Blazing the Trail by Deborah Cooke

could feel his gaze boring into the back of my skull throughout the whole class, and he was ticked enough to not know the answer when he was called on.
    I think that had to be a first. I hoped he’d be mad enough to ignore me afterward, but no luck; he followed me out of class and back to my Muriel check.
    I was really not interested in getting chewed out, but Derek’s heightened sense of smell apparently wasn’t sharp enough to pick up on that.
    Or else he didn’t care.
    “So, what was that all about?” he demanded in his growlyundertone. “Where did you go? And why were you in Trevor’s car?”
    “You saw that?”
    “I had a feeling. I turned back to find you.” He glared at me. “I saw you leave, but I couldn’t catch up with you.” His tone turned fierce. “You never should have gone anywhere with him. You know he’s dangerous.”
    “He told me that Adrian had been eating shifter shadows. I went with him to try to stop Adrian.” It seemed like a good idea not to mention—yet—that I’d completely, totally, and utterly failed in that goal. I marched down the hallway and he walked beside me.
    “Alone? Dumb, Zoë. Dumb.”
    That stung, because it had been dumb. It would have been nice for him to have had some confidence in me, though. “I told Meagan.”
    “Well, you didn’t tell me.”
    I strode onward. I hadn’t exactly had time to update everyone on the planet on my situation.
    “We’re a team,” he said with force. “We have an alliance, in case you’ve forgotten. We’re supposed to work together but you acted alone.” I guess the fact that I didn’t immediately defend myself made him even more angry, because he took a deep breath and a step back. “If you got yourself in danger, you deserved it.”
    Deserved
it? I was with him until those last two words.
    “Excuse me?” I halted in the hallway and spun to face him. I didn’t care who saw me and I didn’t care what my eyes did. I was feeling the need to breathe some fire.
    “I
deserved
to be spellbound?” I demanded in an undertone. “I
deserved
to be cornered and nearly sacrificed to the ShadowEaters? Is that really what you think? Just because I didn’t tell you what I was doing, I should
die
?”
    Derek, to his credit, looked shocked. His eyes widened as he surveyed me. It was a bit late, to my thinking, to worry about the details.
    “No,” he whispered.
    “Yes,” I hissed with force. “The ShadowEaters are free. I tried to stop Trevor and Adrian, but I failed. Not only that, but they’re hungry and they’ve already killed someone by eating his shadow.”
    Derek paled.
    “Plus Adrian has become one.”
    Derek took a step back.
    “Zoë!” Muriel called from the end of the hall. “You don’t have time to socialize.”
    “No way,” he muttered, but I could see his doubt.
    “Yes! I would have been
lunch
if Kohana hadn’t helped me.”
    His eyes flashed. “I would have helped you. You should have told me where you were going. I found you by scent, even though you disappeared. I would have followed you anywhere.…”
    “Obviously I made a mistake,” I said, interrupting him. “But since I’m the one who was nearly sacrificed as a result, I’m not feeling like I owe you an apology.”
    Oh, he didn’t like that. I saw the flash of anger in his eyes and the way his gaze dropped to my lips. That was when I knew that it was the kiss that really bothered him, not my leaving alone with Trevor or even endangering myself.
    That made me see red. Because Kohana had kissed me. It hadn’t been my choice, I hadn’t invited it, and I sure hadn’t drawn it out.
    “You don’t own me,” I whispered, and Derek’s features set.
    “Coming, Muriel!” I shouted with false cheer, and marched toward the guidance office. She smiled at me, all sweet concern, but I nearly snarled at her. There must have been a littlebit of dragon in my expression, because her smile disappeared in record time. She swallowed and marked the time