Dodging Calamities (Artemis University Book 7) Read online

  Table of Contents

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  Find A New Series To Love…

  About the Author

  Other Titles by Erin R Flynn

  A Supernatural Script Inc. Book

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  My name is Tamsin Vale and I’m the last known fairy… And I think I’m out of time. The walls are closing in from all sides and we’re quickly running out of options.

  But I don’t think help is coming.

  Making up with Darby and Lucca—having them at my side—has helped my soul, but I’m still missing pieces of it. I want to let Hudson back in, though I don’t know how.

  And I really wish I could move on from Craftsman. Why can I not let go of the man who nearly destroyed me?

  There are too many other things I should be focused on. McGrath is circling and must be handled. The warlock elders are stepping up their attempts to get me. Others are getting too desperate and that makes people dangerous, but trying to make friends with the wrong people will get me killed.

  I really wish help was coming because I don’t think I’ll survive without it.

  Artemis University is an ongoing hot burning reverse harem, university-age paranormal academy series with darker elements, strong language, violence, and a heroine who follows her own moral compass of what is right… And who she ends up giving her heart to.

  1

  “Okay, let’s fuck,” I announced after swinging up into Hudson’s room the afternoon before classes resumed from midterm break. I’d seen him at dinner, and the energy crackling between us had pushed me over the edge. It had been building and going insane all semester, invading my dreams—even over break—and I just… I couldn’t deal with it anymore.

  “I’m sorry?” he whispered as he blinked at me, rubbing his arms as it swarmed his body as well.

  I let out a frustrated growl as I fisted my hair. “I can’t take this anymore! Let’s just fuck it out. I need it to dissipate. It’s so distracting to the point it’s gonna get me in trouble. So fine, we can fuck. Let’s fuck.”

  And in a flash, it stopped. It was as if I’d jumped in cold water when my skin was sunburnt. I gasped, and it was my turn to blink at him, completely confused as to what had just happened.

  Except he wouldn’t look at me.

  “There, it’s gone. You—we don’t need to now.”

  Rage filled me as I realized what had been going on. “You’ve been controlling it? Controlling me with—”

  “No.”

  “Bullshit,” I rasped, hating he could still break my heart. I turned to book it back out the window, but he was faster, grabbing me around the waist and making me move further into the room, cutting off my escape.

  “No, I will not let there be one more misunderstanding between us that I cause,” he declared, chuffing in a way that let me know his dragon was riding him. “I cannot control the mating energy between us. I can’t. It is a draw and a bond. I did not know, nor think, it could happen between those of a different species. I thought—and for months—it was because of the way your magic spiraled.”

  There was more to it, but he was waiting for me to accept that. I flipped on my telepathy, listening to his thoughts that were racing too fast for him to lie, nodding when I believed him, and he could continue.

  “I thought it was because of the way you’d protected my family, bonded with River, that we were important to each other. I don’t know. Fate brought you here, and Melody back to our knights—I don’t know.” Again he waited and I nodded. “Then I found evidence it could be from another species, but it wasn’t clear. It was all—I should have looked into it more and talked with you. I was wrong.”

  “What was this now?” I asked, not wanting to talk about that.

  He cleared his throat. “The only time the energy stops is when both mates have been injured by the other. Fate won’t force physical attraction or push for sexual intimacy when both are injured.”

  I couldn’t even hide my reaction, shock and disgust blooming all over my face. “So fate is pushing me to forgive you because it makes me horny?”

  Anger filled his eyes, but he let out a slow breath and chilled. “You are so damn pessimistic, but I understand why.” He huffed. “I try to. No, that’s not—it’s not about being horny, Tamsin. I’m your mate. It hurts me to see you upset. Doesn’t—weren’t you in pain to see River and I upset?”

  That was fair and the truth, and I acknowledged it, chilling a bit even as I crossed my arms over my chest. I even went a step further. “I’m sorry. This is all sensitive to me given how I found out. I’m not trying to be a bitch or shit on your traditions. I didn’t grow up with any of this, and from what I’ve seen, all the mating stuff seems a lot like traps, not good stuff.”

  He didn’t respond right away, sighing. “I understand, but I’ve only seen the loving side. My parents were an alliance pairing, but were mates. They are yin to yang, and their love is so real and amazing. It’s what every dragon dreams of finding, so it’s an instant reaction to defend it.”

  “I’ll try and chill, but that’s the best I can promise.”

  “I appreciate that.” He cleared his throat. “So the push is for me to make amends and fix that I hurt my mate, even though you asked for time. Maybe you give me the chance to make things right, but fate and the gods won’t be so shallow that sex makes everything right.”

  Again, that was fair, and I acknowledged it. So, that left what had happened just now, and I asked the question again. I was shocked when anger filled his eyes.

  “Casual can still mean respect, right? I don’t think I ever disrespected you as scratching an itch or just getting some. If you need to get off, I’ve seen the toys you have, or there are dildos you can fuck. I’m not—I know I’ve screwed up in every way that hurt you and I’m a horrible person for what I’ve done, but I’m not a cheap fuck. I’m your mate, so please don’t treat me like that ag
ain and destroy me. Please leave.”

  My jaw fell open as he moved away from the window. My feet moved on their own, my shoulders sagging as I couldn’t even seem to process what he’d said, but feeling horrible and like a grounded pup as I hurried to get out of there. It wasn’t until I was halfway down the building that it started sinking in.

  And I had no idea how to react.

  No, I knew I needed to get out the magic that was snowballing in me, and fast, nodding to Ray who was shadowing me in wolf form. I went out to the witch and warlock part of the woods and destroyed some trees that could be cut down for firewood. Then I decided to work on my growing magic for botany, so I was replacing what I had destroyed.

  Ray made a noise of warning that sounded like something natural to be heard in the woods right before I felt someone approaching.

  I turned and saw Instructor McGrath approaching. Fuck. He was one of the last people I really wanted to deal with right then. The council spy and my potions teacher was a pervert and sick fuck that I wanted to take down. With the mood I was in, I might bury him in the woods, not slap on the smile and play the game I needed to.

  “Did you need the area to practice?” I asked him, deliberately leaving off his title, which I knew pissed him the fuck off from his thoughts. He was a Dom and all women were submissive to him, so my not respecting him as he deserved and showing him my neck all the time set him off.

  Which was seriously fun.

  Plus, it made him miss the dig that I implied he needed to practice something. It was so much more fun when the foes were dense.

  “No, I heard what sounded like explosions in the forest and had asked last time what the noise was,” he answered with as fake of a smile as mine. “When I received the answer of ‘Vale working out her demons,’ I thought it curious and decided to come see this time. What demons are you tackling this time?”

  It was hard not to laugh as that whole answer was bullshit.

  I studied him a moment, letting him squirm mentally. “Huh. That’s odd.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “What is?”

  “I didn’t think I had done anything in the woods here this semester.” And I hadn’t, which was why his answer was such bullshit.

  “Shit. I hadn’t factored that as a possibility when she’s such a hothead. She’s had to. All the council and teachers speak of is her temper and violent behavior.” He blinked around at the destruction as if backing up his thoughts. “For you, this is probably nothing much to note, but it’s fairly hard to forget for someone experiencing it for the first time.”

  My lips twitched before I could stop them, even snorting. He was such an idiot he didn’t realize what he’d just admitted, and I couldn’t let it go. Honestly, it wasn’t in my nature to let it go, and that would send up warning flags for him.

  Or so I told myself.

  “Sorry you’ve never experienced something like being able to do power claps that can take out trees,” I replied, my tone suppressing the mocking that he wasn’t strong enough. I lost my mirth when his thoughts turned dark and involved smacking me around and putting me in my place. I couldn’t put him in his place, so I poked him how I could. “No demons, simply helping the teachers with the firewood.”

  He again raised an eyebrow at me, not doing a very good job at trying to be on my level and not look down his nose at me. “You don’t have any demons?”

  “We all have demons.”

  “Good, then I’m here to—”

  I snorted, smirking when he couldn’t even hide his rage I snorted at him. “Yeah, you want to listen to all my demons. I caught that. So you followed me out to the middle of the forest. That’s just weird and if I need to talk, I’ll talk to my boyfriend or my friends. I’ll skip talking to the random man who I don’t know and is taking an overenthusiastic interest in me.”

  “She is way more distrusting than people say. She is a bleeding heart and open to everyone. There’s no way she’s seen through my act. No woman is intelligent enough to figure me out and certainly not this fast.”

  Oh, this fucker was pushing it. Really pushing it.

  “You’re not as good of an actor as you think. Your agenda is fairly clear, and given you came in the same time as all the exchange students, I don’t need three guesses as to what your goal probably is.” I clapped my hands and took out a tree several feet away from where he was standing. “Does that clear up whatever you came out here to learn, or do we need to chat some more?”

  He glanced from me to the tree, swallowing loudly. “You are severely misunderstanding my intentions, Tamsin.”

  “Ms. Vale,” I corrected, pissing him off again. “You’re my teacher, and we are not friends. I never gave you permission to call me by my first name as the school rules require last names, but go ahead.”

  “Of course, Ms. Vale,” he bit out. “I assumed by you not calling me Instructor McGrath, you were being informal with me.”

  “Yes, but I didn’t call you by your first name—which I don’t even know.” I shrugged as if it was inconsequential. Man, he was fun to fuck with.

  “I understand your abusive and problematic past leads you towards paranoid thoughts and tendencies—”

  I threw back my head and laughed, going on when I saw the steam practically coming out of his ears. “So now you’re my shrink? Man, you go right up there with Campbell deciding what’s best for me, and like you know all about me without ever having a real conversation with me. My file here is seriously thin.”

  I bit back a smile as his thoughts told me that the council had hired several human and supe private investigators to pull everything they could on me, including as much as they could that Geiger had erased from the system. Wow, they were really going all in.

  Too bad they sent another idiot in as their spy who I was getting more from than they were from me.

  “It’s only paranoid if wrong, Instructor,” I purred. “And I have yet to be when it comes to people thinking they’re predators and I’m prey in this world. Hell, in the human world too. You’ve clearly looked into me, and there is no reason for that without some sort of intentions I won’t like. Plus, your eyes do not match your words ninety percent of the time.”

  That made him flinch, but I didn’t give him time to respond.

  “If you know even a fraction of my history, you know I’ve spent a lot of time around monsters and predators. I’m exceptionally good at spotting them and the funny thing is, they always have something in common. They underestimate others. They’re always smarter, better, and look down on those they hunt. They never see the reality of those who stand before them as their sickness warps their minds.”

  “She can hear me. She can—she said my mind. No, no, I’ve always worn the charm. There was that one time. She—there has to be—she must have heard something that one time the charm fell off. That must be the reason she went on guard. That can be the only explanation. There is no other way. Women aren’t capable otherwise.”

  I shut off my telepathy, not wanting his bile to set me off. I honestly couldn’t handle it. Part of me wanted to call Ray and fully bust this asshole on how many of us had easily called his bullshit… But that would sort of defeat the purpose of a woman being able to stand toe-to-toe with him.

  “Your telepathy blocking charm might keep me out of your head, but your tells are far from under control, so I suggest you find other prey before I stop finding your circling me like a shark amusing and decide to react,” I warned. I clapped and took out a tree much closer to him before throwing up a barrier and hiding myself from him completely.

  And then took it down when I was directly in front of him, smirking when he yelped at a higher pitch than most men his size could make.

  “You think you’re the predator here. You are mistaken.” I walked off laughing, wondering if I should use a water rune to put out the flames of rage coming off of him.

  “That was not the plan,” Ray reminded me when he fell in step with me closer to my dorm, wearing o
nly shorts.

  I put a barrier up so no one could hear us. “No, but I got something from him today, and it’s the first useful thing in a while. However, he’s in a prime spot to do more damage. He needs to be handled, and soon.”

  “You have an idea of how to do that?”

  “Already going.”

  “Tell me what you found.”

  So I did. He was not happy, but it was information we needed. It was a problem to handle later, and I was already on top of because I’d gone out to the woods to deal with the situation I’d created with Hudson.

  And I wasn’t any fucking closer to having an answer to that one.

  After dinner, I’d decided to meet up with Lucca since he’d kept looking at me as if plotting the best way to get me naked and have me for dessert. Yes, and please. He’d easily sniffed me out and followed me to the empty building and classroom—having more than our pick on a Sunday night—and banged me against the wall.

  Twice.

  “Are you ever going to forgive him? He’s miserable and needs you. He’s a mess without you.” he asked when we were done, panting and his chest heaving.

  And still inside of me.

  “What?” I gasped, my eyes going wide as it hit me who he was talking about. “Are you fucking kidding me right now?”

  He closed his eyes and lowered his forehead to mine. “I’m sorry, that came out—”

  “Get off of me,” I snapped.

  “Kitten, I’m sorry,” he murmured, sounding like a pup who’d gotten spanked, but still did as I wanted. He gently pulled out and lowered me onto my shaky legs. “I’m sorry. My brain-mouth filter wasn’t—”

  “Yeah, but he was still on your brain while having sex with me,” I bitched as I tried to get to my clothes on wobbly legs. “It doesn’t change you were thinking of someone else just because he’s a man, Lucca. I know you guys are—were—I don’t know—together, but that’s separate from us.”

  “It is, but I care about you both,” he whispered. “It’s a hard position to be in.”