Thornhill Academy (By Sheridan Hartin) novel Chapter 33

Never Mine.

I leaned in, resting my chin on my fist, watching her squirm like a cornered cat. “So, what is it then? Have you been counting how many push–ups Cage does in the mornings? Or maybe checking who snores the loudest? Let me guess…” My grin stretched slowly, wickedly. “You’ve been watching me.”

Her face did this thing, half scoff, half choke, before she rolled her eyes so hard I thought they’d get stuck. “You? Don’t flatter yourself, hellhound.”

“Oh, come on,” I drawled, letting my voice drip with mock injury. “I’d be the obvious choice. Handsome, dangerous, and conveniently right below your secret

spy nest.”

“Try obnoxious, loud, and way too full of himself,” she shot back, crossing her arms.

I laughed, sharp and delighted, because fuck, I liked it when she snapped. “Mhm. You protest a little too much, Rivers. Almost like I’m right on the mark.” I leaned back in the chair, stretching my legs out, a smirk still plastered across my face. “Don’t worry, though. If you ever get tired of peeking through vents. you could just… ask for a show.”

The pillow she launched at my head was worth it.

“I wouldn’t even know which one is yours,” she huffed, chin tilted, trying for casual but failing miserably. “Not that I’ve been looking, because I certainly

have not.”

The words were strong enough, but the faint pink creeping up her neck gave her away.

I caught it, and god, it nearly undid me. That blush was… adorable. Like watching a stray bare its teeth one second and curl its ears the next. The little fight in her, the spark she carried even after being dragged half–dead out of the woods, lit something sharp and dangerous in my chest. I wanted more of it. More of her. And that was the problem. I leaned back, forcing my grin to stay in place like armour, when really my insides twisted. Evander. My best friend. The boy I’d fought beside since before we even knew what claws were for. He thought she was his mate. No, his dragon thought so. And if there’s one thing you don’t fuck with, it’s a shifter animal’s claim. I’d liked her since the first day she arrived, scrappy, mouthy, all sharp edges and stubbornness. It had been instant, inconvenient, and impossible to shake. But now? Now I couldn’t take another step in that direction without betraying him, without betraying us. So I sat back deeper in the chair, arms folded across my chest, like I could hold the feeling down by force. I smirked to cover it, because that’s what I do best. Let her think I was teasing, playing, hell, let her even think I was obnoxious–better that than allowing the truth show. Because if Evander’s dragon was right… Then she could never be mine.

I pushed up from the chair, stretching out the stiffness in my shoulders. “I should probably go track down Evander,” I said, half–grumble, half–truth. “Or his dragon, before he sets half the bloody campus on fire.” My grin tilted sharply again, because sharp was easier than anything real. I flicked my eyes back to her. “You’re not going to die on me while I’m gone, right, Rivers?”

She rolled her eyes like I’d asked if she needed a babysitter. “I’m fine.”

The word croaked out, scratchy but stubborn, and for some reason, it landed heavier in my chest than it should have. I turned, already bracing myself to leave before I said something I’d regret, when her voice followed, quieter this time. “Thank you.”

I stopped mid–step. The fight was gone from her tone, no huff, no sarcasm, just soft, like she’d slipped and let me hear something she didn’t mean to. And damn it, I couldn’t help myself. The smirk faded, and for the barest second, the walls I’d been stacking between us all night cracked wide open. I looked back at her, and instead of teasing, I gave her a genuine smile. Small. Honest. The kind of thing I never handed out, not even to people who begged for it.

“You’re welcome,” I said, voice lower than I meant, before forcing myself toward the door.

Because if I stayed a second longer, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep those walls standing at all.

The door clicked shut behind me, and I sucked in a lungful of cooler air, like I could burn her scent out of my head. Didn’t work. It clung, smoke and

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Never Mine.

riverwater and something that was just her…Evander. Right. That was the task. I stretched my senses as I crossed the courtyard, following the faint scorch

marks on the flagstones like breadcrumbs. It wasn’t hard when a dragon’s temper snapped, the evidence stuck around. Trees along the field’s edge still

smouldered, their branches curled black, and the grass carried a lingering heat that made the soles of my boots prickle.

“Ev,” I muttered under my breath, more to the shadows than to anyone.

The growl that answered wasn’t human. A low, guttural rumble rolled from deeper in the woods, vibrating through the ground until my teeth buzzed. My

pulse kicked up, but I kept walking. The trick with Evander when he was like this, when his dragon was steering, was never to flinch.

“Ev,” I called louder, steady, like I was announcing myself at a friend’s front door. “It’s me. Don’t torch my ass.”

The trees shivered as something massive shifted in the dark. For a heartbeat, I saw nothing but smoke. Then a pair of molten–gold eyes snapped open, high

above me, and the air thickened with the weight of his fury.

I stopped at the tree line, palms up, unarmed and unafraid, or at least, pretending damn well to be. “She’s safe,” I said, voice low but firm.

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