Page 164 of Obsidian and Frost

It was the way it had gone down, the fact I’d fed from the vein and it hadn’t just been pleasurable forme. Not just that… he’d been right there with me in the moment.

And I figured without the rabid aspect in play, maybe I could do it again… maybe I could finally be okay doing it again.

Fuck, maybe I was just trying to rationalize something deeply fucked-up and totally out of my control. And saying something was out of control formewas a hell of a statement considering how I led my life—Graverun kind of being the least of it.

Either way, I needed to know.

I clenched my fists.

And then I was vamp speeding down the left corridor.

Haven Initiative wassuch a bright and positive place.

It was all white stone walls that had massive colorful murals all over them, loads of playground structures covering the grounds, a group of kids learning how to play musical instruments under a tree a few feet in the distance as I’d arrived. There was laughter and singing, playing.

I’d also caught sight of Ketheron letting a couple of kids jump all over him and wrestle him to the ground, before they’d been called into class.

He was the one who’d directed me to where Cassius was at—the Faculty Wing at the far back of the sprawling facility.

I drew closer, chasing the potent scent of sandalwood.

Cassius’ signature smell.

I stopped myself.

I was tracking him.

Tracking him like an animal.

Why?

I knew where he was already thanks to Ketheron being the helpful, accommodating, and absolutely non-judgmental person that he was.

I considered texting Sylas. He’d know what to do. He wouldn’t be weirded out by what I was feeling. He’d help me. He’d know exactly how to help me.

He’d made peace with Cassius too. He’d told me and Velra that after he’d finished at Arcanum Order a few nights ago, Cassius had shown up, and they’d talked it out. So he wouldn’t be upset from that standpoint. And Velra was working carefully to bring Cassius into our foursome, so there was also that.But Sylas was deep in research mode right now with Arcanum Order, and he didn’t like being interrupted there. And then he was going to do that Death Sense tracking thing in between all that work—now that he’d taken those energy reads from Velra the other night and absorbed them into himself. I was actually surprised he’d shown up in the Group Chat at all when he needed to focus on that, which was an incredibly mentally taxing task.

Plus, he’d been withdrawn lately, so maybe he wasn’t feeling himself, and he was trying to deal.

Velra had said that we’d wait another day or two, then confront him about it if he didn’t offer up freely what was going on with him. She’d reminded me that everybody had downturns and bad days and we couldn’t pounce on them if their behavior suddenly changed, because they needed time to deal and everything.

For me, though, I felt it deep when somebody I cared about was off-kilter. In my fucking bones and blood alike. It was hard to just accept it, or wait for the time to see to it. It was like an itch under my skin that I couldn’t fucking scratch.

I sucked in a breath and decided against texting him.

Even texting Velra, who knew much more about Cassius and the way he worked, especially with him opening the Soul Brand to her again, was busy with Nyx. And she’d been looking forward to this tour he was giving her now for a long while. I couldn’t ruin that for her.

No, I’d just… I’d just deal with it.

I guess I’d gotten too used to leaning on the two of them.

But I’d been alone for a long while before they’d come along. I’d handled a shitload on my own. I mean, my mom had been around, unlike what had been going on for weeks now. I’d managed to reach out to her via a mind-link, but she’d told me that she was dealing with adicey situationthat she couldn’tspeak about. She’d closed the link before I’d even been able to ask her about sending that protection my way against some still unknown threat.

I was fine.

I was the Halfblood Hound, after all.. I could handle a surly, confusing-as-fuck person like Cassius. Even with him being an Immortal.

I reached the door, turned the knob, and threw it open.