Big Bad Academy

On Tuesday morning, there’s a knock on the door. Heather looks at me, surprised.

“Who is it?” She calls out.

I just shake my head, laughing.

“Come on in, Lily.”

I can smell Gaston’s wife easily. We grew up together, after all. It’s not like her scent is surprising to me in any way, but sometimes it’s pretty obvious that I’m still not used to being around humans.

Lily pushes open the door and doesn’t even look at me. As soon as her eyes are on Heather, they light up.

“So it is true!” She says, and she runs to Heather and wraps her arms around her. “I’m so happy you’re her! Well, aside from the assholes of the pack kidnapping you,” she shakes her head.

“Hey! I’m right here!”

“You know what you did,” she snaps at me.

“It’s okay,” Heather says gently.

“No, it’s not,” Lily says. “But I did get to play with your cats and hold them on the first day you arrived. You know, before Flynn brought them over here.”

“What’s your name?” Heather asks.

“I’m Lily. I’m Gaston’s wife. We live across the hall.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Heather.”

“Oh, I know exactly who you are, Heather Smith,” Lily grins.

“You do?”

“Yep. Big fan. In fact, I’ve got first editions of all of your books and I even have a signed copy of The Bad Boy Wizard’s Secret Baby.”

“Oh! You won my online giveaway!”

“That was me!” Lily squeals and jumps up and down. “Oh, I can’t believe you’re here!” She says. “I have so many questions for you.”

“Those will have to wait for another time,” I tell Lily. “Right now, Heather has to get to her first class.”

“Class?”

Suddenly, Lily seems to notice that Heather is dressed entirely in uniform. She’s got on the blouse and the skirt and the matching shoes. We haven’t fooled around at all since that first day – we’ve both been keeping a polite distance – but if she were interested in me, oh, I’d be tearing that uniform off in a heartbeat.

“No!” Lily says. Then she turns to me. “You can’t be serious.”

“What?”

“Wolf school? For a human?”

I shrug. It’s not really Lily’s decision to make, is it? There’s a lot about what’s happening here that she doesn’t know or understand, and I don’t remember needing her permission to get Heather into some classes.

“It’ll be good for her.”

“How could it possibly be good for her? You’re basically sending her to high school with a bunch of shifter kids, and she’s not a shifter. Not at all.”

“She needs an education,” I snap. “She doesn’t know anything about our ways.”

“So? It’s not like she’s going to stay.”