by Laura Wylde
“I never understood that,” Joshua mused. “The need to stick with one shifter species. I mean, sure, we might all seem like loners when you put it like that, but take a look at what we have achieved together, as a team. We have used our different skill sets to work together, to make sure that we all survive okay. I think that we belong together, as a group, more than any other harem because we complement one another. So, while we might not have what we need outside of this circle, we do have it within. This is a place where I feel like I belong.”
It soon became clear that Joshua’s words were more meant for Andrew, to let him know that while he didn’t have a family of his own, he would always have a friendship with us, which was sweet and clearly very needed, but it did get me thinking. A mixed harem was something that I had considered before, in a hypothetical way, but Joshua had unlocked the idea for real now and I had to admit that I liked the picture he created with his words. Even if we were all misfits, together we worked well and that was the most important thing of all.
I glanced around at each guy’s face in turn, enjoying the way that they all looked with the crackling flames in front of them, and I swooned. Secretly, of course, but I swooned none the less. I didn’t like to admit it, especially when it seemed like this was what the academy was aiming for, but romance was on my mind with these guys more than it had ever been before. My childhood friend and definite crush who I had already shared one kiss with, his foxy best friend who I had a secret crush on, the book smart guy who blew my mind with his knowledge and mystery, and the new guy, the young energetic guy who’s excitement and straight forward way of acting and talking really challenged me in the best way possible… what more could I ask for?
Oh God, was I in trouble here? Was this going to end in disaster? It couldn’t end well, could it? Because the fantasy in my head would be very different in reality …
Get that thought out of your head, I scolded myself. Don’t let Joshua get under your skin.
But it was too late. He was already there.
Chapter 12
Joshua
“Ireland?” I cocked my head to one side and examined Andrew closely, trying to work out where this idea had sprung from. “Why Ireland? We haven’t had a message leading us that way from the professors, have we? So, shouldn’t we wait? Don’t you think that we should hang around here instead…?”
“We can’t.” Andrew shook his head a little too hard. “We can’t stay here. Not with the authorities after us. It won’t work. We need to get out of Wales before we’re caught, because I’m pretty sure that we will be thrown in jail and then we won’t be able to change anything, will we? We need to be anywhere but here and there is a book tour to Giant’s Causeway that will give us the out to sneak away. It’s perfect. I have been thinking about it all night long and it’s the only way that we can get out undetected. We have to do this. It’s the only way.”
I glanced around at the other guys to see them nodding as if it made perfect sense, which basically answered what we were going to do next. That was okay, they seemed to have more experience than I did so I was happy to go along with whatever they decided on. Especially since Felicia was clearly in agreement. I just knew that I could trust her with anything. She seemed to have these instincts that were spot on.
“Okay, so Ireland it is.” I nodded slowly. “Where do we get this boat? You say it’s near here?”
“Well, it is a walk,” Andrew admitted. “And we can’t shift or do magic, so it will take some time.”
“I can’t fly?” I preferred soaring high above the clouds to walking. It was a much freer sensation where I could truly be myself. Of course, I was slowly becoming comfortable and feeling like myself around this group, they were bringing it out of me, but there was still a way to go. “Because I can keep a lookout…”
“We need to stay together,” Felicia reminded me. “No more separating, remember?”
Now, that I couldn’t argue with. Seeing the state that Evan was in after the demon attack had scared all of us. Me especially, because it was just luck that helped him get away. Andrew following him to try and dig up some dirt on him, then reacting like he did before the demon was called away… well, there was no guarantee that any of us would get that lucky a second time around.
“A walk it is then.” I smiled and nodded, bottling up all the doubts that I had. “Let’s get going.”
We gathered up all of the camping equipment that I had packed and we started on the next part of the journey, unsure again as to where it would take us.
The boat journey was a rocky one, the waves seemed to be crashing violently as a warning to all of us, but there wasn’t any way that we could turn our back on this journey now. We were on it now, heading to Ireland, no matter what. Even if I was incredibly nervous about what was going to come next.
“Do you think that we should check out Giant’s Causeway while we are there?” I asked, directing my question mostly towards Andrew since he was the one who knew everything about all of these places. “Is there any reason why that place might be an issue? It’s a historical site, isn’t it? So, could it be worth our time?”
“Hmm, maybe.” Andrew furrowed his eyebrows curiously. “I guess so. I mean, there are a lot of elements there that could be linked to demons. It’s a natural rock formation, built by volcanic rock pushing the tectonic plates up through the Earth, giving it a really unique formation. Lava has definitely been involved.”
“That makes sense,” I agree. “I remember you talking about a volcano in Scotland. It could be the same.”
“I keep thinking about the common themes between everything that we have seen, but I haven’t found anything solid yet. The only definite similarity is that these places weren’t recorded demon portals before, so if that’s what they have been turned in to, then it’s a new thing, and something that we should be very worried about.”
Oh great. Andrew’s words although stated calmly, had the opposite effect on me. Now I was even more freaked out. This meant that no one could really be sure about where all the demon portals were so they could come in from anywhere without us being able to monitor it. So many people were going to be in danger if we allowed that to happen. This mission was getting more important by the moment…
“So, why the name?” I asked, needing to keep finding out as much as I could. “Was it liked by giants?”
“Much as I would like to say that it is, it’s actually because the circular symbols on the side of the rocks that look like giant eyes. Some say they were caused by the weather, but it seems to me like there was a magical intervention. Someone made the symbols for some reason, but we don’t know why.”
“Demons? Do you think that they created the symbol for a reason? Has this been a plan all along?”
Of course Andrew didn’t know the answer to that, no one did. That was what we were probably supposed to try and find out, not that we were having much luck in that department. It seemed like the more we discovered, the further we got along on this mission, the less answers we got and the more questions we were left with.
Felicia stood in front of all of us and examined the causeway, silently, trying to make a judgement about what we should do. I wondered if any of us should make any comments or offer suggestions, but since everyone else was silent I followed their lead and did the same. I paused and waited but I could only do it for a couple of moments before I had the urge to break the silence. I couldn’t handle it anymore.
“Anything else that we need to know?” I whispered to Andrew. “Any more facts about this place?”
“Of course.” Andrew nodded and looked like he was scanning his brain to try and remember facts that might be important. Thank God for his endless knowledge about everything, it always gave us something to talk about. “The rocky coastline around, over there.” He pointed across and I followed his hand. “Has caused a number of shipwrecks. In 1588, thousands of Spanish men were killed there. It was thought to have been created by an ocean demon
at the time.”
“Dark, a lot of death, that seems about right,” I mused. “Anything about the actual formation?”
“Many of the columns fit together so closely that it is impossible to insert a knife blade or a magical trail between them,” Andrew replied with a lop-sided half smile. “Although many people have tried.”
“Right, I see. Okay. So, I guess we’re going to have to check it out tonight even though it’s dark and locked down for the night. Since that seems to be the way that we do things.” I shrugged. “But it will be fine.”
Felicia turned and smiled at me and Andrew, giving me that stunning look of hers that always stopped my heart from beating. I knew that Evan had a stake on Felicia and that his possessive streak was an issue, but he had seen me flirting with her a couple of times, her even flirting back, and he hadn’t killed me yet, which was a good sign. Plus, when we had that conversation about harems last night, she seemed like she might have been open to mating with anyone, even all of us despite the fact that we were each of a different species, which was interesting. Not something that I thought I would consider, but here I was, really thinking about it. It was crazy.
“Alright, we are going to go in now,” she practically whispered. “No time like the present, is there? Especially since we’re doing this on our own without the academy directing us. We need to do this as quickly and as safely as possible. So, in the dark without anyone around, seems for the best.”
I sucked in a breath and prepared myself to shift because I knew that I would be flying and keeping a look out, because I was the only one who could get up in the air to make sure that no demons were coming after us.
“Wait, before you go.” Felicia held on to my arm and kept me in place. “It looks like the tide is coming in.”
“Right.” I narrowed my eyes curiously at her wondering what this had to do with me.
“Am I right in thinking that you are good with technology?” She held out her cell phone to me. “If we do happen to see anything down there, I don’t think the phones are going to be good enough. I was wondering if you might have anything in that bag of yours that could help. I know this isn’t as straight forward as camping equipment…”
“I actually do,” I surprised the both of us by replying. “I have an app that I have been working on…”
“By yourself?” I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at Felicia’s impressed look.
“Yes, it isn’t perfect. But it’s good for tracking a digital color imprint, so it should be able to detect the marks.”
I pulled out my phone and showed her what I was talking about. Felicia seemed genuinely interested. The other guys were as well, especially Andrew. It seemed like that sponge like brain of his had room for something other than just history.
“Right, so I will take this and use it. Thank you, Joshua. I knew that I could count on you.”
She held on to my shoulders and pulled herself upwards to kiss me on the cheek in a sweet gesture, which nearly blew my damn mind. Her plump soft lips only grazed me for a moment, but that was all it took for my pulse to start pounding, rocking all the way through my body, from my head to my toes. It was incredible.
It was only when Felicia pulled back to look at me that I realized I was holding my breath. I needed to let that air out before I turned bright red and popped, making everyone realize how crazy I was, but somehow, I couldn’t do it. Somehow all I could do was smile and nod at her a little too vigorously.
“Right, we should all get to it. I don’t think that we will be in a hotel tonight, looks like it’ll be more camping for us so we might want to get our tents set up before it gets too late.”
I stepped away from everyone else but there wasn’t anywhere for me to exactly hide, so instead I forced myself to shift in front of everyone else. I wasn’t sure why it was so strange for me to shift in front of other people, it wasn’t like I was ashamed of my body or my hawk form, I guess I was just a little shy. But I was starting to overcome that. As time went on and I spent more time with the guys, I was losing that shyness a little.
Once I shifted and my wings spurted free from my body, I flew up high. From up above, Giant’s Causeway looked more like a manmade street than a rock, but it still had its own strange beauty. I liked it.
It was less easy to watch as I saw Andrew climbing down the rock face with Trent in his fox form pacing up and down, sniffing the ground desperately. Felicia leaned over the side, being held on the legs by Evan. He wouldn’t have let that happen if she didn’t insist because he was so protective of her. It made me chuckle how she seemed to be the only one who could make him change his mind about anything. She had a real power over him.
Then again, she had that power over me as well. If she wanted to, I knew that she would be able to make me do whatever she wanted just by batting those beautiful eyelashes at me. She was too gorgeous, too sweet. I would do anything that she wanted me to, just to bring out that stunning smile of hers.
She’s flirting. I wasn’t sure how I could feel it, but she was. Felicia is flirting.
I wasn’t sure how it made me feel. A little bit jealous, a little bit excited, a little bit turned on… all of the above. I didn’t hate it, that was for sure, even if I wished that it was directed at me. I would love those lovely fluttering eyes, that gravelly voice, the lilt to her tone when she was turned on herself… it sent a shiver down my spine.
Unfortunately, for now, I was above her, soaring the skies, and she was down there. So, all I could do was keep flying around and check that there wasn’t any danger coming her way. I flew around quite a distance, even going quite far out over the ocean to check that there weren’t any demons. As I did, I thought about what Andrew had told me with regards to the ship wrecks. I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps there was something magical behind the accidents after all. We always had the assumption that all of the demon portals were already mapped out, but we could have been wrong. There was no telling what we did and didn’t know, what evil was out there in the world.
Eventually, I made my way back to the others and I found them leaning over my cell phone, presumably looking at the pictures they had taken. Everyone had shifted back, and Andrew was even starting to dry off from his trip under the water. It was time for me to head back down to them and to help set up camp for the night.
I wasn’t sure at what point the banter we were sharing around the camp fire turned to something more sensual. It seemed to happen very naturally, but soon we were all a little astounded when we watched Felicia and Trent kiss like there was no tomorrow. It was such a sexy kiss, one that flooded me with joy, but there was an edge of fear as well. All of us wanted to know which way Evan was going to take this, and there was a chance that it could all turn violent.
He did look a little stiff, there was a tension in his shoulders, but he was keeping still. Just staring at Trent and Felicia as they half danced, half swayed, and made out.
“Wow,” Felicia giggled as she pulled back. “That was something else, Trent.”
She twirled around and spun to Evan, to kiss him too, reassuring him that she wanted him as well. Immediately he calmed down and transformed to his usual self, the much happier version of him. I dragged my eyes away from the kissing couple, just for a second to see how Trent looked and the glazed over look in his eyes made me yearn for what he had. Felicia had given him something amazing that I wanted too.
I didn’t even realize that I was walking towards the couple until my hand was on Felicia’s shoulders and I was pulling her back towards me. I didn’t mean to ruin her moment with Evan, but I was feeling too needy, too keen, and I needed my moment with her as well.
“Kiss me,” I whispered as I angled my lips towards hers. “Kiss me properly.”
As our lips cascaded together, there was a deep explosion of lust in my chest, a popping of pleasure everywhere. It was a kiss like no other, one that blew me the hell away. This was totally worth it, Felicia was completely worth the wait, and I kne
w that I would wait for her forever as I knotted my fingers up in her hair.
“Oh God,” she gasped, taking those beautiful lips of hers away from mine, far before I was ready for her to. “Wow, Joshua. I knew that you were going to be a good kisser. I could tell, but wow…”
I didn’t want to let her go, I didn’t want to let her out of my sight, but Andrew deserved his moment with her as well, but he was too shy to go and get it himself. She was the one who swayed her hips and strolled over to him looking sexy as hell. She sat astride him and gave him some of the magic that I had just experienced.
I wasn’t sure exactly what this meant, but it seemed like we were slowly defying the norm and working towards a harem even if it didn’t make any sense. Unless I was reading too much in to this and it was just normal.
Chapter 13
Felicia
Making our way to Dunseverick Castle and waterfall seemed like the next obvious solution because it was close to the Giant’s Causeway and had a violent history similar to a lot of the other places that we had examined during our journey, but unfortunately, it turned out to be a dead end. The first one since we had started. I couldn’t help it, finding nothing left me deflated, I couldn’t see it as the good news it probably was…
“I’m going to call the professor,” Trent said decisively as he spotted the morose look on my face. “I think that we need to get some outside help here. Get some guidance on what our next move should be. Also, I think that we should let the Academy know what has been happening with us, so we know that we are doing it right.”
I honestly preferred doing it alone, it felt much more grown up than following the rules of the Academy, but he was probably right. We had hit a bit of a dead end and we needed some guidance.