Fur 'n' Fang Academy: The Complete Series: A Shifter Academy Adventure

by C. S. Churton

  “Are we done?”

  “We’re done when I say we’re done.” He looked across to Shaun at his shoulder. “She has quite the temper on her.”

  “Don’t blame me,” I said, my voice loaded with all the bitterness of this entire bullshit situation. “I was just a normal person until that psycho bit me. So what if I have anger issues?”

  “Jade has made a significant effort to overcome her difficulties,” Shaun said, before Draeven could respond to me. “She has a way to go, but she is trying.”

  He locked eyes with me as he said the last three words, and I couldn’t miss their double meaning. Trying, indeed. Trying his patience? I’d give him bloody trying… Or I would, if he wasn’t doing his best to keep me from getting caged or killed. I hung my head and tried to paste a look of contrition on my face. Picturing my bloody guts all over the room made it easier.

  “I apologise, Alpha Draeven. I spoke out of turn.”

  Draeven stared at me for a long moment, and I watched his stern face through my lashes. It didn’t soften, even for a moment. Great. I’d pissed off the Alpha of Alphas. Could my life get any worse?

  “I will require measurements of the scar,” he said to Shaun. “It may be useful in proving the feral’s culpability, once he is captured. We will continue when the Bitten has a better grasp on her place.”

  That would be a yes, then. Just great.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Alpha Draeven did not summon me again the next day, or the one following it. On Friday evening, I decided I would broach the subject with Shaun, but before I could, he took the measurements of my scar, along with dozens of photos from every angle. I wasn’t sure why Draeven hadn’t done it himself, or even sent an enforcer – maybe he had more urgent alpha duties to attend to, or maybe Shaun had interceded on my behalf. Maybe Draeven was just sick of my attitude. Whatever. I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. That man was dangerous, and I wanted nothing to do with him.

  I didn’t hear anything back about the wolf they were hunting in the following weeks – but then, I hadn’t really expected to. Draeven seemed like a need-to-know kind of guy, and he clearly thought that I didn’t. It didn’t matter. He’d face justice eventually. Not that it would change what I was or give me back my future.

  The fist thudded into my stomach. Air exploded out of me and I doubled over, gasping. My eyes flicked up to Madison’s smug face, and I forced myself upright.

  “Keep your guard up, Ms Hart,” Fletcher said, “or don’t be surprised when a strike lands.”

  I rolled my eyes round to him and I could have sworn there was a look of amusement in his eyes. Like Combat wasn’t bad enough without the instructor having it in for me. But that was nothing new. He’d taken a dislike to me the night I’d tried to escape, and nothing I’d done since had changed his opinion – although, to be fair, it wasn’t like I’d put myself out trying.

  Something whipped through the air towards my face and I ducked back, narrowly avoiding taking Madison’s fist to my nose. Right. Don’t get distracted. Every bit the pack princess, Madison had probably been fighting since she was a pup. She wouldn’t miss an opportunity to punish my weaknesses. And there was no shortage of them. If I gave her long enough, she was going to take me apart.

  I got my hands up in time to block her next attack, then surged forwards in a flurry of aggression and bad intentions, throwing fists and elbows with ferocity and no particular skill. I landed a glancing blow with my first, she blocked my second, and the third went wide. She moved in a blur of motion before I could readjust, locking her leg behind mine. She did something I couldn’t see with her hip and I thudded into the ground, knocking the air from my lungs. I gasped, but before I could recover, she landed on top of me, straddling my torso and pinning my arms to my sides, and landed three fast and hard blows to my face.

  Pain exploded through my head and I felt the strength go out of me. My vision blurred so that I could barely make out the triumphant smirk plastered all over her face.

  “Excellent throw, Madison,” Fletcher said. “Right everyone, that’s it for today. I’ll see you all next week.” He tossed a glance my way, still lying in the dirt. “Do try to get some practice by then. Some of you need it.”

  I sat up with a groan, and then paused, waiting for the grounds to stop spinning. Most of the class were already on their way back to the castle – few people lingered after Fletcher’s lessons. I wouldn’t have, either, if I thought I was capable of walking in a straight line right now.

  “Ouch, that looks painful.”

  I squinted up to see Dean towering over me, a sympathetic wince on his face.

  “Sorry,” he said, stretching a hand down to me. “I tried to partner with her, but Fletcher stopped me.”

  I accepted his hand, letting him pull me to my feet. I waited a second, checking my balance – I didn’t want to land back on my butt, I was pretty sure Madison was still around here someplace, gloating.

  “Had to happen eventually,” I said with a grunt. “Fletcher’s right. I really do need to practice.”

  I probed my eye with a finger and hissed in pain. I could already feel the bruise forming under the skin.

  “For fuck’s sake,” I griped, as we headed back to the castle. “That had better heal up before the party tonight.”

  Dean and Mei shared a look, and my shoulders slumped.

  “It’s not going to, is it?”

  “I think the swelling may go down by then,” Mei said, peering at my eye more closely.

  “And the bruising?”

  “There’s a guy in my pack who completely heals from bruises in eight hours,” Dean said, in what I assumed was supposed to be encouragement.

  “Great. I’ve got six. Bloody Madison, she did that on purpose. I’m going to look a right mess tonight.”

  *

  My mood did not improve during our last lesson of the day. The opposite, in fact. By the time I’d dragged myself up to Shaun’s office for my daily waste of time, I was in a worse mood than ever. Alright, so it was just a stupid Halloween party. But I’d been looking forward to it, dammit. And now it was ruined because of Madison. Mei had even been going to lend me something decent to wear so I didn’t look like an idiot wearing my uniform. Now it didn’t matter what I wore, everyone was going to be staring at my stupid face.

  I rapped on Shaun’s door and opened it without bothering to wait for him to invite me in. He looked up from behind his desk.

  “Alright,” he said. “Let’s have it. What’s wrong?”

  I shut the door with maybe more force than necessary. What a dumb question. Like he couldn’t see the bruise covering half my damned eye from where he was sitting. You could probably see the stupid thing from the other side of a darkened corridor. I gestured to it and said nothing.

  His brows knitted, and his lips pressed together in a confused half-smile, like he wasn’t sure if he was missing out on a joke.

  “You’re not upset about that little bruise?” he said. “You’ve had worse injuries than that.”

  “Yeah, but it’s the party tonight,” I said, slumping into my usual seat opposite his desk.

  “So?”

  I huffed in frustration.

  “You wouldn’t understand.”

  “That’s never stopped you before.”

  Well, he had a point there. Saving up all my frustration and letting it out inside this room was what had gotten me through my first month here, and Shaun had never complained about being my verbal punching bag – for some reason. He was pretty good at this whole student counsellor gig. I sagged.

  “I was looking forward to it. Getting dressed up, doing my hair. I know it sounds stupid.” I picked at my nails and avoided his eye. “I just wanted one night to pretend everything was normal.”

  “And now you can’t?” He sounded confused, in the way that only guys can when you start talking about this stuff.

  “Look at it! It’s a mess. I don’t even have any makeup
to cover it up with because it’s not like Caleb stopped to pack a bag when he dragged me out here.” I shook my head and exhaled slowly. “But who cares, right? I’d have looked stupid in Mei’s clothes. They don’t even fit me properly.”

  Shaun raised a hand, opened his mouth, paused, and closed it again. Guys. They just don’t get it.

  “Let me get this straight,” he said after a long moment. “You’re weeks behind in Cultural Studies, you clearly came off worse in combat class, and there’s a full moon in three days, but the worst thing going on in your life right now is that you can’t get dressed up to go to a party?”

  “Yes,” I said, folding my arms across my chest, and trying not to think about the full moon coming up. The last one hadn’t been pretty. Hell, that was half the reason I needed a distraction.

  “And the reason you can’t do that is because you need your makeup, which is at your uncle’s farm?”

  I nodded, trying not to pout.

  “Well, that’s easy.”

  If he said one word about focusing on my other priorities, I was going to vault this desk and give him the twin to my eye.

  “We’ll just head out there and get it.”

  I stared at him for a long moment. I blinked. I ran his words through my head again.

  “Leave… the academy?”

  He nodded, and I felt a grin spreading over my face.

  “We can go get my stuff? You’re serious?”

  He nodded again. “But you have to give me your word, Jade. I need to know that you won’t resist coming back here.”

  “Are you kidding? I’ve got a party to get to.” I glanced up at the clock behind him, and my grin died a premature death. “We can’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Look at the time. We’ll never make it there and back.” I didn’t know exactly where the academy was, but I knew it was isolated, probably in the heart of the countryside.

  “The party starts at eight?” he said. I nodded. “Then fear not, Cinderella – you shall go to the ball. Come with me.”

  Huh. Maybe we were closer to the farm than I thought. I followed Shaun through the castle and out of the front doors. He paused long enough to do something I couldn’t quite see, disabling the wards on the front gates, and then we were through them, too.

  “Uh, I don’t see your car.”

  “We’re not going by car. We’re going by portal.”

  “Excuse me?” I stared at him, one eyebrow arched, because I’d thought I was beyond being shocked by now – but a portal? He had to be kidding.

  He stretched one hand out in front of him, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

  “Eachlais!”

  Right. He wasn’t kidding. I was staring at – well, at a portal. A large, oval surface hanging vertically in the air a few feet in front of us. And in it, I could see the farm. I shook my head, open-mouthed. A freaking portal. Seriously.

  “With training,” Shaun said, “you’ll be able to tap into the primal power buried deep inside you. The power expresses itself through therianthropy, but that’s not the only form it can take.”

  “How much training?” I asked, my eyes skimming the portal’s rippling surface.

  “A lot. Some shifters never manage it. It takes a great deal of discipline.”

  Well, that was me out, then. But that was some Harry Potter shit right there, and I was going to at least try whenever I next had some alone time.

  “Eachlais, right?” I asked. Shaun shook his head with a smile.

  “The word is just a focus for the power. You have to access it first.”

  Obviously. Access the power I knew nothing about.

  “And the castle is warded against portals, that’s why we’re out here. Speaking of which, we can either continue this impromptu lesson – which I’m more than happy to do – or we can actually go through it.”

  I eyed the solid-looking portal, glanced at Shaun, then turned back to it.

  “I better not bruise my other eye,” I said, and stepped through.

  Chapter Fifteen

  My foot touched down seamlessly on the farm’s gravel track, and I quickly stepped away from the portal – I didn’t want Shaun crashing into me. I took a deep breath of the crisp country air, drinking in the autumn scene. The old oak by the farmhouse had shed the first of its leaves, and the rest of them had turned a shade of burnt orange. All around, nature was continuing its patterns, undisrupted by everything that had happened to one almost-human girl. Last time I was here–

  I buried that thought with a shudder. I wasn’t here for a trip down memory lane. But I couldn’t quite tear my eyes from the gravel track, that spot right there where the wolf had grabbed me, sunk his teeth into my flesh while I screamed and flailed, and dragged me unwilling towards the treeline. I scanned it, searching the deepening shadows.

  “You okay?”

  I jumped and spun around, my heart racing. I hadn’t heard Shaun coming up behind me.

  “I’m fine,” I said, shoving my hands into my pocket so he wouldn’t see them shaking. “Hey, where’s my car gone?”

  I’d just been looking for something to take his attention off me, but seriously, where the hell was my car? I left it right here… with a door open, and a whole load of blood around it.

  “The enforcers would have cleaned up after they brought you to Fur ‘n’ Fang, in case anyone came looking for you. The car would have aroused suspicion.”

  I shivered. That was creepy as all hell. It seemed like the enforcers knew what they were doing when it came to making people disappear. I didn’t want to get on the wrong side of them.

  “Try the barn,” Shaun said, nodding to the dilapidated building. I took a couple of steps towards it, then stopped and shook my head.

  “The house,” I said. “Caleb brought my bags in after I was… after it happened.”

  I wasn’t quite sure why the word ‘bitten’ stuck in my throat, and I didn’t feel like working it out right now. I pivoted on my heel, heading for the old farmhouse. When I got there, the sight pulled me up short. There was a brand new lock on the door. Crap.

  “How am I supposed to get in?”

  Shaun glanced at the lock, then ran his fingers under the window frame. I shook my head.

  “There’s no way either of us is going to fit through that window, and besides–”

  I broke off, staring at the key in his hand. Right. Because of course my DIY-loving abductor who could make people disappear without a trace would leave a key for if I came back. This whole world was screwed up.

  I unlocked the door and swung it inwards, then stopped, staring over the threshold.

  “I don’t… I don’t think I can go in there,” I said at last. It felt like a strange thing to admit. The farm had always been a home to me, but so much had happened last time I was here, none of it good.

  Shaun placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me around to face him.

  “If you want me to, I’ll go in for you and get your stuff. But I think you need to go inside, if you can. A decision based on fear is never a good one. You are stronger than what happened to you.”

  I stared into his eyes for a long moment, then swallowed and ducked my head in a nod.

  “Come with me?” I asked in a tiny voice.

  “Of course,” he said.

  We crossed the threshold together. The kitchen was almost exactly as I’d left it, except Caleb had cleaned up any sign that we’d eaten a meal there. It looked as deserted as it had when I first arrived. I didn’t dwell on it, instead hurrying through to the bedroom I’d woken up in. My bags were right where he’d left them, piled up against the wall.

  But that wasn’t what caught my attention.

  I pressed my hand to the wall, tracing the deep gouges carved into it. Gouges that I knew could only have come from a set of claws. My claws.

  “This is where I shifted for the first time,” I said. “I didn’t know what… I was so scared. I thought I was losing my mi
nd.”

  I thought I’d forgotten that first shift, but I guess I’d just buried it. I couldn’t have done a more thorough job of uncovering it if I’d brought a shovel.

  “It can’t have been easy.” Shaun perched on the edge of the bed, watching me. I barked a bitter laugh. That didn’t even begin to cover it.

  “Why couldn’t he have just told me?”

  “Would you have believed him if he had?”

  We both knew the answer to that. I hadn’t even believed them when they’d taken me to Fur ‘n’ Fang. Not until I’d seen him shift. Even then, I’d tried to convince myself I’d imagined it.

  “Why are you doing this? Why did you bring me here? Why now?”

  “That’s a lot of questions.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “A lot of questions that you’re not answering.”

  Shaun nodded, drew in a breath, and exhaled it slowly.

  “I’ve got some news,” he said.

  “News I’m not going to like?” I hazarded.

  “Leo, the wolf who attacked you, has been caught.”

  “So why doesn’t that sound like a good thing?”

  “It wasn’t the enforcers who caught him. At least, not our enforcers.”

  “I… don’t understand.”

  Shaun grimaced. “He turned up at a druid academy. Dragondale. The druid enforcers have him. And they don’t want to give him up.”

  I sagged back against the wall, nausea churning in my stomach. Then abruptly it was gone, replaced by a fire that was all bitterness and anger.

  “So, what, he just gets away with it? Is that what you’re saying? He can do this to me, ruin my whole life, and he gets to walk away?”

  “No. Jade, that’s not going to happen.”

  “You don’t know that.” I paced the tiny room, wall to wall. “What claim have they got on him? He did this to me.”

  “The alpha pack are going there to negotiate, tonight.”

  I stopped pacing.

  “Draeven is going?” I couldn’t imagine anyone defying the intimidating shifter.