Chapter 30

Anila POV

Great. My first impression and I was already screwing up. When I looked up at Xaden, his eyes were glowing yellow. But when he blinked, they were back to normal. I knew his wolf was agitated from the interruption, but I needed Xaden to leave so I could go to my class and try to recover the little bit of reputation I was trying to obtain.

He ran his fingers through his black hair and gave Professor Santina a sheepish grin.

“Sorry, Professor. It was my fault,” he said, clearing his throat. “I’ll leave her to your care.”

Professor Santina said nothing; she just watched him as he disappeared down the hall. Then her icy blue eyes turned in my direction and her lips pressed in an even thinner line if that was even possible.

“How about you come into the classroom now,” she said, shaking her head at me. “You must be Anila Montgomery.”

“Yes, mam,” I said as I walked past her and into the room.

Most students were already in the class when I entered; all their attention was on me, and I felt myself getting hot with each passing stare. I swallowed the lump in my throat and scanned the room.

My eyes fell on Penny who gave me a bright smile and motioned for me to sit beside her. I was relieved to see her and rushed to join her.

“I was starting to worry you got lost,” Penny whispered a knowing smile on her lips.

My cheeks flushed.

“Xaden took me to breakfast,” I said, shrugging. “We went to the breakfast nook.”

Her eyes lit up.

“They have really good food there,” she told me.

I nodded in agreement.

“I’ll definitely be going there again,” I told her.

“Good evening class. I am Professor Santina. Welcome to the History of Shifters,” the professor began as she wrote her name and class on the whiteboard.

I opened my backpack, and I was pleased to see that Xaden stocked it with pens and pencils along with a couple of empty notebooks and an agenda. I smiled at the thoughtfulness as I pulled out a pen and a notebook.

I copied what Professor Santina had written down.

“By class time tomorrow, I expect you all to have the appropriate textbooks for a successful semester. You can find them at the school store in the same building as the dining hall. Use your school cards to purchase supplies.”

She proceeded to write down the name of the textbook on the white board and I copied it into my notebook.

“As you know there are many different shifters at this school and this course recognizes all of them. I’ll try my best to get into the history of most of them so you can have a broader understanding of your peers. The most powerful shifters are werewolves and bears. Do we have any werewolves or bears in this class?”

A handful of students raised their hands; I wasn’t sure if I should raise my hand or not, so I remained still.

“Very good,” she continued. “I’m going to go down the line, starting with the front row, and I want everyone to tell me what kind of shifter you are.”

My heart practically stopped beating when she said those words. I was dreading the moment she got to me because I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. I bit my lower lip as each student announced what kind of shifter they were.

I was amazed by the different varieties. There were leopards, lions, tigers, hawks, cats, and then of course wolves and bears. When she reached Penny, she proudly stated that she was an owl. She was the only owl in the class, so she received a few gasps of admiration and she beamed happily.

Then Professor Santina’s eyes flashed to me and I felt the color draining from my features.

“I… uh….” I stammered.

Professor Santina narrowed her eyes.

“Don’t be shy,” she said, cocking her head to the side. “Just tell us what kind of shifter you are.”

“I’m not really sure,” I blurted, causing some to gasp and look at me almost horrified.

“Pardon?” Miss Santina said, raising her brows. “How are you not sure?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat.

“I was born in the human world,” I admitted. “My mother was a witch, and I don’t really know much about my father. He died when I was young and I was raised by my stepmother,” I rambled.

When I get nervous, I talk… a lot.

“Principal Rapport should have already found out what you are before assigning you to classes,” Professor Santina explained.

I felt everybody’s eyes on me, and I wasn’t liking the feeling very much. I lowered my gaze, feeling incredibly judged. My chest was heavy, and I had a bit of trouble breathing from all the attention I was receiving.

“It was somehow blocked,” I murmured. “We aren’t sure why.”

More gasps erupted around the classroom. I knew I was only digging myself a grave. I heard some students saying, “That’s impossible.”

And others saying, “Could she be a dragon master?”

My heart weighed heavily in my chest and my palms only grew sweatier by the second.

“Calm down everybody. Principal Rapport wouldn’t be rash like that,” Professor Santina assured everyone. “I’m sure there’s some logical explanation. We will drop the subject for right now and revisit it at a later time. Tell me, Anila, when is your first shift?”

“In a few weeks,” I answered.

Professor Santina nodded, almost thoughtfully.

“Then, I guess we will see for sure what kind of shifter you are in a few weeks,” she said before turning away and back to her whiteboard.

Professor Santina spent the next 30 minutes beginning our lessons back to the very first shifter and why the goddess created us. We were meant to repopulate all the animals of the earth, but the goddess made a mistake and gave the animals human spirits instead of animal spirits. To fix her mistake, she allowed the animals the free will to keep those human spirits.

Because of this, they were able to shift back and forth between the two, but the humans became more dominant than the animals and began to walk the earth in their human forms, keeping these animals locked away inside of them, and not allowing them to shift.

Over time, they learned to co-exist with one another.

It was a fascinating story, but it left me with so many other questions.

By the time class was over, I had already filled out a couple of pages of notes and I was ready to tackle the next class.

Introduction to Magic with Professor Ivy.

This was an interesting class, and I came to find that it was mostly a class of witches and wizards with only a few shifters.

Professor Ivy was a beautiful and vibrant professor with a smile that practically lit up the room. Like Professor Santina, she wrote her name, class, and textbooks on the whiteboard and I wrote them down, making a note to go to the school store to get these books.

She explained some of the basic spellings that we should already know how to do. Such as levitating, and freezeframe. Two spells I was working on with Xaden and pleased that I was. There were a couple of other spells I hadn’t even heard of such as a classic white light protection spell and a purification spell.

Apparently, those who grew up with magic, learn how to do these spells as children. I felt stupid only knowing how to do one of those spells and I hoped Xaden would teach me the rest.

Becca was in my Werewolf Biology class with Professor Tilly and by the time it was lunchtime, I met up with Xaden who walked with me to the dining hall.

While eating I asked him about some of the other basic spells and he told me that we could work on them together. I smiled, pleased with that response.

We ate and talked for a little bit and then it was time for my next class of the day. Mythical Geography with Professor Kai.

“I’ll come get you after class and we can go back to the woods for some more training,” he said, with a glint of a smile on his lips.

My cheeks flushed when I remembered our training last night and he gave me a knowing smile as he bent down and brushed his lips against mine.

“Trust me, there will be plenty of that later,” he teased. “But we really do need to train. We don’t have long before your first shift.”

I nodded in agreement and then gave him a wicked smile as I stood on my toes and pressed my lips to his.

“Till later,” I said softly.

His eyes darkened and then they started to shine yellow; I knew his wolf was back on the surface. I ran my fingers playfully through his hair and kissed him one last time before turning toward the classroom.

Xaden waved as he went down the hall and toward his next class. I sighed, still smiling as I neared the classroom. It was crazy because despite Xaden being further away, I still felt the same effect of him as if he was standing only inches from me.

I felt the same familiar tightness in my chest and the hairs on my neck stood as a warmth spread across my features.

I shook the feeling off and stepped into the classroom. But I didn’t get far before I froze because standing at the front of the classroom, with the professor I assume, was none other than Harley.