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

by C. S. Churton

  From time to time, some of our other classmates would find us in a quiet corner, away from the prying eyes of the rest of the academy, and ask after him. I always made a point of telling him about those. I wanted him to know he hadn’t been forgotten by the rest of the world.

  When I wasn’t in lessons, or visiting Dean, or having lessons with Underwood or counselling sessions with Shaun, I was in the library. I was rarely alone. When I’d told Cam about Draeven’s condition for me representing Dean, I thought he was going to kill me himself, but instead he’d brought me to the library, and told me to find a way to save Dean, and myself. With him and Mei as my research assistants, the work went much faster. This might be a Hail Mary, but it was going to be the best damned researched Hail Mary in the history of shifterkind.

  “Jade?”

  I blinked Shaun back into focus. It seemed like this session had been going on forever.

  “Huh?”

  Shaun’s expression was concerned rather than exasperated, which was a nice change. At least I probably wasn’t in trouble for zoning out. Again.

  “How much sleep are you getting?”

  “I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “Some.”

  “Not enough, if your level of focus is anything to go by. And I’m not the only one who’s noticed. Jade, your exams are only a few days away. I’m concerned that you’re not going to pass.”

  “And I’m concerned that me and Dean are going to get torn apart by the alpha pack,” I snapped. Immediately, I held up a hand. “Sorry, that’s not your fault.”

  “You don’t have to apologise to me. I understand the pressure you’re under, and I don’t like the position you’ve been put in by Alpha Draeven.”

  “By myself, you mean. And I don’t regret it.”

  “Of course you don’t,” Shaun said, exhaling heavily and leaning back in his chair. “Not many people would have done that, you know. What you did was incredibly brave.”

  I shook my head.

  “That says more about other people than it does about me. I wasn’t brave – I was doing the only decent thing. It wasn’t Dean’s fault, and I don’t want to be part of a world where people are denied a fair trial just because they don’t belong to a pack, or they can’t speak up because they don’t happen to be an alpha.”

  “The shifter world is very different to what you’re used to.” He said it as a statement, without emotion, but I didn’t know how anyone could look at the twisted world created by Draeven and his ilk and feel no emotion about it.

  “I grew up believing that even if the world wasn’t fair, even if the world didn’t view everyone the same, they all at least had the chance to make a life for themselves, at least they all had the same basic human rights. And then I got bitten, and I realised how wrong I was. Shaun, this world isn’t just unfair, it’s unjust, and it’s designed to oppress people just because of how they were born. How can anything think that is right?”

  “That’s a good question.”

  I leaned back and stared up at the ceiling.

  “Well, if you’ve got an answer, I’d love to hear it.”

  “I think you’ve got bigger problems than philosophy right now.”

  I snorted. If he hadn’t grown up in this world, I didn’t think he’d be saying that. I didn’t think he’d consider the status quo acceptable if he saw it for the first time. Or maybe it was just that he would never face those prejudices.

  “You have a pack, don’t you?” I asked.

  “I do.”

  “Does that make you better than me?” I to say the words as a challenge, but instead they slipped from me as a plea.

  “It’s not about that.”

  I lowered my head in time to catch the look that passed across his face. Maybe he wasn’t so oblivious as I’d assumed.

  “No? But somehow, you get to choose your own future – doors open for you, your alpha speaks for you. What do I have? What kind of future is waiting for me when I get out of here?”

  “I wish I could answer that for you, and I wish I could make things easier for you.”

  “Yeah, well,” I said, my voice full of two years’ worth of bitterness, “wishes don’t change the world, do they?”

  “No, they don’t. And distractions don’t make your problems go away. Have you considered talking about them, instead?”

  I gave a small laugh.

  “These sessions are only an hour.” I made my face serious and carried on quickly before he got any ideas about eating up the rest of my spare time. “I’m dealing. I promise. And I know my focus has slipped in classes, but I’m keeping up. I study for an hour with Dean every day. I don’t plan on saving both our lives just to get held back. Cam and Mei even drill me when I’m eating.”

  “All of which is great,” Shaun said. “But when are you resting?”

  I traced patterns on the top of his desk with my finger. “Uh, now?”

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.” He glanced around – for what, I didn’t know, since we were in his office, alone, as usual. “I’m not really supposed to tell you this, but a group of enforcers will be arriving on Monday. They’ll spend the week gathering evidence and speaking to witnesses between the exams. Next weekend, they’ll hold the trial.”

  “Next weekend? And you want me to waste time resting?” I was practically out of my seat already. One week left to get my case together.

  “Yes. Jade, you’ve been working on this non-stop for two months. There’s nothing more you can add to your case now. But you need to be sharp enough to present it, and that means you need to get some sleep. Promise me you’ll at least try.”

  I nodded. He was right. Alpha Draeven would throw the brightest prosecutor he could find at me. I would have to be at my best to stand a chance of beating him. And Dean deserved me at my best. Not to mention that I’d really rather avoid being killed, if at all possible, because frankly just the thought of facing that scared the ever-loving crap out of me.

  “I’ll try.”

  *

  I meant to sleep, I honestly did try – but knowing the enforcers were coming and the trial would finally be happening kept me awake the entire weekend. It was probably for the best, anyway. I didn’t much like what I saw when I closed my eyes.

  The downside was, when Monday morning rolled around and I had to face the first of my exams, I was pretty much a zombie. Worse, the subject was Cultural Studies, which put me to sleep at the best of times.

  When I set foot inside the exam room with the other students, what I saw woke me right up. Dean was seated at the back of the room, and on either side of him stood an enforcer. My jaw clenched. The cuffs around his wrists were linked with a silver chain – like the humiliation of being under guard wasn’t enough. What did they think he was going to do when he was wearing suppressor cuffs, anyway?

  I paused in front of him, and one of the enforcers moved to intercept me, all six and a half foot of him. I glared up at him.

  “Move along, student.”

  Some fights just weren’t worth picking. And some fights were. I ignored him and looked past his bulk to Dean.

  “Good luck, Dean. You can do this.”

  “Thanks, Jade. You, too,” he said, earning himself a hard stare from his jailors. Neither of us paid them any mind.

  “See you tonight.”

  I moved away before the enforcers could physically move me, and sat down for two hours of academic torture.

  The exam got underway, and no-one was as surprised as I was when I realised I knew a decent number of the answers. I mean, I hadn’t been lying when I told Shaun I was logging the study hours – it was just that I’d been studying the fun subjects. But by the time I traipsed out two hours later, I had some sort of hope that I wouldn’t get an outright fail. And judging by the look on Dean’s face, he was feeling the same way. And then his jailors escorted him away.

  We had Law the following day, which wasn’t too challenging after all the research I’d done over the last tw
o months, and History the day after, where I found myself relying on the usual combination of guesswork and made-up dates.

  Periodically, students would disappear with an enforcer, returning an hour later looking pale. Madison was gone for most of an afternoon. I guess they were wondering how she could have been in a relationship with him all year and not notice anything was wrong. I was wondering the same thing. Then again, if something didn’t revolve around Madison, she didn’t have much interest in it.

  Thursday and Friday were the practical exams – Combat, Tracking, and, of course, Shifting. I’d had enough practice at the first two that they didn’t cause me too many problems. I wasn’t going to be breaking any records for tracking, but I’d found the target with about sixty seconds to spare, which should be good enough to scrape a pass.

  Combat, I had the guy on the ground and yielding inside two minutes – apparently all the extracurricular practice I’d been getting hadn’t gone to waste. The hardest part was remembering that I wasn’t supposed to do him any lasting damage.

  Friday brought with it my final exam for the year, and with my newfound ability to shift in half the time, not to mention overcoming rage curses while I did it, it didn’t give me too many problems. The problems happened when I left the shifting lab, and found Dean standing outside it. Shackled.

  I stopped in my tracks and glared up at the two enforcers flanking him – Caleb and Brent.

  Brent steered Dean to a seat and pressed down on his shoulder until he sat. I bristled, but Dean didn’t resist. What the hell was wrong with asking him to sit like he was an actual human being? I waited for them to uncuff him, but Caleb just stepped away and rapped on the door behind me.

  “You’re going to uncuff him, right?” I demanded of Brent. He ignored me, so I spun round. The door opened, and Kendra stood outline in its frame.

  “Caleb,” I said, more loudly. “You’re going to uncuff him, right? You know he can’t shift with these cuffs on.”

  “We don’t have orders to remove his cuffs,” Brent said. I barked a harsh laugh.

  “Are you serious?” He didn’t reply. “Kendra, you know he’s just going to fail with cuffs on.”

  “Our orders were to bring him to his exams,” the enforcer said, sounding a little too pleased with himself. I scowled at him.

  “I was there when Alpha Draeven gave the order,” I said, “and Alpha Draeven’s orders were that he be allowed to sit his exams, not just attend them. Which he can’t do while he’s wearing the cuffs. Or maybe you think you know better than the Alpha of Alphas?”

  “Mind your tongue, cur,” Brent snapped, but Caleb put a hand across his chest.

  “Come on, Caleb,” I pleaded, turning my attention to him. “What’s Dean going to do? The whole academy is warded, it’s not like he’s going anywhere.”

  “We would need Alpha Blake’s consent,” he said eventually. I turned to Kendra, and she nodded.

  “I’ll speak to him now. I’ve better things to do than waste my time observing a shifting exam for someone who cannot shift.”

  She sent a haughty look in the enforcer’s direction, and strode off down the hall.

  “You’d best go about your business, Jade,” Caleb said.

  “This is my business.”

  “Yeah, I heard you were trying to get yourself killed again.”

  “Some things are worth dying for.”

  “Wait.” Dean rose to his feet, his eyes sharpening on me. “What do you mean, dying?”

  Brent shoved Dean back into his seat and I glared at him.

  “You don’t need to be so rough!”

  “Are you telling me how to do my job, cur?”

  “Someone needs to.”

  “Jade,” Dean said, not getting up this time. “What did you mean about dying?”

  Crap. I hadn’t been planning on telling him about that part, but it was too late to sweep it under the rug now. I bit my lip.

  “Alpha Draeven might have said he’d execute me if the alpha pack found me guilty.”

  “What?” He made to get up again and Brent stepped forward. Dean slumped back in his seat and sought my eye past the enforcer. “Jade, that’s madness. Back down. You can’t win this case. They’ll kill you.”

  “Good,” Brent said, folding his arms across his chest. “Soon we’ll be rid of two traitors.”

  I rounded on him.

  “Traitor? I’m not the one who was trying to twist Draeven’s words.”

  “Alpha Draeven, cur.”

  I was saved from doing something monumentally stupid – like trying to kick the arse of a trained enforcer who was three times my size – by Kenda choosing that moment to reappear. She looked between the four of us, then turned her attention to Caleb, ignoring the obvious tension.

  “Alpha Blake has given his consent for Dean’s cuffs to be removed for the duration of the exam.”

  Brent sneered. “Won’t make any difference,” he said to me. “The traitor will still be dead this time next week.”

  “We’ll see,” I said, with a confidence that was entirely fake. I shoot Dean a tentative smile as Caleb slipped a key into his cuffs. “Good luck, Dean. I’ll see you this evening.”

  Dean nodded, but it was clear the exam was the last thing on his mind. Bloody Brent.

  The sooner this trial took place, the better.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Therefore, Alpha Draeven, I conclude that this shifter wilfully assisted in a plot to overthrow and murder yourself, and that is treason. There can be only one punishment.”

  Alpha Carson inclined his head to Alpha Draeven and returned to his seat behind the carved oaken table. Another shifter seated at his table mouthed something in his ear, and Carson nodded. I wasn’t close enough to hear what – our tables were set wide apart. Probably congratulating him on an excellent closing argument.

  Across the large, imposing room, Draeven sat behind a raised podium, watching the proceedings with a stoic expression. A dozen large portraits hung on the wall behind him, frozen in time with the same imperious look – the past Alpha of Alphas. None of them looked benign, nor understanding, nor the sort of person I wanted to meet in a dark alley. Or in the middle of an ancient courtroom, come to that.

  On either side of the room, to my left and my right, where they were afforded the best view, sat the alphas. They were here as a show of strength – to observe the proceedings and hear Draeven’s judgement. They sat behind carved wooden bannisters that marked out a pair of galleries. There were forty-eight seats split between them, and one remained empty. From time to time, Dean’s eyes would flick to the empty seat – the one I had no doubt had been occupied on many occasions by his father.

  I caught Dean’s eye now, as I rose to my feet. He was standing in a dock, as he had for the entire trial. His wrists were bound with the suppressor cuffs, linked with a spelled chain which also shackled him to the dock itself. There was no innocent until proven guilty in the shifter world. My stomach clenched to see him standing there, head hanging and shoulders hunched, utterly helpless as he awaited the outcome of the trial. But I didn’t let my trepidation get as far as my face. It was showtime.

  I stepped from behind the bench, shooting Dean a cocky smile and a wink, and tried to stop my legs from shaking. This entire courtroom was designed to intimidate, and I wasn’t about to let the alphas – and Alpha Carson in particular – see that it was getting to me. I’d spent nearly twenty hours here since Saturday morning, and I was sure there was a trace of sourness in some of the eyes that followed my movements, particularly from the gallery that had an empty seat. Apparently, three-day trials were unusual. I hoped that was a good sign. But all that really mattered, what everything came down to, was Draeven’s judgement of my final cross-examination of Dean, and my closing argument. So, no pressure.

  I inclined my head to Alpha Draeven.

  “Alpha Draeven, I thank you for your patience, and your judicious attention to this matter.” A little flattery neve
r hurt anyone.

  He returned the gesture to me, but not before I caught the flicker of amusement in his eyes. I approached the dock, stopping far enough back that I wouldn’t obscure the view of Draeven, or any of the other watching alphas. I wanted them to see Dean’s reactions to my questions.

  Dean’s eyes flickered to my face, and I offered him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. But we both knew there were no promises here today, no matter how well prepared my case. I could only hope that the basis of my argument was as novel to Draeven as it had been to Lewis, because the stakes were a hell of a lot higher than they had been last semester.

  Here went everything.

  “Dean,” I said, projecting my voice and relieved to note it didn’t tremble. “Alpha Carson has done an excellent job of laying out the facts of your actions over the last nine months.” I forced a cockiness to my tone and shot Carson a smile that belied my churning stomach. “You are to be commended, Alpha.”

  His eyes tightened, but he didn’t seem sure what to make of me. Most of the alphas in this room had that reaction, though I had no doubt more than a few were hoping I would fail and force Draeven to honour his threat.

  I let my eyes linger for a moment, then pivoted and paced the other way.

  “But what he didn’t uncover were the reasons behind those actions.”

  “The reasons have no bearing,” Alpha Carson said. “We are here to discuss the accused’s crimes.”

  I clenched my jaw, then immediately loosened it again. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing his interruption had gotten to me, and it wasn’t like I could tell an alpha to butt the hell out.

  “Since Alpha Draeven has not yet found him guilty of any crime, perhaps the court will indulge me?”

  Draeven dipped his chin, and Carson crossed his arms, the smug look pasted all over his face a clear indication that he thought I was way out of my depth.