Bewitched: A Paranormal Academy Romance

by Victoria Mercier

  The teacher started speaking about the duality of shifter’s minds. On one side, we were unaccustomed to follow orders, but on another side, following the most dominant shifter gave birth to clans. There were more important bits of information, but I lost interest in them when I saw Rocco scratch his left palm. That was an understatement. I freaked out. No, no, no, no, no. NO! It can’t be Rocco. Why out of all people it must be him?!

  “What’s the matter?” Eureka whispered. “Your face…”

  “Speak up,” the teacher said. Eureka twitched and pointed her finger at herself. “Yes. You.”

  “I am sorry.”

  “In that case, come forth and demonstrate us, your transformation into a wolf form.”

  “Here?”

  “Are we allowed to shift here?” Ava came to Eureka’s rescue. I was too stunned to open my mouth. And that glint in his eyes. Not knowing was infuriating, but the notion of him being the one… Not him, please. Yes, he was outrageously handsome and his body made my mouth fill with water.

  “This class is about the shifting, miss Frostbolt.”

  To her credit, Eureka got to her feet and strode to the center where she swiftly transformed into a wolf. On the size spectrum, she edged more to the smaller end. She snarled, making a circle. Everyone, except Rocco, pushed their chairs away from her. In a shifter’s form, our speed and strength were greatly enhanced. If Eureka decided to attack, someone might die. The teacher didn’t seem concerned though.

  “Now, this is telling,” he said. “An average shifter should possess enough control to keep its wolf from launching an attack. My job is to make your control excellent.”

  He walked around his desk with intention of approaching Eureka. She spun toward him, showing her fangs. He gave her a respectable space.

  “Two meters is the benchmark. If I make another step she’d attack. Our job is to decrease this distance.”

  “Isn’t that against our nature?” Rocco asked. “We’re dominant and should increase the distance.”

  The teacher gave him a sideways look.

  “An old custom. Blackfang clan nurtured it because they liked when clans were at each other throat. The alpha king feared unity. And speaking of alphas, they also don’t want other dominant shifters in their clan.”

  “So, your idea is to mold me into a submissive shifter, which others can pat on the head?”

  “No. What I am trying to achieve here is to make you so strong that you can keep your wolf reined even in the most threatening situations.”

  “It doesn’t sound to me as such,” Anais Venturo added. Rocco didn’t appreciate her support and I suspected why. With Ryder and Imperia around, he’d have been ridiculed for getting help from a female shifter. I really hope … he isn’t the one. How could I love someone so dumb and angry? I’d never be able to look into Gabriel’s eyes.

  “It doesn’t need to.” The teacher’s replied to her offhandedly, indicating that the discussion was over. Her mouth opened and closed a few times before her head snapped to the other side and since then she was blissfully quiet. “However, this isn’t always a case. I assume that most of you can do the same. But what you may already know each shifter has a unique trigger that makes the wolf wrestle the control out of you. You won’t remember anything until you shift back hours later.”

  Holly moon. This is what happened to me! I’ve never lost control in my wolf form until I came here. What was my trigger?

  Chapter 26

  After Wolf Control class I meant to have a two-hour break. But because I was a High-Rank adept, one hour was Spells and another one had listed Other Duties. Only five minutes break between them! Eureka borrowed me her map. I threw mine away. She and Ava decided to accompany me to Spells class. Eureka was in a good mood after she turned back into a human. I understood what she was talking about. Being in a human form caused us to accumulated a sort of energy we could only release in our wolf forms.

  “What’s your triggers?” I asked when we found the class. They stopped before the door.

  “Greyberries,” Ava said.

  “Woah, you actually know it,” Eureka said before I gathered my own answer.

  “Yes. My father’s very strict about that kind of stuff. He wants to know everything about everything." I could see where Ashley got her impressive knowledge from.

  “Do you know your trigger, Cora?” Eureka inquired. I had no idea and I told them so. After that, we promised to meet once the school day was over and we parted our ways. I entered the class. It smelled of burned meat and pain. Relief washed over when I found a student with a bandaged arm and a teacher standing above him. Everyone else was plastered to the walls. The class had no desks or chairs.

  “You’re late,” the teacher said with a noble mannerism. She wore an elegant grey dress with a white belt draped around her waist. She was a pretty brunette, maybe ten years older than me. “And you missed my favorite opening.”

  “Sorry, I just got out of my other class,” I replied offhandedly as I moved toward a wall.

  “Stop,” she said, and only after invisible chains took hold of me, I realized that she cast a spell on me. “You must be our only first-year High-Rank. I wonder what are you capable of.”

  An hour later I got out of the class with minor injuries and burns. The woman, her name Allison Hunterstar, was insane. She’d thrown spells around and expected us to defend ourselves. I didn’t need to say that I’d failed miserably. I got my sorry ass to the room that indicated Other Duties. What did the academy cook for me? As I followed the map, the corridors changed around. Paintings started decorating walls, flowers appeared in large pots next to doors. I met fewer students and more teachers here, who gave me questioning looks. Eventually, I got there. The mahogany door was polished to a gleaming level and the corridor resembled more of the palace than the academy.

  A knock on the door brought to life echoes that sounded even after my mother’s sister opened the door.

  “Come in.”

  I did as she instructed. Her office was nice, black shiny walls, a high ceiling, and chairs with oversized backrests. I looked at the floor and found the black marble with gold veins mesmerizing. Strangely, there was no desk here. She beckoned me toward the fireplace that crackled happily.

  “We started on the wrong foot.”

  It was an understatement but I didn’t wish to stand and argue with her.

  “We did.”

  “Those flames resemble her. Always hungry, but their crackle is filled with so much happiness and joy.”

  “They consume and destroy everything at the same time.” I didn’t mean to say it. But the words seemed fitting.

  “Yes. She did that too. Did your parents tell you why the war started? Why they were betrayed?”

  I shook my head, not ready for this. I had too much on my plate. I wasn’t sure if I could deal with more. And yet, I said nothing, waiting for her to reveal the secret my father had always claimed to not know.

  “Warlic Blackfang was a madman. An alpha king who reveled in blood magic. The population of shifters was quickly plummeting and discord amongst the clans was unbearable. The shifter academy was all about who was stronger. Your mother was always in opposition. She claimed to have a vision of something she called a Dream Flame. Somehow, she managed to find a way to create an alliance with Diremoon’s biggest rival clan – Goldfury.” My aunt’s face looked so much like my mother’s and yet her eyes. Wait… Did she say a Dream Flame? Visions? Could it be?

  “Their alliance shook Shifter Island and left Blackfang clan no choice but to attack them. And this how the war started.”

  “What? Why were we exiled then?” I remembered the words of the guards who had let me out. My father was a good man. He’d stopped the slaughter.

  “Because you’re destined to destroy Shifter Island.”

  “We were forsaken because of some tarot card trick…” my voice trailed off because the visions I’d received earlier now filled my head with fire and scream
s. In it, Shifter Island was dying at the hand of Diremoon. I stumbled back, almost falling, if not for the surprisingly quick reflexes of my aunt. She lowered me on the floor. Through her head, I saw futures that split leading me to different endings.

  “What’s wrong, girl?”

  “Future is full of destruction.”

  Just then the room was rocked by a powerful shock. The headmaster jumped to her feet and grabbed the old fashion telephone.

  “Arthur? What was it?” she said over the phone. “Impossible.”

  I didn’t hear what the alpha king replied but deep inside me, I sensed the truth. The Second Ring was falling. The Greater Evils would soon get through. And we were on the timer. And I still don’t know who is my … my mysterious kisser.

  “Can you stand up?”

  My head swam but I got up nonetheless.

  “The Second Ring was severely damaged.”

  “Why were we exiled?” I asked her, ignoring the shocking news. I needed to sit down to dive onto a floor again.

  At first, she looked as if she misunderstood my question then, she nodded, regaining composure.

  “This what you called ‘some tarot trick’ had revealed the arrival of fated mates from Goldfury and Diremoon. Although Arthur doesn’t know all the facts, what we told him was enough to banish you from Shifter Island.”

  My brain stopped on ‘fated mates’, everything after that was distorted. So, the mysterious kisser must be one of the Goldfury brothers. One of the four. Gabriel. Ryder. Rocco. Hunt. One of them was the man I longed to be forever with

  My aunt was either extremely smart or she had been involved in the inner workings of this mess.

  “It happened already, right?” I missed the proud note in her voice. Honestly, I missed too many cues and committed a blunder after a blunder.

  “In the garden.”

  “Who’s your fated mate?”

  I lifted my eyes and found her smiling. My mother rarely smiled. Actually, I don’t remember her ever smiling.

  “I don’t know. We didn’t reveal our identities to each other. He fled.”

  “Do you have any inclination what having a fated mate means?”

  I had no idea so I shook my head.

  “Only a few fated mates appear each century. They are harbingers of important events. It is said that their love is eternal but so is their conflict if things don’t work out.” She placed her hand on my shoulder and added. “I need you to find out who is your fated mate and make sure to never speak of this to anyone else. If the alpha king gets the wind of this, he’ll execute you without a trial. And I want to know everything you had seen in your visions.”

  Chapter 27

  The rest of the classes went uneventfully or rather my mind was so numbed that everything around was dulled. Eureka and Ava waited accompanied by Ashley in the lobby. They immediately launched into a discussion about the attack. Two hours after it’d occurred, the academy officially confirmed what happened. On my way to meet the girls, I’d overheard claims that the Second Ring would not withstand another attack, the academy would be shut down, we all gonna be killed and worse. Each student had their own theory. Eureka and Ashley weren’t different in that regard. Only Ava seemed unusually quiet. The academy was opened until late hours and Eureka talked us into going to a bar. It was a short way from the lobby. The academy had everything – a library, swimming pool, gym, and special rooms that imitated forest and one with spell-resistant walls. It shouldn’t surprise me to find a bar inside a restaurant inside the shifter academy.

  The place was elegant with matt finish surfaces and high attention to detail. The well-lit bar was situated in the middle of the restaurant.

  “I’ll find seats,” Ashley whispered, and like a ghost fled.

  Our trio approached the bar. A guy with a genuine smile welcomed us, inquiring about the orders. It was the kind of job a Low-Rank shifter landed after the academy. Nonetheless, it didn’t seem like he cared at all.

  Ava and Eureka ordered booze while I decided to choose juice. Thinking of alcohol caused havoc in my stomach. As we walked to the table where Ashley waited for us—a nice place next to a large darkened window overseeing a field beyond the wall—my feet were rooted in the ground. Three tables from ours stood Anais, vividly complaining to a stunning black-haired beauty enjoying a drink. But these two weren’t what caused my legs to give out. With them was Hunt. Though he didn’t seem to be invested in the conversation between the ginger chick and her pretty friend, his presence there was strange. What could some like Hunt do with Anais? That idiot girl had anger management issues. And now she noticed me…

  “What do you stare at?”

  “Don’t worry. You’re the last person I want to look at.”

  My answer came sharp and without a thought. It also caused Hunt to look my way. I wasn’t sure if his golden eyes didn’t make me wet myself. We didn’t see each other since our arrival on the island. I didn’t expect to feel this much heat between my legs. In the corner of my eye, I saw Eureka’s large eyes and her palm covering her mouth. She liked my quip. Ava was a different story. Ashley’s eyes were cast down.

  “You better be careful how you speak to me!” Anais huffed with anger like a dragon from old stories. I didn’t see a point in arguing with her so I shrugged and joined my friends. Hunt’s stare didn’t leave me for a second.

  “That was dope!” Eureka whispered. “I wish Silkblood had a backbone like your clan.”

  “You aren’t giving your clan enough credit.”

  “Don’t encourage her,” Ava said to me. “She’s foolhardy enough to do something she might regret.”

  Eureka’s counter-argument was interrupted by a slap against our table. Anais was as red as blood and her wolf appeared near the surface almost wrestling control out of her. I smelled its fur. My wolf responded.

  Fight?

  No.

  “Excuse my sister,” the black-haired beauty put a hand on Anais’s shoulder gently pulling her back. “The first day in the academy turned out different to what she expected.” Sister? How could these two be sisters? They were so much different. Anais wasn’t exactly ugly but she was less than average. Her sister was a dream come true of every girl out there. Excluding Imperia. That girl is the cutest being in the universe.

  Anais spun to face her sister and hissed, “What are you doing? Do you have an idea who this is? This is the Moonless bitch!”

  Speaking of having no guts… Eureka was on her feet.

  “Who do you call a bitch?”

  “And she’s already converting people to her side.”

  Hilarious. Anais was my age and yet she was a child. My eyes gravitated toward Hunt who upon seeing my attention, turned his head away. The black-haired noticed this and said, completely ignoring her sister, “You must be Cora Diremoon. I heard that Hunt and his brothers saved you from ferals in the Badlands. Why don’t you go and say ‘hi’ to him?” Is this for real? She just called me by my true clan name. Who is this girl? And more importantly, what is between her and Hunt?

  “Who are you?” I whispered.

  Ava grabbed my hand said, “This is Catherine Venturo.”

  Her name meant nothing to me except that she was a sister of Anais.

  “Thank you for the introduction, young lady,” Catherine Venturo said but she couldn’t be much older than us. Although she didn’t wear a school uniform, but neither did Hunt. “So what would you say about a dinner tomorrow after school? I am very curious about life outside Shifter Island.” When I didn’t answer, Catherine took it for confirmation, grabbed her sister, and retreated from our table.

  “Oh, boy,” Eureka muttered. “No one in my clan will believe me.”

  “I think, I changed my mind. I will have a drink too.”

  *

  If not for Ava, I’d end up completely drunk and mess up everything again. She was a level-headed chick, so she pulled me off the edge of the pit I was going to fall into. But it raised questions. And I h
ad no chance against the interrogation skills of my three friends. The restaurant wasn’t the safest place to talk about my problems as wasn’t my flat. We got to Ava’s and Ashley’s place as their flat was way more spacious. It turned out that their clan was one of the few hunting the polar zone of Shifter Island, amassing substantial wealth.

  Their flat had three bedrooms, a nicely-furbished kitchen, and a lively living room with plants looking frozen. Ava grabbed a bottle of orange liquid and put it on the polished-glass table.

  “We aren’t finished with decorating it,” Ashley supplied. “We plan to repaint the walls to a white and blue. Green isn’t our thing. Also, the flowers, we want to replace them with polar orchids…” It turned out that once Ashley was back in the safety, her personality transformed into a much more open person. And as she spoke, explaining how the sisters planned to make the flat a frigid cold place for anyone who didn’t live in a polar zone, we grew calm. She really flourished in this kind of environment. I listened to her, not seeing that I stalled. Ava and Eureka noticed it right away and were merciless.

  “Cora,” Ava said, waving the glass beneath her nose. When did she change her clothes? “Cora.” She repeated when I didn’t react.

  “Yes?”

  “What’s going on?”

  I started to panic a little. My eyes jumped from Ashley to Eureka to Ava. The expectation on their faces was palpable. They really want me to tell them the truth. But I can’t do this. My aunt warned me to stay silent about the fated mates. Ava put the glass with the orange liquid into my hands, raising her eyebrows and making a circular gesture with her palm. I was melting inside.

  “C’mon, Cora. Tell us!” Eureka’s excitement was contagious and I fought to not feel it but I couldn’t hold it off for long.