He looked at me like that was somehow my fault, and nothing to do with the fact that we’d both been bitten by the same cursed druid. And because of that, he’d decided to send me right back to the place I’d been attacked and poisoned with silver.
“I’m not going alone,” I said, folding my arms across my chest.
“You will do whatever Alpha Draeven commands,” Blake snapped, but Draeven silenced him with a look.
“You may take one of your classmates with you. I fear that if you take more, Ryan will suspect a trap.”
“Cam,” I said at once – because if he thought I was walking into danger without him, he’d kill me himself. He was pretty handy in a scrap, too.
“Not the leopard, the cur, or the mate of the halfbreed?” He sounded amused. “Interesting company you keep, by the way.”
I shook my head. “No, not them. But not for the reasons you think. I’d trust any of them watching my back. And they do have names, you know.” He did know. He’d personally presided over Dean’s trial last year – right after making him a cur. “And by the way, Mei and Leo worship the ground you walk on. It’s a shame their loyalty doesn’t go both ways.”
“Jade! Forgive her, Alpha Draeven,” Shaun said quickly. “She’s had a testing few months.”
“Yes, I recall,” Draven said dryly. “I seem to have been summoned here to clean up each of her messes.”
He stared at me, and I dropped my gaze to my hands – probably the smartest thing I’d done since I’d set foot in here. There was no sense in giving him more ammunition against me – whether I ‘impressed’ him or not.
“I believe her fiery nature could be a great asset – if she made an effort to control it.”
Well, he had me there – people had been saying the same thing pretty much my entire life.
“Very well, that will be all,” Draeven said. “Unless you have anything else to add?”
Well, while I was pushing my luck…
“If you really want me to get noticed, I could use some clothes that aren’t jeans.”
I thought I caught the flicker of a smile over Draeven’s lips, but maybe it was just a trick of the light. When I lifted my head, it was gone.
“Alpha Blake will ensure you have the resources you need. You’re dismissed.”
I got out of there before he could change his mind about that, and went in search of Mei. We had a shopping trip to plan.
*
“I’m nae sure this is a good idea, lass.”
“I know,” I said. “You’ve told me ten times already. But unless you want to tell Draeven that, you’re wasting your breath. We’ve got orders, apparently. Besides, I got this new dress out of it.”
“Aye,” Cam said, eyeing my well-fitting black dress – short enough that I could still use my legs in a fight – with obvious approval. “That’s why I dinnae think we should have left our room.”
I elbowed him with a grin. “Plenty of time for that later. Let’s go get noticed.”
He took my hand in his and led me through the familiar unmarked wooden door. Behind the bar, Jim raised his head at the sound of the door opening and nodded in our direction. At least our little scuffle with Brad and his buddies hadn’t gotten us barred. I guess Jim wasn’t as fussed about what happened outside his doors as inside them. That was fair – he didn’t have to replace anything we broke in the street.
I swept my gaze round the pub, but though I spotted several other shifters here, none of them were Ryan. No surprise, he was smart enough to keep a low profile after what happened last time we were here. I spotted Tara sitting alone at a table and uttered a silent prayer of thanks that Dean wasn’t with us. As usual, she was attracting more than her fair share of male attention.
Without a word, me and Cam headed for the bar. Jim frowned and shuffled over to us. Normally, we’d find a table and Jenny would come take our orders. Jim wasn’t keen on shifters coming to the bar, especially dressed the way I was – it tended to attract attention, and tensions spilled over. That was how Cam got barred the first time we came here. I gave a small frown of my own – getting noticed was all well and good, but I didn’t want us to get barred again on account of Draeven’s crazy idea. We’d best not linger here too long.
“A vodka cranberry and a pint of Carling, please Jim,” I said, giving him my most innocent smile. Apparently, I needed to work on the innocent part, because his frown deepened in response, and he cast a look at Cam.
“You two want to take a seat and I’ll bring them over?” he suggested, pulling down a pair of glasses.
“In a bit,” I said. “Have you seen Ryan around?”
“Ryan?” Jim said with a grunt, filling the pint glass. I got the sense that he didn’t usually talk about his patrons – but it wasn’t like I was asking for his bank details. I just wanted to know if he’d been in.
“Yeah. He’s a friend of mine, sorta… I haven’t seen him for a while.”
“The dour one, keeps to himself – no cuff?”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s him. Have you seen him?”
“Not since you and your friends started that fight outside.” He peered at my arm while he filled my glass. “Heard you got stabbed.”
And was probably wondering why there was no scar. I should get his mind off that. He might be clued in that we existed, but he was a mundane and I wasn’t sure how much he was supposed to know. Loose lips sink ships, right? And I’d become pretty fond of The Wolf and Sheep over the last two years.
“Hey, we didn’t start anything. You know me, Jim, I like to keep my nose clean.”
He grunted again – in amusement this time, I thought – and set the glasses on the bar. Another customer, wearing suit trousers and a shirt, leaned further down the bar and waved for his attention. He nodded and fixed his eyes on me and Cam.
“You two have a relaxing evening.”
Translation: don’t start a fight. Well, that was the last thing on my mind. Right now, I wanted one of Eli’s steaks, while we scoped the place out, and waited to see who might notice me.
I was getting noticed, all right, but not in the way I wanted. Maybe this dress was a bad idea.
“Let’s grab a table,” I said, grabbing Cam’s hand and towing him away from the guy he was glaring at – which was a waste of energy, because the guy hadn’t taken his eyes from my legs since we got here. I wasn’t sure why – it wasn’t like there was a lot of them. I was five foot nothing on a good day. Still, it was much too early in the night for Cam to teach the lecherous office worker some manners. Plus, it was frowned upon to get into fights with mundanes, even ones who deserved it.
It was busy and the only table we could find was in the corner, which wasn’t great for attracting attention, but was great for keeping Cam from going caveman and lumping someone to defend my honour – such as it was.
The evening passed quietly. Too quietly. We got our food, we ate, we drank, and barely anyone cast a look in our direction. On any other day, it’d be my definition of a perfect night out. Tonight, not so much.
I leaned over the table towards Cam. “What do you say we shake things up a little?”
He gave me a wary look, but after a moment, dipped his chin in a nod. We didn’t have much choice, not if we wanted word of me being here to get back to Ryan. It was time to give them something to talk about.
“Would you stop staring at her?” I all but shouted, landing a slap across Cam’s cheek hard enough that the sound echoed round the entire bar. A bright red print stained his cheek immediately. Oops. Good job his shifter healing would take care of that by the time we made it back to Fur ‘n’ Fang.
“Would yer stop being so jealous, lass?” Cam boomed. “Ah barely e’en looked at her.”
The entire bar had fallen silent, and every eye in the place was on us. Excellent. There was no way the rowdy shortarse and the burly Scottish guy could be anyone other than us. As soon as the gossip got round, Ryan would know we’d been here, and there was only one re
ason we’d have come tonight.
“Barely even looked?” I spluttered, jumping to my feet. “If you got any closer, you’d have your nose right up her skirt!”
“Get over yerself, lass. I know yer only wanted to come here to look for yer fancyman.”
Nice touch – now Ryan would know for sure we were sending him a message that we wanted to see him. I caught the smile before it showed on my face.
“You know what?” I snapped. “I’m done. Stay the hell away from me.”
I turned and flounced away, expecting to hear his footsteps following in my wake. What I heard instead was,
“I think the lady has made it perfectly clear what she wants, mate. Maybe you’d better sit back down.”
I turned in time to see a well-meaning bystander block his path and plant a hand on his chest, and stare into his eyes. Crap.
“Get yer hands off me,” Cam growled. I hesitated by the door, torn. If I went back to him, our display would have been for nothing. If I didn’t, he was going to knock this guy’s head off. And either way, I didn’t fancy stepping out into the street without Cam close behind. I’d insisted on backup for a reason.
I didn’t get chance to make my decision.
“She deserves better than the likes of you.”
Cam snarled and shoved the other guy, sending him sprawling into a chair that shattered under the impact. The guy stared up at him, dazed – no doubt wondering how one shove was capable of hurting like that. The rest of the bar were staring, too.
“You!” Jim bellowed, reaching under the bar for the enchanted baseball bat I knew he kept there. “Out, now!”
Hiding a smile, I slipped through the door and ducked into the shadows. A few moments later, Cam barrelled out of the door. I caught his hand and dragged him into the shadows with me.
“Mission accomplished,” I said. “I reckon they’ll be talking about that for days.”
“Aye, but did ye have to slap me so hard, lass?”
I grinned and pulled him closer. “Come here and let me kiss it better…”
Chapter Fourteen
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Shaun said, striding into the room and clicking the door shut behind him.
I shrugged like him missing the first quarter of an hour of my weekly counselling session was no big deal, because it wasn’t like I really needed the sessions anymore. I was just here to keep Blake happy, and Draeven off my back. Show I was taking steps to ‘fully integrate’ into the shifter world, like I hadn’t already done that.
Shaun strode over to his desk, swiped my feet off them without breaking his stride, and settled into his chair. I rolled my eyes but kept my feet on the floor.
“So,” I said, “What’s more important than our session?”
“Perhaps you could tell me – since I couldn’t help but notice your absence in last week’s session.”
Ah, crap. I should never have brought that up. I opened my mouth to conjure the world’s crappiest excuse with all the flair of a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat, but Shaun held up a hand to stop me.
“I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know. Next time just leave me a message, okay?”
I nodded. That seemed fair. And I hadn’t meant to ditch him last week, I’d just lost track of time. I blamed Cam entirely. He blamed the dress. He’d convinced me to put it back on for a night out – but not at The Wolf and Sheep, because we figured it was best to give Jim some time to get over Cam’s little slip. Anyway, dinner became drinks, and drinks became… well, you get the picture. We were busy.
“Have you had any more thought about what you’d like to do when you leave here?”
“Um…”
“Jade, you graduate in May. That’s three months.”
“What?” That couldn’t be right. I counted in my head. It was February now. That was… Shit. I counted again and swore aloud.
“I’ll take that as a no, then.”
“Look, it’s not my fault. I’ve had a lot of my mind, in case you hadn’t noticed. Anyway, how am I supposed to decide? I might not even be a shifter in three months.”
“You’ve made a decision about the cure, then?”
I shot him a withering look. “You know I haven’t. But if I do take it, and it does strip my shifter half, then any plans I make are going down the toilet. It’s pointless even making them. The cure could change everything.”
“Or it could change nothing,” he countered. “If you don’t take it, or even if you do, and it doesn’t strip your shifter half – what then? You need to have a plan to deal with that.”
Crap. He was right. I groaned and sunk further into my seat, wondering if I could sink right through the floor and out of this sorry mess. How the hell was I supposed to know what I wanted to do when I left here? I already had a plan for my life, before Kelsey came stomping all over it, and ruining all my hopes.
I straightened again. Maybe she hadn’t. Ruined my hopes, that was – because obviously she’d stomped all over my life, and sure, when I first came here there was no way I could be trusted in mundane society, but that was nearly three years ago. A lot had changed since then. Maybe some of it could change back.
“I want to go to UCL,” I said. “I still want to be a lawyer.”
“You’re sure?” Shaun gave me a quizzical look, and I nodded.
“It’s what I always wanted, and I don’t see why being a shifter has to change that. I have control of myself now, I’m not a danger to mundanes – and come on, let’s be honest, it’s not like anyone in the shifter world wants to hire the halfbreed Bitten cur. That’s if I’m even a shifter by the end of the year.” I scuffed my feet and exhaled heavily. “But what the hell do I say I’ve been doing for the last three years?”
I’d been accepted to study there before one of Draeven’s enforcers had whisked me off and forcibly enrolled me at Fur ‘n’ Fang. Deferring for a year was pretty normal, but three? I’d need a good explanation, and I could hardly tell them I’d spent the time running around with werewolves.
“I’m sure we could come up with something… if that’s what you truly want.”
“What do you mean, if that’s what I truly want? Of course it’s what I want – it’s what I’ve always wanted. You know that.”
He nodded.
“Just be aware that, despite what you think, you do have other options, in our world.”
I snorted and folded my arms across my chest.
“Yeah,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Sure I do.”
“Your grades are good – Cultural Studies notwithstanding – especially in Combat and Tracking. Professor Underwood tells me you’re making great progress in your magic lessons, and Fenwick says you show promise as a healer. You’re hardworking – most of the time – and you’re determined. These are all qualities an employer would look for.”
“Yeah, and as soon as they see who – what – I am, they’re going to change their minds pretty damned quick.”
Shaun scratched the back of his neck and seemed to reach some sort of decision.
“Would it help if, strictly between us, I told you someone had already expressed an interest in hiring you?”
“I’m not sticking around here as the janitor,” I said.
“Is that really what you think of yourself?”
I wasn’t sure if he meant I thought myself too good to be a cleaner, or thought myself so lousy that no-one else would be interested in hiring me, so I settled for giving him a puzzled look.
“It didn’t come from someone at the academy,” he clarified, picking up a mug from his desk and taking a sip. He grimaced – no surprise, it had to have been there at least an hour. I rolled my eyes and held a hand over the top of it. My palm glowed red, and after a few seconds, steam rose from the drink. He raised his eyebrows – I guess he hadn’t seen me use my magic for a while. There was a reason Underwood felt I was making progress. I ignored Shaun’s surprise as he took another sip, too occupied in turning his words over instead. I hadn’t
met anyone except at the academy. Except…
“Wait, The Wolf and Sheep? They hire shifters?”
He choked on his tea, and set the mug down.
“No. Funnily enough, after yours and Cam’s little display, Jim hasn’t reached out about your future.”
“Good. Because I might not be the best student in the history of Fur ‘n’ Fang, but I had set my sights a little higher than that. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, I mean, obviously, but…” I shook my head. “I want to be a lawyer.”
“Not an enforcer?”
“An enforcer? Why on earth would I want to be an enforcer? It’s not like they’d have me, anyway.” My eyes widened as I realised what he was saying. “One of the enforcers said something?”
“Not one of the enforcers, no,” Shaun said. “Alpha Draeven.”
“You’re shitting me.”
“No, Jade, I am not ‘shitting you’.”
“But Draeven hates me.”
“Alpha Draeven has been very impressed with you. In between your outbursts of insubordination.”
Wait, there’d been a between? It seemed like every time I spoke to him I was putting my foot in it. Why the hell would he want me to go and work for him? I stared at Shaun, waiting for the punchline – because this had to be a joke. Not only had Draeven made a point of mentioning he was getting pissed off with cleaning up my messes, he’d also threatened to have me killed – more than once. And he’d made his stance on halfbreeds perfectly clear. I might not be a halfbreed by traditional standards, but I was by any other. I was a shifter with magic. He was the Alpha of Alphas, and I was a packless cur. Why would he think I was worthy of becoming an enforcer?
I shook the feeling off. A better question was, why the hell would I care if he thought I was worthy? Why the hell should I?
“I’m not interested in being an enforcer,” I said, folding my arms across my chest. “Have you forgotten that they’ve already tried to wrongfully convict two of my friends? I don’t want to be a part of that.”
“Well, that’s up to you – you’re the only one who gets to decide your future. I just thought you might want to know. And if Alpha Draeven is prepared to look past all your supposed flaws, don’t you think others will be, too?”
Fur 'n' Fang Academy: The Complete Series: A Shifter Academy Adventure Page 51