Chapter 2
I was lying across my bed, sulking because I didn’t have any wine to drown my lack-of-a-mate sorrows in when Mikaela texted to say they were headed to the cafeteria for dinner if I wanted to join them.
Well, it wasn’t wine, but food sounded good. Unless—
Vorzak isn’t with you, is he? I texted back.
Dots appeared and just hovered there for a very long time, before Mikaela’s response finally came through.
No.
Seriously? It took her five full minutes to type a two-letter word?
I glared at my phone suspiciously. She was up to something. I knew it.
However, I also knew that Mikaela wasn’t a fan of snakes, so I could probably trust that no.
Ten minutes later, I joined my friends at their table.
“So what happened after I left?” I asked quickly, hoping to stave off the questions about why I’d run away. “Did you guys go back inside the stables to search for the wine cellar?”
“Nah, the dragons were a little too riled up to risk it,” Elliot said.
“Besides, Vorzak kept us busy asking questions about you,” Mikaela said.
“Me? What’d he want to know about me?”
“Honestly, it was a little strange,” Mikaela said.
“Yeah, I’d swear he didn’t actually see you because by the time he got his serpents settled, you were long gone,” Kasi said.
“He still seemed to know her name, though,” Elliot said.
“Vorzak knew my name?” We’d never once spoken and he’d never seemed even slightly aware of me in the two and a half years we’d been at the Academy, so it seemed unlikely at best.
“Sort of,” Mikaela said.
“Yeah, that was weird too,” Kasi agreed.
“How could he only sort of know my name?” I demanded.
Mikaela shrugged. “He just seemed a bit uncertain. Then he wanted to know where you’d be next.”
“What did you tell him?” I asked suspiciously.
She just smirked at me.
Before I could demand further details, Jahrdran asked, “So what’s up with you and the gorgon anyway?”
“Jahrdran!” Kasi exclaimed.
“What? I’m just curious why she ran away like that.”
“Nothing’s up with us,” I said. “I’ve never even met the man.”
Elliot snickered while Jahrdran’s jaw dropped.
“What do you mean you’ve never met him?”
I didn’t appreciate the tone of incredulity in Jahrdran’s voice.
“Do you always run away from dudes you’ve never met?”
I scowled.
“Oh, I see. You’re afraid of his snakes.”
Mikaela burst into laughter and Kasi grinned.
“I’m not afraid of his snakes,” I snapped.
“Sure.” Jahrdran nodded in a way that made me think he didn’t believe me at all.
“Damnit, I’m not afraid of his snakes.”
Shadow, who was now somehow a tiny cat tattoo on Kasi’s wrist, leapt free to land on the table in front of me.
“Oh, man,” Mikaela said. “Miki-Leopard is obsessed with Shadow’s ability to lie on top of your skin, Kasi. She’s driving me nuts trying to do it herself.”
Kasi snorted with laughter. “Since she was born in the shadows, it’s possible she may succeed.”
“Don’t encourage her,” Mikaela said. “Every time she shoves against my skin without actually shifting, it’s like the worst itch in the world, and I can’t do anything about it because it’s on the inside of my skin.”
I was listening to their conversation, grateful we’d moved away from talking about Vorzak, but also incredibly aware of Shadow, who was standing on the very edge of the table between me and my plate, her shadows rubbing against my front as she stalked back and forth in front of me.
Back and forth, she marked me, her shadow tail snaking around me as she moved, the soft brush of her shadows a surprising gift that raised my spirits.
“She’s so sweet, Kasi,” I said.
Kasi smiled. “I know.
“So, if you’re not afraid of his snakes, why’d you run away?” Jahrdran abruptly asked.
I widened my eyes at Kasi, hoping she’d rein in her mate, but she just shrugged.
“Why do you care?” I asked.
“I just think it’s a curious reaction. We’re not in the same year, but I’ve still had a few classes with the gorgon and I’ve never seen anyone run away from him before.
Even the ones who are terrified of his snakes tend to freeze instead of run.
Don’t you know you’re not supposed to run from predators? ”
“He rejected her,” Mikaela said abruptly.
“Wait, what?” Kasi looked surprised.
“Mikaela!” I exclaimed.
“What?”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Elliot said. “I thought you said you’d never met the man.”
“I haven’t.”
“So how did he reject you if you haven’t met?” Jahrdran demanded.
“He didn’t reject me. He just didn’t recognize me and then I realized that’s because I was wrong and we’re not mates after all.”
“Wait, what?” Kasi exclaimed again. “But you were so convinced.”
“Doesn’t mean I was right.”
“Okay, let me get this straight,” Jahrdran said. “You thought you were mates, but didn’t bother to introduce yourself and now you’re mad he didn’t recognize you?”
Well, when he put it like that. “I’m not mad. I just realized he probably didn’t recognize me because we’re not mates.”
“How do you know you’re not mates?” Elliot asked. “I mean, my experience has been that it’s kind of hard to make a mistake like that. Once you know, you know.” He winked at Mikaela, who practically swooned in response.
Gag.
“Look, it took me all summer to accept this reality. I don’t need you guys screwing with my head and making me doubt myself.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t stick around to see his reaction to your disappearance,” Jahrdran said. “He seemed pretty adamant that he needed to find you.”
“Well, that’s just too bad for him because I’m determined to avoid the man.”
“Are you sure you’re not afraid of his snakes?” Jahrdran asked suspiciously.
I groaned. “I’m not afraid of his snakes. In fact, I find them to be absolutely adorable.”
“Why, thank you.”
I froze as Vorzak settled onto the empty chair beside me.
“They think you’re adorable too.”
I glared at Kasi, who was directly across from me. She couldn’t have warned me?
She just grinned back at me.
Clearly, none of my friends were taking my epiphany about Vorzak not being my mate seriously.
In fact, Kasi probably thought she’d been doing me a favor.
Great.
I edged a little closer to Mikaela and tried to ignore the steaming hot monster to my right.
That was easier said than done, though, since his serpents were busy petting my hair.
“See?” Vorzak rumbled. “They really like you.”
I sighed. “I like them too.” Without looking at Vorzak, I gave in to temptation and reached up to pet one of his serpent’s heads and scratch another under his chin.
“Hey, Vorzak.” A couple other students settled on the other side of Vorzak and across from him, distracting him.
The moment he turned away to answer another student’s question—something about their class schedule—Shadow, who’d continued her back-and-forth saunter even after Vorzak joined us, whirled and swatted at one of Vorzak’s snakes.
The snake leapt out of the way, and a shadow paw, tipped in a shadow claw, nicked Vorzak’s cheek.
“Ow, you wee beastie!”
I gasped and glared at him. “She’s not a beast, she’s just playing with your snakes!”
Actually, I was pretty sure she’d been attacking them, but he didn’t need to know that.
Meanwhile, his snakes were weaving and dancing.
At this point, though, I couldn’t tell if they were dancing for me or if they were taunting Shadow.
Either way, I found them to be utterly adorable and couldn’t resist petting them again.
We’d never been this close before and I’d dreamed of this moment for two and a half years.
His snakes nuzzled me while avoiding Shadow’s leaps and swats, causing Vorzak to curse as their swift movements jerked his head this way and that, directly into the path of Shadow’s shadow claws.
You could say our dinner ended with a bit of chaos and that I took advantage of that chaos to run away again.
I wouldn’t say that, of course. Instead, I would describe it as me wrapping the last of my sandwich in a napkin and slipping away from the table as Shadow distracted both Vorzak and his snakes with her increasingly kitten-ish stalking behaviors.
I slipped out the cafeteria door just as I heard Vorzak exclaim, “Damnit! Where’d she go now?”
* * *
The next morning, the five of us ate breakfast together—thankfully, there was no sign of Vorzak in the cafeteria—then headed back to the dragon stables.
This was our last day before classes started, which meant it was also our last day before the stables became a lot busier due to lessons involving dragons.
With our limited timeframe in mind, we’d made a plan at breakfast to search the stables quickly and quietly.
I’d suggested that Elliot lead us in, but he’d nixed that idea right off. “Wild dragons can be very territorial.”
Mikaela had rolled her eyes at him. “Like you’re not?”
He’d snickered. “Sure, but not like they are. They could definitely see me as a threat, in which case, it’s probably a better idea if I enter last and keep a bit of distance between us.”
So, that was how we ended up traipsing into the stables, one at a time, Jahrdran leading the way, followed by Kasi with Shadow at her side, then me, then Mikaela and finally, Elliot.
I got about ten steps inside the stables before I slammed to a halt.
What the actual hell?
Why was Vorzak in the stables again?
“Look, I know you aren’t a fan of my friends here,” Vorzak was saying to one of the dragons, even as his snakes reared back and hissed at them. “And I’ll be the first to admit, they can be a little annoying, especially when they get going like this.”
No kidding. I’d never seen his snakes so agitated before.
They were whipping back and forth, hissing and spitting and lunging forward, striking at the air since Vorzak was smart enough not to get too close to the dragons.
The dragon in the stall closest to Vorzak reared up and slammed back down, his paws making a thunderous noise that shook the rafters above us.
“Shit,” Mikaela whispered.
I guess we now knew the origin of the thunderous noise that had the shaken the stable walls the day before.