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

by C. S. Churton

I started zigzagging, praying my ability to corner would give me the edge. Its jaws snapped to my right, then to my left, and the whole time I pelted as fast as I could. I could hear the calidra’s growing frustration with every bellow, but I couldn’t keep this up for much longer. My lungs were burning and my legs were spent, and the creature wasn’t even breathing heavily. I twisted round in time to see it aim a snap at my face, its wickedly gleaming fangs missing my cheek by mere inches. I skidded to a halt and ducked, throwing myself between its legs. Something flashed above me, and I hammered a fireball up into its belly.

  It cried out, this time in pain, and spun around, lashing out with its serpentine tail and almost taking my head from my shoulders. I threw my hands up, protecting my face, then sucked in another lungful of air. I tried to force my legs under me again, but every muscle ached and burned, and I knew a losing battle when I saw one. I sank back, readying another fireball. My magic was all I had left now.

  A snarl ripped through the night air behind me, and then a feline roar. Cam and Mei moved up to flank me on either side, their teeth bared, and eyes fixed on the calidra. Cam flicked a look to me that needed no interpretation.

  “I’m fine,” I said, trying not to wheeze too hard, and he moved his eyes back to the beast. I cast around, but there was no sign of Dean. Maybe he’d gone back to the academy with the others. Maybe he hadn’t. No matter. Even with just the three of us, we might stand some sort of chance. Not much of one, granted, but at least my battle plan went beyond giving it indigestion now.

  I struggled to my feet and Cam butted his shoulder against me, helping me up. I planted my feet, held out my hand, and conjured another fireball, bigger and more powerful than the others.

  The beast was stalking towards us, showing some caution now that it was faced with three opponents who weren’t running away.

  “I’ve got an idea,” I said. “Get ready to jump at it.”

  Cam dipped his chin in a nod, and Mei lashed her amber tail. The beast drew closer. I gauged my range carefully – too far away, and I might miss. Too close, and the damned thing would eat us before I got the chance to put my theory to the test.

  I threw the ball square at its chest, and as soon as the fire hit the long strands of fur, I pushed air into it with my other hand, making the fire catch and spread. The beast screeched in panic and fury, but kept charging at us as the fur burned away from its chest.

  “There! Do you see it?”

  I pointed to the silver medallion hanging from a chain around its neck. Mei yowled in confusion, but sank back on her haunches and launched herself through the air towards it. Cam jumped a split second after her, and the pair of them snatched at the chain. Cam caught it with his teeth, and Mei with a claw, and the combined weight of the two shifters snapped the links. The medallion fell to the floor, and the beast halted, its expression switching from enraged to bewildered. I threw another low-powered fireball at its snout and it flinched back, then banked sharply and bolted into the forest.

  Footsteps sounded from behind me, and I spun around, looking for Leo. The short, muscular man and the three wolves flanking him were the last thing I was expecting to see.

  “Very clever, cur,” he said. “But now we’re going to have to kill you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  “Who are you?” I said, backing away. Cam and Mei fell in beside me.

  “I’m the guy who’s going to save the academy from the calidra. Which means you need to disappear. Permanently.”

  “You must be from Dean’s pack, then.”

  A shadow of uncertainty passed over the man’s face before he covered it.

  “The boy’s been running his mouth, has he? The alpha won’t be pleased to hear that.”

  “Your alpha is going to have bigger problems than that. We’ve already sent word to Blake and Draeven.”

  “Draeven?” The man laughed. “His days are done. And who’s Blake going to believe? His new Alpha of Alphas, or the word of three outcasts, who were tragically killed by the calidra and aren’t around to back up their story?”

  He made a very good point, and I didn’t get the sense that me blustering was going to get us anywhere. Luckily, I was just stalling until my magic started to build up again.

  “Hey, you two,” I said conversationally to Cam and Mei. “Reckon you can take on these three puppies?”

  One of the shifters snarled and snapped at the air, and the man held up a hand. The wolf fell back.

  “If I were you,” he said, “I’d start running.”

  “If I were you,” I replied, “I’d consider plastic surgery.”

  “You little bitch!” He lunged forward, and the three wolves followed a split second behind.

  Cam and Mei surged forwards to meet them, ignoring the man and focussing on the wolves. They came together with the thud of muscle against muscle, and then there was snarling and screeching and the snapping of jaws, but I didn’t let it distract me. I pulled a fireball into existence and launched it at the man’s feet.

  The force of it swept his legs from under him, and he hit the ground hard, screaming and slapping at his feet. I let the fire go out, and he stared up at me with hatred burning in his eyes.

  “Filthy halfbreed.”

  “Sticks and stones,” I said, conjuring another fireball. “Call your wolves off.”

  “I’d sooner die.”

  I shrugged. “That can be arranged.”

  I was bluffing. I’d never killed anyone before, and I sure as hell didn’t want to start now. But if I could keep him distracted, out of the fight, maybe Cam and Mei would stand a chance. I risked a glance in their direction. They were outnumbered and barely holding the pack at bay. The trio of wolves had the upper hand, and they moved with short, powerful movements that told me they were all experienced fighters.

  Shit. If I didn’t do something, there was only one way that fight was going to end.

  The fireball in my hand flickered and went out. I tried to pull another one into existence. Nothing happened. Dammit, not now, come on! I tried again. Still nothing.

  A smirk spread over the man’s face.

  “Not so clever now, are you?” he said, and rose easily to his feet – they’d already healed. He plucked a blade from his belt. “I’m going to teach you your place.”

  Shit. I couldn’t even shift to protect myself – I was faster than I used to be, but not that fast. He’d have plenty of time to stick that knife in me while I was on the ground, defenceless. I took a step back and his grin widened. He slashed the knife through the air, side to side. At least it wasn’t a silver blade. If he didn’t kill me outright, I’d heal.

  But somehow, I didn’t get the sense he intended to give me the chance.

  I pushed my hands up into a classic guard stance in front of me. The academy made us take combat lessons twice a week, every week. I wasn’t the best fighter in my year, but I wasn’t the worst. Unfortunately, I didn’t think this guy was the worst fighter, either. They’d chosen him to stay human for a reason, and the way he was handling that knife gave me a pretty good idea what it was.

  “Tell your little friends to shift back,” he said, “and I’ll make it quick.”

  I glanced over at them again. Cam was limping heavily on one back leg, and Mei had a gash in her shoulder that was pumping blood. They both had half a dozen smaller wounds, and Cam had a patch of fur missing from his back. The trio of wolves were circling them, taking turns to launch attacks whenever they saw an opening. Mei and Cam moved within the circle, trying to face off against all three wolves at once, and failing.

  One wolf lunged at Mei’s hindquarters, but she spun round and lashed out with her claws, the feline move catching her attacker by surprise. Her swipe took him across the face, slicing four long slashes of red. He pulled back with a snarl of pain and started circling the pair again.

  My heart squeezed painfully. They couldn’t keep that up much longer. If I didn’t find a way to get them out of here, they were dead
. We were all dead. And I couldn’t let that happen. Better one life than three.

  “Let them go,” I said. “Let them go, and I’ll tell Blake it was me who summoned the calidra. He’ll believe it – you saw what I can do.”

  “Nice try,” he said, the knife still held ready. “But it’ll be easier to blame you after you’re dead.”

  “You really think Blake is going to believe that three students unleashed that thing and then attacked the men who tried to stop it, just on your word?” I shook my head. “The instructors will never buy it. They know us.”

  “Then your offer is moot, isn’t it?” He advanced on me again, and I battled the urge to keep retreating. A yelp sounded somewhere from the group of fighting shifters, but I tuned it out, swallowing the bile that rose up in my throat.

  “Not if you have a confession.”

  I reached behind me slowly and pulled out my phone, then held it up to show him.

  “Call them off, and I’ll confess to everything on video. You can kill me after, just let Cam and Mei go.”

  The man hesitated, then loosed a low whistle. The three wolves broke off from their attack and turned to him.

  “Enough,” he said, and then switched his attention back to me. “Tell your friends to shift back.”

  I shook my head. “You don’t need them human if you’re not going to kill them.”

  “And how do I know that they’re not going to go running to Blake and tell him everything that happened as soon as we’re done here?”

  “Oh, they will. But Blake won’t believe them. Not once you’ve got the confession. That’s my boyfriend, and my closest friend. He’d expect them to lie for me.”

  The man twisted to Cam with a sneer of disgust on his face.

  “You’re mated to this cur?”

  Cam snarled and leapt forward.

  “Cam, stop!” I shouted, as one of the other wolves moved to intercept him. He shot me a look and backed down, a growl still rumbling in his throat. I looked away from him. If I was going to do this, if I was going to confess to a crime and let them kill me, then I couldn’t do it looking at his face. I turned back to my captor.

  “Our deal?”

  He nodded and raised his voice to his pack.

  “The wolf and the abomination will not be harmed. They will be released – once the halfbreed cur has confessed and killed herself on camera.”

  Again with the halfbreed thing? But I didn’t get time to dwell on it. He tossed the knife at my feet, and I stared at it in horror. Kill myself? Take that blade and use it to open my own throat, deep enough that my shifter healing wouldn’t be able to repair the damage before I bled out? I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to do that.

  But if it was the only way to save Cam and Mei, I’d find the strength from somewhere. A lump pressed against my throat as I swallowed, pulling the pale flesh taut. I nodded.

  “I’ll do it.”

  Three things happened at once. I crouched down to retrieve the blade. Cam and Mei turned outwards and launched themselves at the wolves flanking them. And a tawny wolf sprung from the treeline and flung himself at the now unarmed man sneering down at me. Dean.

  The force of his attack threw the man to the ground, and the pair of them rolled, Dean snapping wildly at the intruder’s face, while the man strained, the muscles in his arms taut as he tried to hold him at bay. I was close enough to see his eyes widen as he recognised his attacker. He drove a leg under Dean’s ribcage and tossed him aside like he was made of feather. Dean hit the ground and rolled to his feet. At the same time, his pack mate rolled away, still human, and rose into a low fighting stance.

  A yowl sounded from Mei’s direction, snapping me from my stupor. I snatched the knife from the ground and threw myself at Dean’s opponent. He saw me coming and spun to me at the last second, throwing up a fist that landed in my stomach and knocked me from the air. I hit the ground hard, winded and gasping, and twisted my head in time to see him advancing on me.

  Dean moved, putting himself between me and his pack mate.

  “Get out of the way, Dean,” the man said. “Your father will not be happy to hear that you have disobeyed him.”

  Dean shrank back under the censure, then shook himself off and rose to his full height again.

  “I am your beta, brat. Now move aside and let me finish the cur.”

  By way of response, Dean curled a lip, and the hair along his back stood up. The man was a beta. No wonder he’d been kicking my arse so easily. Promotion through the ranks of a wolf pack was based on strength and cunning.

  But it didn’t matter. Right now, he had the same problem I did – even with all his experience, it would still take him valuable seconds to shift, and he couldn’t afford to be vulnerable for even a heartbeat.

  “Dean,” I said, pushing myself up from the ground, and ignoring the burn of the cold night air hitting my lungs. Dean tilted his head in my direction without taking his eyes from the beta. “Help the others. I’ve got this.”

  He snarled at the beta and for a moment I thought he’d ignore me, but then he snapped his teeth once, and bounded away towards the other two and their ill-matched battle.

  “We’ve been here before, cur,” he said.

  “Yes,” I agreed. “With one difference.”

  I slashed the knife back and forth through the air in a poor imitation of his earlier move.

  “I don’t need a knife to put you in your place, bitch.”

  “You’re talking pretty big for the guy who pulled the knife in the first place.”

  He curled his lips into a smirk, raised one hand, and beckoned me forward. There was just one problem with that. In all the combat lessons I’d had with Fletcher, not once had we used weapons. I was as likely to stab myself as I was the beta.

  I tucked the knife into my waistband and hoped I’d manage to get through the fight without stabbing myself in the arse. Cam seemed pretty fond of it.

  The beta laughed; an ugly sound that matched the expression on his face and left me in no doubt that he thought I was too weak to do him serious harm. More fool him. I just didn’t want to do myself more harm while I was at it. Maybe I couldn’t take on the beta of a large pack by myself, but I didn’t have to. With the fight going on behind me far more evenly matched, all I had to do was keep him out of the way. And, preferably, not get myself killed in the process. Hence the knife in my waistband.

  Blade safely stowed, I advanced on him, my hands held in the guard position. Instead of lunging in to attack, I circled, sidestepping and forcing him to turn with me or present an easy target.

  “What’s the matter, little girl?” he sneered. “Too scared to attack?”

  “What’s the matter?” I taunted back. “Scared the little girl is going to hurt you?”

  He lunged at me, moving faster than I’d thought possible. His first punch glanced off my guard arm and narrowly missed pounding into my gut; his second went high and almost took my head off my shoulders. I ducked and came up inside his guard, hammering two quick punches into his gut. Damn, it was like punching a solid wall. The impact jolted back up my arm, but the beta backed up a pace. He’d felt it, at least.

  He attacked again, smarter this time, keeping his elbows tucked in to protect himself as he threw a flurry of punches at my head. I swayed left to right, avoiding all but one, which landed in a glancing blow to my temple with all the force of a sledgehammer. Pain exploded through my head and I staggered back a pace, trying to hold my arms up to block the follow up attack.

  It didn’t come. When the beta sharpened into focus again, he was watching me from a few feet away, with his arms up and a nasty smile on his face. And that was when I knew he was playing with me.

  “I’ve changed my mind,” he said, but I didn’t waste any time hoping that meant he’d developed a moral compass. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m going to take you in alive. And when Coop overthrows Draeven, I’m going to ask him for you as a reward.”

  A shudder ran
the whole length of my spine, and my stomach tried to eject whatever was left inside it. The beta saw the disgust on my face and laughed.

  “That’s how it used to be, you know. Bitches like you knew their place.” He cupped his crotch, leaving me in no doubt what he thought my place was. “I’m going to enjoy breaking you, piece by piece.”

  Too bad for him I’d never been much good at accepting my lot in life. I ignored the churning in my gut, forced a smile onto my face, and purred my words.

  “Sweetheart, if you bring that little worm near me, I’m going to cut it off.”

  I reached behind me for the knife, and he threw himself at me. The impact smashed me into the ground, and I felt a rib break with a searing pain. I gasped and tried to curl up around it, but he grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head, stretching out my torso and doubling my pain. His bulk pinned the lower half of my body, and he leered down at me. I tried to lift a knee to slam it into him, but all I managed to do was wrench my hip and double the pain in my ribs.

  “Don’t be like that,” he said. “We’re going to become very close, you and me.”

  “Get off me, you bastard!”

  “Language, little girl. Maybe I’ll just help myself to a little preview of what you’ve got here.”

  I glanced frantically over at the fight behind us – fur was flying and as near as I could tell, Dean, Mei, and Cam were holding their own, but that fight was far from over. I was on my own.

  The beta forced both my wrists into one of his giant hands and traced the other down my cheek. I snapped my teeth at his fingers, but he only chuckled and kept moving down.

  “Let’s see what’s under this drab uniform, huh?”

  His hand passed over my ribs and I hissed in pain and tried to squirm away, which made the pain worse. He took hold of the hem of my hoodie, and I gritted my teeth. Like hell was I letting this caveman grope me in the middle of the academy, then drag me back to his cave by my hair. The anger and terror boiled within me, and then I felt a familiar tingle in my hands. I forced my body to go limp and stop fighting him.

  “Hey,” I said, my voice a breathy whisper. His eyes jerked up to meet mine, and they were filled with lust and malice. “Why don’t you let me do that?”