Clayton smirked wickedly. “If you need any help, send word. Now, why don’t you join us with your friends, Mari?”
The pack members added three seats for us. I squeezed between Circe and Jasper. Yelena and Nat settled between Jasper and Clayton.
Nat constantly shot glances at Jasper.
Clayton introduced the names around the table. His beta, a girl named Rebekah, nodded at us. “You could pick any seat in the west wing with the influential descendants. But the first chance you got, you came straight to your old pack.”
“Marigold is loyal to a fault,” Yelena said, her hands under the table. Manners were important to her.
Rebekah turned to a few pack members. “Go get Mari and her friends some food and drinks.”
Two guys peeled away from the table.
“Don’t forget salad, please,” Nat shouted.
“What if we hadn’t allowed you to sit with Jasper?” Clayton asked. “What would you do, Mari? I’m curious since you’re said to be the craziest girl on campus.”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “You’re too polite, Clayton. They didn’t say girl. They called me the craziestbitch. Not to my face, though.” I sighed. “To answer your question, if you stop me from having a meal with my old pack”—I gave his plate a purposeful glance—“I might have to let your steak eat you instead of letting you eat your steak.”
He chuckled and winked at me. “My pack and you will get along.”
“So, you’re the ringleader of a shifter pack?” I smirked at him. “Is the Other Academy even allowing you to take such bold leadership? I mean, there’re twelve hundred codes of conduct at Half-Death Academy. What about your school? If you don’t have that many codes, I might try harder to get transferred into your Academy.”
Clayton arched an eyebrow. “You call your school Half-Death Academy?”
“On my first day to the face of the Demigod of War,” I said. “The Dominion lieutenant said I should be hanged for saying that. He didn’t carry it through, though. What can I say? I’m a charmer. I told them I was a witch, but they didn’t take me seriously and refused to let me join you guys.”
I winked at the supernaturals around the table, and they all laughed.
Circe looked at me with a tinge of envy. I suddenly felt at fault, as if I’d put her back in my shadow again, though that had never been my intention.
I might have been overprotective, but I’d always wanted her to be her brilliant self.
A slew of gazes shot to our table from the descendants across the hall. I bet at this moment, Demetra was even busier generating and spreading new rumors about me.
“In our old town,” said my witch friend, “Marigold asked the alpha of the werewolf pack if he smoked and commented on his yellowish fingertips. When he blinked in confusion, she shot him between the eyes.”
Clayton looked alarmed, as did every shifter around the table.
Damn, I did sound like a crazy bitch who was a loose cannon.
“That’s how Mari stopped that alpha from selling us to the sex slave market,” Jasper said. “Marigold also freed Circe and me from a notorious crime lord’s cage years ago with the same technique.”
“I’m glad they’re both dead,” Clayton snarled.
The two shifters who had peeled away from the table had returned and brought us food and drinks. I got coffee, Yelena took iced tea, and Nat thanked them for his watermelon juice and salad.
Everyone started digging into their plates, more interested in their food than conversation now. I picked at my lemon chicken as I asked Jasper and Circe how they liked their new life in the Other Academy.
I had missed them.
They looked different than I remembered back in Crack, and it wasn’t just the uniforms. They appeared more refined.
I’d changed, too.
A feeling of loss sliced over me. We were no longer a pack/coven like we used to be—just the three of us rogues in Crack, depending on each other for survival.
“They have coffee and donuts every morning,” Circe said with a laugh. “It’s like all you can eat and drink, and we don’t even need to pay for the food and accommodations. I get to learn magic every day. My power has grown so fast you won’t even believe it, Mari. I’ll show you one day what I can do. I can protect you now if and when danger ever comes your way.”