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“But,” I quickly amended, “I believe out of any student in the school,youare the most capable of picking it all up quickly. Just keep trying. I promise you it will pay off.”

She hesitated, then said, “I’ve been having a very hard time transforming at will.”

I chuckled again. “There are a fair number of shifters who struggle with transformation in the beginning. Take your friend Ashlyn, for example. She has yet to shift into her phoenix form. And others, like weres, struggle not to shift during the full moon. Sometimes, these things take time. Try being a gryphon with a father who tries teaching transformation by taking you a mile into the air and dropping you.”

I raised one hand and slowly lowered it, matching it with a whistle that went from high to low until my hand smacked the table.

Arya’s eyes widened, more out of humor than surprise. “He really did that?”

I smiled. “Multiple times. My mother was always there to catch me.”

The memory of my caring parents threatened to force my emotions to resurface again. I kept talking to keep them at bay.

“My point is, keep trying. You’ll get there, and soon, it’ll be second nature to you.”

Confidence built in her blue eyes, and staring at them, I felt even more sure that this girl was the one. This was the siren. She’d figure things out in due time. And so would I.

“Classes will start shortly,” I said. “You better get going.”

“Thank you. So much,” Arya said with a smile.

“You bet,” I replied. “And remember, my door is always open. If you ever need to talk, I’m here.”

She nodded, then got to her feet and made her way out of the classroom.

I sighed heavily, tapping my tablet to prepare for class. Between Kai’s reluctance, Arya’s unknown potential, and Shea’s frustrating presence in my world, I was going to need a lot more than luck to make it through this day.

Chapter 24

Arya

“Arya? Are you paying attention?”

I looked up at the sound of my name to see Mrs. Sharp eyeing me with expectation and tapping her toe where she stood in front of the class.

Oh crap. I had gotten so lost in my thoughts that I hadn’t been paying attention to the lecture for…who knew how long.

“Sorry, Mrs. Sharp,” I managed with an apologetic grimace.

Mrs. Sharp frowned and shook her head in disapproval. “Please, do try to focus while you’re in my class, Miss Walker. You, more than anyone else, need it.”

The students around me snickered, making me sink down into my chair in mortification.

But really, how could I focus after everything that happened this weekend? What the hell was wrong with Tobias? He was either ignoring me, angrily making out with me, or threatening to pummel any guy who so much as looked at me. Even when I tried to forget about him and get close to someone else, he was right there, whether in my head or in my face.

Why couldn’t I feel this way about Kendall? We’d shared such a magical experience in the lake yesterday. He was handsome and funny and kind, and a mermaid for fuck sake. He was exactly right for me and Tobias was everything wrong for me.

Dammit, I’m doing it again. Pay attention in class!

I sat up in my chair and trained my ears on what Mrs. Sharp was saying, assertively ignoring any more thoughts about a particular dragon douchebag.

“It’s called imprinting,” Mrs. Sharp explained. “When the shifter in question comes in contact with their mate for the first time, a profound pheromone response is triggered, making the shifter essentially bonded to that person for life. It’s basically love at first sight, an instant and undeniable attraction like no other. They become obsessed with the need to be around that person as much as possible, to the extent that if they spend too long apart from that person, they can suffer severe health risks.”

Someone must have raised their hand as I was typing notes into my tablet because Mrs. Sharp called on them. “Yes?”

“Does it only happen when you meet your perfect match?” It was Jackson, the host of the party, who asked the question. “Like, my parents have been together forever, and I don’t think either of them imprinted on each other. So does that mean they’re not right for each other?”

Mrs. Sharp shook her head. “No, that’s not necessarily the case. The truth is, we don’t know enough about what triggers imprinting to make those kind of claims. It happens so rarely that not much evidence has been gathered. We only know that it can happen in any species of shifter, and it could possibly even be random.”