I rolled my eyes at Mei and stretched out on my bed.
“Yeah, I’m not going to say any of that.”
“Well, you have to say something. Dean is coming back today.”
“I know, I know.” I groaned and pulled my pillow over my head. The rest of Christmas break had flown past with dizzying speed, and now here we were, a week into January and getting ready for the semester to start up again soon. Tomorrow, in fact. Which meant, as Mei had so helpfully pointed out, that everyone was coming back to the academy – and I was going to have to face Dean.
“Good. Because if you two don’t stop squabbling, I’m moving out.”
I rolled my head and squinted at Mei from under my pillow. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, making notes from a textbook.
“The only spare bed is in this room.”
“I’ll sleep in the hall.”
“Alright, I get it,” I said, sitting up and tossing the pillow back down. “But I’m not going to take back what I said about Madison. She’s a bitch, and she’d maul both of us if she thought she could get away with it.”
Mei shrugged. Not even she could argue with that. But she was right about one thing: it was time I got over myself and made it up with Dean. I’d never have got through my first weeks here without him. And visiting Ryan in the dungeon was giving me a very stark look at what my life could have been like. But I couldn’t say any of that to Mei, since Shaun was holding me to my promise not to say anything about him being locked up. As far as my friend was concerned, I was just having an extra couple of sessions with Shaun a week. Apparently, I was screwed up enough that she didn’t question my cover story, which wasn’t the most flattering thing in the world, but it wasn’t the worst thing going on in my life right now, either.
A knock sounded at the door.
“You decent?” Dean called from outside.
“Yes, come in,” Mei said.
The door swung inwards and Dean greeted Mei with a smile.
“Hey, Mei, good to see you.”
He seemed to notice me for the first time, and his smile faltered.
“Oh, hi, Jade. I thought you’d be with Cam.”
“He’s not back yet,” I said. Mei coughed and arched an eyebrow at me.
“It’s, uh, it’s good to see you again,” I said.
“You, too.”
I sucked in a breath and swung my legs off the bed. Best to just get it over with, right? Then he could tell me he still hated me, and we could get back to ignoring each other.
“Look, I’m sorry. I was out of order before.” I stared down at my hands, entwining my fingers with each other, and ignored the way he was looking at me. “I don’t like Madison, but I understand why you’re with her, and I’ll try to be happy for you. I promise. Can we just… can we go back to being friends? Please?”
“Come here, Just Jade,” he said. He crossed the floor and wrapped me in a bear hug, then lifted one hand.
“I swear to God, if you even think about messing up my hair, I’m going to bite you.”
He laughed but dropped his hand back down.
“It’s good to have you back, you bitey midget,” he said, as I wiggled out of his bear hug.
“I’m not the one who went anywhere,” I said with a pout, which I quickly banished. I squinted up at him. “So, we’re okay? Friends again?”
“Friends again,” he agreed. “Look, I know you’re never going to see eye to eye with Madison – not least because she’s several inches taller than you–”
I aimed a swipe at his head, but he dodged and continued,
“–but can you at least try? She’s not all bad.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it,” I grumbled, but if pretending to be nice to Madison was what it would take for things to go back to normal between me and Dean, then I was willing to put on my best acting face. Or at least, try.
“Crap, is that the time?” I asked, throwing a glance up at the clock on the wall. “I gotta go.”
“Where?” Dean asked, frowning as he pulled off his shoes and tossed them to one side of the room. Mei followed their trajectory with a scowl but said nothing. I guessed she was too happy that there was finally some sort of peace to moan about Dean’s sloppy habits. For now.
“I’ve, uh, got a session with Shaun.”
“On a Sunday? Brutal.”
“Don’t I know it.” I yanked open the door. “Catch you later.”
I hurried off down the hallway before any of them could question it further. The academy was getting busier now, with half of the students already back from their break, and more arriving by the minute. I threw a few glances over my shoulder as I went, making sure that no-one was paying attention to me as I made my way to the dungeon.
I grabbed the door handle and rattled it, but it was locked. Crap. I obviously wasn’t the only one who was running late today. Shaun usually brought Ryan his evening meal around this time. I was going to be a bit conspicuous loitering around outside the dungeon if anyone happened past. But I promised Ryan I’d be back this evening, and I really did think my visits were helping. He seemed less angry, at least.
I’d just decided to head over to the main hall and see if I could find Shaun when there was a loud creak, and the door opened. Blake stepped through, then stopped, furrowing his brow when he caught sight of me.
“Ms Hart. What are you doing here?”
“I’ve, um, I’ve come to see Ryan.”
He glanced up and down the hallway, but we were alone. He beckoned me through the door, and shut it behind us.
“I’ll thank you not to loiter outside the dungeon door. You do understand the concept of discretion?”
“Yes, Alpha Blake. Sorry. I was just – well, I was supposed to meet Shaun.”
“I’m sure he’ll be along shortly. He had some… other duties to attend to. For my part, I’m not sure how much benefit either of you will get from this visit.”
He slotted his key into the first door on the left.
“But Alpha Blake, I thought he was making good progress. He’s wearing a training cuff, not a pair of suppressors now, right?”
“It is not his progress that hinders him, but his attitude.”
He fixed me with a look. Oh, I got it, now. Blake had thought I had a bad attitude, too, when I first arrived here. He didn’t think all that much of my attitude now, come to that. And he obviously didn’t think I was a good influence. What else was new?
“I have offered him a place within the academy’s programs this coming semester, but he continues to resist. And if he refuses to learn, then eventually Alpha Draeven will be forced to pass judgement.”
I swallowed. I didn’t think that would end well – nor did I want to find myself in the same building as him again, if I could help it. He might decide to pass judgement on me, too. He was another one who’d had an issue with my attitude. Seemed like it was a common theme with alphas.
Blake unlocked the door, and I slipped inside. The key scraped in the lock behind me, sealing me inside, and I tried to ignore the panic clawing its way up my throat. Unlike Ryan, my incarceration was temporary – just until Shaun got here.
“You’re back.”
I picked out the figure sitting in the gloom, with his back pressed to the wall at the back of his cell and inclined my head to him.
“I’m back,” I agreed.
“Where’s your chaperone?”
“Yeah, good question.” I grabbed the stool from the corner of the room and dragged it over to the cell. “Looks like it’s just us for now.”
“Don’t suppose you’ve got a key hidden in that hoodie?”
“Nope,” I said, parking myself on the stool. “But I don’t need one. I just saw Blake. He literally offered to let you out of here.”
Ryan snorted and folded his arms.
“Sure, to go upstairs and play student with the rest of the pack puppies. I need to get out of here. Right out.”
“And that’s how you do
it,” I said, rolling my eyes. Ryan dropped his arms and leaned forward.
“You’ve got a way over the wall?”
“What? No, you idiot. I meant, you go upstairs and learn how to control yourself, and then they let you out of the front gate.”
“I’m not an idiot.”
He glared at me, then stared down at the pitted floor between his feet. One of his hands was curled into a fist, and its outline was blurred. He took a few deep breaths, glaring down at the floor, and then the tension dropped from his shoulders, and the outline of his hand became sharper again.
“No, you’re not,” I agreed, once he had himself fully under control. “So stop acting like one. Three years, and you get to walk away and go back to your own life.”
“Three years for a crime I didn’t commit.”
“Better that than a death sentence.”
He jerked his eyes up to meet mine.
“Death sentence?”
“What do you think is going to happen if you keep fighting them? Best case scenario, they’ll keep you down here until you’re not a threat anymore – however many years that takes. Sooner or later, Blake will summon the Alpha of Alphas, and if he thinks you can’t be integrated, if he thinks they can’t stop you being a threat to mundanes, he’ll have you killed. They don’t mess around with this stuff.”
“Yeah, I’m getting that.”
He leaned back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. I gave him a moment alone with his thoughts. It was a lot to process, I knew that. But I also knew that given the choice of death, a cage, and three years of schooling, it should have been an easy decision. Even if he was pissed off. Even with the same bad attitude I had. I had come around, eventually. He had to, too.
“Look, it’s not as bad as you think. They teach you how to control your shift. And they teach you the rules. We have meditation classes to help us control our emotions. And sure, there’s some crap, too, and some of the other shifters are dicks. But it’s your only way out of here. Alive, at least.”
“I always sucked at school,” he said, still looking up at the ceiling. “I flunked high school, never bothered with college. I hated it. I built myself a life away from all that.”
“Funny how life works, huh?” I figured it was best not to mention that there was no flunking Fur ‘n’ Fang, because they’d just keep holding you back until eventually you got it. “I can help you. Shaun can help you. It’s not like high school here. And really, how can it be any worse than this?”
I gestured to his cell.
The sound of the key turning in the lock made us both jump, and I spun round in time to see Shaun coming in with a tray of food. Ryan got to his feet and dusted his hands down on his dark cargo trousers.
“Hey, Shaun,” he said, nodding at the tray. “Can I get that to go?”
Chapter Twenty-One
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell us,” Dean said, and Mei nodded her head in agreement. I shot a glance over at Fletcher, but he was busy correcting Madison’s attempts to reverse Tyler’s grip.
“Hey, I’m shacked up with her, and she didnae tell me,” Cam said. I slapped him on the shoulder.
“We are not shacked up – and you weren’t even here! Anyway, Shaun swore me to secrecy. It wasn’t like I had a choice.”
“Right. Because y’ always do what the instructors say.”
Well, he had me there.
“Fletcher,” Mei said from the corner of her mouth.
“Saved by the instructor,” Cam said, and grabbed hold of my throat. I tensed my neck to protect my windpipe, but relaxed the rest of my body. One hand shot up to trap his hand against me, pinning him in place, and I twisted sideways, opening up a tiny gap between his palm and my throat. It was all I needed. I forced my thumb into the gap and squeezed down between his thumb and index finger. His hand spasmed, and I wrenched it away and bent it back, keeping the pressure on his wrist. One small step put me behind him, with his arm outstretched between us him. A few more pounds of pressure would be enough to break his shoulder, but I was quite attached to those hulking shoulders, so instead I just stood over him, smirking.
“I’m not the one who needs saving,” I told him sweetly.
“Damn,” he said, rubbing his shoulder as I released him. “Yer’ve been practicing.”
“Good to see my lessons haven’t been entirely wasted on you, Ms Hart,” Fletcher said, and we all put on crap pretences of having not seen him lurking behind us.
“Switch partners,” he said. “Jade, with Madison. Dean, with Ryan.”
He gestured them over from opposite ends of the clearing, and Mei and Cam headed off to take their places. Just my luck. Madison. She didn’t look any happier about it than I was as she headed over, her lips pressed tightly together – but then I realised her glare was directed at Ryan, not me.
“Carry on,” Fletcher said, then moved off to terrorise someone else for a while.
“Bad enough that there’s one outsider here,” Madison said to Dean, and eyeing Ryan. “We shouldn’t be subjected to two.”
I didn’t punch her because it was only yesterday I promised Dean I’d make an effort with her. I had to stop making dumb promises.
“Mads,” Dean said, raising an eyebrow at her. She flicked her blonde ponytail aside.
“Well, it’s true. Fur ‘n’ Fang used to stand for something.”
“Trust me, Princess,” Ryan said, glaring at the blonde, “this is the last place I want to be. And if it hadn’t been for one of your kind, I wouldn’t be here.”
“How dare you speak to me like that! Get away from me, you dirty cur.”
Tension shot through Ryan’s jaw, and he squared his shoulders. His hands curled into fists.
“Back off, tough guy,” Dean said, putting himself between the pair.
“All of you, knock it off,” I snapped, grabbing hold of Ryan’s arm and towing him a step backwards. I left Dean to deal with his bitch of a girlfriend, because frankly I was all in favour of letting Ryan deck her. I stopped short of letting Ryan know that, though.
“Are you really going to make it that easy for her?” I asked him. “Get a grip on yourself. This is exactly what she wants.”
“She shouldn’t have called me a cur,” he said, his voice sullen.
“What are you, twelve?” I glossed over the fact I’d nearly lumped her on my first day for much the same thing. “You think I haven’t been called that, and worse?”
“We shouldn’t have to put up with that.”
I took a breath and let it out slowly.
“You’re right. We shouldn’t. But in case no-one’s told you, the world isn’t a fair place. People like that, born with privilege and status? They are everywhere, and like it or not, they’re going to flaunt it. And if you go round hitting them all, the only thing you’re going to prove is that everything they ever said about you was right.”
“So, what, let it go – that’s what you’re saying?” He didn’t sound convinced. “Just turn the other cheek?”
“Hell, no,” I said with a grin, and turned back to the she-wolf. “Hey, Madison, are you done stalling? I mean, if you’re too scared to train with me, you could always just say.”
Her hands clenched into fists – way too easy – and her lips twisted into a snarl.
“I’m not afraid of you, cur.”
“Sticks and stones,” I said, rolling my shoulders as I advanced on her.
“Jade…” Dean said in my ear as I reached him. I felt a stab of remorse – just a tiny one, though. It couldn’t be easy for him to be stuck between us. I lowered my voice.
“Relax, I won’t hurt her.” Because she was probably going to kick my arse any second, like she had every other time we’d ‘trained’ together. “Take it easy on Ryan, okay? He’s all kinds of messed up right now. It’s a lot to deal with. I know.”
Some of the tension eased out of Dean’s shoulders.
“Yeah, okay. You’re right.”
I left
them to it, hoping Ryan wouldn’t blow it by trying to rip Dean’s head off. Tensions had a habit of spilling over in Combat class, but even shifters had limits. I’d just have to trust he was capable of not acting like a child – while I went off to do exactly that with Madison.
“Come on, then,” I said, raising a hand and beckoning her forward. She rushed me, covering the ground easily, and clamped one hand around my throat – then squeezed. Yup. This was going to end about as well as taking a cruise on the Titanic. Fletcher really had it in for me. Just once it would be nice if he didn’t partner me with someone who’d been fighting since before they could walk. I could already feel my skin bruising under her grip.
I held her eye and clamped my hand over hers, pinning it to me, and twisted sideways. A sharp sting buried itself into my skin, too sharp to be human fingernails. Shit, had she partially shifted? One look at the malice in her eyes, and the cocky smile on her face, told me the answer. When the hell had she learned to do that? She clenched her fingers, and I felt her claws burrowing deeper into me. I hissed in pain, then clenched my jaw and jammed my thumb between her hand and my neck. I squeezed the pressure point and twisted, putting my shoulder into it. Her claws ripped from around my throat, coated in a dark layer of wetness. My blood.
I ignored the pain and forced her arm up behind her, snarling as I put all my weight into it. She twisted round sideways, righting herself and throwing me off balance. I caught sight of her face for long enough to see the smirk as she tossed me into the dirt. Oh no, you don’t. Not this time. I gripped her wrist harder, yanking her towards me as I fell, and ignored the sharp rap of pain as I thudded into the ground. The impact rattled her balance, and I lashed out with a leg, hooking it behind her knee and tossing her onto the ground next to me. Shock pasted itself all over her face – it was a lucky blow, and neither of us had been expecting it – but I recovered first and leapt on top of her, straddling her chest and pinning her arms to the ground with my knees. Huh. So, this was what it felt like to be the one doing the arse-kicking.
A few stray drops of blood dripped down from my neck and Madison stared up at me in horror. Not at the wound she’d inflicted – that’d heal soon enough – but at the knowledge that in this second, she was at my mercy.
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