by Cali Mann
“But,” he said, “Spirit shifters are different.”
“How?”
“Trisha’s tattoo took longer to appear.” His hand traced the air as if he could see it. “Spirit shifters’ mate tattoos emerge on their lower backs instead of their arms and they take the form of a tree trunk with a spiral carved into it.”
My breath caught between my teeth. Just like the picture Hailey had found. “A spiral?”
“The spiral represents all the elements, connected and in balance.”
“But isn’t a spirit shifter the opposite of balanced?”
“Indeed.” He lowered his heavy brows in concern. “Are you sure this is just intellectual curiosity?”
“Yes, sir.”
He studied me thoughtfully, but then he nodded, and I escaped.
Did Hailey have a tattoo on her back? Surely one of them should have noticed by now? Was she a spirit shifter? I pushed open the library door and headed into the hall.
Would it really change anything I had to do? My pack brothers were in trouble, however this went down. Terrin had told me about their fight with Brenton in the courtyard the other day, and how upset he was to learn he was one of many. None of them were dealing with it well, even Terrin, though he pretended.
Shifters weren’t meant to have multiple mates. It wasn’t natural. The fact that Hailey did meant that there was something wrong with Hailey, something dangerous. I’d known it since the first time I’d met her.
I crossed the campus toward my first class, and I saw them. Hailey and Adrian walking together across the courtyard, their hands entwined. Envy stirred in my breast and I squashed it down as I headed over. “Hey.”
Hailey smiled. Adrian nodded.
My eyes flicked over them. Something was different. Something was wrong. Then I smelled it, the hint of salty blood from the bandage on Adrian’s wrist. I frowned, studying Hailey. Along the edges of her smile, her fangs hung down. “Vampire?”
“Yes, that’s why she had the incident in Focus class,” Adrian said. “Undetected air shifter.”
“But Mr. Reed, didn’t he say earth?”
She shrugged. “Apparently even experienced recruiters are wrong from time to time.”
I arched an eyebrow. Mr. Reed wouldn’t make that kind of mistake. He was an earth shifter, a wolf too, so if he recognized her as one, she had been one. My stomach rolled. Just as I’d feared. The only kind of creature that had more than one form was a spirit shifter. My brothers were doomed.
Reigning in my anger and fear, I turned and walked to class with them. There was nothing I could do at the moment but stay calm and try to think this through.
Adrian kissed Hailey and left her at the door of Shifter Biology. Terrin watched forlornly from across the room, and I could feel the heat cascading off Brenton from the door.
Pushing down my panic, I tried to be practical. “She’s lying to you.”
My brother laughed. “Don’t you think I know that?”
As long as I’d known him, Adrian had valued honesty. With a mother who played political games all day, and couldn’t turn it off when she came home and a father who lied to protect his drug habit, he had always been excruciatingly honest. He told all the girls he dated about each other, and he made no bones about being a playboy.
Yet, here he was letting the girl he claimed as mate lie to him. It didn’t make any sense.
“Does she have a tattoo?”
He swung to look at me. “How did you know?”
My stomach swirled. Of course, she had it. Just like Trisha, Professor Ward’s mate. “A tree with a spiral? On her back?”
“Yeah.” His blond eyebrows drew together.
“Shit.” I stared at him. How did I tell one of my best friends that his life was ruined? Because of a girl and a mating he hadn’t wanted, anyway?
“What is it, man?”
“She’s a spirit shifter.”
Adrian shook his head. “That isn’t possible.”
I snorted. “That’s what I thought too.”
18
Hailey
I stepped into class and I felt like all eyes were on me. Terrin’s definitely were. What had he thought of my episode the other day? Why hadn’t he come to see me in the infirmary as Adrian had?
I smiled at him to let him know that I was okay and we were okay. He visibly relaxed, sinking back against his stool.
Then I turned to my lab partner. Brendon’s shoulders were hunched around his ears and he cut his eyes at me. “Problem?” I asked.
“Yes, Rosie. A big problem,” he hissed.
“What’s that?”
“You misled me.”
“Did I? Or did you just refuse to listen?”
He growled. “I didn’t know you were mated.”
“I didn’t know you were a dragon.”
His hand squeezed the glass vial, and it shattered.
The smell of blood filled the space, and though I’d just fed from Adrian, my mouth watered. I stepped back, sucking my cheeks in, holding back.
Brenton glared at me and stomped off.
Adjusting his purple cap, Professor Alexander stopped Brenton at the door with a hand on his arm. Surprisingly, Brenton didn’t throw him off.
The professor muttered a few words to him. “Focus, Brenton. Don’t let the anger get the best of you.”
My mouth twisted. Sometimes vampire hearing was a boon; sometimes it wasn’t. What right did he have to be angry with me? I’d just offered a roll in the hay. I’d been very clear that I didn’t want a long-term commitment. He had been the one to go and get mated.
With a sigh, I scratched my back where my new tattoo was coming in. Apparently, nature didn’t have much use for free will.
Looking over the instructions for the lab, I tried to concentrate. Pour this into the vial, then that. I bit my lip. I could still feel Terrin’s eyes on me across the room as if he’d thought I’d fly into a rage at any moment.
“Can’t keep anyone, can she?” Someone asked in a stage whisper behind me and I swung around to glare at Greta.
“Nope,” Monica said as if I wasn’t looking right at her. “Boys don’t know what damn fools they are making themselves over her.”
“Jealous much?” I asked, my voice low and quiet.
Greta flipped her hair back. “Don’t know why she thinks anyone cares about a little orphan like her.”
Monica shrugged, her eyes on my face. “Wouldn’t know. Even if she has a family, I’m sure they are nobodies.” Once they were sure their digs had hit home, Greta and Monica turned their backs to me.
Fingernails turned into claws on my hands and I raised them to swipe at the girls, but two arms came around me, holding mine to my sides. I fought, struggling against the restriction.
Terrin’s voice whispered in my ear, “Those aren’t wolf claws.”
“I know,” I hissed. “Air shifter.”
“Not vampire or bird claws either,” Terrin said.
“Oh, shit.” I slipped my clawed hands in my jean pockets. “Did anyone see?”
“No,” he said, “but keep them hidden.”
The professor was giving the homework assignment, and Terrin stayed next to me, writing it down. As soon as Professor Alexander dismissed class, he hurried me out of the room. We stomped across campus to his dorm and ran into the suite.
I pulled my hands out of my pockets and stared at the webbed claws.
Terrin tilted his head, watching me. “What are you?”
The door to the suite banged open, and Sciro and Adrian stomped in. They looked back and forth between us and then stared at my clawed hands.
Sciro scowled. “Spirit shifter.”
“Fuck, it’s really true,” Adrian said, reaching out touch my webbed claws. “Have you transformed?”
“Mer-creature, like you,” I said.
“You don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t transformed—”
I traced my clawed finger down his chest. “I kno
w.”
Adrian, playboy extraordinaire, shivered under my touch and I smirked.
“This is why you’ve been so cold?” Terrin asked, rubbing my back.
I leaned back against him. “Yes. I didn’t want you to know.” I bit my lip, glancing between them. “Or get you in any trouble.”
“Oh, Hailey,” Terrin said, wrapping his arms around me. “We love you, no matter what.”
“What. The. Fuck?” Sciro asked, his voice thready and mean. “She’s a spirit shifter! She’s death on a stick!”
Adrian blinked at Sciro. “She’s our mate, man. Leave her alone.”
“She’s going to get you killed, or she’s going to do it herself! Don’t you see?” Sciro continued.
“Sciro,” Terrin began, his eyes clouded.
I grimaced. “He’s right. The Council will kill me if they find me.”
“We’ll protect you,” Adrian said.
“And if they don’t, I’ll go crazy and kill everyone.” I sighed, dropping down on to the couch. “That’s why we have to find a way to break the mate bonds.”
Terrin sat down next to me, and Adrian perched on the couch’s arm.
“No,” Terrin said. “There has to be another way.”
Adrian frowned. “Every spirit shifter goes crazy. No one has escaped the curse.”
“That’s what I’m saying,” Sciro continued, his face determined. “She’s doomed either way and so are you, unless we find another way out.”
My hands reverted to their normal human guise, and I twisted them in my lap. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”
Terrin reached out and took my hand in his, squeezing it. “We wouldn’t let you.”
“You don’t understand,” Sciro said, pacing across the suite.
“What don’t I understand?” Terrin narrowed his topaz eyes. “My mate is a spirit shifter and I will do everything in my power to protect her.”
“You can’t save everybody, brother,” Sciro yelled. His pale face pinked with emotion.
“She’s ours,” Adrian said, squeezing my shoulder. “We won’t abandon her.”
Sciro sputtered.
“If a way can be found to break the bond,” I said, looking at the floor. “It would be safer . . .”
“No,” Adrian and Terrin said in unison. “We are not giving you up.”
“You’re idiots,” Sciro said. He turned and left, the hallway door shuddering as it closed behind him.
Adrian slid down onto the couch on the other side of me. He reached out and took one of my hands, and Terrin took the other.
“Is this what you’ve been lying about?” Adrian asked.
“Yes,” I said, meeting his eyes. “I didn’t want to, but it—”
Adrian pressed his finger to my lips and shook his head. “Just like you want to be free to make your own choices, we get to be free to make ours.”
“Not if you get hurt.”
Terrin chuckled. “Even if we get hurt. You can’t protect everyone.”
I huffed.
“I choose,” Adrian said, cupping my cheek. “To love you.” He kissed me, gently and tenderly.
Terrin turned my head toward him. “And I choose, my gorgeous spirit shifter, to love you.” Then he kissed me, just as tenderly at first, but then the kiss deepened, curling my toes.
Stroking his hands across my shoulders, Adrian whispered, “And we’d like to show you how much we care.”
Lifting his head, Terrin met Adrian’s eyes and nodded. “If you’ll let us.”
I looked back and forth between them and warmth curled in my gut. I wanted to be responsible, to say no, and keep them safe. But the promise in their eyes left me breathless and I couldn’t help but whisper, “Yes.”
A slow smile spread across Terrin’s face, and Adrian grinned.
Terrin growled, leaning in for another kiss. This one wasn’t so gentle.
His forest scent rolled over me and I could feel his jaguar very close to the surface. Was this new ability to sense others’ creatures a spirit thing? He sucked on my lower lip and my thoughts fled.
Adrian pulled off my coat and kissed along the neckline of my shirt. Everywhere that his hot lips touched, I turned liquid.
Not to be outdone, Terrin pulled the collar of my shirt down and nibbled across my collar bone and down into the valley of my breasts.
“Fuck this,” I said, yanking off my shirt and tossing it away.
The guys smirked and took turns catching my lips and kissing me.
Adrian’s practiced hands made fast work of my bra, and Terrin took the opportunity to cup my full breasts and flick my nipples with his thumbs. I moaned, reaching out for them with my hands, and protesting at the clothes in my way.
They stood and discarded the offending garments. Adrian cleared the coffee table with one arm, sending their controllers and snacks clattering to the ground. Terrin picked me up, laying me on the smooth wood surface, and then returned his attention to my bare breasts. I reached for his cock, stroking the soft head.
Adrian opened my jeans and slid them off, kissing each bit of skin that was revealed. Then, he kissed and sucked his way back up to my sex. His tongue washed over my sensitive nub and I bucked against the table. He swirled his tongue and waves of pleasure surged over me, sweeping me over the cliffs of orgasm.
As I caught my breath, my eyes met Terrin’s, and I licked my lips. “I want,” I said and flicked my hand against his hard length, “to taste you while Adrian’s inside me.”
Both men groaned at my words as if I’d just answered their greatest wish. Adrian on his knees spread my legs and pressed against my wet entrance. Terrin positioned himself next to me, bringing his hard length to my lips. My hands grasped his muscled thighs, appreciating his tight control.
I opened myself to them, allowing them to fill me until I didn’t think I could hold any more. When they began to move, the perfect rhythm of forest breezes and underwater currents, I responded in perfect harmony. We took pleasure, and we gave it. We moved as one being, connected in ways that had nothing to do with mate tattoos or shifter politics.
When the rapture came, we met it together, crying out as we came.
19
Hailey
The snow was melting. I could hear the tinkle of the icicles as they dropped. The sun had been high in the cloudless sky all day and the temperatures had been unusually high.
I wrapped my arms around myself as I crossed the campus. A warm glow had saturated me after our lovemaking last night, but the chill had come back with Headmaster Larkin’s note.
Come and see me in my office after your classes today.
I assumed she had news of my parents, either that or someone had turned me in as a spirit shifter and the Council guard had come. A sour taste rose in my mouth at the thought. Would it be like this for the rest of my life? Living in fear of when they’d find me out, or I’d go crazy and kill everyone and not knowing which would come first.
The spiral stairs up to Headmaster Larkin’s office seemed longer and slower than the first time I’d gone up them. My hand ran along the smooth iron as I climbed. I lifted my hand to knock on her door and it swung open.
“Come in, Hailey,” she said, gesturing toward the sofa.
As it had been the first time I’d come, tea service was set out with teacups and small bakery items. This time cookies, decorated like flowers and eggs. Spring had apparently sprung in the kitchens, if not outside. The herbal scent of chamomile drifted from the teapot and I wondered who needed soothing me or her.
I knew I should make some pleasantries, say something nice, but I just stared at her, waiting for news. Her tailored suit was a pale green today and her brown hair tightly bound in a bun.
“Thank you for coming,” she said, lifting the teapot. “Would you like some tea?”
“Yes, thank you,” I said, forcing the words out. “Do you have news of my parents?”
Headmaster Larkin poured two cups of tea, added a spoon of honey to
each, and then handed one to me. Once we were settled, she sipped her tea in silence.
I mimicked her actions, glancing longingly at the sugar cookies.
“Oh,” she said catching my glance, “would you like some?” She placed two on a small plate and handed them to me.
Balancing the plate in my lap, I asked, “Brian and Margaret Cooper.”
Her lips pressed together and then she sighed. “Yes, I have news of your parents. We were able to locate records of them after some digging.”
“Records?” I asked. “But not them?”
She lifted a folded newspaper from the table, and unfolded it in her lap, then she passed it to me.
“Tampa couple dies in a car crash on I-10,” I read aloud and then scanned the article. “Victims of a drunk driver? Driven off the bridge into the ocean?”
Headmaster Larkin nodded. “I’m so sorry.”
Even when I’d assumed they were dead or had forgotten me, I hadn’t felt like this. Sucker punched in the gut. Like the cake had been handed to me and then whisked away before I even got a bite. I guess I had really thought they’d find my parents. That they’d been looking for me all this time.
The black and white photographs didn’t do them justice. Mom’s black hair tied back in a ponytail and a sad smile on her face. Dad with a button-down and a dark mustache as if he was trying to look older than he was. I wondered where they’d dug them up from.
“Mom liked tea,” I said slowly, the memories I’d been holding back rushing forward. “And she was a sculptor. I remember her hands always covered in clay.”
The headmaster smiled. “And your father?”
“He worked from home, so he could spend more time with family. Something with computers, I think.”
“Did you know they were shifters?”
I shook my head. “What kind?”
“Your mother was air and dad was earth, unsurprisingly a wolf form.”
“I look like her,” I said, tracing the outline of her face. If I believed him, Nurse Brar said that he wasn’t my father, but he hadn’t said that she wasn’t my mother. Was that why I still looked like her? I needed to talk to him again.