over my teeth quickly to make sure I hadn’t suddenly grown fangs.
Fuck! I might just have. One of my front teeth had definitely turned sharp. My tongue pressed on the point to force it back.
Slight panic arose in my middle.
I wasn’t going to turn into a vampire or any sort of monster in physique, was I? That wouldn’t be cool. That would be a disaster.
“Fine, fine, I’ll take the special vitamin later,” I said hurriedly as I waved in the demigods’ direction. “Just let us eat cake in peace, please.”
Axel chuckled. “I love it when she fidgets. Cookie is brazen, but she doesn’t have thick skin like us.”
“Leave the room now and let my lamb and her friends eat cake in peace, Paxton,” Héctor demanded. “You’re lucky I didn’t ask you to apologize to my lamb.”
Paxton shot me a heated, longing look before he strode off to join the other demigods. Even his backside looked enticingly gorgeous.
I pulled my gaze back sternly. Thank fuck he didn’t see me ogle him.
Nat and Yelena, who had found their seats around the table, stared at me in amusement.
Is it always like this with them? Yelena mouthed the words.
I spread my arms in resignation.
What did they expect? I had to deal with four dominant, territorial, and ruthless demigods, one of whom remained my opponent, in my opinion.
“You got this, Mari,” Yelena said, and Nat laughed.
And we all went for the crème brûlée.
As the demigods conversed in the garden with a magical sound barrier around them, my friends and I attacked the desserts.
We stuffed our faces until we were sated.
“I still can’t believe that a god showed up in class and almost killed us today,” Nat said as if he could finally breathe after eating some sweets.
“We’d have been dead if it weren’t for you, Mari,” Yelena said. “Ares didn’t care about our lives. We’re fighting drones to him.”
“You wouldn’t have been in that situation in the first place if it weren’t for me,” I said.
Marie had said that trouble would always follow me and that I might eventually get her killed one day. Worries for my friends brewed in my gut like bacteria. I didn’t want to get anyone, least of all my friends, killed.
“I’m bad luck,” I said ruefully. “Are you sure you still want to hang out with me? Maybe you need to keep your distance from me from now on.”
“No way!” Yelena said. “You can’t get rid of us. We would never have gotten into the VIP lounge in Demigod Axel’s party without you.”
I chuckled. “That party might have been one of the shortest in the history of parties.”
Axel had thrown that party for me, but Loki had crashed it and lured me into a trap, and then my sworn enemy had turned up to rescue me.
“It doesn’t matter,” Nat said with a grin before he stuffed another cupcake into his mouth. “We got VIP status while One-eighth and her goons were denied access. The rooftop pool party was a blast. The demigods wanted to impress you.”
Axel had promised to host another party when the demigods were sure security was airtight at the Academy. But with Ares there now, everything had to be put aside. The God of War was more of a danger to me than even Loki and Lucifer.
“So you won’t sleep in our dorm anymore?” Yelena asked. “I’ve missed you.”
“I’m a target,” I said. “I can’t tell you more. I just want you to promise me that if you see danger coming, you two will run like fire is on your fucking tails. You won’t come help me. Promise me this. Don’t ever act like brave fools like you did today. You could have been torn apart.”
“Don’t worry about us,” Nat said. “We’re future Dominion soldiers. We are made of fucking steel.” He demonstrated by shooting blades out of his knuckles.
I stared at his transformation with envy. “I asked the demigods to call me Icy Steel or Silent Blade, but they refused. If I could make daggers pop out of my hands, they’d have no choice but to change my nicknames.”
My friends roared with laughter.
“I’d give anything to be called Cookie, Rosebud, or even Buttercup, you know,” Yelena said with longing.
“And I’d appreciate being someone’s lamb,” Nat echoed.
I hissed. “It’s not funny.”
Nat and Yelena raised their hands in surrender, yet they couldn’t stop laughing.
We ended up eating more dessert as we relaxed and chatted.
It was amazing to have friends like them; friends brightened our existence.
Yet beneath the joy