by LM Wilson
Considering I was supposed to meet up with Chase about thirty minutes ago, I’m assuming it’s not him. Unless he…. My inner thought trails off as the third figure glances up at my window. I duck back behind the curtain. Grateful that I decided against turning my light on tonight. “Where are you going?” I whisper to the glass separating us.
Without giving it too much thought, I pull my jacket on over my uniform and slide my window up. Vertigo hits me for a moment before I get my bearings and peer down at the side of the building. There aren’t any other windows below me, only a small ledge where the floor below joins to this one. I consider my options. Try to sneak out through the hallways and possibly lose sight of Angel and whoever he is with or try and climb down the side of the building and catch up to them.
You could just pretend you didn’t see them and stay inside. I mentally shove the small voice of reason aside and climb up onto the windowsill. The climb down is surprisingly easy. Not sure I could go back up the same way, but I’ll worry about that later.
My feet hit the ground and I take off in the direction I saw the three of them disappear. After about ten minutes of walking through the dark creepy woods only catching a glimpse of the guys every now and then, I finally come across what looks like a two-story log cabin. This must be the caretaker’s place. Sure enough, hanging on the wall beside the front door is a sign saying exactly that.
I hesitate on the verge of stepping up onto the veranda. Technically I was invited here tonight, but I’m not sure if I really am welcome or if the guys are playing a prank on me. Chase said it was only going to be him and Malachi but obviously he lied.
“You coming in or are you going to stand out there in the freezing cold all night Joey?”
I’m ashamed of the frightened squeak that comes out of my mouth at the sound of Chase’s voice coming from the now open doorway. I didn’t even notice the door opening.
Turn around and walk away. I swallow roughly and square my shoulders. If this is a trick, then I’m going to face it with my big girl panties on and give them hell.
I walk confidently up the stairs and through the door, ignoring the spark of attraction that hits me as I brush up against Chase. I don’t want to be attracted to the guys.
But I am.
“We didn’t think you were going to come, but I had hope.” He smiles down at me kindly but I refuse to give in to that sexy as sin smile and those spring green eyes. I shift from foot to foot, unsure of where to go now that I’m actually here. Chase doesn’t seem to have that problem. He simply takes my elbow like a gentleman and steers me towards the light spilling from the open doorway down the hallway.
“How much do you both remember?” I recognise Malachi’s voice and open my mouth to ask Chase what is going on but he raises his finger to his lips shushing me.
“I remember being her. Switching bodies and hiding out in my room, but not much more.” Raine’s words fill my heart with hope and I turn my eyes to Chase, silently asking him to confirm what we’re hearing. His lips turn up slightly at the corners but they don’t bloom into his perfect full smile. Even without Chase’s smile, I feel like I could fly, I’m so happy.
“I don’t exactly remember her, it’s more like I get flashes of déjà vu and waking dreams. None of it is real though, right. They’re just false memories planted inside our minds?” Angel’s words bring me crashing right back down to earth.
“What you think Joey did this?” Raine’s voice comes across more worried than angry.
I’m on the verge of outing Chase and I just so I don’t have to listen to any more of this when Chase shakes his head before bending at the waist to whisper to me. “Just wait.” He breathes the words into my ear, sending a shudder of lust down my spine. My bodies reaction has me freaking out on the inside, but outside I’m the picture of calm as I step back away from Chase.
“Joey didn’t manipulate any of you. I did.” Malachi’s words have me spinning to face the open doorway again.
“Why would you do that?”
“Because what my sister had planned was far worse. I have a duty to protect Joey. She’s my princess too.” I hear the distinct sound of a zip being pulled and turn my wide eyes on Chase. He just shrugs and steps past me into the room.
Dumbfounded, I follow him.
What I find is not what I was expecting. I heard a zip alright. Malachi is standing there with his zip up hoodie spread wide open and on his chest is the same mark that is burned into my left palm. He catches my eye and drops the sides of his jacket before holding his left hand out to me. “I think it’s time we all knew what was going on. Don’t you Joey?”
♡
Chapter: Malachi
Joey Kale. Just her name is enough to make my heart race. I knew who she was the moment I laid eyes on her two years ago. I didn’t need her marks to appear to know she was my future. I knew from the moment we met.
My mother had been bragging about finding the lost princess for years, but no one ever believed her. The day my whole world turned upside was the day she took me to meet the princess. At the time everyone, including my sister believed that my mother was talking about Miranda, but she wasn’t.
I look at the young woman Joey Kale is today and it brings joy to my heart to know that just because my mother cursed her, Joey hasn’t let it stop her from being the kind-hearted woman she is. She stands in the doorway, hesitant to enter the room, so I hold my hand out to her. I’m not sure if I actually expected her to take my hand or not, but I definitely didn’t expect her to stride right over to me and punch me in the stomach.
All the wind whooshes out of me as I double over.
“You are an asshole!”
“Babe, perhaps hitting the person who has all the answers isn’t a good idea.”
Joey glares at Raine before growling out, “It’s okay, he’ll still tell us everything.” Her confidence is endearing. I stay doubled over for an extra few seconds to see if she’ll show any remorse but she just continues to glare at me. Her hand twitches at her side and I bite back my smile. I knew it, she’s feeling bad for punching me. We’ll have to fix that little flaw. A princess cannot afford to be weakened by her emotions.
She steps back until her knees hit the couch behind her and practically flops down onto it. Angel doesn’t waste a second, he leaps from the chair he was in and sits down beside her.
“Joey is the lost princess.” I blurt the words out to stop Angel from getting too close to her. We may be hers but not in the way they all seem to think. We’re her guardians, nothing more. No matter how much we want to be more to her, her safety is our number one priority.
Or at least it should be.
“No.”
“You are. What that means we aren’t sure yet, but I know for a fact that you are.” I move closer to where she’s sitting. My feet silent on the thick carpet beneath me. No one else speaks, I swear I can hear the slight breeze rustling the trees outside. “You need to be trained so that when Miranda asks if anyone contests her claim, you can put your own name in the trials.”
“No. You’re mistaken.”
“If I’m mistaken then how is it that you are a Split-shifter Quad? How is it that you were so much of a threat to Miranda that my mother tried to curse you?”
“Your mother cursed me?” Her face turns the darkest shade of red and for a second, I think she might be embarrassed, but then she climbs to her feet. Without a word, she stalks past me, out the door and off into the night. The sound of the door slamming behind her is the only sound in the room for nearly ten minutes.
“She knew she was cursed.” Raine’s words aren’t a question. We all know it to be true from her emotional outburst.
“How are we supposed to convince her that she needs to let us train her?” Chase asks, still staring at the closed front door.
“I don’t know. She needs to be trained or she’ll never survive the trials.” I turn away from the door and ask, “Do any of you besides Chase know what a Quad is?
”
“I have no idea.” Angel admits.
Raine frowns, studying the liquid in his glass like it holds all the answers. “I’m going to assume Quads are like those duets. The chick from over a hundred years ago who was both panther and bear or something.”
“Quads are elementals who have the ability to use all four powers. Along with the Split-shift ability, which some people believe is the fifth elemental power called spirit.”
“Great story, can we get back to the fact that even if Joey was all of this, we have no way of confirming it.” Raine mumbles before taking a sip of his water. “Besides, how would we even train someone like that?”
“I get the feeling that even if we did train her, she wouldn’t put her name forward.” Angel crosses the room to the window, staring out into the night as he speaks. “We’ve given her no reason to want to be the princess. She has no idea who or what she is let alone who she can trust.”
“Then I’ll find a way to convince her!” My voice breaks as I raise it well above normal levels. I take a deep breath and slowly let it out. “It doesn’t matter. She will be there in two weeks’ time. She will take part in those trials. None of you will be a part of it though.” I turn to Chase first. He frowns at me and takes a step back. “Sorry man, I swore I’d never hurt her and I meant it, but I made no promises towards you or them.” I capture his eyes, then turn to do the same to the others. “Forget!”
“Is it done?”
I whirl on the spot and glare at my sister as she glides into the room. “I hate you, you know that, right?”
“Do I look like I care?” Miranda does not look like she cares. In fact, she looks like she is bored out of her damn mind. Well, technically those wide crazy eyes of hers make her look certifiably insane….
I glance around at the other guardians as I mumble, “You never did care about others.”
“She really is the lost princess, huh?” Miranda moves from Raine, to Angel, then over to Chase. All of their faces go slack with a single touch from her hand. I hang my head, ashamed of my part in all this.
“You may leave now.”
Joey’s sapphire eyes flash behind my closed eyelids. “I’m not doing this anymore. Find someone else to be your puppet.”
“What was that dear brother?”
“I… I said… I… I’m not doing this anymore.” I’m a coward. I really am. My entire body shakes as she stalks towards me like an avenging blonde angel. Her dark green eyes bore into mine with so much intensity that I actually think I might piss myself.
“You’d rather see her die?”
“You can’t, she has to be there for you to steal her powers.”
“I can, after all no one said what condition she had to be in when I take her powers. One word from me and mother will see that Joey Kale never sees the light of day again.”
If it wasn’t for the threat against Joey, I’d never even consider doing what I have to do next. I won’t let Miranda or our mother hurt her. I can’t. I’m sworn to protect Joey Kale.
I will protect her no matter what it takes.
“Now forget and leave!” Miranda yells but I’m not really listening to her anymore, her power hasn’t worked on me in years.
My feet carry me across the little cottage and out the door. I don’t make it out of the woods before my legs collapse. My chest feels like an elephant is sitting on it as the guilt and sorrow of what I have done eats at me. “I’m sorry.” I whisper. “I wish there was another way.”
♡
Chapter: Joey
I’m an idiot.
There’s no questioning that. I knew Malachi had something to do with that woman who brought him around to my mother’s house, but to be told point blank that she was the one who cursed me….
I’m an idiot.
I ran headlong into the woods in the middle of the night.
So yes, I’m lost.
Stumbling over tree roots and small bushes. The eerie sounds of the local wildlife echoing around me as I keep moving. I thought the woods here weren’t very big, but I’ve been out her for so long that I’m fairly certain that light shining through the trees above me is the sky preparing for dawn.
A howling sound from my left has me jumping out of my skin before my brain kicks in and yells at me. You’re a shifter, at a school for shifters, of course there’s animals. There will always be wolves and other predators around.
I feel like an even bigger idiot as I finally stop running and just sit down on the damp earth where I am.
Think Joey, think.
It’ll be easier to navigate when the sun comes up, but if I wait until then I’ll be stuck here for hours. No one knows where I am, so waiting for help isn’t going to do me any good. Those assholes have probably all returned to their dorm rooms by now anyway.
If only I could shift.
My mother always told me that the animal we shift into gives us the ability to use their enhanced senses but she never told me what happens to those who never shifted and she certainly never mentioned anything about the powers that split shifters have.
Hell, I hadn’t even heard of them until River explained them to me in Raine’s room.
The thought of the guys sends my already exhausted mind into a delirium. I’m not sure if I’m awake or asleep. I feel like something is being pulled out of me.
The shadows from the trees appear to stretch and reach out to me, while the light from above seems to grow dimmer instead of brighter.
My entire body feels like it’s getting heavier. I push my hands into the soil, trying to get to my feet but my strength leaves me. I blink a few times, attempting to keep my eyes from closing.
The shadows grow darker. Tainting my vision. Everything narrows to a thin pinpoint of light. I feel myself falling before the lights go out completely.
♡
Chapter: Raine
My eyes snap open, something is wrong. I can feel it in the pit of my stomach. I sit up in my bed, glancing around. Beside me a figure moves beneath the sheets. A cold hand reaching for my cock. I back up, practically scuttling like a crab on my hands and feet as I try to get away from whoever is in my bed. The sheet slips down and Miranda’s head of dark blonde hair appears.
I swallow the bile rising in my throat. I don’t want to be here. Not with her. She turns over, bracing herself on her hands and knees and begins to crawl up the bed until she’s leaning over me. “Raine, is something wrong baby?”
“Get out of my bed!” I snarl the words, trying to figure out what the fuck is going on. I’m fully dressed, socks and all, but I feel dirty like I’ve been taken advantage of.
A shudder runs through my body as her icy fingers trail across the sliver of flesh exposed from my crumpled shirt. “Don’t touch me.” I fling her hand away from me and lets out an awful screech.
“How do you keep doing that?” She doesn’t give me a chance to respond. I duck as she tried to clock me on the head with the bedside lamp. I’m up and out of the room faster than she can get around the bed. I’ve never had to run away from a chick before but fuck hanging around when she’s trying to kill me.
My feet carry me towards the divide between the guy’s and girl’s dorms. A memory tickles the back of my mind as I race down the hall, glancing over my shoulder. There’s no one else around. I spot a familiar looking door and shove it open without even considering who’s room it might be. I slip inside and close the door softly, hoping that bitch won’t know where I’ve gone.
The room I find myself in is half the size of mine. Again, a memory brushes my mind.
“It’s nicer than my room.” Sapphire blue eyes swim in my mind while the words play out. I can’t quite see the girl who was talking but I have the strangest feeling that she’s important to me somehow.
I glance around at the room, trying to figure out what to do.
A breeze from the open window makes me jump as it blows the curtains around. I cross the room and grip the side of the window, preparing to
close it when I spot a lone figure lying on the ground just under a tree in the woods. The path isn’t far from the edge of the woods, but it’s far enough in that she’s barely visible.
Again, that eerie feeling of missing something tickles my mind. I watch closely as the figure starts to move. Slowly rising up from the ground using only her arms. I blink and she falls, her face hitting the ground so hard, I can practically feel the impact.
I need to help her.
Before I can consider the consequences of a fall from this height, I’m climbing out the window and scaling down the side of the building. My fingers feel like they’re being torn to shreds from the rough stone beneath them. The blood on my hands making them slick. I slip, one hand falling from the wall. For a second, I teeter on the edge, my heart in my throat. Then my other hand slips and I freefall to the ground a floor and half below.
My feet hit the ground first. Every instinct I have forces me into a roll. Pain lances up my legs and into my spine and shoulders but all I can think about is finding the girl lying alone in the woods. I stumble to my feet, ignoring the agony screaming at me.
She needs me.
My feet barely touch the ground as I run as fast as my limbs will allow. The second I cross the boundary of the woods the world feels like it’s been cast into dreary shadows. Leaves and small branches tear at my skin and clothes, but I don’t slow down.
I glance back over my shoulder, a twig scratching across my face as I try to keep my bearings. I finally locate the path where I saw her last and come to a stumbling stop. Not twenty feet in front of me is Chase, leaning down to lift something or rather someone off the ground.
“Who is she?” I ask stepping closer.
“I don’t know, but she needs our help.” His answer is barely a whisper on the wind.