in one hand.

Had he overheard Pavel just now?

Wells Diar was a cousin to Kelevra and Lyra, and Zane hated the man even more than he had Samuel. Mostly because as his senior advisor, he held a power over him that Samuel had never been able to obtain.

The professor glanced between them before resting his attention back on Zane. “Aren’t you meant to be in the lab? I don’t believe your hours there are over yet?” He checked his multi-slate, as though he wasn’t already aware of the exact time down to the minute.

Bastard.

“Everyone’s got to eat,” Pavel quipped, crossing his legs. He leaned back in his chair and folded his hands in his lap, presenting the version of himself that ran Concealed instead of the psychotic stalker/student Zane was starting to grow more accustomed to. “I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced. You’re the head of the science department, correct?”

“The medical department,” Wells practically sneered, looking down his nose at Pavel without flinching. “I’m Zane’s personal student advisor. We’ve been working hard on his research analysis which is due at the end of the year. I’m afraid he doesn’t have time for distractions.”

“Is that so?” Pavel cocked his head, never losing the mocking half-smile painted on his lips.

“Yes,” Wells insisted. “While we’ve never officially met, I do recall seeing you lingering about, Mr. Hart. I know the two of you are both members of the Retinue, but with all due respect, my cousin isn’t even a student at Vail. There’s no good reason for you to be distracting my best and brightest—”

Pavel held up a finger, effectively cutting the professor off. “I’m not liking the usage of the word my there, Professor.”

“Pavel,” Zane scolded, reaching across the small table to latch onto his wrist and pull his arm down. Then he turned to Wells and gave a short bow, hating that he had to, and honestly a bit miffed that this whole thing was making him. “Apologies, Professor. He’s in a bad mood today. I’ll get back to work as soon as I’ve finished lunch.”

Wells huffed. “See that you do.” He took a step back then pretended to recall something, turning to them with a slight sparkle in his eye Zane instantly disliked. “Also, come see me at the end of the day. I’ve been meaning to discuss an error I discovered in the work you submitted last week.”

“Of course, Professor.”

Zane watched him walk away, practically seething on the inside. He’d managed to avoid having to have one on one time with him for a while, and now thanks to Pavel, that was blown to shit.

“I never liked the way he looks at you,” Pavel scowled, eyes locked onto Wells’ back as the professor crossed the cafeteria and exited. “If he wasn’t a Diar—”

“But he is.”

Wells was a Diar, which meant neither of them could do anything but grin and bear it, no matter how badly Zane longed to glide the edge of his blade across the older man’s throat. Flying under his radar until he was made the Royal Doctor was the best he could do, and Pavel was fucking that up.

“Has he been trying to play with you?” A different sort of look flashed behind Pavel’s eyes as he tipped his head and inspected Zane’s expression. “Have you been bedding someone behind my back after all?”

“No, I—” Zane stopped himself. Why was he defending himself? “Who I sleep with is none of your business.”

“Want to rethink that statement, gorgeous? While I’m being generous?”

He blew out a breath. “Lyra made him my advisor, but he isn’t allowed to touch me unless my grades slip, which we all know will never happen—What are you doing?!”

Paval had stood, but Zane grabbed him a second time and dragged him back down to his seat.

“What the hell?” He kept his hand on Pavel’s arm until he was certain he would stay put and then slowly withdrew, ready to latch onto him again if need be. Fortunately it didn’t come to that.

“You just told me the two of them made a deal with you as the prize, and you expect me to just sit here and eat—” he glanced down at the food on his tray, further proving he hadn’t been paying attention when selecting it, “—ors nuggets and mashed freet? Absolutely not. I’ll make what I did to Samuel seem like—”

“You can’t do anything to him,” Zane cut him off. “He’s a Diar.”

“He’s—”

“Part of the Imperial family.” He sighed. “You think I would have sat back and done nothing myself if there was a chance of getting away with it? I dream about skinning the guy alive almost every day, but it’s too great of a risk. Besides, it’s not a big deal.” It was an epic deal that made him sick to his stomach whenever he thought of it, but whatever. “It’s not like I’ll ever give him the satisfaction of seeing me fail. He’ll never touch me, Pavel.”

“I thought you studied so hard because you wanted the position.”

“I do want it.”

“Sure, but you also don’t want to be sexually assaulted.”

“That’s rich coming from you.” Zane was starting to hate this conversation.

“That’s different,” he disagreed. “Wells could get to touch you by order of the Imperial Heir. They’re treating you like a thing they pass between them, which they cannot. You might be a belonging, Doctor, but you’re mine, no one else’s, and I sure as shit won’t tolerate another person’s hands marring your perfect form.”

This was a terrible idea.

This was…

Zane stood with a flourish, fast enough the back of his chair whacked loudly against the wall. His chest was tight and he had the unmistakable urge to flee, as though there was danger nearby.

“I’ll only say this once,” he stared down at Pavel, the words rushing out of him. “I am not interested.”

“You’re not ready,” Pavel corrected, sighing when Zane went to leave. “That’s why I started us off in the woods.”

He hated that his curiosity was piqued by that but couldn’t seem to help himself from turning back. “What?”

Pavel draped an arm over the back of his seat, turning to catch his gaze. “I knew you’d be too afraid to be real with me, so I’m easing you into it, gorgeous. Don’t worry, I only said all of that just now because you looked like you really needed to hear it. I don’t want you thinking this isn’t serious. It is. I am.”

Neither of them pointed out how hypocritical he was, maybe because there was a chance Pavel really did believe his words.

Maybe he really did consider what he wanted to do to Zane and what Wells did as different.

“If you touch me again—”

“Oh, that’s a given. I’m going to touch you, fill you up, make you moan my name. All of it. Because that’s how you’ll warm up to me. Fight it all you want, we both know we get off on your struggles.” He stood and stepped closer, fingers grazing through Zane’s bangs delicately before he dropped his hand back to his side. “You need to grow attached to me physically before you’re ready to consider something more. I get that. There’s no reason to deny it.”

“I’m not—”

“But, Doctor?” He moved in until they were toe to toe, bringing his mouth close to Zane’s left ear. “You will grow attached. I’ll have you addicted to my cock, panting for me whenever I cross your mind. You’re going to belong to me.” He captured his chin and grinned, eyes glowing ever so slightly around his pupils, the sight both demonic and breathtaking at the same time. “I’m going to mess you up so bad, Zane Solace. And then, when you’re finally open to it, I’m going to teach you what it means to be truly cherished.”