“I am not a swot. Most of the time. And I am the smart one. You have druid powers.”
“Yeah, but invisibility isn’t one of them.”
“Yeah, but,” she mimicked me, with a wicked grin, “glamouring is. With a bit of magic, they’ll never even know it’s you.”
“Aye, that’s a grand idea.”
I shot my traitorous boyfriend a glare.
“Sure, it’s a great idea – except I’m shit at glamouring.”
“Well, okay,” Mei said. “In that case, let’s sit around here all night trying to come up with a better plan.”
“At least that won’t land her in the dungeons again.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Dean.”
He shrugged. Then again, going by my track record, that wasn’t entirely unfair. I’d spent way too much time behind bars already this year. And if I botched Mei’s plan, I’d be adding another night to that, at the very least.
On the other hand, fortune favoured the bold, right? No-one ever won anything by sitting on their backsides worrying about what might happen.
“Alright. I’m going to do it. If I’m not back in an hour, assume I’m in the dungeon and bring me a snack.”
“That’s not funny.”
“I wasn’t joking.”
I grabbed hold of the door handle and yanked it. And then yanked it again. It didn’t budge. I frowned and gave it a rattle.
“Uh…” I glanced over my shoulder at the others. Cam sighed in mock disappointment and ambled over to give the handle a yank. And another one, this one hard enough to make his biceps bulge – not that I was looking. Much. The door still didn’t budge. I gave him a look that wasn’t entirely charitable, then the amusement dropped from my face.
“I think we’re locked in.”
“What?”
“Why?”
“Why do you think?” I said, aiming a frustrated kick at the door. “So we can’t go to the med wing and find out what’s going on. I can’t believe they would do this!”
Except I could. I should have seen it coming. Blake wasn’t exactly famed for his open-minded approach to running things around here. But a locked door shouldn’t have been able to hold me. Or any of us. Last I checked, these doors weren’t silver-enhanced, or anything else that would neutralise our shifter strength. I jiggled the door again.
“Aye, that ought to do it,” Cam drawled, making back for the bed.
“Smug bastard.”
“Smug, bloody handsome bastard, if ye don’t mind, lass.”
Normally, I wouldn’t mind at all. Nor would I mind being trapped in a room with him – on any night other than this one.
I paused and sniffed at the wooden frame.
“Do you smell that?”
“Smell what?” Mei wandered over and took a whiff of the woodwork. Her lip curled in distaste.
“Magic.”
I nodded. Blake hadn’t just locked the door, he’d spelled us inside. Well, two could play at that game.
“Jade, what are you doing?”
“What does it look like?” I said, staring at a spot in front of the wall. “I’m conjuring a portal.”
“Portals don’t work inside the academy, remember?”
“Uh, right. Just checking you were paying attention. Do you think Blake spelled the window?”
“Given that you got caught climbing out of one in our first year,” Dean said, still sprawled across his bed, “I’m going to say yes.”
Crap. He was right. Still, no harm in checking, right?
…And no point, I was forced to concede, about a minute later. The windows were all spelled shut, and I couldn’t smash them, either.
“Look on the bright side,” Mei said.
“And what’s that?”
“This is much more comfortable than the dungeon.”
I perched on the edge of my bed and dropped my head into my hands.
“Yeah, but who’s going to bring me snacks?”
Chapter Nineteen
“Are either of you actually going to tell me what happened last night?”
I spun my fireball in one hand, quietly impressed with myself when it didn’t set anything on fire.
“Ah,” Underwood said, glancing over at Shaun. “Now she wants to talk about last night.”
“After dropping that particular bombshell,” Shaun said.
“I’m glad you two are bonding over taking the piss out of me.” A wisp of smoke spiralled up from my sleeve and I cursed, crushing the fireball to nothing in my hand, and slapping at my sleeve until the flame went out. “I hope you’re pleased with yourselves – I’m running out of clothes.”
They shared an amused look and I scowled at them both. Sure, it was an improvement on Underwood skulking in the dungeon, and Shaun calling him ‘the halfbreed’, but did it have to be my expense? And why the hell was no-one answering my question?
“Why the hell is no-one answering my question?”
“I… don’t know how much we’re allowed to tell you.”
“That’s bullshit!”
“Language, Jade,” Shaun said, not sounding particularly perturbed by my outburst – and why would he? He was used to it by now. And besides, we all knew it was bullshit. I was just the only one saying it out loud.
…And it was getting me nowhere. As usual. I rolled my eyes and sucked in a breath.
“Please, Instructor Miller, I respectfully disagree with the need to withhold pertinent information from me if I am to assist in the capture of the parties responsible.”
Shaun struggled to contain a grin, and Underwood ducked his head, scratching his eyebrow.
“Seriously,” I said, perching on the edge of Shaun’s desk – both the guys were standing, presumably because they didn’t trust each other that much yet. “You know I’m going to find out sooner or later. You might as well just save yourselves the headache and tell me now.”
Underwood shared a look with Shaun, who gave a small shrug. I turned a quizzical eye on the hybrid, but it was the instructor who spoke.
“I’m sorry, Jade,” he said. “They turned.”
“All of them?”
He nodded, and I cursed. I’d been hoping that at least some of them might have been spared – but no. Brad had ruined the life of every single person in that medical wing. I clenched my jaw.
“I’m going to catch him,” I said. “And I’m going to make him pay.”
“I think you have other priorities,” Underwood said.
“Really? More important than stopping that psycho?”
“Did you mean what you said?” Shaun asked, and I whipped my head round to face him. I was getting dizzy. “About the cure.”
I dipped my chin in a nod.
“Yes. I’m not taking it. I’ve got too much to lose. I thought you at least would be happy.”
“I am, don’t mistake me. But Professor Underwood is right. Your decision has consequences.”
My brow furrowed, but before I could say anything, Underwood spoke. I twisted my head round, biting back a growl of annoyance. This tag team thing was starting to piss me off.
“And one of those consequences is your magic competency test.”
“Shit.”
“And another,” Shaun said, “is that you’re going to have to sit your final exams in three weeks.”
“Bugger.”
I really hadn’t spent as much time studying and training as I might have – I guess some part of me had been convinced I was going to take the cure and leave all this behind. But I should have known I couldn’t walk away from who I was. What I was. And if I didn’t pull my finger out, I wasn’t going to be walking away from anything, least of all my time at the academy. Unless the druids decided to forcibly enrol me at their academy first. Now, every girl hopes someday two guys are going to be fighting over her – but call me weird, none of my fantasies involved those guys being the aged headmaster of a druid school, and the grizzled alpha of the shifter academy. Nor did they
involve them fighting over which one of them was going to torture me with yet another year of academic study.
“Okay, so you might have a point. But isn’t there some way those tests and exams can be delayed? I mean, this is a bit more important.”
“No.”
“Absolutely not.”
Absolutely screwed. Me, I mean. I slouched on the desk. I had three weeks to catch up with the work I’d been avoiding all semester. It was officially a disaster.
And then I felt like the biggest jerk in the history of jerkdom. On the floor above me, over two dozen people were trying to come to terms with their whole lives being ruined – and I knew what that felt like – and here I was feeling sorry for myself because I hadn’t put enough effort into my studies.
“Okay, fine. I’ll spend more time studying.” I turned from Shaun to Underwood. “In magic, too. Every day, for the next three weeks. But if I’m going to make a life in the mundane world, studying law or whatever else they’ll accept me for, I need to know that I’ve done everything I can to put my mistakes to bed. I can’t walk away while Brad and Laura are still out there.”
“Alpha Draeven might be more inclined to let you help if you don’t let on you’re not planning to accept his job offer,” Shaun said, a smile playing across his lips. I gasped in mock horror.
“Are you proposing I’m dishonest to our Alpha of Alphas?”
“No, I’m proposing you don’t bother our Alpha of Alphas with anything as trivial as career choices that aren’t set in stone.”
I grinned. “That’s a very fine line you’re not crossing.”
“Yes, it is. Something you know rather a lot about.”
My grin turned to a frown. How did it always manage to get turned back on me? I mean, I wasn’t that bad of a student. Was I? I decided it was best not to dwell.
“But, even thinking I was considering his job offer, he didn’t want you to tell me that the mundanes had turned? He still ordered I was locked in my room last night?” Like some naughty kid. It still left a bad taste in my mouth.
“No. Those were Alpha Blake’s orders. And you weren’t the only one locked in last night. All the students were confined to their rooms. He didn’t want to risk anyone getting too close to an already volatile situation. It might surprise you to learn that not every decision made in these walls is about you.”
“Oh.” I felt my cheeks redden, and kicked my heels against the desk behind them.
“As for not wanting you informed about the mundanes, he feels you’ve been involved enough – and involving you further puts you in greater danger. An assessment I agree with, by the way.”
I opened my mouth to object, but Shaun carried on.
“Nonetheless, you’re not a child, and it’s not my opinion that counts. If you’re serious about this – and I can see that you are – I won’t stand in your way.”
“As long as I keep up with my studies.”
“As long as you keep up with your studies,” Shaun agreed. “Because even you can stick to a study plan for three weeks.”
“Hey! I was a model student before I came here.”
“Before being the operative word, apparently,” Underwood said. I glared at him. I didn’t like it when they ganged up on me, and anyway, had he seen the fireball trick I did earlier? It was really good, until I burned my sleeve. He ought to cut me some slack. How hard could the magical competency assessment really be, anyway?
That was another thing I didn’t want to dwell on, so I hopped down from the desk.
“Good talk. I’ll see you both later.”
“Where are you going?”
“The med wing.”
Shaun was in front of the door before I could blink, which didn’t matter anyway, because I could smell the magic Underwood was using to hold it closed. Again with the ganging up on me. I cocked an eyebrow and fixed Shaun with my most unimpressed look.
“Really? You just said you wouldn’t stand in my way, and here you are – literally standing in my way.”
“You can’t go bursting into the med wing. It’s… volatile in there right now. Alpha Blake will never allow you inside.”
“So?” I put a hand on my hip and kept glaring. “Convince him.”
His eyes hardened and I could sense the lecture about my lack of respect coming on. I pre-empted. He knew I didn’t mean it, anyway. I dropped my arm, just to be sure.
“Come on, Shaun. They might know something. I have to talk to them.”
“Alpha Draeven’s enforcers have been with them all morning,” Underwood said from behind us.
I cocked an eyebrow. “Learn much, did they?”
“That attitude does not become you.”
“I’ll take that as a no. The enforcers don’t have a whole lot in the way of tact. I learned that first-hand nearly three years ago.” A shudder ran through me as I recalled my less-than-sympathetic induction into shifter life. I quelled it and turned back to Shaun. “You know I have a better chance of getting them to open up than any of Draeven’s enforcers.”
Shaun searched my face, then inclined his head and stepped aside.
“But,” he said, as I reached for the door handle, “I’m coming with you.”
“Cool. Less chance of winding up in the dungeon.”
“Precisely my point. You have studying to do tonight.”
Underwood let the spell sealing the door drop with an ease that highlighted exactly how far behind I was with my magic studies, and Shaun accompanied me to the med wing.
There were two enforcers posted at the door. I recognised the burly, irritatingly good-looking guy on the right, but I pushed the tension from my shoulders before it set. The cocky grin on his face told me I hadn’t been fast enough.
“Jade. Long time, no see.”
“Guarding a med wing? Is that a promotion or a demotion from guarding helpless prisoners in dungeons?”
Caleb shrugged. “A prison is a prison. And all of them are an upgrade from rescuing your sorry behind. Still waiting for that thank you, by the way.”
“Keep waiting. Rescuing is a stretch, don’t you think?”
I glanced around the corridor meaningfully.
“Well, if you’d rather have been puppy chow…”
“Nice try.” I cocked a hip. “It was Leo who chased her off. You just scraped up the remains and claimed the credit.”
Shaun coughed beside me, and I barely resisted rolling my eyes. I could practically hear him telling me we didn’t have time to waste – but really, if a girl couldn’t spend a bit of time baiting the resident blockhead, what was the point in life?
“We’re here to see the Bittens,” Shaun said to Caleb.
“Alpha Draeven hasn’t sent word that anyone is to be admitted.”
Shaun straightened and met the enforcer’s eye.
“I am an instructor of this academy, and you will not deny me access.”
“With respect,” Caleb said, his tone just the wrong side of respectful, “this wing has been commandeered by the alpha pack. No-one is to enter without Alpha Draeven’s explicit permission.”
“So call him,” I said, tossing in a shrug of my own. Two could play the nonchalance game. “He’s already agreed that I’ll be involved in the investigation, but if you want to waste his time, go ahead. I’m sure he’ll be really understanding.”
A shadow of uncertainty passed over his face, and the other enforcer leaned in to speak quietly into his ear. If a mundane had been whispering, I’d have been able to pick up the words with my heightened senses. Unfortunately, Caleb also had heightened senses, which meant his comrade lowered his voice to barely a breath, and I couldn’t hear a sound. But whatever he said made the shadow on Caleb’s face darken, and then he dipped his chin and stepped aside.
“Thank you, Enforcer Morgan,” I said, my voice saccharine sweet. I shot him a smile to match as I slipped through the door, and ignored the reproachful look Shaun gave me. Like I said, a girl’s got to be allowed to have some fun.
The levity fell away from me the moment I stepped through the door. I took in the two dozen people here, some pacing, some curled up on beds surrounded by an air of defeat. All of them wore cuffs on each wrist. Acidic guilt churned in my gut. This wasn’t some game, and I wasn’t here to score points.
I approached the first bed. A woman was sitting on it, her back pressed to the headboard, and her eyes smeared with red. She was maybe in her mid-twenties, and a gold band sat on the fourth finger of her left hand. A wedding ring.
I swallowed and glanced back over my shoulder at Shaun, still standing by the door. He nodded his encouragement.
The woman looked up at me, and I gave her a smile that felt entirely false. What the hell was I even doing here, surrounded by people whose lives had been ruined because of my bad judgement?
Making amends.
I forced myself to meet her eye.
“Hi. My name’s Jade. Can we talk?”
Chapter Twenty
By the time I left, the only thing I knew was that it was going to take more than words to make amends for my crimes. Most of the newly turned mundanes agreed to speak to me, but none of them could tell me anything I didn’t already know. Brad and Laura had led the attack, but four other shifters – none of them wearing cuffs – had been the ones who did the actual biting. Brad was blooding his new troops. These people had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
My sleep that night was hard won and short-lived. Mostly, I passed the time staring into the darkness, contemplating what a monumental fuck up I’d made of everything since I came here. Every one of my bad decisions had led those people to be at the mercy of a sadistic killer and his pack of psychos, right down to agreeing to meet Ryan, ensuring that the enforcers would be well away from the town when the attack went down. If I thought for one moment Ryan had known what Brad had planned, I’d hunt him down myself.
Ryan.
My eyes blinked open in the darkness. Ryan hadn’t known, but he had to know by now. There was no way word of the attack hadn’t spread round the entire shifter community – and there was no way he approved of what Brad had done. I groped for my phone and across the room, Cam stirred in his sleep, mumbled something incoherent, and rolled over onto his side. No way would he be a fan of what I was thinking. Not when I’d just earned Draeven’s trust. I chewed my lip, and glanced over at him again, but his chest was once more rising and falling in a steady rhythm.
Feral Bitten (Fur 'n' Fang Academy Book 3): A Shifter Academy Novel Page 13