He laughed, plucking the key from the cuff and sliding it into his pocket.
“You’ll be dead long before that happens, darling. You, instructor.” He touched the silver blade to Shaun’s skin again. “I know Blake’s bringing Draeven here. Where will they portal in?”
Shaun pressed his lips together firmly, completely still except for a finger that drummed anxiously on the desk. Brad pressed the blade harder against his throat, drawing another trickle of blood. Shaun’s jaw clenched and the muscles in his shoulders locked up, but still he refused to answer.
“Fine,” Brad said, raising one hand. His palm glowed red. “The girl this time, hm?”
He turned his palm to Mei, still glaring up at him from the floor, defenceless with her hands bound behind her.
“No!” Shaun said. His shoulders slumped in defeat. “They’ll portal into the grounds, near the front gates.”
“Do you think I’m playing?” His face twisted into a snarl. “Do you really expect me to believe the most powerful shifter in the country is coming here, and you’re going to make him walk through the grounds?”
His palm pulsed brighter.
“He’s right,” I said quickly. “The castle is warded against portals. They have to come in through the front door.”
“That true, instructor?”
“It’s true.”
“Fine. Get up. We’re going to take a little field trip. Laura, you’re with me. Ryan, stay here and keep an eye on these three. Bind her hands.”
He hauled Shaun to his feet, and Ryan shuffled towards me, holding a piece of rope.
“And just in case you’re getting any ideas,” Brad said in Shaun’s ear, “Laura’s not coming with us to help keep you in line. If you try anything, she’s going to get back here, and she’ll make sure these three die slow.”
“Alright. I get it.”
“Good. Because you and the rest of my jailors, you’re all dead. That’s a given. But the mindless sheep don’t have to die with you.”
Ryan tied my hands behind my back, and I resisted the urge to claw his treacherous eyes out. Laura pulled a knife from her belt and handed it to him.
“Let’s go,” Brad said, shoving Shaun in the back. I glowered at him, but the instructor seemed unfazed, stepping calmly to the door. “We’re going to Blake’s office, where you’re going to make a little announcement, and then we’re going to meet the mighty Draeven. You’d best find us a quiet route.”
“I will. No-one needs to get hurt.”
“That’s down to you, isn’t it? Oh, and Ryan? If Jade gives you any trouble, make sure she’s the last to die.”
He bunched his fist in the back of Shaun’s shirt and the two of them moved out of the room, with Laura following behind.
I waited until the sound of their footsteps had died away, as far as I could tell with my now-hampered senses, before I turned to Ryan.
“What the hell are you doing? You don’t want this.”
“Shut up.”
“No. Shaun helped us. Both of us. Are you really going to let Brad kill him?”
“I said, shut up.”
“Or what? You’ll cut me with that knife?”
“Yeah.” He glared at me, then his shoulders slumped. “No. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.”
“Nor do I.” I stepped closer to him, watching his face. “I know you care about Brad, but what he’s doing right now isn’t going to help anyone. If he threatens Draeven, there’s no coming back from that. Put that blade down and let me stop him, before it’s too late.”
“I can’t. They’ll kill him.”
“They’ll kill him if he goes through with this. He’s no match for Draeven, you know that. Not even with his magic. I’ve met the man, and he’s the Alpha of Alphas for a reason. Draeven will destroy him.”
“He’s just so angry. It’s not his fault, he can’t help it.”
“None of us asked for this to happen to us,” I said. “We’re all victims. I’ll do everything I can to keep him safe. You know this is his best chance. His only chance. I’ll speak to Draeven on his behalf.”
“You promise?” Ryan said, searching my face. I nodded.
“I swear it. Let us go.”
Ryan nodded. “Okay. Turn around.”
I did, and I felt a tingle of discomfort as the silvered blade touched my skin, and then the ropes fell away.
“I’m sorry,” Ryan said. “I didn’t want this.”
“I know,” I said, taking the knife from Ryan and crouching down beside Mei. She twisted round, holding her bound hands to me, and I started sawing at the ropes. I glanced back at Ryan. “You need to get Dean some help, both of you. Then you need to find Fletcher and tell him what’s happening.”
“Attention, attention.” I jumped and spun around. Shaun’s voice was filtering through the speakers in the corner of the room. Guess they’d already made it to Blake’s office. “This is an emergency announcement. All students and instructors are to report to the main hall immediately. All students and instructors to the main hall, immediately.”
I turned on Ryan.
“Why the main hall?”
“Brad stopped there on the way here. He put a spell on the threshold. Anyone who goes in won’t be able to come back out again, not until the spell’s broken.”
“Shit. And you’re just telling me this now?”
I gave Mei the blade and hurried behind Shaun’s desk.
“What are you doing?” Ryan asked. I shot him a look.
“What, you don’t think it was a bit weird that Shaun kept tapping his fingers on the desk from the moment these cuffs were on me? Have you ever seen him fidget before?”
I yanked open the drawer. Shaun kept a lot of junk in here, but after some sifting I found what I was looking for: a small key. I pulled it out and slotted it into the cuff on my right wrist. It fell away and I reached for my training cuff, then paused. If this was going to work, I’d need every ounce of my power. I left the training cuff lying there and unlocked the final suppressor cuff.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Sheer, unadulterated power flooded through me, burning its way through my veins, setting every cell in my body alight with raw energy. Possibility. Feral magic pulsed in my veins, urging me to change, to embrace my true form and race through the hallways, slaying anyone who crossed my path. To prove my strength, my dominance.
“Jade?”
I turned to Mei with a snarl, then clamped a hand over my mouth. I’d just snarled at my best friend. Mei, who had stayed by my side through everything this year had thrown at me. Mei, whose life had already been threatened because of my mistakes. I needed to do better than this.
“Focus,” she said. “Remember why you’re doing this.”
I nodded shakily and shoved the key in my pocket. I couldn’t give in to the dark urges. If I didn’t find a way to stop Brad, lives would be lost. Shaun’s life would be lost. We didn’t have time for my power to corrupt me.
“Do you want me to come with you?”
I hesitated again, but shook my head. I was having a hard enough time controlling myself. I didn’t need to put Mei at risk again. The more shifters around me, the more of a danger I would be. And I didn’t trust Ryan alone with Dean.
“Help Ryan with Dean,” I said, and her eyes narrowed. My meaning wasn’t lost on her. I hoped she’d have the sense to hold on to the silver blade, just in case. “Then find anyone not trapped in the hall and tell them what’s going on.”
I turned for the door. I’d wasted enough time here. Brad and Shaun would be on their way outside by now, and half the academy was probably already trapped inside the main hall. Obedience was a habit, and when they heard the word immediately, they didn’t loiter.
I couldn’t afford to, either. I took off at a sprint, covering the ground of the deserted corridors easily. The power flowing through my veins lengthened my stride until my legs were eating up the ground beneath them. I made it all the way to the back door wit
hout passing another soul – not a good sign. I didn’t much like my chances if I had to take on Brad and Laura by myself.
I slipped through the door and out into the grounds. I had no plan, and I had as long as it took me to work my way round to the front of the academy to come up with one, because just throwing myself at Brad seemed like a good way to get myself killed.
I had to shift. Brad was uncuffed for the first time, which meant he was feeling everything I was. If I showed up in my wolf form, it would trigger that same primal fury in him that I’d had at just the sound of Mei’s voice – times ten. And hopefully, it would force him to shift. Once in his wolf form, he wouldn’t be able to use his magic.
I tugged off my hoodie and tossed it aside, then my t-shirt and my cargo trousers. A thought struck me, and I fished the key from my pocket and bundled it in a sock. If I could get it to Shaun – without my feral side trying to kill him – he could get out of his cuffs and shift, evening the sides. Except unlike us, he’d had decades of training.
I crouched down and thought about all the bad shit that had happened to me since that night at the farmhouse. And then I connected with the primal energy buried inside me. The change came over me faster and stronger than it ever had before, punching through my body. Fire burned along my spine, searing a trail of white-hot agony. I clenched my jaw and dug my fingers into the dirt, biting back the cry of agony that was clawing its way up my throat. I couldn’t scream. If Brad heard me changing, there was no telling what he’d do to Shaun. Find some way to stop him becoming a threat, that was for sure.
My shoulders bulged and changed shape, and fur forced its way through my skin. I didn’t fight it. For the first time since I’d been bitten, I wanted, truly wanted, this to happen. I embraced the wolf inside me and gave up the image of myself as human.
I shook out, settling my fur against my flanks. It was time to put an end to Brad. My lips pulled back in anticipation, and I prepared to launch myself into action.
No, wait. I shook out again, trying to clear my head. I couldn’t just go blundering in. I needed to act smart. And I needed the key. I scooped up the sock in my mouth, then turned and loped into the trees.
I moved in near silence, twitching my ears and taking sharp breaths of the air, testing it for scent until I caught a noxious mix of magic, sweat, and rage. Brad. I recognised Shaun’s scent, too. I’d tracked him often enough in class that it was branded into my senses. They were close.
I slowed to a walk, and stalked through the woods, peering out of the undergrowth. A flash of movement caught my eye – there! Three figures clustered near the front gate. Two standing, and one sitting, hands at an awkward angle – like they were bound. They were saying something, but I wasn’t close enough to pick out the words.
I took a step from the treeline, and as I did, a gust of wind blew through my coat – towards Brad. Shit.
He spun around, and as he caught sight of me, I broke into a dead sprint. My four limbs devoured the distance, and I loosed a snarl around the small package in my mouth. Brad’s eyes widened, and I smelled the sudden surge of adrenalin in his system, even at this distance. He opened his mouth to say something, but it came out as a scream and he collapsed onto all fours.
His shoulders bulged, shredding his shirt, and his spine started to twist and buckle beneath his skin. He howled again in pain, the sound more animal than human, and I faltered in my gait. My eyes twitched from Shaun to the vulnerable shifting wolf. He attacked me. He locked me in a cage. Forget Shaun. I was going to shred this pup, and nothing was going to stand in my way.
No! I had to keep to the plan. If I attacked, Laura would have time to kill Shaun. I could already see her hunting for Brad’s blade. But what did I care if Shaun died? He wasn’t important to me.
Yes, he was. I bounded past Brad without breaking my stride. Laura’s eyes widened as she saw me coming and trembles wracked her body. I ignored her, shut out the compulsion to attack my would-be rival, and skidded to a stop in front of Shaun, putting my body between him and Laura. I spat the sock at his feet, then turned my snarl on the she-wolf, doubled over as the change tore through her body.
I sensed rather than saw Shaun’s confusion, but he grabbed the sock between his bound hands and turned it inside out. The key tumbled to the floor and he groped through the grass until his fingers closed on it. I watched only long enough to see him take the key in his teeth and guide it towards the lock on the cuffs, and then my attention was back on Laura. I stalked towards her, my eyes locked on her half-human throat.
There was a snarl and a flash of movement – from beside me, not from Laura. I turned, but not fast enough. Brad smashed into my side, slamming me to the ground. His teeth snapped at my face. I kicked out at him, trying to gouge under his soft belly with my claws, but his russet fur was too thick for me to get any purchase from this angle. Yellowed fangs clamped shut an inch from my eyes and I twisted my head aside and kicked again, this time slamming my powerful hind feet under his back leg.
He staggered back, his teeth closing on air again, and I leapt to my feet. A sideways glance told me Shaun had the first cuff off and was working on the second. Laura’s change was halfway done, and if Shaun didn’t get the last cuff off soon, he’d be easy prey.
I snarled at Brad, snapping my teeth in his direction, and we started to circle, each looking for the other’s weakness. Brad lunged towards me and I leapt back, but not fast enough. Teeth closed on my shoulder, sending a lance of white-hot pain searing through me. I snarled again and threw myself into him, snapping my teeth as his face and neck.
A new snarl rent the air. I twisted round: a sandy wolf loomed over Shaun, lips peeled back. I sprang from Brad and raced towards the pair. As I did, the last cuff fell away from Shaun’s arm and his entire form erupted with a furious snarl, snapping the rope binding his wrists. He landed on all fours, crouched, and leapt at Laura in one smooth motion.
Pain shot through my tail and I spun back with a yelp. Brad’s teeth were clamped around it, worrying at its base as he attempted to draw me back. I twisted round, trying to get to him, but my bulky form didn’t have the flexibility to reach him. I yelped again and tried to kick out with my back legs, desperate to escape the pain. Brad locked eyes with me and his lips peeled back in what was unmistakably a smirk.
I roared my fury and twisted round, determined to wipe that look from his face, even if it meant ripping my own tail from my body. I howled again with agony, I felt flesh tearing, but I didn’t dare look at the damage as I ripped free from his grip. My teeth closed over the russet wolf’s neck and I clamped down, hard, clenching my jaw with all my strength. Another snarl erupted from me and pain and fury and fear and bloodlust all mingled into one until I couldn’t think anymore. I worried at the flesh of the wolf’s throat, searching for his jugular. His teeth snapped in my direction but each bite missed, closing on empty air, while I burrowed deeper into the thick fur protecting his lifeblood.
I heard whimpering from behind me but I couldn’t look without releasing my grip on Brad, and if I did that I’d never get hold of him again. The whimpering changed from animal to human – female. A moment later, I heard Shaun’s voice.
“Sit there. Don’t move.”
Brad redoubled his efforts to break free as the instructor came closer. I felt him slipping from my grip and clamped down harder.
“It’s over, Brad,” Shaun said. “Change back, and you won’t be harmed.”
Brad snarled his defiance, scrabbling at the ground beneath him, now slick with both our blood. His eyes swept the clearing, looking past us to Laura, and I felt the defiance drain out of him.
“Jade, let him go.”
I rolled my eyes round to look at Shaun, because I was one hundred percent sure that was a bad idea.
“It’s okay, do it.”
I relaxed my jaw and worked it loose from his throat, then took a step back, eyeing the wolf warily. He stayed still as a statue.
“Change back, Brad,” S
haun said again.
A sharp tang burned my nose, and instinctively I recognised it as magic. The portal. Blake and Draeven were arriving. I lifted my lip in a snarl, warning Brad not to try anything.
Light flashed to my side and then pain bit into my rear leg. I screamed in agony, spinning round and snapping my teeth at my own body. The silver blade was buried to its hilt in the muscle, and the pain was so intense it drove every thought from my mind. I could see Laura’s triumphant face in my periphery, but it didn’t matter. I had to get away from the pain. I had to make it stop. Someone had to make it stop, anyone. The movement drove the blade deeper into me, and it burned like acid was eating at me from the inside.
Brad darted out from in front of me, racing for the portal, but I could barely spare the focus to notice him, far less doing anything about it. I had to make the pain stop. It was killing me, I knew it.
Draeven and Blake stepped from the portal, and Brad raced straight past them and dived through it, Laura hot on his heels in her human form. I didn’t care. Nothing mattered but the blade she’d wedged in my flank. I snapped my teeth at it, at myself, at anything that moved, the pain driving me into a frenzy.
“Jade, it’s Shaun. Look at me.”
Look at him? I heard his words but discarded them. Looking at him wouldn’t help me. Wouldn’t stop the pain, and nothing else mattered.
“Jade, there’s a silver knife in your thigh, and I need to pull it out. But you have to calm down first.”
No, I needed to bite and shred, I had to keep moving, keep attacking until the pain went away.
“Focus, Jade!”
Focus. I had to focus. Shaun could help me. He always helped me. I forced my jaws to stay closed, and my legs to stop moving. As soon as I did, they gave out from under me. I hit the floor with a thud that knocked the air from my lungs and sent fresh waves of hell through my flank. My lower jaw trembled, but I clamped my teeth together again.
“Good. Steady, now.”
Shaun moved closer, watching me closely. I dropped my head onto the floor, rumbling deep in my throat. Every breath hurt.
Fur 'n' Fang Academy: The Complete Series: A Shifter Academy Adventure Page 20