Something Wicked

by Emma Dean

  The hunter glanced over at Audrey, smiling slightly. “That’s your friend right? She watched our first class.”

  Mika nodded. “Yeah, I came here with her tonight. So thank you for the offer, but I’m not leaving her.”

  “Well then,” Lucien said, slipping his hands into the pockets of his leather pants. “She’s welcome to join.”

  Blinking, Mika tried to decipher if there was some hidden meaning in those words.

  “It’s okay, go with him,” Audrey said, leaning forward to practically yell into Mika’s ear. “There’s a hunter over there I want to ask to dance.”

  Mika looked over at the girl pouring herself a drink from the keg. She was cute. “Don’t drink anything you don’t recognize,” Mika told her. “Enchanted drinks aren’t always kind. If it doesn’t look enchanted do a reveal spell anyway. And for the love of Artemis don’t let hunters talk you into their deadly games.”

  Audrey just laughed and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be fine. Go have fun.”

  Her dorm mate wove through the crowd of people – there were already tons of students – and made her way to the hunter.

  Then it was just her and Lucien. Mika looked up at him and resisted sighing.

  She just wanted to get through her freshman year without killing anyone.

  And somehow—somehow the universe knew it and was testing her. Lucien and Ethan were the ultimate distractions and Mika wasn’t impervious to their good looks.

  Those leather pants and Lucien’s hazel brown eyes. Fuck. The way his nearly shoulder-length black hair fell into his face made her knees weak.

  “I’m not looking for anything serious,” she warned him. “I don’t want a boyfriend.”

  Lucien’s grin widened until she could see his canines – unusually sharp. Did he get them sharpened? Mika had heard some hunters did that to intimidate and confuse their prey.

  “I’m not asking you to go steady,” Lucien murmured. She could still hear him despite the music and it made her shiver. “Just asking if you’d like to see the infamous hunter house. Did you know it’s haunted?”

  She didn’t know that. “Just wanted to make that clear.” Mika waved her hand at the house. “I’d love a tour.”

  He didn’t offer her his arm, and Mika was grateful. She didn’t need help walking. But Lucien still stayed close enough that it drew attention from anyone they passed. He headed right for the stairs and then waited at the bottom for her to go up first.

  Mika glared as she tried to decide if he wanted her to go up first so he could look up her skirt.

  “If you fall, I’m here to catch you,” Lucien said with a wink. “No other reason.”

  Right.

  Mika grumbled. She was not clumsy.

  The stairs were just like the ones in Oleander House but the outside wall wasn’t made of glass. This entire house was made from thick wood. It reminded her of a posh cabin in the woods rather than the gothic stone houses the witches used.

  When she reached the second floor Mika stepped to the side to let Lucien pass. He flashed another grin at her. “The main floor is a bit crowded right now,” he told her, walking leisurely down the hall. “But that’s where our living room is, where the kitchen, common area, study areas, and gym are. We are very lucky we get the biggest dorm on the island.”

  Mika felt like Lucien was being sarcastic, but she didn’t say anything.

  She kept her eyes between his shoulder blades to keep them off of his ass in those tight leather pants. And here she’d thought he would be the one ogling her. For some reason she felt like he knew she was staring.

  Lucien was a hunter which meant he was massive and ripped and just…built to make her weak in the knees. He stopped at the window at the end of the hall and looked outside where the party was just as crazy.

  They’d only had two classes together so far, but Mika knew just from his fighting style that he was aggressive and…patient. He played the long game and constantly pushed her to do better. When they weren’t paired Mika could feel his eyes on her and still he never lost a match.

  Except that one time she’d disarmed him.

  “This house used to be the original school,” Lucien told her. “Or it was before there was money involved and more than a hundred students anyway. One year a spell went wrong.” He looked at her again and his hazel eyes looked lighter – nearly a honey color. “They say forty-nine witches died.”

  Forty-nine…

  A chill went down Mika’s spine. Seven sets of seven – a holy number to witches and they were just…massacred.

  “Sometimes on a full moon you can see them out there in the trees,” Lucien murmured, pointing to the forest just beyond the clearing for the house.

  Mika looked up to see that, thankfully, it wasn’t a full moon.

  She knew the phases of the moon deep in her soul like most witches did, but Lucien’s story had her doubting and on edge. “They didn’t cleanse the space?” she asked. “They didn’t put those witches’ souls to rest?”

  The smile on his face was gone and Lucien studied her closer. “It happened a long time ago. No one really knows what spell killed those witches or how. But they say it has something to do with the seven seals to hell. Rumor has it there’s one under the school.”

  Her blood chilled and Mika took a step back. She didn’t bother to question how or why Lucien knew this. He was older which meant he’d been here longer. Students talked and this branch of the University of Morgana was old – older than Harvard even if it was only by a decade or two.

  Mika didn’t doubt that Lucien was telling the truth, and thinking of what could have possibly killed forty-nine witches chilled her to the bone.

  She turned to leave, but Lucien was faster than she was. His hand snaked out and wrapped around her right wrist – the bare one. He eyed the rings she’d moved to that hand and then tugged her forward.

  It wasn’t enough to press her against him, but she could feel his body heat warming her skin. “Why does that scare you?” Lucien asked. His voice was deep and soothing, telling her that he would make sure she was safe.

  It calmed her even though Mika didn’t trust it. “Seven sets of seven,” she murmured, shaking her head. “I don’t want to know what happened to cause that.”

  “You can’t just bury your head in the sand every time you come across something you don’t like,” Lucien told her, grip tightening on her wrist. It didn’t hurt, but she knew it could if he wanted. “You avoid everything you don’t like or understand. How is that healthy?”

  Mika yanked her hand out of his grip and glared, knowing the only reason she could was because he let her. “I never pretended it was.”

  That confession made Lucien tilt his head and narrow his eyes at her. “Why are you taking a hunter class?” He took her hand again, but this time it was gentle. Slowly he pulled her forward until she was pressed up against his chest and Mika was so discombobulated by him she didn’t even resist.

  “Maybe I want to be a hunter,” she breathed, feeling her heart pounding and wondering if he could feel it too with the way they were pressed together.

  Lucien reached up and held her face, thumb gently caressing her cheek. “If that were true you’d be living here,” he murmured.

  The way he looked into her eyes…fucking fuck she was in trouble. “I’m undeclared – trying to find what I enjoy the most.”

  He smiled at that but didn’t bother calling her out on the lie they both knew it was. Lucien bent down and kissed her anyways. Mika felt like the breath was sucked right out of her body.

  This was nothing like kissing Ethan.

  Lucien was electric and dark and full of anger. She didn’t understand it, but it felt like he was taking that anger out on her with the way he nipped her bottom lip and gripped her lower back hard enough Mika knew she would have bruises there in the morning.

  But it didn’t scare her or turn her off. It actually did the opposite. She groaned into his mouth when his tongue flicked
across her lips. Lucien made her lose her mind and suddenly she had her arms wrapped around his neck, hands buried in that silky black hair of his, using it to yank him down when he tried to pull away.

  Mika refused to let him be the one in total control. She kissed him back, sliding her tongue into his mouth as she pressed her entire body against his. When he was breathing just as hard as she was, hands gripping her hips like she might disappear if he let her go…

  She pushed him away, watching as his chest heaved. Mika glared at him, but didn’t say anything.

  “That was wildly inappropriate.” Her quiet words only seemed to make him angrier.

  His eyes flashed and Lucien gripped her wrist, the one with the bone bracelet. “Why do you smell like blood?” he hissed. “What are you hiding, little witch?”

  Mika gasped when his honey-colored eyes turned molten and glowed gold.

  Lucien was a shifter.

  21

  Lucien’s eyes were glowing gold.

  Just like a cat shifter’s.

  “I’ll tell you my secret if you tell me yours,” Mika whispered.

  Instantly Lucien released her and blinked. Just like that his eyes were a hazel brown, lighter than most Korean’s but not something that really stood out if you didn’t know.

  “Hm, I don’t know if I like that game,” Lucien said, slipping his hands back into his pockets. He started walking back towards the stairs. “But I’ll figure your secret out eventually,” he said.

  Mika was outraged. She gritted her teeth and stomped over to him, grabbing his arm and yanking him around. “How dare you?”

  “Dare I do what?” Lucien asked, one eyebrow raised at her like she was just some nobody bothering him.

  “Kiss me like that and then just…just leave!”

  “I thought you didn’t want anything serious?” Lucien smiled at her and she could have sworn there was a flash of gold.

  “Mika, is everything okay?”

  Instantly she released the shifter and glared at Ethan. “It’s fine.”

  “See you in class, Mika,” Lucien called over his shoulder as he headed down the stairs.

  So much for a tour. He’d just wanted to know why she smelled like blood. Mika bared her teeth at Lucien’s back in annoyance.

  Which meant he could smell blood magic.

  If he had been able to smell it earlier she was pretty sure he would have mentioned it when they were sparring – so it must be the bone bracelet. Was that a shifter skill, or somehow specific to him?

  “Are you sure?” Ethan asked, turning to watch Lucien go with a carefully blank expression. “Looked like an argument to me.”

  “I said it was fine, Ethan.” Mika whirled back to the window and crossed her arms over her chest. Was it too early to leave the party? The last thing she needed right now was to explain to Ethan why she was kissing Lucien, or wonder if he’d seen them.

  This was why she didn’t want to get involved with boys. Mika didn’t want to have to deal with them or choose one when both satisfied very different needs…

  Kenzie had three foxes and each was completely different. Mika was starting to understand why three mates worked so well.

  Being loyal to one seemed like a terrible idea. How was she going to find out what she really needed that way, or if she was missing out on something else?

  Nothing serious…who was she kidding?

  “Why are you in a hunter class?” Ethan asked, leaning against the wall next to the window so he could study her face. “I didn’t know you were entertaining that as a career choice.”

  “You didn’t know that because we just met,” Mika told him. “We barely know each other.”

  “Ouch.” Ethan’s eyebrows rose up nearly into his hairline. “Excuse the fuck out of me, but yeah you’re right. It hasn’t been that long.”

  They stood there in silence, watching the band set up.

  “Do you want me to back off?” he asked softly, the irritation leaving his eyes. “It seems like you and Lucien have…a thing.”

  Mika sighed, feeling the anger drain out of her. Of course Ethan wouldn’t be all macho and pushy and demand she choose him over the hunter. Glancing at him, she nearly broke down and cried from the overload of emotions.

  Why did this all have to be so hard?

  “Yes.” Mika threw up her hands. “No.” It was just the first week and she was already more confused than she was before she arrived. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I don’t know what I want, but I like you Ethan. A lot.”

  He looked down and his eyes widened when he saw her hands were bare. “I like you a lot too, Mika. So…let’s just take things slow, yeah? Nothing exclusive.”

  Mika was shocked. “Are you serious?”

  Ethan shrugged and smiled down at the bone bracelet. “I’m not going to pretend I could satisfy your every need. Is that bracelet new?”

  Looking down at the creepy piece of jewelry that kept her from killing Lucien the same way she’d nearly killed Ethan, Mika wondered if that was something they could really do. Could they have an open relationship and make it work?

  Humans did that shit all the time.

  And witches didn’t wed back before they’d integrated into human society – no man could own them if they never married and had no fathers. But they had men they were with – for love, for sex, and to reproduce.

  “Audrey and I found a binding spell,” Mika told him. She lifted up the hand covered in silver bones and flexed it. Somehow the bones looked almost real. “I used a blood magic spell. It works too, tested it and everything.”

  “Really?” Ethan reached out and placed his hand against hers, fingertips to fingertips. “This is amazing. But doesn’t this make it so you can’t do magic at all?”

  It was so weird to touch his skin and know she couldn’t hurt him. “Yup. That’s the catch.”

  Ethan laced his fingers through hers. “And what about the block and all that?”

  Mika shrugged. “Why do you care?”

  He tapped her nose and smiled. “Because you’re an amazing witch. It would be a shame to see all that power and skill go to waste because you’re afraid.”

  She yanked her hand out of his and glared.

  These boys were calling her out and Mika didn’t like it. “I’m allowed to be afraid,” she told him. “I killed someone and didn’t mean it. Imagine what I could do if I tried?”

  Mika turned and stalked toward the stairs.

  She was going to find Audrey and tell her she was calling it quits for the night. Her boots made enough noise on the stairs as she stomped down to draw attention on any normal night, but the music was blasting and the band had officially started up.

  It wasn’t just the fear of her power that was causing the block. Mika knew what power felt like—what amped up power felt like. And blood magic was a thousand times worse. It could be addicting and tempting.

  How easy would it be to do a spell that required a human’s life as the sacrifice instead of a little bit of her own blood?

  Granted there wasn’t a lot she really knew about blood magic. She’d only made it a few chapters into some of the books Eisheth had suggested. It was difficult to digest when everything talked about using blood from people like it was no big deal.

  Mika had grown up with snooty witches. They were judgy and turned up their nose at what some of them considered ‘kitchen magic’ or something like that. Necromancy and blood magic were talked about only in hushed whispers.

  It was a dark magic – and somehow Mika could use it without even trying.

  Someone had died and it had been an accident.

  Her power terrified her – whispered horror stories as teens about the things some of the dark magics could do…

  Mika shivered and practically ran the rest of the way down the stairs.

  She crashed into someone at the bottom of the stairs and muttered an apology for not paying attention. She needed to get out of here.

  “Whoa, are yo
u okay?” Malachi steadied her and peered down like she might just pass out or something.

  “I’m fine,” Mika told him. “I haven’t had anything to drink.” She pushed off his hands and scanned the room for Audrey.

  Where the hell was that girl?

  “I saw Audrey with Natalie out there,” Malachi said carefully, tilting his head toward the massive backyard. “I’m sorry.”

  Mika glared up at him. “I’m not gay and she’s not my girlfriend.”

  Malachi blinked and then he smiled. “Is that right?”

  Definitely time to leave.

  “Just tell her I went home.” Mika turned to leave, ignoring the way he smiled at her.

  Malachi was a large dude. It took everything she had not to look at his arms in that short-sleeved shirt or how his dark skin practically glowed under the warm lights.

  “Hey,” Malachi called. “Are you sure everything’s okay?”

  Mika stopped and glanced over her shoulder at him. She looked the dodgeball captain up and down. “You’re friends with Audrey right?”

  He nodded.

  “Make sure she gets home safe and at a decent time. She has tryouts tomorrow.” Mika headed toward the door with every intention of having a long-ass bubble bath.

  Then a scream pierced the air.

  22

  Mika froze as everything seemed to stop.

  That scream had sounded like Audrey.

  Another scream and she was running, shoving Malachi aside, pushing past random party-goers.

  She shouldn’t have left Audrey’s side. The girl was basically a baby witch. She’d never lived in the paranormal world and born witches didn’t want to educate her – they wanted to torture her.

  Mika shoved another student and another until she found the source of the screaming.

  Audrey was on the ground, holding her head like it might explode with the pretty hunter trying to hold her, to keep her from hurting herself.

  “Move,” Mika snapped—shoving some random. She ran to Audrey’s side and dropped to her knees, checking her temperature and pupils. “What happened?”