memory lane, searching the darkest places in my mind for an event where I could have possibly crossed paths with this vampire.
“Oh my God. You don’t remember, do you?” She laughs. “It was at Woodstock in 1969. We decided to try every single drug they had at the festival, which in hindsight was such a bad move. We all went into hibernation after that.”
Fuzzy memories slowly begin to trickle out. No wonder I don’t remember her or her friends.
“Ah, that’s right.”
She switches her attention to Aurora without losing her friendly face. She must be shockingly dense if she can’t pick up my mate’s animosity toward her. I’m going to pay for this conversation, but I can’t help basking in Aurora’s jealousy. It’s a nice change in our dynamic.
“Oh, you’re human. You must be the future High Witch. I’m Teodora Barros, and these are my best friends, Jane Welsh and Lee Schroeder.”
Aurora doesn’t say a word, just glowers at the females as if she’s considering which hex to use against them. I’d better get rid of the trio quickly before we end up with another problem on our hands, like Aurora turning them into toads. I open my mouth to cut the conversation short, but Teodora talks over me.
“Did you just wake from hibernation too?” she asks me.
Her question makes me frown. “Uh. No. I’ve been up for forty years already.”
Her dark eyes widen. “Wow, really? I just came out of mine like a month ago. Jane and Lee, the same.”
“You were hibernating for fifty years?” Aurora breaks her silence. “Is that normal?”
A shared grimace appears on the females’ faces. They exchange a glance, and then Lee, the stocky brunette with a too-wide face, answers, “It was my longest hibernation period.”
Aurora’s eyebrows crinkle, and her lips become nothing but a thin flat line. Her train of thought must have gone to the same place mine did. Usually, vampires only need to hibernate for ten to twenty years, thirty tops. Lucca was the only exception, and only because of his curse. A change in the number of years required for a vampire to regain their strength is troubling.
Jane glances at her wristwatch, an accessory reminiscent of a different era. No one uses those anymore. “We need to head to our next class, something about computers.” She wrinkles her nose.
Teodora makes a similar face, before she switches back to flirtatious mode. She steps closer, and then touches my arm. “Don’t be a stranger, Sax. We need to catch up.”
A surge of red-hot rage hits me full force. It takes me a second to realize those aren’t my feelings, but Aurora’s. I step away from Teodora and link my arm with my little witch before she blasts the vampire back into hibernation.
“I’m a bit busy these days, but welcome back to the land of the living.” I walk away, dragging Aurora with me.
She doesn’t fight me until we round a corner, and then it’s showtime. She pulls away, stopping in front of me with her hands balled into fists by her sides. Wisps of magic gather around her wrists, which tells me I have to be very careful here.
“Who was that vamp?” she grits out.
“You heard her. Someone from my past.”
“She was all over you and you didn’t do anything.”
I lift my palms up. “Whoa. She wasn’t all over me. Calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down!” Aurora makes a jerky movement with her arm, and a bolt of lightning shoots from her hand.
It misses my head by an inch, hitting the wall next to me instead, leaving a charred hole in its wake.
“Fuck!” I say.
“Oh my God.” She covers her mouth with her hands. “What did I do?”
“You almost blew my head off.”
The rage swimming in her eyes recedes, guilt taking its place. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to lash out at you. I don’t know what happened to me. I was never one to suffer from such intense jealousy before, but I wanted to hurt those vampires for even looking at you.”
Amused as shit, I press my lips together to avoid laughing out loud. “I know.”
She glowers at me. “Quit being so pleased about it.”
“I can’t help it. I’m a vain male who likes to have his ego stroked.”
I didn’t mean to sound dirty like that, but immediately, my cock hardens, and once again, I want to push Aurora against the wall and fuck her senseless.
Her pulse quickens, becoming a beacon to me. Damn everything to hell.