Surviving Plagues (Artemis University Book 3) Read online

  “Oh dear, yes, that sounds like a dragon,” Ryfon chuckled. “I’m sure it’s fine if it’s on the far side.” He shot me a look and it hit me he was covering for Hudson knowing he mattered to me.

  But why?

  I got my answer an hour later when I went to check out the dragon dorm once it got dark. It was hard not to laugh when I saw River had added holds.

  The crazy dragon had added custom climbing holds to the side of the dorm as if it was my personal rock climbing practice wall.

  Un-fucking-real.

  “He didn’t like that you fell,” a deep voice said from behind me before arms wrapped around me. “I heard you fall, it woke me, but you were gone by the time I got to the window. River wasn’t happy you got hurt. I had to talk him down to this instead of building you stairs right up to my room as that would be slightly obvious.”

  “Slightly,” I drawled. “He did a good job. I hope people don’t bust them down because they’re valuable.”

  “You’re more valuable,” he mumbled against my neck. “I can put them up again and again so you’re safe.” His hand roamed over my stomach and up to cup my breast. “You have to meet Darby soon, right?”

  “Yeah, I want to get the last section locked in for geometry before the final.”

  “You’ll be fine. The math is complicated but you’re powerful. You’ll lay down that cleansing circle like a pro. Just trust your gut.”

  “Thanks. Is physics as bad?”

  “Worse but you’ll get it too,” he murmured. He kissed my neck as he pulled me backwards towards the woods.

  “I have to go in a few minutes.”

  “Then I still have a few minutes with you,” he growled. He hid us behind some trees and after checking it was okay, slid his hand in my pants, under my panties for some fun. I did the same to him as we kissed and made out, loving how hot it always was between us.

  And then I met up with Darby to study and did it all over again.

  19

  The catering for Friday ended up being a good call as it wasn’t just the one steak left out as a test that got ruined. No, it was any meat or animal product so all the milk went rancid. Eggs—all of it was completely spoiled.

  The good news was it was first thing in the morning so we picked up catering we ordered and paid for and shared it. There were a lot of us who did it so honestly it turned into more a pre-finals party atmosphere.

  Saturday wasn’t as fun with the boils but enough people were taught the rune for infections which was a more focused heal of skin issues that it wasn’t too bad. So they cleared up fast but yeah, watching them pop up on my skin made it hard not to freak out.

  I was pretty drained after helping and I wanted this shit to be over. I got a lot of dirty looks on the day of boils, that was for sure.

  In my defense there hadn’t been any more flyers after the guards shot down the drones. It was ridiculous to think I’d just make an announcement as to my species to everyone just because one person demanded it and fucked with all the students.

  However, there were real concerns about the last plague. Given the derivation with the livestock plague, they weren’t only worried about the firstborn sons but any firstborn children. Many were going home for a few days during review week if we got to the locusts.

  Sunday I was in the library studying when the hail started. The faculty had already prepared for it and put barriers over each building, but I was curious how it was even getting through the wards. I didn’t just want to watch at the windows but I wanted to see the actual sky since the barrier I could do would protect me.

  I was almost to the stairs to head down to the exit when strong arms grabbed me and spun me behind a shelf. We turned a few more times and I kept the momentum going to get a better position but so did the other person.

  A hand covered my mouth before I could yell and he stopped moving so I could see him.

  Lucca held a finger over his lips and glanced down the row we’d ended up on the other side of.

  “Where did she go?” a guy asked. “I just saw her heading this way.”

  “I did too. She can’t run that fast, right?” another growled.

  “Who knows? We don’t know what she is,” a third snapped. “Spread out and find her. I want that bitch out in this hail. She doesn’t get to hide in the barriers when this is because of her.”

  “She can put up a barrier though,” the first replied.

  “Then we strip her and she can stay outside in her barrier while everyone laughs at the bitch,” he seethed. “Find her. Strip her and maybe if she uses that loud mouth for something fun we’ll let her off the hook. Stupid redheaded slut.”

  Lucca moved his arm around me and easily lifted me as he raced faster than I could. We ended up in an area for employees only, a storage cubby. I understood there were more than three if he was that worried and used the spells I learned from Geiger, locking the door and putting up a barrier.

  Lucca sighed in relief and I realized I’d been wrong about his height now that I was this close to him. He was almost a full foot taller than me, not six-four but closer to six-six.

  The cubby wasn’t meant for two or the amount of things stuffed in it. The boxes were piled up and all over each other like a comical filing system in a stereotypical office.

  If it were books that would make sense for a library, but they looked like file boxes. Then again, it could be journals or even books in there for all I knew.

  What I did know was this was too close for us to be together when he was so big. I turned since my shoulder was in his chest and my other one on the shelf. The mistake was turning with my back to him so we were pressed together that way. I had flashes of my first time with Hudson in the storage closet in the student union.

  I shivered when Lucca sniffed my hair, his breath tickling my ear as he leaned down to do it. It threw me into my fantasy of him smelling all of me like the animal he was before licking me and then fucking me.

  “Yes, I want that too,” he hissed as he pressed his lower body against me, letting me feel his hard-on… Which was massive. Shit. “I just wanted to keep you safe when I heard them but yes, I want you. Tell me I can, Tamsin. You’re putting this in my head, right? You want it too?”

  I flinched, realizing my telepathy was on and I was projecting images to him. “Sorry. You were the first time it happened. Something about your mind makes my telepathy flip easier.” I cleared my throat as his hands moved to cover mine on the shelf. “I didn’t mean to.”

  “That doesn’t mean you don’t want to,” he murmured, nuzzling my neck. “I want you, Tamsin. I’m sorry for whatever my asshole father did to upset you but I’m not him.”

  I cleared my throat again and wiggled about to turn around, which didn’t help from the way he groaned. I managed it and honestly, putting us face to face wasn’t a better idea. His hands were still on the shelf and he was leaning down close enough to almost kiss me.

  And I wanted that kiss. I wanted him to slide his hands under my shirt and touch my breasts. I wanted him to grind that hard-on against me until he came and then have him beg for a taste of me.

  “You have to stop or I will come,” he growled, snapping me out of my head again. His eyes flashed shock as I felt myself flush. “You’re really not doing it on purpose?”

  “No, I have to focus and try with others and it just started,” I muttered, turning my head again when I thought he was moving to kiss me. “Sorry.”

  “I would beg,” he murmured, running his nose along my neck as he pressed his groin against me. “I would beg every time to touch you, Tamsin. I would be so good to you. I’m not my father. I’m a nice man who respects people. I would respect you, treasure you. What else do you want with me, kitten?”

  “Kitten? I’m not some alley cat,” I grumbled, hating it when people referred to me that way.

  “No, you’re a sex kitten that every man wants, hopes you’ll sink your claws in him and own him,” he cooed, running his nose along my
skin. “I won’t tell. I haven’t told. I know you don’t trust me but give me this. Show me what you fantasize about. What you would fantasize with me if you gave me the chance. Show me.” He pressed his lips against my ear, his body moving closer. “I want your cream, kitten.”

  That did it. I shivered and got lost in my head, not caring he could see it too.

  I wanted him to see what I desired.

  I showed him how he begged to have me sit on his face, pleasing me until I couldn’t take any more. Then he stood and easily held my weight, drilling me as I was folded in half, my arms around his neck and legs over his arms. He moaned and ground his body against mine. I went further, showing him how I’d ride him as he thrust up in me while I sat on his lap.

  Then he would beg and beg for even the chance to clean me up, take me again in the shower and worship every inch of me.

  Lucca grunted and I snapped out of it again when I realized he’d come in his jeans. I was completely pressed into the bookshelf, his hands on my ass holding me to him.

  “It’s so vivid,” he panted, his lips against my neck as he gasped for air. “I can practically taste you, know how you’d feel around me. It’s not just images, kitten. I can feel you in my mind, touching me not just in my head. I want more. I want you. Let me have you.”

  That really snapped me out of it.

  No, Hudson was a fluke thing. I wasn’t going to become the woman who hooked up with half the campus in whatever closet or cubby she could find. I didn’t even trust Lucca—and certainly not his father—but there was no way.

  He seemed to sense when I came back to reality, brushing his lips over my skin. “I’m sorry. I promised not to hold it against you if you showed me and then I demanded more. I’m sorry. I’ll be good, kitten. I won’t push anymore. I just wanted you to come too. I don’t want to be selfish with you ever.”

  I shrugged. “It seemed only fair after I was teasing you without meaning to.”

  He chuckled deeply, his whole body shaking with it so I could feel too. “Tease me all you want. It’s a step towards what I want.”

  I frowned, looking at him then. “What do you want?”

  Sex, right? Guys just wanted that and said whatever to get it.

  “You. I want you, Tamsin.” He cleared his throat when I pulled away, thinking we’d hidden long enough. He trapped me against the door when I took off the lock and barrier. “I’ll share you with the vampire. I know you like him. I see it. Let me take you to dinner. Give me a chance to show you I’m worth the risk.”

  “I have to study,” I mumbled. “Thanks for the save.” I booked it out of the cubby, completely confused as to what the fuck I was doing. I mean, really, what was I doing?

  Three guys wasn’t enough for me? I needed to start something with a fourth?

  Yeah, I needed my head examined for sure.

  “What happened?” Darby asked me when I came back to the table. I gave him a curious look. “You look upset. What did the hail tell you?”

  I glanced at the window and saw it was still going on and I didn’t even go down. “I didn’t check it out. Some guys wanted to strip me and throw me out in it. I heard them when I saw something before the stairs.”

  “We should get out of here then. Your barrier can hold against the hail, right? Let’s go to your room.”

  “Yeah, that’s a good idea,” I agreed, hurrying to pack up my stuff when he did. I actually texted Mel as well just in case there was a problem but it was also something the school should maybe know about.

  Just as I reached the exit, the door was yanked open and startled me. It wasn’t the students though. Craftsman stood there with relief thick in his eyes… And his forehead bleeding.

  “No, time, let’s go,” he explained, grabbing my arm to escort me and nodding to Darby.

  I threw up a barrier and realized that was the blood on Craftsman. He hadn’t thought about a barrier. Something had happened that he’d just come for me. I was dying to know but it wasn’t the time to ask. We hurried over to the witch dorm and to my room.

  “I was just texting you that I was here,” Mel said as she opened the door for us. “What happened?”

  I repeated what I knew—leaving Lucca out of it—and shrugged.

  “It was a bit more than that,” Craftsman explained.

  “And how do you know that?” Darby asked.

  It hit me and I blinked at Craftsman. “You used that rune you did the first day of class but for me. You monitor what people say about me on campus.”

  The shock that filled his eyes turned to impressed. “Yes. It’s one very large journal but I haven’t had much time to look it all over as it’s a lot. But I’ve been watching it more with the unrest on campus about the plagues. Most seem to agree it’s another school fucking with us or pissed at them but some are tired of it and blame you.”

  “What did they say that you came racing for me without even throwing up a barrier?” I murmured as I quickly wrote the healing rune on him and checked his head. I grabbed some tissues and cleaned up the blood.

  “I’m okay, love,” he murmured since everyone in the room knew about us.

  Izzy was just sitting there in shock, glancing between us like a tennis match. “So you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, I hid until they went by.”

  “Those guys were angry but there’s another faction that wants samples from you so someone can test what you are,” Craftsman warned, looking grim. “They think if they get it to their elders or council and confirm who you’re under or this hybrid theory that they’ll be set for life.”

  “The good news is they can’t just get hair and test it,” Mel told me before I freaked out. “Blood might not even tell them everything they wanted to know so it’s not like yanking out a few strands of hair.”

  “Correct, and from what I read, it seemed like a buildup of freaking out that made this crazy sound good. Between the plagues and finals—people lose their heads. We’ll make it clear we know of them and will report them to their councils if they try anything and they’ll chill but I wasn’t sure I’d get to you first.”

  “Because the other group wanted to strip me naked and toss me out on the quad,” I muttered, giving him a soft smile. “I think I can handle that.”

  “They’re master’s students who know how to use advanced magic in fighting,” he warned. “I didn’t want to take the chance.”

  “Thanks, Doc,” I murmured, running my fingers over his cheek before turning away. “Well, as long as we’re here, I wanted to talk you to guys about break.” I cleared my throat and sat down on my bed. “Claudia sent me a proposal after hearing about the food challenges and I admitted we got recognized in Canada after the thing in Michigan.”

  “What did the smoking hot dragon genius think up?” Izzy asked, batting her eyelashes at me.

  Okay then, it seemed Izzy was into Claudia. Good to know.

  “That we start a food blog with social media stuff,” I answered, gesturing to Izzy, Mel, and myself. “She said I need more write-offs and I can’t write off food unless I do something with it. It sounds like yeah, everyone’s doing that but most go for a few days and can’t check out a whole area. Or they live there and it’s a bit biased as they live there.”

  “No, no way we take pictures of ourselves and—” Mel started to argue.

  “No people,” I cut in. “Just the food and fun places if we decide to check anything out. We don’t even do names and we don’t do it like live marking we’re there. We don’t even post anything until we’re out of the area for safety reasons.”

  “If it’s for tax write-offs and you get to have fun I can’t see the harm,” Darby muttered.

  “Yeah, but that’s a lot of time to not even have an angle or do something popular,” Mel grumbled.

  “Well, I thought of an angle and Claudia liked it,” I admitted. “Not backpacking through Europe type travel and foodie blog but frame it as a college freshman on break taking her best friend and older sister
to places and doing a deep dive. We’ve got our camera woman and our editor as we need. We’re going home for break but we don’t have limits on portals.”

  “And I’m going to finish the permanent one in your garage now that I have what I need,” Craftsman agreed.

  “Exactly, so that’s better than a hotel,” I pushed. “Izzy was talking about wanting to see that Boba tea hot pot in Vancouver. Okay, let’s do Vancouver for winter break. We’ve all got a lot of work and studying to do so fuck making food and let’s just map out a plan of fun and use the portals. They’re two hours behind us and so what?

  “We could do every meal and maybe check out some of the sites and instead of going back to a hotel, go back through the portal. Hit every food truck, not just the ones people are talking about, and even every dive spot only the locals know about. We think up a cute name or something fun and do it on breaks, post for a week of what we did in one day or whatever.”

  “You have an idea for a name,” Craftsman accused, smiling when I cleared my throat. “I make sure to watch auras a lot.”

  I sighed. “The three of us love mushrooms. I’ve heard Mel bitch for years when people leave off the fungus among us. I thought we could call it Hungus Among Us.”

  Mel burst out laughing, grabbing her stomach as she kept laughing. She finally got it together and smiled at me. “I love you.”

  “I love you too,” I chuckled.

  “Care to explain?” Darby asked, glancing between us.

  “One of our friends is from New Zealand,” Mel answered. “It’s why we always say ‘mate’ and somehow got it stuck in our vocabulary. ‘Hungus’ is New Zealand slang for someone needing food or starving. It’s also her nickname for Tamsin since she’s always hungry.”

  I shrugged. “It’s only fair since I always call her ‘perky nips’ since her fake tits are always on high beams.”

  “One, that’s funny. Two, I’m dying to meet these porn friends of yours and I mean they can get me naked,” Izzy cut in. “Three, do you want supe social media too? Like the edge of what top-tier Artemis students do on their time off and don’t you want to travel there too?”