Page 57 of Mortal Shift
“All evidence to the contrary.”
He hesitated, his usual brash expression long gone—which was exactly how I knew none of his was real. Maybe one of his friends was hiding in the trees somewhere, or maybe he was just going to tell them this evening, give them something else to laugh at before I went out and humiliated myself even worse in the moon hunt. Whatever. I was through with these games.
“Fuck the moon hunt,” I snapped. “And fuck you. I’m done with all this. Find someone else to run with you tonight.”
And with a stab of grim satisfaction, I marched through the trees, leaving an open-mouthed Cole in my wake.
Chapter Twenty
“You understand why you have been summoned here to see me, Ms. Ellis?”
I swallowed and raised my eyes from my feet to meet Astor’s cold stare. It was the morning after the moon hunt, and I knewexactlywhy I was here.
“Because I didn’t play by their rules. But I’m not a shifter, and their rules don’t apply to me.”
Astor canted her head, her expression contemplative, and then leaned back in her seat.
“I must admit, I did not expect you to live this long.”
“Or want me to,” I said, because apparently I had some sort of death wish. Rather than denying it, Astor simply inclined her head.
“It is not in my nature to have sympathy or even empathy for your kind,” she said. “Regardless, you amuse, and there is some value in that.”
I snorted. “Well, I’m glad someone thinks I add value.”
“But do not let that lull you into thinking you are above the rules,” Astor continued coldly.
“They’re not my rules.”
“Theyareyour rules,” she corrected me, “because they aremyrules, and you aremystudent, and therefore you will follow them.”
“I’m not a shifter,” I protested.
“I am well aware. But you are inside my academy, by decree of the council, and while you are here, you will follow my rules.” Her eyes glittered darkly. “Or you will be punished.”
A chill crept along my neck. Somehow, I got the sense that Astor’s punishment would make everything I’d faced so far this year look like a cakewalk.
“Punished. Right. That would be bad.”
“This would be an excellent time to stop talking, Ms. Ellis,” she suggested, and I clamped my mouth shut, because I was inclined to agree.
“And while we’re on the subject of your indiscretions,” she continued, “I understand you trespassed into a vampire feeding lounge and interrupted its occupants.”
I bit down hard on my tongue to tell her exactly what I thought about that, and her predatory gaze pinned me in place.
“Well,” she said eventually, “Have you nothing to say in your defense?”
My mouth popped open and I quickly regained control of it, in time to prevent my indignation from landing me in even hotter water. But seriously, she had literally just told me to shut up.
“I didn’t go there on purpose. I was tricked.”
“Tricked?”
“Yeah. Kallan told me the dining hall had been moved there.”
She blinked in surprise, and I bit back the words, ‘yeah, so there, bitch, take your judgement and shove it’, before they made it out of my mouth, because I was really working hard on the whole not getting myself brutally murdered thing.
“So you’re telling me,” she said, one tapered finger tapping on the desk top in front of her, “that a rival of your mate’s, with whom you have already had more than one altercation, told you that the dining hall had been mysteriously relocated into the middle of vampire territory, and you simply…believed him?”
