To Love a Shifter: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (107 page)

“Right.  Dare I ask where?”

“It wouldn’t matter even if you knew,” I told him, my grin widening at the dryness of Lucian’s tone.  Lucian was concerned about us, but he fought hard not to show it.  He, no doubt, understood that all he could do later on was to clean up whatever mess Dyvian and I would get into, like all good older brothers do.

“And boyfriends
,
”
a naughty voice whispered inside my head.  It still sounded horribly like Lucian, and I couldn’t help blushing.

Dyvian noticed it.  “Hey.  You suffering from a heat stroke or something?”  He had reason to be concerned.  Even though I was Evren now, my body was still adjusting to the changes and as such, one Evren trait which I didn’t possess was their indifference to heat.  Think of it this way.  Evren can go to a beach and sunbathe forever, getting a perfect tan without being troubled by thirst, sunburn, or lagging strength.

But I wasn’t there yet.

“I’m okay.”  Honestly, could that scary inner voice just be a part of my body’s adjustment to being Evren?  “Just excited to go to town,” I lied and wolfed down another healthy bite of my omelet.

“Why are you eating so much?”  Lucian’s words were spoken without inflection, but his eyes did widen a bit as he took in my eating binge.

“Because Dyvian says I need protein to stay invisible longer.  Like, solar energy gives us strength, but it’s protein that gives us stamina.”  I had a horrible thought all of a sudden.  “Don’t tell me he tricked me into gaining a few pounds.”  I shot him a nasty look, not putting such a trick past him.  “Dyvian—”  I pointed my bread knife at him and waved it threateningly.

Dyvian quickly lifted his hands up.  “It’s the truth.  Tell her, Lucian.”

“It is.  You’re going somewhere you need to be invisible?”

I tactfully ignored the question, and after taking a gulp of water, I turned back to Dyvian with a frown.  “Why does it have to be protein anyway?”

“Building blocks of life ring a bell?”

“Building blocks like concrete and cement?”

Dyvian gave me a pained look.  “Seriously, Deli, you know I love you like you’re my long-lost twin sister, but is it really all air up there?”

“Seriously, Dyvian, I love you like the annoying twin brother I’ve never had, but can you just answer my question and accept that my area of expertise has never been science?”

Dyvian chuckled.  “At least you don’t make dumb comebacks.”

“Enough fighting, children.”  Lucian intruded with his usual dryness just when I was about to give Dyvian another one of those not-dumb comebacks he was so dazzled with.  “I won’t ask you two where you’re going and why you need to be invisible but just promise me you’ll take care.  Understood?”

Dyvian and I became the recipients of Lucian’s sharp looks—the message of which totally passed us by.  I gave him a cheery salute.  “Yes, sir!”

Lucian let out a chagrined grunt.  “A simple yes would suffice, Deli.”

I was finally done with breakfast, and I pushed it away with a little sigh of victory.  Eating was hard work.  I turned to Lucian and caught him staring at me.  He looked away immediately, of course, but it was too late.

“I’m going out to check on my rocks.  You follow when you’re ready, Deli.”  Dyvian got up from his chair, utterly oblivious to Lucian’s sudden uneasiness, and left the dining room.

“You can go now,” Lucian reminded me without meeting my eyes.  He was finding the ceiling a suddenly fascinating sight.

Oh, my God. 
Could it be possible?  Could someone like Lucian have a crush on me the way I was so crushing on him?

I thought about it.

Well, it wouldn’t hurt to dream, would it?

“Lucian.”

It took him a long time to look at me.  The mask of impassiveness had settled back on his face.  “Yes?”

I smiled at him and teased, “I’m going to miss you.”

His eyebrow lifted just the tiniest bit.

I wasn’t done.  I tiptoed to his side and surprised him with a kiss on his cheek, Lucian’s whole body freezing as my lips touched his skin.  “I’m sure you’ll miss me, too,” I told him with a mischievous smile before straightening and skipping out of the room with the silliest smile on my face.

Could he have a crush on me? 
The idea teased my mind the whole time Dyvian and I flew into town, invisible to human eye.  We were moving at remarkable speed, but I was certain he could have gone so much faster if I hadn’t been with him.  Beside me, he whispered, “What are you thinking?”

“Nothing.”  Talking while flying at the same time wasn’t something I was used to, and I felt myself dropping in unimaginable speed.  Horrified, I materialized into view, hissing, “
Dyvian
.”

Dyvian caught me before I could scream some more.  “Concentrate on keeping yourself light,” he commanded and I gave a general smile in his direction since he was still invisible.

His grip on my wrist tightened.  “Go back to being invisible.  But we’ll fly together for now, just to be safe.”

“Good idea.”

After a while, he squeezed my wrist.  “Tell me what you were thinking about, really.  I can feel you hiding something.”

I stayed silent, smart enough not to fall for that conversational trap.  I studied the huge three-story granite building ahead of us.  For a small town like Sanger, its school certainly looked fancy with its huge expanses of tinted ceiling-to-floor windows and a rooftop glasshouse.  “That’s it, right?  The building to our right?”

“Yup.”  Dyvian and I slowly glided down, making sure our feet didn’t cause any ripples as we touched ground.

I dragged him with me toward the glass doors.  “Come on,” I urged excitedly, “I want to see how things are inside.”  We waited for a tall, sandy-haired guy to open the door and slipped inside with him.

Two-tiered lockers lined the empty entrance hall between doors with nameplates identifying them as several offices of the school’s administration.

I walked back and climbed the stairs on the left side of the hallway.  Beside me, Dyvian observed our surroundings in silence.  That got me curious.  “Where did you go to school?”

Dyvian hesitated then said, “Eton.”

I gasped.  “Are you serious?  That’s Prince William’s school, right?”

Dyvian shrugged.  “It seemed to be the only option back in those days.”

I considered his words with a frown.  “The only option?  What do you—”

“Check out the classrooms, Deli,” he interrupted heartily as he opened the door to one of the second-floor classrooms with flourish.

There were about thirty seats in the room.  On the back wall, there was a huge corkboard with various photos, artwork, and news clippings posted.  I took a step closer, my gaze ensnared by a clipping that featured the Sanger Dragons as last year’s first runner-up in the basketball division.  Dragons, huh?  I smiled a little, appreciating the irony.

I moved to the first chair in the leftmost row, the one nearest the windows.  I peered out and the sight of the school’s football field greeted me like a long-lost friend.  There were about a dozen guys in uniform practicing right next to a group of cheerleaders doing pyramids.  Gazing at them made me remember my old life.

I used to be a cheerleader in the private school I had attended back at home.  I had even been offered the position of cheer captain, but I had declined, knowing that I didn’t really have the streak of ruthlessness required for the job.  I remembered my friends, the fun times we had.  I remembered my sister, I remembered the way my parents used to watch me perform, and a wave of miserable homesickness engulfed me.  I turned away abruptly, as if with it, I could also turn my back on the memories.

I glanced at Dyvian and said with determined enthusiasm, “Tell me more about the time you spent in school.  Did you and Lucian go to school together?”

“Lucian never went to school.”

I almost collapsed in shock.  “B-but he’s so
nerdy
.”  How could someone as smart as Lucian never go to school?  I mean, even if he had a super high IQ, nerdy guys—including those who were as gorgeous as Lucian—tended to be stupid enough to still want to go to school.

Dyvian grinned.  “He just didn’t want to.”

“Well, tell me about your time in school then.  Were you the guy every girl wanted to date?”  It wasn’t hard imagining Dyvian in that role.  “And did you break everyone’s hearts?”

“Eton’s an exclusive school for guys.”

“But you at least got to talk to Prince Wills once, right?”  Boys could be so dense.  They went to the same school with royalty.  The least they could do was take advantage of it by rubbing elbows!

“Eton has thousands of students enrolled but, yeah, I think I managed to walk past him in the library,” Dyvian deadpanned.

“Funny.”  I planted my hands on my hips and gave him a suspicious look.  “Why are you so secretive about your school life, Dyv?  I’ve been asking you over and over—”

“I’m not,” Dyvian protested.  “I just don’t have anything interesting to share, okay?”  He changed the subject, saying, “Seen enough?”

I made a face at his evasiveness but nodded.  “I think so.  I can always explore more once classes start.”

We left the school, and in a few minutes, we were airborne again.  “Are you sure Lucian will be able to get me enrolled in time?  I mean, classes are going to start next week and—”

“Relax.  If Lucian says it’s okay, then it is.”

“But what about the legal stuff?  Like, who’s going to serve as my guardian and why is it I’m living—”

“Didn’t Lucian tell you?”

“No, he didn’t.  Whatever he didn’t tell me, I mean.”

“Lucian’s applied as your guardian.”  Dyvian seemed to hesitate before saying, “I mean, he’s of age already, you know?”

“I guess.”  But I didn’t really like the idea of Lucian being my guardian.  It made him seem like my older brother when I wanted him to be, well—I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me.  “And the reason that I’m living with two single guys?”  My eyes narrowed.  “Wait a minute—you are single, right?”

“I am.”

“And Lucian?”

Dyvian smirked.  “Who cares if he is or he isn’t?”

Drat.  I walked straight into that one.  I lifted my chin.  “Just curious.”  Oh, God, what if he, like, married really young?

“Chill, Deli.  He’s absolutely single, and you can go after him without a guilty conscience.”