I made a face. “Yeah, I got that part. Buthow? I thought this place was warded or spelled or whatever? So grumpy shifters can’t just wolf out in the middle of class when a vamp looks at them sideways, and to prevent a pissy witch from setting fire to her cheating ex’s dorm room.”
“First, that’s oddly specific, and there are non-magical ways of starting a fire if said witch was so inclined. Second, I’ve already said this, but you clearly weren’t listening. Only the classrooms are warded. And third, you’re not giving me enough credit. I’m a Belladonna, remember?”
My cheeks burned at being chastised by her.
Moira rolled her eyes. “You’re focusing on the wrong things here, Sunday. As your roommate, you get to benefit from my awesomeness. You should be taking advantage of it, not asking stupid questions. Come on, get your ass up.”
“Moira,” I whined half-heartedly. I’d already learned it was impossible to sway her from her path once she’d decided something. “I’m not in the mood for big crowds and loud music. I have a headache.”
“Which is what the alcohol is for. Trust me. You need this. Hell,Ineed this just being around you. Now get up and start stripping. Here,” she reached into her closet and threw something at me. “Put this on.”
I held up the scrap of fabric I assumed was supposed to be a dress between my thumb and forefinger. “Uh, Moira. My ass will never fit in this.”
She was petite and willowy with the body of a ballet dancer. I was... not. Which I was more than okay with, actually. I loved my curves, but how she thought we’d be able to share clothes was beyond me.
“Would you stop your bitching and just put it on? I know what I’m doing.”
I gave her another dubious glance but stood with a groan.
“That’s my girl!”
While she started rooting around for whatever she was going to wear, I pulled my T-shirt off and shimmied out of my jeans. I’d just started pulling the red dress over my head when I heard Moira’s gasp.
“Shit, Sunday. What the hell did you do to your knees?”
Hands still awkwardly lifted above my head, I peered down, likely looking like some kind of demented scarecrow as I checked to see what she was referring to. The purple and black bruises on my knees made me wince. It looked even worse than it felt, which was saying a lot.
“I must have fallen when I was sleepwalking.”
I’m not sure why I lied. I just didn’t want to get into my kneeling sessions with Caleb. They felt private somehow. Like what happened in that room when he helped me access my wolf was just between us. Which was stupid. He was my teacher, and I was sure he’d had similar sessions with other students, but there it was.
“I thought shifters were supposed to have super healing?”
I tugged the dress down, grunting a little as I pulled it over my hips. “You have to be able to shift to be a shifter, remember?”
“Oh. Right. I didn’t realize you didn’t have access to any of the good stuff without your wolf.”
“The wolf is the good stuff.”
She shrugged. “Eh. I’d take the healing and enhanced senses over the furry smelly dog any day.”
I should have been insulted, and coming from anyone else, I probably would have been. Calling a shifter a dog never ended well, but from Moira, it wasn’t insulting, just... Moira. Even so, I probably shouldn’t have confirmed my complete lack of supernatural ability. She’d already known about the wolf, but no one outside of my pack knew about the other stuff. I hadn’t intended for her to find out, but when she’d seen the truth with her own eyes, I couldn’t exactly hide it.
“Hey Moira, can we just keep that between us? I don’t really need—”
“Say no more. My lips are sealed.”
I gave her a relieved grin, going to stand in front of the full-length mirror once I smoothed the material of my dress down my thighs. Moira came to join me, her wavy violet hair spilling over her shoulder as she studied me.
“Totally fuckable,” she announced. “But you’re going to need to add some tights if you want to hide those bruises.” She moved behind me, lifting the chocolaty length of my hair up, holding it in her fist in a makeshift ponytail. “Oh yeah, definitely up. If the men aren’t imagining the things they want to do to your neck, they’ll be thinking about how good it’ll feel to tug on this while they’re fucking you from behind.”
“Moira!”
“What?” She blinked innocently at me. “I should know. It’s what I’d be thinking about.”
“Is it even possible for you to fuck me from behind?”
She gave me a sad, pitying look. “You poor, vanilla virgin.” Moira didn’t give me a chance to respond to that before pushing me toward her desk chair. “All right, now let’s do something about your makeup.”