Thornhill Academy. Chapter 97

**Kael**

“And how do you suppose we find the Demon King?” I ask Evander, deadpan, because if I don’t joke, I’ll choke on the panic.

He huffs and throws his hands up, as if the world is a math problem he has forgotten how to solve. “I don’t know! But if she’s not with those two jerks, then she has to be with him, right?”

Right. Because magical logic is never neat. Because bonds are messy, impulsive, and apparently also idiotic. My hound is restless in my mind; he wants, no, needs her just as badly as I do. We spent weeks ignoring that thrum, pretending the pull wasn’t there, driving myself insane with restraint from what I knew I needed. Now, restraint feels like a betrayal. Now the bond’s been handed to us like a hot coal, and she’s gone. I should have stayed at the festival. I should have planted myself at her side and announced to everyone she was ours in the loudest voice I had. I should have claimed her in front of the idiots, the professors, and the moon. Instead, I left, and now—now we’re three steps behind something that should have been obvious from the start.

I turn on my heel and start back down the corridor before I fully register where my feet are taking me.

“Where are you going?” Evander calls, catching up in two strides.

“I’m going to break into her room and smell her sheets before my hound sets this whole place on fire,” I say, and immediately realise how ridiculous it sounds out loud, but it’s true, I need any part of her that I can get right now. Maybe I’ll feel less like a claw-stripped animal pacing a cage if I can just smell her.

Evander snorts, but follows me anyway. “Don’t get arrested.”

“Arrest me and I’ll chew through the bars,” I reply. My mouth is dry, but the grin is real. “Besides, if anyone tries to stop me, they’ll meet the very angry hellhound who misses his mate.”

We move faster—the dorm light pools through windows, speculative and sleepy. I pass doors with names and notes stuck up like small flags. Outside her door, I pause, hand hovering. My scalp prickles. My hound’s senses are already picking up faint traces of her. I fully plan on kicking through the door if I need to, but Evander steps around me, placing his hand on the door. It unlocks with a quick click, and I glare at him.

He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly. "Yeah, we found out that the doors also recognise their residents' mates as well."

"And you didn't think to tell me that?"

He shrugs as I barge past him, "I forgot, okay. There's been a lot going on lately."

The room is… not empty in the way I dread. It’s lived-in, but there’s no Ally in the bed. The sheets are tossed, a jacket thrown over a chair, a notebook face-down on the desk with a pen tucked into the spine. Her scent is faint—the sort of ghost-of-her that makes my throat tighten instead of ease. I waste no time striding to the bed, grabbing her pillow and pressing it to my face. I take one big whiff and my hound eases up just a little, just enough to make the anger turn slightly into sadness.

*"Mate?"* My hound whimpers.

*"Mate."* Is all I manage to say back to the big puppy dog.

**Allison**

If someone had told me a week ago that I’d spend my weekend in the Shadow Realm having breakfast with the Demon King, I probably would’ve laughed. Or maybe cried. Or both. But here I am—back in one piece, caffeine-deprived, soul intact (mostly)—after what can only be described as the weirdest, most oddly wholesome abduction in Thornhill history.

Rhazeil didn’t just show me his kingdom; he showed me his world. The dark ground that thrummed with magic, the endless spires that shimmered like obsidian glass, and the air, alive with whispers and ancient power. The demons there weren’t what I expected either. Sure, some looked like nightmares carved from smoke and fire, but they bowed to me like I was one of them, maybe because Rhazeil looked at me like I was. We had breakfast together, twice, technically. The first one was an “official” meal: silver goblets, black fruit that glowed faintly, and coffee strong enough to kill a god. The second one was at a cliff overlooking the kingdom, where he tried to make pancakes. Tried being the operative word. The great and terrible Demon King burns pancakes. Apparently, that’s just part of his charm. And honestly? The big scary demon everyone trembles over? Yeah, he’s basically a giant, overpowered, overdramatic pussy cat. A possessive, occasionally terrifying one, but still. He softens around me. And when he said he’d bring me back, he meant it. One second, I’m laughing at him for trying to brush syrup off his tail. Next, the shadows are curling around us, cool and smooth, and then, we’re in my dorm room.

Or rather, we drop into my dorm room. Right in front of Evander and Kael. For a split second, no one moves. The magic still hums in my veins, the smell of smoke and shadow thick in the air. Rhazeil’s hand is still on my waist, warm and steady, while I blink through the shift, trying to ground myself. And then I see them. Evander is wide-eyed and tense, his wings threatening to flare from under his skin. And Kael—oh gods, Kael—standing dead centre in the room with my pillow clutched against his face like a lifeline. He freezes. His nostrils flare, eyes flicking from me to the pillow, back to me. For half a heartbeat, the room is pure silence. Then realisation hits him like a truck. The pillow drops. **Thump.** He stares at me like I’ve just risen from the dead. Evander’s already moving, stepping closer, eyes flicking between me and Rhazeil like he can’t decide which of us to throttle first. I raise my hands slowly, trying not to laugh, because honestly? The look on Kael’s face is priceless.

“Hi,” I manage, voice half-choked with amusement. “Miss me?”

Rhazeil’s arm tightens slightly around me, a low, satisfied rumble in his chest. “Told you I’d bring you back,” he murmurs against my ear.

Kael’s jaw drops. Evander’s dragon energy is practically vibrating the floor. And me? I’m just standing there, in my dorm room, smelling like demon magic and smoke, staring at my two very pissed-off mates…This is going to be fun.