His eyes shone as he smiled at me. “I know.”
Chapter Twelve
“No way!” Ryn cackled, sounding so like his sister, it was unsettling.
“It’s true,” I grumbled. We’d just finished telling Ryn, Myve, and Nazuss why we were late to lunch. They’d thought it was simply because we’d been out and about making our nest.
Nym and Harpy joined us then and I was dragged back roughly by Nym, his nostrils flaring. “Why do you smell like Harpy?”
I blinked. “What?”
Nym then narrowed his gaze on Casey, growling low. Casey just rolled his eyes though, not even affected by Nym’s dragon coming to the surface. “We bathed with the orange scented soap the healers gave Jamie. Relax your dragon, no one touched Harpy.”
Nym deflated instantly, smiling sheepishly at us both before righting my robe where he’d pulled it back. “Sorry,” he whispered.
“No worries,” I laughed, mentally reminding myself to throw the soap away. There was no way I was letting Casey smell like his former lover.
Ryn then took over, telling them about the whole Hyland thing, making them both giggle with delight.
We spent the rest of lunch eating and talking, glad to be spending the day together. But Casey and I still had our nest that needed to be made.
“Well,” I exclaimed, standing from the table. “We have a nest to build.”
Casey beamed and followed me out of the dining hall, waving goodbye to the others. Hyland hadn’t been to lunch, and I selfishly hoped that meant he was being interrogated by Headmaster Wren.
“We’ll need to shift before we start searching,” Casey said, tugging me behind him as he led me down the path to the beach. “Once we’re in our raven forms, the things we need will be like an instinct to us, a beacon, if you will.”
If someone had asked me before meeting Casey if I would like building a nest, I would’ve laughed. But there was just something so intimate about the whole process. I was really into it, scarily so.
“Should we shift here?” I asked, scanning the empty beach. Two other students were further down the beach, sitting and watching the waves.
“Yes, and if you need to talk to me, spin around in a circle, we’ll fly somewhere we can shift back and talk then.”
“Deal,” I grinned, letting the transformation take over. I hurried into the air, not liking the sand under my raven feet. I then followed Casey’s lead, letting my eyes scan the beach for anything I felt was worthy enough for our nest.
My first object was a rock that had stripes on it. They shone in the sun, making my eyes land on it instantly. I scooped it upand flew back over the academy, landing on the roof Casey had picked for us. We already had a branch structure built–having taken over an old nest from a former student–it was nestled between two roofs, making it a little square, a cozy and snug fit for us. I landed on the nest, carefully adding my pretty stone to it.
Casey joined me, having found a piece of blue glass. The ocean and sand had made it smooth, but it was still a pretty blue color. He placed it next to my stone and then we were off again, flying towards the beach.
I quickly found another stone, this one black with swirls of purple in it; a perfect stone for my mate. I felt almost possessive over the stone, fearing someone would fight me for it. It was simply that perfect. I hurried to return it to our nest, staying on guard until Casey showed up with a seashell that had a lovely pearlescent sheen to it.
We nuzzled our heads together and then started to groom one another. I felt my need to find objects had been sated for now. It was likely something we would add on to as time passed here in the academy, and I liked that.
Casey lifted off from the nest, making me follow him. He glided down, landing inside the courtyard. We both shifted and crushed each other into a hug. It felt like we’d just succeeded at something amazing and I felt it should be celebrated. We’d been at it for hours, though, and needed some food.
“Dinner and then we celebrate making our nest,” I declared.
“The best damn nest there is,” he agreed, lacing our fingers.
We found the others already gathered at our table, huddling in the middle and talking quietly.
“What are you all acting so secretive for?” I smirked, sitting down in my usual seat, Casey sitting down next to me, his gaze flitting over them.
They all nodded between themselves; having come to some unspoken agreement it seemed. “We’ve decided,” Nym began. “That you two need some privacy and the only place for that is our rooms. I’ll stay away until I absolutely have to tonight, so you two can have the room all to yourselves.”
“Really?” Casey asked, sounding eager and damn if that didn’t make me preen, and harden in my pants.
“You deserve it,” Myve said. “Especially after Hyland did you dirty.”
