Page 26 of Nine Inch Nasty (Hemlock Academy #9)

Skylar pinches the bridge of his nose. “Gonna need you to do me a favor, my guy. Let’s assume everything that happened in Glittertopia was because Shelly wanted it to, not because I did.

I promise you I do not at all enjoy painting small swatches of walls simply to watch them dry, nor would I ever take someone on a date to sort recycling.

We’re going to be starting from square one if we do this, because nothing about Saladriel was actually who I am, other than the fact that I’m fascinated by you, Delaney. ”

“Is this the part where you do what the sign told you to and fuck?” Adam asks as he casually reclines in his chair, hands propped up behind his head. “As far as we’re concerned, you’re already in the group, bro.”

Delaney turns look at Adam, jaw open wider than a frisky Friday night kneeling before a gargoyle. What? That’s totally a saying. “Weren’t you pissed in the beginning when I started meeting my mates because you didn’t want me touching anyone? And now you’re trying to pimp me out?”

Fuck. I think she’s in trouble.

Adam stands up and stalks towards her, kicking the chair away from the table so he can lean over her, hands braced on either side of her shoulders.

“Not pimping you out, Delaney. I just know you want him.” He lowers his hand in front of her face so she’s up close and personal with his claiming marks.

“I know you want me. I know you want every fucking person in this room.

“I realized something kind of big while I was stuck as a cloud. It doesn’t fucking matter what I want, as long as you get what you fucking want.

And I mean that with my whole chest. You got forced to go on a stupid ass scavenger hunt for us and do all kinds of stupid shit for somebody on a power trip, and all I want now is to make you as happy as I can.

“I should have done that from the beginning, but I had to be a cloud to gain perspective. I was fucking terrified when I was up there; I couldn’t feel my body, couldn’t breathe, didn’t need to even though I wanted to. Couldn’t see, couldn’t feel you, couldn’t do anything.

“We’re all probably going to be a little fucked up from that, because it was really fucking weird, but coming back to you and seeing you whole and healthy, that’s all I want.

“I love you. You’ve been my best friend for as long as I can remember, and since I can’t just crawl under your skin and exist there, I’m going to work with all of your mates to make sure you don’t have a damn thing to ever be upset about.

“I’ll say it again. He says you’re his fated, I know you want him.

We making this official now or later?” He eyes my arm, and that’s when I see the light sheen of glitter that’s taken over my skin wherever my mate marks don’t take up room.

It’s my mark for Skylar, one that erupted when he touched me earlier.

There was just too much going on then to notice.

“Holy fuck I’m so turned on right now.” I’m panting because Adam and Delaney’s chemistry is extraordinary.

Delaney rolls her eyes at me, and probably everyone else, and stands up, every single eye in the room goes straight to her.

“I’m not doing a damn thing in a room that smells like sweaty balls and broken dreams. Anyone wants to get in my pants, I’ll be in my own bed.

Or like, maybe bent over behind a solid tree. Who knows? The night is young.”

Fuck. That’s my girl.

Every single one of us walk out of that room with a massive boner, stringing behind Delaney like ducklings.

Ew, maybe those two images should not be used together.

I’m a ferocious lion. Grr.

Tell me why the second all my dreams that I just dreamed up were about to come true, my phone goes off, and my auxiliary’s name is flashing on my screen when he knows for damn sure I was on family time tonight?

I sigh so deeply my whole soul feels it, then I bring the phone up to my ear, grabbing Delaney’s hand to hold her back. The stadium is mostly empty now, so it seems like the crazy stunts have been emptied out and we’re good to go.

“Hey, Ryan. What’s up? I think I was just about to ask for a really incredible blowjob, so I hope this is important.”

“Damnit, that sounds like so much more fun than what I’ve got going on over here for you. Sorry, man.”

“Spill.”

“So you remember that tiny little incident where your dad riled up everyone to declare Delaney his by right because he was the pride male, and then her mom came in and kicked ass and he was super fucking embarrassed and lost all respect and you got the title instead?”

“Yeah, that was literally like just a few weeks ago, wasn’t it?”

“Is anyone keeping track of time anymore? I’m not. We’re in the middle of the semester. I think it was longer ago, but who the fuck actually cares? Point is, well maybe you should just get over here.”

“And here would be…”

“Oh! Yeah, we had a ‘no pride male allowed’ bonfire planned. Turns out it was a trap to get everybody to overthrow you and instate somebody else. That fuck of a cousin you have seems to think he’d be pretty good for the job.”

Fuck my life. “He knows that I’m mated so we fight together if I’m challenged, right?”

“Well, that’s the thing. He found a lioness.”

“Of course he fucking did. Hang on. Let me call you right back, I’ve got to talk to my girl.”

“Yeah, no problem. Except, be careful. I’m hiding in the closet because they’re planning on trying to come and abduct both of you tonight and like, force you to shift and lock you in a zoo or something.”

I scream out my frustration because my cousin is dumb enough to believe that would work. “Just send me the address. I’m bringing my entire group, man. We’re all bonded so they’re family. Honorary lions. You’ll witness that?”

“I’ve got you, man. It’s on the record. Texting you the address now. I think they’ve got another case of beer left before they get brave enough to figure out where y’all live.”

“Dumb fucking fuck. Okay, hang tight. Is Mark with you?”

“Oh. Umm, yeah, he’s pretending to go along with it. They’ve currently got him in a really hot pink tutu dancing around the fire. Think I might fuck him in it later when this is over.”

“Good for you, man. Let me know how that goes.”

I hang up and start filling everybody in on what’s going on, making a good portion of my brother mates start laughing hysterically at how severely they’re underestimating Delaney. “You want to go meet the pride, baby?”

“Depends. Am I allowed to fight anyone? If you say yes, I’m much more likely to be enthusiastic about this sudden field trip.”

I pull her in with my arm, kissing her forehead. “Anybody mouths off to you, have at it. Lions operate under dominance. They’ll respect the hell out of you, or you can make them.”

“Then hell yeah! I’m feeling extra murdery tonight, so that’s perfect.”

That’s a bit frightening considering we were just discussing her putting her mouth on very sensitive organs.

We walk into the dorm so we can change into something better for kicking ass, and so Delaney can be extra spicy and stock up on potions and toxins, and holy fuck, did not know she had that many knives, but yes please mommy .

Piled into the 15-passenger van that her parents apparently tricked out and had delivered earlier as a ‘congrats on saving your first realm’ gift for us, it’s nice that we can all talk to each other while we’re driving without having to coordinate multiple cars.

“We could so put some of these seats down and have some wild times in here you know,” Spencer says appreciatively while there’s a lull in conversation.

“We could also bring in a disco ball and a stripper pole and make it a party bus,” Skylar adds, before clarifying, “the stripper pole would be for me, in case that wasn’t clear.”

Delaney spins around from the front seat, gaping. “You know how to pole dance?!”

Skylar scratches his ear, face pinking a little from embarrassment. “That’s not a manly thing here, is it?”

Delaney squeals. “Fuck yeah it is! We could do a couple’s routine!”

“I could be down with that,” Skylar says seriously, contemplating.

“Okay, so we’ve had issues with a witch that wanted to ruin you and one of your mates by extension, which ended up trying to mess up all of your mates,” Cory starts to say, clearly thinking through something hard.

“We’re having a lion issue now… I really hope this isn’t heading where I think it’s heading.

I’m sure it’s fine though. That would be… crazy. Yeah, we’re good.”

They go back to looking out the window, brow still furrowed. They’re wearing this fun black catsuit, and apparently Delaney and Adam like it a lot because they keep petting them. It’s pretty cute, actually.

Then I remember that Cory’s got some sort of premonition magic, so I think that makes his opinions on this matter a bit more important.

“You think they’re related?” I ask, wondering why that would occur to them.

“We’ll know for sure if we come up on a problem with either gargoyles or demons. Either of those things happen, I’ll know for sure we’re in for it.”

“In for what, exactly?” Delaney asks, as mystified as the rest of us.

Cory looks around the van, confused. “How could you not know?”

Adam ruffles Cory’s hair affectionately. “Babe, they don’t spend their spare time reading obscure texts about famed prophecies.”

Cory looks at Adam like they’re offended. “That can’t be true. They’re fascinating!”

Delaney reaches behind us to grab Cory’s hand. “Tell me about it? It seems kind of impossible that these two unrelated events could be related, but I’m always entertained by a good conspiracy theory.”

“Are you talking about the tale of the Nine-Inch Nasty?” Rush asks, completely straight faced.

Delaney chokes and I swear to you she says something under her breath about that being a nickname her mom has for one of her fathers. And maybe pukes in her mouth just a little bit.

Cory passes her a stick of gum and then responds to Rush. “You know it?”