Page 118 of Mortal Shift
That left Ling and Jax—and I was already keeping secrets from the shifter, because I had no idea if Cole had told him about his intended alliance with the vampires, but I didn’t think so, and the last thing any of us needed was to save Cole only for me to accidentally turn his entire pack against him. I wasn’t strictly sure what happened to a shifter who was chased out of their pack, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t anything good. I hadn’t even told Ling, which was just about killing me.
“What is it?” she asked, closing the book she’d been poring over.
“What’s what?” I asked.
“You keep sighing and looking in my direction, and if you don’t tell me what’s bothering you soon, I’m going to have to beat it out of you with this book.”
I canted my head sideways to look at the book’s spine and winced.
“I always knew academy history was going to be the death of me.” I gnawed at my pen. I hadn’t strictly promised not to tell her, really. She was involved in fighting back against the council. Still, it wasn’t my secret to tell. I shook my head.
“It’s nothing. Just…” No. I wasn’t going to fob her off with some made up excuse. I hated lying at the best of times, and she was my one real friend here. She deserved better than that.
The door swung open, and Jax stalked into the library with a scowl.
“Couldn’t you find a better hideout than a library?” he asked, shutting the door and shaking water out of his hair like an overgrown labrador. “This place creeps me out.”
“Vampires and fairies you’re fine with, butbookscreep you out?” I arched a brow, trying to puzzle that one out.
He shook his head, sending a few more droplets of water around him, and I slammed my book shut before he could trash it completely.
“Not books. Libraries.” He paused with a frown. “Actually, yeah, books too. They imply studying. Anyway, vamps and fae I understand. They’re alive, more or less. Books?” He gave the nearest bookcase a dirty look that I was pretty sure it had done nothing to deserve. “A load of black squiggles written by people who died before I was born. It’s weird.”
“You’re weird,” I informed him. “Anyway, this is the only place in the whole academy basically no-one else comes, so get over it.”
“There’s your dorm,” he suggested.
“Sure, there’s my dorm,” I agreed. “If you don’t mind Cole getting out of prison to discover you’ve been alone with his mate in her dorm.”
“We wouldn’t be alone. There’s your bookish friend, whatshername.”
Ling rolled her eyes.
“Ling,” I said, “and you might want to remember that, if she’s supposed to be your sole witness that you didn’t try to put the moves on me. But you know what? When Cole gets back and walks into his dorm and the first thing he smells is you, I don’t get the sense he’s going to be asking questions. It’s your funeral, though.”
I made like I was about to shove my book in my bag, and Jax paled.
“Yeah, actually, maybe let’s stay here. You, uh, might need some more of these books.”
I smiled sweetly. “Good idea. And if you feel like actually getting a book out and doing some research, that might not be a bad idea, either.”
“I’m not the researching kind. It’d be a shame to waste these good looks buried in a book.”
He flexed an arm, and I caught Ling’s eye snagging on his bicep.
“It’s his brain substitute,” I said to her in a stage whisper.
“Who needs brain when they have brawn?” he said, and flexed the other arm, this time raising his eyebrows suggestively at Ling.
“Anyone who thinks brawn is a substitute for brain,” I told him as Ling flushed under his attention. “So if you’re done hitting on my friend who has far too much taste to go there, can we get back to the issue at hand?”
“Are yousureshe’s got too much taste?” Jax asked, without taking his eyes from Ling. “Because I don’t mind letting her get it out of her system if she feels like taking a walk on the dark side.”
I snorted. “Has that line ever worked? On anyone?”
“I’m still waiting to find out,” he said, and gave Ling a smile. She cleared her throat and flipped her book open, the tips of her ears burning red.
“Well, while you’re waiting, Romeo, want to tell me what the pack said?”
