Azure Dragons (Supernatural Shifter Academy #2) - G. Bailey Page 0,10
almost happened—but I can’t help but chuckle when I think about it; this is what I like about these guys. Even in the most awkward of situations, they’re able to make me feel comfortable, and that’s a feeling that’s more foreign to me than I can describe.
I guess now’s not the time to try to sort out my feelings for them all, anyway. We’ve got bigger things to worry about, and from the sounds of it, this conference isn’t going to be the kind of thing I can just push to the background, anyway. Better to keep my eyes peeled for more shenanigans from the school administration—not that I’m sure I’ll even be able to do anything to stop them if they pull something, but that’s beside the point.
I’m so lost in my own thoughts that I don’t even realise Amelia Ash is waiting for me at the end of the hall until I bump into her, taking a few stumbling steps back as I’m brought reeling back to the present. My heart sinks as soon as I see her; I’ve done a decent job of avoiding her ever since Silas’ kidnapping, but I should have figured I would run into her sooner or later. I suppose I at least owe her for indirectly leading me to the group of guys; if we hadn’t gotten into a fight with her in the schoolyard that day a couple months ago, we wouldn’t have bonded during our time in detention. But that’s all beside the point, and it doesn’t make my current situation any less uncomfortable.
Running into her is like running into a brick wall, and she doesn’t seem fazed in the least by the collision, standing with her arms crossed over her chest and a put off expression on her face. “Where are you headed now, hybrid?” she asks. Her voice is cool and steady, but there’s a note of barely disguised contempt in it that sets my teeth on edge.
“Class,” I reply, struggling to keep my unease from creeping through in my tone. “Last I checked, I don’t have an off period right now.”
“Sure, sure,” she says. “What form is it this time? Actually, never mind - I just remembered I don’t care.”
“Great,” I mutter, moving to the left in an attempt to sidestep her. “In that case, I think I’m going to go. Excuse me.”
She moves along with me, blocking my path, her blue eyes flashing. “We need to talk, Brix.”
I sigh. “I’m kind of busy, Amelia. I need to get to class.”
“Class can wait.” She stares me down, her pale skin lending her an inhuman quality in the low afternoon light that streams in through the hallway windows.
Clenching my hands into fists at my sides, I say, “Fine. What is it?”
“You’ve been avoiding me,” she says, “and with the field trip coming up, it’s high time we talked about my brother.” Ah. Of course. What else would it freaking be? It wasn’t enough for her to retake the elementary vampire shifting class with Hunter and I; now she needs to harass me in the hallways. “You’ve been spending an awful lot of time with him lately,” she observes, putting a hand on her waist and tilting her head to one side.
“I guess that’s true,” I admit. “Hunter’s a big boy, Amelia. If he wants to hang out with me, that’s his call.”
She sniffs. “Maybe. But what’s not his call is getting dragged into conflicts with the school faculty.”
My stomach drops. I guess I should have figured she would hear about what happened sooner or later. I have been banking on later, though. I clear my throat. “I needed his help,” I tell her. “There were students going missing. He was the only one who could get us into the-”
“By breaking and entering,” she snaps. “Do you have any idea what could have happened to him? Did you even care?”
“Look,” I say, putting my hands up, “I didn’t want to put him in danger. And I don’t plan on doing it again.”
“You’d better not,” Amelia warns me, her voice taking on a new edge. “Especially now that we’re all going to Boston. You heard Hawthorne—things are dangerous out there right now. I don’t want my brother getting caught up in any more of your bullshit.”
“Language, Ms. Ash,” comes a new voice from behind us, sending a fresh pang of dread through my chest. I turn around to see Hawthorne approaching us from the other end of the hallway, his