Harpy blushed, then stammered weird words that made no sense. He clearly didn’t know what to answer. I decided to help him out.
“I haven’t fully claimed him yet.”
My cousins and brother all stared between Harpy and me with wide eyes of shock.
“Why the fuck not?!” Myve demanded, her tone incredulous. “Do you not realize that your dragon can just decide to take over? Do youwantto claim your poor mate right here in the dining hall in front of everyone?Gods! Is that why?!” She leaned in and whispered conspiratorially, “Are you into that sort of thing?”
Rolling my eyes at her dramatics, I was just about to tell her that it wasn’t her business, when Harpy spoke.
“I asked him to wait to claim me until my mind had time to catch up. Besides, I’m a little intimidated with my new form.”
Ryn waved that off. “You’ll learn to deal with the instincts over time, we were told that by our uncles. It will be harder at first, though.”
“Um,” Harpy said, blushing prettily. “I meant the flying part, not the instincts.”
Ryn just blinked. “Oh.”
Harpy laughed at Ryn’s confusion and I smiled at the sight, holding my mate’s hand under the table and loving this moment. I still had to figure out what to do on our date. Luckily, we had a few classes before our date and I begged my mind for an epiphany.
Chapter Nine
Our first class of the day was sadly with Willa and that always involved shifting. I was ready to disobey her and remain in my human form, my promise to Harpy was more important to me than being a good student. So, as she spoke about different power dynamics in shifters, and how we actually thrived being near similar shifters, I thought about how to confidently inform her that I wouldn’t be shifting today.
Willa clapped her hands. “Let’s test it out. For the next week, you’ll be partnered up with similar shifters, you’ll be in your shifted forms and will only be with shifters of the same form as you. Hans,since you’re the only phoenix shifter in the group, you’ll be with the dragons, Damon and Nym. Good luck everyone!”
I cursed my luck, giving Harpy what I hoped was a confident grin as I strode over to Damon.
“I can’t shift,” I whispered once I’d reached him. “I haven’t claimed my mate yet.”
Damon’s eyes widened, then he leaned in and whispered back, “What should we do then?”
Shrugging my shoulders, I tried to see if Willa was free, but she was busy talking to a group of students. “I guess I’ll tell her my situation when she’s free.”
“Hey guys,” Hans said. I’d never spoken to him before today, but if we were supposed to spend the week together, I might as well be friendly.
“Hey,” I greeted, then turned my focus back on Willa. Just how long could one conversation take?
“You’re not going to shift?” Hans asked, looking between us with a smirk. “Afraid to get pummeled to the ground again, eh?”
What?
I eyed him with confusion. Did he think what happened to me was amusing?
Damon growled. “It was an accident.”
“Sure,” Hans drawled. “That’s the reason neither of you have shifted yet.”
“You aren’t exactly shifted either,” I pointed out. “Besides, I have to speak with Willa.”
“Hmm, and what you need to talk about wouldn’t have anything to do with your fear of shifting next to Damon, would it?”
I already hated Hans.
“No,” I gritted, still looking in Willa’s direction, ignoring Hans’ goading.
“Man, look, I get it, okay? I would be afraid too if a dragon bigger than me showed up and proved who was superior,” Hans continued, his tone laced with humor.
I caught Harpy’s concerned gaze from where he stood with the other cat shifters, none of them shifted yet either.
