Their Shifter Academy

by May Dawson

  “Northsea house,” he said, his voice suddenly mischievous. “For the problematic, but legendary, pack.”

  I groaned. “That is so awkward.”

  “You’re going to have to join my house,” he said. “Unless you have the common sense not to come at all, of course.”

  “And miss out on all this?” I said, gesturing to include the whole dorm hall, which smelled like damp gym socks and Axe body spray. “Are the dorms all co-ed?”

  “In theory,” he said. “Girls don’t come here.”

  “So Jensen wasn’t wrong about that,” I mused out loud.

  “Jensen hasn’t been right about anything except by accident over the course of his entire, entitled life,” Lex muttered.

  “Tell me how you really feel. Isn’t his brother your best friend?”

  Lex held open the door for me into the stairwell. “Well, he’s also been spoiled all his life, but some people turn into dicks and some people don’t.”

  “Really, though,” I pressed, wanting an answer. “What was he talking about?”

  Lex turned to me and sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. His voice echoed in the raw-brick stairwell. “I have a little sister. Rosemary.”

  “Yeah?” I didn’t quite make the leap with him.

  “I’d tell her not to come here,” he said, his voice suddenly sober. “It’s just… I mean, do you really want to be the only woman here? And some of the guys are assholes. No one would hurt you, but it would get mean…”

  “I thought hurting first-years was a foundational part of the school’s teaching philosophy,” I said, my tone light, although I desperately wanted to know more.

  “I’d look out for you,” he mumbled, as if he was embarrassed by what he was saying. He jammed his hands in his pockets, glancing away. “But it wouldn’t be easy. Some of them would try to haze you into quitting. Some of the cadre… there are people who’d want you here, but there are plenty who don’t.”

  “I see.” It was strange to see Lex, who was always so confident, hesitate as if he wasn’t sure what he should say. I touched his arm with my hand, running my palm over his forearm, which felt corded under my fingertips. He still had his hand tucked in his pocket, and his gaze snapped back to me.

  “I don’t think I need anyone to look out for me,” I told him. “I’m more dangerous than I look. But it’s nice that you would want to try.”

  “Everyone needs someone to look out for them,” he said. “We live in a weird world, Maddie.”

  He’d called me Maddie again. He’d been calling me Northsea most of the day, as if to keep me at a distance.

  He held very still, as if he didn’t want to lose my grip on his arm, but his free hand stroked up my arm. It sent prickles racing up my skin. I gazed up at him, at the shape of his lips and his bright blue eyes that contrasted with his dark curls. If I’d known how to kiss a boy, I might have leaned up on my tiptoes and brushed my lips against his. But I didn’t know how to kiss a boy. I wasn’t sure if Lex even wanted me to. Maybe the connection between us was all my imagination.

  For once in my life, I wasn’t sure what to say.

  “I know,” I said.

  “Maybe I’m being selfish when I tell you not to come here,” he said. “Maybe you shouldn’t listen to me.”

  My brows arched. “I thought you just said you’d look out for me.” That meant telling me the truth.

  “I will,” he said. “But if you came here, I’d be cadre, and you’d be a first year.”

  I stared at him, uncertain why he was telling me something I already knew.

  “I couldn’t do this,” he explained.

  Lex leaned down toward me. His dark-lashed eyes flickered, half-closing. My heart pounded in my chest. Where did I put my hands? Was I supposed to tilt my head?

  The door slammed open, and two guys came into the stairwell. Before I could even realize what had happened, Lex was two feet away from me, his arms crossed over his chest and the same polite, disinterested smile written across his lips.

  “Next house?” Lex asked, but it wasn’t really a question. He was already turning and leading the way down the stairs.

  As long as we had a witch on campus who could play with time, I would personally like to rewind two minutes.

  Chapter Nine

  We went back to Northsea house last. Instead of going in the front door, Lex led me around the side, and the two of us went in through another door that led into the plain brick stairwell. The two of us headed down first, to make our way across the basement level with the gym and the dojo.

  In the dojo, Jensen and another guy, a tall, lean guy with chin-length dirty-blond hair, were sparring. Jensen was shirtless, his chiseled shoulders and abs glistening with sweat, like he’d been at it for a while. Lex glanced in and then moved passed the door.

  “I’ll give him this,” Lex muttered. “He does work.”

  I glanced in. Jensen’s gaze flickered up, as if he felt me there, and his eerie yellow eyes locked on mine. Then the other guy snapped a punch at his head, and Jensen jumped to one side, narrowly avoiding the blow. He closed his arms around the guy, and the two of them slammed into the mat.

  I couldn’t stop thinking about what Jensen had said. I had to know whether I should come here or not for myself.

  “Hey,” I said. “I’m going to run to the bathroom. You want to go check the first floor without me? I’ll be right behind you.”

  Lex stuck his hand in his pocket again and tilted his head, leveling a look my way.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Don’t lie to me,” he said. His tone was quiet, and that made his words hurt more, for some reason. “I don’t like it.”

  Faint heat crawled up my cheeks. I wanted to deny it, but instead I shrugged. “I wanted to talk to Jensen. I want to know for myself about the assholes, to decide if I should come here.”

  He hesitated. Then he said, “Okay, I can check the first floor on my own. There are shifters everywhere. I’ll be right back if you get into trouble.”

  “I won’t,” I said.

  His lips quirked up, but he let that pass. He turned and ambled down the hall, heading toward the stairwell.

  When I turned, the tall, blond guy was coming out of the doorway to the dojo. He headed my way, pulling his shirt over his head. As he neared me, the scent of his fresh sweat wafted toward me, but it wasn’t a bad smell. It was musky and masculine. It was almost nice.

  He gave me a once-over. “You lost?”

  “Never.” I was a wolf, after all. I had a pretty strong sense of direction.

  His lips twitched in a smile. “Must be nice. Prospective student?”

  “We’ve overrun the place today.” Along with witches.

  He stuck out his hand. “I’m Tyson Atlas. But my friends call me Ty.”

  “Is that an invitation?”

  His grin widened a little. “Maybe. And you are?”

  “Maddie Northsea.”

  “What do your friends call you?”

  I grinned back. “That’s a little presumptuous, isn’t it?”

  “I’m a good friend to have,” he promised me. He headed down the hall past me, but turned his head to flash a smile my way. “See you in the fall, Maddie Northsea.”

  “I haven’t decided yet if I’m coming or not.”

  “You will,” he said, as if he knew my own mind, and then walked away down the hall.

  The arrogance of wolf-boys really knows no bounds.

  “Nice to hear you haven’t decided.” Jensen’s voice was low and too close in my ear. “You must be smarter than you look.”

  I took a step forward as I spun around to face him, to put some space between him and me. “Funny. You must be even stupider than you look.”

  He leaned in the doorway, smirking at me. He wore nothing but basketball shorts, which hung low on his hips, revealing the sharp edges of his hip bones. Sweat trickled in the groove between his pecs. He was deeply tanned, his thick, dark hair stil
l pretty-boy stylish no matter how much he’d been sweating.

  He didn’t look stupid, to be honest. He looked good, and he looked like he knew it.

  “What’s your problem with me?” I asked flatly.

  “It’s not personal,” he said, although with his eyes studying my face so intensely, it sure felt personal. “It’s like I said before. In the patrols, we depend on each other. Who’s going to be able to count on you?”

  “How could I count on you?” I shot back.

  He crossed powerful arms over his chest. “If you were in my patrol, I’d have your back. But come on. Like a girl could really watch my back? Once we graduated and had to fight the covens?”

  “You might be surprised.” How the hell had my sister started this place that was now so damn misogynistic? What had happened?

  “You’re a cute girl,” he said. “You could bond with a pack, have some babies. I’m sure that’d be a lot more fun for you than sweating and getting punched in the face.”

  “I’m pretty sure you don’t know what’s involved in having some babies.” I was pretty sure giving birth to babies was a lot worse than sweating and getting punched in the face. Most women are a lot tougher than most men. No matter what men may pretend.

  “Well.” He winked at me.

  He had a sexy wink, even though he was a total jerk. I bet girls who didn’t know about this side of him would fall over themselves to sleep with him.

  “I wish I had time to show you in the ring how wrong you are.”

  “Yeah? What’s your rush?”

  “Hey.” Lex called from the end of the hallway. He stood there impatiently, his hand on the door. “Let’s go.”

  “Ohh.” Jensen’s insinuating tone, once again, made me want to punch him in the face. “No wonder he wants you here.”

  “What’s up?” A guy who swept his dark, sweat-damp hair back from his face emerged from the gym, crossing the hall to us.

  “Hey,” Jensen said.

  The new guy gave me a hard look, and then ambled over to Jensen. “Really? Northsea trash still here?”

  My heart hammered in my chest. He wasn’t worth my time. He wasn’t worth slamming into the wall and starting a fight with, not when we had a witch to catch.

  I’d never realized how much the other packs hated mine. For what? For doing things our own way, for using magic, for having a female alpha at the center of the three Virginia packs? Why was it such a crime in the packs to be different?

  “Yep. For the time being.” Jensen flashed me a smile that was all predatory. “Trash doesn’t seem fair, though. She’s cute. That should count for something.”

  The new guy looked me over, then shrugged. He headed past Jensen into the dojo.

  “Too bad you ‘don’t have time’,” Jensen said, punctuating his words with air quotes before he turned to saunter into the dojo. Over his shoulder, he added, “It’s okay to admit you’re scared. Some things, girls aren’t meant to do.”

  “You’re not just an asshole,” I said to his muscular back. “You’re also an absolute idiot.”

  “If you come here, you’re the one who’s an idiot.” Jensen said. He blew me a kiss, and then he closed the door to the dojo between us.

  My hands were trembling with anger. Adrenaline had left me flushed. I wanted to have a devastating comeback, but I was already staring at a closed wooden door.

  I turned back to Lex. Had he heard that? It was hard to believe the guy who had jumped a table to get at Jensen when he threatened me was still loitering at the end of the hall.

  “Come on,” he said again, heading for the stairs.

  He seemed almost robotic.

  “Are you all right?” I asked. I wanted him to ask if I was all right. After all, I was the one who had just been toe-to-toe with the asshole.

  He ignored me, or didn’t hear me. He kept going.

  There was something wrong.

  “Lex, wait,” I said, running behind him. My heart hammered in my chest, terrified by the possibilities.

  He turned, frowning, just as I reached him.

  “Kiss me again,” I said softly, bounding up onto my toes, catching his shoulders with my hands.

  He leaned in toward me without hesitation, his lips set, his face neutral. I’d said kiss me again and he’d played along, but Lex and I hadn’t kissed once. The real Lex would’ve given me that you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-Northsea look I’d seen across his face many, many times already that day.

  “Witch, then,” I said, grabbing his face in my hands and sinking my fingers into his scalp as he tried to pull away. I imagined my magic flowing into his face, revealing the truth, and silver sparks crackled across my palms. “Revelabis!”

  His face changed. He jerked back and forth, his features shifting. His bones cracked over and over under my palms, his muscles rippling. I clung to his head, forcing my magic into him as he fought back.

  Suddenly, he stopped fighting. The witch-boy from the woods looked back at me.

  He shoved me away and turned and ran for the stairs, all in one fluid movement.

  I wasn’t letting him get away.

  I slammed into his back. The two of us stumbled into the wall. My knuckles slammed into the rough brick, trapped between his weight and the wall. As soon as I got my feet underneath me, I slammed my free fist into his side as hard as I could. Then again, and a third time. His ropy muscle felt unrelenting, but he grunted. I’d hurt him.

  He changed his mind on running, apparently, because as he twisted away, he grabbed my head and slammed it into the brick without hesitation. Stars burst in front of my vision.

  My head pounded, and he turned, trying to get away from me again, but I tackled him around the legs and we both stumbled and went down. My vision was still blurry as I hung onto him. He kicked out, trying to get away from me. I had his legs too tightly for him to hurt me much as his boots slammed into my chest.

  Jensen was there suddenly, punching the witch in the face. There was a sickening thud as his fist slammed into the witch’s face, then another, and the witch’s head slammed hard into the polished floorboards. His eyes fluttered closed.

  “You all right?” Jensen barked at me.

  I sat up, despite the way my head pounded. I scrambled up to my feet, wanting to look strong in front of Jensen, even though my head felt gritty and slow. As Jensen slowly climbed to his feet again, brushing his hands off, I pressed my hand to my temple. Well, that hurt like hell.

  The first two knuckles of Jensen’s right hand had split open, and he absently rested his knuckles against his lips, like an old habit. “You all right?” he asked again, his voice softer, kinder.

  “I’m fine,” I said. My heart was still hammering in my chest. I’d been trained since I was a little girl. I didn’t know why I’d reacted so clumsily the first time it came down to a real fight.

  He nodded. “You’re welcome.”

  His tone was casual, and for some reason, that hurt all the more then when he’d insulted me directly. Maybe he was right. Maybe I didn’t belong here.

  But I didn’t have time to dwell on that. Where the hell was Lex?

  “Lex,” I said.

  His eyebrows lifted, and then he smacked his chest with one hand. “Me, Jensen.”

  “What’s wrong with you?” I demanded. “The witch was wearing Lex’s face. He used some kind of glamor spell. So where the hell is the real Lex?”

  “Oh,” he said. “I thought you were confused about who was who.”

  “You really are an idiot,” I told him.

  He shrugged. “An idiot who just saved your life.”

  “I had everything under control.”

  “We must have different definitions for under control. You’d have been screwed if I hadn’t been there to help.”

  “Whatever. I don’t have time to argue with you. We have to find Lex.”

  “You got a plan?” His lip curled up at the corner.

  I hadn’t expected that reaction. I’d expec
ted him to be in a hurry to get to the dean. I didn’t want any delays though, not when Lex’s life could be at stake.

  “Can you help me move this?” I asked Jensen, nudging the witch with my foot. “We need to interrogate him and find out what’s going on.”

  “You can’t just sling him over your shoulder?” He mimed me picking the guy up.

  “I need someplace to take him,” I said impatiently. “Like your room.”

  He grinned. “You’re really working hard to get into my bedroom, huh?”

  I was ready to unleash on him, but he was already drawing the witch up and over his shoulders. I’d meant for him to help, taking the legs or something while I took the witch’s shoulders. When Jensen straightened, he seemed comfortable enough, though. He held the witch like his weight was nothing.

  I followed Jensen down the hall and up the stairs. The hallway was mercifully empty. Jensen led me to one of the doors, where he pulled out a key on a chain from around his neck and quickly unlocked the door.

  “Ta-da,” he said when he shouldered the door open. He barely stooped as he let the witch roll off his shoulder and onto the floor.

  Hopefully, he hadn’t hurt our prisoner. I looked at the witch at his feet, a young man who looked innocent at the moment with his lips parted and his dark-lashed eyes closed. Then I glanced around the room. Jensen’s room was neat and orderly: a bed, a wooden locker, a desk with a Macbook. It didn’t give away much personality, but then, I didn’t think Jensen had much personality.

  “Your room smells less like wet gym socks and Axe body spray than I expected,” I said.

  His room actually smelled nice, like clean laundry and a faint minty scent. I cocked my head, curious about the smell, before I realized Jensen had plucked a package of gum from his desk. He propped himself on the edge of the desk as he popped a piece into his mouth, chewing as he eyed me lazily. “Well. I guess I’m in this shit now. With you. Care to tell me what’s going on?”

  I smiled at him sweetly. “I’m not thrilled to be stuck with you, believe me.”