Page 51 of Darkness Defined

“Matt.”

“Nice to meet you,” Sam said. “We’re actually headed that way tonight if you’d like to join us.” A mischievous smile curled his lips. “The staff is hella cute, too.”

Lucas elbowed him in the ribs.

“What?”

“Not everyone goes to bars to hit on waitresses.”

Sam scoffed. “You’re just saying that because you can’t get any of them to look at you twice. Me, on the other hand…” His features blurred a moment, then I was looking at someone straight out of a movie poster.

“Holy shit. How’d you do that?”

Sam’s face did the blurry thing again, then he was back to himself. He rubbed his knuckles on his shirt. “Magic’s the game, illusion the name.”

Lucas scowled at him. “You’re so full of yourself.” He rolled his eyes and shifted his focus to me. “In short, he’s a witch. I’m a werewolf. What about you? Haven’t seen you in any of my other classes and there’s not exactly a ton of them during the summer.”

“Uh…” I floundered, still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I was talking with a legit werewolf. A million questions bubbled in my mind. Was he more like the Wolfman or did he do some weird hybrid thing like that vampire-werewolf movie I’d seen eons ago? Could he shift any time or just with the moon? What could he do? Holy fuck, werewolves were real.

“Matt?”

I blinked at Sam, who was wearing a curious expression. “Huh?”

“I asked what you are.”

“Oh. I’m…” I waffled on how much to say. Neese didn’t like people knowing what I was, but then again, it wasn’t exactly a mystery to everyone. Anyone who actually took a minute could probably put it together. In the end, I opted for total honesty. “I’m a Shadow Demon.”

“Cool.” Lucas grinned. “So, what do you say, wanna hang with us later, shoot some pool?”

Was making friends really that easy? “Yeah, I’m game. Where should I meet y’all?”

“I’m in Dire Hall,” Lucas said, like I had any idea where that was.

“I have a late class in the witch’s college,” Sam chimed.

My brow furrowed. “That’s the castle looking place, right?”

“That’s the one. How about we meet on the quad over by that cluster of benches around seven? Then we can head over together.”

“Sounds good to me,” I said, flabbergasted at how easy this was.

Lucas nodded his agreement as well right as Professor Whitlow returned. She passed out the next week’s assignment and set us loose. By the time I made it out the door, after confirming the time again with Lucas and Sam, Alex was waiting for me.

I smiled at him as I adjusted my pack and wondered if he’d ever played pool before. “What are you up to later?”

Alex fell in step with me. “I have a joint tutoring session with Rubio. Will probably go pretty late.”

My jaw clenched so fast I nearly bit my tongue. “Didn’t you see him the other day?”

Alex frowned, confusion clearly stamped on his face. “Yeah, but that was for our weekly meeting. This is for an actual session with clients.” He shook his head and let out a short laugh. “That still feels so weird to say.”

“Oh.” It was all I could manage while I grappled with what was proving to be an unreasonable amount of anger directed at Rubio.

Concern flashed in Alex’s eyes, briefly darkening their bright green. “Why?”

I reminded myself that this was why I’d struck up a conversation with Sam and Lucas. Alex had other friends. It wasn’t a betrayal of our friendship if I did, too. “Going out with some friends tonight. Thought you might like to come.”

A giant smile split Alex’s face. “That’s great, Matt! Sorry, I can’t join. Maybe next time?”