Finally I straightened. “I should go downstairs, Louis will be here soon.” I ran my hands over my silky hair. “I have no idea why, but I’m a little bit nervous.” I never had nerves about crap like this.
“You’ll be fine,” Mischa said, patting me on the shoulder as we descended the stairs. Okay, the girl wasn’t the best with reassurances. Another thing we had in common.
Downstairs was empty. Jonathon and Lienda had gone for a run in the forest. My father hadn’t said anything about my date, except advising me to proceed with caution. Like I needed the warning. I knew Louis was mega powerful. Anyone with that much oomph was to be treated with wariness. We all knew that power can corrupt.
“What did Jonathon do about Melly?” Mischa asked as we made our way into the living room. I wanted to sprawl out like I usually did, but stupid dresses are not designed for true sprawling.
“He wanted to trial him and have a prison term allotted. We might be a little wild here in Stratford, but unprovoked attacks are not allowed. Especially when it could have killed me.” I shrugged. “But in the end it was an A and D class and Melly would simply argue he was attacking within his rights. I told Dad to forget about it.”
Which had not gone down well, hence his need to run off some anger.
“I’m quitting that class,” Mischa muttered, her eyebrows drawing together as she picked at her right thumbnail. “I’m not cut out for fighting.”
I inhaled deeply, sucking in a lungful of air. “I suggest you think seriously about that decision. You might not feel like it, but you’re part of the supernatural world now and you’ll want to be able to defend yourself. Like shifting, sometimes the only way to learn is the hard way.” I had no doubt that she was fighting an uphill battle – it would be difficult starting as an adult when we’d been training since kids. But giving up wasn’t a great personality trait, I wouldn’t encourage that.
“Yeah, we know how awesome I’ve been at shifting.” She moved on to the other thumbnail.
“You’ll get it soon, and when it clicks your wolf side will just fall into place.” I was no longer considering that she might be a dragon shifter. It was definitely wolf.
She rested her chin on her shoulder as she stared at me. “Max helped me see some of what I was doing wrong. Because I’m afraid of the unknown and the pain, I’m internally fighting back. It’s all in my head; the fears are preventing my shift.”
I focused on her. “What’s going on with you and Max? You’re spending a lot of time with the vampire.” My vampire, I silently added. Man, I was possessive. I should work on that, right after I dealt with ‘selfish,’ ‘paranoid,’ and ‘bitchy’.
Mischa didn’t answer straight away, and I wondered if she was trying to hold out long enough for my date to arrive. But then as she raised her face and met my pointed stare, her confusion was oh so apparent.
“I felt something for him the moment I first saw him.” Her smile was wobbly. “And he’s just … perfect – gorgeous, charming, and so sweet.”
Well shit, was she talking about my Maximus? He was a man-whore of the worst kind.
“Can a shifter and vampire be true mates?” she asked me.
I scratched the side of my ear in a kind of nervous twitch. I had to remind myself not to continue the twitching. I never wore makeup, and no doubt before this date was over I’d forget about the eye stuff and smudge it all over my face.
She was still staring at me. I took a deep breath. Why was I always the one to deliver bad news?
“No, your true mate will be within the same race.” I hurried on as her face fell. “But that’s rare – you can have a mated relationship without being true mates. You can choose who to love.” While I adored the thought that somewhere out there fates had chosen the perfect match for me, I also liked thinking I could choose my other half, that my heart could decide.
“I never said anything about love.” The slightest pink tinged her cheeks. Her hands trembled a little as she shoved her hair behind her ears. “I barely know him.”
“You wouldn’t have asked about mates if it wasn’t a little more than I barely know him,” I mimicked her. I wondered then if maybe Mischa was the reason Maximus had had no alibi at the trial.
She gritted her teeth and was just opening her mouth to speak – or yell at me – when there was a knock on the door. I stood in one fluid movement, my questions forgotten as I ran my damp palms along the swishy skirt of my dress. I resisted the urge to check my appearance one more time. Nothing would have changed, I was simply searching for a distraction or something to alleviate my nerves.