Page 74 of Cruel Destinies

“Yeah? Well, now I am.” Her cool exterior buckled slightly under the weight of my judgmental gaze, her eyes falling to the grass as she kicked at it.

“Ash, this isn’t really what I meant. You did that for Niko’s benefit, not yours. Do you even like Jackson?”

She shrugged and flashed me a challenging grin. “Only one way to find out.”

All I could do was shake my head. I couldn’t really condemn what she’d done. I’d done practically the same thing with Kendall a few weeks ago to get over Tobias. And even though the circumstances were different, I could understand how our hormones and emotions could lead us to do questionable things. So I just swallowed my opinions and sighed.

“Good luck on your date. I have one more training to get to. I’ll see you later.”

Her brows puckered slightly, like a child who’d been chastised by a parent, but she just nodded. “Yeah. Okay. Later.” Then she ducked her head and made her way across the lawn.

I didn’t like leaving things like that, but I really wanted to get this last lesson over with so I could return to my own love life. God knew I had my hands full with that.

I turned and headed for the Avian Training Room.

“Go ahead and put your bag in your locker, dear,” Maya said from next to the fire when I entered, a warm smile on her face. “We’re going to try something fun tonight.”

I raised a skeptical brow but shuffled over to the wall of lockers anyway. I pressed my finger to the pad, and my door popped open with its usual digital greeting. I stuffed my bag inside, then turned back to Ms. Heather.

“So, what are we doing today?” I asked.

“I thought it was time you tried to shift.”

I sighed. The thought of failing at another type of shifter form terrified me. I didn’t feel ready. I’d only known I was a harpy for just over a week, and I didn’t have the best track record with shifting in general.

“It’s okay,” Ms. Heather said. “No one expects anything from you.”

Well, that’s just not true.Everyoneexpected something from me. Caesar, Hadrian, the shifter military. It was hard to shake the weight of those expectations, even in Ms. Heather’s sweet presence.

But I nodded. I hadn’t given up against a challenge yet, and I wasn’t about to start now.

“So, how do I do this?” I asked, kicking off my shoes and peeling off my over-shirt so my smart suit could do its job more effectively.

“Try to relax your shoulders. I always feel so tensed up when my wings are furled. And just like manipulating light, you’ll want to fuel the change with an emotion.” She gave me a wink and a knowing smile.

I took a deep breath and shook out my shoulders. Finding emotion wasn’t going to be a problem. There was my awkwardness with Ashlyn, the slow-burn grief over Kendall’sbetrayal, the anxiety over the pressure from the military, and let’s not forget the fact that the most powerful and dangerous vampire alive wanted me captured—and he was also my father.

But none of those things would help me relax. If joy was what harpies used to access their power over light, then I suspected it played a role in shifting as well. I was tired of dwelling on the negatives in my life, so I decided to focus on the latest positive.

Tobias.

Closing my eyes, I rolled my shoulders and breathed in. As I exhaled, I imagined letting all the stress release from my back. I thought of Tobias. His smoldering eyes, the feel of his lips, the way just being around him made me ache.

I got so lost in the emotions that I almost didn’t notice the tingly feeling tickling beneath the bones of my shoulder blades. I latched on to that sensation, willing it to grow and stretch.

At last, there was a pop, coming in time with a small explosion of joyous sensation in my belly, and a soft rustling from behind me. At the same time, I felt my toes fuse and lengthen, the bones sliding into place with ease. Hard talons uncurled out, gripping the smooth floor.

“Beautiful,” Ms. Heather murmured.

I opened my eyes to look and was astonished at the soft, pearlescent white feathers framing my peripheral vision. I turned my head to get a better glimpse, and my wings spread to their full range. My talons clicked against the floor as I turned around, and I looked down to see gray feet with deadly black claws glinting in the firelight.

I stared down at them, dumbfounded. My stomach did cartwheels as realization dawned, bringing with it a thrill thatsizzled through me. I actually did it! I shifted into a harpy. And it waseasy!

“That was excellent, Arya,” Ms. Heather said, resting her hand on my shoulder. “Would you like to test those wings?”

“A–as in f–fly?” I stuttered.

She smiled.

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