Page 23 of Inked in Bloom
“Just because we’re immortal doesn’t mean we can’t experience pain or punishment.” Briar’s attention shifts to the window and then down to the soil at his feet. He rocks from side to side, plants his heels on the ground, and lifts his chin. “Maintaining your earthside form to move through the mortal realm is crucial. Being able to shift back into your harbinger one is even more important. You can’t come back to this realm without being shifted.”
“Why?”
“One step at a time, though I love the enthusiasm.” It isn’t until he answers the question, looking at me, that I realize I asked it aloud. My cheeks warm under his attention. His lips pull up into a grin, and that heat sinks lower and lower, pooling in my lap. I put down my pen and steeple my fingers on the desk. “I’m going to show you the beginner way to shift. It may not happen today for you. It may not happen for months. But it will happen.”
He has such a soothing tone. Even though I’m confused by what he’s talking about, I listen to every word.
“Now, you don’t have to be naked to shift. But being able to remove your clothing and shift simultaneously takes more advanced focus magic than most of you currently possess. If you aren’t used to nudity, I apologize, but you will be soon enough.” Professor Briar crosses his hands over hisstomach and folds the hem of his shirt into his clutches, lifting it above his head. All of his beautiful muscles were noticeable beneath that soaked T-shirt, but that still didn’t do him justice. “There’s nothing to be shy about in Florezca.”
I mean, of course he’d make a bold claim when he looks likethat.My eyes drop to my chest.A little boob lift for the afterlife really wouldn’t have been too much of an ask.
I shift in my seat and recross my legs in the other direction. “Is he doing what I think he’s doi?—”
“Shh.” Cherri waves a hand at me but doesn’t make eye contact. “You’re interrupting my education.”
With a wiggle of his nose, every stitch of clothing is gone.
I’m. Speechless.
Cherri wasn’t lying. He’s truly tattooedeverywhere. There’s one empty patch of bare sage across his sternum and up the left side of his chest, but the rest of him is an impressive maze of flourish marks. They map along his shaft and over the bulbous tip that’s tinged a darker green. It bobs thick and heavy against his upper thigh. I wonder what those marks look like when he’s hard. Are they textured silky like his skin?
What the hell, Monroe? He is your professor. Get it together.
Granted, he chose to be naked and this is far from a usual classroom situation.
If he’s nervous at all, it doesn’t show. Andoofdoes it show.
He plants his feet on the soil and stares behind us at the wall. “Take in the warmth of spring. The soil beneath your toes, the smell of fresh flowers, the sun on your fur…”
Whatever he’s focusing on, I’m clearly not?—
Wait… Did he sayfur?
I want to continue admiring this spring Adonis, but his body begins shrinking and contorting, as if in slow motion. His sage skin shifts, turning caramel brown. Whiskers pierce through his cheeks. The pads of his feet widen out into thick paws. Chestnut ears jut up from his scalp, the ends kissed with snowy-white fur. My jaw hangs slack and my nails burrow into the wood of my desk. I tremble against my seat.
No fucking way…
My brows furrow, voice cracking on a whisper.
“Sir Thumps-A-Lot?”
11
MONROE
My hand slams over my mouth.
Did I just call our professorSir Thumps-A-Lotin front of the entire class?
My eyes dart around the classroom, and yes, everyoneisstaring at me. The chestnut bunny stares up, long ears flopped by his sides. The expression drawn across his muzzle is one I can’t quite decipher because?—
No, this is crazy.
Did our professor really just turn into a bunny? A bunny that looksexactlylike the one I cared for the last two months?
The same bunny I chased into the street before I…
The rest of my classmates seem concerned. And Sir Thumps— Professor Briar wriggles his tiny pink nose, his whiskers flicking in silence.
