Kane's Fate 2 Chapter 1 (3-Way Sex Scene)

Adrenaline raced through my veins, and my heart pounded against my ribs as my hips rocked back and forth.

“Oohhhh, Kaneeeee!” Indira’s gray eyes were alight with ecstasy while her mouth opened into a round O, and a moment later, she poured her sweet cream over my cock as her tunnel spasmed around me.

Charlotte flicked her tongue across Indira’s pert nipples while the owl shifter orgasmed, and then Charlotte looked up at me as her cheeks darkened with a blush.

I loved seeing her all hot and bothered, and combined with Indira’s tightening pussy, I hit my climax, thrust as deep as I could into her, and poured a cup full of my hot load into my girlfriend’s soaking wet canal.

“Yesssss…” Indira and I gasped together as our climax continued to peak.

But then our bodies began to relax and I passionately kissed the beautiful owl shifter before I turned my hungry eyes to my telekinetic girlfriend.

“Do I… get to have you again?” Charlotte asked in a voice that was both sensual and uncertain.

“Absolutely,” I growled.

I couldn’t believe my cock stayed hard as I slipped out of Indira’s soaked tunnel and crawled over to Charlotte. The auburn beauty laid back on the bed and spread her thighs wide for me to reveal her swollen, wet lips, and a creamy trickle of my sperm leaked out of her tunnel from the last time I came inside of her some thirty minutes ago.

“You look ready for me,” I growled as I positioned my tip at her entrance.

“I am…” she moaned. “You’ve cum inside of me so many times, but I can’t get enough of--”

I plunged my cum-slick penis deep into her, and her words caught in her throat.

“Ohhh, my God!” Charlotte gasped as I bottomed out deep inside of her velvety sheath, and I cut off her next words with a passionate kiss.

I rocked my hips back and forth, and suddenly, I felt Indira’s arms wrap around my hips. Then she played with Charlotte’s throbbing clit while I pumped in and out of her pussy.

“I love watching you make her cum,” my girlfriend whispered in my ear. “She’s so cute and innocent, but she can’t hide how much she loves having you deep inside of her pussy.”

Chills rippled over my skin, and I thrusted harder and deeper into Charlotte while she gripped the sheets and writhed beneath me.

“I’m almost there!” Charlotte gasped. “Oh, fuck! I’m gonna cum again. Ohhh… I’m going to cum all over your cock agaaaaaiiiin…”

It didn’t take long before her pussy squeezed me like a vise, and Charlotte squirmed and moaned while I continued to plow into her.

I growled deep in my chest as I watched her full tits bounce up and down with my thrusts, and then Indira crawled around me to take one of them into her mouth. As my girlfriend’s tongue grazed Charlotte’s delicious looking nipples, I couldn’t take it any longer.

“Fuck yesssss,” I moaned.

“Cum in me,” the auburn-haired beauty whined. “Fill me up. Ohhh… Kane. I want more of your cummmm…”

“I’ll give it to you,” I growled as I released what felt like the fifth or sixth gallon of my sperm for the day.

I’d been fucking both of my lovers for the last four or so hours, and I’d lost track of how many times I’d released my sperm deep inside each of them. I figured this was the last time I could possibly orgasm, but I was still a bit surprised by how powerful it was, and electric sparks coursed down my spine as my balls tensed and sprayed my creamy essence deep inside of Charlotte’s spasming body over and over again.

Her eyes rolled back into her head as soon as I began to fill her up again, and her breath caught in her throat as her mouth opened. We stayed locked and still for a few precious minutes while I flooded inside of her, but Indira just continued to gently suck and lick each of Charlotte’s nipples until we finally came down from our high.

When I finished filling up Charlotte, I flopped backward onto my bed and felt the thin layer of sweat that covered my chest start to dribble down my ribs.

I needed a shower, and probably a cold one.

“Oh, my God, I’ve missed that,” Indira sighed as she sat up and pecked Charlotte on the cheek.

“Me, too,” I agreed. “Sorry we couldn’t… ah, do much at my parents’ house. They were already trying to figure out how I have two girlfriends.”

Ever since I’d found out I was a white tiger shifter, I’d had instincts I couldn’t explain. One of them was to take on more than one mate, and luckily, I’d found that with Indira and Charlotte. Even though Charlotte had resisted her pull to me at first, Indira finally won her over after I’d won the Bellator, the hardest magical competition for first-year students at the Meloria Academy.

Indira was a shifter as well, though her animal form, or fera, was a snowy white owl. Seeing her in her fera was one hell of a vision, and she’d taught me a lot about using my own animal form.

“So are we,” Charlotte giggled. “I would have never thought about doing something like this before. With us, it just feels--”

“Natural,” Indira finished, and the two girls looked at each other with matching grins. “Just what I was thinking. We work very well together.”

“It was nice to meet your families, too,” I said after a moment. “Even if your brother wasn’t too thrilled about our relationship.”

“It didn’t matter if I brought home both of you or the President as my partner, he wouldn’t have approved of anyone I brought to Phoenix,” Indira laughed. “He’s always looked at me as a little kid, like I wouldn’t grow up one day.”

“And have a three-person relationship?” Charlotte chuckled as she tucked a strand of auburn hair behind her ear.

Charlotte was a pusher, which meant she had telekinetic abilities, and her green eyes lit up with amusement as she spoke. She’d become more comfortable with our relationship over the holiday break, but she hadn’t been sure how to introduce both of us to her parents when we got to her house in San Francisco.

“I think it’s called a throuple,” Indira jokingly scoffed and turned up her nose with a grin.

“Oh, my God,” I muttered and smacked my palm on my forehead. “Let’s not ever call us that again.”

“Agreed,” Charlotte said as she began to tickle Indira.

We played around for a while before my phone buzzed on the nightstand.

I’m headed to the quad, want to come chill? Auden’s text read.

I’m down, I sent back. See you after I shower.

“Where are we going?” Indira pouted as she batted her gray eyes at me.

“To hang out with Auden,” I replied as I hopped up from the bed and searched for my towel. “I have to get cleaned up first. I smell like I’ve been fucking two beautiful woman for half the day.”

“You have,” Charlotte laughed.

“We can help you shower,” Indira giggled and winked.

I wasn’t stupid enough to turn that down, so my women joined me in a soapy, sexy shower until I realized Auden had to be waiting on us. Then we finally turned off the water, got dressed, and headed out to the quad.

My best friend Auden had changed his floppy mohawk hair from red to electric blue, and it looked like he’d gotten a few more piercings in one ear since it almost matched up with the other one. He’d also pierced his eyebrow and added a tattoo of a dragon on his forearm, and the bright green scales seemed to shimmer in the sunlight as he turned around to see us walking over.

“That was a long shower, bro.” He waggled his eyebrows at the three of us.

“You’d take one like that, too, if you were as sweaty as I was,” I snickered as I gripped his hand.

“Gross.” He mock-gagged but couldn’t keep the grin off his face.

We did a quick bro-hug and then sat down on the grass. The quad was filling up with other students as they returned home from the break and made their way to different areas of the quad to catch up with friends. It felt like a big reunion, even though I got a dirty look from Seth’s crony Vic as he walked past us.

Seth Weaver was my arch-nemesis.

Okay, that was a little dramatic, but he’d gone out of his way to try to fight me or beat me ever since I’d arrived at Meloria. I had no idea what made him hate me so much, and he’d been unable to get the jump on me at least once, which I’m sure made him hate me even more.

“So, you didn’t hang out with Seth all break?” Auden asked with an innocent smile.

“Yeah, right,” I muttered. “Where is that little shithead anyway?”

“Haven’t seen him,” he replied with another shrug.

“Weird,” I said. “And I didn’t hear from his mother either.”

Mrs. Weaver, AKA Premier Weaver, was essentially the president of our magical world. The Premier had shown up at the Bellator, and it seemed she’d thought her son would win, but she grudgingly congratulated me and said she’d be reaching out about what I’d won.

And I still had no idea what she was talking about.

“Maybe she thought you needed the break.” Auden shrugged and turned to wave at the girls as they sat down on the grass next to me. “Did you guys do anything fun?”

I glanced over at my women, and from this angle, I had the perfect view of the mark I’d left on their necks to let others know they were mine. I wasn’t too sure of the marking instinct at first, but neither of them acted very surprised once I’d done it. The circle of scarred teeth marks was around a darker colored K, like a tattoo that showed they were my women and no one else’s.

My blood rushed south as I thought about it, but I pushed down the need to fill them again.

“Went to Durango and hung with the family,” I replied after I cleared my throat. “Then to Phoenix and San Francisco to see theirs. What about you?”

“Boring,” he said and rolled his eyes. “My parents didn’t even take off work any of the time I was there, so I just hung out at home. It was lame. Plus, Lark couldn’t come since her parents took her to the freaking Bahamas.”

“You should have come with us,” Charlotte chimed in. “You would have had way more fun.”

“I don’t think I would have had the same kind of fun you had,” Auden snickered.

“Hey, Kane,” a third-year naturalist said as she passed by with a wave. She was a pretty brunette with chocolate brown eyes, but I didn’t know her name.

Naturalists possessed the ability to control the elements. They usually started with one element, but as they grew stronger in their power, they would be able to control all four.

“Hey,” I replied and waved back before I leaned toward my group. “Who’s that?”

“Sierra, I think,” Charlotte murmured as she narrowed her eyes, which looked more hazel than green today. “I can’t remember for sure. You should ask her.”

“Nah,” I said with a shrug. “I’m good with you two.”

“Your instinct is to grow your pride and family,” Indira insisted. “You are a tiger. We don’t mind.”

I couldn’t believe my life could get any better, but both of my girlfriends, if that was the right word for them, wanted me to get more girlfriends.

I had to be dreaming.

“Shit,” I muttered as I pinched myself and regretted it. “I don’t know, I’ll see who pops up on my radar.”

“Whatever you want,” Charlotte said with a smile. “Oh, there’s Demi.”

Demi Finch was a fellow shifter who stood barely five feet tall but made up for it with vivacious curves, caramel-colored skin, and a buoyant attitude. Her cornrows were woven with bright blue strips, and her tiny jean shorts hugged her hips as she sashayed closer.

“Heeeeey, Kane,” she said in her sweet voice as she fluttered her long lashes at me. “Hey, ladies. How was your break?”

“Oh, it was great!” Indira replied. “How was yours?”

“Not bad,” Demi said as her emerald gaze dropped down to the boner I’d already been fighting. “It could have been better.”

Her hooded eyes made her message apparently clear, and she giggled before she waved and walked toward our dorm.

“She definitely has potential,” Indira said with a thoughtful expression, and Charlotte nodded her agreement.

“And she’s obviously interested,” the pusher agreed.

“Alright, let’s talk about something else,” I insisted as I adjusted my jeans for the fourth time. “Like school, yeah. Do we have the same classes for this semester?”

“Yes, you won’t change until next year,” Indira giggled. “Then you’ll take some harder stuff with Pearson and a few other professors.”

Renzo Pearson was the shifter professor who could turn into a lion at the snap of his fingers. He specialized in teaching other shifters about our abilities, and he’d been a big part of why I’d won the Bellator. He’d given me a pendant that had shown me the way to a secret training facility. It had given me a leg up in the competition, and I didn’t know if I would have been as prepared without it.

“Hi, uhhh, Kane?” a soft voice suddenly asked.

I looked up to see a second-year seer with tousled blonde hair and a dimpled smile, and she gripped the strap of her backpack as she looked at me with trembling lips.

“Hey,” I replied and smiled. “How’s it going?”

“Fine, but I…” the blonde trailed off and cleared her throat. “I was just wondering who you’re taking to the formal.”

“The formal?” I repeated with a glance toward Indira. “I didn’t know about it, I guess. Sorry.”

“O-Oh, it’s okay, s-sorry to bother you!” she blurted before she scurried off.

“What formal?” I asked as I looked at my friend and lovers.

“Oh, the end of the year one,” Indira explained and waved her hand dismissively. “It’s after the third-years’ graduation, like a celebration or whatever. They have it for all the students every year.”

“I already asked Lark,” Auden said as he puffed out his chest with pride. “She said yes.”

“Wow, so you guys are officially a thing now?” I waggled my eyebrows, and he slugged me in the shoulder.

“Yeah, I guess,” he said, but his cheeks were a little pink.

“We planned to go with you,” Charlotte nearly whispered as she dropped her eyes.

“Well, yeah,” I chuckled. “I’d obviously take both of you. Is there a rule against that or something?”

“I don’t know if anyone has ever tried to bring two dates.” Indira shrugged and looked out onto the quad. “Last year, they finally allowed same-sex dates, which is super behind the times.”

“That’s really behind,” I agreed. “I guess we’ll have to make them have new rules again this year.”

“Then we can go?” Charlotte asked with a glimmer of hope in her pale-green eyes.

“Of course,” I said and grinned. “I’d never leave either of you behind. You’re mine.”

They giggled together while Auden pretended to gag again, and I slugged him back before we got back on the topic of our classes.

After a while, the sun was long gone, and a chill settled over the quad. It was California but still winter, and the sun was the only thing keeping the cold from our skin. We said our goodbyes, and Auden and Charlotte headed for the pusher dorm. Then Indira walked toward the teacher assistant building, and I returned to my building.

I prepared myself for one of my dramatic encounters with Seth, but he wasn’t in the common room with his buddy Vic. Instead, Vic lounged on the couch alone as he gamed on the Xbox, and I strode past him with narrowed eyes.

Where was the asshole leader of the pack?

I walked down the hallway and glanced in Seth’s room, but it was empty. The bed was still made, no bags were on the floor, and the jerk was nowhere to be found. It was well after nine, and curfew was at ten since we had class scheduled for tomorrow, so if he didn’t hurry up, he’d get hit with a violation.

But that was his problem.

I walked into my room and swapped my jeans for sweats before I hopped onto the bed and turned on my Spotify. As the hard-hitting rhythms of Pierce the Veil filled my room, I laid back on my pillow and thought about how great my break had been. Even though my women and I hadn’t gotten the personal time we’d wanted most of the break, it had been nice to learn new things about them.

I’d had no idea that Charlotte loved cheese or Indira played guitar until we went on our little trips together. It was fun to get to know them in new ways.

I fell asleep thinking about how Indira played a song for my parents while Charlotte sang in a surprisingly angelic voice, and I woke up feeling refreshed.

Then my phone beeped almost immediately with a text from Charlotte.

Running late, don’t wait for me for breakfast.

I sent her back a thumbs up before I got up to get dressed. Then I peeked one more time into Seth’s open door, but there was still no sign of him, so I frowned as I walked back into the common room and saw Vic grabbing a Pop-Tart from the cabinet.

“Where’s your little buddy?” I asked.

“Dunno.” Vic shrugged and shoved half the pastry in his mouth. “Nmhnm hnmhn.”

“Right,” I said with a grimace.

I had no clue what he said, but I didn’t want to risk being covered in wet Pop-Tart crumbles if he tried to repeat it.

“The Bellator,” Vic said after he swallowed his bite. “That’s the last time anyone saw him.”

“Isn’t that weird?” I narrowed my eyes on the shifter.

“I guess,” he replied with another shrug. “His mom does important stuff, so maybe he is, too.”

“Doubt it,” I muttered.

“Why do you care anyway?” Vic asked as he gave me a once over. His expression wasn’t very friendly, but it also wasn’t openly hostile like when the greasy little prick of a bully was around. “Seth totally hates you.”

“I just have to watch my back,” I answered. “In case he has another group of friends come after me.”

Vic nodded sagely but didn’t comment, and I rolled my eyes before I continued outside and headed for the Medius. It was the central building on campus that housed the cafeteria, gift shop, book shop, professor offices, and the dean’s office.

Dean Canmore was pretty cool, and I wondered how she’d feel about our throuple going to the formal.

Oh, God, I’d even thought the damn word.

I shook my head and walked into the cafeteria. Auden and Indira weren’t there yet, but I recognized one familiar face.

Raven was a petite brunette with dimpled cheeks and bright blue eyes, and she sat alone at a table with her breakfast. The two of us had dueled each other once last semester, and she was a formidable opponent, but I still won in the end. She was only a few feet away from her fellow charmers, but it seemed like miles with the distance she’d given them. I wondered what was up, and I grabbed my tray and sat across from her.

“Hey, Raven,” I said with a casual smile. “How’s it going?”

“Why are you sitting here?” she asked under her breath.

“I can’t sit next to you?”

“I mean, you’re super hot and all, but the other charmers already hate me. I don’t need to make them jealous.”

“They’ll get over it,” I replied and waved a dismissive hand. “Why are they mad at you?”

“Because I’m the best,” she said as though the answer was obvious. “I’m the only one who aced Knight’s charmer class first semester, so naturally, they’re all pissed off about it.”

“That’s stupid,” I scoffed. “I’m sorry. They’re just jealous. I’ll keep you company until they’ve regained their senses if you want.”

“Uhh… what about your girlfriends?” she asked.

“What about them?” I asked. “I don’t think they’ll have a problem with me having lunch with another girl, unless you think this is somehow heading toward sex or something, but that’s on you.”

“Okay,” Raven sighed. “You have a good point. I’m being weird. Just cause the hottest guy in school is sitting with me, doesn’t mean he’s going to fuck my brains out and make me cum a dozen times.”

“Uhhh… are you always this…”

“Oh.” Her eyes opened as wide as dinner plates. “Shit. Did I just say that last part out loud? Just… uhhh… pretend I didn’t. Okay?”

“You got it,” I laughed.

We talked over our French toast for a while, and soon, Auden and Indira showed up to join us. Lark, Auden’s new girlfriend, sat with us once she’d arrived, and then Charlotte popped in just a few minutes before it was time to leave.

I was surprised to see my pusher girlfriend had curled her auburn hair and put on makeup for the first day of class.

“Who are you dressing up for?” I teased.

“You,” Charlotte said in a low voice, and the bridge of her nose blushed bright red. “Do you like it?”

“You look great.” I leaned in and kissed her on the cheek. “I love it.”

“I love you,” she said and then covered her mouth in surprise. Her pale-green eyes widened with horror, and she immediately tried to back pedal. “I, uh, I mean--”

“It’s okay,” Indira said in a soft voice. “You beat me to it.”

“I love you both, too.” I kissed Indira next. “You two look beautiful every day.”

I ignored the shocked stares and whispers that raced across the cafeteria as I wrapped my arms around both my women, and Raven’s eyes widened in surprise before she finally spoke.

“You really don’t care what anyone thinks, do you?” she chuckled. “I guess I’ll have to hang out a little more often. Maybe it’ll rub off on me. Everyone says I’m super weird.”

“You’re more than welcome,” I replied with a grin. “I don’t think you are weird.”

We finished our breakfast, and then we headed for the door. My first class of the day was meditation, which tended to put me back to sleep, but Professor Francis Orr brought me to attention with her announcement.

“Today, we’ll be focusing on how to heal better and faster using meditation techniques,” she declared. “Once you enter your meditative state, you can access each part of your magic. You simply have to find what powers your healing processes.”

She continued to explain how important it was to understand how our healing worked, but I was already sold. Thanks to my shifter genes, I already had a heightened healing factor, but it wasn’t instantaneous yet. I’d learned quickly in the Bellator how important it was to heal at the fastest rate possible, and if we were going to get back into dueling other classes, I wanted to be able to take a hit and keep on trucking.

“Francis, I have a question.” Madison raised her hand and waited for the professor to nod. “Will our technique work in both our human and fera forms?”

Madison was a fellow shifter, though her animal form was a neon yellow python. She was considerably taller than her best friend Demi, and she had curly blond hair that draped the middle of her back, but her dark blue eyes were focused intently on the professor as Francis considered the question for a moment.

“In my experience, once you’ve mastered the ability to increase your healing power and efficiency, you can do it whenever you want,” she replied. “I don’t see any reason it would work differently in one form or the other.”

We often fought our duels in our fera forms or even a mixture of fera and human, so it would be valuable to understand how to use the healing in either one.

I glanced over at Seth’s empty pillow seat and shrugged before I closed my eyes to begin meditating. If he wanted to flunk out of Meloria, I wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep over it.

Instead, I focused on relaxing my mind. We’d used meditation to find our secondary abilities in the first semester, so this had to be similar to that, right?

I pushed my way through the clouds that covered the ground beneath my sneakers and tried to find the source of healing. Just like my secondary power, which turned out to be light manipulation, I had to figure out what that source was. It was different for everyone, so only I could find my own source.

As I walked forward, I played with the beams of light that poured down from above me, though no sun sat in the sky of my meditative state. I twisted the beams and pulled them down to toss them around in the clouds, and I watched as the white puffs turned into bright disco balls from the light bouncing around inside.

“It’s time to go,” Francis announced and snapped me back to the classroom.

Well, shit, I hadn’t even found anything close to my healing power. It seemed no one else had either, but the professor assured us it took time, just like the secondary ability had.

I walked with Demi and Madison toward our shifter class, while Vic stayed a few steps behind us. Normally, he’d be up Seth’s ass, but without him, Vic just looked lost. I started to invite him to walk with us, but one glance over my shoulder at his scowl and I decided against it.

He didn’t seem to make for very good company.

Demi and Madison talked about their meditative states, and Demi looked over at me as though she waited for a response. I realized I hadn’t been listening to the conversation at all, and I shook my head and offered a sheepish smile.

“Sorry, I was zoning out,” I said. “What did you say?”

“I asked if you ever see people in yours,” she giggled. “I mean, I see you in my dreams all the time, but it was strange to see you in my meditative state.”

“Thirsty much?” Madison groaned as she smirked at her friend.

“Don’t pretend you aren’t, babe.” Demi stuck her tongue out at the other girl.

“I don’t think I see anyone when I meditate,” I murmured and winked. “Dreams are a whole other story.”

Demi and Madison shared a look, and the two erupted into a fit of more giggles as we walked into shifter class.

Renzo was seated at his desk with Indira at his side. She was bent over showing him something on a piece of paper, and I had the perfect view of the swells of her breasts from her V-neck.

God damn. That hottie was my girlfriend.

My mind drifted to how she looked with nothing on, and when she glanced up at me and smiled, I had to adjust my jeans with a grimace. I’d have to take care of her as soon as classes were out today, and I knew she wouldn’t have any problem letting me fuck her over and over again.

“Welcome back, class,” the shifter professor said as he motioned toward the desks. He flicked a strand of golden hair out of his eyes, and his dark eyes studied us. “I hope everyone had a good break and is ready to get back to work. We’ll be spending our first few weeks shifting quickly under pressure. Sometimes, when your adrenaline is pumping, it’s hard to get your fera to cooperate with your desires, so you have to bend it to your will.”

“You mean, we have to fight our fera?” Demi asked with a frown. “I thought we worked as a team.”

“You do,” he agreed. “But your fera has many natural instincts to lead, and you must make sure it understands you’re the master.”

I felt pretty confident in my ability to show my fera who was boss, and I’d gotten a lot better at shifting. My first shift had scared the shit out of me, but it was during an adrenaline rush, so I hoped I’d excel at this section of the class.

“What if it doesn’t understand?” Vic asked and pressed his mouth into a thin line of frustration.

“Then make it,” Renzo said in a low voice that rumbled like the growl of his lion fera. “Also, I know you’re all probably wondering where your classmate is, but Seth is working on a special project with the Premier. I won’t tell you anything more than that, so don’t bother asking. Now, let’s get to shifting.”

A special project with the Premier? I frowned at this information but didn’t comment since the professor obviously was ready to get down to business.

We spent the next hour taking turns shifting into our feras while Renzo kept time on a stopwatch. Demi and Madison were able to shift in about fifteen seconds, while Vic couldn’t seem to do it under twenty. When it was my turn, I took a deep breath and waited for the click of the stopwatch.

Normally, I’d let the fur grow from my arms and legs and my canines extend into fangs, but today, I pushed them into shape. Then I ripped through my clothes as I dropped to all fours and took my fera form in record timing.

“Eight point three seconds,” Renzo said in an impressed tone. “A new record for the first time to rapid shift. Not bad, Turner, even if you didn’t keep your clothes intact this time.”

I lowered my furry head in response and then glanced over at the closet where he kept his extra clothes. The professor chuckled and reached in for a black robe to wrap around me as I returned to my human form and shoved my arms through the sleeves. I felt a little like Harry Potter as I sat down with my robe instead of the t-shirt and jeans I’d shredded when rapid shifting.

We continued to take turns shifting while Indira and I shared several long glances as I thought about what it would be like to rip her clothes off, too. Maybe I could talk her into half-shifting with her wings and finding a new place for our next tryst.

My hormone-filled imagination was quickly silenced by the sound of the buzzer that signaled the end of class, and I waved goodbye to Indira, who blew me a kiss in return.

Next was our defense of the mind class with Ms. Smith. She was less casual than our other professors and watched us enter the room with a thin smile and her light hair slicked back into a low bun. She was only in her thirties, but her pearl necklace and pastel pant suits made her look fifty.

As soon as I set down my bag, she motioned for me to come to her desk. I wasn’t sure what it could be about, but I walked over to join her.

“Have you had any more of your dreams?” Smith asked in a hushed voice without any preamble.

She was referring to my dreams of battle and war that had plagued my sleep for weeks last semester. Every dream ended with a strange man, sometimes coming after me, sometimes winning the battle, but I was always able to leave the dream. She’d told me it was a sign I was defeating some kind of dark magic, though neither of us knew its source just yet.

“No.” I shook my head and kept my voice low. “Not since the Bellator. It’s like they all just stopped when I won.”

“Or because you left campus,” she pointed out. “We can’t say for certain yet, so be prepared now that you’ve returned. The darkness could be from anyone.”

“You think--” I started to ask before she shooed me back to my desk and rose to her feet.

“I’m glad to have you all back in class,” she said as I sat down and frowned. “Today, we’re going to discuss a few things to help keep your mind safe and clear of dark magic, which can in turn affect your abilities and your personality as you know it. To begin, we’ll talk about the ways dark magic can inject itself into your lives. Does anyone have any ideas?”

“Using magic to get rich?” Madison suggested.

“Magic for personal gain, excellent,” Ms. Smith replied with a nod. “What else?”

“Showing magic to humans?” Vic tried.

“Not necessarily,” the professor said. “Most humans don’t believe it when they see it anyway, and showing them isn’t inherently bad, just not good for the magical community. Not to mention, it’s illegal, so don’t try it. Anything else?”

“Hurting innocent people with magic?” I offered.

“Ah, that’s the one I was looking for,” Ms. Smith sighed. “Causing harm to an innocent with magic is one of the quickest ways to allow dark magic into your very being. Magic is not to be taken lightly. We’re granted magic to help the world, not to cause others pain and suffering. Once you’ve done something to hurt someone else with your powers, dark magic can seep into your soul like pus from a wound.”

I grimaced at the analogy, but it made sense. If you let dark magic in, it would eat away at you like an infection.

“So, how do you get it back out?” Vic asked with a frown.

“With hard work and great strength of character.” Ms. Smith crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. “Dark magic roots itself into the fibers of your being. Once it’s in, it’s there until you win a mindscape battle.”

My mind flashed to my dreams, and I wondered if I’d been fighting those battles already.

But how would I have dark magic in me?

I’d only used my ability to kill a would-be rapist, and that wasn’t anywhere near hurting an innocent. Plus, I didn’t even know what I was doing then. My fera had taken over with my first activation, and I’d defended the man’s victim without hesitation.

“How do you win the battle?” I asked.

“Practice,” she replied. “Which we will begin tomorrow. Today, we’ll talk about staying on the right side of magic, even when temptation lingers. We may be temped to use our power to, say, rob a bank…”

The professor droned on about all the ways we could be tempted to let dark magic in, but my mind was already back to my battle dreams.

If dark magic was in me, there had to be a reason. I didn’t know what that reason was just yet, but I intended to find out.

My musings were interrupted when a creak echoed around the room, and then the classroom door slammed open and hit the wall with a crash.