The Roses Academy- the Entire Collection

by Tara Brown

  He clasped his hands together. “We don’t let people like us run around killing or amassing armies. We remove them before they break the laws.”

  “We send them to Heaven, Ari.”

  Daniel straightened. “It’s very unlikely you’ll be a threat once you get rid of the other you. She acts like a caged animal and is not to be trusted. You, however, had a very normal life before all this happened. You’re level-headed and the perfect candidate, really, to become a Rose. Let’s not dwell on it before we have to.”

  Ari’s gaze grew distant. It was a hard concept to understand in the beginning. I too had had problems grasping that if I didn’t gain control, they would end my life.

  Daniel smiled. “Let’s not cross that bridge until we have to. At this point we’ll focus on the now. The laws are: Firstly, keep the secret. No humans can know we exist. Every time they find out about us, huge problems arise. They need ignorance. Second, ‘Do what ye will but harm none.’ No human or being like us can be harmed in your efforts to live.”

  Ari winced. “That man, I sent him to jail for a crime he never committed.”

  Daniel nodded. “Right, exactly, but how could you have known? You need to learn to discern. Since we don’t have anyone like you, we need a demon to teach you how to figure this out.”

  “On that note”—I stood—“I’m going to let you guys get started. I need to get back to work. I’m following a girl who’s a huge threat. She hasn’t woken yet, therefore we don’t know anything. If she does wake, we could be in trouble. Can you let me see the cell you’ll be giving to Ari so I can add my contacts? She’ll need them for the next few months.”

  “Yes.” Daniel stood, hugging Aimee quickly. “Of course. Just ask Gladys. She’ll be the one arranging all that.”

  “Will do.” I bent and hugged Ari. “Hang in there. It’ll get easier every day. Text me as soon as you get some alone time.”

  “Come see me when you can, please.” Her dark eyes were huge.

  I whispered into her ear, “Yup.” I walked from the room, pausing the moment it hit me, the greatest aroma in the world. It was dark and filled with desires I didn’t want to own. I turned my head to see Dorian walking into an office next to me. He paused mid step and sighed, offering me that smug grin before he blew me a kiss. “Hello, love.” His English accent added to the naughty feelings I had whenever he was around. They didn’t mix well with the hate I also had for him.

  “What are you doing there?” I whispered, knowing he could hear me perfectly.

  “Training the new girl.” He smiled and leaned in the doorway.

  “You?”

  “Why not?” he responded. “I’m fallen—I count in some people’s books.”

  I always felt sick around him. He’d been so cruel and horrid to me when he was changing me. He was the one who had let me kill an innocent which he later lied about, claiming it was part of my training. A lesson in what not to do.

  Needless to say, when I found out he was a good guy I was disgusted.

  I couldn’t help but hate him.

  My stomach tightened, thinking about Ari in his filthy hands for the next few months as he mentored her.

  “You lay a finger on Ari and I’ll kill you, even if it means my own death. I will find a way to drag you to Hell with me.”

  “You’ve gotten even more sassy, Aimee.” His obsidian eyes flashed as he sauntered over to me. “I like it.”

  “You’re disgusting. I don’t care what you like. Just stay away from Ari.”

  “She is of no interest to me, trust me.” He grabbed my face, pulling me to him, kissing me. As always, when his mouth met mine I couldn’t fight it. The smell and taste of Dorian was something no one could resist. His tongue explored my mouth, right there in the hallway of the office. His hands squeezed my arms, almost to the point of being painful.

  He pulled me back, licking his lush lips. “You really are a naughty girl, Aimee.” His dark hair and beautiful face always killed me.

  “Your soul is as dark as your eyes, Dorian.”

  “You forget, I don’t have a soul.”

  I ripped myself from his grasp and walked away, trying desperately to ignore my weak knees and the taste of his kiss upon my lips.

  “If I had a soul, I’d trade it for one night with you, sweetheart.” He laughed. His laugh grated on my last nerve.

  I lifted my middle finger and stalked to Gladys’ desk. I would be back every few days even if it meant trouble for me. I needed to keep Ari safe from Dorian.

  Chapter 15

  Grandmother, what big eyes you have

  Ari

  From my window perch, life scurried below me on the street. New York was exactly as I had imagined it would be—dirty, smelly, and nonstop action. It had taken me a month just to get used to the noise at night. The mansion had been so quiet.

  I smiled when the door to my room opened, seeing Daniel walking in. “Just wanted to say great job today, really. That was perfect. The way you read that man and chose not to send him back. The control you had over your hunger. How do you feel?”

  “Good, I just wish I could get rid of her forever—the other me.”

  “You’re getting closer every day. It’s time for your theory lesson and then boxing, okay?” He left the room quietly.

  I knew I was doing better but I missed home. I sent Lucas a text nearly every hour but he barely answered me. He didn’t respond to any of my questions, except to tell me he was doing fine and he missed me too. I started to doubt that. He had always been distant and weird but this was ridiculous.

  Ben cheered me up and we had developed quite the friendship. He sent me cards and flowers and messages every other day. He phoned every week and even came to visit once in the three months I’d been there.

  I liked him a lot, just not the way I liked Lucas the Enigma.

  Forcing myself not to think about Lucas, I got up and left for theory class. There were other kids like me there. We all joked about how we were in an X-Men movie. We learned about witches, demons, vampires, shifters, zombies, monsters, mad scientists, trolls, and elves. I’d had a hard time taking it all in at first. A lot of history was explained through the classes. Everyone was amazed by the atrocities that had been committed against completely innocent monsters. Some monsters were extinct, murdered by humans. Giants no longer roamed the Earth, no one had seen a mermaid in ages, and fairies had been gone since before the First World War.

  I breezed through class and boxing. Before I knew it, I was back in my room checking my phone again, wondering what Lucas was doing. I iced my jaw, thanks to daydreaming in boxing.

  I eyed the phone and decided it was time. I needed closure. Well, that’s what Marcia had told me. Marcia was my bathroom mate. We all had our own rooms, but everyone shared a bathroom with one person. Our rooms were beautiful, on the top floor of the building and set up like dorms.

  Marcia had fallen in love with a human before she changed. She was a were-tiger but never knew. When she turned the first time, she ate her own cat. It was devastating for her, and she didn’t have anyone to explain it all. Like me, Marcia had no parents. She was adopted when she was a small child. After the cat incident, she knew there was no way she could be trusted around her boyfriend so she decided to free him by breaking up with him. She cried for days when we first arrived there, but had seemed a lot happier in recent weeks.

  I knew I needed that too.

  I started to tap the letters of the message I had to send so I could get past the unhealthy feelings for him and the awkwardness between us.

  Lucas, I’m sorry for what happened at that bar. I hope you can be my friend and stop being weird around me. I won’t text or phone you anymore. I’m sorry if it’s been annoying that I text so much. Hope you’re well. I’ll wait for you to message me. Ari.

  I read it again before I pressed the “send” button and took a breath. I regretted it instantly but put the phone under my pillow and left for dinner. I needed a distracti
on.

  In the dining hall, I sat picking at my dinner. It was my favorite meal—spaghetti and meatballs with fresh Asiago and garlic bread. I twirled my fork in the noodles over and over, watching them fall off it.

  “Earth to Ari.” Marcia nudged me. “You okay?” She flashed me one of her gorgeous smiles. Her bright-green eyes were mesmerizing. She was so pretty which I’d learned was a common trait of all shifters. They looked the way they did to naturally keep their population alive.

  “Yeah. I sent that message you said I should to Lucas. I just apologized again for the whole bar thing and told him I would wait for him to message me.”

  “Oh my God. You did it?” Marcia flicked her red hair behind her face and started to eat my spaghetti.

  “I did.” I sighed.

  “Aw, dude.” She frowned. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out the way you hoped they would. I know how much you like him. Maybe when you go home, it’ll be different.”

  “Maybe, but I think he hates me. I acted like a first-class idiot, not a cool Rose at all. I think he sees me as a pain in the ass.”

  “How’s the jaw there, sunshine?” Kyung smirked at me. He was by far the sexiest Korean guy I’d ever seen. Not that there was a ton of Korean dudes in my home town.

  Kyung was tall and built, with naturally tanned skin and an incredibly handsome face. His dark eyes had the slightest hint of gray to them which I thought was cool. Marcia had been eyeing him up to no avail. Kyung was a player, and he loved living in New York. He went out every weekend.

  I hadn’t gone out with them, terrified of being on the streets and the other me taking over out of habit. Marcia had said the clubs were amazing, but she got tired of watching Kyung make his moves on other girls.

  “It’s fine.”

  “I think I hit you pretty hard on the head.”

  “Pu-lease, she heals faster than any of us. The only reason you even got a shot off before she sent you into a nice little nap was because she was distracted.” Marcia got up in his grill.

  “Well, if you want to tuck me in, girls, I’m more than happy to take a nap. If you two come along.” He leaned over the table and moved in close to my face, taunting me.

  My gaze narrowed as I leaned into him too. “Kyung, if I tuck you in, it’ll involve a coma.”

  He laughed and kissed me on the cheek as I swatted him in the head.

  A growl filled the room. It was a familiar sound.

  I looked at Marcia, who was no doubt bothered by the flirting Kyung was doing, but it wasn’t her growling. I leaned to the side, looking for what was behind Kyung, but he blocked my view.

  “Ari, back away from Kyung slowly,” Marcia whispered, “I’m guessing the email didn’t go over so well.”

  Slowly, I backed up from Kyung’s panicked face as he trembled, fighting the change. I had never seen him turn into a wolf before, but I had heard it was incredibly scary.

  “What’s going on?” I peered past Kyung to the angry face staring at me—Lucas.

  “Lucas?” My face tightened.

  “He’s fixed on Kyung. If Kyung turns around, they’ll both shift and we will have injuries and a lot of mess to clean up. Kyung, don’t you dare turn. Ari, just get your boy out of here,” Marcia spoke softly.

  “Lucas, why are you here?” I stood from my chair, walking to him. His massive body trembled with anger. I put a hand on his chest to try to talk to him, but Kyung turned at the wrong second. They both shifted with me right in the middle. I screamed, seeing the fur and snarling faces as shreds of clothing filled the air. I wanted to run away, but my legs were paralyzed in terror.

  Lucas had become a shaggy brown wolf with green eyes while Kyung became a black wolf with steel-black eyes. Both were gnashing and growling as they started to circle me, even though they saw only each other.

  The fear made my hands start to heat up.

  The room began to vibrate.

  As the wolves jumped for each other, my mind cleared completely. I knew what I needed to do. I reached into the air, as if they moved in slow motion, and pressed a hand to each wolf. My hands dug into their fur, finding the skin beneath. I pushed faster than I had before. It nearly shot from me, freezing them instantly. Both wolves dropped from the air onto the hardwood floor.

  I stepped back, not from exhaustion, but rejuvenated. I stared down at my hands and back at the wolves on the floor, realizing what I’d done.

  “Ari, what did you do?” Daniel rushed in.

  “She probably saved us all from some nasty injuries. Lucas came into the room at the wrong moment and saw Kyung kiss Ari on the cheek. Lucas freaked and they both shifted.” Monica sniffed.

  Daniel knelt, touching the black wolf. “They’re still alive, though I’m pretty sure they won’t be very excited about it in an hour when they wake up. Ari, you did this to them?”

  “Yeah.” I gazed up, baffled. “My hands knew, they just knew, they—I could stop them. I pushed them both at the same time.”

  A woman I didn’t know stood beside Daniel and muttered, “Daniel, it shot from her hands, like a freaking bolt.” She bit her lip and raised an eyebrow.

  Ashamed, I shook my head. “I didn’t mean to hurt them. I just wanted them to stop before they attacked each other.”

  Everyone in the hall who had been standing around whispering, turned back to their tables but continued to whisper, only quieter. Only Marcia stayed beside me with a hand on my back.

  “You aren’t in trouble.” The woman smiled wickedly. “You are turning out to be a very worthwhile find.”

  Daniel pointed. “This is Lorri. She’s in charge of the Roses.”

  Lorri was attractive, but her power was what you noticed before her looks. Her long, lean body was shockingly fit. She wore dark-brown leather pants, burnt-burgundy knee-high boots, and a tight-fitting, cream-colored sweater that showed every curve and muscle. Her arms were toned, not thick but strong. She had short auburn hair cut funky and styled in every direction. She reminded me of a cartoon character, she was so perfectly made. She didn’t appear old enough to be in charge of anything. She might be thirty-five, if she was a day over that. Dorian and Aleksander were crazy old but didn’t look a day over twenty-five. And realistically she could be a thousand and still look that good.

  Lorri knelt down, offering me a hand. “Let’s get these big boys in their rooms. Lucas can just sleep in your room until he’s feeling a bit better? We don’t have spare beds right now and Kyung is going to the sick room.”

  “I guess.”

  Large men came and lifted the wolves. I followed behind Lucas, watching as he was tucked into my bed.

  “He looks like Little Red Riding Hood’s wolf.”

  Lorri laughed. “Yes, exactly where the story came from.”

  “He’s going to kill me.”

  “No, he’ll be happy you stopped him. They can’t control their emotions when it comes to some things. Mates are a touchy thing with wolves. Their mates are for life. Once a wolf falls in love, they fall into it so hard they can’t imagine being with another person. I’ve had wolf friends who’ve mated with humans and when they died, the wolf lived out the remainder of their years alone.”

  “Mates?” The word hit a cord inside me.

  “Mates.” She winked. “It’s a conversation you need to have with him.”

  “How long do wolves live?”

  “Centuries. They age slowly after they hit puberty. Just like the rest of us. It’s a survival trait. A small demon child would be dangerous with all their gifts at such a young age. They would be easy prey if everyone knew about them when they were so tiny and helpless. The puberty awakening protects us. Our gifts come at a time when we’re old enough to be wise about what we do.” Her eyes darted to the huge wolf wrapped in covers and taking up the entire bed. “Well, some of us.”

  “How long will I live?”

  “Since you obviously take something from the people you send back, whatever you gain sustains you. The answer mig
ht be forever. We don’t know how far injuries can go with you, but from what we’ve seen thus far, you heal as fast as a full demon. Your father must have been incredibly strong.”

  “I might have to live forever?”

  Lorri laughed. “Ari, it isn’t punishment; the years go faster and the time gets more fun. Once you start having a purpose and you know who and what you are, you’ll enjoy life much more. Ask Aimee. She wanted to die at first. Take care of your mate. He’ll need it.” She chuckled and walked from the room.

  I sat in the chair in a corner of the small room and watched him sleep, confused by everything.

  Chapter 16

  This isn’t a frat house

  Ari

  When I woke from my catnap in the chair, I heard noise outside my room. I realized then I had a naked guy in my bed. He was not a wolf anymore. Nor was he as covered by the blankets as he should’ve been.

  I raised an eyebrow, recalling the Lorri woman putting him in my bed. Granted he’d been a large wolf at the time.

  He stirred and moaned, no doubt awakened by the commotion in the hall. He blinked a couple of times, holding a hand to his head. “Ari, what did you do?” He looked rough.

  “You came here.” I didn’t know what else to say.

  He nodded. “Your text. I had to see you.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m an asshole.”

  “I don’t understand, Lucas. You have spent months coming and going from my life. You don’t tell me anything. You barely speak to me. I put myself out there and texted you and you hardly answered. You’re confusing me.” And there was the word “mate” which I wasn’t about to touch on.

  “I don’t know what to do about this, Ari.”

  “What changed?” I asked boldly.

  “I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Everything. I waited so long, I didn’t know what to say. I acted like such a dick, and I knew I needed to say sorry, but I was still raving mad. It was stupid. And then you sent the last text saying you were done and I panicked.”