Page 62 of Phoenix Academy: Madness

"It was." He squeezes my hand, lightly, and I return the gesture. "But also, apparently I had dormant shifter blood in me already. Not enough to actually shift, but enough that it was waiting around the corner. If I'd lived my whole life without getting that blood transfusion, or if I'd had a little less of the right genes, it never would've happened. The whole thing was a freak accident. And now here I am: the freak in an entire school of them. The only one who doesn't belong."

"That's not true."

"It is." He says the words so simply, so wearily, as if he's accepted them long since. "I can't shift right. I'll never be a Shield. They only keep me around because I'm a liability. If they let me out I could hurt someone or expose the existence of shifters. Plus, the Blacks pay for my tuition here. Otherwise they'd probably lock me up on Darkness Island with all the other freaks."

"Don't say that." I squeeze his hand. "I've had classes with you. Iknowyou work hard."

"I try." Turning his head, he looks out the window, a melancholy expression on his face. "Even you knew there was something wrong with me the moment you met me. I'm notright.Whatever made me a shifter, it should just be undone. It's a curse."

Reflexively, I reach out with my naturalistic senses so I can see him again through new eyes. Now that I know the story, I understand why it is that his wolf spirit and his human spirit seem to have so much friction between them.

While most shifters are both simultaneously, the two halves overlapping each other in my vision, his wolf doesn't quite line up with his edges. There are bits where they overlap, but other places where one or the other of them bleeds over, and even little tears and bumps.

But the wolf shifter spirit was given to him with blood and bone. A little spirit magic could fix the fact that the two of them aren't quite in sync. It would just take someone who knows what they're doing—and that's not me. Yet.

"I'm sure that you'll figure things out by the time you graduate. It's not a curse." Leaning forward, I press my lips carefully to his cheek, and feel him sigh longingly. "And at least you're still alive. Count your blessings."

"True." Shaking his head, David adds, "Bonus: once they saw how my dad treated me, the Blacks decided to take me in. So I never have to see the bastard."

"See? There's always a bright side."

"Yeah." Squeezing my hand, he says with some reluctance, "Our reservation here is up. And I think some of the Shield trains have it after us. So we have to go."

"Oh—right."

"And we have to talk to Xavier," he adds, in a quiet voice. "He has to know what happened here. Even though you guys aren't official, it still matters. A lot. Especially after everything he's done for me."

"Of course. We'll tell him everything."

"Tonight." David is insistent. "We have to tell him tonight."

So this is it, then.

This is when it all comes crashing down.

* * *

I can't hide my nervousness. David insisted on joining me for my talk with Xavier—and then he said we should get Reggie, too, who was apparently playing some kind of touch football with the other shifters in the outdoor space.

So now the three of us are walking towards the dorms, Reggie utterly clueless what's going on, so we can meet up with Xavier and have a talk that will no doubt end whatever tentative friendship (and something more) we've built up over the months.

It's all I can do not to nervously vomit off the side of the path. I've hunted deer, skinned rabbits, run from a man hunting me through the woods, and actually died, but I've never had so much romance in my life. The thought that two men could both want me—maybe even three—is both overwhelmingly flattering and incredibly terrifying.

My mom taught me a lot, but she never taught me how to choose between guys.

I wish, more than anything, that she could be here with me now. I've been tempted a dozen times in the past few months to try to reach out to the beyond again and find her. If it weren't for the ghouls in the spirit realm, I would do exactly that right now, just to get her advice.

"You guys are quiet," Reggie comments, seemingly oblivious to the source of the tension in the air. "Did'ja punch each other in the face during combat practice, or slip and fall onto each other's mouths?"

I nearly stumble, and David freezes, which is all it takes. Eyes wide, Reggie looks back and forth between the two of us, his mouth falling open.

"No way!" Waving his hands in front of him as if warding off the thought, he repeats, "No way! You guys totally banged."

"We did not! We just kissed," I object, feeling like I'm in the middle of the stupidest drama ever written. "That's... what we're going to talk to Xavier about. So youcan'ttell him until we get the chance."

"Wow." His eyebrows climb up to his hairline, and he shakes his head, braids slipping over his shoulders. "Now I see why you two invited me to this little talk. Clearly you want a fluffer."

I sputter, "A what?" While David just looks horrified.

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