“Look, Nocturne—” he began, his dark brows drawing low over his amber eyes.
“Please go now,” Griffin said, quietly but firmly. “I think it is clear that Kaitlyn doesn’t wish to speak to you and I consider her under my protection so I must ask you to leave.”
For a moment I seemed to see flames dancing in Ari’s eyes.
“You cannot control me,” he said and there seemed to be an echo in his voice, almost as though two people were speaking at the exact same time and saying the exact same words. “I heard what you threatened Sanchez with, you know—that you would make his Drake harm itself. I know your family has dominion over beasts but my wings fly higher than his. You cannot command me.”
“Maybe not,” Griffin said, giving him a level stare. “But you are not allowed to loose your beast here and I will certainly be happy to take you on in your present form.”
I bit my lip as they glared at each other, cool gray clashing with warm amber. I didn’t want anyone fighting for me. I wasn’t one of those girls who delighted in having boys brawl on my account. Why couldn’t Ari Reyes just leave me alone—leave all of us alone—and go away?
“Hey, what’s going on?” Megan hurried up, carrying a tray, to stand beside Griffin. Avery came next and then Emma, who looked uncertainly at the stand-off between the tall Nocturne and the muscular Drake.
“Kaitlyn, what’s going on?” she whispered as she sat down her tray and seated herself close beside me, one arm around my shoulders protectively.
Ari looked at all my Coven-mates arrayed against him, and a frustrated look came over his handsome face.
“Whatever you want, now really isn’t the time, Drake,” Avery told him, though I thought he sounded a bit regretful, as though he felt sorry for sending Ari away.
Ari raked a hand through his hair again.
“I’m not here to tease or make fun or hurt Kaitlyn in any way,” he said at last, frowning. “I am only here to warn you that Nancy Rattcliff is planning something—I don’t know what. I tried to warn her off but I don’t know if she will listen to me or even my Drake, who also warned her. That’s all.”
Then he turned on his heel and stalked away, his spine straight and the set of his broad shoulders stiff and angry.
18
Ari
My Drake roared angrily as I walked away, gnashing his razor-sharp teeth and spreading his wings within me, pushing the boundaries of the limits between my form and his.
He wanted to know why I hadn’t explained things better—why I hadn’t made Kaitlyn understand how we felt about her and claimed her then and there.
“It wasn’t the right time,” I told him savagely, as I stalked away from her table. “She has a wrong idea about us because of what she heard Nancy say.”
The Drake wanted to know why I didn’t go back and give her the right idea. Or, failing that, why he couldn’t just blast anyone who stood between us and Kaitlyn with his flame.
“You think that would make her more likely to want to be with us? If you burned all her friends to ashes?” I demanded irritably. As I said before—sometimes he’s got no common sense. “You can’t act like that,” I told him. “Besides, they were just defending her. She’s been through a lot.”
Though exactly what she had been through, I wasn’t completely sure. I’d heard rumors that she had lost her parents and it was clear she’d been burned in some way to be so scarred, but I didn’t know the whole story. I hope that someday she would tell it to me.
If I could ever earn her trust.
Right now, that didn’t look very likely, unfortunately. No longer hungry for breakfast, I stalked out of the Dining Hall and headed for my first period PE class early. Maybe a good, long run around the track would help me work out some of my frustration at being unable to talk to Kaitlyn.
Although I and my Drake both would have preferred a good, long flight instead. But of course, that was impossible here. We were only allowed to take wing and fly close to the portal between the human world and the Sky Lands—and only then for a very short time. If the humans found real-life dragons among their midst, well…let’s just say they’re not known for being the most tolerant species.
My Drake could fly higher than any but my Sire’s and he was big and strong and had an endless supply of fire, but even he would be no match for an anti-aircraft gun. So, no matter how restless the two of us were, he would have to wait until the next time we visited our homeland to take wing.
I just hoped that when that time came, I would be taking Kaitlyn with me. Though considering how she felt about me now, I didn’t see how that would ever happen.
19
Kaitlyn
“Well, that was pretty tense,” Avery remarked when Ari finally stalked away. “What did he want, Katydid? Besides to warn us that Nancy is being a witch with a capital B?”
I shook my head, my cheeks feeling hot. “I don’t know but I can guess.”
“Oh? Do tell.” Avery sat beside me and Megan and Griffin sat across from us. Emma was already on my other side and I felt, as always, the warmth and safety that came from having our whole group together.
But as close as I was with my Coven-mates, it was still difficult to admit what I had overheard the day before—to tell them the nasty things Nancy had been saying while she rubbed against Ari.
“That’s horrible!” Megan exclaimed, when I finished talking, looking down at my hands the whole time. “No wonder you didn’t want to talk to him!”
“But…why would Ari
