by Casey Morgan
I sighed. “And I have no idea what I could possibly be either. That’s why I’m freaking out. Thorn gave me the task three days ago, and I am nowhere closer to figuring anything out.”
Jasper reached his hand out and gently gripped mine. His fingers were soft and warm wrapped along the bottom of my palm. He pulled my hand up to his lips, tenderly placing a kiss on the top of my wrist. Glancing up, he grinned when our eyes met. The mischief in his irises told me that the boy had a plan.
“After class,” he began, “I’ll take you to the Alpha.”
“Cade?”
“Yes. He knows a lot more about shifter bloodlines than I do. I’m sure he will be able to help. If Cade can’t, then I don’t know who else possibly could.”
I nodded my head furiously. I really needed any help that I could possibly get. Without a doubt, I would follow Jasper to talk to Cade.
A little part of me was apprehensive, though. Even though I was anxious to get help and advice, the fact that Jasper was going with me made me a bit nervous. Jasper was clingy and attached to me, I didn’t want Cade to get the wrong idea. I was no one’s girlfriend. I was certainly not taken, and I didn’t want Cade to think that I was.
Chapter Seven
I waited patiently after class for Jasper. The professor had decided to ask for his help after the bell had rung, so I was left just standing outside of the classroom. As annoying as it was, I was at least thankful that it wasn’t me that had to stay behind.
While I was waiting, I thought ahead. I was excited by the fact that Cade might know what I shifted into, but at the same time, I was also concerned. Just because I would know what I could shift into didn’t mean that I would learn how. What good was the information if I couldn’t apply it?
As if to keep me from thinking too far into it, the door to the classroom opened, and Jasper came walking out. With a smirk, he wrapped his fingers between mine and we began strolling down the hallway.
“Excited?” he asked, taking a glance at me before he opened the door to the back lawn.
“Yeah, I suppose I am,” I replied. “What did the professor want?”
He glanced away. “Don’t worry about it, it was all formalities.”
I shrugged it off. I knew that he was avoiding the question. ‘Formalities’ was way too vague and unbelievable. I didn’t really care enough, so I didn’t ask any further, but it was still laughable that he thought I bought his lame excuse.
We made our way past pristine landscaping, little groves of trees, and the dreaded stone amphitheater where the trials took place to a wide field of green grass. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't this.
“It’s where us guys usually play soccer,” Jasper explained.
I took my hand back to myself as I looked out at the field. Yes, a bunch of the boys were indeed playing soccer. Two teams were competing against each other, running, sweating, yelling. It was team shirts versus team shirtless and I was definitely rooting for team shirtless.
They must’ve been playing for a while, as sweat doused the players’ hair and shined against their sun-kissed, hard torsos. The sharp cuts on their body that their muscles held left me almost speechless. The sun hit them in all the right places, and I began to believe that it was shining the majority of the light on them on purpose. The fascination with the sight before my eyes held my attention hostage.
I knew that I should give Jasper my attention; after all, I couldn’t have him running off or thinking that I don’t completely care. It was just so hard to concentrate on anything else besides the boys on the field in front of me. Just watching them was turning me on and I squirmed, rubbing my thighs together. Forget just Jasper or Cade, I wanted to be with as many boys as possible. The amount of knowledge and pleasure that I could extract from each and every one of them was astronomical, and that in itself was a turn-on.
Before I could completely melt on the spot, Jasper insistently grabbed my hand again and began to lead me down the hill to the field itself. It was then that I noticed that we were heading directly to Cade. He was, coincidentally, on team shirtless.
The closer that we got, the more I realized that I needed to compose myself. If at any time in the future I wanted to drag any of these boys to bed, then I would need to have a nonchalant and chill first impression, even if I was just going to talk to Cade.
“Hey!” Jasper yelled, waving his other hand in the air as we approached.
At least seven boys turned to look at the two of us. I felt my face flush when I realized that Jasper was holding my hand while yelling like an idiot. The boys looked between themselves but ultimately decided that their game of soccer was more important than what was going on with the two of us. Noticing that he wasn’t being acknowledged, Jasper must have realized that he needed to be more specific.
“Cade!” he yelled. “C’mere! We have a question!”
To my surprise, no other boys except Cade paid him any mind. I would’ve thought that with the yelling at least one more head would’ve turned. But as if Cade’s name held the power of exclusivity, no one dared to sneak a peek.
Big Boy noticed that I was standing beside Jasper, and he shot me an odd smile as he jogged over. If I wasn’t captivated by his incredible form from up on the hill, I was utterly entranced now. With hard round pecs, perfectly defined abs, and arms as big as my thighs, his body was one to drool at.
“Jasper? Ruby?” he asked, nodding at us both in greeting. “What’s up?”
Before either one of us could answer him, he gasped a bit and covered his mouth before speaking again.
“My bad,” Cade continued, his eyes dropping. “How’s Angie?”
I was taken a bit aback. Formalities were one thing. I knew when people asked shallow questions whether or not they were genuine. I replayed his question and tone of voice in my head over and over again to try and detect any sign of insincerity. However, Cade had asked about Angie’s wellbeing with legitimate concern. He sounded as if he actually cared.
I felt my body relax, and I decided that I could open up around him a bit more than I had previously. It was at this time that I slipped my hand from Jasper’s grasp.
“She...”
At my reluctant and unsure answer, Cade took a tender step closer to me.
I managed to spit it out, “She hasn't come back yet.”
“She hasn’t?”
“No... and to be honest, I’m starting to get really worried. I know that she’s her own person and she can make her own decisions, but it has been too long. I’m concerned.”
“Well...” Cade took a moment to think, as he ran his fingers through his light brown hair. With the sun behind him, it had a bit of red to it. “If you need me to, I can go out into the woods and find her.”
I blinked at him. “You can?”
He nodded. “As alpha, I could order her to return home.”
I felt my stomach drop. As much as I wanted Angie to come back, I couldn’t help but think back to Headmaster Thorn’s office, when Cade had forced her to turn back from her cat form into her human form. It looked rather uncomfortable and invasive. It even looked border-line painful. I didn’t want to put Angie back in that situation, especially if that was one of the reasons that she left in the first place.
Cade must’ve noticed how unsure I was. He looked at me with soft eyes and spoke in a hushed tone, as if to reassure me. “Ruby?” he asked.
I looked up. “What if I came with you?”
He shot me a questioning look.
I continued, “I think that if I come with you, it will make it easier on Angie. So, could I?”
A smile pulled at his chiseled features. “Yeah, I think that would be a wonderful idea.”
I sighed a breath of relief at the news. I was sure that if I was there to talk to Angie, then she would be more comfortable at Cade’s command. Maybe it wouldn’t even come to that. Maybe I really just needed to talk to her and tell her that I miss her. For once, I felt peace abou
t the situation.
“I’ll come along as well,” Jasper’s voice interrupted.
Both Cade and I turned to face the boy who had a dead-set expression plastered on his face. I opened my mouth to protest for multiple reasons, but Cade took the lead. “I don’t think that’s a great idea,” he started.
“It’ll be like a search party,” Jasper proposed. “Isn’t it better for more people to be looking for her?”
Cade folded his beefy arms over his chest and hardened his gaze at Jasper. “No. It’ll be better for Angie if it’s just the two of us.”
“But—”
“I. Said. No.”
I felt a shift in the air as the two boys stared at each other, tension floated between them. I swallowed the desire to simply be a bystander and stepped between the two.
“Will you both calm down?” I asked.
When I received two apprehensive grunts in response, I lowered my arms and scoffed.
“Now,” I continued, “That’s not even the reason why I needed to talk to you, Cade.”
Big Boy turned his attention solely to me. “What’s up?”
“Turns out, my grandfather was a shifter... I just don’t know what he shifted into.”
“I see...”
“Is that something that you could figure out?”
Cade let out a chuckle and waved his hand for Jasper and me to follow him. He proudly walked with the two of us in tow toward the side of the field where a bunch of book bags were thrown. Selecting one, he opened the bag and sat down in the grass as he started to rummage through it. I decided to sit as well, looking over his broad shoulder, and Jasper followed suit.
The alpha grinned when he pulled out a thick and rather old looking book. “This book,” he explained, “is about shifter bloodlines. So, if I could have your grandfather’s last name?”
I grinned at his cockiness. “Green.”
Cade immediately began sifting through the pages of the book. A light musky smell floated upwards, but I was entranced by the sight of the handsome werewolf looking intensely through an old book and paid it no mind.
I could tell when Cade found the name because he grunted, but the comfort that came along with it didn’t stay for long. His brow furrowed, and he traced the same line with his finger multiple times.
He glanced up at me, then back at the book, then up at me, and back at the book. With confusion pooled in his eyes, Big Boy reached his right hand forward and grabbed my chin. I felt Jasper stiffen beside me, but I eased into Cade’s touch and continued to let him hold me. His amber eyes appeared like honey as he peered into mine.
As nice as the initial move was, the more time that he stared into my eyes with confusion, the more annoyed I began to feel. I really hoped that Cade wasn't messing around. The shifting information was important to me. My future at the school, my future as a witch, and my future as a shifter were at risk. Suddenly, my concern outweighed the admiration I held for his eyes and I shook my head free of his grasp.
“What’s going on?” I demanded.
“Well... according to the book, your grandfather was a snake shifter.”
My breath was caught in my throat. Did I hear him right?
Cade continued, “But snake shifters have green eyes. You have brown eyes... very beautiful brown eyes.”
I did hear him right.
Disgust filled my body, and I shivered in repulsion. I hated snakes with a burning passion. They were so gross, wiggly and with no legs, they were always filthy. If the animal form was the true form for a shifter, there was no way I was really a snake. That was just not possible.
“Absolutely not!” I exclaimed, jumping up to my feet and brushing the dirt off my skirt.
“Ruby?” Jasper asked.
Cade chimed in as well, “What’s wrong?”
“What’s wrong?” I continued, pacing back and forth. “What’s wrong? Snakes are disgusting, I don’t want to be one. Absolutely not!”
Jasper began to laugh at my outburst, covering his mouth slightly with one hand, and I felt a bit embarrassed. I didn’t think that my disgust of snakes would be too out there. I knew lots of people back home that hated snakes, so why was I being laughed at?
However, the moment I looked at Cade for his reaction, I forgot all about Jasper’s laughter. The alpha looked contemplative. “There’s something off about you,” he started.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Cade shook his head and turned away from us, “I need some time to think.”
In a gust of wind, Cade shifted with incredible speed. His massive, gray wolf form stood proudly before us. As quickly as he shifted, he took off towards the woods. The sounds of his paws hitting the ground disappeared quickly amongst the noise of those on the soccer field.
I was left shaking.
After a few moments, Jasper’s laugh re-entered my mind. I turned to look at him, still visibly shocked. He stood up and brushed the dirt off of his pants. With a soft smile, he held his hand out to me.
“Why don’t I take you to the cafeteria for dinner?” he offered.
“Oh, how gourmet...” I teased as I took his hand.
Chapter Eight
Cade and I agreed to meet at the back stairs of the main dorms once night had fallen. I sat there alone, waiting, with the sun still barely in the sky. I had decided to go early since I had so much weighing on my mind. Staying in my room just made me feel anxious and suffocated. It was a weird, stuffy, and unwanted atmosphere that I felt that I needed to escape from.
I decided sitting on the steps that I didn’t want to go back to my room unless Angie was coming back with me. Although those thoughts added an undertone of determination to my mood, it also brought troubling concerns with it.
Even though Cade was coming with me to find Angie, I still had no idea where to look. The woods behind Ironwood were large, and I was unfamiliar with the area.
I had asked Drew where she was, since he knew, but he refused to tell me. Her brother still claimed that letting Angie figure it out for herself was the best course of action, but I believed that we had long since passed the moment that it was appropriate to assume as such. If Drew would just accept the fact that I also cared about Angie and that my opinion should also be taken into account, then there would not have been a need to involve Cade in the ordeal.
The snake issue still bothered me, too. I couldn’t imagine that my grandfather could have shifted into a snake and be happy or content with that. Then again, I didn’t necessarily imagine my grandmother as a witch either. I was less accepting of the snake detail, though, and I really didn’t want to have to shift into one.
If my future at Ironwood wasn’t at stake, then I would’ve completely rejected the idea. Snakes were just so gross and unlikable, the way they moved, the way their muscles contracted, the way their scales felt, the way their tongues flickered, and, worse of all, the way that they left dried out shells of themselves behind when they shed. All of it was just plain out awful.
“Ruby?”
The soft calling of my name snapped me out of my thoughts. I looked up and was blessed with the sight of Cade McWilliams. His brown hair cascaded down his brow and hung carelessly as he bent over to look me in the eyes. It wasn't until I met his gaze that I realized that despite the fact that I had seen him only hours before, I missed the trance that his amber eyes trapped me in. Big Boy was utterly and unapologetically sexy.
“Ruby?” he repeated once more.
“Yes?” I winced at my lack of reply.
“You doing okay? You’ve been spacing out for a while now.”
“How-How long have you been watching me?”
“Well, I’ve been standing in front of you for about two minutes now.”
Two minutes? I looked around in confusion and noticed that the sky was now dark. I had been so caught up in my own thoughts and worry that I failed to realize that night had fallen. Cade was right on time, and he caught me drowning in my concerns.
I fe
lt my cheeks heat up in slight embarrassment. “Sorry about that,” I explained. “I was just thinking.”
He scoffed and stood up to his full height. “I could tell that much. What were you thinking about?”
“About how to find Angie. I don’t know where to look beside the woods, and the woods are pretty vast.”
“Ahh, that’s what you’re worried about? Don’t worry, I can smell Angie when I’m in my wolf form.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. So, shall we get going?”
I nodded, and Cade smiled at me. Confidence was laced in his features as he shifted from his muscular human form to his sleek wolf form. I watched with fascination as he once again gracefully transformed.
There was something truly beautiful when he turned into a wolf. It was clean, precise, and in beat with a song that I couldn’t hear. I could feel the pulses of power that he gave off as the wolf took over and decided that Cade shifting was most comparable to a dance.
He was so much smoother when shifting in comparison to Angie. She was oftentimes stiff, awkward, and almost ugly, nothing at all like this.
No matter what I ultimately would shift into, I hoped that my shifting would look like Cade’s. I wanted to dance with my other form.
The big, gray wolf turned his head towards me and nudged towards the forest with his snout. I could hear his short breathes, indicating that he was already sniffing out Angie’s location. Walking fast, I followed close behind him as we left the school grounds behind us and descended into the woods.
I could tell that it would be a while until we ultimately reached Angie’s location, so I allowed myself to be lulled back into my deep thoughts. This time, unsurprisingly, they centered around Cade.
There was no doubt in my mind that I was attracted to him. Sexually attracted to him. However, the question of whether or not I should seduce him still came to mind. There was the obvious yes when considering whether or not I wanted to fuck him for pleasure, but then there was a more practical side to be considered. If I seduced him and used my succubus necklace, I may be able to learn how to shift. Having that information would definitely make my first time easier, and I would likely be rather graceful in doing so. Cade was no doubt the best shifter that I knew—better than Angie and even better than Jasper.