by S. L. Morgan
“If it’s not the man of the hour.” Professor Samuel leaned out and glanced over at Dominic, whose lips twitched in a smile to be respectful to his Headmaster.
Dom eyed me with a questioning look, then pulled his hands behind his back and stood at attention like the rest of the shifters. “We were just talking about how unique your and Jenna’s bond is, and how it all worked out. You’re what, twenty-one now, Rossi?”
“Yes, sir,” he said mechanically.
“So intense.” The room was silent, a smile played on Finley’s mouth while Scott looked down, trying not to explode into laughter. Ian, thank goodness, also managed to keep himself contained. “Anyway,” Samson sighed, and I swear the entire room let out a breath at the same time. “The masters are here to fill you in on what’s to be expected while they’re on their quest. They have documentation of the previous quest Master Dominic took at the beginning of this school year and wish to show you all what exactly these quests consist of. Rossi, go ahead and begin your video presentation.”
My head fell back against my high-back theater seat when the lights dimmed to show us the quest presentation. It felt like I had just come off of some adrenalin high as my tense muscles unwound from being flexed. I watched the screen and video through a camera Dominic wore on his head while going on this survival quest.
The video changed to the cameras of the other shifters who were with him that had graduated the year prior. They had chosen a Hidden Elements Quest, so this one revolved around beating the different kinds of fairies at their own game. It actually looked fun up until the fire part. For the first time in my life, I feared an element of the fae, and I couldn’t understand why. I cringed, felt my breaths shorten, and tears started streaming out of my eyes while I watched the shifters have to fight their way out of the fire as it consumed everything around them.
I had seen fire before, I’d freaking roasted marshmallows over a fire, watched someone cook me a dutch apple pie on a fire, so why the hell was I in complete panic mode over this fire that was eating its way through the forest? What the hell was wrong with me!
I stood up and rushed out of the back of the class. I ran to the ladies’ room, cupped water into my hands, and splashed it on my face.
“Get them out, Nikolas. Now!” I heard a terrified woman’s voice scream in my head.
“Baby, stay with me. I’ll be back,” a deep male voice responded.
“I love you all!”
I looked up in the mirror, and my irises had the same silver as Dom’s did when he used his alpha eyes on me. What the hell was happening? I gripped my head and had to escape the bathroom. I heard voices, I had Dom’s silver alpha-wolf eyes.
I slammed into the hard chest of the one and only Dominic. His arms steadied me as I tried to escape him but couldn’t. “Please, I have to get out of here.”
“You’re not going anywhere, what’s wrong with you?” he pulled me back, and his eyes widened at the sight of mine. “Jenna, what happened?”
“I don’t know. One second I have a panic attack in fear of fire from your quest, the next second, I hear terrified voices in my head. What did that bonding thing do to us last night?” I looked up at him, tears streaming down my cheeks.
He pulled me in for a tight hug, and I felt him rest his chin on my head that tucked neatly into his neck. “It’s going to be okay. I don’t understand how your eyes are in full-blown alpha attack mode right now, though.”
I rested my cheek against his chest, letting the gentle rhythm of his heartbeat soothe my own. I let out a breath and collapsed into him, needing his strength to hold me up. “I can’t explain any of this. Am I losing my mind? Even the professor said what happened between you and me, it doesn’t happen…but it did.”
“You need to relax a little.” He continued to rub my back, “I don’t know why it happened this way with us either. We just have to deal with it together.”
I pulled back and looked up into his sympathetic eyes, and for the first time, I saw a different person in Dominic Rossi. I sensed a caring and loyal man, not a jerk or some punk at the school. I saw someone I think I’d totally misjudged. Maybe my wolf was right the entire time, and my stubborn, judgy self got him all wrong.
He smiled—making this revelation worse—and touched his thumb under my eye. “Back to your normal eyes again.” He smirked. “We have enough crazy eyes on us already, we don’t need them all asking about my alpha wolf bonding with another alpha wolf because that really does not happen in any sense of the shifter world.”
“What’s going on with me?” I asked him.
“Could the pie-loving gal I’ve grown a little attached to be falling for her one true mate?” he wiggled his eyebrows in humor.
I reached up and touched his face. The velvety soft stubble highlighted his strong jawline and gave a perfect definition to his cheekbones. He was perfect, but more than that, his lame joke just reminded me of my friendship with Tanner. God, I missed that guy, but it was nice to be around someone just as goofy as him even for a fraction of a second.
“You okay?” he became serious again.
“I miss my friends,” I finally admitted to him.
“I bet you do.” His voice was low as he caught my hand and pulled it off his face. “I’m not them, though. Don’t do that to yourself.”
I looked past him, knowing he was right. Then my head snapped back up, “You know, don’t you? You know what’s going on.”
Dominic’s eyes widened, and he glanced around us. “I do. It’s crazy what happened to us. You will miss your friends because of our early bond.”
“Damn you, Dominic!” I shouted. “Just when I was cool with it all too.”
“Jenna!” he growled as I shot past him.
I was sick of this place, and I had to leave now. I wanted my friends back. I wanted this weird bond thing to go away, and most of all, I wanted to say every cuss word and then some just to piss this school off. I had to get my friends back and at least get us out of here.
I ran through the halls and was stopped when I darted out to House Braeclaw’s lawns and ran directly into Dean Edgewater’s creepy long frame. My thoughts cleared, and I felt sick. Like barfy sick. I mentally conjured up the emotion and then chucked it all up, sending a present right onto the creepy dean’s suit.
“Good grief, Jenna,” he said, repulsed by my butt-saving barf idea. “Dominic, get one of her classmates to bring her to the nurse. She needs to be evaluated. One might think you’ve mated, and that’s why we’re all sensing this bond.”
“Are you effing kidding me?” I said, insulted. “Of course that didn’t happen between us. You think I’m pregnant, you sick piece of—”
“I’ve got her. She’s having a hard time taking on some of my strong alpha traits is all. She means no offense to you with her foul mouth or regurgitation. I did push my students hard this morning,” Dom said, clamping his hand down on the back of my neck, stopping my mouth from sending me straight to the dungeons.
“You’re right, and you have Dominic to thank for that too, Miss Silvers. This accident, your profanity, and your disrespect will be forgiven only once before you do end up doing some time and learning some hard lessons.”
“Let’s go, Jenna.” Dominic’s voice was severe, and I needed a freaking break. Seriously.
“I can’t believe that jerk thought you and I actually mated last night.” I glared back at the man who was acting like I ruined a million-dollar suit.
“Well, you are acting wildly crazy right now.” Dominic looked at me, half annoyed. “Sheesh, calm the hell down, or we’re done. Why did you barf all over the dean of all people at this school?”
“I had to come up with something. I thought that was my best excuse to get away from him.”
“Stop being afraid of that guy. He reads into you better through fear, it’s like he feeds on it,” Dominic said under his breath. “This quest can’t come fast enough for you, and I’m making sure you feel it on this too. You need
to work out some crazy frustration right now. You’re starting to make me nervous, and I don’t get nervous.”
“I need pie,” I said, walking straight ahead and turning to head back to my dorms.
“I’ll sneak you some pie. You’re in Mistress Sirena’s class next, right?”
“How the heck are you going to get your hands on a piece of pie?” I questioned.
“I have my connections,” he shrugged with amusement.
I smiled. If this dude were willing to break the rules to get me some pie, I’d have to admit that he was a keeper. That offer was definitely the way to my heart.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The day dragged on at the pace of a sloth, and I felt I was literally going to lose my mind. Dominic and I tried to douse the spotlight on us by acting busy with other things—that was easier for Dom than me. While he was off with the masters and forming the quest objectives, I was stuck sitting next to my friends who only acknowledged me if they accidentally bumped into me or looked over at me.
I was reminded of the emotions I used to pick up on at Dark Water Academy. Those were gone completely, and it was most likely because I wasn’t on the same crazy juice as everyone else here. My wolf was pretty much my only companion at this point, but I wasn’t going to get sent to the insane fairy assylum if someone caught me sitting here alone talking to her.
It was best I didn’t talk anyway. I had four days until the quest. Edgewater told Dom he was looking forward to seeing how I did after this early bond thing between us. Score one point for me submitting to his wolf last night, other than that, the school was a walking nightmare for me.
“Quit tapping your fingers on the table!” Vannah said across from me while I was forcing myself to make the colors of the fae book black and white so I could read.
I glanced up at her, thinking she was back to old Vannah and giving me a hard time. My smile was met with an annoyed expression from her and her blue-haired fairy boy. “Sorry, trying to focus.”
“It’s annoying, Jenna.”
“I’m sorry. Maybe if you were your normal self, you’d actually help me study instead of getting all pissed off with the way I study.”
“Let’s go, Nick. She’s rude.”
I stood up, “You know what, I’ll leave. This grade-school BS is beyond my limits right now. I can’t do this anymore.”
“It’s on you, Jenna. You’re the reason it’s all turning out this way. Remember that!” she snapped while her glittery-skinned, elf boy glared at me.
Nice. Now, it’s official. No friends, period. I hate this freaking place, I thought, walking out of the library because I was in desperate need of fresh air. That chick in there was not Vannah. Not even on my worst day of acting like an annoying complainer was that Vannah. God, I missed her so much. What did this school do to her?
I walked around the back of the building and saw another body bag. The same one I saw that night I came upon Jess’s body out behind the Ageless Ball. I slammed my body against the wall when I saw the bag thrown onto the ground by two men in dark clothes. The older, gruff voices from that night were back and handling whoever was in that body bag.
Once they walked back into the back of the dark building hidden in ivy leaves, I used large bushes as my cover to go find out who this school just took out. I was stopped halfway there when the voices returned. I spread my hands quietly through the ferns I hid behind and saw another bag being carried out.
Holy shit! How many did they kill?
The two men who had shadow-black faces with no definition to them—like freaking demon dudes—took back off into the buildings. My heart was slamming inside my chest, but I had to know who was in the bags. Once their voices faded off into the distance, I continued forward. I had plenty of cover so I could do this.
I reached body bag number one, uncovered the face, and my eyes widened when I saw who it was. My heart leapt into my throat when my mouth was covered by a firm hand. I was pulled into a sturdy chest, and two lips were at my ear.
“Quiet,” Dom’s low voice was barely audible. “Shhh.” He worked to calm my heart that was hammering out of control while dragging me back and away from what I’d just discovered.
My eyes were filled with tears of fear and shock as Dom worked to get us both out of the danger zone.
“Follow me,” he said, his eyes mysterious and silver-lined with his wolf guiding our way back to safety.
Once we were out in front of the closest building, the library, I stared at him with horror. “That was red nails—Kat! Wait, what were you doing out here? Oh my God, they killed her!”
Dom’s hand covered my mouth, his eyes returning to his usual bronze ones. “You have to calm down, Jenna,” he ordered in the alpha tone that never worked on me.
I shook my head, protesting and wanting to scream in fear. I had to knock it off, or we were as good as dead too. I started breathing slowly through my nostrils, holding Dom’s hands that covered my mouth. I closed my eyes, feeling a tear slip down my cheek as my panicked state started to subside. I reopened them, and the brilliance of Dom’s amber-brown eyes and the comforting expression of patience he held for me steadied me.
“That’s it,” he nodded, his eyes intently focused on mine. “Just keep breathing like that. I’m going to remove my hand, but you can’t say a word until we get down to the eucalyptus trees. Got me?”
I nodded, and Dominic brushed his thumb over my wet cheek where my tears had slipped out one by one.
“I need you to focus, Silvers. They can’t find you like this,” he said softly.
I nodded and kept focused on his eyes. I started to feel more depth in them, comfort, and security. It was strange how it was washing over me, but I wouldn’t dare fight it.
Dom’s hand slowly slipped away from covering my mouth, but I kept my hands tight around his. I felt him readjust my clammy palms and cover both of my hands in his strong ones. “Still with me?” he whispered.
“Yes,” I stammered. “Let’s go.”
Dom turned, keeping one of my hands in his, and we both went into stealth mode. We rushed off to the eastern part of the school, walked through thick brush, and made a new trail out to the rainbow eucalyptus trees.
Once we were deeper into the trees than he’d brought me the first time, Dom stopped. He walked ahead of where I stood, staring blankly at him. I watched him brace himself by leaning over, his hands gripping just above his knees, breathing slowly.
“Jenna, you can’t breathe a word of this to anyone,” he said, staring at the flowery ground in front of him. “You can’t even think the thought. Have the fear. Nothing.” He rose up and looked at me. “Lives depend on both of us being able to keep our mouths shut.”
“Why?” was all I could manage to squeak out. I finally had someone to talk this out with, and why was the only freaking thing I could say?
“I don’t know. I have my suspicions, but I don’t know,” he said, looking up into the rainbow bark of the trees. “What I do know is we have to stay quiet until I can figure this shit out.”
“How many more will die before that happens? I saw whatever those things were. They had no face, all black like that shadow thing in my room that one night.”
Dom’s lips tightened. “It’s a dark force that’s working for someone at this school. I just don’t know who or why.”
“How long have you known? Did you know about Jess too?”
He looked at me in confusion. “Jess left…” he rubbed his forehead. “Ah, dammit. All I was told was she left the school, I swear it.”
“I saw her,” I choked out. “The night of the Ageless Ball. I saw her in the bag like I saw Kat.”
Dom’s hand slipped to the back of his neck, and he tilted his head to the side, studying me. “This school is determined that you and I merge our wolfs,” he said in shock. “Jess and I had something of a moment, so to speak, and the dean saw it. We weren’t getting together, but I think he thought that. God, it was just a stupid kiss, fl
irting leading to dumb things. I never had feelings for her, I think they killed her for that reason. It makes sense.”
“How the hell does that make sense? So what if you and Jess got together? Why would they want to kill her for it? And Kat? The other body, did you see who that was? God, if you’re getting chicks killed at this school—”
“No!” he shout-whispered at me. “Jess was a kiss, it was nothing more, but Kat? She wouldn’t shut up about how much she hated you. How much she hated us being somewhat bonded like we are. She begged me to use my wolf and break our bond. It was the most insane conversation I’d ever had. I don’t remember the name of the fairy who was with her, but she offered to toss in some fairy magic to make my wolf reject yours.”
“Are you freaking kidding me?” I seethed. “What the hell?”
“Yeah, I thought the same thing when they approached me. Edgewater saw it and probably heard it. Ethan felt the hatred toward you and warned me to stay away from Kat and her friends.”
“So Ethan is in on this?”
“God, no!” he let out a breath of frustration. “Somehow, Ethan is protecting you, and now me, from whatever in the hell is going on. Ethan picks up on things quickly, and he told me Kat will die if I don’t stop her from hating you.” He planted his hands on his hips. “It all sounded strange and harmless. E has a tendency to overreact, but he’s in hyperdrive lately since meeting you and arriving at this academy. I should’ve been listening to him and following his lead. Instead, I worried over him too much. I still have to. He’s in just as much danger if he loses it again. God, I hope he doesn’t sense their death. He tripped out the night you saw Jess. I had to have Lusa compel him to calm him down. It worked, but every time something sparks up here, he flips. That’s when I came across you and the bodies tonight. I was looking for him after he started mumbling under his breath. I thought I had him calmed down until he took off practically screaming your name.”
“Can Lusa help him again? God, Dominic, no one else can die…and because of us? I’m so damn confused right now.”