Page 5 of The Fall Before the Heat

I sat down and smoothed my hand through my hair. Maybe I should’ve hit the shower before coming out for a cup of tea.

“You?” He asked when I didn’t say anything else as he rounded the little mahogany table to sit down in his own seat.

“Yeah, born and raised.”

“Your family still in town?” He asked.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “Dad’s part of the Moonscale Guard. He’s in the fighting. My brother will probably end up there too. My carrier wants to leave, but the money just isn’t there.”

I usually wouldn’t volunteer that to a stranger, but Rex already admitted to being at Hemlock Academy on a scholarship. If anyone understands, surely, it’ll be this guy.

“If this were a perfect world, I’d be the guy with too much money and move them all to Hemlock Mountain,” Rex laughed and shook his head.

The laughter didn’t reach his amber eyes.

“They wouldn’t leave anyway. Wanting to leave and actually leaving are two different things. I’m not even sure, I want to be here,” I said, leaning back in my chair as Rex filled our cups with hot water.

“I get that,” he nodded. “Don’t worry. I’m not that guy. I probably could buy them tickets for a few blocks on the Underground. That’s about it.”

“Soon Clarence will have to take out the trains and build houses down there,” I laughed.

“And that’s how the Moonscale dragons evolved into scaly moles,” Rex shrugged.

“How did you not end up at Moonscale Academy if you had a scholarship?” I asked, searching for anything to fill the space between us before the conversation turned to serious war talk.

“I told them I wanted to study under Bane Hemlock,” Rex shrugged. “He and his mate have a research project for mixed genetics, and I guess they bought into it. I’m studying family medicine but work at their lab a few hours a week as work study. Only, I’m not really working with Bane Hemlock. I work under Doctor Lee Knight-Hemlock.”

“I’m still surprised. It would’ve been cheaper to send you to their own school, though, wouldn’t it?” I asked.

“Did anyone ever tell you that if it makes sense the ruling class will have nothing to do with it? I don’t think they teach that at either academy, but I’ll give you that class for free. In fact, you already graduated,” he smirked.

“Don’t tell me I’m living with an anarchist,” I said, pressing a hand to my chest in mock shock.

“Afraid so,” he nodded, but his scent said it was a lie.

“You’re a bad liar. Though, the rest of the time you’re hard to read.”

“The rest of the time?” Rex arched a brow. “You’ve just met me. Maybe you’re just bad at reading people most of the time.”

Another joke that almost went over my head.

“Me? Bad at reading people?” I huffed and then I sighed. “I think I just jumped about twenty time zones on the flight. I’m no good at banter on regular days.”

“You probably are. Most people are. Go get some rest,” Rex said, waving a hand in the direction of my new bedroom door.

His scent morphed back into that unreadable combination of emotions, and I swallowed down another sigh. I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep in a strange bed across the ocean from home.

“We’re grownups. That’s what we do,”my wolf chimed into my thoughts again.

“You can camp out on the sofa, if you want. I’ll probably head out for a run. You’re my fifth roommate. I’ve been here since my first day at the Academy. Sleep wherever you want. I’ve seen it all.”

I blinked as Rex pushed his chair away from the table. The amber-eyed wolf was right. The sofa didn’t sound nearly as intimidating as a strange bed.

“Are we the only ones in the apartment?” I asked, double checking.

“Yep. Just us,” Rex nodded. “Look, in case it isn’t obvious, this is your home now too. Do whatever you want in the common area: Sleep, eat, roll around on the furniture. Just pick up after yourself and don’t play music all night while I’m trying to sleep. You can stop sitting as straight as a prisoner awaiting his sentencing hearing. Mage Street might not be your real home, but it’s where you’re at. Might as well make the most of it.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but Rex was already at the arch dividing the kitchen from the living room. He turned long enough to scribble something down on a notepad on the fridge.

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