Page 35 of Monster's Melody

A moment later, the whiskers faded away entirely.

“That was adorable,” Daya said.

“So cute,” I agreed.

“Almost like she wanted to come out and say hello,” Sunny said.

“Well, it must have exhausted her since she’s sound asleep now,” Mikaela said, “though she did have a little celebration in my head first.”

“What kind of celebration?”Sunny asked.

“Her favorite kind.”

“Confetti again?”Kasi guessed.

“Yep.She was tossing it everywhere, rolling around in it, chasing it back and forth, paws kicking it up in the air, basically filling my head with huge explosions of color.”

My heart melted at that description.

It also ached just a little bit because I desperately wanted what my friends had.I wasn’t even sure which one I wanted more: the mate or the adorable cat companion.

Probably the cat.

* * *

The next morningwas another chaotic Dragon Riding Class with Professor Vesely finally ordering Vorzak to, “Keep your snakes fifty feet from the dragons at all times.”

This was difficult, to say the least, considering the cuties just grew an extra foot for every foot Vorzak put between him and the dragons.

Finally, I went and stood at his side, which effectively drew the snakes’ attention away from the dragons to me.

They immediately shrank back to their normal size and spent the rest of the class period either petting me, nudging my hands for scratches or hovering in front of my mouth, waiting for the kisses they knew I couldn’t possibly resist delivering.

Sunny and Daya kept glancing over at me and raising their eyebrows.

I just shrugged helplessly back.

A few moments later, I winced and sent them a look of commiseration, for Vesely had just announced the groups we’d chosen this week were now permanent.We would continue the rest of the semester in those same groups, working with our assigned dragons.

This meant Sunny and Daya were stuck with Taggart and Magnolia, and I was stuck with Vorzak.

I glared at Mikaela and Kasi, but they just smirked back.

They were no help at all.

This became even more evident that afternoon when I met Vorzak at the library.

The look on his face when he saw we were joining Mikaela and Elliot made it clear he’d been hoping for some time alone with me.

Unfortunately for me, Mikaela and Elliot hadn’t been kidding when they said they spent more time kissing than studying during their tutoring sessions.

Even worse, once Vorzak’s snakes realized what was going on, they seemed to believe that was why we were there.

To engage in kissing games.

At least, that’s what I assume they believed, since they were all over me in an instant.

It didn’t matter that I’d made Vorzak sit across the table from me.