A knock sounded at the door. She looked back at Felix, who had already shifted. Adjusting her uniform, she crossed the room and opened the door so someone who was far too bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for her at this time of the morning could enter.
“Callum, hey.” She gave him a short smile. She used to think he was handsome, and he still was, but when he measured up next to Felix, there was no comparison.
“I found your familiar wandering around last night, and thought you might want to know I brought him back.”
She looked back at Felix, hoping he could feel the many daggers she sent his way.Was he stupid?
“No witch, not stupid.”
Oops. She hadn’t meant to say that into his mind.
“Thank you for returning him.”
“It’s no problem.”
She looked at her feet, the silence stretching between them. “Well! Thanks for coming by.” She went to shut the door, but he stopped her, putting his hand on the door above her.
“I, uh—” He scratched his head. Again, something she would have found cute before, but now she was just annoyed by it. Or maybe she was just getting her period. Men particularly annoyed her in her luteal phase. “Remember that date you agreed to? I was wondering if I could take you out tomorrow night?”
Shit.She had agreed to it.
“Ugh!” she said, pretending like she was annoyed. “I wish I could, but I have dinner with my family then.”
He cocked his head, giving her a suspicious look. “Isn’t that tonight?”
“Oh, right…Yeah, it is.” An awkward chuckle escaped her. “How did you know that?”
“Your sister told me about it, I’m on her squad, remember?”
“Yeah, of course,” she blurted out. “Well, then tomorrow’s great,” she said through gritted teeth.
Suddenly, she felt murderous. A feral urge of violence wanting to swing a bat at the enforcer’s head. Until she realized,it wasn’t her emotions she was feeling, it washis.Speaking of the little devil, Felix wound between her legs and tried to take a swing at Callum’s leg.
“Bad kitty!” Avery scolded him, trying to swallow down the palpable anger searing in her veins that he was causing.
Callum smiled brightly, ignoring the cat. For the first time in her life, she wanted to punch him. Instead, she mirrored his smile, hoping she didn’t look as pained as she felt.
“Great! I’ll pick you up at six?”
“Mmhmm!”
Mist clungto the university grounds as the class walked toward the lecture theater. The path curved around a large lake to a sprawling grass field ringed by an orchard of oaks and apple trees before curving back around to the quadrangle, where they were headed. Maya walked beside her, as Felix trailed her heels as a cat. Avery swallowed. Until now, it had been easy to pretend that Felix was her familiar, but today she would be expected to perform magic.
“Have you been practicing?” Maya asked casually.
“Yup!” Avery lied through her teeth.
Her friend was far too nice for her lying ass and reassured her anyway. “I bet you’ll do great.”
The rest of the way to class, they caught up. Maya told her the latest gossip, how she had missed out on the latest episode of their reality TV show, how one of the swimmer’s boyfriends had cheated on her. Avery half listened, nodding her head a lot and saying, “That’s crazy,” at least five times. Maya could tell she was distracted, but luckily, didn’t pry. And that was why she loved her, even on the days that Avery hardly felt like a person,Maya wouldn’t chide her for it; she would let her float off in her own world and hold her hand while she did. There weren’t many people who would let you exist without it being just for their benefit.
The lecture hall loomed as her stomach dropped below her ankles. Many of her peers had been training for months with their familiars, and while Avery understood the theory, channeling from a shifter, if it was even possible, would be something else entirely.
She supposed she had channeled blood magic. Would it be so far-fetched that she could try to channel from a shifter? Getting Felix on board with the idea would be an entirely different mountain to climb. And it was a mountain she wanted to climb, in more ways than one. Ugh. Could she go an entire day without thinking a dirty thought? It was starting to feel impossible.
The students filed into their seats, Avery and Maya taking their spots near the window. Students talked among themselves while the professor strode in, robes swishing against the wooden floors. Felix hopped onto the table, gave a lazy stretch, and knocked her notebook off the table.Asshole.
“Good morning, class. Before we begin, we have some new additions to our year.” He gestured toward the door. “Transfer students from our sister academies!”
