Their Shifter Princess
Page 21
That day at lunch, the four of us took over one of the picnic tables in the yard. It was a warm, sunny day for fall.
“I’ve got pizza for Josh?” A guy carrying a stack of pizzas glanced around the yard in confusion.
“Right here.” Josh gestured to the table.
“You didn’t,” I said.
“Start as you mean to go on,” he reminded me, with a wink. He gestured to the other students hanging out behind the school. “Hey, anyone want a slice?”
I shook my head at him as he lifted out the first slice of pizza and handed it to me. It was fragrant and delicious, and I took a big bite as the chatter and laughter of other students rose around me. They crowded around the table, but I was safe and comfortable, sitting there with my guys, as if we were the center of our own little world.
“Remember our bet?” Josh winked.
I groaned as I tossed my crust back into an empty box. “I hoped you wouldn’t.”
Just because I’d lost so completely. He definitely had gotten the entire school on his side.
“We never defined terms,” he said.
“I’m keenly aware.”
He slid one finger under my chin, raising it to his eyes. “Well, Piper. I’m defining terms now.”
“And what are they?” I raised my eyebrows, trying to look cool, even though when his lips were so near mine, my heart pounded madly.
“I’d like for you to be my girlfriend.”
“No fair.” Kai threw his pizza crust at Josh’s head. “I’ll fight you for her.”
Josh pursed his lips. “Just here. At home…”
Nick shushed them both. He slid his hand across my lower back, tracing small circles. “She’s our girl.”
“Then I guess you guys should’ve made a bet,” Josh said, mock-innocently. “Fine. I’ll settle for a kiss.”
“You’re a scammer—” Kai began.
Josh leaned toward me, and my lips parted, my eyes drifting shut. Everyone else in the world fell away for a second, as Josh’s lips pressed against mine in a sweet, chase kiss.
When he leaned away, I opened my eyes and smiled back at him. He looked so pleased with himself. I could pick out the whispers in the crowd, saying that I was the luckiest girl.
They were absolutely right.
A few hours later, I was heading out of my last class when Misty called from behind me, “Hey, Piper!”
She caught my elbow in her hand as I turned. With students streaming around us, she paused, looking as if she was trying to catch her breath. But she didn’t have to run that far from Trig. As she seemed to struggle, her cheeks pink, I realized that maybe she just didn’t know what to say.
“What is it?” I asked, smiling at her encouragingly.
She took a deep breath. “What happened to us?”
Those words were a swift knife through my chest. “I don’t know. We were friends and then we…drifted.”
She had drifted, but that wasn’t the kind way to phrase it. She hadn’t wanted to be my friend anymore.
She frowned. “I know. I just…it felt like one day we were best friends and the next, it felt like you hated me.”
“Yeah,” I said, frowning back. “That’s…how it felt to me. Like you hated me, when you’d been my person for as long as I remembered…”
Callum had felt that there was an enchantment placed on Misty. That was part of why he’d assumed she was the princess, being hidden by the coven using magic. Suddenly, I wondered if the spell on Misty had been for a different purpose. She’d known what happened in my house when we were kids. She’d even talked about how we had to tell someone. She’d fantasized about how maybe her parents would take her in, and we could be sisters…
All the pieces fell into place. Maybe they’d put a spell on her to keep her from trying to help me, to destroy our friendship. And now the people who’d put that spell on her—like my father, perhaps—were dead, and so was the magic that had bound her.
“I’ve missed you.” She bit her lip, her gaze flickering down as if she were ashamed. “I wish…things could have been different.”
“Well, they can’t,” I said. “What happened in the past is over.”
She nodded, looking glum.
“But in the future?” I asked. “The future can always be different.”
Her face brightened.
“Sit with us tomorrow,” I said. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”
“We sure do.” She bumped her shoulder against mine conspiratorially. “I want to hear all about those guys of yours.”
I didn’t know if I could tell her all about them, but the question definitely made me grin. “Want to watch them practice?” I jerked my head toward the field. “I’m stuck here till they’re ready to go.”
“It’s a sacrifice, watching all those cute boys run up and down the field,” she said, “but I’ll do anything for you.”
We found Nick in the bleachers, sprawling across multiple benches, leaning back on his elbows with a bored look on his face. He was apparently the only person in the school who wasn’t impressed by Josh and Kai.
“Hi, Piper and Piper’s friend.” He patted the bench beside him. I slid in, close to him, my hip pressing his. His hand automatically brushed over the small of my back, sending pleasant tingles along my spine. Misty sat beside me, crossing one leg over the other.
“So this is high school,” he mused, staring at the field.
I took his hand in mine, drawing it into my lap. He looked up at me and a smile played across his lips, his gaze full of affection.
“This is high school,” I said.
And I couldn’t be happier about it.
Also by May Dawson
The Lilith Series:
Wild Angels
Fierce Angels
Dirty Angels
Chosen Angels
Ashley Landon, Bad Medium
Dead Girls Club
The True and the Crown series:
Three Kinds of Wicked
Three Kinds of Damned
A Note From May
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~May
About the Author
May Dawson’s first crush was Indiana Jones, and it wasn’t just for Harrison Ford’s rugged good looks. She’s always been drawn to adventure, and she found it in Bali and the Antarctic, traveling widely before she settled down to raise two red-haired munchkins/hooligans. These days you can find her embracing a very different kind of adventure: love. Living it. Writing it.
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May@MayDawson.com