Page 35 of Shifting Tides

Aaaaand, I’m naked. Yep. Perfect.

I wasn’t about to desperately pick up my clothes like a discarded one-night stand, so I just stood there, letting my lady bits hang out for all to see. Let her be the one who was embarrassed.

“I belong here,” I declared, putting my hand on my bare hip. “If transforming into an animal is the only requirement for admittance, I just gave you that. If you need some flashy show of fire or water, I can do that, too.”

I raised my hand to conjure a ball of flames, but she rushed forward to catch my hand and force it down.

“Please don’t, you’ll burn this whole place to the ground,” Ms. Smith hissed. “This school is a refuge for those who don’t have a choice but to shift and could unintentionally hurt others. You don’t check that box. You will leave and never come back. Do we understand each other?”

“Why?” I snapped, every fight I’d had with Gram blowing the top off any cool I might have been able to conjure. “Why can’t I be here? What do you people have against witches?”

Ms. Smith’s lip twitched in what looked like a failed attempt to snarl.

“Everyone here shifts because they have to. Because it’s what their bodies do when theyget bittenorget wetorget angry. You?” She looked me up and down with disgust curling her lips. “You have to drink some tonic to turn into a pathetic rodent. That’s not shifting. That’s pretending.”

I took a step back, my attitude flaring in full force. “I’m Shea Le Fay, and I’m not leaving until I convince you that I belong here.”

Her eyes widened, then narrowed even further than before. “Iknewthere was something familiar about you.”

“What does that mea—?”

“Out.” Ms. Smith pointed to the door, outrage flaring her nostrils.

My heart stalled. “But—”

“OUT!”

I staggered back from the venom in that one word. Somewhere deep down, I knew this would be the outcome, but still, I had to try. Stupid. All this way for nothing. And I very disastrously wasted my only chance at a good first impression.

Ms. Smith tapped a button on the phone at her desk and spoke into the device. “Caesar, I need your assistance.”

Oh gods, no!

“What is it?” replied the begrudgingly familiar voice.

“We have a little pest problem, and she needs to be escorted out,” Ms. Smith replied, dusting off her hands in a gesture of dismissal.

There was a pause, then the voice said, “Be right there.”

No. No, no, no!

Being naked in front of this prudish and prejudiced stranger was one thing, but exposing the girls to Professor Grumpy Gryphon was sooooo not going to happen.

I did scramble to gather up my clothes then, like a drunk college girl caught at a frat party. And just like a drunk girl, I lost my balance as I tried to shove one of my legs into my stupidly tight skinny jeans and landed flat on my bare ass.

The metal floor was ice cold against my skin, but that didn’t keep every inch of me from burning with humiliation.

Just when I thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse, the face of the crazy hot gryphon shifter loomed over me.

Kill me. Somebody, anybody, please put me out of my misery.

I jackknifed upward and clutched my t-shirt over my stupidly big boobs. And he just stared. Why was he staring? My face was on fire, and I could only imagine it was a very unattractive shade of red.

“Shea?” he asked, arching a sexy eyebrow. “What are you doing here? How did you get in?”

I got to my feet, my sass kicking in to rescue my severely wounded pride. “You tell a shunned witch about a supernatural school and expect her not to do everything she can to get in?”

Amusement tugged at the corners of his lips, and the heat in his eyes made me all kinds of confused. “While I’m impressed at your efforts, you can’t be here.”

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