“Hey, you know she’s just lashing out, right?” I said, softening my voice. “She didn’t mean any of that stuff she said to you.”
“Yeah, she did. And she’s right.”
Dean strode down the hall ahead of us, and I shared a glance with the other three before hurrying after him.
Welcome back to Fur ‘n’ Fang.
*
The following morning, I woke to the predawn light streaming in through our window. I rolled over with a yawn and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was just after six, which meant it was time to haul my backside out of bed and embrace the joyously early start life at the academy involved. I bloody hated mornings.
I stumbled out of bed and staggered towards the bathroom, pausing to launch a shoe at Cam on the way. He awoke with a startled snort.
“Time to get up, sleeping beauty,” I said, because I didn’t see why I should have to suffer alone. “We’ve got meditation in under an hour.”
“Meditation is nae compulsory fer third years,” he mumbled, pulling his duvet over his head. I launched the partner of the first shoe at him, and he grunted.
“Some of us are infected with incurable rage spells, remember? Blake says I have to. And you’re supposed to be being supportive.”
I reached over and yanked the duvet from him and pecked him on the cheek.
“Thank you for that, by the way.”
He wrapped an arm around me and pulled me down on top of him. I squealed with surprise, and then cuddled up against him. Five more minutes wouldn’t hurt.
“Oh, my God,” Mei said, staring at us through one open eye. “Bad enough you have to make all that noise, but do you have to do that while I’m here?”
She gestured a hand to our prone position, and I grinned.
“Mind out of the gutter, Mei-Ling,” I said cheerfully. Being awake was much more fun when everyone was more tired and grumpy than me.
“No-one calls me that,” she said, wrapping her duvet around her and rolling over to face the wall.
I prised myself from Cam and made for the bathroom, and when I emerged again, he was already dressed. He ducked into the bathroom and I pulled on my Fur ‘n’ Fang uniform – black cargo trousers, white t-shirt with the Fur ‘n’ Fang logo embroidered on it, and a grey hoodie with the same logo that I grabbed just in case it was cold out. I was tugging on my trainers when Cam came out, looking considerably more human than when he’d gone in.
He glanced at the two figures cocooned in their beds.
“Guess we’re on our own, then, lass?” he said. Mei waved us off with a lazy hand, and I grinned.
“Guess so. Let’s go learn to be nice people.”
Chapter Three
“Yer quiet this morning.”
“Huh?” I glanced up from the mug of coffee I’d been staring into, still a little zoned out after meditation. “Oh, yeah. Just thinking.”
Cam didn’t press it – one of the many things I liked about him. The truth was, there were a whole lot of things I liked about him. I wasn’t a kid, I’d been in a few relationships before I got to Fur ‘n’ Fang, but none of them had ever made me feel the way I felt when I was around Cam. Things were getting serious between us, and that was a problem.
I wasn’t one to chuck around the ‘L’ word, but that was where we were headed. Maybe we were already there. I was pretty sure I was. But what we saw yesterday got me thinking. Six months ago, Tara was an alpha’s daughter. She had her whole life laid out in front of her, and she had friendships she’d spent a lifetime building. And then her rank and pack were stripped from her. She was a cur. Not one of her friends had stood by her – had dared to stand by her. Status was everything to shifters.
So where did that leave me? Not only was I a cur, I was a Bitten cur. Worse, I had all this druid magic pumping through my system. Alright, so Cam didn’t care about any of that. But his pack? They wanted better for him, they had to. Sure, they’d been nice enough to me on my visits, but I knew for certain that Cam’s mother hoped I was a passing phase he’d grow out of before he thought about settling down.
The truth was, I wasn’t good enough for Cam. And that sucked.
“Are you ready?”
“Huh?” Wow. My conversation skills were outstanding today. I blinked at Cam over the rim of my mug, and his lips arranged themselves into a goofy smile. My heart spasmed.
“Advanced shifting starts soon. Are yer done with yer coffee?”
The canteen had almost emptied while I’d been musing. Me and Cam were among only a handful of students left here, and the rest were all picking up their trays and leaving. I got up. There’d be plenty of time to bemoan how monumentally screwed up my life was after I’d finished transforming into an overgrown house pet. For three damned hours.
We reached the shifting labs with a few minutes to spare. Most of the instructors didn’t care too much about students skipping out on a few lessons here and there, so long as the work got done – it looked bad on Blake if too many of us got held back for failing, apparently – but shifting was the one class it didn’t pay to miss. We were only allowed to shift with instructor supervision, in case we accidentally mauled anyone. Totally unfair – the only mauling I’d ever done had been on purpose. But whatever. Rules were rules, and Fur ‘n’ Fang tended to be a bit anal about them.
Jared, our shifting instructor, wasted no time getting started.
“Right everyone, you’ve had it easy up until now, but that is the last time there will be any taking it easy in this lecture room.”
A collective groan rose up from the gathered students. Last year hadn’t seemed all that easy to me, and judging by the faces around me, I wasn’t alone in dreading what Jared might have in store for us.
“Pair up with your shifting partners, please.”
There was a bustle of movement while everyone found the partners they’d been working with for the last two years. At the time, it had struck me as strange that the person I’d paired with in a snap decision on my first day would follow me through the rest of the time here at the academy, but I’d come to see that it made sense. It meant that shifter partners knew each other’s shift patterns and struggles better than anyone else in the entire academy – instructors included. If something was off, shifting partners could spot it faster than anyone else. They could see if a new technique was working, or if it was slowing the shift. It made for a close working relationship between two people, which as far as I was concerned was a great thing. Helped by the fact that my partner was Mei.
After a moment, everyone had found their partner, and the movement slowed. Except in one corner of the room. I craned my neck, trying to see what the disturbance was.
“I absolutely refuse to work with him this year!”
Madison was glaring at Jared, while Dean stood awkwardly near her, looking like he wished the ground would open up and swallow him. Madison had attached herself to him like a leech in our first year. It hadn’t taken her long to turn her back on him.
“We do not change shifting partners in our final year because of differences of opinions,” Jared told her.
She scowled at Dean like it was his fault they were stuck with each other – which seemed a bit rich to me. As far as I was concerned, Dean was the one getting the raw end of that deal. Then Madison’s face turned sly, and she turned back to the instructor.
“My father will be looking to bond me to someone of equal status once I graduate. He will not be happy to learn that I’m being forced to be naked in front of a male who is not in contention for my hand.”
Normally, I’d have sympathy for any woman in that plight – even Madison. Hell, any guy in that plight, come to that. We had privacy curtains, but our partners still had to watch our shifts so they could spot any trends. It was one of the reasons we didn’t switch partners.
Madison didn’t care about that. She couldn’t wait to flaunt herself in front of Dean in our first year, and she’d been all over him until a few months ago. Still,
a person had the right to change their mind. No-one should be forced to expose themselves and made to feel uncomfortable. And I would fight to the death for that belief. Gladly. But that wasn’t what this was about. Madison didn’t care who saw her naked. She was using the vulnerable woman card as a way to belittle Dean, and that I could not stand for.
“Oh, come off it, Madison,” I said. “It takes you, what, ten seconds to shift? And you spend half of that covered in hair.”
There were a few chuckles from around the room, and Madison turned her glare on me. If looks could kill… but they couldn’t, and to be fair, I was pretty sure Madison couldn’t either. She’d spent her life hiding behind her alpha father, and sure, she’d had every advantage thrown at her, but that meant she didn’t have that inner strength that you could only get by hauling yourself out of the gutter, over and over. Me, I had plenty of that kind. I met her eye and held it.
“Very well,” Jared said, sounding exasperated as he interrupted our staring contest. “You can change to a female partner.”
I rolled my eyes. Little Miss Pack Princess gets her own way again. A self-satisfied smile settled on her lips, and I wanted to leap across the room and rip it off. I’d be lying if I said it was entirely down to the rage spell.
“Are there any volunteers to switch?”
I almost choked on my laughter. Shockingly, no-one rushed to take Jared up on that offer. Even her own friends avoided her eye. I wished I could say it was because they all knew what a bitch she was, but I knew the truth – and I could see Dean did, too. No-one wanted to partner with the newly made cur who’d almost been sentenced to death last year.
“I’ll do it,” I said, lifting my chin and meeting his eye.
“Uh, I don’t think so,” Madison said, casting a disdainful glance at Mei. “I won’t be partnered with someone of a different species.”
“Oh, I’d never do that to her,” I said. “Mei deserves better than being stuck with you all year. I meant I’ll partner with you.”
Madison glowered, and I could see the calculating look in her eyes even from across the room. No doubt she was trying to think of a reasonable excuse for not working with me. Hell, I was probably the only person in the room whose status was worse than Dean’s. Hard to get lower than a halfbreed Bitten cur.
“Excellent.” Jared clapped his hands together, and you’d have had to be blind to miss the relief on his face. Even then, you could smell it. “That’s settled, then. Let’s get started.”
“Good luck,” Mei murmured to me, and looking at Madison’s face, I couldn’t help but feel I was going to need more than luck. I crossed the floor, passing Dean on my way. He caught my shoulder and I paused.
“Thank you.”
“Hey, that’s what friends are for.” I gave him a wick smile. “Besides, I faced down a chimera last year. Madison is child’s play.”
“I dunno,” he said, the slightest trace of a smile playing over his lips. “I think I’d rather face the chimera.”
I chuckled and headed over to Madison. She scowled at me, and I smiled sweetly in return.
“Let’s do this, partner.”
“Bring it.”
Why, oh why did I just know I was going to regret this by the end of the year?
Chapter Four
“I see we have almost a full complement of your year group.”
I glanced around and saw that the instructor was right. Pretty much our entire year had gathered out by the woods, and no surprise – I mean, who wouldn’t want to learn how to portal? Underwood had started teaching me last year, but I hadn’t mastered it yet. I figured it couldn’t hurt to get a little extra practice in. Like Mei, I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life relying on people who might not be inclined to help me.
“I am Instructor Davis, you can call me Brendon. Some of you, of course, will know me from your first year shifting lessons. Others, I haven’t yet had the pleasure of meeting.”
Brendon was a tall man, heavily muscled rather than wiry, with an easy-going expression. He was one of half a dozen shifting instructors at the academy. He’d taught us in my first year, and he’d always been fair, and he’d gone above and beyond in helping me get control of my shifted half. If it wasn’t for him, I might still be running feral and trying to kill half the academy every time I shifted.
“I have the dubious pleasure of taking your portalling lessons, though I warn you: portalling is a complex skill, and there is no guarantee that everyone here will master it.”
A low murmuring started up at that and swiftly swept through the hundred or so students. Brendon held up his hands for silence.
“That does not mean that I will not do everything I can to get you all to the required standard. Most shifters possess the ability, if not the discipline, to master it. Portalling taps into the primal power buried deep inside all of us.”
“Some deeper than others,” I heard a voice murmur from behind me. I twisted round and found myself staring at Madison, with Tiffany and Victoria on her flanks.
“Scared the curs might show you up, Madison?” I said.
“Hardly. I just don’t think Brendon should be wasting his time with the likes of you when some of us have real talent… and class.”
“The only talent you have is for showing up when you’re not wanted.”
Brendon cleared his throat, and I snapped my eyes forwards again. He was casting a disapproving look in our direction.
“This will require your absolute focus, Jade, Madison. If you do not think you can give it, you are free to return to the academy.”
“Sorry, Brendon,” Madison said sweetly, sounding perfectly contrite. It was all I could do not to roll my eyes or puke on my own feet.
“Alright. Let’s carry on. Before we start, some ground rules. No-one will attempt a portal without my express permission – that applies both in and out of this lesson. Should anyone manage to conjure a portal, no-one will go through it. Portals are tricky, and stepping through an unstable one is likely to leave half of you behind.”
“We’ll heal though, right?” Dylan, a blond-haired Welsh guy, asked, looking unconcerned.
“Well, Dylan, that would depend on what part of you got left behind. For instance, if you put your head through, and it got severed from the rest of your body, not so much.”
Dylan paled, and the complacency dropped from his expression.
“Now, since there are quite a lot of you, we’ll split up into smaller groups – say, fifteen or twenty. If you’re not working, please don’t distract those who are. Portalling requires absolute concentration and focus, and Healer Fenwick doesn’t need a dozen of you showing up in his med wing on the first day of the semester. Now, let’s get started. First group of twenty, please.”
For all that it sounded exciting, it turned out that Brendon’s portalling lessons were even duller than Underwood’s – and I hadn’t thought that was possible. By the time the hour had passed – forty-five minutes of which I’d spent watching the other groups take their turn – none of us had conjured as much as a flicker.
“I’m certain I would have got it if we’d had a bit longer,” I heard Tiffany complain as we all traipsed back to the academy, exhausted and disappointed.
“Yes, well, we’d have had plenty of time if Brendon hadn’t insisted on wasting it on curs and lesser species.”
I spun on my heel.
“What the hell is your problem, huh, Madison?”
She sniffed, and stared at me down her nose, doubling my desire to break it.
“I don’t like you,” she said with a sneer. “And I don’t like your kind.”
“Really? Because for someone who doesn’t like us, you sure as hell seem to spend a lot of time following us around.”
Her eyes widened, and then she narrowed them again.
“Don’t flatter yourself, cur.”
“Oh, sticks and stones, Madison. Find yourself a new insult. One that doesn’t make you sound like you’re twelve.”<
br />
“Alright, then, Jade,” she said, stepping closer and locking eyes with me. I felt myself stiffen in response, and the handful of students around us fell quiet. “You’re a dirty little Bitten halfbreed, and the only reason Alpha Draeven didn’t kill you and your treacherous little Bitten friends is because he knew you’d never amount to anything more than a pathetic waste of oxygen, never mind a threat to him.”
I lashed out, driving my fist between her eyes before I even knew what I was doing. Her nose shattered with the satisfying crunch of bone splintering, and she staggered back, clutching her bloody nose. She stared at me, eyes wide with disbelief, then launched herself forward, swinging wildly.
I ducked her first punches easily and blocked the rest.
“Tut, tut. Fletcher taught you better than that. Come on, Madison, show all these people that you’re better than a lowly cur.”
There had been a time that Madison had been a much better fighter than me, but I’d taken combat classes seriously – not least because people kept showing up and trying to kill me. Madison was child’s play by comparison.
She flung herself at me again, aiming a punch at my face that might as well have come via China, it took so long to get there. While she was busy doing that, I ducked low and swept her legs from under her. She hit the ground with a solid thud, lifting her head just in time to avoid smashing it into the floor. Shame.
I drew my leg back and kicked her in the ribs. Something gave under my kick and I pulled my lips back in a feral grin. This had been a long time coming, and she was going to pay for every snide little dig she’d ever made.
I moved in to kick her again, and she lashed out with her legs, tripping me in an inelegant tangle of limbs. She scrambled on top of me as I hit the ground and sneered down at me like she thought she’d won. More fool her. As she drew back her arm, I lifted my head and slammed it into her bloodied face, then shoved her easily aside.
“That’s enough. Both of you!”
I twisted round. Brendon was glaring down at us both. I scrambled to my feet and heard Madison clambering to hers behind me. I’d definitely done her some damage. Good. Maybe she’d think about that before running her mouth again.
Feral Bitten (Fur 'n' Fang Academy Book 3): A Shifter Academy Novel Page 2