by Leela Ash
“Drop the class?!” Lia exclaimed. “Do you know how hard I’ve worked to stay ahead in there?”
“I’m sure you’ve worked just as hard in his class as you have in mine,” Kane said gently. Now he was gripping Lia’s hand tightly, and he could almost feel the tremor of her heart between them. Color had risen to her cheeks, and suddenly, the whole office was filled with the powerful scent of lust. She wanted him. Just as badly as he wanted her. And now they were face to face with nowhere to hide from the truth.
If Lia had been a shifter, that would have spelled out bad news. As for Kane’s wolf, he would just have to keep the rascal in check. He was used to doing that. Being a teacher had steeled him against the ravages of his wolf’s temper.
“I’m pretty sure I got a grey hair or two just from worrying about how Max would grade me,” Lia said, pouting. Kane squeezed her hand gently and pulled his away. He couldn’t let himself get that close again. It wouldn’t do either of them any good if he lost control.
“Well, you know there are better teachers at SU than Max,” Kane said bitterly. “I’d rather you take up a math course next semester than have you suffering through a course you’re doomed to fail because Max has a grudge. Do you understand?”
Lia nodded bitterly and stuck a spoon violently into her yogurt. Kane couldn’t help but grin. He had been right. Even angry, there was something sweet about her. Something he wanted to protect. Even if that anger was for some reason directed at him.
“I’ll quit the stupid class,” Lia grumbled. “But I’m not happy about it. I’ve put in a lot of work already.”
“I know,” Kane said as gently as he could. The flush crawled back to Lia’s cheeks again and it took everything Kane had not to leap over the desk and pin her against the wall. All he wanted to do in that instant was to taste Lia’s pouting lips. But the wolf was all impulse. He needed to be stronger than that. Not just because Lia was just a kid, but because of his wife.
The thought of Ava stayed the wolf enough that Kane could get a clear thought in his head, and he sighed, pushing the hair away from his forehead as he tried to think of the best course of action.
“I know a great teacher,” Kane said, wracking his brain for a way to make Lia smile again. “She’s brilliant. Funny. Kind but stern. And she could get you the credit you need. Help you one-on-one. You need that kind of thing in math, don’t you?”
Lia nodded sulkily and took a big bite of yogurt.
“She even does tutoring after hours. If you had the time to put in to the course, then she would make sure you didn’t fail. She’s not like Max.”
“What’s her name?” Lia asked with a sigh.
“Michelle Herald,” Kane said. “And she owes me a favor, so maybe we can get you into her class. The course load is pretty similar. Before Max fucks your grades up for good. I can talk to Franklin about it if Max throws a fit.”
“All right,” Lia said, a little of the burden seeming to lift from her shoulders. Kane felt terrible. All she had done was agree to help him to help the shifters. She was already suffering for her choice. How could he have brought such an innocent, bright young woman down so low for his own selfish goals?
But they weren’t selfish. If they weren’t doing this, then the Malishk Law Reform might take place. Who knew what would happen to the wolf shifters then?
“Hey,” Kane said, suddenly remembering the word. “Do you happen to know the significance of the word Malishk? I meant to look it up but things have been so busy…”
“Malishk?” Lia said, her face growing pale. “Yeah, why?”
“It’s the name of the reform that Max and his people are hoping to vote into being. It’s why he wants to lead the school so badly. To sway the kids into voting for something that would ultimately enslave them.”
“Enslave them is right,” Lia said, getting up suddenly and rooting through the backpack she’d left on the floor by the door of Kane’s office. She pulled a book out and sifted through the pages, handing the book to Kane and pointing at the photo. “Malishk is the name of the son of the bear shifter’s main god, Arsnal. Mythologically speaking, he’s known as the bringer of good fortune. It’s forbidden, usually, to utter his name out loud. Over the past 100 years, there were cults devoted to Malishk. They pray to him whenever they are hoping to take on a wolf shifter as a slave, or if they are going to war.”
“Fuck!” Kane exclaimed, slamming his fist on his desk and jumping up. “And the Council doesn’t realize this?!”
Lia grew somber. “It’s likely that many of them do. It’s hard to say whether or not the Council has been infiltrated. Maybe they’re waiting to say something. Or perhaps those who have infiltrated are holding things over their heads.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Kane said bitterly. “Since my time, the Council has become pretty washed up. We obey them out of respect, but everybody knows that most of them are so old they’re close to being senile. It’s hard to believe they would let something like this go unless they were being manipulated.”
“That’s highly possible too,” Lia said quietly. “Either way, they’ve agreed to bring this matter to a vote, if I’m gathering correctly.”
“Yeah,” Kane said quietly. “A vote that could change everything. For the worst.”
“But that’s only if they make it to power,” Lia said, looking at Kane with a deep fire in her eyes. He was stunned into silence by her beauty and conviction. “And with me by your side, that isn’t going to happen. I’ll do whatever it takes to help you, and all the wolf shifters in Stonybrooke, to avoid another massacre.”
And with that, Lia smiled brightly at Kane and left the office, leaving him agape behind her.
12.
“So you decided to drop my class, eh? I wonder whose idea…”
Lia’s entire body shivered in fear at the sound of Max’s cold voice from behind her.
“It just isn’t working out well…with my schedule and everything,” Lia lied. She normally didn’t like lying, which was partly why it was so difficult for her to continue living with Courtney and her father without telling them about her parents and their responsibility toward the bear shifters’ efforts at eradicating the wolf population.
“That sounds like quite a believable excuse,” Max said. “Too bad it’s not true.”
Lia swallowed hard and turned to face him, carefully attempting to map out an escape route, but the place was deserted and there was nowhere else to go. They were in the parking lot near the bus stop; Lia had been instructed to take the bus home so that Courtney could follow Eric to the cabin where they were going to be spending the weekend together. Now that she was there, though, it was clear what a mistake it had been to listen to her friend. She should have gotten a ride home with Kane.
“For a math teacher, you don’t really take variable into account, do you?” Lia asked, backing nervously toward the pay phone. She put her hands in her pockets, hoping to somehow fish her phone out and call Kane. He was on the other side of the building, but if she could reach him, then maybe…
“Variable? You forget, Lia, that I’m also a shifter. Shifters have a startling tendency to sniff out liars. It’s one of our best qualities.”
Max was walking slowly toward her, and the fear in her chest mounted nearly to panic. She wouldn’t be able to solve anything if her mind was swept away with fear, though. She pulled her phone out as she continued to back away from Max, and tried to quickly swipe to Kane’s name to dial for him.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Max asked, his eyes dark and chilling as he finally took a long stride forward, until he was almost close enough to touch her. “You’ve done enough to get in my way. It’s time you come with me.”
“No!” Lia exclaimed. She had just reached Kane’s name and allowed the phone to dial when Max shoved her forward, knocking the phone out of her hand. Pain suddenly coursed its way through her as Max’s hands bore down on the pressure points at the back of her neck and he sh
oved her forward and wrestled her inside a black van that was waiting out in the parking lot.
“Let me go!” Lia cried. “You’re going to regret this!”
“Oh, I don’t think I will,” Max said with a grin as he climbed into the van beside her, holding a knife to her back. “Rax, get driving!”
“Yeah, boss.”
“You piece of shit!” Lia exclaimed, clawing at the door. But it was locked, seemingly from the outside, and there was no way for her to get out. She was trapped, and there was nothing she could do about it.
“This the girl, huh?” Rax asked from the driver’s seat.
Lia didn’t like the tone of his voice. It had a different quality to it than most of the other wolf shifters had. Darker, grittier almost. As if he were rotten from the inside out.
“That’s right. The one supposedly engaged to Kane Desmond.”
“Desmond. What a joke.”
“Shut up!” Lia exclaimed. “Who do you guys think you are?”
“Why, your kidnappers, of course!” Max said, turning to face her with a jovial smile on his face. “I’m not sure what’s so difficult to figure out about that. Then again, you’re not exactly the best at putting two and two together, are you, Miss Sanders?”
Lia would have hit him if he hadn’t had a knife to her back, but it wouldn’t do Kane any good for her to get murdered in the back of a sketchy van because of her bad attitude. She was going to have to try to play it smart from then on out, otherwise who knew what might happen? Not just to herself, but to the citizens of Stonybrooke should the ominous Malishk Reform pass.
“I guess you would know,” Lia said with a halfhearted shrug. Maybe it would be wise to change tactics. If she could get information from Max about what they were planning, then maybe, once she got out of the mess she was in, she would be able to be of some use to him.
“Damn right, I would know,” Max said.
It was easy to get an egotistical shithead to talk, Lia realized. All she had to do was to tell him how great he was and the rest would follow. He was probably bursting to brag about his plan. To gloat in the face of the girl who had nearly helped Kane stop him.
“I mean, Kane is super smart and sexy, you know, but anybody could learn history. It takes a special kind of person to teach math.”
Max smirked, and Lia felt sick. He was enjoying all of this far too much for her to be comfortable with it. But what choice did she have? Kane needed all the help he could get, and if she could find a way to get Max disqualified from the running (as if kidnapping a student wouldn’t be bad enough) and learn more about the group he was a part of, then they would have a real chance at protecting Stonybrooke from whatever evil thing it was Max and his cronies were planning.
“Why do you teach math anyway?” Lia asked, hoping she could play into Max’s interpretation of her as a simple, stupid girl who couldn’t put two and two together. “It’s so boring.”
“It’s not boring to the people who understand it!” Max exclaimed. Rax laughed from the front seat.
“I’m with the girl,” he said. “Math sucks.”
“Just shut up and drive!” Max barked. “Nobody asked you. As for you, Lia, it’s students like you that make me hate my job. You nimrods come into class and expect to get it without getting engaged! I don’t know what’s worse about this generation! The council or the lovey dovey university letting all manner of riff-raff through its doors. A human in a shifter school. Who ever heard of such nonsense?!”
Lia was quiet for a moment before smiling at Max brightly. “Sorry. You know, I just have a thing for shifters. Especially, teachers.”
Max opened and closed his mouth, unsure of how to respond.
“Damn,” Rax laughed from the front seat. “Maybe you’ve got a shot there, prof!”
“Shut your mouth, damn you!” Max shouted. “I’m tired of your commentary. You only have one job here, Rax. Deliver me and the girl to the halfway point and then get yourself to the Malishk temple to let them know we’ve got the girl and Kane and his batch of merry men aren’t going to get anywhere with this election.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Rax said.
“Max and Rax,” Lia said with a bright laugh. “That’s kind of adorable. Did you do that on purpose?”
“They’re not our real names,” Rax confided. “They sound the same because we are one under Malishk.”
“Rax, I swear to God!”
“It’s not right to swear, Max.”
Lia watched the exchange, bemused, as Max turned a new shade of red beside her.
“It’s all right,” Lia said, touching Max’s shoulder lightly. “I won’t tell anyone.”
“Damn right you won’t,” Max grumbled, digging into one of his pockets and pulling out a zip tie. “And you won’t be touching anyone else either, you siren.”
“Siren?” Lia asked, biting back a laugh.
“Yes, siren. I know what you’re after, but you’re not going to get a damn word out of me about any of this. And Rax, if you don’t keep your fool mouth shut, I’m going to report you to the One.”
The tension in the van grew thick and Lia could tell that whoever the One was, they were very powerful. She was silent as Max roughly pulled her arms behind her back and bound them with the zip ties. When he was satisfied with his work, he turned to her with an evil glint in his dark eyes.
“I know you struggle a lot with putting things together, Lia, but in case you didn’t realize it, you’re in mortal danger. But lucky for us, we’re one body short of Malishk’s sacrifice. And you’re going to do nicely.”
“Sacrifice?” Lia breathed.
“That’s right, human,” Max said, his features suddenly contorting to reveal something downright terrifying. His skin turned a greasy black color as sprouts of thick fur began to grow in curly tufts. His eyes were a clear gold and they stared into her face hungrily.
“We’re going to enjoy this tremendously,” Max said with a low growl, before his face returned back to normal.
Lia looked away quickly, all the blood in her veins ice cold from what she had just witnessed. Whatever Max was, he wasn’t just a wolf shifter. And he wasn’t just a bear shifter either. But whether bear or wolf, one thing was certain. The man was utterly terrifying. She had to get out of there. And soon. Otherwise, she, and Stonybrooke, were going to be doomed.
13.
“The hell?” Kane grumbled to himself, glancing down at his phone. It had rung briefly, and then suddenly cut off. When he checked the number, his heart lurched. It was Lia. Maybe she had simply called him by mistake. Or maybe something was wrong.
“Kane, where are you going?”
Michelle sighed as Kane rushed out of her office, where they had been discussing placement of Lia to continue her math course, but he didn’t have time to acknowledge her. If something was wrong, his time would be limited.
Kane glared down at his phone again. Why hadn’t she left him a message? Was she all right?
As Kane hurried down the hallway, heading for the doorways, he dialed Lia’s number impatiently. Three times he called and she didn’t answer. Something was strange. Maybe Courtney would know what was going on. Hopefully, they were together and all his worry would be for nothing.
“Dad?”
“Finally! It rang like six times. Where the hell are you?”
“Um. Lia didn’t tell you?”
“No, that’s kind of why I’m calling. I can’t find her anywhere. And she tried calling me but won’t pick up.”
“Shit…” Courtney mumbled. “I’m going to try calling her too. Maybe she just feels weird talking to you or something.”
“Sure…” Kane said, though the thought stung. Why wouldn’t Lia want to talk to him? Was it because he was making her drop her math class? Or was the whole damn situation too much for her to deal with? He wouldn’t blame her in the least if that was the case. Still, he had a bad feeling about all of this.
“Okay dad, I’ll call you back.”
/> “Thanks,” Kane said, hanging up the phone quickly and bursting through the doors of the university. If Lia wasn’t with Courtney, that meant she was alone somewhere. And why hadn’t Courtney answered him when he’d asked? He was going to grill the hell out of her when she called him back. Something wasn’t right about any of this.
When he reached the parking lot, Kane closed his eyes.
“Now’s the time old buddy,” he mumbled to the wolf. “Help me find her.”
He was silent for a moment as he became overwhelmed by the wolf’s senses. Everything seemed brighter and louder and more fragrantly scented, and he took a deep inhale, desperately hoping to peg Lia’s scent. Maybe it was nothing. He hoped it was nothing. But something told him he was right to be concerned.
That suspicion was confirmed when he stopped suddenly in front of the bus stop and found Lia’s phone on the ground, its screen shattered, with three missed calls from Kane flashing on the home screen.
“Fuck!” Kane growled, punching the side of the bus stop. A few lingering students paused to stare at him with wide eyes, and he glared at them viciously enough that they ran the other way.
When they were gone, he raised the phone to his nose and inhaled deeply. The scent on it made him instantly sick. Max. He would bet his life on it. And they were nowhere near the school anymore. They had gotten into some kind of vehicle and disappeared. Almost definitely against Lia’s will.
Before he could stop himself, the transformation had already begun. It was frowned upon to shapeshift on campus, but there was no time to worry about the stupid little rules that were put in place to make sure the youth didn’t participate in needless dog fights for dominance. This was a matter of life and death, and if anything happened to Lia, he would never be able to forgive himself.
Kane unleashed a rueful howl and took off running in the direction of Lia’s scent, every so often catching a new whiff of it despite the vessel she was forced to travel in. If he was even just a second too late, it could spell the end of the line for the sweet young woman who had offered to sacrifice herself for the shifter cause.