by S. L. Morgan
“Besides the quest will be so much fun.”
“Silvers,” Dominic’s voice was now grating on my nerves. I never hated my last name so much until right now. “Over here.”
I walked next to Dominic and clamped my mouth shut. The words I had for him wouldn’t help me later when I made my request of him for the quest. “You need to lock it up mentally and right now. Fluffy talk about BFFs staying under me as their master and cheerfully going on a grueling quest like we’re going sightseeing isn’t what I want to hear from any of you.”
“Got it,” I said.
“Good,” he answered. “Now, get to it and get it done. Make that shifter work so you can appreciate a good victory.”
“Yes, sir,” I said in a subservient student tone, but the truth was, I was mocking the jerk and the only people who really knew that were any of the idiots intruding on my mind right now.
“First up will be the highest scoring and ranked shifter from Master Scott’s unit, Seth Waters. He will be challenging Head Master Dominic’s choice for his top shifter, Jenna Silvers,” the announcer started as I walked into the arena and sized up the red-haired shifter. The kid was scrawny but agile, sneaky, and quick. Foxes were like that. They weren’t built big, but damn they could move and take you down with a cheap shot you never saw coming. I watched Seth’s green eyes, and the usual friendly dude had a fierce expression—like a ready to rip my freaking throat out expression—on his face. “This is the one and only challenge that the winner will not have to challenge any other shifters. The loser will be forced to challenge Master Finley and Master Ian’s top-ranked shifters.” The crowd booed because it was stupid. Why would the winner challenge another top shifter? It made zero sense. Scott didn’t even win last night. The two top shifters were Ian and Dominic. Shouldn’t their top shifters fight and that could determine a single winner? Or more than that, shouldn’t each master’s top shifter fight each other for the top position? Dumb.
“Alright, let all of your extra credit points begin. Today will be an all-day event. Concessions are open and House Braeclaw thanks all of you for attending our shifter face-off,” Professor Samson said.
Now…the fight was on. I couldn’t lose. I had too much to gain if I won. Sadly enough, I felt like I had to gain Dominic’s freaking trust again. My lame, fake boyfriend, Head Master Dominic.
Well, pressure was the name of my game, so peace out, little fox shifter. No hard feelings, but you’re about to go down.
Chapter Twenty-One
In true fox nature, Seth’s first shot was a cheap one. We had been in somewhat of a stand-off, pacing in a circle, and we eventually started drawing in closer and closer. As soon as I took a leading step forward, Seth attacked with a misleading punch, giving him the ability to sneak his heel around my straight leg, and he buckled my knee from behind. I regained my balance, but it came at the price of a soft punch to my chin.
The rules went like this: Everything was fair game, even cheap, sneaky fox shots. The only things that could get you penalized for or could possibly end the match were kicks or punches to your opponent that could lead to serious physical injury. It was basically like a soft-touch fight challenge, which was tricky in and of itself because it wasn’t natural to hold back any form of strike, jab, or kick. If I injured the dude—which could happen with the current mood I was in—I would be disqualified.
I had this working against me because I was fighting like a total idiot…like I was afraid of the opponent, and if I was honest with myself, I was. I was scared of knocking his butt out, wishing it was Dominic’s face I was punching right now. I had to direct my anger into stealthier moves, not powerful combat.
Damn it. Another blow to my chin because my brain was elsewhere. Focus Jenna! I spun around, ducked, and sent a sweeping leg under Seth’s feet. Fox shouldn’t have planted both feet at once, that move put him in a crippling fall, but I did what Dominic requested. I let the fox get up instead of using my maneuver to pin him and force him to tap out, allowing me to win the challenge. If I wanted to seem trustworthy to go on quests, I had to prove I had stamina, could follow the rules, and win a long match, pretty much showing off every defense and attack move I had in me.
Seth threw a jab to my face since that was becoming his most successful attack, but this time I dodged it, slid past his lunge, and lightly struck his lower back. Instead of a hard straight arm into his lower back, me succeeding in that soft strike was just the confidence I needed to get through this without being disqualified for injuring Seth.
The match became a fun game at that point. I baited Seth with certain moves to study how he would react to them. I threw some punches and low kicks, observing his defense and counter strike techniques. He was a fox through and through. He moved like one, snuck up on you like one, smiled before he struck—giving himself away—and danced around a lot. This could be easy now because I had his style down and already knew how I’d win this match.
The fox would go down by me tricking him into believing he had the final position to deliver the winning takedown. So as we danced around, pivoted, and ducked each other’s punches, I slowly gained more points by beating out his obvious strikes and counters to mine. This dude loved to fight on his feet, so letting him take me to the ground was where I’d beat him.
Fighting on the ground was the most difficult since your opponent could overpower you if you got locked up the wrong way with them. This was something that took me a while to learn, and having had Tan’s muscle and larger frame to practice ground fighting with in the past, I’d gotten pretty good at it.
Fox and I had been at it for at least ten minutes, and I could tell we were starting to repeat things. That was boring for spectators and boring for me. The fox was boring, period. They loved to be on their feet and weren’t very creative when it came to fighting. It was turning into the same old stuff, which made me question how this dude could have been Scott’s best.
Time to end the fight.
I locked my back leg out, knowing Head Master Dom hated when I did that, and let the fox slide his way in and take me down after putting all my weight on my back leg for the high kick. Seth took the bait, my leg buckled, and I fell to the ground. Seth remained on his feet and sent a foot to my face while my eyes were closed. I heard and felt his back foot dig into the ground—without the help of my wolf, she was still not talking to me—and the wind swooshed behind his heel as it headed toward my face. Freaking foxes and their face strikes.
With my eyes closed, I caught his ankle just before his foot touched me. An attack like this, while I was on the ground, was known as a finish attack. If we were in hard combat, this would’ve knocked me out, and that’s exactly how they scored this attack. Catching the foot before it touched me saved me from losing and threw the fox off. I watched his eyes widen then felt the force behind his foot as he pushed with all his strength to get that last inch, touch my face, and win. Seth’s face got red and started shaking, putting everything he had into this and not realizing how vulnerable the rest of his body was.
This was how Dom baited his buddy Ian in last night, except Dom had a sparring stick he was holding off, and I had an angry fox’s foot I was holding off. I pulled the foot up and away from my face, rolled, and dragged my outer leg behind his stiff one. Seth fell and crashed so hard I heard something crack. Not my fault! Dude set himself up for an injury not being prepared to go to the ground. I felt bad, but I had to get him to tap out and end this. Oddly enough, the crowd got excited again over someone getting hurt. Messed up.
I rolled behind Seth, who was trying to get up, brought an arm under his shoulder, and locked it with my other hand, clutching them together behind his head. He was now in front of me, and I wrapped my legs around his waist, sliding them between his legs and slowly stretching and spreading the fox apart.
“Dude, tap!” I struggled to say.
“No!”
“I’ve got you pinned. You let me take you in the worst way, you can’t get out o
“NO!” he tried to claw at me, but I had all his limbs stretched and locked. Any more pressure and I would be disqualified.
“Tap!” I ordered him.
“What are you doing?” Scott’s jerk voice screamed out. “The wolf is hurting my shifter. Disqualify her.”
“Call it now,” Dominic ordered the idiot that was refereeing us. “She’s got him down. He can’t get out of that move. Scott, tell him to tap before she does hurt him.”
“He’s still in this.”
“Nonsense,” I heard Dean Edgewater’s voice say smoothly. “He’s about to be disqualified for provoking his opponent to injure him.”
“Winner. Jenna Silvers, wolf shifter of Head Master Dominic Rossi,” the idiot scoring us and watching our every move finally shouted.
I shoved Seth off me. “You’re a real jerk, you know that?” I stood up and brushed the grass off me. “Stupid foxes. Predictable and stubborn.”
“It’s what keeps us on top, wolfy,” he snarled, springing to his feet. “I was getting ready to make my final move on you before they called it. You’re lucky you have Dominic as your boyfriend, and that’s why the dean had your back.”
I went to punch the idiot in the face, but my arm was caught. I turned, expecting it to be Dominic, but it was in the icy grips of Dean Edgewater. He smiled, “Don’t want to do the wrong thing after finally working so hard to win, now do you?”
It was the way he said it, the stupid fake smile on his face, and the tone that had me thinking behind my smile and fake thank you that the dude was onto me being concerned about his precious little Immortal Academy.
“I’ve got her. I’ll go over some things and then she can join her friends in the stands,” Dominic said, nodding to me. “Let’s go, Silvers.”
I walked by his side silently, eyeing everyone who thought I won this because Dom and the dean were on my side. I was pissed but still thankful I beat the slimy fox shifter. With the mood I was in, I was about to challenge the dude outside the arena and show him that this wolfy girl could knock his ass out tonight with no audience.
“You held your own. Great job,” Dominic finally said.
“Yeah. It looks like you and the dean won that for me, so thanks for the fake relationship that screwed me over today.”
Dominic’s lips tightened, and he exhaled. “I’m not going to baby you, Silvers, but I will instruct you that it’s wise to accept your victory, knowing personally how you achieved it. To allow opinions of the weaker shifters to rule your attitude is foolish.”
“I am done talking about it,” I said, knowing he was right, but still pissed he put me on everyone’s radar like this.
“I am too. Go find your crew and hang with them. You don’t have any more challenges today, but the team still has more competition to finish.”
He split after making sure I understood that I needed to continue to support the others on his team. I did, they all deserved to be rewarded for going into challenges today. I needed to get over myself and focus on the real plan…going with the masters on that quest.
Dean Edgewater smiled that eerie smile again, and I shut my thoughts off
immediately.
“Hey kid,” the voice belonged to Master Finley as she approached from behind me. “Gotta sec?” she asked after I turned back to her. “Whoa, you are upset, aren’t you?” she asked with a smile.
“I won that match fairly. If all of you want to think it was Master Dominic and the dean helping me, then I’m sorry.”
“I know you beat that fox fair and square. Pretty tough not punching a sneaky fox in the face, isn’t it?”
She smiled. I felt like maybe I finally had someone on my side, but my guard was still up. This was the first time this chick had said one word to me, and I was curious as to why she came after me, leaving her unit in Ian’s care. She had a look on her face that was more than just being in solidarity with another girl shifter, there was something behind her smile, her studying me, and her now clapping me on the back and encouraging me to continue walking next to a tree, off and away from everyone.
Maybe this chick knew something about Dominic and his cousin and was going to give me the big reveal? Could I even be that lucky? She definitely had my attention. Even if this girl talk had nothing to do with what I knew about Jessica’s murder, at least I could kiss her butt; hopefully, she’d then convince the other masters to take me on my escape mission…their quest. This might just be the real win I needed today.
Chapter Twenty-Two
She stopped at a stone bench, sat, and patted the empty part next to her for me to join her. Following my secret kiss-butt plan, I joined her with a slight smile.
“So how’d you managed to hold that fox in a choke without being disqualified for him not blacking out?” Master Finley asked.
“Keyword? Disqualified. I’ll take him out when no one's watching,” I softly laughed. “Dumb foxes will do anything to outsmart their competition, so I wasn’t shocked he’d sit there and ride out the chokehold.”
“True,” she stated factually. “Although, if he were truer to his nature, he would have slowed his vital signs down and acted like you blacked his sneaky butt out.”
“And stoop to the level of an opossum shifter? Doubt that.” I rubbed my hands over my legs. “Is there something you wanted?”
“Straight to the point kind of girl, huh?” She smiled, lighting up her rosy face. “I like you better already.”
“I didn’t mean that to come off rudely,” I quickly recovered. “I’m just wondering why you left your group to talk to me?”
“I’m curious as to why Dom has taken an interest in you, and you seem to hate him. It’s all bizarre, and people are watching you both.”
I held in my exasperated sigh. “I don’t hate Master Dominic, he’s just an alpha, and it’s obvious my inner wolf is a beta wolf who allows his command to follow him.”
I had no idea why I’d just said that, but it definitely felt like my inner wolf was now speaking on my behalf. Naturally, this crap would happen because I’d let my guard down with my wolf while I was kissing Master Finley’s butt.
She laughed in response and shook her head. “You’re lying to me. I don’t appreciate being insulted.”
I heard her command voice come out instantly, but I wasn’t backing down. “I don’t know why anyone cares what goes on between Dom and me …and I’m not lying. He just has that effect over me and my wolf.”
“I could see him having that effect over your wolf, but I also can see how you behave a little differently than any other shifter I’ve ever met. Your wolf is your most dominant force, but I sense more than that.”
Now, I was confused.
“What the hell does that mean?”
She smiled, her eyes narrowing at me. “You curse like it’s accepted at this school. A beta wolf—especially one under the command of a powerful alpha—would not bend or break the rules. She would stay true to her alpha’s command. Dom wouldn’t allow himself to be aligned with a female shifter who was,” her lips tightened, “let’s just say, out of line when it came to following rules.”
“I don’t know what you want me to say. Master Dominic has never given me an alpha command not to cuss. Sorry I let the word hell slip out.”
“You are feisty.”
I met her questioning eyes head on. “Listen, if you have a point for this conversation, I really need you to get to it. I’m pretty sure you’re not here just for chit chat.”
“I’m trying to figure you out is all,” she answered more sternly. “Not just the fact that Dom singled you out, but also why you seem to have your own alpha personality. You can try and say you don’t, but I sense it in you. Your wolf can’t be controlled, so either you’ve got more going on than a regular shifter or something else is up. Two alphas would never be attracted to each other, yet Dominic Rossi is with a shifter who displays alpha traits. It makes no sense.”
I stood, “It’s probably best you ask Dominic Rossi what he sees in me then because I was just as shocked as anyone else at this school that he plucked me out of the crowd, and the next thing I know…” I stopped, closed my eyes, and forced myself to say it. “The next thing I know, the one dude here I find irresistible is now my guy.”
“Yeah, Dom won’t whisper a word about relationships or his personal life to anyone. Even when we were in a quite serious relationship our senior year at Broken Bend Academy, he never allowed me in enough to catch a glimpse of that wolf he hides deep inside.”
She had my attention now. “You two dated? Is this some jealous ex-girlfriend conversation?”
“I’m the one who moved on from him if that helps answer your question.”
“Not really.”
“Listen,” she finally stood and eyed me, “I know Dominic well. I finally gave up on him after learning his heart was more involved with advancing here at Immortal Academy. He trained me while we were a couple, and I saw some of his skill in your fighting today. I also see how you’re doing things with him that I was never able to achieve.”
“Like what? I’m just a wolf shifter, no more no less. It’s not like we’re getting married tomorrow. He may dump me today, in a week, or a month. Who knows?”
“And that’s what makes this even more of a mystery to all of us.”
“All of us?” I urged.
“Don’t worry about it. I kind of have a feeling why Dom would single you out. You’re unique. There is more to you, and if you want to keep your secret safe, that’s fine.” She crossed her arms and smiled, “Just understand that if I’m picking up on it, others at this school will too.”
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