by May Dawson
He didn’t say it, but he probably didn’t want anyone to know that she claimed there were witches here at the academy. Not for Northsea’s sake, but because it would make the academy look bad, and that would make him look bad.
He was such a self-centered bastard.
“What do I tell Maddie?” Lex asked.
I got it then. Everyone knew Lex still loved Maddie. Anyone could see the tension between them. Lex made himself look weak in front of the dean to draw out the answers we needed. I couldn’t do that, or wouldn’t.
Something about seeing Lex humble himself in an attempt to protect Maddie tightened my chest. I mocked him for his obvious affection for her, no matter how he’d tried to hide it in the past, but there was something genuine and tender there.
“Tell her that her mother will be gone in the morning,” Dean McCauley said. “I’m calling her pack. They’ll take care of her.”
“Joan doesn’t have a pack anymore,” Lex warned. “She’s a loner.”
“Unnatural,” the dean muttered, because female wolves rarely left their packs. “Well, if Piper Northsea wants to protect her sister, she’ll send someone to retrieve her.”
It was funny to me that men like the dean resented Piper’s role leading the combined Atlantic packs, and yet when they needed her, they couldn’t deny what she was.
The dean gestured to his men to continue past us. Maddie’s mother Joan stared at me, her eyes narrow, as they dragged her away.
Something about the way her eyes fixed on Lex and me was eerie, and fear twisted in my gut before it turned into anger. I shifted my weight impatiently to one side, crossing my arms.
The dean wanted to get her out of here. But I wanted to know what was wrong with her. There was something unnatural here, something dangerous. One way or another, what happened today would rebound on Maddie.
Why would Joan crash through the boundaries of the academy, babbling about witches and betraying her own daughter?
What did she mean when she said she didn’t know what Maddie was?
Strange things happen around Madeline Northsea.
Maybe that should warn me away from her. But right now, all I wanted was to shield her from what would come next.
Lex and I had to talk to Joan. Maddie shouldn’t have to see her like this.
As they dragged Joan away toward the cells, she tilted back her head and screamed. There was so much of the wolf’s howl in her scream that the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
Dean McCauley looked from me to Lex. “The council came early this year. They’re beginning the recruiting process for the Council’s Own.”
Usually, they waited until the spring to come assess the first-years, once we’d had time to get them trained up. They would already have an idea who they wanted to recruit for the Council’s Own from this year’s senior Cadre.
The Council’s visit was an annual tradition. It reminded us of how much the shifter community needed us, the next generation of fighters. Academy life could feel frustrating and pointless, but we were preparing for war. That was worth brutal physical training in the rain and endless formations and all the suffering that forged discipline and teamwork.
Lex met his gaze, listening patiently. His face was calm and stoic.
There was no hint of how badly he wanted to be part of the Council’s Own.
But I knew, and my own heart sped at the thought. If Lex wasn’t selected for the Council’s Own, he’d either have to go back to his pack or leave the academy entirely and go out on his own. Lone wolves had no territory, no family, no peace.
Both those options sucked. I’d do anything to make sure my best friend ended up in the Council’s Own.
“I want to make sure things stay quiet,” the dean went on. “I don’t want to distract the Council.”
Jesus. He was putting it on us to make sure that Joan’s disturbance didn’t cause any trouble for him because otherwise, Lex and I might lose the spots we expected to be offered on the Council’s Own.
“Got it, sir.” Lex nodded.
“Do you?” The dean asked. “This is where decisions are made. This is where you prove yourselves. Your loyalty, your skill.”
I frowned. What the hell did he want from us? He wasn’t talking about the trials anymore.
Although the Council came to see for themselves, his recommendations would play a large part in who was selected.
“You know you can count on us,” Lex said.
The dean studied him. “I hope so.”
Then the dean turned his cold gaze to me. “I don’t believe for a second that witches infiltrated the academy. She’s crazy. But I don’t want to be surprised. You two—investigate. Use your discretion.”
Memories of Maddie’s gift of magic, more intense than it should be, rose in my mind again. But her damn pack used magic freely. Her gift could be born of practice and experience that few wolves have.
That no wolves should have.
“We’ll figure out what’s going on,” I promised.
“Good.” Dean McCauley ran a hand over his salt-and-pepper hair, smoothing it even though as usual, not a strand was out of place. “Leave the academy grounds if you must. But be discreet. No trouble.”
“We will be.” I had no doubt that if the Council somehow discovered we were missing, the dean would deny he had any knowledge we were leaving campus.
Dean McCauley studied us, a sudden glint coming into his eye. “The Council hopes your team will lose. But I expect you two, at least, to put on a good show.”
The Alpha Council wanted to see Maddie fail.
Maybe they’d look on Lex and me more favorably if we gave her every opportunity to falter. The dean’s words, as usual, were full of subtext. He didn’t say what he meant. He wanted us to pick up on what he intended… and later, he could deny it all if things went south.
No one pissed me off like Maddie Northsea, but she was one of us. She deserved to be treated like one of us. She had earned her place here.
Fuck him, and fuck them. My jaw tightened, but I nodded stiffly.
We were going to put on a good show, all right.
All of us.
Chapter Three
Lex
I looked across the dark yard toward the house. Maddie was there waiting for us. She must be miserable.
But right now, there was nothing to tell her.
The dean had made sure Maddie’s mother was left alone. I followed Rafe into the dimly lit academic building, and then we headed down into the cells.
Rafe glanced around the eerie building. “I told Maddie once I might make her serve out her restriction down here. It is a miserable place, isn’t it?”
“You fucking won’t,” I said.
I was ninety percent sure he was joking.
But Rafe was ten percent wild card.
“Put her in here with Penn or Jensen and it’s not like they’d even notice the place is haunted,” he muttered. There was an edge of jealousy in his voice that he probably didn’t even hear himself.
It would piss him off if he knew I recognized it. He was trying to pretend he hadn’t fallen for Maddie.
Let the man have his delusions. Everyone knew how he felt, except for him.
“What are you smiling about?” he demanded. “You can’t like it either.”
“Like what?”
“Our cadets playing house.”
I shrugged. “Don’t care.”
I wasn’t going to tell him what made me smile. Maddie had already brought her biggest bully to his knees. She would take Rafe down sooner or later. He’d been so damn smug about how he didn’t fall for cadets. I couldn’t wait to see it.
No one escapes fate. Not when you’re a wolf.
“Really?” Rafe stopped abruptly in the hallway, raising his eyebrows. “I thought you felt all growly and ‘mine’ where Northsea was concerned.”
He had the same amused look on his face he got whenever we discussed her, on the rare occasions he wasn
’t pissed at me about her. But there was something real in his eyes, something curious.
As if Rafe knew just what it was like to look at Maddie and want to growl ‘mine’.
That was the only reason I told him the truth. “Yeah, I do. But I want her to be happy. And Penn and Jensen—oddly enough—make her happy.”
Rafe snorted.
“My turn to ask what that meant,” I said.
“You’re a good guy, Lex,” Rafe said, not looking back at me, “in your own twisted way.”
Well, that was unexpected. “Thanks?”
Just as he reached the door to the cell, when it was too late for him to retaliate, I added, “You’re a good guy too, taking a bullet for Maddie. You must really love that girl.”
He gave me a hard look. “I’d do it for any cadet.”
Before I could answer, Maddie’s mother slammed into the bars, her eyes wild. She grabbed the bars. “Let me out. We’re all in danger. The witches are going to attack.”
“Take it easy,” Rafe said, his voice suddenly soothing. “We’re friends.”
It was a complete 180 from his tone fifteen seconds ago.
“We’ll protect you, don’t worry,” I promised. “Just tell us about the witches.”
She shook her head, rocking back and forth, hugging herself.
Rafe looked to me and mouthed, “What’s wrong with her?”
There was something really off.
“Enchantment, maybe,” I muttered under my breath. “Or some kind of…sickness?”
Rafe stilled at the thought, just for a beat, before he came back to life. For years, the shifter community had been terrorized by an illness brought on by poisoned drugs from the covens. He took a step back from the bars, but raised his hands soothingly.
“Where were you before you came to the academy?” he asked.
She stared at him. “Why are you asking me stupid questions?”
“Well, I see where Maddie gets some of her charm,” he muttered. To her, he said, “I’m just trying to help you.”
She leaned against the bars, her eyes narrowing. “I came to help you.”
“Right,” I said. “Like you’ve helped Maddie all along.”
Maddie didn’t like to dwell on the past, but she’d told me enough that I knew Joan had failed her as a mom in just about every way.
Joan stared at me, frowning. “Do I know you?”
I shook my head. I felt as if I knew her, although it was different seeing her.
Maybe I shouldn’t judge anyone for hurting Maddie. I’d done a fair share of damage myself.
But her mother was here, right now, and still hurting her. The dean’s words in the woods—is the witch your daughter?—had settled like dread in my gut.
I had a feeling that things were going to get bad around here.
“We need Dani,” Rafe said. “She might be able to reverse an enchantment.”
“Get her,” I said. It was the middle of the night, but Dani would always help if we needed her.
Rafe held up his cell. “No signal. I’ll be outside.”
As Rafe strode down the hallway, I leaned against the cold cement wall across from the bars. Maddie had said before that her mother was crazy like a fox. Her mother did wild, unpredictable things, but she was always certain that they’d lead to her getting her way.
“When’s the last time you saw Maddie?” I asked. I was curious how cognizant she would be.
“More stupid questions?” she asked. “I want to see my daughter now.”
“Then answer my questions.”
She scoffed. “You’re barely more than a boy. I’m supposed to answer to you?”
“Believe me, I’m better than the alternative.” I hoped Piper’s men were on their way to get her out of here, like the dean had said. I didn’t want Maddie’s mother to come face-to-face with the Alpha Council.
They had ways of getting information, and those ways were often cruel.
Maddie had every reason to walk away from the academy. She’d been bullied and mistreated. So far, she’d only become tougher and more determined under the abuse. But how much could one girl take? I didn’t want to give her one more reason to run.
Knowing the Council tortured her mother wouldn’t help.
I tried to think of what to say to reach her. “You said there are witches pretending to be shifters here at the academy. How do you know that?”
She glanced away from me. “You’ll think it’s stupid.”
“I’m pretty open to the possibilities right now.”
“In my dreams, I keep seeing the witches, working in the shadows,” she said. “They were working in my life, and they’re working at the academy.”
Great. I’d love some specifics. The shifter community as a whole was already always terrified of more attacks from the covens.
“Why did you say you don’t know what Maddie is? She’s your daughter.”
“Is she?” she asked.
Holy shit. “Lady. You were there, I assume.”
She shook her head. “There are gaps in my memory. There were stories in my mind that weren’t true, and they’re all falling out now, and I don’t remember…”
My blood ran cold. No wonder she was acting so unhinged. She had to be terrified.
“What are the stories that weren’t true?” I demanded. “What don’t you remember?”
Her eyes flooded with sudden tears. “I don’t remember her being born. I don’t remember anything from that first year.”
“It’s going to be all right,” I promised. “We’re going to figure out what’s going on. We’re going to help you.”
She stared back at me, frowning. “Why?”
“Because that’s how I can help Maddie.”
“Who are you to my d—” she had started to say daughter, but she stumbled.
“A friend.” I’d done a sad job of being Maddie’s friend sometimes in the past, but I was going to take care of her now.
Rafe came back down the hall, and Dani followed him. The pretty witch shivered as she pulled up the zipper of her hoodie, folding her arms over her chest; her long, dark hair fell in loose waves around her face and hung down to her waist.
Dani frowned as she studied Joan for a few seconds. Then she said decisively, “I need to touch her.”
“Not safe,” Rafe warned, moving to intercept her as she stepped toward the bars.
Dani flashed him a smile, which she then turned on me. “When I’m with the two of you, I feel one hundred percent safe. You don’t give yourselves enough credit.”
Rafe rolled his eyes, but Dani was already stretching her hand through the bars.
“Miss?” Dani said. “I’m here to figure out if someone used magic on you.”
Joan gave her a long, uncertain look, then seemed to make a sudden decision. She reached out and grabbed Dani’s hand.
As Dani’s lips moved with the words of her spell, her eyes drifted closed.
Then she opened her eyes wide, her lips parting.
“Someone definitely used magic on her,” she said, a note of alarm in her voice. “But it’s old magic. Years old. Fading now. Someone altered her memories, over and over.”
“Why’s she here now?” Rafe demanded. “She won’t tell us.”
“I’m not sure she can tell you,” Dani said. “Someone’s been messing with her head. I’m not sure she chose to come here.”
“Do you think someone could be setting Maddie up?” I demanded. “To get her to leave the academy?”
“I thought we were past that. She’s won over so many of the other students…” Rafe said.
“She hasn’t won over all the alphas and other assorted assholes out there,” I reminded him. “And she never will. Doesn’t matter what she does.”
Rafe’s lips tightened in anger. Then, his eyes brightened, as if he’d been struck with an idea. “Dani, everyone knows you’re a witch. Maybe she can say she got confused, that she meant to warn us that you were here.”<
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“We’ll have to set up a situation where she could meet me,” Dani pointed out. “I’m not sure I’m exactly welcome to meddle around here like this.”
“We appreciate you,” Rafe said, and she smiled faintly in response, a wry twist to her lips.
“Not enough,” she said, touching his arm. “But that’s all right.”
“Can you make her say that?” Rafe asked her.
Dani fixed him a stern look. “You can talk to her, Rafe. I’m not using magic to meddle with her brain. She’s been through enough.”
Rafe blew out a breath, then turned to Joan. She listened to him, but she still seemed frantic, and Rafe gave up after repeating himself twice. He ran his hand through his hair as if he was just as worried for Maddie as I was.
Dani flashed Joan a comforting smile, then squeezed her hand. As she closed her eyes, her lips moving again in a silent spell, Maddie’s mother seemed to relax.
Dani gently pulled her hand away. She indicated that we should go with her down the hall.
“Having your memories changed… it makes an impact,” Dani said. “I know Maddie and Piper had their memories altered when they were kids. They’re lucky they don’t seem to have permanent damage—”
Rafe snorted doubtfully.
“But most people, especially adults who have lost some mental flexibility, start to lose their minds if their memories are tampered with too often,” Dani said.
“Could the magic have impacted Joan’s behavior all along?” I demanded.
Would it bring Maddie peace if there was a reason behind why her mother had acted so erratically in the past?
“Possibly,” Dani said. “And certainly, now she seems to be…falling apart.”
We all turned to gaze at Joan. She sat down heavily, folding her legs around her, then rubbed her hand across her face.
“We have to get her out of here,” Dani said. “She’s sick. She doesn’t belong in a cell. This is barbaric.”
“Working on it,” Rafe promised. “Her old pack is coming to get her. Dean McCauley is trying to cover up the whole thing, but at least that works in Maddie’s favor.”
“Tell me they have a better plan than locking her up with the spiders and ghosts.” Dani frowned as she examined a spider on its web on the rafters. “I mean, I don’t mind the spiders, but witches are…different. You big, bad wolves might be scared of spiders and ghosts.”