by Elena Lawson
But she didn’t do that.
“I don’t know how I didn’t see it before. You have his eyes…” she said softly, her voice breaking near the end. “And her red hair.”
I couldn’t believe it. I was stunned. Stupefied. I had about a million questions. Suddenly, hunger was the last thing on my mind. I didn’t care about shifters in the woods. Or insanely hot history professors. “You… you knew them?”
Ms. Granger dropped her hands slowly to her sides and stepped back to lean on the edge of her desk. “I knew your father,” she replied, still analyzing each one of my features. “Where have you been all this time?”
I stiffened, the air freezing in my lungs. I had been dreading that question for nearly a week, but now answering it didn’t seem so bad. At least not answering it for someone who might understand it wasn’t my fault how I’d lived the last seventeen years of my life.
“Traveling from place to place,” I told her, swallowing back the urge to lie. “I—I never really had a home. Not since…” I trailed off, unable to voice the fact that my father died, and my mother abandoned me as a baby.
Ms. Granger looked confused. “I’m sorry about your father,” she said, eyes downcast, clutching at the ledge of her desk for support. “But what about your mother? You haven’t been with her?”
Steeling myself against the rising swell of ugly emotions in my core, I said in a deadpan voice. “She abandoned me when I was very small.”
“No,” she said, shuffling her feet against the floor. “That doesn’t sound like her. Not to say that I knew her very well, but I’d assumed she’d gone into hiding. I always thought she would’ve taken you with her.”
Apparently not.
“You look so much like him,” she breathed, a glazed look of nostalgia in her eyes.
Not that I was any sort of expert on the subject, but by the way she spoke, and the inflection in her voice, and the antsy body language every time she mentioned him, I thought maybe she had been more than friends with him. Maybe she had loved him.
“Will you tell me about him?” I asked her, a burning sensation clawing its way up my throat. Moving very slowly, and trying to keep my breathing steady, I settled myself down into one of the desks near the door, hiding my shaking hands between my knees.
“I’d love to,” she responded with a faraway look. She sighed fondly, waving a hand gently through the air. “Where to begin…”
9
I was ecstatic and brooding all at the same time during the next day’s phys-ed training. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Ms. Granger told me about my father. Alistair Hawkins. Which made me Harper Hawkins.
I smiled through the pain as we ran laps around the academy. It wasn’t bothering me at all how far behind everyone else I was. Harper Hawkins. I liked it. But it felt strange and foreign on my tongue. Having gone so long without a last name it was super awkward to suddenly assume one.
I wondered if they’d update my file at the academy or if the teachers would start calling me Miss. Hawkins instead of just plain old Harper. I’d never assumed Leo and Lara’s last name, and they’d never forced me to take it. Just thinking about them made me feel guilty. I still hadn’t had a free second to find a way to contact them. They would be sick with worry by now.
I’d kill for one of our quiet nights by the campfire. The pacifying sounds of Lara’s guitar lulling me to sleep.
Ms. Granger told me a good deal about my father before it became too late and she had to get back to grading papers and I had to get to the dining hall before they shut down for the evening. I learned that my father went to this very same academy with Granger when they were both younger.
She told me he was a brilliant mind and a powerful witch.
I wasn’t surprised.
She told me his familiar had been a wolverine, and I’d stared at her in wonder. I never heard of someone having a wolverine as a familiar before.
But then again, I never heard of having two Enduran shifters as familiars either…
Like father like daughter?
It became more and more obvious that Granger had had more than just friendly feelings for my father by the way she spoke of him, and how sad and forlorn she seemed when remembering he was gone.
If I was being completely honest—I was jealous.
I wished I’d had the chance to know him, but now I never would. All I would ever know was what I heard through the stories of others. I had to admit, though, it was more than I had before.
But there was one thing about what she’d said that was bothering me. She told me she assumed my mother went into hiding. But why would she need to hide? I mean, I knew witch and human relationships were frowned upon, but the Council wouldn’t have punished her. The worst they would have done would’ve been to erase her memory of my father being a witch, and all associated memories.
Isn’t that what she wanted? To forget?
Isn’t that why she abandoned me all those years ago?
Bianca came out of nowhere, falling into stride next to me. I nearly tripped over a raised piece of flagstone but managed to maintain my balance, stumbling back into a jog.
“Hey,” she said, and I couldn’t help but notice how she wasn’t even close to out of breath yet. “I missed you at dinner last night.”
After a quick bite, I’d snuck off to take a shower and didn’t make it back to our shared room until after lights out. Thank goodness I’d remembered the sigil for illuminating dark places or I never would have found our door.
“I was in Granger’s class for a while,” I replied, and suddenly the need to tell someone about what I discovered overwhelmed me. “She knew my dad,” I blurted through labored pants. And then I realized I hadn’t really told Bianca all that much about myself. Where I knew she had two younger brothers, and that Headmaster Sterling was her uncle—she knew almost nothing about me. Because that’s how I’d wanted it.
“I—I never got a chance to meet him. He died when I was just a baby, and my mom left after that.”
If I was going to try this whole friend thing, it would probably help if she knew who I was.
The soles of our shoes slapped the flagstone pass in unison, and I watched as Bianca’s face contorted before she recovered her composure and waited for a few of the other runners to pass before she responded.
Kendra tossed us a dirty look over her shoulder as she passed. Her familiar, a beady-eyed crow, cawed sharply at us from above. “Both my parents are gone, too,” she said once Kendra was out of earshot. “They died when I was eight. My uncle is my guardian now.”
But I had seen the photographs of her parents, and of her and her friends… pictures taken when she was younger. I could be so daft sometimes.
I judged her before I even knew her. Maybe we did have a little more in common than I thought.
“I’m sorry.”
Bianca shook her head, her light blonde ponytail bobbing at the back of her head. Her hair somehow still managed to shine even though the sky was horribly overcast and a dull shade of gray.
There was no sign of the sun anywhere. In fact, it looked like it might rain. I wondered if that would get us out of running laps, or if they’d make us do it anyway. “At least I got to know my parents before they passed,” she offered.
True.
“And the little boys I saw in the pictures in our room?”
She smiled a little at the mention of them. “They’re with the nanny full-time,” she said with a half-smile. “But I get to visit them sometimes on weekends. I’m actually going to see them tomorrow.”
Weekends?
“Does everyone get to leave campus on weekends?”
Bianca shrugged. “If they want. A lot of them portal home, but some stay back here to study.”
The weekend was tomorrow. But, without a parental guardian on the outside, I’d never be allowed to leave.
I groaned inwardly, sighing my frustration.
“Guess you don’t get to leave, huh? You don�
�t even have, like, guardians that can sign you out or something?” A note of pity had crept into her voice, but when I dared a glance at her face, I saw only empathy and understanding.
I really didn’t want to lie to her again, but it wouldn’t technically be a lie since Leo and Lara had never formally became my guardians. They were just the people who took me in.
I made a mental note to ask Elias how to do a communication spell so I could send them a message. I’d have to get outside the ward surrounding the academy to do it though. “No,” I replied, near breathless from the exertion of running. “It’s just me.”
“I get that. Sucks, doesn’t it?”
“Less talking and more running!” The phys-ed instructor shouted at us as we passed him, blowing his whistle loud enough to make my ears sting.
Bianca stopped, and I slowed to a walk beside her. “Mr. Ironside, may I be excused to use the ladies room?”
Why hadn’t I thought of that?
Ironside begrudgingly nodded his assent, and Bianca turned back for only an instant to throw me a wink before she skipped off back toward the academy.
“New girl,” Ironside shouted. “Get moving!”
He blew his whistle again, and I resisted the urge to flip him the bird before speeding up ever so slightly into the slowest jog known to man.
Not more than a few moments later a ghost-like prickle stroked the back of my neck. The small hairs there stood on end. My brows pulled together, and my fingers tingled. Someone was watching me.
I whirled around, whipping my head in the direction of the trees bordering the academy grounds. It only took me a second to find them.
Two huge wolves watched me from behind the bushes. One bared its teeth, and the other snapped before it sank back, disappearing behind the leaves. A second later a sandy blonde-haired male rose from behind the bush. Naked.
I slowed, trying not to trip. My gaze darted around in front and behind me. But it seemed the rest of the class had moved on. Already around the next corner.
I stopped and stared. My pulse thrummed in my chest like the beating wings of a bird taking flight. The one in his human form looked pissed right the fuck off. Even at this distance, I could see how his gaze narrowed and his shoulder muscles flexed. And… how rock hard and tense his abs were. Damn, was that a six-pack or an eight-pack? And his skin! Perfectly tan.
If only that bush wasn’t so high. A few inches shorter and I’d be seeing a lot more than just sexy man chest.
The pull connecting us through the bond tugged at a spot just below my breastbone. The male grimaced, and I wondered if he could feel it, too.
And then as quickly as he’d shifted a moment before, he changed back into wolf form. They both stepped out from behind the brush, staring at me intently before they turned to walk slowly into the forest.
I don’t know how I knew, but I just did—they wanted me to follow them.
A movie reel of myself being torn apart by giant claws and sharp fangs flashed through my mind and my toes curled inside of my tennis shoes. A sound like a whimper crept through my lips as I bounced on my feet, unsure what to do.
I would have to decide fast. The rest of the phys-ed class would be coming around the corner in less than a minute and then I wouldn’t be going anywhere.
Shit!
My feet started moving before I consciously told them to do it. I’d have to trust that they would at least hear me out before going straight to the biting part. Endurans weren’t inherently bad. Or small minded. No matter what bitch-face Kendra seemed to think.
If I told them I was looking for a way to sever the bond, maybe they would just leave me alone. At least for now. Until I delivered on my promise.
I gulped down my fear and smothered my anxiety in clenched fists. And then I followed them into the trees.
I knew I was getting closer when an intense feeling of relief washed over me, and my senses sharpened, as though someone had taken a whetstone to them as I walked. I pushed my shoulders back and stood straighter, not even realizing I’d been slouching, or how draining being apart from my familiars had made me.
I’d forgotten about that part.
Now that the bond had begun to form, I’d feel weakened without them near. And they’d find it physically painful to be parted from me. Yet another reason for them to want to kill me
Great.
I carefully stepped over a moss-covered log, squealing as a giant toad hopped out from under my feet. I was deep into the canopy of trees now. No one from the academy would be able to see me, but I thought if I screamed loud enough, they’d be able to hear me at least.
Almost there. I heard a strange cracking sound, and then a movement over the earth. I shoved a few branches out of the way, ducking low to avoid a thick bow. When I came up on the other side there they were.
All the oxygen left my lungs in a great whoosh. Not in their animal forms, the two Endurans sat atop a tall boulder. They were dressed in nothing but loose shorts. Barefoot and bare chested.
They watched me with animalistic precision as I stepped lightly out of the shadow of the tree and into the gray light filtering down through the canopy of leaves to dapple the forest floor.
This was a bad idea. I stood staring, perfectly still. Afraid moving might break the spell and they’d attack.
But how could something so beautiful be so dangerous? The two Enduran shifters sitting lazily atop the boulder, arms resting atop knees and heads cocked, could’ve been gods.
The one on the left had dark caramel hair and thick brows that shrouded narrow yet bright green eyes. Stubble shadowed his jawline, and his meaty shoulders narrowed to a slim, tight waist. And even though he was sitting, the length of his bent legs gave away the truth of his height. He would stand at least a head taller than me, if not more.
The other one let loose a low growl in his throat. He was the one who’d shifted before. With hair closer to blonde, and even more muscle than his friend.
I struggled to catch my breath, unsure what to do or what to say.
The blonde one jumped down from the boulder, took two quick steps toward me until we were face-to-face, and I was cowering back from him, magic shooting up from the earth into the soles of my feet, snaking out through every one of my veins. I reined it in, not wanting to start an unintentional fight.
The Enduran’s muscles bulged as he flexed, and his eyes seemed to glow as he leaned in close. “I’d start talking if I were you,” he snarled, a thick vein protruding out from his neck, pulsating with pent-up energy. “Give us one good reason why we shouldn’t tear you apart,” he roared in a deep timber, the sound reverberating around us.
I flinched.
The other man, still sitting atop the boulder, hopped down to join his friend. I had been right, he was tall. And stood towering over me. I’d never seen an Enduran this close-up before. Hell, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen an Enduran at all. They mostly kept to themselves. Made their homes deep in uninhabited forests.
“I…” I started, but the word stuck in my throat. I wasn’t sure what to say. It was plain to see they were looking for a very specific sort of response, and I was afraid of what might happen if I didn’t give them what they were after.
The taller one crossed his arms over his chest, the veins plainly visible through his skin. “Start by telling us what the hell happened. What did you do to us?”
Did they really not know?
Steeling myself against the raucous of emotion and the trembling in my knees, I swallowed, saying in the strongest voice I could. “We bonded. But—but it wasn’t my fault. It’s not like, well… I mean, witches—we don’t have a say in in who we bond to,” I said, the words spewing out in a jumbled rush.
The two men shared a look, and I caught their scent of whiskey and cedar. With an undertone of something more heady. An animal smell.
I could tell I’d confirmed their worst nightmares were true. They had already known, and were likely as unwilling to accept it as I was.
<
br /> “We’ll have to take you to Atlas,” the one with the caramel colored hair said. “He’ll know what to do.”
Take me? No.
I can’t let them take me anywhere.
Think Harper, think.
I bit the inside of my cheek, looking up at them. “I don’t know who Atlas is, but I can tell you if he isn’t a witch, he won’t know what to do.”
The more muscular one grabbed me by my shoulders. His fingertips stabbed into my skin. “You’re coming with us,” he snapped, a furious glimmer in his eyes. Eyes, I couldn’t help but notice were the color of parched summer soil, with lighter flecks that shone like sunlight through honeyed bourbon. Somewhere between brown, gold, and amber.
I let my magic radiate over the surface of my skin, careful to keep a firm hold on it. It zapped him where his hands gripped me, and I was able to wriggle out of his grasp and shove him away. He looked taken aback at my strength—or maybe he’d felt it, too—the shudder when my bare palms met his bare chest. My pulse slowed, and there was this sensation of utter relief. A meeting of souls.
I replaced the wonderment and confusion with anger at what he’d just done. Allowing venom to seep into my voice. “I am not going anywhere with you,” I hissed, glaring at the pair of them. “I’ll find a way to sever the bond. Only a witch can do it.”
The one on the left barked a pained laugh. “I can think of a few other ways to sever it,” he said maliciously. “But I don’t relish the thought of killing you. Whatever this bond has done to us…” he trailed off. “Besides, killing you might piss off the Council and our pack doesn’t need that shit.” He dropped his intense stare, sighing sharply.
“Just give me time,” I implored them. “And you need to stay away from the academy, if anyone else finds out what happened, I don’t know what they’d do.”
Not to mention, they wouldn’t like shifters skulking around in the woods so close to the academy grounds.
The other one clenched his fists as he turned to look at me. “Easier said than done,” he growled, never breaking eye contact with me. “We can’t stay away for more than a day without some thing drawing us back here.” He kicked a large rock and it soared through the air like a soccer ball, smashing loudly against a tree somewhere far into the woods.