by Jayme Morse
She sat on the desk and stared out at us. “You might think that you won’t be capable of Lunar Magic, but you should know that you are fully capable of it. All werewolves are. Although we call this course Lunar Magic because your abilities will be the strongest during a full moon, you will be able to perform magic at any time once you get the hang of it. It’s all a matter of focusing your energy into the magic you want to create.” Professor Lee paused. “We are going to begin our first exercise with Levitation. I want you to all place an object on the desk in front of you—it can be anything, a pencil or your phone.”
I pulled a small notepad out of my backpack and placed it on the desk.
“Now, I want you to forget about the world around you. Forget about your boyfriend or the fight you’re having with your best friend.”
I took a deep breath and cleared my mind of Theo and the other Darken.
“Now, I want you to feel your energy, from the tips of your fingers and down to your toes. Feel the energy vibrating through you,” Professor Lee went on. “Inhale deeply, really allowing yourself to feel it.”
I inhaled and did exactly as she said. She was right. I really could feel it. It was like a tingling sensation as my energy radiated through me. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before.
“Now, I want you to focus all of your energy on lifting the object before you into the air. Whisper to yourself, ‘Light as a feather, stiff as a board.’”
I knew that saying from the human world. I had never really thought it was actually real. Maddie and I had tried it with some girls during one of my sleepovers once, and nothing had ever happened. Maybe because they weren’t werewolves.
Focusing my energy on the notepad, I whispered, “Light as a feather, stiff as a board.”
Instantly, my notepad began to float. Actually, it did more than just float. It shot up about six feet above my desk.
“Perfect! Keep it in the air,” Professor Lee said as she walked closer to my desk. “Don’t let go of your energy and continue with the chant.”
“Light as a feather, stiff as a board.” I stared at the notepad, watching as it continued to lift higher and higher into the air. “Light as a feather, stiff as a board.”
The notepad just kept moving until it hit the ceiling and then bounced back down to the floor.
“Wow.” Professor Lee glanced over at me. Her almond-shaped eyes had gone really wide. “I’ve never had a student who was able to make something levitate so high during their first attempt. You are very special, Raven. I have a feeling we are going to awaken many powers within you. I’m very excited for the challenge.” She smiled and then began to walk around the room.
I glanced around at the other students. Some of them were levitating their objects a few feet above their desks, but some hadn’t even gotten their objects to move that far yet.
Was it possible that Professor Lee was right? Was I really that special?
Was I actually going to do better than I thought at Werewolf Academy?
***
As I sat in the classroom for Werewolves and Dark Magic, Vince came strolling into the room and sat down in a seat next to me.
“Yay! We have another class together.”
I smiled at him. “I’m glad. I hate not knowing anyone.”
“Me, too.” He pulled his notebook out of his backpack and then glanced over at me. “So, can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Is there something going on between you and the Darken?”
I just stared back at him. “Is it that obvious to everyone?”
“I just heard some people talking in one of my classes. Everyone is claiming that you’re one of them.”
I just blinked. “One of them?”
Here, I had thought he’d been talking about my romantic involvement with Theo—if we could even call it that. I wasn’t entirely sure what was going on between Theo and I, if anything.
No. There was definitely something going on between us. People didn’t just make out on kitchen counters or at solariums if there was nothing going on between them.
“Yeah, people seem to think that you’ve joined their pack,” Vince explained. “I just wondered if it was true.”
I snorted. “No, I didn’t join their pack. They didn’t even ask me to join their pack. I really wonder where people come up with this stuff.”
“I’m guessing it’s probably just because you seem really close to them.” He paused and then quickly added, “Not that I can blame you. Even I can see how gorgeous they all are. I’d be all over that.”
I let out a little laugh. “So, you’re gay?”
Not that it really surprised me. He had sent my gaydar through the roof.
“I’m bi. There’s actually no such thing as a gay werewolf, I’m afraid. It’s in our nature to want to reproduce. It’s, like, a primal desire. So, even though I usually find myself drawn to guys at least ninety percent of the time, I do sometimes have the sudden urge to impregnate a girl the old-fashioned way. The rest of the time, the idea kind of weirds me out.” He shrugged.
“Do all werewolf guys have that urge to impregnate girls?” I asked with raised eyebrows.
“As far as I know.”
“Hmm.” I wondered if Theo felt that way about me—not that I wanted to have his baby. Not yet, anyway. I was only about to turn eighteen. But I was still curious to know if it was something he wanted, and if it was, why wasn’t he trying to make it happen, instead of stopping and refusing to go any further with me?
Our whole situation was so damn confusing.
“Werewolf guys are even more confusing than human guys,” I commented. “If that’s even possible.”
“Tell me about it,” Vince agreed with an eye roll. “So, anyway. I have to warn you. This class is going to be hell.”
“Why is it going to be hell? What’s so bad about it?”
As it was, I already felt like I was in my own personal hell, but it had nothing to do with this class. It had been too long since I’d been around Theo. That withdrawal, that craving, had returned. And this time, I was feeling moody and extremely irritable.
I was afraid that if I didn’t see Theo soon, I was going to snap—and I wasn’t just being dramatic.
“I just had Professor Wickburn for my last class,” he said in a low voice, “and she’s the biggest bitch ever.”
“Oh. Great.”
As if on cue, Professor Wickburn walked into the room at that moment, leaving me to wonder if she may have overheard Vince’s comment.
She went straight to her desk where she laid her bag down. Then she turned to face us. We were the only students in the classroom so far.
“Raven, may I have a word with you in my office before class?” Professor Wickburn asked.
“Oh, um, sure,” I replied nervously as I rose to my feet.
I was afraid to know what this could have been about. If she had overheard me and Vince, she should have been having a discussion with him—not me.
As we slipped out of the classroom, she led me across the hallway and opened her office door.
I followed her into the room, and she shut the door behind me.
“Raven, I just want you to know how terribly sorry I am to hear about your parents’ passing,” Professor Wickburn said, a sympathetic look on her face. “I was a very close friend of theirs.”
“Thank you.” Her words sort of caught me off-guard. I couldn’t help but feel sort of… well, baffled that my parents had all of these close friends who I’d never heard of or met before.
“I just want you to know that if you need anything at all, my door is always open to you.”
“Thank you. I really appreciate that.”
What was Vince talking about? Professor Wickburn didn’t seem like a bitch to me. She actually seemed really sweet.
“There’s also something else I wanted to discuss with you,” Professor Wickburn went on. “I couldn’t help but notice that you ate breakfast in the D
ining Hall this morning with the Darken.”
“Yeah, I did.”
“I’m not sure if you know this or not, but it’s not actually advisable for a student to get… well… close with a professor.” Professor Wickburn met my gaze. “I wouldn’t advise that you be seen eating with them or spending much time with them in public. Really, it would be most advisable for you to not be involved with them at all.”
Okay. Maybe that was her bitchy side coming out. Even though she was trying to make it seem like she was offering me some useful information, I couldn’t help but think that it was actually anything but.
“Headmaster Black is actually well aware of my involvement with the Darken,” I informed her. “They are the ones who dragged me here to begin with.”
“So I’ve heard.” Professor Wickburn cocked her head back. “But it seems that their job is over. You are here now. You are… safe.” Her eyes met mine. “I just wouldn’t want anyone to get in trouble if they knew that you were involved with Theo.” She paused and then quickly added, “Or any of the other Darken.”
So, this was about Theo, I realized. Was the whole reason she was saying any of this because she actually wanted Theo? Was she trying to get me to stay away from him so that she could have him?
The last thing I wanted was to create waves with my professor, but I also wasn’t going to back down, either. My body was already craving Theo in ways I couldn’t even begin to explain. I wasn’t about to let her tell me who I could and couldn’t be involved with.
And besides, didn’t Theo have a say in any of this?
“Is that all? Can I go back to the classroom now?” I asked.
There was an icy look behind her light blue eyes as they met mine. “Yes, that’s all.”
As I headed back across the hall, to the classroom, a thought occurred to me.
Caroline Wickburn was, by far, one of the most gorgeous women who I’d ever met in my life. And me? I was just sort of… well… average. In comparison to her, I just looked so… human.
What if Theo actually wanted her, too?
***
To say that I was relieved when classes were over for the day would have been an understatement. I was so anxious to get the hell out of Caroline Wickburn’s class and see Theo again.
I just needed to locate Theo first.
I had no idea if his last class had been in the Descendants’ House or the Crescents’ House. But I hurried out of the Crescents’ House, partly because it still gave me a weird, eerie feeling—the type of feeling you got when going to a haunted house. I also figured Theo and I were bound to bump into one another at some point.
That point came as I was about halfway across the campus quad, walking in the direction of my dorm suite.
I saw Theo from behind. We hadn’t known each other for very long, but I would have recognized him anywhere; his dark hair was shorter in the back than it was in the front, and his shoulders were broad as fuck.
“Theo!” I called out to him.
He glanced over his shoulder, and his intense blue eyes locked on mine for a long moment.
I continued walking in his direction, and for a few moments, it seemed like he was frozen in place as he stood there waiting for me.
I was surprised to watch him turn away from me then. He moved towards one of the cars that was parked in the teachers’ parking lot. I watched as he climbed into the navy blue sports car and then drove away from me.
I watched in disappointment as the car pulled out of the parking lot and through the gate of the school and then off into the distance.
What the hell had just happened?
“Don’t take it personal,” a voice said from behind me.
I whirled around to find Rhys standing there, a sympathetic look in his eyes. “Theo just does this sometimes.”
“Does what?” I questioned.
Rhys hesitated, seeming to choose his words carefully. “When things are going in the right direction, he runs. He sabotages his own happiness.”
I stared in the direction Theo had drove off in. “Where is he running to?”
“I don’t know.”
“Will he be back?” I swallowed hard, considering the possibility that he wouldn’t be. The idea of being away from him for too long… Well, it made my heart hurt a little.
“He’s got to be. He’s under contract to teach for a year. The last thing he would ever do is upset Headmaster Black.” Rhys’s dark blue eyes slid over to meet mine. “He’ll be back. He’s probably just going somewhere to escape for a little while.”
“Did I cause this?” I asked, considering the possibility that I had.
Rhys shook his head and gently touched my shoulder. “No. It’s not you. It’s Theo. Trust me.”
Even as he said the words, though, I couldn’t seem to shake the feeling that I actually had somehow caused it.
Chapter Eleven
That night, I looked for Theo in the Dining Hall at dinnertime, but he wasn’t there—even though the rest of the Darken were.
I made sure to stay away from them.
“I sort of doubt that he’s intentionally avoiding you,” Iris said over dinner, obviously trying to make me feel better. “He’s probably just busy with something.”
“Yeah, maybe.” But even if she was right and he really was just busy, he could have at least told me when we’d seen each other in the parking lot. It was the way he had turned away from me, as if he didn’t want to talk to me at all, that made me think this had something to do with me.
“Hey, can I sit with you guys?”
I glanced up to find Vince standing next to our table. “Sure. Iris, this is Vince, Vince, this is Iris.”
“Hey,” Iris said with a smile.
“I love your sweater,” Vince said as he sat down across from her. “What House are you in?”
“The Descendants. How about you?”
“The Crescents,” Vince replied as he stabbed his baked potato with a fork.
Iris’s eyes widened and she glanced over at me then back to Vince. “So, I guess I’m going to have to get used to the fact that I now have bad wolf friends.”
“Big bad wolves, baby,” Vince said with a wink as he began to dig into his pot roast.
“Actually, I have a question about werewolf sizes,” I said.
Vince glanced over at me sharply. “Like dick sizes?”
“No, I mean like height and weight, you perve,” I said with a laugh. “Do female wolves stay average in size?”
“You mean human-sized?” Iris asked with a giggle.
“Human-sized! Yes. That’s the perfect word for it,” I replied with a nod.
“Yup,” Vince said, nodding his head. “They don’t get big or tall like male wolves, but they do get muscular and strong as fuck, so I wouldn’t mess with them.”
“Like those girls,” Iris whispered as four girls walked past us. I wasn’t sure what it was, but everything about them felt so… badass.
The girl at the center of the group had long, straight jet-black hair that fell to her waist. She was about five foot eight with a slender but strong-looking body. She did her makeup as well as a YouTube vlogger. Something about the girl told me she was the main girl, the Regina George of the group.
The girl who stood to the right of her was her polar opposite. She was on the short side with shoulder-length bleach blonde hair and fair, freckled skin. I recognized her from my Lunar Magic 101 class. I was pretty sure her name was Destiny.
To the Main Girl’s left, there was a girl with dark skin and short dark hair with caramel highlights.
The fourth girl of the group had fair skin with brown hair and wispy bangs. She sort of reminded me of Zooey Deschanel.
All four girls were wearing matching leather jackets and leather attire; the main girl had on a short leather skirt, while the others were all wearing leather pants.
They continued past us and headed out of the Dining Hall.
“Who were they?” I asked with wid
e eyes.
“Those would be the She-Wolves,” Vince explained.
“The She-Wolves?” My eyebrows lifted.
“Yeah. That’s what they named their pack. Original, I know,” he replied with an eye roll.
“They’re the descendants of one of the strongest all-female packs in the world, but they’re more than just that. They’re also one of the biggest cliques at this school,” Iris informed me. “No one messes with them if they know what’s best for them.”
“How do you guys even know about them? You’re first year students, too,” I pointed out.
“People talk about them. The leather clothing is a dead giveaway,” Vince explained.
“The rumors are already flying about them,” Iris added. “The Alpha of the pack—the tall one with the black hair—is Jessica Davis. The blonde is Destiny. The one with the crazy bangs is Nadia, and the other one is Crystal.”
“I didn’t know girls could be Alphas,” I commented.
“They can if it’s an all-girl pack. I guess, in theory, it’s possible that a girl could be Alpha in a pack with both genders, but it’s never happened before, to my knowledge,” she replied.
“Trust me when I say you should stay away from them,” Vince added. “I know I will be.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” I replied. “The less wolves I get involved with here, the better.”
As it was, Milos already wanted to get to me, dead or alive. The last thing I needed was even more enemies.
***
The next day, Theo did show up to school, proving that Rhys was right. Wherever he had gone, it hadn’t been very far, likely just for an escape.