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Chapter 3

Shea

I was pretty sure my mouth was hanging wide open as I stared at the spectacular gryphon that had been a hot naked man only seconds before. Arya’s panic barely registered in my mind, and I couldn’t bring myself to move to help her.

Every nerve in my body sizzled with volatile electricity.

I knew about the shifter world, in a vague sort of way. Gram used to tell me bedtime stories about them, and there were the occasional whispered conversations or clandestine meetings that I was never allowed to attend. Not that I hadn’t tried to snoop, but the wards Gram used could keep even the most curious cat away.

Shifters had never quite seemed real to me, not in the sense that they were a myth but rather that they were some faraway concept detached from me.

Now I was in the middle of the shifter world, staring at a gryphon that had just transformed in front of me and my best friend, who, it turned out, was a freakin’ mermaid.

This was probably the best moment of my life! Finally, validation for my place in the world of magic and thesupernatural, a place that was never allowed to me by my warden of a grandmother.

Hot gryphon man was taking Arya to a school for shifters, and I was going to get into that school if it killed me.

All I ever dreamed of was learning more about the magic my family possessed, the magic that was “kept hidden from me for my own safety.” Of course, with no grimoire to guide us, my family’s magic was limited anyway. What if this school had knowledge of how to access it?

But Arya.

I looked down at my raven-haired friend at last, who was just managing to pick herself up off the ground.

A mermaid. That’s what Caesar had said.

It didn’t entirely surprise me. I’d known something was special about Arya the first time we met. Something about those beach-blue eyes had demanded the immediate friendship that sparked between us. Besides, Arya was a little too pretty to be human. Seriously. Most people had to be photoshopped to look that good.

I cleared my throat, a bubble of nerves rippling in my stomach. “I wanna go to the school, too.”

The gryphon looked at me, his feathered brow raised. He turned and shifted back to human, snatching his clothes up off the ground and stepping back into his jeans with his back turned to us.

I had to admit I was a little disappointed the peep show had been so brief. He was seriously hot, and it wasn’t often a girl got a chance to witness naked male perfection without paying for it. His tight ass looked good enough to bite, and I realized my teeth were digging into my bottom lip as I watched him pull his pants up over it.

“Are you a shifter?” Caesar asked before pulling his shirt over his head and covering the most sculpted set of abs I’d ever seen.

Dang it.

“I’m assuming no, since we likely would’ve found you before now.” His eyes shifted to where Arya stood, one arm wrapped around her middle.

My heart dropped a touch at the rejection. I knew it was selfish, trying to get into a shifter school when my best friend had just lost her mom and gotten the biggest shock of her life. This wasn’t about me. I needed to be the supportive friend who wasn’t, in fact, trying to steal the opportunity that Arya clearly needed.

I put a hand on Arya’s shoulder, giving her an encouraging smile.

“We need to keep moving.” Caesar waved us toward the car, looking around the area cautiously and reminding both of us that we were still on the run from killer vampires.

I grabbed Arya’s hand and tugged her toward the car.

“No,” Arya said, pulling back. Her eyes were wild and dark with denial. “This is insane.”

I sighed, letting my shoulders sag. “I know it’s a lot to process, but I swear it’s all true. Everything he said.”

Arya’s eyes narrowed. “What makes you so sure all of a sudden? Why did you say you wanted to go to the school?”

The accusation and distrust in Arya’s voice stung; maybe I deserved it. Ihadbeen keeping a pretty big secret from her.

“Well, I’m kind of a witch,” I admitted sheepishly. “I have magic in my veins. I’m just not allowed to learn how to use it.”

Arya crinkled her nose, an expression that was way too cute for someone who was obviously freaking out.