Rooming with the Wicked

25 | the exception

"Shut the hell up, demon," the only girl in the group spat. Her long brown hair that was pulled back into a tight ponytail whacked the guy next to her in the neck as her head whipped around to Haze.

Aidan's white eyes landed on me and I felt a shiver run down my spine. Something about him seemed vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Maybe he was in one of my classes...

"Guess you finally found someone dumb enough to join your team," he said.

"The only dumb thing about any of this is gonna be your face when you lose," Jaydis countered, partly shielding me from view as he leaned forward.

Two of the shifters behind Aidan laughed.

"We don't lose," the taller of the two said. "Especially not against a team of collective rejects."

What was that supposed to mean?

"I'll remember you said that when we whoop your asses," Kenas said quietly.

If it wasn't for his clenched fists on top of the table, I wouldn't have guessed he was affected by their presence at all. Maybe this was more than a simple rivalry.

Their laughter died immediately and all four stared him down, their lips pulled back in silent snarls. Only Aidan's hostile gaze never left me.

Something about him rubbed me the wrong way, like I should know who he was. This was ridiculous. If he had a problem, he should just spit it out.

"Do I know you?" I straight up asked.

His eyes widened ever so slightly, almost like he was confused, right before he crossed his arms and stepped up to the table. "I don't know, do you?"

The mood changed collectively. Both Haze and Danox placed their hands on the tabletop palms down and leaned forward.

"What's with the cryptic shit?" Haze asked, voice low.

I turned to Jaydis, intent on ignoring the tense atmosphere. "Is this some kind of pre-game psychological intimidation tactic I should be aware of?"

His hyena laugh made the shifters visibly uncomfortable. "Right, of course. I should have prepared you for possible lame encounters with the other teams."

The girl stepped forward. "Shut—"

Jaydis cleared his throat. "Meet the sorest losers of them all, Aidan and"—he looked over at the dumbfounded shifters—"you guys got a team name or something? I feel like you do, but it must not be very good 'cause I keep forgetting every year."

"I think it was something with moon," Kenas said, barely holding back his laughter.

Aidan looked like he was a good two seconds away from losing it. The smartest member of his team seemed to notice at the same time, and quickly wrapped an arm around the seething shifter's shoulders and steered him toward the campus store. The others followed wordlessly, only the girl raised her hand and flipped us off.

"See you on the field," Aidan snarled with a final look over his shoulder.

"Bye-bye," Jaydis replied, curling his lean fingers in a quick wave.

"So, you have some sworn enemies," I said. "That would have been nice to know."

Jaydis waved me off. "Don't worry about them. They're all howl and no bite."

Kenas arched a brow. "They won two consecutive years."

"Only because our fifth sucked. This year we have Ari. They don't stand a chance."

"Right, no pressure or anything," I mumbled, reaching for my backpack.

One after another, I placed the different potions in the middle of the table. I'd just reached for the last one when Jaydis jumped up onto the stone tabletop and raised his arms like he was trying to shield my creations.