I couldn’t portal from inside this room because the academy itself was warded. But with Draeven coming and going so often, I knew that the wards on the grounds had been removed. Which meant if I could just get out of this room, across the castle and out through the main door, I’d be able to open a portal and get to the farm. Or at least, attempt it. Portal magic was tricky.
My hand was on the door handle when I heard a creak behind me. I eased my head round to look over my shoulder and found myself staring into a pair of smouldering eyes.
Cam cocked an eyebrow at me in question, and I shook my head. My night vision had kicked in well enough that I could see him roll his eyes in response. He kept eye contact with me as he stooped to grab his clothes and trainers, and then followed me out into the corridor. I pulled the door quietly shut behind me, glad at least that I wasn’t going to have to explain my crazy scheme to Dean and Mei. Just one pissed-off looking Cam.
“Well?”
“What?” I tried for innocent, but if the look on his face was anything to go by, I wasn’t pulling it off. I abandoned my attempt – he could read me too well. “Fine. I’m going on a field trip. But if you start lecturing me, you’re not invited.”
He held up his hands in a gesture of innocence, then pulled his hoodie over his head.
“Where are we going?”
“My farm.”
He made a sound that was halfway between a laugh and a choke, and I raised an eyebrow. He rearranged his expression into one that didn’t look like I’d just told him I was… well, was going to the last known location of a dangerous traitor. His voice was deliberately casual as he asked,
“How are ye planning to get there?”
I shrugged and started down the hallway. “By portal, of course.”
“Are ye forgetting something?”
“Am I?”
“When was the last time you managed to open a portal?”
I ducked his eye contact and fixed my gaze on the dim light at the end of the hallway.
“There’s a first time for everything, right?”
“Lucky for you,” he said, as we ducked round the corner and down a flight of stairs, “I have a little more experience.”
“If you mention that bloody proficiency test one more time…”
He chuckled, and I glowered at his back. He’d passed the test two weeks ago, and he hadn’t shut up about it since. Meanwhile, as he so kindly pointed out, I hadn’t even managed to open a single portal yet. When I brought it up with Underwood last week, he’d reluctantly admitted that druid magic and shifter magic could be a little unpredictable when they were combined – one of the reasons both societies had such an issue with hybrids, apparently – and it was possible I might never manage to master portals. Which, now I thought about it, might really have caused a problem with my plan. It was probably just as well Cam was here. But I wasn’t going to tell him that.
We made it to the front entrance without passing anyone – no surprise, given that it was the middle of the night, and all the sane people were in their beds right now. The night air was cold for April, but shifter resilience took the worst of the bite from the weather. Even so, I rubbed my hands over my upper arms.
“Come on then, genius, make with the portal.”
“Gladly, m’lady.”
He sketched an unconvincing bow, and I gave him my most unimpressed look – the one I saved for Mickey when he tried to tell me we were out of steak. Cam grinned and straightened, then the levity fell from his face. He held a hand out in front of him and narrowed his eyes in concentration.
“Eachlais!”
The sharp tang of magic punctured the air, and the darkness rippled in front of us. I tried my best not to look impressed.
“Alright, you can go back to bed now.”
“And leave you stranded at the farm? Wouldnae dream of it.”
“Fine.” I swiped a stray strand of hair from my face. It wasn’t like I’d actually expected he’d leave me to it, anyway. Truth be told, part of me was glad he was along for the ride. Especially since he’d agreed to forego the lecture.
He made a grand, sweeping ‘ladies-first’ gesture to the portal, and my gaze skittered beyond him to the shadows, scanning one last time. Was there something out there? Was someone watching us? Had we been seen? The cold air sent a chill along my spine, and I shook it off. I was being paranoid. And even if there was someone out there – which there wasn’t – it didn’t matter, anyway. We weren’t breaking any rules. Laws, maybe, but not rules.
I shook my head at the absurdity of the whole situation and stepped through the floating portal.
My foot touched to familiar ground on the other side, and I quickly stepped away so that Cam didn’t crash into me when he came through. I wasn’t strictly sure what would happen if someone fell back through a portal. Nothing good, probably.
My gaze swept the farm, eerie in the darkness beneath the pale moon. Or maybe it was just knowing what had happened last time we were here that made it seem that way. Did Ryan still think I’d lured him into a trap set by the enforcers? Did he know what Brad had done now? Now that I thought about it, maybe not. That was making the rather bold assumption that Brad was being entirely honest with him, and I couldn’t see it. Ryan was a decent person – no way would he have stood by Brad and let him put innocent people through the same hell we’d been through. At least, I hoped not. I was gambling a hell of a lot on it right now. Because if he was here, and he was hiding out with some of his new buddies, we’d be in a world of trouble.
The crisp grass crunched underfoot as Cam stepped through.
“What kept you?” I demanded, my voice loud in the unnatural stillness of the farm’s grounds.
“Thought I heard something,” he said, glancing back at the portal, and then shrugging it off. “So, we’re here. What now?”
Oh, yeah. Guess this was the part where I had to explain the rest of the plan. Too bad I didn’t really know what it was.
“Look for Ryan.”
“For Ryan?” He glared at me, mouth hanging open a fraction. I held up a hand, forestalling the tumult that was primed to escape it.
“No lectures, remember?”
“That was before I knew you were trying tae get yourself killed.”
“A deal’s a deal. If you don’t like it, you can just–”
I broke off as something moved behind him. A dark shape, detaching from the portal. My heart hammered in my chest as I stared, torn between running and screaming, and totally unable to do either. Cam spun, alerted by the horror in my face, and his movement snapped me from my terror-struck stupor. I rocked back on my heels, ready to fight, or explain what the hell we were doing here, depending on who’d followed us through.
What I hadn’t been prepared for was for the figure to take off across the field at a dead sprint.
I blinked and then blinked again, then recovered from my shock and took after the figure – a woman – at a sprint. I’d only caught a glimpse of her as she darted past me, but it had been enough. And even if I hadn’t recognised her, the suppressor cuff around her wrists coupled with the fact she’d jumped a portal from the academy would have told me everything I needed to know. She was one of the newly turned Bittens.
The cold night air tore at my chest as I sprinted, but I’d never been fitter thanks to Fur ‘n’ Fang’s brutal fitness regime, and I gained on her quickly as I tore across the uneven ground. The soft thud of paws hitting the earth came from behind me and I twisted my head a half inch to the left to inhale the scent. Cam, in his wolf form. Good. The last thing we needed was someone else turning up and attacking the woman a second time.
The grey and white wolf pelted past me, outstripping the woman and swerving in front of her. She skidded to a halt then twisted round, arms windmilling for balance as she tried to find a way past him. The whites of her eyes flashed in the pale moonlight as she looked around and realised we had her surrounded.
“Get away from me,” she
snarled, spinning round to glare at first me, then Cam. A tremble ran through her as she looked at the massive wolf – probably the first time she’d seen one, unless the others had turned in front of her.
I took her in at a glance. She was the first woman I’d spoken to in the med wing – Emily. The one with the wedding ring. My eyes lingered on it a moment before I wrenched them away. She was barefoot, wearing just a pair of trousers and a t-shirt. I didn’t think it was just fear making her tremble. But I didn’t think it was just the cold, either.
I sucked in a deep breath and made sure my voice was calm when I spoke.
“It’s going to be okay,” I told her, shooting Cam a meaningful glance. “No-one’s going to hurt you.”
“I won’t go back. You can’t make me.”
I didn’t bother calling her on the obvious lie. I knew a thing or two about being forced. Better that she made the decision for herself.
“It’s Emily, right? I’m Jade. We spoke earlier.”
“I remember,” she said, avoiding eye contact with me and rubbing at one of the cuffs around her wrist.
“I want to help you.”
“Then let me go!” She jerked her eyes up from the damp ground and met mine. “Please.”
My gaze flicked back to her wedding ring.
“You’re married?”
She nodded. “I have to get back to him. Please. We have a daughter. Lily. She’s five. They need me.”
Acid churned in my gut and I swallowed hard to keep it there. I was alone when I came to Fur ‘n’ Fang, thinking about no-one but myself. How much worse must it be for her, with someone waiting on the outside, worrying about her, missing her? I had no clue what Blake had told them, but I hoped for her sake she was going to have a life to go back to when this was done.
“Do you love them?”
“What sort of question is that?” she snapped, and Cam stirred behind her. I stilled him with a slight shake of my head. “Of course I love them. They’re my family.”
“And what do you think will happen if you go back to them right now? You’re dangerous, Emily.”
“No, I’m not. Not to them!”
“Yes, to them. To them more than anyone. You can’t feel it right now because of the cuff, but the second you get frustrated, you’re going to shift, and you will kill them both. Unless you learn to control it. Come back with us. We can help you.”
Her shoulder slumped and she sniffed. Even if I couldn’t hear it, I could smell the salinity of her tears. There was no privacy around shifters.
“I miss them so much.”
“I know. But come back with us, and you’ll be back home for your daughter’s eighth birthday.”
“Three years?”
“It seems like a long time now, but it’ll pass in the blink of an eye. Believe me, I know.”
I let my eyes drift to Cam. It would have seemed like a lot longer without him by my side. I didn’t envy the woman what was waiting for her on the far side of the portal – but better that than the alternative. It would be a cold day in hell before I thanked Blake for locking me up at the academy, but it didn’t change the fact he was the reason I never killed anyone.
Cam’s eyes sharpened and fixed on something behind me. I stiffened, but before I could turn, a familiar voice carried over the still night air.
“You don’t have to go back,” Ryan said. “There’s another choice.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Cam snarled, and I turned my glare on him. Fuck’s sake, we were here to talk to Ryan, not get in a fight with him. That was the whole damned point of coming, and if Cam blew it, boyfriend or not, I was going to kick his arse. All of that I put into my eyes, and he fell silent, though his hackles stayed up, and he took a step forward, positioning himself slightly in front of the woman.
“Ryan,” I said. “We were looking for you.”
“Why? Wanted to lead me into another trap?”
I flinched away from his bitter tone, but he wasn’t done.
“Where are your enforcers? Wouldn’t want to risk it being a fair fight.”
I heard the rumble in Cam’s throat, though a human wouldn’t have. I didn’t take my eyes from Ryan this time.
“We’re alone. And I know what you think, but I didn’t mean for that to happen. I didn’t know they were there.”
“Tell it to someone who still believes you.” He switched his gaze to the woman. “You keep bad company.”
“Really, Ryan?” I snapped, shifting my weight forwards. “You do know who bit her, right? She’s a damned sight safer in our company than his.”
“I am getting pretty damned sick of your attempts to turn me against Brad.” He shoved me, hard. “So shut your mouth, before I shut it for you.”
Cam snarled again and leapt forward, but I threw up a hand to warn him off. A flutter of wind burst from my palm, buffeting his fur.
“Where was Brad?” I asked. “The night we were last here, where was he?”
“He. Didn’t. Bite. Anyone.” Ryan yanked off his hoodie and tossed it aside. His muscles rippled under his skin, not quite the right shape.
“I don’t want to fight you, Ryan.”
“Then it’s going to be a very quick, very bloody slaughter.”
Cam snarled again, but we both ignored him. As the sound faded, I picked up something else. A soft whimper. Ryan’s head jerked round to the woman, and uncertainty softened his features.
“It was an accident,” he said. “He didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt. He lost control of them. I’m sorry.” He twisted his gaze back to me, and his eyes burned with guilt. “If I’d been there, I could have helped him control them.” Abruptly, his face hardened again. “But instead, I was here. With you. You did this!”
“You need to take the cure. This is the rage curse talking, Ryan, not you.”
“No, it’s not. I can finally see the truth. You’re poison, Jade. You destroy everything you touch. And now you want to destroy me and Brad, you want to take the only thing we have left – our shifting power. I won’t let you touch him.”
Poison? Did he really think that? After everything?
“I’ll give you one last chance, Jade. Walk away. Leave the woman – she deserves the freedom neither of us ever had.”
“Freedom? Killing your family isn’t freedom. Being used as a solider in a war she doesn’t even know about isn’t freedom. Brad sic’d his shifters on her, and I don’t care how much you love him, there’s no way you can believe whatever bullshit he’s told you.”
“The only one bullshitting around here is you.”
I tasted the ripple of magic in the air around Ryan, and spoke without tearing my eyes from the rogue shifter.
“Cam, get Emily out of here.”
He rumbled his protest.
“Now!”
He prodded the woman with his nose, but she glared at him and tried to shove him away.
“Don’t touch me!”
I tuned them out. Cam was more than capable of handling her. I shed my hoodie and shoes – because I didn’t fancy going back to the academy naked if I had to shift – and kept a wary eye on Ryan. I wasn’t going to be the first one to resort to violence, no matter what the voice in the back of my head was screaming at me to do. That voice belonged to the curse, and unlike Ryan, I had learned to ignore it. If I could just get him to see sense, to come back to Fur ‘n’ Fang and let them use the cure on him…
“Don’t you want to be like you were before?” I tried again. “You can have your life back, and keep Brad.”
He pulled his lips back in a snarl, but he didn’t shift, not yet. Maybe he just wanted to torment me some more, first. Why the hell hadn’t Cam portalled Emily out of here yet?
“I can’t go back. You know Draeven would kill us both if he got the chance. Laura, too.”
“Not if you took the cure. All of you. If you were human, he’d have no reason to come after you.”
“Put ourselves at his mercy, you mean?” He
turned his head to the side and spat on the floor. “That’s never going to happen. I’m going to protect Brad, and I’ll go through anyone who gets in my way. Blake, Draeven… even you, if I have to.”
“This is madness. You have to see that.”
“What I see is a girl who represents everything wrong in this world. This is your last chance, Jade – walk away.”
I shook my head. I should do it – he was serious, I knew that, but I couldn’t give up on him, not that easily. I wouldn’t.
“Fine.” The word slipped out as a snarl, and his muscles started rippling under his skin again, elongating and shortening again. He wasn’t shifting, not yet – when he did that it would take him only seconds. He’d always been fast. I could only hope I’d have time to shift before he tore into me – but dammit, I refused to be the one to start this. I wasn’t what he said I was.
His gaze switched to something over my shoulder, and his eyes narrowed. I battled with my instincts for a split second – I knew better than to take my eyes from a dangerous predator – but curiosity won out. I threw the glance back over my shoulder so quickly that I didn’t have time to process what I was seeing before my eyes were back on Ryan. But it was long enough to see Cam, now fully human. It made sense: he couldn’t open a portal in his wolf form. You needed human lips to say the spellword. I just wished he’d hurry up and get it done – he was too vulnerable like this. And if Ryan went for him, I would have no choice but to put the outsider down. My expression hardened into a snarl of my own. He wasn’t the only one with someone to protect.
The rogue shifter rolled out his shoulder and played his tongue over his lips, twisting them into a feral sneer. I dropped all pretence of civility – he’d made his choice – and beckoned him forward with one hand. I just had to give Cam long enough to get Emily to safety.
“Let’s dance.”
My words were drowned out by his snarl, the sound changing from human to animal as he threw himself through the air, his limbs twisting in unnatural ways and shredding the remains of his clothing. I threw myself forward, rolling underneath his outstretched claws. I loosed a scream of my own and pain ripped through every cell of my body, tearing them apart and rebuilding them, stronger, faster, better.
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