Page 156 of Mortal Shift
“What deception? I don’t know how I did it. I didn’t know that I could do it. Don’t you think if I had even the slightest suspicion that I was a shifter, that I would have spoken up about it, instead of enduring a whole year of torment for being an outsider?”
“As I said, Ms. Ellis, your guilt or innocence, and the associated punishment, will be for the council to determine.”
“Punishment?” A chill ran the length of my spine.
“That will be all, Ms. Ellis. The council will be in contact.”
And just like that, I was dismissed. I ground my teeth together and pivoted on my heel, marching through the door. Like I didn’t have enough on my plate already. And now on top of it all, I was going to have to spend the entire summer worrying what the council would do with these trumped-up charges. Because I’d meant every word I said. I couldn’t be a shifter.
…Could I?
“What’s wrong?” Cole asked the moment I emerged into the hallway, pulling the door shut behind me.
“The council… They think I’m a shifter, and that I tried to cover it up.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “They’re going to summon me for a hearing. They might... They might prosecute me. But it’s crazy. I didn’t do anything wrong. I haven’t broken any laws. I don’t—”
Cole pulled me against him, and I could feel the protective fury rolling through his frame.
“It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
“How can you say that? Anything could happen. They could send me to the place they had you locked up.”
And I didn’t know what scared me worse—being locked up, or being locked up away from him.
“Because my whole pack will stand behind you. We will fight this, Cali, I swear. I won’t let them hurt you.”
And wrapped up in his arms, I could almost believe it. I nodded mutely, because maybe thatwassomething his pack could do. Maybe if enough of them spoke, the council would listen. Maybe Blaine would be able to make them see sense. I thought that he, even if no one else, might speak for me. But there was one thing I knew for sure: Astor intended for this to scare me. Intended for this to steal every moment of joy from my summer with my mate. And I had no intention of letting it. If Cole said that his pack would find a way to make this okay, then fuck it. I believed him.
And I would keep saying that until I believed myself.
“What now?” I asked, pulling down one of his arms from around me and tracing patterns in the palm of his hand. He thrummed low in his throat.
“Now,” he said, his voice hoarse, “we’re going to head back to our dorm, and I’m going to find a hundred ways to distract you until it’s time to head back to my parklands.”
I liked the sound of that very much.
I let him lead me through the academy hallways until we found ourselves back at the dorm rooms. And waiting outside our dorm—and I had no idea how they got this far, what with all the shifters being around—were Thaden and Thessalia. Some of my enthusiasm drained at the sight of them, though something else stirred inside me at the sight ofhim.
“So kind of you to finally return,” Thessalia said, running her eyes over us.
“Yeah, we’re busy,” I said offhandedly. “Come back later.”
Irritation flashed over her face, and her eyes turned flinty, but her voice came out cuttingly calm. “Oh, and here I thought you would want an update on the humans, since you bargained so hard for them. But come, Thaden, she's busy. Let us take our leave.”
“The humans? Then... you spoke to the others?”
“I did. But I’m far toobusyto fill you in.”
She turned on her heel and marched away, and I cursed under my breath. I really was not doing so well in the whole making friends department this year. Not that I ever thought that I would want Thessalia for a friend, but then, there’d been a lot of things about this year that surprised me.
I turned my eyes hopefully to Thaden, and then questioningly to Cole, because much as I wanted my mate’s hands all over me right now, I also badly wanted to know what had happened about the humans and their plight. Cole gave me an indulgent smile, and then opened the door, beckoning once to Thaden as he invited him inside, and then shut the door behind us all, sealing us in the privacy of our dorm.
“If you wanted to lure me into your den, sweetness, you only had to ask,” Thaden said, a smirk playing across his lips.
“In your dreams,” I said, but I couldn’t keep my breath from catching in my throat. I flicked a glance at Cole, but he only quirked one brow, and said nothing.
“Sounds like it’s not just inmydreams, sweetness,” he said. “Alas, first we must discuss business. After all, you struck a bargain with my sister, and I cannot have it said that my clan does not honor its bargains.”
“What happened? What did they say?”
