And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, I had a magic lesson scheduled at the end of our first day of studies.
“Talk about not even giving me chance to catch my breath,” I grumbled to Cam as I finished up my dinner and picked up my tray.
“Want me tae walk with you?”
I shook my head. “Finish your dinner. No point in both of our evenings being ruined. Besides,” I added, “I’m counting on you to make a start on researching that Cultural Studies assignment, so I can copy your notes.”
“Aye? What’s in it fer me?” he said with a grin. I gave him a coy smile and bent down to his ear.
“There’s only one way you’re going to find out.”
I planted a kiss on his cheek, then took my tray back to Mickey and stalked off to the dungeons, muttering to myself about injustice the entire way. I mean, as if there weren’t enough days left in the whole new semester for Underwood to torture me – could he not at least have given me one day to get settled in? On the other hand, he had promised that we could talk about learning portals, so there was that. I grumbled a little less and walked a little faster.
I must have moved faster than I realised, because when I reached the dungeons, I could hear voices drifting up to me, and I recognised them both. Great, just what I needed. Overhearing another conversation between Underwood and Leo. Maybe I should just come back later. I was working hard to be less of a trouble magnet this year. I glanced up the stone steps, torn. If they really were up to something, how else was I going to find out? I might never get a better opportunity than this.
“Please, Professor Underwood,” Leo was saying, his voice bordering on desperate. “Just take me back with you.”
“You know I can’t do that,” Underwood replied.
“I don’t belong here!”
I crept a little closer, tilting my head to make out the muffled voices better.
“Alpha Blake and Professor Talendale feel otherwise. I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do.”
“Yes, there is!” Leo’s voice carried easily to me through the thick wooden door. I heard him suck in a breath and lower it. “Please, just open a portal. I’ll say I jumped through it and you didn’t know.”
“And then what? Professor Talendale would send you straight back.”
“I can convince him, I know I can. Just let me make my case to him directly.”
“Professor Talendale has other concerns right now.”
There was a pause, and then, “It’s true, then? The other academy?”
“Yes. Dryadale was cursed right before Christmas.”
“Dryadale – that’s the academy in…”
“Ireland,” Underwood said. “Draeven is already threatening to move against the druids if they don’t find a solution to this threat. It’s all we can do to keep speculation under control. No-one knows if Dragondale will be next. The truth is, you may be safer here.”
“No. Not while Kelsey’s there. You have to take me back with you, so I can fight.”
“No.”
“I have to protect her.”
“How are you going to do that, Leo? Do you have some sort of magical training I’m not aware of?”
A loud crash came from inside the room and I jumped back with a yelp. Immediately, it was utterly silent. Shit. No point trying to hide now. I pushed the door opened and stepped through. Leo and Underwood were both staring at me, and behind them, one of the chairs was in half a dozen pieces.
“Jade,” Leo said. “I was just–”
“Don’t bother,” I cut him off. “I heard everything you said. And I’m not going to tell anyone.”
I pulled the door shut and turned back in time to catch the two men exchanging a look.
“Why not?” Leo ventured after a moment. He sounded confused, and I didn’t blame him. I’d been pretty damned determined to hate him when he got here, and he’d just given me everything I needed to land him in a whole world of trouble. I shrugged.
“I know what it’s like to be trapped here when it’s the last place you want to be.”
“You seemed to be enjoying it enough in Law last semester,” he retorted.
“And you seem to have been walking around with your head up your arse,” I snapped. “Just because I’ve decided to make the best of what happened to me doesn’t mean I’m any happier about it. It just means I’m not going to go through life being a victim.”
Leo stalked away across the room, then turned back with a scowl.
“I’m not a victim.”
“Whatever you say.” I rolled my eyes and then turned them to Underwood. “This Talendale guy, does he know who’s behind the curses?”
“No. The Grand Council have dispatched entire squads of enforcers to investigate, but no-one knows for sure.”
“But there’s speculation?”
Underwood narrowed his eyes at me. “Exactly how long were you listening for?”
“Long enough.” I held Underwood’s gaze and saw the moment he came to a decision.
“Yes, there is speculation. Some people think Raphael may be involved.”
“Raphael?” The room spun, and I braced myself against the door behind me. When I found my voice again, it had a quiver to it. “I don’t suppose that just happens to be someone with the same name?”
“I’m afraid not. But as I said, it’s just speculation at this point.”
“Good.” Because I’d hate to think that the guy who created a rage curse powerful enough that it could be transmitted by a shifter’s bite and remain incurable over a year later was running round trying to cause the downfall of the druid academies. Not that I harboured any love towards the druids, but I had a hard time imagining he’d stop with them.
Footsteps sounded out in the hall and I jumped away from the door like it had burned me. A moment later, it swung inwards, and Shaun stood outlined in its frame.
“Jade, I’m afraid your lesson will have to be postponed.” His gaze flicked off to one side, and he frowned. “Leo, what are you doing here?”
“Uh, just leaving, Instructor Miller.”
He made to duck round Shaun, but the instructor held up a hand.
“Don’t. You might as well come with us.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, because my brilliant powers of deduction told me that ‘us’ included me.
“Alpha Blake’s office.”
I shot a panicked look at Underwood – if Shaun had overheard us, we were probably all in trouble.
“Um, why?”
“Alpha Draeven is here.”
Alpha Draeven. Shit. I thought I’d been off the hook when he didn’t show last semester.
“It’s fine,” Shaun hastened to assure me, presumably having seen all the blood drain from my face. Or maybe he just smelled the adrenaline suddenly flooding my system. “Just a few questions before he leaves and heads back to the alpha pack.”
“What does he want with me?” Leo asked, and I might have been imagining it, but he looked a shade paler than usual, too. And then I remembered that he spent most of last year with Draeven’s death sentence hanging over him – and we’d all seen the scars left by his silver poisoning from when an enforcer tried to take him in.
“Nothing,” Shaun said. “But Alpha Blake wants to speak to you. You can both come with me.”
He tossed a glance in Underwood’s direction, not quite looking right at him.
“I’m afraid you’ve had a wasted journey today.”
“No matter,” Underwood said, and if he was offended by Shaun’s dismissive attitude, he kept his voice too well controlled to show it. “I’ll tidy up here and be on my way. I’ll see you tomorrow evening, Jade.”
I trailed behind Shaun, wondering if it was too late for me to beg Underwood to sneak me out through a portal, too. Draeven had been intimidating as all hell when I met him last year – and that was before, by all accounts, half the shifters in the country had started criticising him for being too soft. I wasn’t sure I wanted to
be stuck in a room with him right now. Or ever.
But, as usual, no-one was giving me much of a choice, so I went quietly.
Leo didn’t.
“I could just come back and see Blake later,” he said. “Or tomorrow. He’s busy with Alpha Draeven and Jade, I don’t want to disturb him.”
I glared at him and mouthed the word ‘traitor’ behind Shaun’s back.
“You’re not disturbing him,” Shaun said. “He sent for you.”
“Right, but–”
Shaun rounded on him so fast I almost walked right into the back of him.
“Leo. Alpha Blake has asked to see you. Inside these walls, he’s your alpha. He asks, you say ‘Yes, Alpha,’ and you do what you’re told. I understand that you’re anxious about being around Alpha Draeven, but you will obey Alpha Blake’s commands. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Instructor Miller,” Leo ground out, resentment rolling across his shoulders. Shaun glared at him and for a moment I thought Leo was going to throw a punch. Then he dropped his eyes. Shaun dipped his chin in a curt nod and turned on his heel. I followed behind him again, aware of Leo staying with us, his shoulders still rigid. I’d always known Shaun could be strict, but the exchange left me on edge, and the tension hovered round the three of us in a thick cloud. It was almost a relief when we rounded the final corner to Blake’s office. Almost.
The back of my neck started to tingle the second I laid eyes on the innocuous wooden door. My step faltered, and the tingle spread like an icy tendril through my spine. Beside me, Leo’s jaw clenched, and his hands curled into fists at his sides.
“Are you o–” I didn’t finish getting my words out because my jaw snapped shut, and my back arched in agony. What the hell? A gasp rocked up from my chest. Shit, I was shifting – why the hell was I shifting?
Shaun spun round and he took us in with a glance.
“Jade, Leo, what’s going on?”
I rolled my eyes at him – the only part of my body I seemed to be in control of right now. The rest of me was busy trying to erupt in fur. A snarl that wasn’t fully human ripped from my throat.
“You have to control yourselves,” Shaun said, taking a step back. “Jade, listen to me. You can’t shift here. Leo…”
I snarled again – what the hell did he think I was trying to do? He took another step back, looking from me to Leo and back again. From the look on his face, I could only imagine that Leo was in the same shitshow as me.
My shoulder burst from its socket and one of my legs gave out under me. I caught myself on my other hand, and then that shoulder grew and twisted until it no longer fit in its socket, either. I grunted in pain as my fingers broke and reformed into powerful claws, and then my grunts became howls of agony as my spine deformed and moved under my skin. I turned my panicked eyes to Shaun, searching his face for answers, but he just shook his head.
“Jade, you can fight this. You are in control of your shift, it does not control you.”
It sure as hell didn’t feel like it, and fighting the shift was so painful. If I just stopped resisting, if I went with it, it would be over, and the pain would stop. My spine lengthened and changed shape, and my ankles cracked with a sickening crunch. Why was it hurting this much? It didn’t make sense, it hadn’t hurt this much since my first shifts.
“Jade, your cuff!”
My eyes flicked down to the cuff around my half-human wrist. The metal was glowing and now that I focused on it, I could feel the magic humming from it. The runes carved in the surface shimmered with an energy that wasn’t their own, and I knew I was in a world of trouble.
Because normally the cuff muted my strength, and if its magic had been corrupted, then it was going to do the opposite. And I could already feel artificial rage flooding through me.
I stared at Shaun through round, panicked eyes, and barked a terrified plea with my last human breath.
“Run!”
Chapter Eighteen
Shaun didn’t run. Instead, he removed his suit jacket and tossed it aside, and then began to unbutton his shirt. And all I could think was, ‘easy prey’.
I felt my tail bursting from my tailbone, and knew the shift would be over in seconds. And then I could punish everyone who had inflicted this life on me.
No! I didn’t want to hurt anyone. These people were my friends.
…But they’d let it happen to me, anyway.
A snarl ripped through the air and I spun round. A large, black wolf snapped its teeth at me in warning, and I peeled my lips back to reveal my own yellowed fangs. I’d kill him first, and then the instructor.
“Leo, Jade, this isn’t you,” Shaun said, but I didn’t take my eyes from the wolf in front of me. “You have to resist it.”
I didn’t want to resist it. I wanted to fight this wolf that dared to challenge me. I wanted to taste his blood, and shred his flesh from the–
Wait, what was I thinking? That was Leo.
Yes, Leo. The one whose mate had done this to me.
But it wasn’t their fault. Raphael had cursed her, and that wasn’t on Leo. He was a friend.
My hesitation cost me. Leo lunged himself across the hall at me. I skittered sideways and his teeth closed on a mouthful of my fur, ripping it from the skin beneath. I snarled. Friend or not, that hurt, and I was going to punish him. No!
Leo lunged again and this time I raced at him, ducking my head and slamming my shoulder into him mid-air. The pair of us hit the ground hard, and he whipped his head round, snapping at my face. I recoiled, narrowly avoiding his teeth, and leapt off him. I didn’t want to hurt him, but if he kept this up, I wasn’t sure how long I could ignore the pounding in my ears.
I tossed a frantic glance in Shaun’s direction. He’d already started his shift. In moments, the threat would become two threats – because he had no way of knowing that whatever was going on with Leo, I was somehow managing to resist. But I couldn’t keep resisting and protect myself from them both. Shit.
I backed away, flicking glances between Leo and Shaun as he finished his shift. The mature pale grey wolf advanced on the two of us, his posture rigid. I took another step back, and Shaun cut me a sharp nod of acknowledgement. Relief flooded through me, making my legs tremble.
And then Leo leapt at me again.
His shoulder ploughed into my side and I felt ribs break under the force. I hit the ground amidst a haze of searing agony that drove the air from my lungs in a single, sharp yelp. The black wolf wasn’t done with me, though. His entire bulk loomed over me and he snapped his teeth at my face. I twisted aside, the movement driving daggers of pain through me, and kicked up at him with my hind leg, but the movement was weak and off-target, hampered by my burning ribs.
A snarl ripped from Shaun’s throat and echoed around the hallway, but Leo didn’t so much as twitch an ear in his direction. He bared his teeth again and drove them at my throat. I kicked out at him with all the desperation of someone who’s about to have their throat ripped out by a rabid werewolf, and drove my feet into his soft belly. Air rushed out of him in a huff, but it hurt me more than him and I collapsed back to the ground, panting and twitching. Leo’s lips peeled back in a feral smile – I was helpless, and we both knew it.
He opened his jaws and prepared to make the killing bite. A flash of movement blurred in my periphery, and then Shaun crashed into Leo, knocking him from his feet. The pair of them hit the ground hard in a tangle of limbs and came up snarling. They circled, Shaun’s movements careful and calculated, Leo’s frantic and rage fuelled.
Both wolves seemed to have forgotten me, and I tried to scramble to my feet, but every movement was torture. I made it halfway up and paused, panting with exertion. I couldn’t fight like this. I was going to have to do better. I couldn’t leave Shaun to handle Leo by himself. He couldn’t risk hurting a student, but Leo had no such reservations about his instructor. I wasn’t even sure he was capable of rational thought right now. Whatever that cuff was doing to him, he wasn’t in control, and th
ere was only one way this uneven fight could end.
I was not going to let that happen. I snarled in frustration and forced myself the rest of the way up. I took a shuffling step towards them, ignoring the agony nipping at the edges of my consciousness. Nothing mattered but the fight.
A growl sounded from behind me, and I spun round, immediately regretting it as the pain broke through my focus and escaped as a muted yelp. And then the pain was driven from my mind again.
Standing in the middle of the hallway was the most terrifying sight I had ever laid eyes on.
The wolf was easily the biggest I’d ever seen, tall and broad with a wide skull and powerful jaws. His fur was unique, a kind of yellow-brown sable, and a thick black blaze ran from his forehead to the tip of his muzzle, interrupted by two jagged scars, and a dozen tiny nicks, that could only have come from fights. Even through his thick fur, every muscle was clearly defined, lean and sinewy, and his long limbs were thick and powerfully built.
But it wasn’t his physique that was intimidating.
His posture, his every movement, screamed dominance – and sent the urgent need to submit screaming through me. I’d never seen his wolf form before, but this could only be Alpha Draeven.
My legs trembled and I let them, lowering myself until my belly was touching the ground. I kept my eyes averted from his face – even the thought of making eye contact sent shudders through me. He advanced a step, and I saw movement behind him – Blake, in his human form.
Draeven snarled again, his eyes locked onto something, and I twisted my head a fraction.
Leo stood, staring back, but as Draeven advanced on him, a whine slipped from the black wolf and he ducked his head, sinking back on his haunches until he, too, was lying almost flat. Even Shaun had lowered his head.
Draeven twisted round to glance at Blake, and the head instructor hurried over to Leo. He crouched down beside him for just a moment, doing something I couldn’t see from here – and I didn’t dare move to get a better look.
Fur 'n' Fang Academy: The Complete Series: A Shifter Academy Adventure Page 34