Azure Dragons (Supernatural Shifter Academy #2) - G. Bailey Page 0,38

I feel that way about them all…” I shake my head, rubbing the back of my neck. “God, I don’t think I’ve ever been this confused in my life.”

“See, this is what happens when communication falls apart,” she says, frowning. “All these assumptions and no straight facts. I think your problem is that you’re expecting this to turn into a full-blown drama, Millie.”

“Won’t it?” I turn to her as we stop at an intersection, a sea of blue and gold, black and white.

“I don’t know,” she replies honestly. “You’re the one in the middle of it, not me. But if you ask me…” She gives me a gentle nudge with her elbow. “The surest way to find out is to just talk to them.”

I sigh. “I was afraid you were going to say that.”

“Well, it’s true,” she protests, throwing up her hands. “You should just tell Silas. Let him decide for himself, and then you won’t have to worry anymore.”

“Tell me what?”

My heart drops at the sound of an all-too-familiar voice behind me, and I whirl around to see the dragon shifter approaching the two of us, the sun gleaming on his brown hair. “Uh…”

“I think I’ll leave you guys to talk about this one,” Hazel says, shooting me a glance before falling in with the rest of the group. “I’m going to go find Xander and Ruby—I’ll meet you guys at the entrance!”

Traitor. Slowly I turn to Silas, who’s watching me with a curious look on his face; I should have known this would happen sooner or later. At the end of the day, Hazel is right: things are getting too complicated for me to keep ignoring them. I need to clear the air once and for all, and the time to do it is now. “I… was hoping I could talk to you,” I tell him, walking slowly alongside him as we trail behind the rest of the group.

“Well,” he says, holding out his arms, “here I am.” He turns to look at me, a concerned expression on his face. “Are you okay, Boots?”

“I’m fine,” I hasten to assure him. “It’s not me, exactly… I mean, it has to do with me, but it’s not…” I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. Why is this so damn difficult? “The thing is,” I say slowly, starting over, “something happened that I think you deserve to know about… but you might not like hearing about it.”

Silas gives me a small smile. “Well, how am I supposed to know if you don’t tell me?”

“I…” I’m struggling to spit it out, and at the moment I feel like I’d rather be anywhere on earth but here.

“Millie.” He stops, turning to face me. “You know you can tell me anything. I thought that was clear.”

“But this…” I swallow hard. The trust in his dark eyes is both heartwarming and heartbreaking. Biting the inside of my lip, I look down at the ground, struggling to make my mouth form words. “I kissed Shade,” I say, my voice barely above a whisper. “Last night. I… I’m sorry. I wanted to tell you, but I didn’t know if… I mean, you and I…”

I’m babbling, and it takes Silas putting a gentle hand on my cheek to make me finally look up at him. “It’s okay,” he says simply.

I stare at him blankly, almost sure I misheard. “Huh?”

He laughs at the look of sheer confusion on my face. “Millie, come on,” he says, his hand moving to my shoulder as he stoops to look me in the eyes. “You think I didn’t know that?”

I blink. “I…”

Silas just grins at me, and relief washes over me when I see that it’s in good humour. “Come on, this isn’t grade school,” he says. “We’re all adults here. If you want to spend time with the others, you have every right to.”

“Oh.” My shoulders slump with relief. “I, um… Wow. I wasn’t expecting that, Silas.”

“I mean, it makes sense.” He holds his hand out to me and I take it gratefully as we begin to walk again. “There’s something special connecting all of us,” he continues. “I mean, we share an origin, for god’s sake. And what happened between you and me, well…” He shrugs. “Frankly, I would be a little surprised if it didn’t end up happening with them, too.”

“That’s… very progressive.”

Silas bursts out laughing. “Are you surprised?”

“I don’t know,” I reply, blushing. “I’ve never been in this situation before.”

“Me neither.” He glances down at me. “But for