We're werewolves, not pigs

He shrugs his shoulders indifferently. "You haven't been a werewolf for too long, it's not a big deal," he tells me and I release a breath I didn't realize I was holding. "You're the youngest werewolf here, which will put you at a disadvantage," he adds, causing me to grunt.

I rub my fingers across my temples. "Where do I meet you for training tonight?"

"I'll come collect you. What's your last class?" Professor Florentino asks.

"Transfiguration."

Irritation flashes across his eyes, probably annoyed that he has to spend his time training me. I'm not looking forward to him venting his frustration on me during drills tonight. He nods his head, and without another word, Florentino heads back inside the academy.

Crap, I really need to get my hands on a portal bomb if their plan is to leave me exhausted like this all the time.

With a groan, I pick my feet up and head back to my room.

I'm finishing up in my shower when I hear a knock on my door, so I quickly throw on a towel and push my broken door to the side to see who it is. A smile immediately blooms on my face when I see Ryker standing at my door with two mugs of steaming hot tea.

"You are my favorite person," I tell him, grabbing onto his shirt and dragging him inside my room.

"Well, someone's excited this morning. Did Florentino not wear you out enough, love?" He tells me with a smirk.

I glare at him and snatch the one of the mugs out of his hands.

"Not funny," I tell him and take a nice, long sip. A content sigh escapes my lips as the warm liquid hits the back of my throat.

"I can help you with that, you know." Ryker says, slowly walking closer to me. His eyes sparkle with mirth and with an edge that causes me to take a step back with every step that he takes forward. His eyes track the movement, and his grin only grows.

"What are you doing?" I ask him, gripping my towel tighter around my chest.

He doesn't answer me, and we play this slow cat-and-mouse game until the back of my legs hit a wall behind me.

He leaps forward and catches me around the waist, running his nose up my neck.

He takes the mug from my hand and reaches over to place it on the desk that's next to me. "When I threw you in the shower back at your house, what did you feel?" he murmurs, causing his lips to softly touch my skin. He runs his tongue across my collarbone, catching wayward droplets from my recent shower.

My fingers run over his broad shoulders. "I felt…" I felt many things, but one long, hard thing came to my mind too fast to stop it coming out of my mouth. "Your excitement." He chuckles, pulling back from my neck to look me in the eyes.

"Anything else?" he asks, studying my face for something. I look into his vibrant blue and yellow eyes and for a moment I study the way the yellow surrounds his dark iris. It reminds me of a sunflower with a blue sky behind it.

"Yes," I saw quietly. My feelings have been a mess since meeting Ryker, and although I have been confused about what I feel towards him, I know what he is asking me about. "I felt it, in here," I tell him, motioning to my heart where a connection between us has been getting stronger since spending more time together.

Relief passes over his face before he grabs each side of my face and places a soft kiss on my forehead. When he pulls away again, he gives me a nod that I don't fully understand. "Finish getting ready. I'll wait here," he says while releasing me.

I hurriedly grab some clothes out of my drawer and head to the bathroom, and I swear I can feel him silently laughing behind me.

I look at myself in the mirror and run a comb through my dark brown, wavy hair while thinking about Ryker's strange behavior. He is incredibly sexy, but when he touched me, the thrill I had felt previously was noticeably missing. I don't know what that means, but I hope this doesn't ruin the friendship forming between us. He already means a lot to me.

I calm my nerves and leave the bathroom to see Ryker sitting casually on my bed, looking to be deep in thought.

"Alright I'm ready for some food," I tell him when his attention turns to me.

"What classes do you have today?" he asks me.

"I have a lab for Fundamentals and then Transfiguration."

"Oh shit - more time with Professor Florentino?" he asks, with a mocking grin.

"Shut it." I say while giving him a light shove.

"Alright, alright. I won't tease you. You'll want to bring an extra pair of clothes with you today, by the way."

"What for?" I ask, walking back to my dresser to grab clothes since I trust his advice.

"Closet," he says, so I spin on my feet and head in that direction.

"You should have the academy issued outfit for Transfiguration in your closet." It looks like a simple pair of shorts and short sleeve shirt, but both are stretchy and feel flexible to the touch. I quickly put the outfit in my bag and Ryker follows me to the doorway, where the broken door is doing a crap job of giving us privacy in my room.

"Are you going to tell me what happened to your door?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope," I say with a pop of my lips, clear ire written on my face. "It's not worth mentioning."

He decides to let the tropic drop and enters the hallway before me. As I turn to prop the door back up, I see that the spirit is hovering in my room again. I smile to myself while wondering if it has been here since last night and I just didn't notice it this morning.

"Layla?" I hear Ryker ask from down the hallway.

"Coming," I respond, and finish closing the door the best I can.

We walk to the cafeteria, and I sit down with a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and a few sliced strawberries.

I raise my eyebrows in disbelief when I see Ryker sit in front of me with three full plates of meats, scrambled eggs, cheeses and toast with peanut butter.

"I thought we were werewolves, not pigs," I say as he tears into what might be a rabbit leg.

He snorts. "I'm an active wolf, Layla. I need a lot of protein to sustain me." He reaches over and pokes one of the strawberries on my plate. "Wolves don't eat that," he tells me and I roll my eyes at him.

"Wolves do eat berries, actually" I say in defense of my choice of breakfast.

"Rarely, and in small doses. You'll find yourself eating more meat in no time."

"Well, for now, I'll enjoy my much smaller and more normal choice of breakfast."

"More human, you mean," he says, and my fork hovers over my plate.

"Yeah, about that. Professor Florentino mentioned that I might not be tapping into my werewolf abilities as easily as I should be."

He turns his attention to me, with a bite pausing near his mouth. "That doesn't seem right. I've seen you kick Javier's ass and your eyes have glowed, which isn't common. That doesn't happen unless there's power behind it, Layla."

My eyebrows draw down in confusion. "Perhaps those instances were flukes. Headmistress Nacht even said that I probably would have burned out if I kept fighting."

"I don't think that's true - with everything that's been going on, you probably just need more time to acclimate."

"What if it doesn't change, even with time? What if there's something wrong with me?" He looks me in the eyes and my gaze is drawn into those beautiful and sincere sunflower eyes.

"If there's something wrong, we'll figure it out. Try not to worry about it until we know there's an issue." I nod so he knows that I heard him, but my mind can't stop racing with the possibilities.

"The lab for fundamentals is adjacent to the lecture room, so you'll know where your first classroom is. I'll meet you afterwards to show you where you go for Transfiguration, though I can't walk you all the way there if I want to make it back to my last lecture in time."

"That's okay, I understand. I appreciate your help." He smiles at me, and it's warm and friendly. I still have no idea why Teo would think any differently about him.