Disruption: An Academy RH Paranormal Bully Romance (Fallen Fae Academy Book 5)
Page 6
“Rewarded how?” Professor Wu said.
“You’ll receive a bonus for every recruit you send my way. Let us say… one hundred dollars per recruit and another hundred dollars when that recruit is shown to have been completely converted.
When they are shown to be devoted to me.”
“What you’re asking us,” Professor Holsman said, “is against the law. We’re not permitted to recruit students for the Dark Fae side.”
95
Rachel Angel
Dean Stephen grinned. “I am the one making the rules now, and I grant you all permission to turn as many students to the dark side as you can.”
“What if we refuse?” Professor Goldberg said as he fidgeted in his seat.
“If you choose to retain your position as Light Faes, you are free to hold your allegiance to the former dean. I’m told she is busy in another realm at the moment, but, if it is what you wish, you may all go back to your quarters, pack your belongings and cross over to join her.”
“This is quite unexpected,” Professor Holsman said. “Must we give you a response right away?”
Dean Stephen thought about it a moment. “I know that this is a big change… a big decision.” He looked at them all as if already assessing who would follow and who would run. “I’ll give you a week to consider my offer.”
Everyone looked at one another, nodding their approval of the deadline.
“Next Monday morning, I want each and every one of you to come meet with me in private 96
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) to announce your decision. I fully intend to respect your privacy.”
Kingsley knew that their privacy was the least of the dean’s concerns. No. The new dean had no intention of letting anyone leave the campus alive. All of those who had the misfortune of choosing to retain their status as Light Faes would be quietly killed and discreetly disposed of.
97
Rachel Angel
Chapter 7
Harley
Harley hung around her new apartment until she saw the professors leave the administrative building and head off to their respective classes.
Anxious to see what Kingsley had learned from the staff meeting, she paced back and forth, glancing out the window every few seconds.
All the professors were back in their classes and Kingsley had yet to return.
“Where are you, Kingsley?” she said out loud.
“Right here,” he said as he burst in, breathless.
“Kingsley,” she said as she hurried to him.
“Where are you been?”
98
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5)
“Sorry,” he said with a wry chuckle. “One of professors, having never seen me before, was very curious to know who I was, where I was from and what subject I taught. I mean, she just wouldn’t let up. I ended up walking all the way to the Science Building before she left for her Biology class and I had to rush all the way back here.”
“So even old and heavier, you charm the ladies,” Harley said with a grin. “I should have known.”
He closed his eyes and returned to his usual self.
“Now, there is the Kingsley I know and love.” Harley leaned in to kiss him warmly. “So, tell me, Professor Kingsley, what did you learn?”
“Dean Stephen is not wasting any time. He’s pressing all the professors to recruit dark faes, and he will not be forgiving to those who refuse him.”
“And do you suspect some of them of already being on the dark side.”
“Yes, and many more than I would have expected.”
99
Rachel Angel
Harley reached for her schedule on the kitchen counter and handed it to him. “Are any of my professors dark faes?”
Kingsley looked at the schedule. “Professor Trudy seemed very reluctant to get on board as did Professor Holsman.”
“Good. I had both of them last year and I really liked them.”
“However, Professor Arruda, Professor Cohen and Professor Valence showed strong signs of already being on the dark side.”
“Hmm,” Harley mused. “Three out of five.
And I have a class with Professor Cohen that is set to start in fifteen minutes.
Kingsley tapped the schedule with his finger.
“I think Professor Cohen may be the worst. He seemed to be all in… very determined and very eager to get his bonus.”
“Bonus?”
“Yeah. Can you imagine?” Kingsley said.
“The dean is prepared to give a generous bonus for every recruit sent his way and another bonus for every successful conversion.”
100
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5)
“Damn it,” Harley whispered.
“Look,” Kingsley said. “I don’t think Professor Cohen knows who you are, but I think you should be extra careful.”
“I will,” Harley said. She looked at him, reluctant to leave him. “I really should be going.”
“I know,” he said softly. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I probably won’t be here when you get back.”
“You’ll go to the Faery Realm?” Harley said.
He nodded.
“Good. And I hope you’ll be back soon with Oak, Red and Zed, as well as the dean.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Harley gave him a final kiss and left him. She hurried down the hall before she could change her mind and run back to him.
Once outside, she melted into the crowd of students who were going in every direction, heading to their classes. It was like the first full day of school that very first year, only now instead of enthusiasm in the air, there was a pervasive and darkening sense of dread.
101
Rachel Angel
She reached her class and immediately made her way to the back of the room. Sinking into her seat, she took a good look at the professor at the front of the class.
Professor Cohen was a short and stocky man with straw-like dirty blond hair and tiny, beady eyes. He moved slowly and deliberately as he picked up his lesson plan from his desk and flipped through the pages.
Students streamed in, their chatter diminishing to loud whispers as they made their way to their desks. Did any of them know about the professor who was about to give them a lesson?
And how many of them would be seduced by the notion of turning to the dark side?
Harley tried her best to assess every student.
Some students already showed signs of having crossed over, while many of them seemed as innocent as could be.
“Hey, beautiful.”
Harley glanced up to see a student she’d never seen before standing next to her desk.
“Or should I say, Princess?”
102
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) Clenching her teeth, Harley hid her surprise.
How did he know?
The young man took a seat at the desk next to her just as another student arrived and sat on her left.
“Hey, Eddie,” the guy to her right said to the guy on her left. “Did you know that this here is a veritable princess?”
Eddie looked at Harley. “Oh, so you’re the one. Yeah. I heard we had a princess in our midst.
What do you say, Cutter? Think we have a shot at getting close to her?”
Harley stared straight ahead, waiting for the class to start.
“You know, Cici and Ashley didn’t exaggerate when they said the Princess of Spring was a beauty,” Cutter said.
“They sure didn’t.” Eddie reached out to run the back of his fingers along her upper arm. “And she’s really nice and soft too.”
Harley pulled away.
“And she’s just as icy cool as Cici and Ashley said she was, too,” Eddie said with a grimace.
103
Rachel Angel
Cutter leaned in closer, close enough to allow Harley to smell his rancid breath. “I know how we can warm her up.”
Harley refused to look at them; refused to address them. They were idiots who didn’t deserve a moment of her time. Tapping her fingertips on her desk, she anxiously looked to the front of the class.
But Professor Cohen seemed in no rush to start any lesson at all as he pulled back his chair and sat at his desk. With his hands clasped and set on the top of his desk, he simply sat there looking at each and every student.
The look in his eyes sent a chill up Harley’s spine. There was something cold and calculating in his gaze. There was a barely perceptible nod as he assessed certain students and the vaguest hint of the shake of his head when he mentally dismissed another.
Her blood ran cold when he finally brought his assessing gaze to her and smiled. She’d plan to 104
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) avert his gaze as he’d made his way up her row of students, but when he came to her, she was unable to turn away.
She swallowed the ball of fear that had leapt to her throat. If he could have such an effect on her with only a gaze, he would make easy work of any human student he set his sights on.
Finally, with only ten minutes left before the end of the class, Professor Cohen stood, came around to the front of his desk and lean back against the edge.
“I’m going to call three names. I would like those that I call to remain in class. The rest of you can get ready to go to your next class.”
A disgruntled murmured circulated around the class.
“Moray, Juanita and Xavier.”
“Shit,” Xavier let out on hearing his name.
Harley had fully expected the professor to call out her name and audibly sighed when he didn’t. She quickly grabbed her notebook and headed out of the class along with the other relieved students.
105
Rachel Angel
“Where are you headed?” Cutter called out as he came up behind her.
Ignoring him, Harley held her head high and walked straight ahead. She was not going to let them rattle her nerves.
“Aw, come on, Princess,” Eddie said. “We just want to have a little fun with you.”
Her next class was in the Art Building which meant crossing the wide expanse of the outside sculpture garden her new glamouring had added.
As she veered to the right to head in that direction, most of the students continued on to other various buildings. For a moment she considered taking another route; a more heavily trafficked one.
But she forged ahead, rejecting the idea of allowing them to intimidate her. She meandered through the large stone statues and ultra-modern metal structures, walking as quickly as she could.
The Art Building was just ahead… close… so close.
“You leave us no choice but to teach you a lesson, you icy bitch,” Cutter said. He viciously grabbed her arm, spun her around and pushed her back into a large marble teardrop. Pressing his body 106
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) up against hers, he brought his face in close and eyed her with dark eyes.
Harley quickly shot her knee up into his groin and as he doubled over in pain, she ran, darting through the statues. She glanced back to see Cutter and Eddie chasing her but there were also three other boys. She’d never seen them before.
Dark faes.
Her heart pounding, she ran as fast as she could, but came to a stop when she noticed three more boys blocking her path up ahead. They seemed barely human with movements that resembled those of an animal.
She darted to the left, heading toward the forest.
Damn. They seemed to be everywhere. She stumbled and almost fell, her fingertips touching the ground momentarily as she regained her balance and continued to run.
One of them caught up to her, jumped at her legs and she fell to the soft ground. His hands busily grabbed at every part of her, groping her breast and reaching between her legs.
107
Rachel Angel
She wiggled her way around to face him. It was Eddie, his eyes filled with lust and rage.
“Nowhere to run now, Princess,” he growled.
The others came around, growling, drooling and wanting a piece of her.
Harley kicked at Eddie, but it was impossible to get him off her. It was only when he leaned back and tried to unfasten her pants that she was finally able to strike him hard enough to send him falling back.
Before any of the others could grab her, she sprinted away and came face to face with two massive men. With the sun behind them, she couldn’t make out their features, but she could definitely see the breadth of their shoulders blocked out the view of the forest behind them. Their biceps and forearms promised great fighting power and the swords at their hips added to the threat they posed.
They walked past her, their long strides confident as they headed to the band of boys. The fighting didn’t last long as the two burly men made easy work of the inexperienced dark faes and new recruits.
108
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5) Only when they had destroyed them all did they turn around to face Harley. With the sun now shining on their faces, she was finally able to make out who they were.
“Colin,” she let out in a surprised whisper.
“Ethan.”
“I can’t believe we finally found you,” Colin said, as he wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.
“And just in the nick of time,” Ethan added.
“We need to bring you back home, Harley.”
109
Rachel Angel
Chapter 8
“What the hell is going on here?” Colin said, looking around. “I thought this was supposed to be a school.”
“It is,” Harley said with a wry grin. “Things have changed since the dean left.”
“All the more reason to bring you back to the Kingdom of Spring,” Ethan said. “It’s bad enough that we can’t find Prince Harris. We need to get you to safety.”
“Damn it. You still haven’t found him?”
Harley said. “I was hoping you had come over to tell me you’d found my brother and that he was safe.”
“I wish we had,” Colin said. He took a hold of her arm and looked down at her, his eyes warm and loving. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”
110
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5)
“I can’t, Colin,” Harley said, tugging away.
“I can’t leave here now. Not with everything that’s going on.”
They both looked at her.
“Trust us, Harley,” Ethan said. He came up beside her and pushed a lock of hair out of her face.
“You’ll be safer back home.”
Colin and Ethan looked at one another and their eyes narrowed with love and lust when they looked to her again. Harley suddenly remembered the little spell they had put on her. The spell that had had her loving them unconditionally all while completely forgetting about her love for Kinglsey, Oak, Red and Zed.
“Don’t you want to be with us anymore, Harley?” Colin said in a babyish voice.
Harley took a step back and put her hands on her hips.
“Oh,” Ethan said. He glanced at Colin.
“Seems like…”
“Yes,” Harley finished for him. “Your devious little spell has been broken, thankfully.”
111
Rachel Angel
“I truly and sincerely apologize for that,”
Colin sputtered.
“We didn’t mean any harm,” Ethan said.
“We just wanted to protect you.”
“How did you break it?” Colin said.
Harley cocked a brow. “Is it really important?”
“Just curious,” he said with a shrug.
“You mean you want to be better able to put a spell on me the next time?”
“No,” he said in his defense. “Not at all.”
“Let’s just s
ay,” Harley said, as she thought of Red and Zed’s part in breaking the spell. “I had a little help from some very good friends.”
“Are you saying that we’re not very good friends?” Ethan said.
Harley looked at what little remained of the recruits they’d fought. Small piles of black ash.
She had to admit that they had saved her. But she wanted more from them. “Good friends would stay here with me and help me fight this growing army of dark faes.”
They looked at one another.
112
Disruption (Fallen Fae Academy #5)
“Fight what?” Colin said. He glanced at the piles of ash. “Are there more like them? Here at your school?”
Harley nodded. “I’m afraid so. There are dark faes who are at this very moment recruiting more. They’re turning as many students as they can to the dark side.”
“Damn,” Ethan let out. “We’d hadn’t planned for that.”
“Look,” Harley said. “I know it’s important that we ultimately free my brother from the Kingdom of Fall, but for now, I think he’s safest right where he is. At least he’s not getting caught up in the middle of all this.”
“Prince Harris has never been one to shirk his responsibilities,” Colin said. “Sitting in some prison cell or dungeon in the Kingdom of Fall while you’re out here fighting is not going to make him happy.”
“Well,” Harley said with determination. “For now, I’m more concerned with his safety than his happiness. Besides, things have quieted down a bit on the front, have they not? If my brother were to 113
Rachel Angel
be released now, he would no doubt assume the power that is his to take and he could potentially start the war up again. Things are winding down.
It’s not time to fan the flames and get everybody fighting again.”