Fated Magic
Academy of the Elites Book Three
Alexis Calder
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters and events in this book are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2019 by Alexis Calder
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Cover Artwork by Melody Simmons
Contents
Preface
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Thanks For Reading!
About the Author
Preface
Raven
That’s when I heard it.
A roar that made my hair stand on edge.
I wasn’t alone.
I was in the dark with a monster.
How had the others vanished so quickly? Where did Professor Halifax go? My pulse raced and I could feel tension spreading through my body. None of this made sense. Then again, I was in a school with magic. What did I expect?
The practice trials had dragons. Honest to god, fire breathing, trying to kill me dragons.
What the fuck kind of creature could be worse?
1
Raven: Three Months Earlier
Ben grabbed my hand and pulled me down onto the couch next to him. I snuggled in, enjoying the fact that we didn’t have to hide our relationship anymore.
The common room was crowded tonight. Classes started back up tomorrow and everyone who had left campus to go visit family was back at school.
A few of the shifters raised their eyebrows at the sight of me and Ben snuggled up together but nobody questioned it. Most of them had figured it out long before we started showing affection in public.
“It was nice to go visit my family but I sure missed hanging out without any expectations,” Makayla said. She was stretched out across an entire couch and looked like she’d melted into the furniture.
“It was quiet here with you gone,” Ben said.
“Aren’t you sweet?” Makayla said with a grin.
“It was too quiet,” I said.
“See, I know who appreciates me,” she said.
“Schedules came out,” someone called. We all turned to look toward the stairs. Jamal waved a pile of papers in his hand. “Who wants one and what are you going to give me for it?”
Starla jumped up from her seat nearby. “I’ll take that challenge.” She growled and then charged Jamal.
He let out a surprised sound as she knocked him to the ground. The papers went flying.
Makayla got up faster than I thought possible and grabbed them off the ground.
“No fair, I wasn’t ready,” Jamal said.
“Want to try again?” Starla asked. “In my room?”
“Yes, I do,” he said.
Starla headed down the hall at a run and Jamal followed her. I heard the door slam behind them and knew they’d be there the rest of the night. Things seemed to be returning to normal. Nobody was worried about the thief or about the practice trials. And right now, the formal trials seemed so far away. Life was good.
Makayla stopped in front of me and held out a piece of paper. “Raven.”
I sat up and took the paper from her.
“Ben,” she said, holding up another sheet.
Ben lowered the arm that had been over my shoulders and reached for his schedule.
Makayla walked away, passing out the rest of the schedules. I looked down at mine and frowned. Gym first period. Yuck. Then Magical Theory, followed by Spellcasting. My brow furrowed when I read the next class. Independent Study with Professor Halifax. What did that mean?
Hadn’t I spent enough time with her? I wondered if this was her way of making me continue working on controlling my time magic.
I looked over my remaining classes and noted that I’d been added to History of Magic instead of Training Your Familiar. I had been rubbish with the animals in that class anyway. Guess it was obvious to my professor.
“What do you have?” Ben asked, passing his schedule to me. We exchanged schedules and I quickly read through his.
“We have nothing together this semester,” I said. “But it looks like you got out of Magical Theory.”
“I hated that class but it was nice to see you during the day,” he said.
“Don’t worry,” I said, snuggling back against his chest, “you’ll get to see lots of me at night.”
He grabbed our schedules and set them on the table in front of us. Then he pulled me into him and pressed his lips to mine.
Warmth spread through me and I clenched my thighs together against the wetness that came so easily from being with Ben. He had a way of getting me from zero to sixty in seconds.
“Get a room,” Makayla said. “Some of us are still pissed that our Yule Ball dates didn’t pan out.”
I broke away from the kiss, feeling bad for Makayla. “Sorry.”
“If you want, I’m available,” Remi said as he walked into the common room.
I bit down on my lip to keep from laughing. Remi was trying to make nice lately but the thought of him and Makayla together was amusing.
“I think you can do better, Makayla,” Ben said.
“She probably can.” Remi shrugged. “But the offer stands.”
“Thanks, Remi, I’ll keep that in mind,” she said.
“You know where to find me if you want some action.” He winked then headed down the hall toward his room.
I held my breath waiting until I heard the sound of his door closing. Then I burst out laughing.
Makayla threw a pillow at my face and I laughed even harder.
“Hey, just because you’re the luckiest girl alive and have two mates doesn’t mean you can make fun of the rest of us.”
I wiped a tear off my cheek. “You’re right, I’m sorry. And Remi’s not so bad, I mean if you’re feeling tense.”
“Yeah, my parents would love that. Hey mom and dad, I hooked up with a bear shifter. Surprise!” She frowned.
“Do you think they’d care?” I asked.
She sighed. “Probably. We’re a wolf family.”
“My family was like that for the longest time,” Ben said. “Then my cousin married a lion shifter. Everyone thought it would be this huge scandal and kept waiting for someone to say or do something at the wedding. The wedding came and went. Nobody said anything. Either nobody cared or t
hey all kept their mouths shut.”
Are you trying to talk me into fucking a bear shifter?” Makayla asked.
“I’m just saying, we all have our kinks,” Ben said.
“He’s an asshole but sometimes assholes are the best in the sack,” I added, playfully elbowing Ben.
Makayla rolled her eyes. “I never thought I’d see the day when my two best friends try to talk me into getting it on with a guy who was our mortal enemy until a few weeks ago.”
“Hey, he was never our mortal enemy. We just think he’s an asshat,” Ben said.
“I’m going back to my room, alone, before the two of you get it on or before you talk me into doing something stupid,” she said.
“Goodnight,” Ben called. “Say hi to Remi for us.”
Makayla walked down the hall, flipping the bird on her way.
I laughed again but felt a little bad. “Were we too hard on her?”
“Nah,” Ben said. “They’ve been secretly fucking for about a week now.”
“What?” I turned so I was facing him. “Are you serious?”
“Yep. Figured if we were cool about it, maybe she’d come clean to us,” he said.
“Wow. You think you know a girl.” I shook my head. “Hey, now I’m pissed. She should tell me these kinds of things. That’s what friends do.”
“We didn’t tell her,” he said.
“So this is revenge?” I asked. “That seems kind of petty.”
“I think it’s more likely that she’s having fun with him but isn’t sure she actually likes him.”
“Huh.” Part of me wanted to sneak past her room to listen. I still wasn’t sure I believed it. But I was more interested in going to my room with Ben. “Well, if everyone else is in their rooms getting it on, shouldn’t we give it a shot?”
He stood and then scooped me up into a bridal hold. I squealed as I threw my arms around his neck. Without any words, he ran toward his room, stopping short of the door.
The last few nights had been spent in either my room or his, but I was already ready for more.
2
Raven
Parents day. I hadn’t realized just how hard this was going to be on me until the day arrived. Today, most of my classmates would be showing their family around campus and sitting down to a meal with them.
I had agreed to meet with the twins’ mom before the Yule ball and Luka invited me to dinner with his mom. So in addition to feeling sorry for myself and my lack of parents, I was scared to death about meeting with Ms. Obscura after her son took the fall for me. Luka’s mom didn’t make me feel any better, either. She was a literal princess of hell.
I thought having a magic thief after me was the worst thing that could happen but I had to admit, I was even more nervous about meeting my mates’ parents.
I paused in front of the door to the twins’ suite. We hadn’t had a chance to talk after everything happened since they went home for the holidays. But I knew they got back late last night.
The door opened while my fist was poised to knock.
“I thought I could feel you out there,” Matt said, grinning.
“You could feel me?” I lifted a surprised eyebrow.
“Magic bond, you should start paying more attention to your senses. Especially since you’ve got those mates of yours.” He frowned for a moment but his lips returned to a smirk quickly. “What brings you to our humble abode?”
I laughed. “Nothing humble about your abode.”
“True,” he said, stepping back so I could enter the room.
I walked in and he closed the door behind me. “I never got a chance to thank you. Or tell you how incredibly stupid you were for doing that.”
“Way to get right to insulting the guy who saved your life,” he said.
I glanced around and was surprised Zach hadn’t joined us. “Where’s your brother?”
“Picking our darling mother up from the airport. Want to sit?” He walked toward the couch.
I followed him and took a seat, leaving a cushion between the two of us. Even with the space, I could feel my body reacting to him. My temperature rose with every breath. It was dangerous to be in here alone with him.
“You know you didn’t need to do that,” I said.
“I know, but my family can throw money at lawyers. You can’t,” he said.
My shoulders dipped and I felt small. It wasn’t like I did any of it on purpose. Okay, maybe that wasn’t true. I was fully aware that I was stopping time when Makayla was threatened. And I knew I’d do it again if I was in the same situation. It was the only way I could save her.
“Listen, friends help each other,” he said.
“Friends shouldn’t have to take the fall,” I said.
“Hey, all I got was weekly meetings with a creepy parole officer so it’s not all bad,” he said with a grin.
“He is creepy isn’t he?” I asked.
“What is with those teeth?” he asked. “I swear I worry he’ll bite my toes off.”
I laughed. “I know! And he’s always so red and sweaty. Like he runs a few miles before he comes to the meetings.”
“Right? Even Dr. Green is grossed out by him,” Matt said.
“I’m guessing it takes a lot to get to Dr. Green,” I said.
“That’s true. Did you know he used to be the head of the Supernatural Defense Department?” Matt asked.
My eyes widened. I’d heard some hints that he’d had a previous job of importance but I didn’t see that coming. “What happened that got him sent here?”
“It was a huge scandal,” Matt said. “He was caught tampering with evidence they said.”
My brow furrowed. I didn’t like the sound of that. Especially considering we’d just done something similar. “Like what we did?”
He shrugged. “We told a white lie. Not the same.”
“Do you think he did it?” I asked.
“The evidence thing?” he asked.
I nodded.
“I know he did,” he said. “My parents were involved somehow but I never got the details. I was really young when it all went down. All I know is that whatever went down, it was messy and dragged a bunch of the big families into the mess. When it was over, he was out of a job and sent here.”
“Huh.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. So far, Dr. Green had been a surprising ally. “Well, I guess I should be grateful that he’s here. If someone like Officer M had been in charge, I’d be screwed.”
“That’s true,” Matt said.
“Which brings us back to this whole thing,” I said. “I owe you. Big time. Even though I don’t want to owe you.”
“Hey, we’re even,” he said. “You don’t owe me anything.”
“Yes, I do. I’d be in prison right now if not for you.”
He frowned. “I’m serious, Raven. I didn’t even think twice about it. I couldn’t bear to have them take you away from me. It was completely self-serving.”
My brow furrowed as I studied his expression. He was sincere. “It’s the magic bond. We created it with the meld. You and Zach have done so much to help me. It’s not fair that you feel so connected to me because I couldn’t figure out my magic.”
“Is that what you think?” he asked. “That we don’t want to have you around?”
“Well, it’s not real, right? It was the magic that bonded us,” I said. Not the way I bonded with Ben or Luka. It wasn’t the same, was it?
“Oh, Raven.” Matt scooted to the cushion in between us. “Why don’t you see how amazing you are?”
“I know I’m amazing,” I said. “I have zero issues with my self-confidence. It’s the whole making other people feel beholden to me when it was manufactured by magic.”
“You do realize we wouldn’t be able to feel this way if there wasn’t something between us to begin with, don’t you?”
“Well, I know you’ve been trying to get into my pants since we met if that’s what you’re taking about,” I said.
&nb
sp; “That’s exactly what I’m talking about,” he leaned a little closer.
I held my breath, my body responding to his, wetness already between my thighs. I couldn’t do this, could I?
“I’m not saying you’re not attractive,” I said.
“Then what are you waiting for?” He leaned even closer until his lips were right over mine. I could feel his warm breath on my face.
I could get up and walk away. I didn’t have to do this. I could stop everything right now.
But I didn’t want to.
Fuck it.
I leaned toward him, pressing my lips to his. His kiss was electric, sizzling into my lips and all the way down to my core.
His tongue slid into my mouth and he grabbed the back of my head, pulling me deeper into the kiss.
My body responded, my hips already rocking toward him. It was as if I’d lost control of myself. All I wanted was to get him naked.
I reached for his shirt, working the buttons one at a time while his lips continued their assault on mine. It was delicious and my whole body felt like it was on fire.
His shirt was finally open and I rubbed my hands across his bare chest. He was solid muscle and taught abs. I moved up to the curves of his shoulders and down his arms, sliding the shirt off him as I went. His biceps were flexed and I moaned into his mouth. Every firm inch of him had my panties soaked.
Academy of the Elites: Fated Magic Page 1