I Promised

CASSIAN

I tried to recover. I focused on Rae. I noticed the way she gripped her folder, the tremble in her jaw, the way her eyes darted around like she expected someone to jump out and yell “fraud.” She looked like someone who had learned how to be invisible, someone who had gotten used to being forgotten.

For a second, I just wanted to shield her from everything in this school. From the whispers that would come, the cruelty that would follow, the quiet violence that lived in every shadow waiting for fresh blood. But I also wanted to shake her, to demand answers. Why did she look like my woman? Why now, after all these years?

I held out my hand, hoping she didn’t see how it shook. “Assistant Professor Cassian Rhys,” I said, keeping it light. “But most people around here just call me Cass. I’m your tour guide, apparently.”

She took my hand. Her skin was cold, but her grip was stronger than I expected. The moment our palms touched, a jolt shot up my arm. My incubus instincts screamed, wanting more. I fought it down.

I knew better than to give in to my instincts. A werewolf would fare better than a human, yes. A werewolf would survive. But I had prided myself in restraint for so many years.

I let go and gave her a half-bow. “I should also mention—full disclosure—I’m an incubus.” I said it like a joke, but it wasn’t. I needed her to know. I needed to see how she reacted.

Her eyes widened just a little, but she didn’t pull away. She nodded, the smallest movement, as if she was trying to make herself smaller.

Fox cleared her throat, already moving on to her next task. “You have your schedule, Rae. Cassian, please make sure she finds her dorm and has lunch in the main hall. The rest is up to you.”

She dismissed us with a flick of her hand. I nodded and led Rae into the corridor. The door closed behind us with a soft click.

We walked in silence for a moment. I tried not to stare at her, but it was impossible. Every angle of her face, every flicker of movement, reminded me of the girl I’d lost. The pain was sharp and new again.

We walked through the corridors without saying much. I could feel the tension radiating off her in waves. She kept glancing around like someone might catch her pretending to belong here. Her fingers worried at the edges of her folder. Every few steps, she'd look up at me and then away again, like she was working up the courage to say something.

I tried to focus on the tour. Point out the library. Show her where the dining hall was. Explain the different wings. But my mind kept circling back to her face, to the way she looked exactly like Elena. The resemblance was so sharp it made my chest ache.

"So," I said, stopping near a tall window that looked out over the main courtyard. "You're a shifter, right?"

She nodded, her voice quiet. "Wolf."

"Good. Most of your classes will be in the supernatural studies wing. Combat training, pack dynamics, lunar cycles. The usual." I gestured down a hallway lined with old portraits. "Your professors know you're starting mid-semester, so they'll catch you up."

She was looking at the portraits now, studying the faces. Old headmasters and donors, mostly. Dead and Undead money in expensive frames.

"They all look so serious," she said.

"They are. This place takes itself very seriously." I started walking again, and she fell into step beside me. "But the students... well, they're another story."

I could see her shoulders tense. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing you can't handle. Just... they like to test new blood. See what you're made of." I glanced at her sideways. "Hide the fact that you are an Omega and you'll be fine. Most of them are all bark anyway."

We turned a corner and nearly ran into a group of vampire students lounging against the wall. They looked up when we passed, their eyes tracking Rae like predators sizing up prey. One of them, a pale girl with silver hair, actually licked her lips.

I stepped closer to Rae without thinking about it. The vampires noticed and backed off, but I could feel their amusement. They'd remember her face.

"Friends of yours?" Rae asked once we were out of earshot.

"Students. They smell fresh meat."

She went quiet after that. We walked through more hallways, past classrooms where I could hear the low murmur of lessons in progress. A witch professor was explaining something about binding spells. A demon was teaching the finer points of contract law. Normal Tuesday morning stuff.

I showed her the dining hall, empty now except for a few staff members setting up for lunch. The kitchen staff waved when they saw me. I'd always been good with the help.

"You eat here three times a day," I said. "Breakfast is six to eight, lunch is noon to two, dinner is six to eight. Don't skip meals. You'll need your strength."

She nodded, making mental notes. I could see her trying to memorize everything, like she was afraid of forgetting something important.

We climbed the stairs to the dormitory wing. The girls' side was on the left, boys on the right. I led her down a long hallway lined with identical wooden doors. Each one had a nameplate. Most of them were polished and neat. Some had stickers or decorations stuck around the edges.

I stopped in front of room 237 and felt my stomach drop. The nameplate still read "Saraphina Vale" in neat gold letters.

"Fuck," I muttered under my breath.

Rae had seen it too. Her face went pale. She took a step back like the door might bite her.

I reached up and pulled the nameplate off, the adhesive making a soft tearing sound. "I apologize. That's not supposed to be there."

She stared at the empty space where her sister's name had been. "Oh. This is her room."

I tucked the nameplate into my jacket pocket. "It's your room now."

"It's like I'm taking her life completely." Her voice was barely a whisper.

"You're not taking anything." I turned to look at her. "And even if you were, you should take advantage of it."

She looked up at me, confusion flickering across her face.

"I never knew Saraphina had a sister," I said. "If I am being frank, nobody did. I'm sure that wasn't accidental. You're the same age. You should have been at this school already."

Her jaw tightened. "But Saraphina was a good person. Good people shouldn't perish like that and have their lives stolen by their half sister."

I made a noncommittal sound. I wasn't sure why she thought so. Saraphina had been... complicated. Popular, yes. Charming when she wanted to be. But I'd seen the way she treated the staff, the casual cruelty she showed anyone she considered beneath her. Good was a relative term.

"You shouldn't feel guilty," I said instead.

She nodded, but I could tell she didn't believe me.

I pulled out my card and handed it to her. "If you need anything, call me. My office is in the west wing, third floor. Don't try to handle everything alone."

Her fingers brushed mine as she took the card. The contact sent a jolt straight through me, and my hunger stirred, sharp and sudden. The scent of wildflowers and rain filled my nostrils. My body responded without permission, blood rushing south, my pulse quickening.

I took a step back, forcing my expression to stay neutral. "I should go now."

But she didn't unlock her door. Instead, she looked up at me with those dark eyes that were so much like Elena's it hurt.

"I've never met an incubus before," she said.

"We're relics. Not many of us left."

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Can I ask you something? It's personal and weird."

My throat felt dry. "What?"

"Do incubus feel the mate bond like werewolves do? Or is it something different, like a witch's heartsong or a vampire's blood bond?"

The question hit me like a punch to the gut. I thought about Elena, about the way she'd felt like home in my arms. About the dreams that wouldn't let me go.

"Incubus don't have mates," I said, my voice rougher than I meant it to be. "But we can stay attached to specific warm bodies."

She waited for me to continue.

"There's the hunger too. We're sexual creatures, but there will always be one you hunger for more than others."

"How do you cope? Here, I mean?"

I looked at her standing there in the hallway, small and lost and asking questions that cut too close to the bone. "You cannot possibly be implying… Rae, I have restraint."

She smiled then, the first real smile I'd seen from her. It transformed her whole face, made her look less like a ghost and more like a girl. More like Elena.

"Well, considering you did me a good deed today, I'll do you one and tell you that you have an erection."

Then the door shut in my face with a soft click.

I stood there for a moment, staring at the wood grain. Then I looked down.

She was right. My arousal was obvious, straining against my pants like a teenager who'd never learned control. The hunger was still there, coiling in my belly, whispering about the girl on the other side of the door.

I pressed my forehead against the cool wood and closed my eyes. This was going to be a problem.