Page 47 of First Ritual
My eyes narrowed. “You and your boy club have been testing out the ground already. Sven with the interrogation. Huxley with the—”
Wild squeezed his eyes shut, jaw clenching. “Please don’t say it.”
I stared. “What?”
He didn’t want me to say kiss?
“Look.” He rubbed his forehead. “My reaction to those encounters is one of the symptoms I need to talk with you about.”
“You did fight with Huxley over our kiss.” I stood in a burst. “Nope. This is out of control, Astar. Here’s what will happen. You hang on in there until I transfer to another coven. Odds are that will happen. I go. Problem solved.”
He began to shake. The scary kind of shaking as I’d learned by now. Everyone seemed occupied but they wouldn’t miss Wild detonating again. And after beating up Huxley yesterday, he had to be on thin ice.
Why me? I groaned and sank down to join him in the crouch.
“What if this doesn’t go away when you do?” His voice was mostly growl.
“You won’t know that until I leave,” I replied.
“Easy for you to say.” When Wild lifted his head, I glimpsed something akin to hate in his gaze. “You haven’t been rendered to this state. An animal who attacks his friends.”
I searched his face, skipping over his drowning eyes as was beginning to become my habit. “Even if I agreed, I wouldn’t know where to start.”
He extended a hand across the ground to squeeze my fingers. His shaking stopped, and tension seemed to drain from him as though a plug had been removed from a bath filled with water. “The five of us may figure it out.”
Awesome. His boy club was invited.
“Please, Bronte.”
“Did you just call me by my name? Didn’t know you had it in you.”
He pressed his lips together, and I smirked.
“So…" he urged.
“I’m thinking,” I said.
Wild released my hand. “Hurry. We’re about to head to learning centers.”
Like no one had noticed us having a conversation half on the floor. The comment distracted me though. “Affinity practice still happens with Caves going on?”
“Certain teams will discuss the mission today. Most of the coven operates as normal.”
I pushed to my feet. Wild followed me up, and I tipped my head back to keep him in my sights.
“So?” he gritted out.
Wild was a grimoire. So was Huxley. I had a feeling Sven and Corentin were too. More than that, Wild wanted to keep his animal issues a secret. Personally, I believed chaos was involved and that I’d just happened to join the coven at the same time, which had led him to connect the two. If so, I could help Wild recenter easily enough.
If he owed me…
What I needed were grimoires that could access the fancy section of the library. I needed grimoires that would do that for me and not need a reason why, or I needed people who would keep my tether secret. “If I do this for you, there would be something I’d want in return. A favor. Help figuring out a mystery. One I’d like kept quiet. If you and your club can do that, then I’ll agree to reasonable requests to help you figure out how to regain your balance.”
His nostrils flared. “What would we be helping you with?”
I glanced around. The crowd was dispersing. The barrier was dropping too. “Not here. Do you agree?”
His tone was dismissive. “I can’t agree to some vague request to—”