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  “What does this school specialize in?” I asked.

  Headmaster Thorn’s whole face broke into the most terrifying grin. “Magic! We are the leading private university in the dark arts.”

  I stared blankly at him, feeling like I couldn’t have heard him right. Or maybe he was making a joke.

  The headmaster took a large fountain pen off his desk and waved with it towards the door. “Be on your way, girls. I have work to do.”

  I opened my mouth to ask for clarification, but the small girl next to me grabbed onto my suitcase and tugged me out the door.

  Chapter Three

  “You can call me Angie.”

  I had frozen in place outside of the headmaster’s door. Did he say magic? No. That had to have been a joke. It seemed like an odd joke, though, and from a man that didn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor.

  “Is that your focus point?”

  I realized that my new companion was trying to have a conversation with me, so I shook my head to clear it and looked at her. Angie was a small girl, probably barely five foot, because I’m only five-foot-four, and I had to look down at her. She had orange-red hair, much brighter than my auburn locks, that was cut in a chin-length bob that framed her freckled face. As I looked her over, she gave me a sweet smile. With a bit too much of a chin, she wasn’t exactly the definition of pretty, but she seemed to radiate ease, and that gave her a bit of a glow.

  “I’m Ruby. Ruby Thrushmoor. I’m sorry, what were you asking me?”

  She pointed with a small finger towards my chest and the moonstone pendant there. “Your necklace? Is that your focus point?”

  I had no idea what she was asking, and I felt very uncomfortable about saying that. “No.” Fidgeting, I ran my fingers under the chain attached to the pendant. “No, this was just a gift from my grandmother.”

  The girl moved closer to me, leaning in to get a better look. This close, I realized that she smelled lightly of violets — similar to my grandmother as if they wore the same perfume.

  Angie gave a small grunt. “I bet it could be used as a focus point.” She stepped back, looked up at me, and smiled. “My major is transformative, but I’m also working on a minor in charmed objects.” Not sure what to say, I just nodded for her to go on. “I’m probably the only student at Ironwood looking into charmed objects. Professor Goldwin is letting me do that as a special internship.” Her grin got even bigger, letting me know that she was very proud of that fact.

  “That’s great,” I told her, not sure what I was praising. In a split second, I decided that I better start asking questions, and this girl seemed likely to help me — unlike the headmaster. “Listen, Angie. I don’t really know—”

  My confession was interrupted by the sound of a large gong. It made me jump, the reverberations of the noise hitting me in the chest and making the paintings on the walls shake.

  “What the—”

  Doors on either side of us opened. The whole mansion suddenly seemed full of noise. There were stomping feet, and the sound of idle chatter as students filled the hallway around us. Angie and I didn’t move as girls — all dressed in the short-skirted uniforms — pushed past us. As I stared into the crowd, I noticed that the boys’ uniforms were much more modest. They wore short-sleeve, white button-up shirts with dark pants and a necktie of the same tartan material as the girls’ skirts. Apparently, the school colors were black and white.

  Something red and shiny caught my gaze. I turned my head and looked into the eyes of a tall, handsome boy. His irises were red — shockingly so — and the face that held them could have belonged to a model — high, sharp cheekbones, a long, chiseled jaw with a full-lipped mouth. Entranced, I couldn’t look away. He looked me over and smiled before hurrying into a nearby door.

  “Hey, kitty paws,” a gruff voice said. “Who’s the fresh meat?”

  I turned and found myself looking into the chest of a very broad man. Looking up, I realized that this boy’s shoulders were twice as wide as my own. He had a square jaw with a bit of stubble on it and amber eyes. As I stared at him, a smirk crept over his lips.

  “Don’t call me that!” Beside me, Angie stomped her foot and balled up her fists.

  The large man just laughed, which made his sneer even deeper. About five other boys flocked around him; they laughed as well.

  “What’s the matter, kitty puff?” one of the other boys started. “Can’t handle a little teasing from the real shifters?”

  Angie stomped her foot again. She was turning red in the cheeks. “Leave off, slimo. At least I bite and not just bark.”

  The little pack of men laughed again. The leader folded his arms over his chest, giving me a good glimpse of his arm muscles — his large, sculpted arm muscles. He must have been a professional fighter or smoothing in his free time.

  Are all the boys at this crazy school hot?

  I pulled my eyes away from the piece of beefcake in front of me and glanced at the rest of his little gang. Yep! Every single one of the boys was tall and muscular with broad shoulders —although not quite as broad as their leader. Every face was flawless, and their eye colors were out of this world. One had eyes so light blue they almost looked like ice.

  “Wow,” I said out loud without meaning to.

  The big boy in front of me grinned and raised a hand to leisurely scratch his strong, stubby jawline. “Like what you see, fresh meat?” He winked at me.

  Under his scrutiny, I started to feel a little flushed. I didn’t have much experience with boys. No one at my high school had wanted to date me. Every boy there just seemed to find me too abrasive. I found myself hoping that things would be very different here.

  Before I could speak, Angie grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me back. She stepped in between me and the hunk of my current dreams, wagging a finger in his face. “Leave her alone, Cade. I know how you treat women, and I’m not letting you get your hands on Ruby here.”

  Part of me wanted to protest, but I also felt inclined to trust Angie’s judgment. If she felt the need to defend me, then I was going to appreciate that.

  Still glaring into the big man’s handsome face, Angie grabbed onto my sleeve and pulled me until I was forced to shake myself out of my desire induced haze and grab my suitcase. With one final finger wag at the boys, she led me down the hall with an exacerbated sigh.

  “Is he really that bad?” I whispered.

  She rolled her eyes — which were a normal brown. “If you knew anything about this school, you would know not to get involved with anyone on the student council…or any of their lackeys. That coven wants to be the best, and they are not above nefarious ways to get there.”

  I tried to stop in my tracks, but she just kept pulling me alone. “Angie,” I whispered because the hallway wasn’t quite clear. “I know nothing about this school!”

  She laughed, but when I didn’t join her, her face quickly turned serious. She raised her orange-red eyebrows. I nodded.

  “Fuck,” she hissed. “A newby for real.” I opened my mouth to ask her more, but she put a slim finger up to her lips and hushed me. “Not here. Let’s talk in the girls’ dorm.”

  The next part of our journey was taken at a run. I got breathless as we tore through hallways and up so many staircases that I lost count. Finally, Angie stopped at a wooden door at the end of a long hallway. She pulled a small key from a pocket in her skirt and let us in.

  “Are you serious?” she huffed as soon as she had closed the door behind us and looked around to make sure we were alone.

  I found myself looking around as well. Oddly, the girls’ dorm was round — or at least this first part was. We were in a large sitting room that had wooden tables and chairs lining the walls. In one area was a small kitchen with a full-sized stove and refrigerator. I was also pleased to see a coffeemaker.

  “Where are the beds?” I asked, ignoring Angie’s question.

  She grabbed my sleeve again and pulled me toward another hallway. This one was
lined with doors every few feet on either side.

  “You’ll have to bunk with me,” she said, stopping at the last door and letting us in. “Maria will have to move, but she won’t care. We don’t really get along anyway.” She pushed me gently towards one of the two twin beds in the room. “That will be yours. Though, I doubt you will be here for very long.”

  At that point, I felt weary. Between suddenly leaving my childhood home and finding myself very little welcome here, the weight of the world was crushing my shoulders. I set my suitcase down by the side of the bed and sunk down onto the mattress. Dropping my head down into my hands, I rubbed my temples. This all seemed so crazy.

  “It’s really magic, isn’t it?” I asked my new roommate. “That’s what you study here.”

  “Of course!” Angie snapped, but her face softened when I looked up at her. “You really didn’t know?”

  I shook my head. “Not at all. Look, Angie. Yesterday, I got a very late birthday present from my dead grandmother. In her note, she told me that she paid my tuition here. My stepfather took that as a good reason to kick me out, and now, Ironwood is the only place I have to go. I don’t have money for a hotel room. Hell, I’m not even from Love’s Hollow, and I spent all my money on a bus ticket to get here.”

  Angie nodded at my words. She crossed her lean arms over her chest and leaned onto one hip. “Okay. So, we are in a crisis. We just need a plan.”

  She suddenly seemed to be on my side again, and I found myself sighing with relief. “So, do you think you could tutor me or help me get caught up?” I asked. “Headmaster Thorn said that if I fail the exam on Halloween, I’m expelled.”

  Angie’s face went a little pale. “Are you sure he said ‘expelled’?”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Fairly sure.”

  She let out a breath in a hiss. “Okay. It could be a lot worse.” She held out a hand to me. “Come on, we need to get you fitted for your uniform.”

  I took her hand in mine and let her help me up. “What could be worse than being expelled?”

  She raised her eyebrows again. “Most non-magic users who show up to Ironwood are killed.”

  I felt like the breath was knocked out of me. “Oh.”

  Angie nodded. “Sometimes they are burned at the stake. Others have been chopped up alive and used in potions—”

  “Stop!” I raised my hand and waved it in her face. “I don’t need to know anymore.”

  Angie laughed at me. “Oh, you really do.”

  Chapter Four

  There was another hot guy staffing the storage room where I was going to be fitted for my uniform. He had blue-black hair, a sharp chin, and eyes so gray, they were the color of steel. Again, I found myself staring, basically trying to memorize every perfect line of his overly handsome face — not to mention, he obviously cut body.

  Angie elbowed me as we waited in line. “Don’t stare,” she whispered. “In fact, try to not look at Archer at all.”

  I tried to look away, but my eyes disagreed. They snapped back to his face, just as he gave a slightly embarrassed smile and shyly looked down. It was a move that made my stomach flutter. I found myself smiling at him encouragingly.

  “No!” Angie grabbed two handfuls of my long, dark auburn hair and literally pulled my head until I was gawking at the wall.

  “Ouch!” I grunted, but she wouldn’t let go. “What’s the deal? He seems nice and shy.”

  She let a hiss out between clenched teeth. “That’s what he wants you to think. Look, you have to trust me here. Don’t get caught up with the guys at Ironwood. The boys here are some of the most powerful magic users in the world. They will use you to up their powers and their status. That’s all they care about.” She tugged my hair again, guiding me until my eyes met hers. “Look, Ruby, if you are going to make it here — and not have something very bad happen to you — you need to keep your head. You got it?” I would have nodded, but she pulled on my hair, yanking on my head to do it for me. “Okay. Archer is on the student council. He is at the top of the class. His minor is in mesmerizing, and with one good look, he can get you to walk off of a cliff.”

  My stomach dropped. “Seriously?” I asked. Angie nodded nervously.

  I glanced around. No one in the small room waiting to be helped was looking at Archer. Every single student was very obviously looking in any other direction they could. The girl presently at the help desk had her eyes glued to the counter. She didn’t even look up when Archer handed her the sweater she asked for.

  Unable to resist, I snuck another look at his face. He was grinning wildly. Obviously, the power he had, just by reputation, was giving him a big head.

  When it got to our turn, I had to fight all of my instincts not to look up at him as Angie explained what we needed. Like the girl before, I keep my eyes on the counter until two folded, muscular forearms slid into my view.

  “What size are you, new girl?” he asked. The boy was so close to me; I could feel the heat of his body. My body responded to it; my pussy warming and starting to ache with longing.

  “I’m a ten.” Somehow, I kept myself from looking into his face and the eyes I was longing to see again.

  He hummed slightly, a low sound that resonated in his chest. “Yes, you are,” he cooed, making my pussy get wet.

  “Just get the uniform, Archer!” Angie snapped, having none of his charm.

  The muscular forearms moved out of my view as he raised them to ward off her anger. “Right away, kitty paws. No scratching,” he said sarcastically. A few seconds later, a few skirts and shirts were dumped in front of me. Again, it took everything within me not to look up when I thanked him. “Not a problem, new girl,” Archer hummed. “You’ll have to model them for me later.”

  His teasing left me flustered and breathless. Luckily, Angie took charge again. She grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me from the room.

  The rest of the day was a blur. We swung back by the headmaster’s office to get my class schedule. Thorn didn’t even look up when we knocked. He just told us to come in, held up a piece of paper for me, and kept on working — not that I minded. Not having his cold eyes on me was the best part of the afternoon.

  After that was a quick dinner, and then we headed back up to the dorm, so I could unpack my few possessions. I thought that sleep would come easily to me that night, but I found myself lying awake and staring at the beams in the ceiling. My world had shifted in just two days. I couldn’t decide if it was for the better or the worst.

  One thing I could certainly say about my new home — even if it was temporary — was that all the guys here seemed to be hot. Everywhere I looked, there were broad shoulders or sharp cheekbones, and every single one of them seemed to have eyes of a strange color. On one level that made me jealous. My eyes were just normal brown.

  I supposed that the girls on campus were pretty too, but mostly, other than Angie, they seemed bratty or catty. Their haughty eyes would sweep over me, and then with a little twist of their painted lips, they would categorize me as unimportant, and they would never look my way again. Angie also seemed to be a loner. I was glad that she was my roommate. She was one of the most normal people here — and that was really saying something.

  When sleep finally came to me, my dreams were vivid and, well, memorable. I was standing in the room where I received my uniform earlier in the afternoon, except this time I was wearing it. The skirt was much too short, and I could feel the cool air of the room touching the skin of my ass cheeks — somehow, I had forgotten to wear panties.

  There were eyes on me. Eyes of various unusual colors, and as I nervously tried to pull down my skirt, the shadows cleared, revealing the two handsome boys who those eyes belonged to.

  “What’s the matter, new girl?” Archer asked. He leaned over the wooden counter and brushed a hand over the pleats of my short skirt. “Do you not like your uniform?”

  As I did in real life, I found myself trying to not meet his iron-gray eyes. I hid my eyes behind my
lashes and sought to sneak peeks of what he was doing. Archer leaned back, casually flexing his arms like he knew I was watching.

  “Are all the boys at Ironwood as hot as you?” I asked out loud, then threw my hands to my mouth with a gasp.

  As my hands went up, a gust of wind blew through the room, pushing my skirt up. My thighs and pussy were exposed. I yelped and tried to pull it back down quickly. Warm fingers stopped me. They brushed up and down the curve of my hips, making me freeze in place.

  “Don’t hide that, fresh meat,” a deep voice ordered. The big, muscular boy — that Angie and I ran into in the hallway — was behind me. “Show us your goods.”

  Archer jumped over the counter. Between him and Cade, I was sandwiched. “Yes,” he said, reaching up to unbutton my blouse. “Show us everything.”

  Button after button came undone. The fabric parted, revealing my bare breasts. Archer ran his big hands over them gently, teasing my nipples to hardness with twists of his thumbs. I leaned into his touch.

  “Are you a virgin?”

  The voice pulled at me, and I quickly glanced towards the door. Red Eyes was there, leaning casually, watching the other two men run their hands over my trembling, nude body.

  “Yes,” I admitted, watching him comb a hand with long elegant fingers through his sandy-blonde hair.

  As soon as the words crossed my lips, he smiled. Stepping away from the door, Red Eyes joined our little group — brushing my hair away from my shoulder, leaning down, and giving my skin there a little kiss. Where his mouth touched felt warm and tingly.

  “I’ve never even kissed a boy,” I confessed, feeling my face flush with embarrassment.

  “That’s a real shame,” Archer replied. His hands came up, traced the line of my jaw, and pulled my face up to his. He smiled slightly before bringing his lips to meet mine. They were soft, warm, and demanding. Moving against mine, he urged me to open my mouth and let his tongue explore.