Avery twisted her pen in between her fingers, looking at the intricacies of the stained-glass window beside her while fighting to keep her eyes open. Anything was better than watching the lucky bastards who strolled through the door.
She had applied for a transfer out of Caerwyn two years ago, but her mother denied it. She never thought that nepotism would work against her.
Felix passed out next to her, his belly facing the sky and his mittens stretched out, once again using any opportunity to sleep. It was strange sleeping next to an enemy. Although in someconvoluted way, it was comforting. For over a year, she had been stewing in her own presence, a soup of loneliness. Somehow, sleeping next to her enemy had resulted in better sleep than she’d had for the last year. Was that fucked up? Probably.
Maya nudged her, forcing her to look back to the front of the class.
Her heart stopped for a moment as her gaze landed on the tallest one in the group. He was sporting a shit-eating grin. Her jaw hung open.
Felix, not cat Felix, stood in front of the class wearing a Caerwyn uniform with a Cheshire Cat smile plastered on his face and a black ferret on his shoulder. No ears. No tail. No sign of being a shifter at all. But it was unmistakably him. She looked back down at cat Felix, who somehow also had a shit-eating grin plastered on its face. She put her hand down on the cat, and it looked and felt like a normal cat, but when she looked closer, she saw the swirling patterns, a dead giveaway.
It was made of shadow. She looked back at him, her jaw still slack.
He eyed her from across the room, smirking, before tapping his chin with his finger. She clamped her mouth shut.
Thatrat bastard.
A group of girls murmured, craning their necks to get a better look. He sent them a devastating smile, his fangs no longer there. They gasped like the damn goddess herself had blessed them. If only they knew.
Standing next to the witches, he was a colossal mountain next to them. It wasn’t unheard of to be so tall, but it certainly drew attention. They were meant to be lying low. What the hell was he doing?
“Students, please welcome the transfer students,” Councilor Delis announced. “I’ll leave you in the capable hands of Professor Bran. If you need anything, you know where to go.”
She was the nicest of all the councilors; her demeanor was always warm and inviting. Avery often went to her rather than her mother when she needed anything.
The transfers found their seats, including Felix, who took the empty seat a few away from Maya and her. He pointedly didn’t look at them, preferring to smirk at the girls sitting in the front row.
Jealousy festered in the pit of her stomach before she starved it of its oxygen and shoved it down to the deepest parts of her. She would not be jealous of a shifter. Maya looked over her shoulder, giving him a look.
Felix looked back at them, giving them a polite smile, before looking back to the front and settling comfortably in his chair. He was far too good at playing pretend. He played a familiar and a student. There wasn’t a single hair on his stupid head that she could trust.
“Stop staring, little witch. You’ll start drooling.”
She rolled her eyes, ignoring the little comment. The man was designed to get under her skin. More than that, he was getting bolder. The question still played on her mind, though. Why the hell had he shown up looking like a witch, in uniform and all?
She sent that thought down the bond.
A small smile tugged at his lips.“Wouldn’t you like to know,”he replied. She didn’t jump at the sound of his voice in her mind this time. It almost felt like it was meant to be there.
“I would actually.”
“What are you going to give me for telling you?”
“I have nothing to offer you.”
“I could think of many things you could have to offer.”He looked down at her chest.“I’m looking at two of them right now.”
“You’re disgusting.”
The professor interrupted their chain of thought sparring. “Today, we will be going over the basics of pulling magic from your bond.” Some students groaned before the professor only raised a hand to silence them. “This year will demand greater precision in your magic, and you will need to pull from your familiar faster and better than before. Everyone, please follow me to the lab.”
Pale autumn light filtered through the stained-glass windows of the laboratory. Wooden tables were strewn with open textbooks and medical tools while the hum of students chattering in the background continued.
Felix was several paces behind her, his eyes boring into the back of her head. Since they had become bonded, she was acutely aware of him at all times, something that was necessary for a witch and a familiar pair—with Felix, it was a giant pain in the ass. She wanted nothing more than to be oblivious to his presence.
Students filed in next to tables, and Avery took her usual spot, waiting for Maya to fill in next to her as she normally did.
But of course, offuckingcourse.
