Page 9 of Creatures of Chaos

That breaks my trance immediately.

Whatever. I prefer blonds anyway.

I turn back to my friends, plopping back down in my seat. “Vampire?”

There are three main creatures most of the population falls into: shifters, fae, or vampires. When it’s not completely obvious which creature someone is, my friends and I like to make a guessing game out of it.

“Naw. I don’t see any fangs. My money is on fae,” Ensley says.

“That’s just wishful thinking,” I say with a chuckle. Unveiled interest shines in my friend’s eyes. Most vampires only let their fangs descend when they are feeding. Ensley just likes the idea of the hot new guy being a fae like her.

Ensley tears her gaze from new guy. “Wishful thinking that’s probably wasted since it’s not me he’s staring a hole throughright now.” She gives me a mischievous wink and Becks’ frown deepens.

He’s still staring?

It’s physically hard to keep from sneaking another peek.

“Snake shifter for sure,” Becks says.

I scrunch my nose. He knows I’m not overly fond of snakes. All the slithering gives me the creeps. And some snake shifters can fork their tongues without fully shifting and do oscillating tongue-flicks to taste the air, picking up on a creature’s pheromones to detect if they’re scared, excited, or even turned-on. It’s just . . . yuck. Not to mention invasive.

I think about the look on new guy’s face, how it went from inquisitive to something closer to loathing and it makes me mad. I don’t need that kind of judgment from a veritable stranger. I get that enough from my schoolmates.

“I change my vote. I’m with Becks. Definitely snake shifter. He has that sketchy slimy vibe about him.”

Ensley’s eyes grow wide, but I don’t know why. It’s not like what I said is that scandalous. I’ve saidwayworse about Vesper and her friends.

“Sketchy slimy vibe, huh?” comes a deep voice from right over my shoulder. “I need to work harder on my resting face if that’s what I’m giving off.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I pray for the ground to swallow me whole, but I’m not that lucky.

When I open my eyes again, the guy is standing next to our table, but thankfully he’s no longer looking at me.

“Becks, right?” he says to my dragon shifter friend, who raises his eyebrows in surprise.

“Yeah, that’s me.”

“Cool. I’m starting at Nightlark Academy on Monday. My Uncle Drake told me to look for you. Said you could show me the ropes. I’m Talon.”

“Drake Brayden?” Becks asks, and Talon nods. “Yeah, I know him. He’s on the dragon council. Welcome.” There’s no genuine warmth in Becks’ words.

“Thanks, man.” Talon has a to-go bag clutched in one hand, but holds out his other fist to Becks, who reluctantly taps it with his own.

Interesting.

Becks is nothing if not diplomatic. He knows how to turn the charm on like a light switch, but he’s not trying very hard right now. I wonder if Talon notices Becks’ hesitation. If so, he doesn’t act like it.

“What brings you to Everton?” Becks asks.

“My parents have a work assignment overseas, so they shipped me off to my uncle’s for the rest of the academic year.”

I frown. That sucks. He looks too old to be anything but a senior like us. Starting a new school well into the second semester of your last year has to be hard.

As if on cue, a group of girls pass behind Talon, giggling loudly. Talon shoots them a lopsided smirk before turning back to our table.

Pfft. I take it back. He’s going to be just fine.

“So, I’ll see you around then,” he says to Becks, basically ignoring Ensley and me.

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