Page 16 of Fortune Academy: Year One
Shaking my head, I followed the girls down the street before I lost them. The last thing I wanted to do was wander around the Academy grounds with no idea where I was going. I probably could find Kaito’s office if I tried, maybe, I think.
It was hard not to get distracted. Students were everywhere and none of them were shy about their supernatural powers. A pack of wolves startled me as they ran by, giving chase to a single panther. Eyes wide, I watched the group rampage down the streets. No one was screaming for their lives or even gave the predators much of a second glance.
When the panther tried to double-back and dive through agroup of what I guessed to be witches based on their black uniforms, the girls sneered at the rowdy shifters that were barreling straight for them. One witch whispered and magic glowed across her hand, sending a forcefield around her and her friends to deflect the creatures who pinged off of the shield in continued pursuit of their lost prey.
“So we meet again,” a male voice caressed me from behind, hot breath on my neck.
I whirled to find the wolf shifter from the night before in front of me again. Of course, he was still naked.
I glanced over his body involuntarily, taking in his prominent thighs and muscular chest. I knew I should probably be offended, or at least embarrassed that a naked man was standing in front of me, but I couldn’t help but admire him and the ease with which he carried himself.
“Like what you see?” he said, lowering his voice and taking a step closer to me.
I snapped my gaze up to his gorgeous face, taking in the hard line of his jaw that looked... kissable. I shook myself. Focus, Lils. “I’m heading to orientation,” I blurted, then my stomach dropped when I realized I’d forgotten to keep an eye on Melinda. I shoved the shifter aside, painfully aware of his hard bicep under my fingers, as I searched for my own prey. “Damn!” I hissed. “You made me lose her. Now I don’t know where to go.”
“I can show you the way,” he said cheerfully.
Turning to face him again, I glowered. “Aren’t you too busy chasing pussy cats?” I regretted it the moment I said it.
His grin turned absolutely sinful. “What if I’m chasing pussy right now?”
I rolled my eyes. “Then you’re in for a disappointment,” I promised, even though heat was already throbbing in some very private places. I didn’t understand why this shifter was getting under my skin. No one had turned me on that I’d seen in Cindy’s bar, and humans weren’t all half bad. There had been some definite hotties, but they’d never made me feel like... this.
He shrugged. “Can’t be disappointed when I just like being around you.” He winked. “I’m Logan, by the way.”
I crossed my arms. “Is that why you refused to leave my bedroom all night?”
He shrugged. “I was there before you were. Called dibs.”
“You can’t call dibs on a girl’s bedroom!” I shrieked, but my protest fell on deaf ears.
Logan transformed back into his wolf in record time. It never got old watching him do that and I wondered if it hurt as much as it seemed it did. The idiot shouldn’t shift just so he could talk to me. He’d pushed his voice into my mind the first time I’d met him.
I made a mental note to yell at him about being a dumbass later.
Or... maybe he just wanted to show off his dick again. Yeah, that sounded like a good enough reason to go through an agonizing shift that broke every bone in his body to a guy like Logan.
With a sigh, I followed the wolf that was now whining at me. He was quite cute in his wolf form and it wasn’t hard to spot him winding through the sea of legs. I hoped that he was guiding me to the right place, but I didn’t have much choice in the matter. If he led me out of the crowds I would stop following him, but for now I felt safe enough surrounded by numbers that Logan wasn’t up to any funny business.
I quirked a smile at the thought that a crowd of supernaturals actually made me feel safe. Maybe this place wouldn’t be so bad after all.
It tookme a while to realize that the campus worked in a large series of overlapping circles. The path Logan was taking me on cut straight down the middle of an endless row of buildings. The various colored torches shone as brightly in the day as they had at night indicating a type for each building and I was looking forward to getting to learn my way around this place. I couldn’t rely on a wolf guide to get me to my next class every time.
The epicenter of Fortune Academy took my breath away with a massive spire that looked like it could have been a part of Maleficent’s Castle. It was gorgeous, as if the entire building had been carved in a single night by a jeweler out of onyx. I spotted Melinda and her crew at the entrance. She gave me a healthy glare that I’d made it in spite of their attempt to lose me before she waltzed inside.
It felt good to piss her off and I smiled, feeling almost giddy, and looked around for Logan to say thanks. Various students in crisp uniforms wandered through the heavy traffic center and I couldn’t spot him. If he’d stuck around, then it would be easy for a silver wolf to get lost in the crowd.
I shrugged it off, deciding that Logan had gone back to his pack now that I was safely at my orientation, and I took the long, grand steps into Fortune Academy’s Center Hall.
The interior was just as impressive as the exterior complete with embossed engravings of various supernatural icons on the walls. I figured I should probably recognize them, but I didn’t. Maybe my classes would include supernatural history. There was one engraving that drew my attention and I wandered to it, feeling drawn like a moth to a flame.
A beautiful woman with a golden crown atop her head. Even through the hard onyx stone the golden glow came through as if gold dust had been sprinkled into the carving along with little pieces of the sun. She stood tall and proud, boasting a single red necklace with a magical glow of its own that felt oddly... familiar.
“I see you’ve found Sonya, the Queen of Hell,” said a voice that had me whirling.
Dante smiled down at me with his enticing orange eyes, as if the gods had crafted him out of amber and set his irises aflame. “Queen of Hell?” I murmured, trying to focus. Shit, what was it with the guys around this place? I scratched at the invisible spot where Kaito had placed binding runes on my arms. I wondered if they were having an adverse effect on me.
Dante’s smile grew and he looked over my head at the magnificent carving. “Orientation will go over some of this, but this room shows all the Academy’s founders and supporters. Even though it breaks all sorts of rules, Sonya comes to visit now and again. She’s the Queen of Hell, but before that she was a vampire, and before that she was a succubus.
