Mischa was sprawled across my bed. “You look amazing. I’m glad I talked you out of shorts and found a dress you’d accept.”
Okay, so she had a pretty great eye for fashion. Since I’d never actually been on a date, I did appreciate her input. The casual relationships I usually pursued did not leave much need for dating or fancy clothes. Or clothes of any description really.
I flittered off the bed, the dress swishing around my thigh as I ducked over and gave her a hug.
“Thanks for lending me the clothes.” I’d have been hard pressed to find a dress of any description in my closet. I’d never felt limited having mainly male friends but, well … I was starting to see that girls had a pretty important place too, and my sister kind of rocked.
The dress was a dark blue and I was surprised by the difference it brought to the color of my eyes and the highlights in my very dark hair. It had thin straps and was fitted across the breasts before falling in silky lengths to mid-thigh. I teamed it with my black converses because I’d probably kill myself in heels. Mischa had approved, saying it was modern tomboy girlie. Whatever that meant. She’d tackled me into the chair and had applied the lightest layer of makeup and lined my eyes with kohl and lengthened my lashes with mascara. Standing before the full length mirror in the upstairs bathroom, I was surprised by how I looked. Like myself, only … sort of more.
Moving back into my room I shoved Mischa across the bed to sit next to her. We sat in silence for a few minutes. It was nice, though, we’d almost reached the point where we didn’t have to fill our moments with chatter.
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.