by Maya Daniels
“My apologies, I didn’t think you would be that worried.” His earnest expression deflates the anger painting my vision red.
“I wasn’t worried.” My face feels warm, and I turn away from them, unwilling to let them see me embarrassed. “I have questions and need answers. After you tell me what I need to know, both of you can do whatever you like.”
“Right.” Astara dry washes her hands after a thunderous clap. “Let’s go see what Zoltan found out. I don’t know about the two of you, but I’m not a big fan of swimming blind.” When I look at her over my shoulder, she rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“Actually, I don’t.” I deadpan, almost high-fiving myself, as I watch Fenrir squirm.
“This night seems like it’s dragging on forever.” Shaking her head, Astara heads out the door. “Everyone is prickly and on edge.” Her voice trails off the further she gets in the hallway.
“After you.” Fenrir lifts his hand in a gentlemanly gesture, and after giving him a long glance, I head for the door. “I really didn’t think you were that worried,” he continues conversationally, following me out and closing the door behind him. “I know you are still angry, and I realize you avoid us even on the best of days, so I should’ve been more thoughtful.”
“Very poetic of you, Fae. Just because I don’t want any of you dead doesn’t mean I like you around.” Fenrir chuckles, falling in step with me, but I can’t get myself to look at him.
My heart picks up a beat now that I’m out in the open. My gaze searches the shadows, every flick of the flames sending a jolt through my spine. No matter how nonchalant they all seem, only an idiot will take this situation lightly. I haven’t been here long, but I know Zoltan is essential to the academy. If they dared to go after his head, it’s not just a couple of guards being stupid, even though that is exactly what the Fae wants me to believe.
“One of these days, you’ll admit it, Franky.” I raise an eyebrow in question, and he continues. “That you can’t help but care for me.” Fenrir chortles when I turn to glare at him.
“Don’t hold your breath on that one.” He keeps snickering, so I decide to change the subject because I’ll stab him with something if he keeps it up. “You think Astara will get in trouble for attacking Silas’s son?”
“Zoltan will take care of it if there is a problem.” All humor leaves his face, and I stare at the difference it makes, momentarily forgetting to keep an eye on our surroundings. “Silas is the least of our concerns at the moment.”
“I find that hard to believe, but what do I know?” My feet slow down as we reach the vast, open space with giant stairways twisting up as high as I can see. “Ever since I stepped foot here, my concern multiplied.”
Fenrir stops me from moving further away when his arm shoots out across my chest, pushing me back a step. Flicking his gaze around, he squints suspiciously at the empty space. I want to make a jab and give him a hard time about it, but the hairs on the back of my neck are standing on end. Someone is watching us. Someone I haven’t noticed.
After a long moment, he shakes his head, lowering his arm. “I could’ve sworn—”
“Good evening.” A deep voice cuts across Fenrir’s, coming from the shadows and so close I can feel the air that stirs from his words against my skin.
Spinning on the balls of my feet, I twist around, lifting my leg just enough for my round kick to find its target. My foot connects, jarring my bones with the strength of the hit, but the satisfying grunt of pain I hear is worth it. My fangs drop instantly, and I land in a half crouch, baring them at the person.
A hard thump echoes in the silence when a large, muscled body dressed in black hits the ground on his back. With a loud whoosh, all the air exits his lungs and a pathetic grunt of pain follows it. I’m about ready to pounce on the male while he is still down when Fenrir chokes out a laugh, stopping me in the tracks.
“Sometimes, I wonder why I even bother.” Coughing while he struggles to inflate his lungs, Leo pushes off the floor, scowling at me.
“You should know better than to sneak up on me.” Shaking off my arms to release the tension, I eye the shifter cautiously.
“I wasn’t trying to sneak. I thought both of you knew I was near.” Flipping the hair over his forehead, Leo rubs the side of his head before his paw-sized hand moves to squeeze the back of his neck. “I wasn’t very quiet moving around, either.”
“I don’t like this.” Fenrir scans the area around us. “Let us move out of the open.”
Spinning on his heels, he moves so fast my feet work double time to keep up. Straining my ears, I keep my eyes locked on Fenrir’s back, acutely aware now of the wolf at my back. Again, I can’t help but wonder how I don’t feel anyone around me. My whole life that is the one instinct that has kept me alive.
The hallway we enter is a familiar one, and that’s the moment I feel it. A dark, evil presence, like a mountain dropping on my chest. The air thickens, the stench of decay burning my nostrils. My head swivels, hoping I’ll catch a glimpse of what or who it is that’s giving off the malicious aura, but the two males usher me through the door before I get a chance.
“No, wait…” I rush back out the door, but it’s too late.
No one is there anymore.
“What is it?” Zoltan is next to me in a blink of an eye, the heat from his body soaking through every pore on my skin.
Lifting my chin up, I take a long sniff, the clear air confirming my suspicions. Zoltan does the same, sending me a questioning look.
“Nothing.” Rolling my shoulders, I turn and head inside the training room. “I thought I smelled something, but I was wrong.”
“Let me see what Leo needs and we will start. The sooner we do this, the sooner you will know everything you need to know, and we will put an end to this insanity.” He waits until I nod before joining Fenrir and Leo, who are talking in hushed whispers with their heads bent close together.
I watch Zoltan’s back as he walks away for only a moment. My gaze is pulled to the now-closed door by an invisible force and dread pools in my stomach. Whatever is out there, it is powerful. Powerful enough to give the magic inside me a pause and to disappear without a trace, much faster than even a vampire can move.
Is it really someone there, or is it some twisted premonition making me feel things that don’t exist? Astara coming up to me brings me to the present, and I give her a strained smile that she returns in kind.
8
With sweat dripping over my eyes, I lift my head slowly to scowl at Zoltan. The permanent smirk on his full lips has fury pulsing through my veins because he manages to bring me to my knees.
Again.
And not in a good way. The asshole slams his mind fuck into my skull with everything he has after I gloat about being able to block him now. My fingers curl like claws, the nails digging in the cushioned floor so hard that I’m not surprised to see them bleeding when I glance down.
I’m not sure how long we’ve been at it. The males said two days of training, but somehow, I have a feeling they lied. The fuckers have me writhing in pain, every second of it dragging on like an eternity. The Fae and the shifter are not as mean, although my abused body will say otherwise. Even breathing causes my muscles to smart, so I keep it to small sips of air through my lips. Zoltan says it’s been almost forty-eight hours.
He lies!
I know he does.
“We can stop now if you are too weak.” His deep voice is like bass in my chest, jerking my head up so I can stare at him.
I don’t even know I close my eyes, or that my head is hanging listlessly on my shoulders. He says I'm weak on purpose, knowing too well it’ll irk me to no end. He is an expert in pissing Francesca off by now.
“I’m good, thanks.” I want to act harsh, but pushing the words through clenched teeth makes me sound pathetic. “I’ll just grab some water.” Shoving my pride away, I crawl towards the corner of the room where there are a couple of bottles left.
&nbs
p; He drank the others on his own, grinning at me at the same time.
“If you are under attack, you think you’ll have time for water?” From the corner of my eye, I can see his boots keeping time with my pitiful shuffling.
“Good thing I’m not under attack then.” It hurts to speak, but I keep my eyes locked on the water bottle. My mouth feels like a desert, my parched throat scraping with each word.
“That’s where you are wrong, Ms. Drake…”
“I’m fucking Ms. Drake now? Well, you’re a gods damned masochistic asshole.” Grumbling under my breath, I miss the rest of the lecture he’s giving me.
Zoltan stops.
The charged silence doesn’t hit me until I actually slide my hands over knees a couple more times. When it does, my body stiffens, leaving one arm in the air while the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. It’s one of those deer in headlights moments when you know you’re screwed but there is jack shit you can do about it. I almost jump out of my skin when the heat of his body wraps around me, each breath he takes tickling my ear.
“Don’t push it, Drake.” Zoltan growls the words deep in his throat, and I startle myself when I whimper like a fool. His massive body is curled around mine, his palms pressing on top of my hands to pin me in place under him. “I would love to show you how euphoric mixing pain and pleasure can be, but I need you to survive what’s coming first. I need a lot of time for what I have planned for you.”
“Keep dreaming, bloodsucker.” A deaf person can hear my heart hammering my ribs, wanting to punch a hole and escape. It kills the bravado I’m trying to pull off, but I’m nothing if not determined. “Does that shit even work on females? Or you’re so old you’ve lost your game?” My chuckle turns into a low moan when he presses his face to my neck.
“You think this is a game, Francesca?” The amusement I hear douses the lust filling my head with cotton. “I let you have your time to come to terms with everything that happened. Having attacks left and right changes things. We don’t have the luxury to give you time so you can lick your wounds. Lives are at stake, mostly yours. If that was not the case, you would be pinned, naked, just like this in my bed, screaming my name. Everything else might be a game. You naked with me inside you is not one of those things.”
His sharp fangs press on my neck, hard enough to dent the skin but not hard enough to break it. My back arches on reflex, and I tilt my hips higher, nestling him better to me. My channel pulses from his words, grasping the air and making me feel empty. Wetness coats my thighs, drenching my pants while I pant as he holds me in place. A feral growl vibrates his chest, and I involuntarily tilt my head to the side, offering him my neck. It feels so good to be at his mercy, my mind whispers like a little bitch in heat, and my eyes snap open.
“Get the fuck off me, Zoltan.” Using our position to my advantage, I tuck my pelvis in before jerking back as hard as I can, slamming my tailbone into the hard, thick erection that is nestled between my ass cheeks.
The fangs disappear from my neck, as well as Zoltan’s body from around me. Scurrying to the side, my head swivels around looking for him. I find him on his knees, hands pressed hard on his thighs and head hanging down. His broad shoulders are hunched, the muscles on his arms twitching from the grip he has on his legs.
“That will teach you to try and force me into a submissive pose.” Gasping for air, I eye him warily but obviously can’t keep my mouth shut.
His head lifts, that too-blue gaze locking on mine and pinning me in place. His pupils are pulsing, ensnarling me in their depths as I watch his lips twitch, then painfully slow they lift at the corners. It’s not an evil smile. Not even a pissed off one for giving him a bruised erection. It’s one of those smiles that is a promise. You can never be sure if that’s a good or a bad thing, but it gets you all hot and bothered with sweaty palms, and you keep thinking about it despite knowing better.
Forgetting all about my sore and bruised body, I push off the floor, my legs screaming in protest. Zoltan doesn’t move, his gaze tracking my movement, and I remember the day in the dining hall where I met Cassius for the first time. I kneed the vamp in his jewels then too, and Fenrir kept telling me to step away from him. Something about Zoltan barely holding onto his control, I think.
Just like back then, I keep eye contact with him, the crazy idiot that lives inside my head, daring him to snap. Everything around me fades away, the whole world centering on that look in his eyes.
The clearing of a throat snaps both our heads in that direction.
“I hate to be a cockblock, but I think we ran out of time.” Fenrir doesn’t sound sorry at all for interrupting, but the dull look in his gaze makes the words I want to say die on my tongue.
Moving away from the entrance of the training hall, the Fae scrubs a hand over his face in such a tired way that both Zoltan and I straighten up to watch the partly open door, not breathing. Astara is first to walk through it, holding it open with an outstretched arm. The blood drains from my face when Leo and one of his betas shuffle in, carrying the second beta’s lifeless body between them. The shifter gives Zoltan a look so empty that my chest feels tight when I see it. They place the body on the floor, reluctantly moving away from it like he will disappear if they are not physically touching him.
“When?” is all that Zoltan asks, walking up to the dead beta and scanning him from head to toe.
“We were getting things together to leave. He went to check on his mate.” Leo’s voice is grave, leaving me wondering if he screamed or howled when he found his dead friend. “When he didn’t come back at the set time, we went looking for him. We found him close to one of the portals.” Glancing from Fenrir to Zoltan, he shakes his head. “There was no blood or any evidence of a fight. He was just there … with not a drop of blood in him.”
A tremor crawls up my spine, dread spreading through my chest and sinking its sharp claws in my lungs so I can’t even take a breath. My feet move on their own, bringing me closer as I keep staring at the peaceful look on the beta’s face. His skin is graying, losing the pinkish hue he had the last time I saw him. Zoltan keeps his eyes on the dead wolf for a long time before lifting his head and nodding once to his sister. Astara slips through the door like a ghost without so much as a whisper.
“I will take him to his mate. We brought him here in case you could feel something that would tell us what killed him.” Leo stares at Zoltan with a blank face. “I can scent nothing but him. At the portal or on his body.” Kneeling down, Zoltan moves his head along the length of the dead beta before shaking his head. “I didn’t think so. We will be back as fast as we can.” Both shifters lift the body and walk out as fast as they came, leaving the three of us silently watching the door.
“The Purge was a nightmare like nothing we’ve ever seen.” Zoltan jerks me out of my destructive thoughts, and I turn to him, confused, not understanding a word he is saying. “They like to tell everyone that the Fae were feeling generous, so they sacrificed for the good of all.” He doesn’t look at me but keeps his eyes on Fenrir. The Fae stares back without saying a word, and I shiver. “The truth of it is, if they didn’t, all of us—including them—would’ve been slaughtered. What no one talks about is that the humans have an organization that is as old as we are. Their only purpose in life is to exterminate all supernaturals from their world. Hunters, they call themselves.”
“Humans, even hunters, killing our kind can’t possibly be that easy.” It’s one thing when two of our kind face each other, but a human doesn’t stand a chance no matter what they say.
“They have help.” Fenrir scrunches his face at Zoltan’s words, as if he smelled something foul and doesn’t like it at all. “Some of the old gods were getting lost, losing their powers with the new times. They chose the fanatics and bestowed them with gifts, as they say. If you ask me, it’s more like a curse since the humans are losing their souls with time.”
“Okay.” Dragging out the word, I watch Fenrir pull the door closed and se
ttle next to it, crossing his arms over his chest. My eyes flick from his face to Zoltan’s as I wait to hear what this has to do with me, or the dead beta for that matter.
“With the years, their numbers grew, and now they are a formidable enemy that we battle. The hunters are the reason Sienna was created, keeping everyone safe. It was the reason this Academy was created as well.” Clenching his fists is the only movement Zoltan makes. “Being able to defend ourselves or our kind was most important, but those strong enough to do it, or willing to do it I should say, were only able to face the hunters at night. The Fae changed that—for some of us.”
“That much I know. You became Daywalkers.” Waving my hand between both of them, I’m hoping to hurry Zoltan along. The shake of Fenrir’s head slows down my flopping hand, leaving it hanging in the air. “What am I missing?”
“We became Daywalkers.” Zoltan jabs a thumb in the center of his chest. “The Fae, the shifters, most of the others … they were able to walk the day without anyone’s help. Vampires, on the other hand, couldn’t. Still can’t unless they become a Daywalker.”
I snort.
The laugh that is trying to come out sounds strangled, my smile slipping off my lips as I see their solemn faces watching me with unblinking eyes. When they both stay silent, lead pools in my stomach, and I lower to the floor, sitting because my legs can’t keep me up from the weight of what I’m hearing.
“So, you lied.” I can feel my heartbeat in my throat as I look from the vampire to the Fae. “All these other people risking their lives with your stupid trials to come to this Academy are doing it for nothing. For lies.”
“After they pass the trials, all of them give an oath and are told the truth. They are not obligated to stay if they don’t want to stay. The oath prevents them from telling our secrets. Most of them choose to stay of their own free will.” Zoltan tilts his head slightly at my upturned face. “You think they don’t want to keep the rest safe? They have families protected behind these portals.”