Bound: A Why Choose Academy Shifter Romance (Thornbriar Academy Book 2)

by Cali Mann

  “You do.” Headmaster Larkin nodded. “I’m afraid there aren’t any other close family members.”

  “Oh.” I hadn’t even thought about that. What if I’d had a grandparent or an aunt or something? Would they have come for me? I grimaced. I didn’t have one though. I was still alone.

  Not alone. I had Terrin and Adrian. I just didn’t want to get them killed. How were we going to survive the madness? I swallowed. And when had it become us? Did I really trust myself not to kill the shifters that I loved?

  The headmaster handed me an envelope. “Some personal effects of your parents, your birth certificate, and your seal from the Oracle.”

  I blinked. “My what?”

  She smiled. “Every shifter child that is born is presented to the Oracle. She’s a mighty seer in our world. The Oracle looks into the child’s future and determines what kind of shifter they will be.”

  My jaw dropped. “She does?”

  Headmaster Larkin nodded. “You know that spirit shifters are killed at birth? To keep us safe.”

  “Yes,” I said faintly.

  “The Oracle tells us which ones are spirit shifters and which ones are not. She gives air, water, fire, and earth shifters a seal.”

  “Oh. Does she say which one the baby is?” My throat was so dry that the last words came out a bit choked.

  The headmaster shook her head with a small smile. “The Oracle keeps some things to herself.”

  “Sounds pretty intense.” I opened the envelope and flipped through the papers.

  It was right there in black and white. Hailey Ann Cooper, child of Brian and Margaret, and certified not a spirit shifter. Could I be wrong? I laughed at myself. As if despite the dreams, the tattoo, and the shifting, I could be anything else.

  The Oracle had somehow gotten it wrong. How had she missed me? Did that mean she overlooked other spirit shifters? I frowned.

  “Something missing?” Headmaster Larkin asked.

  I shook my head. “No, it’s here. Are there other personal effects from my parents?”

  “Yes.” The headmaster lifted a key from the table. “The house was sold, but their personal items were put into storage in case you were ever found.”

  To have made that provision, my parents hadn’t stopped believing. Even when I’d been gone for years. I glanced at the article again. I’d been ten when they died, just a few years into my captivity at Hasting’s House. I’d never really thought I’d know them, but my heart ached with their loss, anyway. “When can I see it?”

  “Whenever you want, but I would recommend waiting until summer break. It isn’t that long and you can go through it at your leisure.”

  “Okay,” I said. It made sense really. “Who sold the house?”

  “Their executor, William McKinnon. He’s a well-known lawyer among shifters.” She pursed her lips. “You might know his son, Brenton?”

  I couldn’t help the laugh that erupted, so I tried to force it into a cough. “Yes, he’s my lab partner.”

  “Ah.”

  My neck warmed, and I knew it was time to go. I stood abruptly. “Thank you, Headmaster Larkin.”

  She stood as well. “Of course, Hailey. If you have more questions, don’t hesitate to ask.”

  I nodded and, clutching my envelope and the key to the storage unit, I fled. There was too much. My parents found but dead. The Oracle had mistaken me for something else. Brenton’s dad had somehow known my parents and was the executor of their will?

  The warming temperatures had brought all the students out, so when I passed the bustling courtyard, I turned toward the stairs to the pools instead.

  20

  Adrian

  I emerged from my swim across the pool and saw her coming toward me. I grinned. “Hailey.”

  The corners of her lips turned up, but it wasn’t really a smile. “I didn’t think there would be anyone down here.”

  “Would you rather I go?” I asked, reaching for the side.

  “No. Stay.” She held her hands out as if to stop me. Pulling off her shoes, socks, and jeans, she dropped down on the side of the pool.

  I swam closer, waiting. When I’d told her I loved her and made love to her together with Terrin, I’d accepted her and what a life with her meant. I was here for her no matter what, and I meant it. She would tell me what was wrong when she was ready.

  She squeezed her hands in her lap. “I met with Headmaster Larkin. She had news about my parents.”

  I ran my hand along her leg, needing to touch her, but I stayed silent.

  “They’re dead.” Tears fell on her cheeks. “Killed by a drunk driver.”

  “I’m sorry.” I wanted to pull her in and take her in my arms, but she was still dressed. “Losing a parent is a terrible thing.”

  Hailey rubbed the back of her hand across her eyes. “I haven’t seen them since I was taken. I barely remember what life was like before, but somehow it’s hard to lose the idea that they are out there, somewhere.”

  Stroking her calves, I leaned my head against her. I’d missed her when we’d been fighting. Not the sex, but this, the talking and the sharing of our friendship. We’d spend hours in this pool, swimming and learning about each other, and it had all been gone.

  My mer-creature started to sing, softly at first and then building. The song drifted through me and my whole body began to vibrate.

  “You’re singing,” Hailey said, stroking my hair.

  “For you,” I whispered as the magic washed over me. “I missed you.”

  “I missed you too, Adrian.”

  I closed my eyes as human and opened them as a merman. My hair lengthened, the green locks sliding over my shoulders. Gills appeared on my cheeks, opening and gagging in the air. I dived under the water, allowing my tail to push me through the pool. It was stronger than any human legs.

  A hand took mine, and I looked over. In the blink of an eye, Hailey had joined me in the water, her black hair turned green, and her iridescent blue tail flowing out behind her. I grinned.

  I’d never imagined that I’d be able to share this with my mate, that I’d have been mated to a water shifter, let alone a spirit shifter. I’d never dreamed that I’d have a mate who fit me so perfectly. A mate I trusted and who trusted me in return.

  We swam the length of the pool and back again, our voices mingling in song. The sirens of myth were based on the music of water shifters. They were said to be beautiful enough to lure humans to their death.

  But here in the empty caverns, just Hailey and I sang, united in wordless music.

  21

  Sciro

  I walked around campus in a daze for days after Hailey was revealed as a spirit shifter. Not one of my brothers seemed to understand how serious this was. Not even Adrian, whose Mother worked on the Council. Spirit shifters were dangerous and now my pack mates were bound up with one. And no matter how much I told them, they weren’t interested in letting her go.

  Slamming the useless book closed, I stared at the dust that rose in the air. Nothing anywhere on unwinding the spiral or any other method of undoing the mate bond. Was there no way to save my brothers?

  “Are you okay, Sciro?” Professor Ward raised an eyebrow at me from his chair near the window. In his lap, a small modern-looking book lay open. Was the old bear reading a novel?

  “Just tired, Professor.” I rubbed my eyes.

  He nodded and turned back to his book.

  If the administration found out about Hailey, she’d be sent to the Council for extermination. Would my brothers survive that? Would that be better than slowly watching her go mad? I ran my tongue over my fang. Did I have any choice?

  I eyed the Professor. I trusted his advice, but could I trust him with this secret? He knew how bad spirit shifters were, maybe he could convince the guys to let her go. Or maybe he could help me research. Hadn’t his dad tried to unwind the spiral on his mate bond with Trisha?

  Most of the students were gone to dinner. If I was going to have a ch
ance to talk to the Professor, this was it. I walked over to him, dropping into the armchair across from him.

  He closed his book and steepled his hands in his lap.

  “I haven’t been completely honest with you,” I said.

  Professor Ward’s lip quirked.

  “I have some friends who have mate bonded.”

  His brown eyes widened. “At your age? That’s awfully young.”

  “It is,” I said, “and it’s part of the reason I’ve been researching how to undo a mate bond.”

  “Ah, unwinding the spiral,” he said.

  I nodded. “Only I’m not finding anything in these books.”

  “Yes, this library does not contain many of the older texts that might refer to the ceremony.” He tilted his head. “But I did tell you that it’s likely a fake. My father did try it on me with little success.”

  “You survived your mate’s death.”

  “Do you think your friend’s mate is likely to die?”

  Only if I turned her in. I wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. This was it. I either told the truth, or I gave up on my brothers. “I do.”

  His bushy eyebrows drew together. “And why is that?”

  “Because she’s a spirit shifter.”

  Professor Ward’s face went ashen and his hands curled over the edges of his chair. “No, no. There are no spirit shifters at Thornbriar Academy.”

  I sighed. “I had a hard time believing it too, but the signs are there, professor. And she’s taken three mates already.”

  He coughed. “Three mates?”

  “Yes.”

  “Couldn’t she just have more than one mate? That’s unusual, but—”

  I snorted. “She has the tattoo on her back as you told me that Trisha had.”

  “Are you sure?” His brown eyes drilled into me and I shifted in my chair.

  “I’m sure.”

  He stood, his mouth opening and closing. “A spirit shifter? Here?”

  I nodded.

  His gaze darted around the library. “Who is it? Someone I know?”

  There was no getting out of this now. “Hailey.”

  “No,” he said, shaking his head violently. “She’s been here. We’ve worked together.”

  “I know, sir.”

  “But Mr. Reed vetted her. And the Headmaster.”

  Sweat broke out on my brow at the intensity of his gaze. “I don’t know how.”

  He took a step toward the door. “I should tell them.”

  “Please don’t,” I said, standing and reaching for his arm.

  “My mate killed thousands.” Professor Ward growled at me. “This girl is dangerous.”

  “I know, but my pack brothers are bound to her. If they kill—” I swallowed at the look on his face. “When they kill her, it will kill them too.”

  “Who?”

  “Adrian. Terrin.” I sighed. “Brenton.”

  “Shit,” he muttered, and I had to agree. Running a hand through his hair, he sank back down onto his chair. His voice hoarse, he continued, “And despite the tattoo, we don’t know for sure.”

  “What do we do?”

  He gazed at me, his mouth set. “We call the Oracle.”

  “But no, she’ll—”

  “She’ll confirm that she’s a spirit shifter and we can do the Unwinding.”

  “Will there be time? Or will they carry out the sentence immediately?”

  “There will be time,” he said. “We’ll make sure there’s time.”

  22

  Brenton

  I’d spent the last few days clearing out my cave. The ice and rock had fallen in when I’d transformed and had buried the space. The heatwave we’d had recently had thawed the waterfall, and it had resumed its flow. When I’d finally found my blanket on the bottom, it had frozen to the ice below and I’d had to dig it out. Lifting it, Hailey’s smell rolled off of it and I growled. Damn bitch.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket and I glared at the screen. Dad. I couldn’t keep avoiding him forever, but I wasn’t going to take his call here. I stomped out of the cave and climbed up over the ridge. Clicking the button, I answered it.

  “I’ve been calling you for days!” he barked, and I held the phone away from my ear.

  I grunted. “Been busy.”

  “Professor Alexander says you’ve been missing classes.”

  Sitting on a rocky outcropping, I stared at the cloudless sky. “So?”

  “I don’t pay for you to go to Thornbriar Academy so you can throw your life away, boy.”

  I shrugged, knowing he couldn’t see me. “I’ll catch up.”

  “Damn right you will and you’ll come home for Spring Break. I don’t want to hear about you slacking, ever. We have standards to uphold.”

  I was embarrassing him. That was always the issue. He didn’t give a damn about why I was missing classes or what was going in my life. He was just pissed that I was making him look bad, or as he put it, making the family look bad. “Mom got any new black eyes?”

  He snarled. “Your mother is perfectly fine.”

  “Right.” Maybe going home was what I needed. It would give me a break from seeing Hailey and her mates everywhere.

  “Does this have anything to do with that girl Hailey?”

  I frowned. “What the hell do you know about her?”

  “Your professor said you two were getting pretty close.”

  “None of your damn business,” I muttered. Professor Alexander needed to shut the hell up. My dad didn’t need to know anything about Hailey. Dad’s sudden interest a month ago came to mind, and I wondered if there was more to it.

  “Your life is my business,” he grumbled.

  I considered asking him straight out, but my father had never been honest with me. I couldn’t imagine him changing that now. Besides, why did I care? Hailey had tricked me into mating and she deserved whatever she got. Maybe if I stayed the hell away from her, this stupid tattoo would fade.

  “Fuck off,” I said and clicked the hang-up button.

  My hand squeezed reflexively around the phone. I wanted to toss it into the bush, but another would appear in my dorm room by bedtime. Despite the nastiness that was my dad, he knew how to run a business. If only his law firm ever did good instead of aiding and abetting the criminals.

  I glanced longingly back toward the cliff, but he was right. I’d skipped too many classes lately. I shoved the phone back in my pocket and marched back toward the school. It might be the day I gave Professor Alexander a piece of my mind.

  * * *

  Leaning against my hand, my eyes closed as Professor Roth droned on again about the war of whenever. Why did I think I needed to come back to class? There wasn’t anything here for me. Just getting pissed off around every corner, because Hailey was kissing those shits or falling asleep while they taught us crap no one needed to know.

  “Mr. McKinnon, so nice of you to join us,” the professor murmured, and I propped one eye open. “Showing up for class is only half the battle.”

  The class laughed.

  Warmth flooded my belly and I snorted at her, smoke billowing from my nose. Whoa. That was a cool new trick.

  “That will be enough of that,” she said, smacking my hand with a ruler. The sound reverberated through the room.

  I growled at her. “Don’t touch me.”

  She sighed and went back to the blackboard as if I’d said nothing. I gaped at her. She’d actually hit me. My hands twisted into fists.

  Most of the professors knew better than to push me. They’d seen my rages over the years. I stood, fury winding its way up my spine. I stared at the professor, heat rolling off me. Fire darted across the classroom, rolling over her shoes. She stumbled, catching herself on her chair, and her head swung around, eyes wide.

  A cruel smile crossed my lips and after grabbing my backpack, I stomped out of class. I didn’t need to put up with this shit.

  The hallway was empty as classes were still in session. My steps e
choed on the stone floors. I stared at my feet as I marched down the corridor.

  “Brenton?”

  I closed my eyes. I’d know her voice anywhere. I could pick her out of a crowd. My voice gruff, I asked, “What do you want?”

  “Are you okay?”

  My gaze snapped to her. “What do you care?”

  She backed away from me toward the wall, but her voice was steady, “I do care about you.”

  “You’ve got plenty of mates—” My mouth twisted wryly. “To sate you.”

  “It’s not all about fucking.”

  I grabbed her, shoving her up against the wall, and mashing my lips against hers. She squirmed under me, and my body hardened against her. Lifting my head, I met her gaze. “Yes, Hailey, it is.”

  “Fuck off, Brenton.”

  Releasing her, I backed away. “Oh, believe me, I’m trying to.”

  23

  Hailey

  “Asshole Brenton,” I muttered to myself, but it didn’t have the sting it should have. He was in pain. I could see it in his eyes. Was it really my fault? I had fucked him and bound him when I knew I was bound to others. I guess that really wasn’t fair.

  But how I was I supposed to know that every guy I had sex with was going to end up mated to me? I mean, was there a limit? Or was I going to end up mated to the whole school? Shit. I didn’t want to be bound to anyone. I was only putting them in danger, whether they chose to be or not. I was a spirit shifter. I was either going to get killed, or I was going to murder everyone else. My throat dried. Neither was a good option.

  That’s why I’d been in the hall in the first place. The apparitions hadn’t gone away. I bit my lip seeing the ghostly figure laid over Professor Ward this morning in Tutoring Assistance. I didn’t think I’d done anything. I hadn’t choked him or attacked him that I remembered.

  Instead, I’d run from my own fear as well as the expression on the professor’s face after the ghostly image had faded. He’d looked at me like I was a stranger, not the girl he’d taught for over half a year. Professor Ward had been so kind to me. I must really be getting bad to see such hatred in his eyes. I rubbed my chin.