by Jade Thorn
Copyright © July 2020 Jade Thorn All rights reserved
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
ASIN: B088C4S67Y
Cover design by: Natasha Williams of DAZED Designs
https://www.dazed-designs.com/
Edited by: CB Editing Services
https://www.facebook.com/CBlackEdits/
Please note that due to its content this book is not meant for readers under the age of 18.
Readers may also find some scenes distressing.
Acknowledgements
In the writing process there are always people who help you along. In the publishing process, there are even more! There are some people who I need to thank for helping me.
First and foremost, thank you to my husband for supporting me in my creative madness. For listening to me mutter into long cold cups of tea, for taking the kids to the park to allow me writing time, and for supporting me as I create.
To my girl gang - Lizzie, Sarah and Adriann - you ladies keep me sane, keep me on track, listen to me whinge and still want to talk to me! You are all amazing people, your writing awes and inspires me and I cannot wait to see what you come out with next.
To my editor, Charlotte Black - just wow. You embraced my insane and thrived on it. Your work is top calibre, speedy and you put up with my crazy. THANK YOU. Your encouragement uplifts me and keeps me focussed and your attention to detail is phenomenal. In you I have found not only an amazing editor but a friend for life.
To my street team, my ARC team and my Beta readers - these women help share the word, keep me going and allow me time to keep on writing so that I can share more of the strange worlds in my head. You watch over my shoulder as I write and your positivity helps keep my “darkness” at bay. Thank you for everything. A special thanks to Joy, Jennifer and Jacqueline for all of your hard work and support.
To Alicia who has kept me on the straight and narrow, kept track of things like eye colour and details that constantly escape me, lol. Thank you for being my memory.
To Tash Will - cover designer extraordinaire, you lady, took my request for a “non-traditional academy” cover and raised it to the next level. You are kind, talented and so giving. You are more than my designer, you’re an inspiration and a friend.
Finally, Sara Guthman PA - lady, I don’t even know where to start. Kind, thoughtful, inspired, insightful, organised, helpful, gracious, forgiving - and a whole other pile of positive adjectives - you are them all, my love. You have been invaluable. Your knowledge of marketing, branding and your (frankly terrifying) degree of organisation, has taken me from the hot mess that I was, to a fully functioning author. But it is your kindness and your generosity of spirit that I will forever be grateful for.
Happy reading
Jade
xoxo
1. Melody
Monday morning dawned brightly in a way that was incongruous with the feelings in her heart. The snow had started melting over the weekend, leaving great big muddy puddles behind. It wasn’t a great time to be in the cottage, where there were no firm pathways between it and the north-east corridor in the outer ring of buildings. For the next few weeks, they would squelch their way back and forth to class.
The front porch was a sorry looking sight with muddy shoes everywhere. Together, Melody, Nick and Justin had put enough wards on them that they wouldn’t get stolen, vandalised, frozen, or turned into temporary accommodation by any creature seeking shelter. With no mud-room, it was their only choice to enter and leave in thick socks, shivering in the cold as they put on their shoes. Still, there were worse problems to be had. Melody knew, she had them in spades.
In the winter, students could choose to wear cloaks or long robes over their uniforms. Melody had chosen a robe, with her warmest gear underneath, even though it wasn’t uniform. She figured nobody would check. Besides, the school uniform was sexist, she had to wear either a skirt or tunic, no pants for the girls. The next time she saw the provost, she would have something to say about it.
Melody snorted, as if the provost would be interested in her views on the school uniform, no, there were more serious matters afoot.
By the time they reached the dining hall, Melody’s stomach had twisted into such a tight knot, that she doubted she would be able to eat anything at all. Even the smell of bacon, usually enough to rouse her from a coma, couldn’t settle her. No. Today was the first day of term, and she had no doubt Asher would hold her to her promise of bonding him soon.
She would have to bond him, there was no other choice. The weals on her back weren’t healing as they should. Her aunt was putting on the pressure any way she could. The madwoman was desperate for these stronger shifters.
Her gaze swept lazily across the room, stopping unintentionally on Carla and Quinn, sitting on the far side. Quinn half raised a hand to wave at her, but Carla snapped something at him and he flinched, pulling it down. His witch wasn’t looking at him, but Quinn watched her with a fierce intensity. There was something off about it.
“Mel, sit down, I’ll get you something, okay?” said Dean, interrupting her thoughts..
She knew he sensed her anxiety through their bond. It was definitely strengthening, because she felt his concern for her.
Dean and Trent accompanied her to breakfast this morning, she missed the others but understood the dragons need to stretch their wings. She also needed the wolves to mind the cottage for them all. Melody hated that there was never any peace. They always had to have their guard up.
Trent pulled out a chair for her, but as she went to sit, a hand grabbed her by the shoulder and swung her around.
“I challenge you!” shouted Asher, pulling off his shirt and kicking off his shoes. His pants followed, and he stood proudly naked before he shifted. It wasn’t as instant as Dean’s was, almost like he was trying to encourage her to look at his body and admire it.
Dean’s growl could be heard clear across the room, and moments later he was by her side, his lion visibly near the surface. His hair had grown longer and two canine teeth overlapped his bottom lip.
That was when she reached her limit.
Melody was sick of this shit. Before Asher had even finished shifting, she slapped him down.
“Shift then!” she yelled back at him, throwing her magic at his beast and reversing the process before he had done much more than drop to all fours and grow a bit of fur. Instantly the shift was reversed and he sat there as a human in front of her, a feral grin in place.
Melody felt the bond sink into her, felt his smug satisfaction. The feeling must have been strong inside him for her to detect it at all in such a new bond. He was such an ass!
“That’s cheating! I told you she couldn’t bond a shifter without cheating. She didn’t even let him complete his shift,” screeched Shawna from the other side of the room.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” groaned Melody. “Right, shift again, and then I’ll show them I can defeat your beast, but don’t muck around this time.”
Seconds later, a large grey wolf sat in front of her. So he could do it faster! The egotistical ass had been drawing it out on purpose. Yeah, Melody had no problem bonding him, she wouldn’t want to burden anyone else with his kind of arrogance.
She held her hand, palm out, facing him. “Shift!” she commanded, sending her ma
gic at him, and once again the change was instantaneous. This time when he was human again, his cock was hard and pointing at her.
Melody grabbed his sweats and threw them at him. “Cover that shit up, nobody wants to see it.”
Dean’s growls had not subsided, although he was now looking over her shoulder at something. Melody turned to see Shawna and her crew advancing on them.
“I don’t know what that was supposed to prove, except that you are even more of a cheater. Forcing his shift when he’s already part-way bonded to you is something a baby could do. I still say you cheated!”
“Then go running to the provost about it, because that worked for you so well the last time. From what I hear, you’ve been trying to convince Asher he belongs to you as well. Just how low will you go, Shawna?” Dean sneered.
Shawna scowled, but turned on her heel and left, her posse following behind her, giving Melody and the shifters dark looks.
Melody turned to Dean. “Can you call the others? If she convinces the provost this wasn’t a fair challenge, and she has to break the bond again, I’ll probably need all of you.”
Dean closed his eyes and then nodded at her. “They’re coming. The dragons are heading back to the cottage to dress first.” He frowned at Trent. “You didn’t see him coming?”
Trent hung his head, ashamed. “I did, but I didn’t realise he was going to challenge her like that. I thought he’d arrange a time or something. He would have challenged her even if I had intervened. He’s just that arrogant.”
“Dudes, I’m right here,” whined Asher.
“Don’t we fucking know it,” snarled Dean, before turning to her. “Come on Mel, if the provost has to break these bonds, you’ll need a full belly to get through it.’
“Actually, I’m worried I might throw up,” she confessed, and he put an arm around her and hugged her.
“At least have some juice?” Dean tugged her to a seat, pulled a glass of orange juice towards her, and sat sideways on his chair, facing her.
Melody wasn’t used to being looked after like this, and it always took her by surprise when they did these little things for her. On one hand, she didn’t want them to do—it, the shifters weren’t her slaves—she didn’t want to demean them like so many witches did. On the other hand, she enjoyed having someone caring about her wellbeing for once. She enjoyed the sense of family she got from them too, even the new asshole had a sense of “pack” around him.
The asshole in question sat on her other side, beating Trent to the chair and leaving the fox shifter growling under his breath. Melody held out her hand across the table and tapped it, indicating he should sit opposite her. He dashed around the end of the table and sat where she indicated, reaching for her hand. She let him have it, the motion meaning she gave Asher the cold shoulder and it twisted her a little toward Dean. It wasn’t an accidental movement.
“Hey, I’m your familiar, you can’t keep giving me shit,” protested Asher, putting a large hand on her back.
The idiot hit her wound, and Melody arched in pain. He felt it. She knew he did by the hiss of air he sucked between his teeth, but because the bond was so new, he didn’t get the full impact. Dean, however, did.
He leapt forward with a snarl, punching Asher in the jaw, and jostling Melody into the wolf, adding insult to injury. Dean looked at her in horror.
“Mel,” he husked, pulling her gently toward him. “I’m so sorry, baby!”
A shrill voice cut over their jostling before the fight between the shifters could escalate.
Dean was torn between comforting her and growling at Asher who was just as angry, and their bonds pulsed with their fury. Asher’s at being ignored and Dean’s at her pain.
“The provost wants to see the slut and the wolf,” she said. Melody looked up at the owner of the shrill voice, one of Shawna’s cronies.
“Well, I’m sure she’ll find a nice porn channel to watch it on,” Melody said, and remained seated.
“You have to go, now!” she reiterated.
Melody canted her head to the side. “Where?”
“To see the provost, she asked to see you and Asher.”
“Oh! As well as the porn movie? I hope not at the same time.” Melody ignored the spluttering witch and stood up before pinning her with a fierce look.
“Maybe if you’d made yourself clear instead of repeating things fresh from the mind of a twelve-year-old, there wouldn’t have been any confusion. I’ll let the provost know you need help with your linguistic skills. I’m sure there’s a tutor here who can help you.”
She downed her juice in one go, and turned to leave, the three shifters walking with her.
“She said you and Asher,” the witch called after her.
“Yes, I gathered that, although you really need to work on your delivery of messages,” Melody tossed back, exiting the hall.
2. Dean
It was his bonding all over again, this time minus that screeching harpy, Shawna. The teachers lined the edges of the room as he, Melody and the rest of the Apex, along with Trent and the asshole walked in. He wouldn’t go as far to say that their reception was as chilly as it was last time, but it still wasn’t warm and welcoming. Well, except for the provost, he could see the twinkle of delight in her eyes. For some reason, she had taken a special interest in his witch, and as long as that was an advantage, Dean welcomed it.
“I’m sorry to have to do this to you again, Melody, but complaints have been made that your bonding to Asher was irregular,” she sighed. “Could you please tell us, in your own words, what happened?”
“Yes, Provost,” Melody responded, obediently. “Asher challenged me last term, and I told him that I would accept his challenge after the holidays. I wanted my mind to be clear for the advanced course with Professor Ludwig.”
Several of the teachers nodded in approval.
“This morning at breakfast, Asher challenged me again, and given that it was indeed after the holidays, I accepted.” Melody paused for a moment, clearly thinking of how to word what she said next. “Asher was drawing it out, showing off, taking his time to shift, so I didn’t wait for him to finish. He was on his hands and knees, and he was growing fur. I couldn’t see his face because his head was down, but I could sense his wolf was present. So, I ordered him to shift and pushed my magic at him. He immediately shifted back.”
There were murmurs from amongst the staff.
Dean growled, glaring at the asshole, the others looking at him in anger too. The air practically vibrated with the tension between them all. If Asher had thought he’d just be accepted amongst them, he’d thought wrong.
“Shawna protested immediately that it wasn’t a proper challenge because I hadn’t allowed him to complete his shift. So, I asked him to shift again, waited until he had completed it, and then I forced his shift upon him so that he was human again. Apparently that didn’t satisfy her either, since she reasoned he was already half bonded to me.”
“I see,” said the provost. “And you, Asher, do you agree with this account?”
Dean could smell the discomfort on his bond-mate, Asher was embarrassed.
“Yes, Provost. I was showing off for Melody, I wanted her to see how much control I had over my shift, that I could make it happen slowly. I didn’t think she’d be bothered by the wait, I can see now the error of my assumption that she would be pleased.”
Dean was surprised, he hadn’t expected the asshole to own it, but then again, he could now feel the pain that she was in, and Asher had to know that he was the cause of most of it.
“Very well. Melody, this is an unusual circumstance, I don’t think anyone has tested the efficacy of a half changed shifter. However, as we cannot have the matter in doubt, I am afraid that I will again have to sever the bond, and because he has already challenged you twice today, it would be imprudent to ask him to challenge you again. As you would know, a challenge takes a bit out of a shifter, and I wouldn’t want claims that you had bonded him while he
was recovering.” The provost looked regretful. “I will sever the bond, and then in three days time, Asher will challenge you again if he should so wish.”
The provost reached into a desk drawer and produced three small bottles. “Gentlemen, I believe you know how to use these properly?”
“I do, Provost,” Nick said seriously, as disturbed by what was about to come as Dean was.
“Very well, Melody, do whatever it is that you must, to prepare yourself for the backlash. Asher, I suggest that you sit down, this will not be a gentle thing to endure. Ryan, Austin, if you could help your fellow wolf, I would appreciate it.”
The two wolf shifters nodded and moved to flank Asher, who stubbornly stayed on his feet. Nick picked up the bottles, while Dean and Justin flanked Melody. She knelt on the floor and placed her hands on the flagstones. There was no room for pride here — she knew she was going to pass out again, and she didn’t want to fall on what would soon be her seriously fucked up back. Three days of the geas? How in hell’s name was she going to survive that?
“You know it will be stronger this time,” Melody stated, warning them all.
“You don’t know that, love,” Dean soothed her, worried about what was coming.
“Yes, Dean. I do. It’s how she operates. You saw her letters. She wants me to have an attitude adjustment, so the punishments will keep getting more severe until I stop ...” Melody halted herself just in time, but already the deeper wound was burning with renewed heat. “Oh goddess, Provost, please do it now, I’ve already said too much, it’s starting!”
Dean’s lion roared in his head, his beast desperate to come out and remove whatever the threat was. At the moment, it was the provost and whatever spell she was about to cast. He desperately reigned his lion in, encouraging it to protect her by providing what she needed and not by attacking a necessary action.