SEDUCTIVE PREY

RENDEZVOUS

Moving in with my grandfather feels surreal. I'll still be attending classes at GA, which means I'll still get to spend time with Ethan, Lexie, and my friends, but it's not the same. I don't have the same access I used to with them. And I always feel like a sitting duck whenever Kyle and I leave home to go to campus or leave campus to go home.

Especially with more students at GA coming up missing all of a sudden.

Disappearances that happen to coincide with my departure and complete exoneration by the supernatural council.

It can't be a coincidence...

Thankfully, we're not traveling alone, at least. In servitude to my grandfather, Tristan, Celeste, and the Syth join us. They also reside at my grandfather's compound, which doesn't make Ethan feel comfortable at all.

Every day at four in the morning my grandfather wakes Kyle and I up. Then we train alongside Tristan, Celeste, and the Syth for hours until it's time to head to school.

"How's Lex?" I ask Ethan.

"She's adjusting." He replies. "It hasn't been easy for her, though."

"How so?"

"She misses your mother and father. And she feels like her entire life has been a lie."

Having ventured into 'I don't want to talk about it' territory I shift the conversation in another direction.

"I was thinking, and... there's no way Trudy could've pulled off everything she did without help. Someone else is behind the bodies turning up all over campus." I share my suspicions with Ethan.

"And whoever it is, they know enough to avoid everyone at this table." Eden points out. Earning a smolder from Lucas.

Which... get a room.

Ever since we rescued Lucas from Trudy's clutches, he and Eden have been going at it like animals in heat. And if all the gossip around GA is any clue, they aren't exactly quiet about it either. Making me so glad I no longer live on campus.

Because... ew.

Also, poor Ethan.

My heart goes to him, because while I can escape it, with his super Vampyric hearing, he cannot. Which is why I invited him over after leadership today. Well... that and the fact that we haven't had any alone time in like... forever.

It's time.

Only, much to my chagrin, it meant Eden and the Syndicate would need to follow. Followed by Lexie who couldn't be without Aden for five seconds, and Lucas who's attached to Eden's tits.

Because... God forbid Ethan goes anywhere without his shadows. Add the fact that Gaia and her merry band of angels came to see Tristan, and now a party for two just came a party for claustrophobia.

Undeterred, while everyone else is outside soaking in the sun and putting good use to my grandfather's swimming pool, I steal Ethan away for a picnic inside my grandfather's greenhouse.

Only, where I have the best damn turkey sandwich I've ever made, I'm offering myself as Ethan's meal. I just hope he accepts. I've even gone to great lengths to provide him with the most romantic setting ever. Laying a blanket down in the perfect spot inside the greenhouse where natural light filters in just enough to light the place up. But not enough to harm his sensitive Vampyric skin. It's also surrounded by beautiful flowers of various colors. Not that Ethan will care, because he's a guy. And the only thing he's interested in seeing is me.