Veiled Spirits

Luca laughs. I’m momentarily stunned by how young he looks with his head thrown back and face open and unguarded. With his imposing presence, it’s easy to forget he isn’t much older than me. “What happened?” Luca asks when he gets his laughter under control.

“Oh, nothing out of the ordinary. I just got slammed into a wall and demeaned, while not being able to lay them on their asses.” I’d love nothing more than to give Danielle, Madison, and Tina the beat down they deserve.

“Why can’t you physically fight them?” Luca’s forehead wrinkles in confusion at my restraint. Ah, to be a wolf. What a life. Wolves solve their problems with bloodshed. Mages turn everything into a complicated political chess game. It’s exhausting trying to keep up with it.

“I’d probably get kicked out if I broke their stupid noses. My dad keeps the headmaster from expelling me for most things, but I don’t know if he could fight it if I fucked them up.” Getting expelled means getting sent to the mage council for reformation. With the required magic testing, I wouldn’t last an hour. So, I suck up my pride and let them bully me.

“That’s a really shitty situation to be in. I’m sorry, little one.” As Luca talks, we pass between the final two buildings between campus and the visitor lot.

I scrunch up my nose at his nickname. I’m not small. I’m actually above average in height. It’s not my fault his parents were apparently eight-foot-tall giants. “That’s a horrible endearment.”

Luca sighs. “Would you prefer baby?”

I snort. “That’s awfully basic of you, wolf boy. Can’t come up with anything more creative?”

He growls at me and tugs us to a stop. With his hold on my hand, Luca pulls until I crash into his front. Luca places his warm palm on my back to keep me from moving away. “You drive me fucking crazy, wildcat. You know that?”

“Um,” I say, unable to formulate an intelligent response with him this close. I’m drowning in his dark forest scent. Every inch of my body is pressed against his muscular one, and it’s short-circuiting my brain.

“I’m trying to be on my best behavior with you. Yet you challenge me at every turn. My wolf is riding me hard. He wants me to make you submit,” Luca rasps. He leans down until his lips are inches from mine, and I can’t stop thinking about whether his lips are as soft as they look.

“How would you make me submit?” My voice comes out breathless, instead of the steady disinterest I was aiming for.

Luca chuckles, the sound holding a dark promise and threat all in one. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to, Isabel.”

I like the way my full name sounds on his lips, but I don’t show it. Instead, I scowl at him. “Who says I don’t want the answer?” Luca has a bad habit of acting like he knows what’s best for me. He doesn’t. The wolf doesn’t know me well enough for that.

Another deep growl rumbles in Luca’s chest as he leans even closer, his lips almost touching mine. “I’d force you down on your hands and knees. Then I’d fuck you so hard, you’d be too exhausted to sass me, wildcat.”

“Oh,” I squeak. My brain is too full of images of Luca fucking me to formulate a full sentence. Most of me screams sign me up, wolf boy. The few brain cells that actually have any sense left shout that it’s an awful idea. I doubt Luca would be able to stop himself from completing the mate bond if he fucked me. I know I sure wouldn’t.

He flashes me a savage grin before pulling back. “Come on, Izzy. Let’s go before we give the mages here a show they don’t need to see.” Luca removes his hand from my back and tugs me along by my hand.

I follow along pliantly until I shake myself out of my lust-induced stupor. Then I hurry up to walk even with Luca. “Wildcat is an aggressively better nickname than little one or baby. It’s not as good as supreme world overlord, though.”

Luca snorts and shakes his head at me. “I’m glad that’s all you got from the conversation.”

I just shrug. We walk in silence the rest of the way.

CHAPTER 18

IZZY

When we walk into the parking lot, I immediately spot his muscle car. “You brought the Charger!”

“I did, wildcat. And I’m going to teach you how to drive it today,” Luca tells me as we walk to his car. When we reach it, he leans against the Charger with a half smile.

“What?! No way!” I exclaim as I bounce on my toes in excitement. I’m practically jumping up and down, I’m so stoked. Turning to Luca with a stupid grin on my face, I hug him. One of his arms wraps around my lower back. He cups the back of my neck with his other hand.

After a moment, I step back from the hug I liked way too much. My cheeks are slightly pink with embarrassment at initiating another hug. I don’t hug people unless I’m under duress. I don’t know what’s gotten into me, but I don’t like it.

“I haven’t seen you like this before.”

“Like what?” I ask, peering up at him through my blonde lashes.

“I don’t know. Carefree? Happy, maybe?” The earlier laughter has been wiped from Luca’s face. He’s staring down at me pensively, seeing way more than I want him to.

“You can thank Michael Westen for it,” I tell him flippantly, trying to distract him from thinking about why I don’t seem upbeat or relaxed most of the time. I don’t need the wolf digging into my life and discovering everything I’m trying to hide to keep him safe.