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“Where is Shadow anyway?” I asked.
“She’s sulking because I wouldn’t take her to Dragon Riding 101. I just didn’t think it was a good idea. At least not until I knew what to expect. I mean, can you imagine? She might have actually tried to attack the dragons or something!”
“Oh, you think?” I asked sarcastically.
Jasmine snickered.
Kasi looked chagrined.”Sorry, Mikaela, it didn’t even occur to me that your leopard might react similarly. To be honest, even if it had, I probably would have assumed you’d be able to control her better than I can Shadow. I mean, since your Miki isn’t a separate being like Shadow is.”
“Yeah, but considering what Sunny and Daya had to say about cat shifters in general, controlling my leopard may be a pipe dream.”
“True,” Kasi said. “Especially now that I know she’s part shadow-kitten. The plus side, though, is that you’ll be able to have conversations with her and eventually reason with her. So you may not be able to control Miki, but at least you’ll have a chance toconvince her to go along with your wishes.
“Honestly, Shadow is the best thing that ever happened to me besides Jahrdran here. I bet your Miki ends up being the same for you. It’ll just be a bit of an adjustment as you come to terms with not being fully in control all the time.”
Yeah. Great. Just what I needed. One more aspect of my life I couldn’t control.
CHAPTER 6
My second classof the year was after lunch.
I’d been looking forward to having Monday afternoons free for napping after having to get up so early for Dragon Riding, so was quite resentful as I walked toward my Inner Beast Management class.
I still blamed Taggart, which perhaps wasn’t fair since theevents during Dragon Riding that morning had nothing to do with him and would probably have still brought me to the attention of administration.
In other words, it was probably inevitable that I would be forced to take this class, but I still resented it and was going to always blame Taggart, regardless of whether it was fair or not.
The only saving grace was my budding hope that I might learn something to help me calm and soothe my leopard when she was agitated and ready to start mauling people.
It was a slim hope, but it was all I had, so I was clinging to it with all my strength.
When I saw the Inner Beast Management professor, that hope cracked a little.
I hate to be shallow and to base people on their appearances, but frankly, I’d expected something, someonedifferent. Rumor had it the Inner Beast professor had a truly terrifying beast of her own, which was what qualified her to teach this class.
Except I now doubted there was any truth at all to that rumor.
Frankly, the professor was tiny. Andold.
Although I suppose the young who have inner beasts eventually grow into the old with inner beasts.
But again, she wastiny.I swear when she stood, she was no taller than when she’d been seated. If she was an inch over four feet, I’d be shocked.
Her hair was so white, I wasn’t sure it had ever had any colorto it at all. It was in a long braid down her back and her face was covered in fine lines that indicated an unimaginable age.
Though she seemed ancient to me, her eyes were piercing and full of life.
Perhaps she would surprise me.
I settled into a seat toward the back of the room and nodded to shifters and other supernaturals I recognized as they wandered in.
I almost lost it, though, when Taggart sauntered in, saw me and grinned. He headed toward me and I could see by the look on his face that he was planning to sit beside me and make it his mission in life, or at least in this class, to piss me off.
This was how I ended up dragging an unsuspecting student whom I’d never met into the seat beside me. “Just stayhere until that idiot Taggart finds a different spot to settle, then you can go wherever you want,” I promised the startled-looking woman sitting next to me.
She just grinned. “You’re Mikaela, aren’t you?”
I looked at her closer, but didn’t recognize her at all. “Have we met?”
