Eudora
Warm lips press against mine again, but this time a tongue slips between them. If this is the end then this is a nice, then this isn't so bad. My brain begins to clear. The tongue sweeps into my mouth more fully this time and I feel warmth spreading through my body and down to my crotch. The pain is fully gone. I throw my arms around the body over me and deepen the kiss. I no longer feel any pain. All I feel is delicious heat taking over my body. Their tongue sweeps across my teeth, and they take my mouth savagely. I have never been kissed before, but if it is always like this, I've been missing out. It's like my body has a mind of its own, and my legs wrap around my mystery kisser. I gasp with pleasure when a hard bulge in their pants hits me right at my core. I want more.
I hear someone clear their throat and I want to cry when the warm body pulls away from me, easily breaking my grasp on them. Cold air rushes across my chest, and I realize my shirt was shredded and my bare breasts are on display. I open my eyes and look up to see Aren still hovering over me. His eyes are dark with desire, but a movement catches my eye and I realize we have an audience. All of my roommates are staring at us with wide eyes. The scent of my arousal is thick in the air, and I am immediately embarrassed. I throw my arms across my chest hurriedly covering my hard nipples.
"You," Aren says pointing at Olivia, "get the nurse now." Olivia hurries from the room.
"What just happened?" I ask shakily.
Aren shakes his head as if trying to clear it, and then he stands up. I notice blood is everywhere, and the knees of his pants are soaked with it. "You were bleeding so much. There wasn't enough time to get you to the nurse, so I healed you."
"You healed me?" I ask still not understanding
"I have healing magic Ora." Aren tells me patiently.
"You have healing magic?" I wipe my hand down my face trying to comprehend what he is telling me.
"Yes." Aren confirms.
I don't understand what healing has to do with what just happened. "You kissed me?"
"Yes Ora." Aren confirms again.
"You healed me, then kissed me?" Aren brushes my hair out of my face.
"I kissed you to heal you." His kiss healed me? Like true love's kiss or something?
"What?"
Aren sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. "I can heal people with my spit." So his spit heals, and it wasn't true love's kiss that saved me.
"You can heal people with your spit?" I repeat again. Apparently that is all I am capable of doing.
"I think she's broken." Gia cuts in.
"It doesn't have to be spit. It can be any of my bodily secretions." Aren explains standing up, and then helping me to my feet. I keep my arm firmly across my chest, covering my nipples. I am so embarrassed that my roommates, Jayden, and Aren all just saw my breasts and smelt my arousal.
"Like sweat or tears?" I ask.
"Or cum?!" Gia adds excitedly and Jayden coughs uncomfortably.
"Yes, all of those things, my blood can also heal." Aren confirms. Gia starts examining my back, where the deepest of the slashes were.
"Holy shit! All the wounds are gone. Like gone gone. If it wasn't for the blood and damage to her uniform, you would never know she was injured" Gia states just as the school nurse rushes through the door. She looks to be in her mid thirties and has kind eyes.
"Let the nurse examine her." Aren steps away and calmly places a hand on my brother's shoulder. My brother looks like he's in shock, whether it's from seeing me bleeding out, or kissing his best friend, I don't know.
The nurse looks me over, examining the places where my skin has healed.
"So you are Eudora, the new female shifter student."
"Yes I am."
"You are lucky Aren got to you so quickly, it kept you from losing too much blood. Flesh wounds can be healed with a little bit of Aren's spit, but recovering from blood loss takes time. I have never worked with someone before, who has such potent healing abilities."
"You work with Aren?" I ask.
"Oh yes, he started volunteering in my office as soon as he started at this school. He claims it's the best way to practice and improve his ability, but I think he just likes to take people's pain away." I smile at the gentlewoman. "Do you feel any pain? Lightheadedness?"
"No, I feel fine." The nurse stops her examination of my body.
"You look fine to me, so I won't make you come back to my office. But if you start to feel dizzy, please come see me."
"Can I go to the physical exam?"
"You can, if you feel up to it, you can go."
"Before I go, there is something I've been wanting to discuss with you. Let's go somewhere a little more private." The nurse leads me over to the empty study room, and closes the door behind her. "Your 22nd birthday is in eight weeks, correct?"
"Yes" I confirm, wondering where the nurse is going with this.
"Has anyone explained going into heat to you?"
"Not really. I just know it's something that happens after you come of age." The nurse sighs.
"Female shifters actually go into their first heat the moon cycle before they come of age. As an unmated female the pheromones you'll put out during that time will be…" She pauses as if searching for the right word, "intense for any unmated shifters nearby."
"Okay, so what do I do?" I shift on my feet uncomfortably.
The nurse puts a reassuring hand on my arm, "The school has a protocol for female shifters in heat. You'll have to stay in your room, and stay away from any male shifters."
"What about class?" I hate the idea that being a female shifter could get in the way of my education.
"A classmate will bring you any material or homework you miss." The nurse explains.
"How long does a heat last?" I look up into the kind eyes of the slightly older woman.
"It only lasts 24 hours, and it happens once every moon cycle." She explains.
"Should I expect to go into my first heat soon?"
"You should expect to go into your first heat within the next couple weeks. If you start to feel weird, come to my office and I'll check you out to see if a heat is coming on."
"Okay, thank you for letting me know."
"Of course. I'm glad I was able to give you a heads up." She smiles at me. I am glad that she explained it to me. Going into heat and not having any idea what was happening, would have been terrifying.
Nurse stone packs up her things and leaves with Jay and Aren on her heels. Madison and her friends left during the chaos. It feels wrong that they would just leave. I decide it's not my problem right now and bite my lip looking at the puddle of my blood on the floor.
"Should I clean it up?"
"Jay said he would notify a janitor."
"Okay. I guess we should get changed and head to the physical exam." I state indicating my blood stained and torn clothing.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes, I feel fine."
Gia doesn't look like she believes me, but she doesn't say anything to try to stop me as we change and head down to the fields.
At the field we are greeted by two Professors. One is a thick man with glasses and the other is a tall big boned woman.
"I am Professor Clark" the man with glasses says, "and this is Professor Steele. To start the exam I am going to separate the shifters and the nons. Once the baseline physical assessment is done for each group, you will regroup for the obstacle course and combat. Would the nons please go to the left and the shifters to the right."
I walk over to the right side of the field. Eyes stare at me as I take my place among the shifter men.
"Sweat heart, this is the shifter side. Nons go over there." A tall first year boy says to me.
"I'm in the right place."
The men all gape at me except for Kaden, Koda, and Max, who quickly take up places at my side. Professor Steele walks over and greets us commanding us to find attention. Our military training takes over and we all immediately get into a line "Shifter's, while the nons get their own physical assessment, I would like all of you to do a full shift."
I raise my hand. "You must be Eudora." Professor Steele says to me.
I nod.
"I have already been informed about your circumstances. Instead of shifting, I will test your pheromone control."
I nod again.
She addresses the while class. Please start shifting. I look around in shock to see that all of the other students are also taking their clothing off. I look down at the stiff material of my school uniform, and I know it makes sense that students wouldn't keep it on to shift, but I didn't think about it ahead of time. Being naked is not unusual for shifters, since clothing tends to get destroyed whenever a shift happens. Some people choose to wear stretchy clothing that can handle their form changing, but many others opt to just not wear clothing at all. Nudity is not illegal in any of the kingdoms, though shifters do make an effort to wear clothing when they leave shifter towns. Even though nudity is common, at my father's estate, everyone wore clothing. The only time I saw naked people was when my mother was allowed to take me into town for an outing. In the military, I was the only shifter in my troop, so none of them spent much time naked. I was fine with seeing naked people, but I wasn't comfortable yet being naked so publically, especially not in front of all guys.
I wait it out while the men around me shift into their animal forms. Max makes sure he has plenty of room before he shifts into a massive elephant. I gasp at the size of him. Others also gape at his massive shift. He is by far the largest shift I have ever seen. Koda gets my attention before smiling and shifting into a polar bear. Kaden shifts beside him into a matching polar bear form. Once all of the men have shifted, Professor Steele then has them each attempt at shifting one part of their body at a time and seeing how long they can maintain that. Most of the men struggle with it, but a few show some skill. Finally, the professor has them shift into their human forms. They all stand naked in a line with me at the end. I blush at the sight of so many naked men. I know I have to get used to it, but it still flusters me.
"Now it is time to assess your control with your pheromones. Pheromone control is extremely useful in combat and it is what sets alpha's apart. One at a time you will each use your pheromones on me and try to make me shift. Based on this assessment along with the others, I will sort you into one of the 4 levels of shifters. Level 1 is the weakest and level 4 is the highest. Only alphas with strong shifts and exceptional control get placed in level 4. Don't be discouraged if you get placed in level 1. You will be able to move up as soon as you gain enough control to handle the higher levels of training." She pauses for a moment, letting us absorb her words before she walks over to the opposite end of the line to me and faces the boy there. "We will start with you. Use your pheromones and try to make me shift."
The boy made a few faces, but nothing happens. Professor Steele moves onto the next student. This time a little bit of brown fur crops up on her arm before disappearing. She continues her way down the line until. Max is able to make a small amount of fur appear like the second boy. Kaden and Koda are both able to get one of her hands to shift fully into a massive bear paw.
Finally, she steps in front of me and nods for me to start. I smile confidently. I may not be able to shift, but I got the same training as Jay and Aren throughout our childhood and I am very skilled at using my strong pheromones. I push my pheromones at her commanding hers to give in and shift. It works. For the first time, professor Steele hunches over and her whole body expands into a grizzly bear. Her clothing stretches with her form.
Murmurs go through my class. "Did you see what she did? Her pheromones are stronger than the professors."
Professor Steele shifts back and she grins at me. "Very good. I can't wait to see what you'll be able to do once you shift.'
"Thank you." I smile back at her.
She walks over and takes a stance in front of our line. "Now that I have assessed your shifting and pheromone skills, you will rejoin the nons to continue the physical assessment."
I take a step away, but Professor Steele calls me back. "Eudora, please hang back a minute."
"What is it ma'am?"
"I am glad to see that you have control over your pheromones. Even with your control you still need to be careful about getting too close to weaker shifters, especially ones that might be attracted to you."
"Why is that?"
"Since your first shift is soon, your pheromones have probably started pulsing in preparation for the first shift, though since your pheromones are so strong we would need a high-alpha to assess you to be sure. These pulses could cause a shifter to accidentally shift if they got too close to you and felt urges towards you,if you know what I mean. You don't need to worry about alphas, but shifters who don't have a lot of control could be overwhelmed by you. They might be taken over by their animal instincts and that could cause chaos."
I shitter at the thought. "What should I do?"
Professor Steele smiles at me. "Don't let it worry you too much. This school has a lot of powerful shifters and all of the professors are trained to deal with any mayhem young shifters can cause. It wouldn't be as potent as if you were in heat and it most likely won't happen, but I just wanted you to be aware so in case it happens, you can be prepared."
"Should I stay away from touching other shifters?" I shudder at the thought. Physical contact is an important part of bonding for shifters and going without it would be like torture.
"No, that would be too cruel for me to tell you to do." Professor Steele pats me on the back. "Just be aware, and don't go shoving your neck against anyone's nose."