I ground my teeth. It was just too early for this kind of bull-headed logic. “How long did it take for the wolves to get used to the idea of you not being dangerous?”
Lines bracketed her mouth but she didn’t say a word. She didn’t speak about it often but I knew her childhood hadn’t been easy. At least now I knew Jacqueline would step in if there was a chance I could come to physical harm. Mama hadn’t had that benefit.
“I know it’s hard to fathom, Soph. But one day they will see the light. Not all of them can be so narrow-minded. Just remember most of them have grown up with these prejudices.”
“Better luck next time,” Dad said. “Maybe something will come up in the library.”
After the call ended, I quickly got ready for classes and then ran to the kitchen garden so I could prep lunch for the day. Before I’d gone and transmutated the stew, it had smelled pretty good. Now I had a hankering for Moroccan lamb stew. There was no way I’d have time to finish the stew off before school started.
“Is there any chance I can leave this on the hob until lunchtime?” I asked Peter.
He tapped his chin. “Does it have to be watched?”
“Nope. I’ll rig it so nothing will need to be done to it.”
“Okay. But I don’t know how much longer you should be doing this, Sophie. You can’t spend all your time away from your classmates.”
That was an unpopular opinion. Especially when I walked in last-minute to my Magical History class to find a familiar figure standing in the doorway. Kate was waving her arms about. Her expression dimmed when she saw me. Always in the past, she had a sharp quip to throw my way. I braced myself for the inevitable. To my utter surprise, she shrank back against the doorway.
“Uh, hi,” I said.
Her friends pulled her away. But not before I caught the way her eyes never lifted above my chin. I knew better than to think she was displaying submissive behaviour. Kate wasn’t an alpha but she was dominant enough to command a level of respect from her shifter peers. The way she surreptitiously looked at me now had me thinking that she was genuinely scared of me. That couldn’t be right. Both Professor McKenna and Professor Mortimer had declared that the spell around my storage chest hadn’t been deadly. What more did they want?
All through class, Kate and her friends traded veiled looks. In between Magical History and Intermediate Runes, they whispered to each other and to anyone else who approached them. Given Kate had been away for a few days, lots of other kids wanted to catch up with her. The gossip was just too juicy.
By the time lunch rolled around, I’d heard snippets of all their conversations. For beings with heightened senses, they sure as hell did a bad job of keeping a secret. I saw Peter amongst the cabbages when I went to check on the stew. I’d been excited about it this morning, but as I lifted the hood of the tagine crock, tears pricked at my eyes. I brushed them away hastily, not wanting to get caught crying over food again.
I fried some flatbread in shallow oil and gathered up some ingredients for a salad. As usual, I had made way too much food. Habit, I suppose. Whenever I cooked at home, somehow I’d find myself hosting at least one or two shifters. Food was supposed to be shared. It was about community. I didn’t even have Charming today.
Yet when I reached my oak tree and found Max sitting propped up against it, I wanted to turn around and run. He spotted me and grinned. My stomach somersaulted even as beads of sweat gathered at the base of my neck.
“I’m not dead,” he said. He bent one knee and rested his elbow on it. Today he wore a maroon-coloured baseball shirt with tan cargo pants. His bicep curled under the material. Did he purposefully buy a size too small or something? I tried to redirect my attention away from his physique.
“Good for you.”
“I win the bet.”
“There was no bet.”
He sniffed. “What’s for lunch?”
I stepped back. “This is my lunch. This is my tree. Can’t you find someone else to torture?”
It was amazing how the same features could traverse the spectrum of human emotion. He’d been smiling a second earlier, his tanned colouring and light eyes friendly. Now a dark storm raged in his eyes, his chiselled jaw suddenly tight.
“You would know if I was torturing you, Sophie.” The way his voice dropped when he said my name made all the hairs on my body stand upright. The witch part of me commanded me to show him my belly. The human part stomped her foot. I chose to be human today. For the first time in a long time.
“You would know if I was trying to poison you, Maximus.”
Gold flared in his eyes. A rumble vibrated in his chest. I’d bet nobody ever called him by his full name besides his mother. By doing so, I had effectively declared myself dominant. That was so far from reality it was laughable. If he chose to go furry, I’d be mincemeat in a second. But in that second, I wondered if I could transmute him into a pile of sludge.
I caught myself before that thread got too deep. Thinking those kinds of things could get a person into trouble. Max tilted his head up to watch me. I really wanted to sit down. The containers of food were heavy. The one holding the lamb stew was burning a scar on my forearm.
“You’re not supposed to be on the junior campus,” I said. We both knew I was clutching at straws. None of the teachers would bat an eyelid if they found Max here. If they kicked up a fuss, he would just use Kai as his get out of jail card. That’s what
