The Roses Academy- the Entire Collection

by Tara Brown

  “Why?”

  “You scared me. When you said you were done, I panicked. I went to Aimee and told her, and she smacked me around a little. Ben was like ‘If you don’t go, I will.’”

  I laughed, knowingly.

  “I have to tell you something. It’s stupid and intense and it complicates everything.” His green eyes were fiery.

  “What?”

  “You’re my mate. I mated you.” He grinned a little as if he was nervous or laughing at himself inside.

  “Lorri said that. She called you my mate. What does that mean?” My insides were clenched tight.

  “It’s an old wolf thing. Wolves mate for life so when we fall in love with someone they become our mate and that’s it.”

  “L-life?” I almost gagged at the thought. “Dude.” He had to be kidding.

  “I know. It’s why I avoid you. It’s why I try not to be in your face too much. I’ll end up smothering you with love and obsessive-compulsive stalking. I don’t want to do that to you. I want you to eventually love me on your own if that’s what you want. I respect that and you.” He paled a little. “I don’t want to force this on you. But I also can’t watch while another guy kisses you. I can’t do that.”

  “You don’t have to, Lucas.” It was my turn to laugh at myself as I struggled to say the very things I desperately wanted to. “I don’t know how to be in a relationship or whatever. I certainly am not in the right place in my life to get married, mostly because I’m an eighteen-year-old demon.” I struggled with the words, “But I like you too.”

  His eyes lit up. “You do?”

  “Yeah, dummy. I messaged you for months, even though you barely messaged me back. I did it because I like you. I watched you chop wood and help around the yard. I waited every day for you to come back to Lydia’s house. I think I lasted so long at Lydia’s because I was always waiting for you. And those brief moments when you were home made my week or month. Maybe I don’t see us as mates, but perhaps we could go on a date or something.” I cringed inwardly at saying too much.

  “Oh wow.” He chuckled, sounding relieved. “And you don’t have feelings for anyone else?”

  “God no.”

  “Not Ben or that guy I attacked?”

  “No.”

  “Oh.” He grinned and stared at the bedding. “What kind of date do you wanna go on?”

  “I don’t know. We could have dinner.”

  “Can we just skip dinner?” He got up from the bed, holding my blanket over his groin, and walked to me. He dropped to his knees, lifting a hand to my cheek. “I am sorry for being weird.” He didn’t smile or laugh. He didn’t joke about it. He leaned in, brushing his lips against mine. I closed my eyes and kissed him back. He moved like he wanted more, but he didn't try for it, thankfully. He pulled back and smiled softly. “I’m sorry for being so pissed at you that night at the club. Lydia and Elsie were assholes. You were an asshole. That guy I threatened to eat was an asshole. I was an asshole.”

  “I get it. Assholes everywhere.”

  He sat back on his heels, staring at me with his intense green eyes. “I followed him for a week, watching him and waiting for him to make one mistake, something I could kill him guiltlessly for.”

  “Creepy.”

  “Super creepy.” He swallowed hard. “I’ve never felt this way about anything or anyone, in my life. I have to defend you and protect you.”

  “Except I was the one protecting you today.”

  His cheeks reddened. “Yes, you were.” He lifted his hand and again ran it over my cheek. “You’re badass and I have to face that. You don’t need me.”

  “Maybe you need me.” I slid forward on the chair, taking his cheeks in my hands and kissing him again.

  He wrapped his huge arms around me, sliding his hands over my back. We kissed for a moment before I noticed he was sliding his fingertips over a scar.

  “Knife wound,” I muttered into his lips.

  “Really?”

  “No. I don’t know what it is. I can’t see the memories clearly. She blocks them out.”

  “You’re kidding right?” His gaze turned tender. “You don’t remember the marks on your body being made?”

  “No, she doesn’t let me see. Annabelle said the ones on my back look like lash marks the slaves had back in the day. The ones on my stomach are cigarette burns we figured. There are a few that I’m guessing are cuts and scrapes, but honestly I’m guessing.”

  “Do you think you did any of them yourself?”

  “Yeah, fighting to defend myself.”

  “I would kill anyone I knew had put a mark on you.”

  The words were a whisper in the air between us. He was not the kind of guy to make empty promises. He meant everything he said.

  A knock at the door startled us. “Ari, is Lucas awake yet?” It was Daniel.

  I answered, clearing my throat, “Uhh, yeah.”

  “Okay, can you two come out, please? We need to meet with you.”

  “Sure.” I looked at Lucas and smiled. “We’ll be right there.”

  He smiled. “Can I shower?”

  “Yeah. I need one too. You go first.”

  “We can go together. I don’t really want you out of my sight for a while anyway.”

  “Are you insane? We haven’t even had dinner yet and you want to shower together? I don’t think so. It’s a tiny shower. It’s the size of you. We both won’t fit.”

  “My shower at the mansion has tons of room. We could just go home. I’ll take you out for dinner first.” He offered up a charming smile, one I had never seen on his face. He looked more like Ben when he did it. But with him I sighed a tiny bit before I snapped back to reality.

  “Lucas, I’m going to get in trouble if I leave. I’m in the middle of training.”

  “Then I’ll stay.”

  “You can’t stay. I have to finish. You’re already doing that creepy stalker thing you mentioned.”

  “You’re mine and no one can tell me I can’t be with you.”

  I liked that. I liked belonging.

  Once he was done in the shower, we met in the doorway, his bare chest rubbing against my tee shirt. He paused and smiled, being charming again. It was a good look.

  But I kept moving, sliding past him and closing the door without turning back.

  When I got in the shower, I let the hot water pour down on me. The heat of the water made my think of the heat from his body and the feel of it so close to me. I wanted to be with him, in all the ways people could be together. But the idea of being with a boy made the memories of the street rat’s life much more vivid. She didn’t like intimacy or sexuality or anything to do with touching. And forcing her to the back all the time was exhausting.

  “Ari, we have to go. Daniel just sent Aimee here to knock.”

  “Okay.” I turned the shower off and dried as fast as I could.

  When I got out into the room he had changed into clothes left for him. They didn’t exactly fit, which worked well for his muscled arms and chest.

  I stepped up to the door and took a deep breath. I had always been a private person. “I hate that I’m emerging from my room with a guy and everyone’s going to think stuff happened that didn’t.”

  “Stop stressing. It’s not a big deal. We aren’t the first people to be alone in a dorm. People have sex at Roses Academy.”

  “Oh my God.” I turned harshly and hushed him, “Don’t say that. I’m not losing my virginity at Roses Academy. And I don’t want people to think I did.” I snapped my mouth shut, hating that I said virgin.

  “You’re a spaz.” He laughed at my panicked face and opened the door, pushing me out into the hallway. My runners skidded along the floor as he shoved my out.

  The hallway was empty, which I hadn’t expected. I had imagined they would line the halls, high fiving him and nodding at me knowingly.

  But no one was around.

  He grabbed my hand in his and tugged me along down the hall.

&nb
sp; The sitting room was lit with the flickering glow of a propane fireplace and dim lights. Feeling awkward holding Lucas’ hand, I noticed the burning starting in my palms. He met my gaze. “Easy, tiger.”

  “Sorry.” I pulled my sweaty hand from his as we rounded the corner.

  Seeing Aimee I was relieved. “Hey, Aimes.”

  “Ari!” Aimee hugged me tight. “How’s it going?” She asked it too gently as if she was worried about something.

  “Good.”

  Daniel looked at us as we entered the large sitting area in the common room with all the windows. “Have a seat.”

  I walked to the huge comfy couch and sat, wondering about everyone’s thoughts. No doubt they were about me and Lucas, our wet hair, and the fact we’d been in the room alone.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Huh?” I glanced up to see Lorri. “Yes.”

  She turned and gave Lucas a worried smile. “And you?”

  “Yeah, I’m good.” Lucas laughed. “Sorry about earlier. My wolf wouldn’t back down. I was trying to hold him back.” He winked at me. “He just gets overprotective of her.” He said it for everyone to hear.

  My face flushed and my eyes refused to leave the floor in front of me.

  “It’s not a problem, Lucas.” Lorri sounded indifferent. “We know what wolves are like when it comes to their mates. It actually provided the perfect test for Ari’s abilities.”

  Aimee nudged me. “I’m so bummed I missed it. I heard you shot it right from your hands. That’s pretty sweet.”

  “Yeah.” I was still lost in the mate conversation that seemed to be happening above my head somewhere. “Yeah, it was crazy.”

  “Nice.”

  Lorri clasped my hands together. “We want to run another trial. Lucas, you will help out.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Trial?” I narrowed my gaze. “You want me to do that to him again?”

  Lorri shrugged. “Yes, but under more duress and with more shifters or demons.”

  “No.” I panicked. “I could push one back. This is a terrible idea.”

  “We’ll only pick the ones you can’t. Aimee will be there, just in case, to remove you if it gets out of control.” Lorri seemed firm on it.

  “This is a bad idea.”

  “You’ll be fine.” Daniel leaned forward. “We’ve done this thousands of times. We have to train you. Your Roses training is just getting started.”

  I glanced over to Aimee, noticing her face clouding over as Dorian stepped into the doorway. “I will be here too. You’ll be fine.” He spoke to me but his focus was on Aimee.

  “Great.” I gulped. I didn’t mind Dorian the way Aimee did, but if she didn’t trust him, I didn’t want to either.

  “Let’s do this, before Ari makes it bigger than it is in her mind.” Daniel clapped his hands together.

  Lorri turned to Daniel as we all walked from the room. “How quickly does she heal?”

  “Thus far, what we’ve seen has been miraculous. As quickly as Dorian, I believe.”

  Dorian smiled at me. “That’s my girl.”

  I shivered at his black eyes. They looked soulless.

  Lucas took my hand again, squeezing it and pulling my down the corridor.

  We walked to the elevator and got in. I looked around, confused until the doors opened, revealing a forest.

  Aimee was the only one smiling. “It’s the trial room. There is a section with buildings and forest and stuff. It’s so you can fight realistically.”

  “Like The Matrix?” I reached out, touching the tree in front of me. It felt completely real.

  “No, it’s like a movie set. It’s really there. The trees and rocks are lifelike but not living.”

  “Great.” I had no idea how I was going to survive whatever they had planned.

  “Aimee, why don’t you girls go over to the north and we’ll set the attack.” Daniel pointed.

  Aimee took me by the arm and pulled me along as I reached out for another tree. “Come on. Stop touching everything.”

  “This is pretty cool.”

  “Yeah, it’s wicked cool but it’s also a set, not the real thing. If you break it effing around, Daniel gets mad.”

  “Effing?”

  Aimee smiled. “Yeah, I’m trying to swear less.”

  Walking through the forest I was almost lost by the density of the trees and the light coming from the skylights high above. Rocks, sticks, bark, leaves, and even a couple of birds perched on branches surrounded them, suggesting it was a real forest, only it was twenty stories above the ground. The forest cleared, revealing a few small trailers.

  “It’s like Star Trek—you know, the holodeck on Generations?”

  Aimee laughed. “Oh my God, I thought I was the only nerd who watched that show. Remember the episode where Worf, Alexander, and Troi were trapped in the Western?”

  I giggled. “That was awesome. Wil Wheaton was hot.”

  “Ohhhh yeah. He was smoking in his uniform.”

  “I can’t believe you watched that.”

  “My uncle.” I flinched, recalling the way we watched Netflix and took turns choosing the TV shows. “Why can’t life be simple like before?”

  Aimee shrugged. “It’s life. Things get tossed in the air sometimes. No matter how they land, you have to be ready to fight for what you have.”

  “I just wish—”

  Aimee hugged me. “Me too. Ready?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “What’s going to happen?”

  “Not sure. Just be ready. Ears open, eyes open, smell the air.”

  “Ooh, like that one?” I lifted my nose and smelled the air around us.

  “No.” Aimee’s eyes narrowed. “Dorian, for God’s sake, just come out. We can smell your dead flesh from all the way over here.”

  He stepped out of the house beside me. “Hurtful.”

  “You don’t have feelings,” Aimee snarled.

  “You don’t know that.” He winked at her and came to me, putting a hand on my arm. “Just try to relax.”

  Aimee frowned. “Why are you nice to her and a total dick to me?”

  “I don’t know.” He took a step toward her, obviously making her nervous. “Something about you gets to me, Aimee.”

  Aimee stood her ground, unflinching. “Ari, I smell wolf.”

  I smelled my arms, making sure it wasn’t me.

  Dorian laughed. “Not on you, honey. It’s in the air. Can you smell it?”

  “Maybe.” I put my nose to the air and closed my eyes. I could smell Kyung, of that I was certain. I crouched, snapping my fingers, making sparks. I hadn’t noticed them getting hot, but they were burning.

  Aimee held her arm out. “Touch my hand and control it, even though it’s turned on.”

  “No.” I protested, but I knew it was going to happen whether I fought it or not. She would make me touch her. So I put my hand on hers. The push started to spark, but I held it, vibrating slightly while controlling it. Excited about my progress, I pulled away, smiling.

  “Nice.”

  “Thanks.”

  I no sooner got the words out when a large black wolf moved silently in my peripheral. I ran at him, dodging his muzzle as he leapt at me. I grabbed the nearest low-hanging branch and swung to the side of the tree. When his muzzle with huge teeth bared came at my arm, I put my hand out to touch him but another wolf had my arm in seconds. He pulled me out of the tree, ripping my arm.

  They had come in pairs and I didn’t even see the other one.

  I let myself fall and put my free arm to the side of the brown wolf’s face. His green eyes sparkled as they met mine and faded as the push hit him. The black wolf was on me, pinning me as the brown one fell away to the ground, fighting the sleep I had tried to force on him.

  Screaming, I hauled the bleeding arm out from under the brown wolf, waving the bloody mess in front of the black wolf’s face. His jaw snapped at the blood, but my hand came up too quickly, freezing him. His
eyelids closed and he fell on top of me. I panted, trying desperately to slide my body out from under the hundreds of pounds of fur and sleeping beast.

  I shoved the wolves off and was on my feet within seconds, trying to control my heartbeat and searching around for the source of the single noise I could hear.

  From the corner of my eye, something flashed across the forest. It looked to be a woman. The brown wolf moved, distracting me from the flicker stirring in the trees.

  My feet started to flee on their own.

  The flash jumped out at me.

  It was Lorri.

  I traveled with incredible speed and leapt again, attempting to avoid her grasping claws. Completely unsure of what Lorri was, but knowing I needed to escape, I strained to stay a step ahead. She was too fast, catching me midair and slamming me to the ground. As my wind left me upon impact and blackness tried to take me, I caught a glimpse of Lorri’s twisted face and smelled the ripped skin of my arms before I was gone.

  Chapter 17

  Lucifer, obviously a chick’s name

  Aimee

  I waited, observing the battle taking place and doing my best not to notice Dorian’s eyes on me continuously. He was such a shmuck.

  Ari handled both wolves well. It was odd that Lucas didn’t pass out. I wondered if he was building a resistance to her special blend of ass kicking since she’d pushed him loads.

  Her arm was bleeding which was unfortunate as Lorri was making her way to the scent of it. Nothing distracted Lorri like blood. She was like a shark. Ari tried to outmaneuver her but Lorri was too fast.

  I winked myself to Ari, hoping we would escape, because sometimes winking myself wasn’t fast enough to escape Lorri.

  She truly was one of a kind. As Lorri pinned Ari, her jaw opened, fixated on the blood. Running as fast as I could, I dove, shoving Lorri and winking Ari and me out.

  The cool air hit like a ton of bricks as we stood on the roof of the building. I held Ari in my arms.

  “It’s okay. You’re safe now,” I whispered.

  Ari shook as her knees buckled. “They bit me. I think they broke my arm.”

  I cradled her, grimacing at the blue spots where the bone was pressing against the skin. “Yup, they did.”