Page 23 of Mortal Blood
Chapter Eight
I didn’t manageto make my arm, or any other part of my anatomy for that matter, shift before the end of the lesson, surprising exactly no-one. Thankfully the rest of our lessons for the day were theory classes, and Cole’s possessive glare was enough to keep the rest of the shifters in our year from giving me a harder time than they had in our last lesson.
Still, by the time lessons were over for the day, I was exhausted from the emotional battering of pretending I couldn’t hear them muttering to each other how disgusting and unnatural I was. But at least they were getting it out of their systems, I guessed. I mean, how much longer could they possibly keep getting themselves worked up about it? I just had to tough it out until they got bored and found something else to talk about. Which was why I ate my dinner in the dining hall with Cole, and steadfastly ignored the lot of them.
By the time we’d finished, I’d dodged two ‘accidentally’ spilled drinks from people walking past, and stopped Cole from disemboweling someone who’d put a foot out to trip me as I was putting my tray on the trolley. I was completely and absolutely done with today, but no part of me was interested in hanging out in the shifter common room, or locked up in my dorm, which was a stone’s throw from said common room. Once I’d made sure Cole wasn’t in danger of actually killing anyone, I sent him to go hang out with Jax and the rest of the shifters, because one of us needed to build some bridges, and it was pretty damn clear that was never going to be me. Reluctant as he seemed to leave me, I could see in his eyes that he understood this was something we had to do. And he knew me well enough to know that after the peace and quiet of summer, this first day back in the crowded and bustling academy was torture for me.I needed somewhere calm to unwind for a bit. He kissed me on the threshold of the canteen with a primal, possessive jealousy, and glared at the nearby shifters looking our way. With a sigh, I shoved him in the direction of the common room before things could escalate to actual violence, and then headed for the library.
I was unsurprised to find Ling there, and she gave me a sympathetic smile as I slumped into the vacant seat at our usual table—and then shoved a book under my nose.
“Gee, exactly what I needed,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Rough day?” she asked as she headed back to the bookcase.
I rolled my head round to look at her. “Shockingly, yes.”
“Well,shockingly,” she said with a teasing smile as she hefted a book from the shelf and came to join me, “that doesn’t trump the need for research.”
“Nothing trumps the need for research as far as you’re concerned,” I complained, but obligingly flipped open my book and stared blankly at the page inside. “I think this one’s written in Ancient Greek.”
She glanced over my shoulder, sighed, and then spun the book one-eighty.
“Oh.”
“How are you holding up?” she asked. “Really?”
“Really? Today made the whole of last year look like a cake walk. The shifters think I’m a vamp, the vamps think I’m a freak, half of the staff want me dead and the other half want me arrested…and Thaden hates me now.”
“Thaden, huh? You probably should have led with that.”
I side-eyed her.
“This isnotabout some jumped up Dracula wannabe.”
“No? So you’re not upset that the tall, dark, brooding vampire prince who spent a large part of last semester obsessed with you, and who you were pretty into by the end of last year if memory serves, is suddenly taking a step back?”
“Taking a step back? Trust me, he wasplentyforward in taking a swipe at me this morning. He’s convinced I got him hooked on my blood on purpose, as if I even knew that was a thing. I thought I washuman,for fuck’s sake, so how could I have any idea something like this could happen? But somehow he’s decided it’s all my fault!”
“Not about the Dracula wannabe, huh?”
“Alright, notjustabout the Dracula wannabe.” I sighed and glanced down at the book in front of me. “So, research is the answer to all my problems, right?”
“Girl, there are not enough books in this whole library to solve your problems…but I figure it can’t hurt.”
“Fair.” I perked up. “Oh, I learned one thing today.”
“Just one? End of year assessments are gonna be a real cake walk for you.”
I poked my tongue out at her. “About me, smartass. Apparently, I get a longer-than-human lifespan.” I frowned. “Though no-one really knows how long, on account of dhampirs meeting with some mysterious and some not-so-mysterious accidents, and a whole bunch of untimely demises.”
“Well, that’s…good, right? About the longer-than-human lifespan thing, I mean, not the untimely demises.”
“I guess. It’s, uh, it’s a lot to get my head around.”
“Been a crazy couple of days, huh?”
“And then some,” I agreed.
“I hear you. But I think—”
