Chapter 5 Avery #2
Aiden hummed in agreement. “They are attracted to a high concentration of shifter souls, and when the Moon’s power wanes enough to allow them to escape, they tear straight through at the points where we’re the most numerous—in particular where there are large numbers of Primes.
It’s why their attacks are almost always around where our largest communities are based, like here in Northern Georgia, the Pacific Northwest, or the big settlements in Virginia. ”
My hand was up in the air before I could stop it.
Aiden almost looked surprised. “Yes, Miss…?”
“Avery Baxter.”
His eyes widened behind his glasses for the briefest of seconds. Yes, I am the new student you will have the pleasure of tutoring in introductory runes.
“Miss Baxter. Something to add?”
“It isn’t true that wraiths don’t attack humans, or that they can’t harm them. They do and they can.”
The class began tittering, and he arched a dark brow. “Is that so?”
That was a haughty fucking stare, and I didn’t appreciate it.
“While it’s true that humans can neither see nor feel wraiths,” I said, “they are still susceptible to an attack, especially when there are no shifters in the area to draw the wraiths’ attention elsewhere.”
He was unmoved. “We have no human deaths on record from a wraith attack.”
“That’s because the Shifter Councils don’t give a shit,” I snapped.
Ian cleared his throat, but I forged on.
This nonsense pissed me off. “Wraiths can feed on human souls. No, they can’t kill a human in one fell swoop like they can a shifter, but human souls can still be damaged beyond repair.
Some get sick for a few days and recover.
Some slowly descend into madness. Some just physically waste away over a period of years.
They’re often diagnosed with a human disease that has similar symptoms, but the decline always starts after wraiths have been spotted in the area.
If the Guardians deigned to occasionally patrol the human cities, it would be common knowledge. ”
The scandalized chatter of the class intensified.
Aiden’s jaw tensed, and his eyes flared, a hint of bright turquoise lighting up around his irises—his beast peeking through.
Bring it, cat.
He smothered that shit fast. “I suggest you save your editorial comments for essay assignments during our wraith unit, Miss Baxter.”
If he ever showed his face at Guardian training, I would punch it.
I settled for a shitty smile. “Understood, Professor.”
He rose from the table, returned to his laptop, and then launched into his lecture on the next slide’s topic—historical evidence of shifting and magic use in early human societies.
I went back to my doodling. I had plans to draw an even bigger cat putting the jaguar’s head in its mouth.
Ian chuckled. “If that man doesn’t anger-bang you before the end of the semester, I will eat my shoe.”
“You’re delusional,” I snapped out of the side of my mouth.
Aiden was able to lecture for ten solid minutes before he was interrupted once more. The classroom door creaked open, just a sliver, and the girls seated closest to the door shrieked and began to scramble out of their chairs.
A python slithered into the classroom, winding its leisurely way across the floor toward Aiden. It had shiny purple scales, embellished with even shinier golden scales that wove a geometric pattern down its back, and was at least six or seven feet long.
Aiden blew out a breath, removing his glasses to pinch his brow. “George, we’ve talked about interrupting my classes.”
The snake ignored him, continuing his casual slither across the floor, mere feet from those of us seated in the front row.
One guy stuck his foot out like he was going to try to kick the snake. George reared up and hissed at the kid.
His friend, who was seated next to him, punched the guy in the arm.
“Dude, don’t fuck with that snake. Just because he isn’t venomous doesn’t mean he won’t fuck you up.
Tyler thought it would be hilarious to try to shove him into a cabinet last semester, and the snake wrapped itself around his neck and nearly choked him to death. ”
“He’s correct,” Aiden said to the class. “Do not touch George. Don’t approach him, don’t talk to him. I apologize that he’s decided to invade our classroom. Elijah’s off campus currently, and I’m the only other person George seems to like. He’s bored.”
Fascinating. The basilisk shifter had a pretty purple snake as a pet!
George paused his journey right in front of where Ian and I were sitting. He looked at Aiden like he was finally ready to meander over to his second-favorite person, but then he turned to take a little last-second sniff of my shoe.
I didn’t move a muscle. He was a gorgeous snake, but I wasn’t dumb enough to ignore Aiden’s warning.
George perked up, changing tactics and slithering under my chair.
“George,” Aiden barked. “Get over here. Now.”
George ignored him once again, inching closer and lifting his shiny head to nose at my thigh.
“Hi, buddy,” I murmured. “You’re so pretty, but I think you’re going to be in trouble with your second daddy if you don’t do what he says.”
George, apparently an intelligent snake, gave Aiden the stink eye, and then he continued his climb under the desktop and into my lap. Madeline and Bernice squealed behind me and vacated their seats as he wound his way up my body and settled his upper half around my shoulders.
“Shit,” Aiden swore. “I apologize, Miss Baxter.”
“It’s fine” I replied. I rubbed a fingertip along George’s scales. He sniffed my hair and then settled in to doze on my shoulders. “He’s very friendly.”
“He isn’t, actually,” Aiden said, crossing his arms over his chest with another slutty flexing of his forearms. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him. I can remove him and lock him in my office.”
George hissed at him.
“I don’t think he likes that idea,” I replied, grinning at our unflappable professor, who was a little flapped right now. “He can sit with me until class is over.”
Ian held a cautious hand out to the snake. George lifted his head and took a tentative sniff. He eyed Ian for a few seconds, then settled back onto my shoulders.
“Did I pass?” Ian asked, laughing. “You don’t get a choice, G-man. Avery’s my sister, so if you wanna hang out with her, I’m part of the package.”
Aiden’s narrow-eyed stare at me rivaled the intensity of his brother’s—the already too familiar hazel gaze that I’d tangled with earlier in the dining hall. “Right,” he said after a long moment. He hit a few keys on his laptop, and a new slide appeared. “Everyone settle down. Class isn’t over yet.”
I stroked George some more as I tuned back out. A ridiculous start to the day, but at least it hadn’t been boring.