Supernatural Academy: Year One (Supernatural Academy #1)(31)

He towered over me, almost as tall as Jesse. “Uh,” I stuttered, both of us doing the silent staring thing for an uncomfortably long time. “Sorry, didn’t see you there.”

He wasn’t smiling, but he wasn’t scowling like Rone, so I took that as a positive sign. When his full lips finally curved, the slightest outline of dimples appeared, and I all but groaned. He probably had a huge…

My eyes trailed down him, and I jerked my gaze back up. Yep, not a single flaw I could see on him.

Was it fair that one person … supe … got to be so perfect? No, it wasn’t.





13





Before things could get embarrassing—and we might have already been past that point, I was too flustered to tell—Ilia and Larissa appeared like the guardian angel friends they were and all but hoisted me out of Asher’s hands and into a safe space away from the “kings of the Academy.”

Then we were walking, and I was still unsure about what the hell had just happened. The only thing I knew was I could still feel the burning imprints of his hands.

“What are you doing?” Larissa hissed as we hurried through the tables. “You were sitting with them?”

I choked out a strangled sound. “I—I didn’t realize it was their table. I— Fuck…”

When Ilia was satisfied that we were far enough away, hidden behind two ivy-covered pillars, she released my arm and got right in my face. “Holy shit, Maddi! We leave you alone for twenty minutes and you end up in the midst of them!” Her shock faded away to be replaced by a huge smile. “Tell me every. Goddamn. Thing.”

Larissa wasn’t quite as excited. “You ran from them last night, but today you sat with them… I don’t understand?”

“I don’t understand either,” I replied. “It was only Jesse at first and then Axl, and it didn’t even seem that weird.” My breathing was finally starting to calm. “Is it an Atlantean thing?” I asked. “Because I wasn’t afraid of them; I didn’t want to leave.”

“Like I told you, they’re nice and scary, and you never know what you’re going to get,” Ilia said, her eyes shifting back to the general direction of where they were, even though she couldn’t see them through the pillar.

I shook my head. “Jesse ate so much food … and he even offered to share it with me—”

I was cut off by a huge gasp. This came from Ilia, and she was blinking at me like I’d just told her that the world was going to end tomorrow.

“He offered you food?” she asked, and I tilted my head as I squinted in her direction.

“Yeah, but I mean, he ordered like eight meals. I’m sure he wouldn’t have missed a few bites.”

Larissa cleared her throat. “Did you take the food?”

I looked between both of them. “Should I have taken it?” I asked hesitantly.

I was missing something here, one of those “rules” or “etiquettes” of this world.

Larissa and Ilia exchanged a quick look, and I was about to yell at them to just tell me already, when Ilia answered, “Shifters are very primal. A lot of their instincts go back to their animals within. And there are some things that are universal between them all. Food is a bonding experience. They love it. They revel in it. It’s an experience for them. If a shifter offers you some of their food, it’s about more than just sharing. It’s about pack. About even … romance, sometimes.”

I swallowed hard. “So, Jesse was like … shifter-style flirting with me?”

Ilia shrugged, and Larissa nodded.

“He was definitely doing something,” Ilia added. “Only time will tell what that something was.”

“Be wary,” Larissa said seriously. “Jesse has a long-term girl: Chellie. I mean, they’re off and on all the time, and I heard it’s definitely off right now, but she can be a real bitch when someone tries to touch her man.”

“Even when they don’t,” Ilia said with a snort of laughter. “She’s the other mean girl in the school and is best friends with Kate.”

Well, great. I now probably had two bitches gunning for me. I hadn’t seen the Clovers at lunch, thankfully, so maybe they wouldn’t find out.

“Well, I’m relieved to say that I didn’t take his food, so hopefully he’ll see that as a rejection.” And stop shifter flirting and creating a huge issue for me.

Ilia lifted her hands and pressed her palms to her chest, and then to either side of her forehead, leaving just the tips of her fingers sticking up above the side of her head. “From your mouth to the mother god’s ears.”

A prayer gesture.

I had so much to learn.

The music rang out across the air again, the magic tingled in my blood, and I realized that lunch was over. Wow, that two hours had felt like five minutes, and I’d barely even seen my friends.

“Sorry we were late for lunch,” Ilia said, looking around as students started to move. “I got caught up with Princeps Jones. He needed some advice on another bounty they’re searching for. A bear shifter who has been living in a forest in Germany… Anyway, it took longer than I expected.”

“And I had a group project,” Larissa added, “that ran way over in my last class. I mean, trying to get a vampire and fey to stop arguing with each other took half the lesson, and then there was no time for actual work.”