My phone buzzed while I was still trying to come up with an answer to that, and I pulled it from my pocket, glad for the distraction.
I glanced at the screen. I didn’t recognise the number – but then who recognised numbers, anyway? When a mental shrug, I opened it.
Heard you’ve been looking for me. R.
“What is it?” Shaun asked.
“Ryan,” I said, not taking my eyes from the screen. He got up and came round to read over my shoulder.
We need to talk, I typed.
Meet me. Your farm, next full moon.
I chewed my lip and glanced up at Shaun. There were a hundred places out there someone could set an ambush. Someone like Brad.
“It’s your decision,” Shaun said – but we both knew it wouldn’t be, not once Draeven got wind of it. And he would. Why the hell did I open the stupid message while Shaun was here? Why didn’t I lie about who it was? I didn’t want to lead him into danger.
But coming in was Ryan’s best chance of avoiding a death sentence, and I wasn’t going to convince him by text. I sighed and typed out my reply.
I’ll be there.
*
“In just a few short months, you will all be taking your final exams. Those of you who pass will return to shifter society, no longer required to wear your training cuffs. As such, your shifting exam must be taken without your cuff.”
Excited whispers swept through the room, and Jared held up a hand. We all fell silent.
“As you know, your cuffs not only allow us to return you to your human form, they also help you harness and control your power. From today, you will no longer wear your cuffs in this lesson.”
The whispering started up again, louder this time. I’d worn this cuff every day since I’d been bitten. In my first year, it had been removed for a few hours – and I’d nearly lost the battle to control myself. But I was better at that now. Surely, I could be uncuffed without being a danger to everyone around me?
A hand rubbed my shoulder and I flinched away from it.
“Easy, lass,” Cam murmured. “Ye’ll be fine.”
I nodded. I would be fine. I’d dealt with bigger and badder things than having access to my unbridled power. Of course, I’d dealt with most of those things by giving in to the power flowing through me, not resisting it, so there was that.
“Well,” Madison said from the seat in front of me, “I don’t see what the big deal is.”
I rolled my eyes while Tiffany and Victoria practically fell over themselves to agree with her.
“Of course,” she continued, eyeing me for a split second, “I understand why some people with lesser breeding might be worried.”
“Quiet,” Jared called above the noise. “I will come round and remove each of your cuffs, and then we will begin our shifting practice for the day. At the end of the lesson, you will put them back on again.”
Okay. Three hours. That’s how long this lesson was, and then I’d have it back on again. I could manage three hours, right?
The door swung inwards, and we all turned to see Shaun outlined in the doorway.
“Instructor Kemp,” he said, inclining his head in greeting. “Sorry for interrupting. Alpha Blake has summoned Jade to his office.”
I shot him a confused look. Jared waved a hand at me.
“Off you go. I’m sure Alpha Blake wouldn’t send for you in the middle of the day if it wasn’t important.”
“He’s probably going to put her back where she belongs,” Madison said in a stage-whisper to Tiffany. “In the dungeon.”
I sucked in a deep breath and let it out again. I’d gotten myself into enough trouble already this year without thumping Madison. I was capable of walking away from her insults without breaking her face. Besides, we had Combat class tomorrow. There’d be plenty of chance then.
Every eye in the room followed me as I left – Blake hadn’t pulled a student out of a lesson in the whole time I’d been here. Looked like I was going to be the subject of this week’s gossip. Joy.
“What’ve I done this time?” I asked Shaun as we moved through the deserted corridors.
“Nothing,” he said, and fell silent again.
“Oh, come on. Aren’t we a bit beyond one word answers?”
A flicker of amusement passed over Shaun’s face, and then it grew serious again.
“Alpha Draeven is here. He’s the one who summoned you.”
“Draeven?” My feet stumbled to a stop. “Why?”
“Alpha Draeven. And you’re not in trouble. It’s about your meeting with Ryan.”
“Oh.”
That didn’t make me feel any better, but I followed Shaun the rest of the way to Blake’s office. With the full moon tonight, I’d started to hope that somehow I’d escaped his interest. I should have known better. I raised my hand and knocked.
“Come,” his voice boomed from within. I gave Shaun a nervous glance, then stepped inside. I heard him enter behind me, and then shut the door, but my eyes were busy finding Draeven. At least he didn’t look pissed at me. That was progress. And if Shaun had been honest with me, he wanted me to work for him, albeit indirectly and in a job that went against every moral fibre in my being. But it’s the thought that counts, right? I dropped onto one knee, and waited until he invited me to sit before I claimed the only seat on the opposite side of the desk.
“You may both leave us,” Draeven said, flicking his gaze briefly over Blake and Shaun. A look of surprise flickered over Blake’s face, but he covered it quickly, and bowed his head.
“Of course, Alpha Draeven. Please summon us if you require us.”
Shaun gave me what I was sure was supposed to be a reassuring nod, and then the pair of them left me alone with Draeven. Crap.
“You’ve been in contact with Ryan,” he said.
“Yes, Drae- I mean, Alpha Draeven. But I reported it right away to–”
He held up a hand to cut me off.
“I am aware. Rest assured, you are not in any trouble. For once.”
“Oh. Right. Good.” I stared at the top of the desk for a moment, not raising my eyes from its orderly surface. “Um, why am I here, then?”
“We will bring Ryan into our custody tonight.”
“What?” I jerked my gaze up to meet his, cursed silently, and shifted my focus to one side.
“You have an objection?”
Hell yeah, I did.
“Hell, yeah, I– I mean, I wonder whether there might be a better course of action, Alpha Draeven?”
“Oh?”
I thought I detected a trace of amusement in his voice, so I pressed on.
“If Ryan sees any enforcers, he’s going to run.”
“That’s why he won’t see any until they have him surrounded. You’ll keep him occupied until then.”
“No, I won’t.”
“Excuse me?” I’d been wrong about the amusement. He wasn’t amused. He was pissed, and I could feel his eyes boring into me. But that didn’t change a thing.
“I’m not luring Ryan into a trap. He deserves better than that.”
“You will do as your Alpha of Alpha commands.”
“I will not!” I pushed myself to my feet and glared at him over the desk. He glared back, rising to his own feet so that he towered over me. “Throw me in a dungeon, I don’t care. I’m not betraying him like that.”
“Don’t tempt me,” he ground out. I folded my arms over my chest.
“I won’t go, not to set a trap. Try finding the location for the meet without my help.”
“And why is it,” he demanded, planting his hands on the desk and leaning his weight on them, “that your loyalty is to him and the other criminals rather than your own Alpha of Alphas?”
“Maybe if you stopped thinking of us as criminals and remembered that we’re the victims, you might know the answer to that.”
“We?” Draeven said, and his eyes glittered dangerously. “Maybe you feel a greater kinship to them than us. Is that what your
reticence is about? Maybe your loyalty lies with the other Bittens, and you’re waiting for the chance to pack with them.”
“Or maybe I just don’t like victim-blaming,” I snapped. “Brad and Laura have shown their true colours. But Ryan isn’t like them, and if you could see past what he is to who he is, you’d see that.”
“You dare tell me what to think?”
Abruptly, I couldn’t meet his eye, and some compulsion forced my head down. I gritted my teeth and forced it back up.
“No, Alpha Draeven,” I ground out, fighting his compulsion. “I’m just telling you my terms. I go to the meet alone, or I don’t go at all. Ryan deserves the chance to make his own decision – for the first time since he was dragged into this.”
“You do realise it would take me only minutes to get hold of your mobile phone records?”
It didn’t surprise me in the least to discover he could do that. In fact, the only thing that did surprise me was that he hadn’t thought to ask Shaun if he knew where the meet was.
Abruptly, the compulsion lifted, and the pressure on the back of my neck vanished.
“Okay, Jade,” Draeven said, and this time there was no mistaking the amusement in his voice. “We’ll do it your way. You get one chance to convince him to come in. Don’t blow it. Next time, my enforcers will kill him on sight.”
Chapter Fifteen
I stepped out of the portal, and it blinked out of existence behind me, leaving me isolated at the farm. There was no turning back now – literally, because I couldn’t conjure one of those damned things if it killed me. In fact, if Underwood’s lessons and my portalling elective were anything to go by, it probably would kill me by the end of the year. Assuming, of course, that Brad didn’t do it first.
I sucked in a breath of the cold night air, and blew it out again between pursed lips, looking around as I did. The farm looked deserted, but that meant nothing – there were plenty of trees out here to hide amongst, and a whole lot of acres to get lost in. The full moon didn’t cast much light – too much cloud cover for that – but that didn’t matter. Ever since Kelsey had bitten me, I’d relied less and less on my eyesight to tell me what lurked in the shadows.
Unfortunately, there was no breeze to speak of, so there weren’t any scents being carried my way. Brad and a whole army of Bittens could be hiding nearby, and unless I crossed their scent path, I was never going to know about it.
I shivered and thrust my hands into the pockets of my academy hoodie. Then I pulled them back out again. If trouble was coming, I needed to be ready to meet it, not tangled up in my own clothing.
“There was a time I didn’t set you on edge.”
I jumped and spun around. My eyes fixed on Ryan, emerging from the shadows of the treeline.
“It’s not you who makes me uneasy,” I said, scanning the rest of the shadows as he came towards me.
“I’m alone.”
“Me, too.”
“I know,” he said, stopping a few feet away from me. “I saw you come through the portal.”
A shiver ran the length of my spine that had nothing to do with the cold. He’d been watching me? I hadn’t even known he was there. He’d obviously picked up some new skills from his boyfriend and their little army. Grudgingly, I acknowledged that I wouldn’t have minded learning some of those skills myself – but I kept the thought to myself.
“It’s good to see you,” I said. “You look well.”
It wasn’t a lie – he looked strong and healthy, his clothes were clean and in good condition. His footwear looked new. I wondered where they were getting the money from – it was hard to imagine any of the outlaws working nine-to-fives.
“I wasn’t sure you’d want to see me.” He looked down at the floor, then jerked his eyes up to meet mine. “After everything that happened at The Wolf and Sheep. When you didn’t answer my calls…”
He trailed off and scuffed his feet in the dirt.
“I wanted to. I, uh, well I was in the dungeon.”
“What? Why?”
“It’s not important.” No need to make him feel worse than he already did. “I tried to call you back when I got out, but your number was dead.”
“When I didn’t hear from you… well, I didn’t know if you were planning to turn me in. And I wouldn’t have blamed you. I didn’t know Brad was going to do that, I swear.”
“They could have killed us, Ryan. They would have, if I’d been on my own.”
“No, he wouldn’t–”
“Yes, he would, and we both know it! He used you to lure me into a trap.”
“I’m sorry, I am.”
I rubbed my temples. “I know you are. But do you see what he is now? He’s a killer, Ryan.”
“He’s not. He isn’t like that! He just wants us to be safe from Draeven.”
I drew in a slow breath and made an effort to control my voice. This was getting us nowhere.
“I don’t want to fight.”
“Me, either.” His voice was quiet again, so quiet if there’d been a breeze it wouldn’t have carried across the short distance between us.
“So… you’re looking well.” I offered him a smile, and his lips twitched in response.
“You wanted to see me?” he said. “I’m guessing that’s what your little display at The Wolf was all about?”
“You figured that out, huh?”
“Please. You and Cam fighting? Not the most believable story you’ve ever come up with.”
“Well, that was kinda the idea. We need to talk.”
“We need to talk, or you need to pass on a message from Draeven?”
There was no point in lying. I shrugged.
“Both, I guess?”
He grunted, but he stayed where he was, which I figured was as much invitation as I was going to get. I decided to tackle the less contentious issue first – though it was a toss-up as to exactly which one that was.
“You said you were going to talk to the others about the cure. Did you make a decision?”
“Did you?”
I shook my head. No point in denying it, I seemed to be changing my mind daily at the moment. One moment I wanted to turn my back on this whole sorry mess. The next, I was willing to fight for the world I’d come to consider mine.
“It’s a bitch of a choice, isn’t it?” I sat on the floor. If Ryan had brought any friends to take me out, I was pretty sure they’d have attacked by now. And standing around made me antsy. Ryan hesitated a moment, then sat as well.
“Finally find some sort of peace, but lose everything I am? Yeah, it’s not the easiest decision I’ve ever had to make.”
“Everything you are? Ryan, you’re more than just your powers. We all are. Shifters might be what we are, but they’re not who we are.”
“Nice speech.” He plucked a blade of grass without looking at me. “Say if often enough and you might start to believe it.”
“You’d think so, right?” I exhaled a cloud of white air and leaned back on my arms.
“Is there a deadline on this cure the druids have so generously offered?” His lips curled around the word generously. Guess he didn’t trust their motives any more than I did.
“The end of the academic year.”
“Less than three months?”
I nodded, though I wasn’t sure he saw – he was still staring at the space between his feet like he was going to find all the answers to the world there.
“Where the hell am I even supposed to begin with that?”
“Damned if I know,” I said. “But if you figure it out, feel free to share.”
“Still trying to copy my homework?” His lip quirked, and I chuckled.
“Hell, no. You always got shit grades.”
He smiled, and then the expression faded from his face. He glanced up at the sky, where the moon was still half-hidden behind the clouds, then his eyes hardened.
“You’d best give me Draeven’s threat – if either of us are gone too long, someone’s going t
o come looking.”
“Tracking the time by the moon? Hard core.”
“I keep breaking watchstraps. And phones can be tracked.”
“Fair point. And you’re right, Draeven did want me to come and see you – but not to pass on any threats. The opposite. He says if you come back in, he’ll make sure you don’t face the death penalty.”
“And why would I do that?”
“So you don’t have to be on the run anymore. Come on, Ryan, we both know it’s only a matter of time before they catch you.”
“I escaped once.”
“Yeah, and they’re not going to make the same mistake again. Please, just think about it, okay? You could be safe, have a normal life – or whatever passes for one for us now.”
“And all I have to do is turn my back on Brad?” He got to his feet. “I don’t think so, Jade.”
I got up, searching the shadows in case I’d missed something, but we were still alone.
“Brad was under the same curse as us. If he took the cure, I’m sure Draeven would be lenient.”
“Right.” He folded his arms across his chest. “Because they’re so big on leniency. Remind me, why did you get locked in the dungeon after you were attacked?”
“That wasn’t about the attack.” No, it was about not betraying a friend, which was much, much worse. “Please, just think about it. You could have a future, Ryan.”
“I already have one,” he ground out. “You’re the one with no future if you keep blindly following a tyrant.”
I stepped back as if he’d slapped me. In truth, I wished he had, rather than throwing those words at me. Was that what I was doing? Was I following a man I should have been fighting? I mean, no-one was ever going to accuse Draeven of being a saint, but…
“Come with me, Jade,” Ryan said, his voice low and urgent. “You don’t have to follow him. Help us fight.”
“I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. Don’t you see? This is the only way shifters will ever truly be free. You can be a part of that, you just have to come with me.”
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