Chapter 5

Caesar

By the time I'd climbed to the top of the apartment building near the subway exit, the sun had set below the skyline, and night was steadily creeping up from the east. My feathers ached for release beneath my flesh in anticipation of a shift, and I could hardly wait to kick off my clothes. I hastily bundled up my things and tucked them beside the large air conditioning unit on the roof.

After using this spot for several years, I knew that none of the residents of this building ever ventured up here, but still I scanned the rooftop to make sure.

Probably should have done that before I got naked, but my anxiety had made me careless.

When I was sure the place was secure, I willed my transformation. The stretching of my bones was a delicious ache, the sprouting of my feathers over the surface of my skin like a satisfying scratch to an incessant itch. Some shifters described their transformations as painful or uncomfortable, some even avoiding it entirely. But I always thought it felt more like cracking aching joints, offering a sense of relief.

My wings unfurled behind me within seconds, forcing me down on all fours. I shook my head as if to shake off the remnants of my human form, snapping my beak as I savored the feel of the faint breeze rustling through my wings.

The sky was now totally black but also a little too clear for my liking. Tapping into my weather-manipulation powers, I summoned the wind to blow the nearby clouds closer, lower. I needed their thickness to shield me from wandering eyes, though, with the bright street lights of the city acting as their own sort of veil, pedestrians were unlikely to spot me through them.

With a great slash of my wings and a thrust of my limbs, I took off, each flap shooting me higher and higher into the night sky. I ripped through a cloud in seconds, scattering puffs of foggy moisture all around me. Once concealed in the clouds, I allowed myself to soar just above them, coasting on the air that pushed beneath my wings.

Ah, this was exactly what I'd needed. Whenever I flew, it was like leaving my cares on the ground. I could be free for as long as I could stay airborne, and the elation it gave me was far better than any drug could offer. Maybe even better than sex.

The thought brought that vexing witch back into my mind, the flash of her green eyes suddenly all I could see.

Dammit, why won't she leave me be!?

With a groan, I flapped my wings behind me as if I could banish her with the effort. This was supposed to be my happy place, my shelter, and her tempting presence still followed me.

I swooped through the clouds with an uncharacteristic aggression, chasing a nothingness I seemed unable to attain. Ugh, I could even smell her.

Wait… I did smell her. Was that just my imagination tormenting me further?

I looked down, my keen raptor eyes scanning the streets between the cloud gaps with laser precision. As if my eyes knew exactly where to look, they fell on a familiar shroud of wavy brown locks. Her smell intensified, and for the first time, I resented the heightened senses of my shifted form.

I'd come up here to escape the witch inside my head, and instead, I'd found her in person.

Keep flying. Ignore her. Pretend you never saw her.

But I couldn't help but wonder what she was doing on the streets of Chicago at this time of night. Was she planning another infiltration attempt on the school? Not likely, as she was heading in the opposite direction.

I couldn't help but smirk as I remembered that little fiasco. I respected her for trying and especially for being able to find the Dome's location at all. And how she managed to get through our security, I'd never guess. The witch was more talented than she gave herself credit for.

Fear seeped into my chest. Would she be skilled enough to defend herself against vampires? She'd been at Arya's house that night; the vampires could have her scent. Regardless, the city was a hot den of leeches at night, and a pretty young thing like her, all alone, was the perfect bait to lure them out.

I suddenly wished Kai's detection system was already up and running. At least then, I would have some certainty she wasn't being hunted. I may not have wanted her at my school or in my head, but I couldn't bear the thought of her falling into the clutches of our enemies.

I descended just enough to see her more clearly. I could follow her, ensuring she didn't run into any danger, at least until she got to wherever she was going. Then, once I knew she was safe, I'd fly on and keep trying to forget her.

Solid plan.

I flew overhead, following her path through the city for several minutes. What are you doing out here, little witch?

She cut across an intersection and then headed for an alley. Don't go that way!

Just after she went into the darkened, narrow path between the buildings, a figure pushed away from the catty-corner wall of the left building and trailed after her.

Why is he following her?

I sniffed at the air, but I didn't smell the sickly sweet odor that vampires gave off. But just because Shea's pursuer wasn't a vampire didn't mean he wasn't a threat.

I flew lower and lower, watching with glaring eyes as the figure got closer and closer behind her. When the figure reached out, I saw red, my blood flash-boiling and threatening to erupt from my chest like hot magma.

I dove straight down into the alley, landing at speed on the trash-littered ground just to the right of her attacker and knocking him violently backward with a slap on my wing. The figure went flying into the side of a dumpster, leaving a small dent in the thin metal as he fell onto his face.

Shea spun around with a scream, her eyes widening as she took in my giant form and then darted to her now unconscious attacker at the foot of the dumpster.

"What the—"

She flicked her gaze back to me, then narrowed her eyes in confusion. "C-Caesar?"

I nodded, staring intensely into her eyes as my blood continued to pulsate like lava through my veins.

She gestured wildly between me and the unconscious guy, her pitch growing more and more elevated as she stammered, "What just—why are you—what the actual fuck?"

I opened my beak to respond to her, only to realize she wouldn't understand my squawking in this form. With a clucky grunt, I willed my body to shift back to my human form, rescinding my feathers inward as I shrank.

As soon as my lips were fleshy once more, my words burst out of them. "That guy was going to attack you. What the hell are you thinking wandering the Chicago streets at night? And in an alley? Are you trying to get murdered?"

She didn't say anything, only stared me up and down, her expression slowly morphing from frightened to amused to embarrassed. She raised her hand to brush against her bottom lip, which she sucked between her teeth in an infuriatingly adorable way.

"We have got to stop meeting like this," she said with a snicker, sliding her gaze down my body again.

"What?" I followed her gaze down at myself, then reflexively hung in my head in mortification.

Not only was I naked—because, duh, I just shifted back right in front of her—but my dick was hard as a rock with all the heated blood pumping through me.

I'd never blushed in my entire life. I wasn't the kind of man to blush. But at that moment, I was certain that every inch of my body was blooming with humiliation. My skin actually burned with the awkwardness of this moment, and I was tempted to shift and just fly off into the night without ever speaking of this again.

But I wasn't done with her yet.

Growling, I stomped to the dumpster and snatched a stained, discarded pizza box that was hanging over the top of it. I wrapped it around my hip so that it was more or less covering my stubborn erection, then strode back to face her.

A laugh pushed between her pursed lips, and she doubled over with it, cackling as she slapped her knee. "Is this our thing now? We're just going to show up in each other's lives naked at random?"

I ignored her ridiculous question—even though she kind of had a point—and pressed the issue.

"What are you doing out here all alone at this time of night?" I demanded.

"Well, I was walking to the bus that would take me home," she said, gripping the strap of her bookbag on her shoulder. "Not that it's any of your business."

Her catty tone both excited and provoked me.

"You were almost attacked by that mugger," I snapped, pointing at her still unconscious attacker.

She looked over my shoulder at the crumpled figure and frowned. "I could've taken care of him myself. I didn't need your help. Hell, just a few days ago I ensnared a vampi—" She snapped her mouth shut, and I saw red again.

"You did what?" I hissed, outrage and fear flooding my nervous system.

She actually had been attacked by a vampire? A few days ago? And she was still venturing into dark alleyways all willy-nilly?!

"It doesn't matter. I took care of it," she said flippantly, folding her arms and jutting a hip to one side.

"Do you have a death wish? Are you insane?"

She threw her hands up. "What does it even matter to you? I'm not one of your students, remember? I'm nothing to you."

Her last statement silenced me. She had no idea how wrong she was, even though I loathed that very fact. I wished she really was nothing to me.

Her face sobered, hiding the resentment that had just been there. "What are you even doing out here? What? Are you stalking me now?"

"No, of course not!" I replied with a little too much insistence. "I was just out for a flight to clear my head." To get you off my mind. "I had no idea you'd be walking the streets like a lost kitten."

Her nostrils flared at my subtle reference to our last encounter, and I childishly enjoyed getting a rise out of her.

"What vampire attacked you? What happened?"

She rolled her eyes, but I could see a secret hiding in them. "Like I said, I took care of it. But, thank you for swooping in like a knight in shining—um—feathers to help me with that guy. That was surprisingly noble of you."

I frowned. While I did like to think of myself as a noble guy, this hadn't been an act of nobility. It had been an act of possession.

"Yeah, well, because I'm so noble, let me at least give you my phone number," I said with forced irritation. "If you're going to make a habit of getting yourself into dangerous situations, I want you to have someone you can call to get you out of them. And if you really are a target for the vampires, you'll need protection."

I went back to the dumpster and dug around for a not-so-filthy piece of paper and something to write with. She came up behind me and tapped on my shoulder. When I turned around, she handed me her phone with a new contact form open on the screen.

"You know, you could've just asked for my phone," she said with a sly arch of her eyebrow.

Feeling like a dumbass, I took the phone and lifted my other hand to tap in my number, realizing too late that I still needed that hand to hold up the fucking box.

She snorted a laugh as my erection sprang over the box as it fell, and I scrambled to bend over and pick it back up. Will the humiliations never end?

"Just tell me the number, and I'll enter it," she said, her chest heaving as she struggled to contain more laughter.

I quickly rattled the numbers off, beyond eager to get the hell out of here.

"Save as Big Bird," she said. "Got it. Thanks."

My eye twitched at the ridiculous name she'd assigned me. "Just get home safe, please."

She gave me a two-finger salute. "Sure thing. You better flutter off before you get arrested for indecent exposure." Her eyes flickered to my box, and I really could have just died, right then, right there.

I turned around and ripped into my gryphon form before she could see anything else, then leapt into the sky without a second glance.

When I got high enough up past the glare of the street lights, I hovered and watched her leave the alley. She'd already been attacked once tonight—and another time by a fucking vampire apparently!—so I couldn't leave her unguarded. I followed her until she made it to the bus station, and only then could I finally pull myself away from her.

What the hell was wrong with me? For fuck sake. If I was being totally honest with myself, I'd given her my number not strictly for her protection.

If I couldn't get this witch out of my system, I was going to get us both in a lot of trouble .