An absolute ass.
I was an absolute ass.
I dropped my forehead gently against my desk with a loud groan. Murdered. His entire family was murdered, and all I could do was try to gossip about him because he seemed hostile towards me. No freaking wonder! I sighed and rested my head on the desk’s cool surface.
My parents had been taken away from me. Tragically.
Ren’s entire clan was taken from him.
No wonder he didn’t trust me. I sighed. Not that I could say that I trusted any of the Core Council boys myself, besides maybe Theo, but even then, there were things I kept from Theo. I could’ve opened up to the bear-shifter more, but something was holding me back.
And that hadn’t been all that Priscilla told me.
“All the Core Council members have shadowy backgrounds,” Priscilla confided. “There are rumors that Enrique’s family is from some kind of mafia and that Jasper escaped a prison sentence by coming here.”
After seeing my shocked face, she’d laughed. “Okay, yes, those are all rumors. The only one we know about for sure is Ren because the story was published wildly among shifter news. You can’t escape that kind of story.”
Theo’s voice broke through my thoughts. He called from beyond me door, “Are you eating tonight, Fiona?”
I trotted to the door and put on my best ill face. “I’m not feeling well,” I told him, opening the door a few inches. “I think I’ll skip dinner tonight.”
“Do you need anything?” He rubbed his face. The circles under his eyes seemed darker. I tried to put on my best soothing expression.
“Don’t worry,” I told him and looked to the side. “Girl troubles.”
“Ohhh.”
And with that secret weapon, he vanished from my sight. When I closed the door, I waited to hear his footsteps disappear down the hall. I sighed heavily and locked the door, resting my back against it. Was it okay to hide away for the night? I didn’t think I could take another meal right now. Especially if Ren was glaring at me.
I wondered if Dracus had spoken with them. I wondered if Ren realized, in some way, that we had a connection. I wondered if he even cared about that.
My mouth was dry. I poured a glass of water for myself and sat back down at my desk. The homework for the day was open on my desk, but my brain couldn’t focus on anything. My other classes had been interesting, although Professor Sahni was by far the best. The calming agents sat on my desk beside my glass of water. I’d already taken one today.
Maybe I could talk a hot shower and melt underneath the spray of water. As I rose out of my chair, another knock sounded on the door. It held none of the heaviness (or playfulness) of Theo’s usual knock. A chill ran up my spine.
“It’s me, woman.”
Oh, you had to be kidding me. I took a step towards the door and then paused.
“How can I be sure you’re not going to attack me?” I asked in a doubtful tone. He scoffed.
“I have some honor.”
We’ll see about that, I wanted to say. Instead, I crossed the rest of the room and carefully opened my door. Ren, in all his brooding glory, stood before me. Up close, he was much taller than I remembered. It hurt my pride that I had to stare up at his full lips, which were twisted into a less than appealing sneer. And yet, somehow this cruel expression made a boy like Ren even more beautiful.
A young man and woman at war. I crossed my arms defiantly. We locked our gazes, and I suppressed a delicious shudder. My heart rocketed upwards in my chest.
“Yes?”
“I’ve been sent to give my apologies,” he said in a gruff voice.
I raised one eyebrow and inclined my head towards him. “Are you actually giving them or not?”
He glared. “What’s the difference?”
I thought about slamming the door right on his stupidly handsome face. Instead, I sucked in a sharp breath. “An apology is where you say that you’re sorry. I don’t think you are.”
“You’d be right about that.” His eyes glistened. Beneath his ice-cold exterior, there was a flame inside this beast. I knitted my brows together, feeling my bravery slipping away as we stood there. It was awkward. But I had a feeling that he could outwait my tolerance for terrible social situations since he didn’t care about them.
“Fine. I accept your apologies.” I made sure to do air quotes around the word accept. There was no shame in being a little petty towards him. He scrunched up his face but made no move to leave the doorway.
“Will you come to dinner?”
“I’m not hungry.”
He sniffed the air, closing his eyes. “Liar.”
I pulled back and rubbed my hands over my arms. “Creep! What are you doing?”
“Smelling your pulse spike,” he said with a satisfied grin. It was probably the first gleeful expression I had seen on his face. It made sense that it was marred with plenty of cruelty. “I can tell when you lie.”
“Then you know I’m not a threat,” I said. “Look, I know we haven’t gotten off on the best foot, but I’m not some secret spy or mysterious person. I’m just a girl trying to fit in here.”
He said nothing, but I could see the doubt brewing in his eyes. Up close, the angular lines of his face looked softer. He clenched his jaw tightly. I wish I could sniff the air loudly and proclaim something about his behavior, but everyone knew I was a late-shifter. Or a supposed late-shifter.
“I don’t trust you,” he said. “But I know you’re not lying so far.” The sneer turned back into that oddly attractive smirk. I’d have to make a note to mentally train myself against his gorgeous appearance. A wolf with a pretty face wasn’t to be trusted.
“I’ll come to dinner,” I said. He said nothing and just turned.
“Do what you want. I’m skipping.”
I glared at his back. Why did it feel like I was always watching these Council boys walk off in a shroud of cryptic energy? I rolled my eyes. Whatever. I was hungry now.
***
I’ve made a list of things I’m not great at on my fifth day of class:
1. Losing parents tragically
2. Dealing with moody young men
3. Dealing with nice young men when there are too many men in general
Back at home, I was the only child. My father was a kind man who I wouldn’t describe as overly masculine. He enjoyed pottery classes with my mother. He liked to go bird watching when we went on hikes. Mostly, he was quiet and reserved, as my mother had been. In some ways, I never felt that I fit in with my parents. They were calm and perfectly content with their place in life. I could never seem to sit still. Sometimes I wished for someone else perhaps an older brother to spice things up.
But now?
There was yelling. An occasional object thrown. When I tried to do my homework last night, I watched in horror as Enrique transformed into a lion to chase around the cat that hung around the manor. Dracus had grown so angry that in his dragon form he nearly snatched Enrique up by the mane.
I hadn’t expected their shifted forms to be so…so…
Incredible. Awe-inspiring. Terrifying.
And yet…
“Did we have homework?” Theo asked with a dazed expression as we settled into Shifter Mechanics. I stared at him.
“Theo, we have a quiz.”
He cursed and began frantically rifling through his book. I handed him my notebook where I’d written out a neat summary of what was supposed to be on our quiz. How? I wondered. How had these amazing shifting abilities been trusted to these people?
I watched him from the corner of my eye. His dark hair was curling shaggier than usual. In fact, the dark circles under his eyes had stayed put these last few days.
“Are you sleeping well?” I asked. He opened his mouth to reply, but the professor walked in. We shuffled our things into the desk and prepared for the quiz. After class, Theo seemed to be avoiding my eye as we stood up. I glanced towards the back of the room. Sure enough, Ren was already escaping.
There was a very real possibility, I realized, that they were hiding something from me.
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