I couldn’t get over how fancy everything was and how different Brighthaven was from every other school I’d ever seen.

The high, stained-glass windows and vaulted ceilings made it look more like a small chapel than a registration office, but what else did I expect from a school in a castle? Instead of crumbling beige-ish paint, the walls were dark gray stone with tapestries of parties, ceremonies, and wars with animals of all kinds dotted throughout, or splashed with color from the stained-glass windows.

In the office, instead of tacky posters with Be all that you can be all over the place, the walls were hung with what looked like family crests and portraits of who were probably past principals—head masters?—with unusually animalistic features. Like the woman staring at me with the judgy cat eyes, or the man looking down his beakish nose at me… Or maybe I was just projecting.

I took a quiet breath and let it out slowly. It would be fine. I could totally pull this off.

Who am I kidding? There’s no way this is going to work.

“Are you all right, dear?”

My eyes zoomed back in on the matronly woman sitting behind the huge desk opposite me. Miss Heather Williams. She’d introduced herself when she asked me to come in. And she hadn’t stopped talking since. I’d tuned her out a while ago, but it seemed she’d finally noticed.

“Ah, yes,” I stammered. “Just tired from the trip is all.”

She made a sympathetic clucking sound, and an image of her poofing into a chicken popped into my head. I had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep a straight face. God, I was tired.

“Of course, dear,” she said, reaching across to squeeze my arm, “I can only imagine, with as far as you’ve come.” I silently begged her not to ask where I was coming from, but she chattered on.

“Students don’t register in person like they used to anymore,” she said, signing something with a flourish. “But honestly, I should have expected that from the Suzukis.”

I smiled a little and offered up a shrug. “Yeah, well,” I said, going for congenial, “you know how my family can be.” Silently, I was praying that my lies would work, but Heather smiled.

“Well, no matter what, it is wonderful to have a member of your family attend Brighthaven,” she said, beaming at me as she tidied her papers and placed them in a folder.

Who exactly was this family? It seemed they had quite the reputation, but I couldn’t get a read on what kind. I’d have to think fast to keep this up.

Heather came around the desk with the packet in hand. Figuring this was the part where she handed me a class schedule and sent me on my way, I got up, but she paused. Her eyes gave me such a thorough scan I started panicking. This was it, the part where she suddenly recognized I wasn’t who I said I was and I got thrown out and had to find some other way to hide from whatever had recently turned my life upside down.

But all she asked was, “Where are the rest of your things, dear?” her brow creasing with concern. “Did another member of the staff already take them?”

Thinking fast, I said, “Oh, well, this is all I’ve got.” I shrugged the stolen book bag filled with stolen clothes and supplies onto my shoulder, avoiding eye contact. “You know how my family can be. Very…traditional?”

There was a short beat where I wasn’t sure she would buy it, but Heather nodded along, finally handing me the papers.

“I hope you won’t think ill of me if I say that I have heard,” she began, lowering her tone to a gossip’s signature whisper, “that your family could be a little…eccentric in their insistence on self-reliance.”

I stuttered some kind of noncommittal response, reeling because I could not believe that worked, and Heather squeezed my arm fondly, like we were old friends. I’d feel a little guilty for the deception if it wasn’t literally saving my life.

“Not to worry,” she said brightly. “We’ll make sure you’re properly attended to, now that you’re at Brighthaven.”

Attended to, huh? I hoped she didn’t mean literally. Everyone knew Shifters had an old-fashioned streak, but I wouldn’t need actual attendants like some kind of courtier, would I? As desperately as I wanted to ask, I was sure Makiko Suzuki would know that much at least, so I kept my mouth shut.

Heather led me over to the leather sofa against the wall, beneath the portrait of Beak Nose the Third, as I’d dubbed him in my head, as she flipped through the papers one more time.

“Ah,” she said, looking at me with sudden understanding. “I see here your animal hasn’t emerged yet.”

She must mean what I shift into.

“Uh…yes, that’s right,” I said, trying for certainty. And failing.

She flapped a hand in the air, as if waving the words away. “Oh, don’t be embarrassed, dear. A lot of students here are late bloomers. I was one myself.” She winked at me, and I gave her a smile that was hopefully exactly as uncomfortable as a Suzuki would feel. “We have the perfect temporary housing until it emerges,” she continued. Then her eyes lit up. “And I have the perfect student to escort you to your new dorm in that case!”

She finally handed me the papers and ushered me onto the couch, telling me to wait “two ticks” and she’d be right back. When the door closed behind her, I relaxed for the first time since seeing the school between the trees. But that calm didn’t last nearly as long as I wanted it to.

I couldn’t believe it had worked thus far, but how long could I keep this up? It wouldn’t take much for my whole plan to crumble around me, and I wasn’t doing the most convincing job so far… But I didn’t really have a choice.

As much as I wanted to read the papers, learn more about this place, I was too antsy. I tried my hardest not to think about my parents, or the fact that my life had imploded in my face. I thought about my situation instead, here and now.

True, Brighthaven was no Harvard, but at least I was in a school, officially enrolled and everything…only one where they think I’m a Shifter. But apparently, I was masquerading as the daughter of some famous, eccentric family. Ugh. But no, it didn’t have to be a problem, right? All I had to do was keep lying. Too bad I’d always been a terrible liar.

There was no more time to dwell on how royally screwed I probably was before the office door opened. I put on a bright smile, determined to show Heather I wasn’t completely crazy, but the person who walked in…was definitely not Heather.

He was easily the most gorgeous guy I’d ever seen. All tall, auburn-haired, and olive-complexioned. I had half a second to close my mouth as he looked around, scanning the office before his dark brown eyes landed on me and lit up.

He approached me with a megawatt smile I tried to return, but it probably looked like my face was spasming. Even I had to admit I was totally awestruck.

“You must be Makiko,” he said, and even his voice was warm and friendly. He held out his hand.

“Hi,” I managed far too quietly and we shook.

“I’m Shane Gregor,” he said. “And you must be pretty important to pull me out of class.” His eyes practically twinkled as he looked down at me, and I stammered for something to say until he took pity on me.

“I’m just kidding! Classes don’t start for another two weeks. You’re part of the early crew,” he said with a wink. He bent down to grab my bag, and I had to fight the urge to stop him. That bag was all I owned, but I highly doubted he’d grab it and run. “Follow me. We’ll get you settled in.”

He slung my bag over his shoulder and gave me another smile before gesturing me out of the office first. I waited, then walked a step behind him through the corridors so I could gape and marvel at it in peace. Almost every window we passed was stained bright colors, which threw rainbows on walls and the plush rugs. Between the windows were more tapestries, portraits, and crests.

“It’s kind of palatial here, isn’t it?” I said, more to myself than Shane. He looked over his shoulder at me and laughed.

“I’m sure we pale in comparison to the Suzuki manors,” he said with a shrug.

Manors? As in plural? Oh, boy.

I tried to cover, but Shane breezed right past my obvious anxiety, chatting first about how easy it could be to get lost finding the classrooms, then about the classes themselves, then about the ones he was excited about.

“Shifter history, huh?” I asked, trying to wrap my head around everything and pay attention at the same time, but it felt like my brain was already bursting.

Shane finally seemed to notice how overwhelmed I was. “Sorry.” He gave a self-deprecating laugh. “I know sometimes I can talk waaay too much. Guess I fit my animal.”

Hoping it wasn’t rude, I went ahead and asked, “What animal are you?”

“I’m a jackal,” he explained, a note of pride in his voice. Then he turned to me, the question already on his face, and my stomach flipped. “What about you?”

I fumbled for some kind of response, anything, but he caught on. Heat sparked all up on body as Shane placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. I found myself staring up at those warm, brown eyes.

“Hey, it’s cool if you don’t know yet,” he said with another one of his brilliant smiles. I murmured a thank you and we continued on. Out of sympathy for me, he chatted a little less. I could still feel the spot on my arm where he had touched me.

Get a grip, Mori!

Eventually, he led me up a winding staircase. I was getting a little tired. It had been a long journey here, and all I wanted was to curl up in a bed, sleep for a full week, and try not to think about the mess of my life.

“Here we are!” Shane announced, gesturing to the heavy oak door at the top of the staircase. “The Wayward Tower.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “The way what now?”

He laughed. “It’s a joke name I call the dorm. This is where they stick the early arrivers,” he explained. “There’s only a few of us placed in this particular tower, but they’re all great guys. You’ll see.”

I stumbled on the stair, stuck on the word guys. Was I about to be rooming with a bunch of men? And worse, were they all as gorgeous as Shane? If so, I was in so much trouble.

He opened the door and I blinked as I stepped into an absolutely sumptuous common room. There were plush couches dotted throughout, comfy but elegant armchairs and soft, springy rugs underfoot. I had the fleeting thought that I should take my shoes off as I turned in a slow circle. More portraits lined the walls, but instead of disapproving faces with animal features, these were simply animals. Birds flying, horses running, tigers snarling, and wolves howling at the moon. The closer I looked, the more I realized there was something about their eyes…something that let me know these were portraits of actual Shifters. A bubble of awe started to blossom in my chest.

But the moment shattered as a door opened with a bang, and two men flung themselves into the common room, inhuman growls filling the air. Claws and fur blurred before my eyes as I tried to make sense of what I was seeing. One of them grabbed for the other’s neck, but he ducked and slammed into the other guy straight on. The sound, the snarling they made as they landed an inch from my feet, was too much.

Shane’s arms wrapped protectively around me as I screamed.