Skye
Alex shuts the door of his condo with a crack that echoes from one end of the space to the other. I turn in a circle, tapping my chin in thought as he moves aimlessly through the kitchen, opening and shutting cabinets like the answer to this mess will be found on a shelf between pieces of glassware he never uses.
“Obviously, it was Kai,” I say, and Alex braces his hands on the counter.
“I find it hard to believe that Kanten was in the lab at all.”
“So this other vampire killed him and took him there!”
“No, Skye, not with all the maintenance workers around securing that section of campus.”
“Then he was in the lab, and so was Kai, while you were drilling. Abby’s data points toward tampering. What did Toby say in your office? Explosives?”
“We would have heard it.” He smooths his hands over the counter. “Skye?”
“Yeah?”
“I need you to consider something.”
My stomach drops to my toes. I already know what he’s going to ask before his lips part. “No. I’m not going back to Moonrise. Don’t argue with me about it, either.”
He gives me a look from under the cover of his dark, thick eyelashes. “Kai did this, which means he’s on campus, which means he knows exactly where I am and who I’m with.”
“Then why hasn’t he made a move on you here yet?”
“Because he’s fucking with me and my job, trying to force me out of the shadows. I could have killed him, I suppose, a decade ago. The fact that he’s been able to hunt me down makes me believe he lost his kingdom after I killed his mother and has ample time on his hands to drag this out and hurt me where it will have the most effect.”
“Then you ignore it for now. You didn’t kill your dean. You know that. Toby was with you until the last second.”
“He will come after you. That’s a given.”
I edge toward him, feeling shockingly light despite the circumstances. I’ve never had the opportunity to really dig deep into my power profile, even after an extended period without wearing my bracelet, but now, I feel amazing–like the stars at my fingertips are mine for the taking.
“Please don’t worry about me. Honestly, if he came to us, it would make this far easier, but I have a feeling he’s going to keep his distance for a while if you’re right, and he’s doing all of this to mess with you.” I sidle up to his side. “Let him come. Alloway might be the bigger fight.”
“She does have grounds to believe I had a hand in his death. My disdain was unfortunately documented.”
“It means nothing,” I try to assure him, but I’m also internally reckoning with what the next few days will look like.
But days pass, and the campus’s electric pulse returns like nothing happened–just like after Laney’s death. I get it, I guess. Academia and the thrill of the chase of academic prowess suck everyone here into its orbit, making everything else matter far less than I suppose it should. Alex, however, is either totally unreachable or standing mere feet away from me at all times. It’s a strange dance, and his frustration and unease send my senses into a riot I haven’t been able to calm.
Midterms are a shitshow, to put it lightly. The biology department, especially Alex’s students, take over one of the random bubble labs on the surface of the ice and try to salvage what little research they can during the next two weeks, but it seems fruitless. His lab is roped off, and his badge no longer works to access it, but the university seems keen to sweep the entire situation under the rug.
Even Dr. Kanten’s death has been kept quiet, with the general consensus being that the man went on extended leave. Only the board and the heads of Alex’s department are allowed to know the truth until the Alpha of Aurorium’s authorities finish their investigation.
I lecture like usual, and Alex is always there, sitting in the back of either the lecture hall or the observatory. I go to his lectures to ease his mind about my whereabouts, and while he’s otherwise indisposed, Toby has been tasked with ensuring the vampire who has a bounty on my head, according to Alex, can’t get me alone.
Abby came around about three weeks after the lab collapsed. At first, she dodged my calls and attempts to apologize and clear the air, but she soon grew bored and moved on to new drama, like how rumors have started to fly about me and Alex. Also, her curiosity about whether or not Alex has similar anatomy to a male shifter, or if his body is different in places I’m sure he’d like to remain private, got the best of her, and when Solstice Break began, we were back to our usual routines together–grocery shopping at the commissary, drinking coffee in the commons, and whisper-fighting in the library.
But the current of unease runs thick, even now, weeks after the lab collapse and the murder of the biology department’s dean. It weighs on Alex, especially now that Kai has seemingly disappeared.
Maybe it’s over.
Or, maybe it’s just beginning.
Alex moves behind me in his bathroom, pulling on a sweatshirt over his thermals. His hair is still wet from the shower, and my body is still pink and covered in his bites when he reaches past me to grab his watch off the counter. He takes up so much space in my head, just like he takes up so much space in this bathroom, which is now also full of my favorite “can’t live without” toiletries. We bump into each other when I open the cabinet behind the mirror to find my toothbrush.
“I can go back to my place, you know. I was given a rather nice condo only a few doors down.”
“I have some guys coming today to move your mattress here and to get rid of mine,” he says, pressing a kiss to my temple, and my argument is effectively moot.
Moving in together wasn’t a conversation we had in earnest. It happened naturally, over the course of several stressful weeks where we sought shelter from our situation and campus politics in each other's arms, which meant I started spending more and more time here. It started slowly with my toothbrush getting its own spot, then some clothes, then a few of my favorite rocks and crystals found homes on his windowsills.
Then Solstice rolled around, and I didn’t travel home for the holiday. Alex brought my plants over, which we decorated with ornaments and string lights. It was a strange but comforting glimpse into a future I’m not sure either of us think will actually happen, but we did it, and made that memory ours, even if the world still feels like it’s on the verge of caving in.
But that two-week-long bubble of delusion popped when the spring semester started. Alex began to loosen up his concern over me. Kai hasn’t made any appearances, and no one else has died… so life moved on. The board announced Kanten’s untimely death but left out the details of the murder that we’re also still in the dark about. I don’t know how he died. Even Toby and Alex aren’t aware of the details, and Alloway’s hope of Alex becoming dean was quashed in one formal meeting with her and the board, where he pretty much said he’d rather run naked across the ice field until he reached the border of Crescent Falls than be the dean.
Alloway didn’t like that very much.
Meanwhile, I spent my time researching the stars and mapping the heavens… and moving more and more of my things into Alex’s condo until my home was nothing more than a shell of stale air and plaster walls.
It feels right lying next to him in bed, even though he rarely needs to sleep. It’s a comfort I find hard to explain.
I know two things for certain now. The first being that Alex and I were meant to cross paths. There’s so much about him that aligns with me and who I am. He makes me feel fuller than I ever have and calms my mind to the point that the constant chatter of the stars drowns out, and I can function like a normal being again.
The second thing I know for certain is that scrying isn’t as easy as my dad and grandma make it sound… and doing it in secret is damn near impossible with a vampire boyfriend hovering over my every move.
“What’s up with that bowl in the kitchen?” Alex asks around his toothbrush while I braid my hair.
“Oh, it’s just a salad bowl,” I lie. I don’t like lying to him at all, but desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose. “Abby found it in that antique shop in Aurorium.”
“Your rocks would look nice in it,” he muses, distracted. He got an email this morning that the Beta of Aurorium wants to see him, so he set up a meeting in the little city across the ice. I can tell he doesn’t want to go, and we both know, but haven’t voiced, that this has everything to do with the investigation into Kanten’s death.
The collapse was eventually ruled a freak accident, even though Abby’s data says otherwise. The four of us thought maybe it was for the best and have been living in this bubble of delusion for far too long now. I woke up this morning after a series of dreams that made me break out in a cold sweat. Visions danced behind my closed eyelids for hours that I couldn’t decipher, which makes me believe something’s coming, but it’s something I can stop.
If I scry.
And find that fang-toothed bastard before he can hurt Alex any further.
I follow Alex out of the steamy bathroom, watching as he pulls on his coat and slides into boots. He grabs a bag off the counter and slings it over his shoulder–dressed for not only the weather but an entire day in Aurorium. I saw his list of errands. I saw the texts from Toby, who’s likely on his way to the subway station right now to meet him, so they can go together.
Abby is likely hiding out at the entrance of The Pillars, waiting for Alex to leave so we can enact our plan.
I suppose not being typical mates means I can get away with stuff like this.
“If anything happens,” he says, hesitating by the door, “please–”
“I’m going to be fine. Everything is totally fine, Alex. I’m safe. I’m just hanging out today.” I hate this. Goddess, I hate lying to him! “Abby’s going to come over later, and we’re going to make popcorn and watch that show she loves.”
“The dating show?”
I nod, and he continues to hesitate. I can see the gears turning behind his eyes–trying to come up with excuses to stay here and ignore the Beta’s summons.
“If you don’t go, the Beta will come here and cause a ruckus.”
“You’re right. I know,” he breathes, annoyed. “All right. I’ll be back this evening.”
“I know you will. And I’ll be here. I promise.” I resist the urge to cross my fingers behind my back. He slips through the door. I start a timer on my phone for exactly three minutes and pace back and forth around the kitchen island. The timer dings, and I move.
“Abby?” I hang the upper half of my body beyond the entrance of The Pillars into the corridor leading to the center of campus.
Abby pops up from behind a trash can, looking frazzled and slightly red in the face. “I almost got caught. Almost. Goddess, he walked right past me and stopped.”
“We have maybe four hours to do this.”
“Is that a long time or a short time?” she asks nervously, but I grab her wrist and pull her into the hallway, where we rush past other doors and Solstice decorations people have failed to take down, which grinds Alex’s gears in a way I find hilarious, but I digress.
Closed inside Alex’s condo once again, I turn to Abby, who pulls several containers of table salt out of her backpack and sets them on the counter beside the bowl. “Is this safe?”
“No,” I admit, and it’s the most honest thing I’ve said all day. “Are you ready?”