“I’d never—”
He held up a hand. “Don’t make promises that you might not be able to keep. It’s going to be a hard transition—”
“It is hard. Nothing ‘going to be’ about it.”
His mouth curved into a smile. “It is hard. I know you don’t want to hear it, but this will—”
“Take time,” I finished for him. I was exhausted from how many times I’d heard that lately. “I could just take my car and hit the road.”
He lifted an eyebrow.
Right. Probably a bad idea. Especially now that I’d brought it up. “How long till I can do normal stuff?”
“That’s entirely up to you. It could be tomorrow. It could be a year from now. I’d love to give you a firm date, but I can’t.”
Fan-freaking-tastic. “Is there anything I can do to change your mind? I’m only asking for a couple of hours off campus. And I’d be with Adrian and Chris. They wouldn’t let—”
“No.”
“This is totally unfair.” I rolled my eyes at my own cliché. I should be ashamed of myself. I sounded like a petulant teen.
His smile deepened, showing his teeth. “Every werewolf has gone through the same restrictions. That’s why they come to this school.”
That made me feel mildly better. “How long does it usually take? Give me a ballpark here.”
He shrugged. “You’re at one with your wolf when you’re at one with your wolf.”
Great. That wasn’t vague at all. “A girl could get mighty bored on campus 24-7. I can’t be held responsible for what I might do.”
He chuckled. “There’s plenty of studying for you to catch up on.”
I gave him an even stare. I finally had friends to go out and do stuff with, and I wasn’t about to waste my time twiddling my thumbs around campus.
“Here’s the deal. You do some learning and try to adjust to the wolf today, and if you’ve improved at all, we’ll see what we can do about tomorrow.”
“A surprise?”
He nodded.
“An off-campus surprise?”
“Not sure. We’ll have to see.” Mr. Dawson went to the small wooden bookcase and pulled a thin hardback from the middle shelf. “Read this. I’ll be back in a bit and we’ll talk about whatever you have questions about. Okay?”
I glanced down at the cover. A Werewolf’s Bible stared back at me. “I’ve got one of these.”
“Oh, so you’ve read it?” He said it in a higher pitch than his normal voice. The guy knew perfectly well I hadn’t read it.
“No, but—”
“Read.” He strode to the door. “I’ll be back in an hour.”
I was stubborn only for a little bit. I sipped my tea slowly. Mr. Dawson was insane for drinking hot tea when it was a million degrees outside.
I braced myself for the visions that would come. When the first wave of them was over, I began to read. I hadn’t finished the first chapter before the door slammed open.
“What are you doing here?” Dastien stomped over to me, his eyes a bright shade of amber. He was pissed and looking like a crazy-man.
“Reading.” What was his problem? I lifted my mug and took a sip while he stared.