And he continued to do so even now.
Nick scowled as he looked over at his friend and saw both faces of Caleb—the demon Lord Malphas, and his loyal, if often surly bodyguard who never hesitated to put his life on the line to protect him.
Caleb looked up and froze as he caught Nick staring at him. He narrowed his dark gaze on him. What’s that look mean? I swear, Gautier, you cop a feel, and I will put you through a wall.
Laughing, Nick blew him a kiss.
“Is there a problem back there, Mr. Gautier?” Ms. Pantall asked.
“No, ma’am. Caleb was just making goo-goo eyes at me again and staring at my chest with evil intent. Please tell him to stop sexually harassing me, as it’s making me very uncomfortable.” Nick clutched the collar of his shirt together and leaned away from Caleb.
Caleb choked while several students burst out laughing.
Ms. Pantall rolled her eyes. “In that case, I will remind you both of the No Public Displays of Affection rules that we have for the school. So behave and turn in your homework.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Nick pulled it out.
He’d just gotten comfortable again when the door opened to admit a new student. Something that didn’t happen often in their small, private, parochial school. And it wasn’t just because St. Richard’s was hard to get into due to its high academic standing. But rather from the fact that the school had been set up as a place for preters to learn how to mingle with humans and not let the stress throw them into their animal states.
While there were a handful of baretos, or “normal” humans who had no idea that they were attending school with shape-shifters, the majority of the student body here was either shape-shifters or the children of Squire families. Squires who had been in service to Dark-Hunters like Kyrian and Acheron for generations.
As such, the Squires usually sent their kids to private school together so that they could be watched by older Squires to ensure that no one messed with them. Especially since their enemies might want to take their kids hostage, or kill them to get back at their parents or the Dark-Hunters in retaliation for the centuries of protecting humans from their supernatural predators.
It also allowed the shape-shifter families a controlled environment for their children so that they could have playtime with humans where if they had an accident and shifted into their animal bodies, the humans wouldn’t flip out and call the authorities. As Squires or their children, they understood about Were-Hunters, and they could help cover for them with the humans here who didn’t know about them.
It gave the Were-Hunters a way to practice being in the normal world so that they could acclimate.
Nick had been one of those baretos students at St. Richard’s until two and half years ago when his best friends had turned on him, and Kyrian had saved his life. For some reason that still eluded Nick, the ancient Greek had taken a liking to him and decided to give him a hand up and bring him into this amazing world.
Now he was a Squire at an age that was unheard of, since Squires were supposed to be eighteen before they could be sworn in to their oaths. But Kyrian had pulled strings and so here Nick was. The youngest Squire in Council history.
And this new guy they were introducing …
He didn’t appear to be a Squire or one of their kids.
Nick glanced at Caleb. What do you think?
Caleb shrugged nonchalantly.
Ms. Pantall cleared her throat as she read his card. “Everyone? This is Nathan St. Cyr. Nathan’s a new student who just moved to New Orleans from New York. I know everyone will be on your best behavior and welcome him in. Mr. St. Cyr, if you’ll take an empty seat, we’ll get started.”
An odd sensation went through Nick as Nathan neared him. Like a wire had been touched to his spine and sent a jolt through his entire central nervous system. Not that anyone had ever done that to him, but that was what he imagined such a thing would feel like.
As Nathan neared his desk, he inclined his head to him, then sat down on the other side of Kody.
Yeah, that didn’t endear him any. You better not be eyeballing my girl, punk …
Nick would snatch those blue eyes out of that boy’s head and use them for marbles. The Malachai in him was rising up and breathing fire down Nick’s neck. It was hard to leash the beast when he came calling like this. Every part of Nick wanted a piece of Nathan for daring to trespass on Kody’s personal space.
Especially when he leaned over a second later and, with a charming grin, brushed his hand against Kody’s arm. “Do you have a pencil I can borrow? Mine must have fallen out of my backpack.”
“Sure.” Kody handed him the one she was holding.