Destiny (The Academy Series Book 1)

by D. D. Larsen

  She is standing by the back door pawing hard at it. She’s really upset and obviously wants to be let outside.

  As I debate what to do, I feel someone approach. Wren is standing there in just his tight black boxers. I quickly find his eyes, so I don’t look at his naked chest.

  He walks up to the window and looks out. The way he scans the forest makes me think that he can see much better than me, since all I see is darkness.

  “Stay here, Jamie.”

  Before I realize what is happening, he opens the door and runs out.

  It happens so quickly, I barely catch the transformation, as he changes into a wolf and bounds across the lawn—the black wolf I saw in the forest, the one I felt a connection to but didn’t understand why.

  He is both beautiful and terrifying as he disappears into the trees that line my backyard.

  Without thinking, my feet begin to move, and I chase after him. It feels natural, instinctual. Only wearing a t-shirt and boxer shorts, I dodge into the dark forest.

  Moon barks again and I follow the sound. She sounds upset and I’m worried something has happened to her.

  As I follow her barks, I leave the trees and enter a clearing. Moon is standing in the middle of it, barking at a wolf. It is huge. Light brown, almost blond fur, and when he looks up at me, his blue eyes shine in the dark night.

  With one quick swipe of his paw, he knocks Moon out of the way and hurtles toward me.

  Why did I run out here with nothing to protect myself? I look around but there is nothing, not even a stick or rock within reach for me to fight back.

  I know I won’t be able to outrun him, so I stand there, helpless, as he covers the distance between us much too quickly. I feel a tingling in my extremities like something is trying to claw its way out of my skin.

  He stops a few feet away and just stares at me. Where Wren’s eyes are soft, this wolf has hard, savage eyes. They drill into me as he takes me in slowly, scanning me from head to toe.

  Every hair on my body stands on end. I’ve never been more terrified in my life. As I prepare to be attacked, another howl comes from my right. The wolf with the blue eyes swipes at me, throwing me backwards just as there is a rush of air. Before he can advance, Wren flies into his side and knocks him away.

  On the cold, hard ground, I watch the two wolves tumble together as they fight. They growl and throw themselves at each other, their teeth bared.

  I want to get up, to help, but I’m immobile. A stinging sensation courses through my forearm. Moon comes limping over to me and lays her head in my lap. My body feels hot, as if something is burning inside of me.

  Moon licks my arm. I look down and see a small scratch.

  The last thing I think before I pass out is, I am going to die. Just like that little girl.

  Chapter 29:

  Pain. Burning. Heaviness crushing me.

  I’m in hell and I can’t get out. Drowning in a pit of fire as I am crushed by an invisible weight.

  My blood burns through my body. I’m dying. I don’t want to die.

  I fight. I push against the feeling, clawing my way to the edge. Freedom. I need to get away from here.

  I don’t know where out is, but I fight with everything I can to get to it.

  Jamie. Jamie. Jamie.

  My name echoes off the black walls surrounding me. I focus on it and push towards it.

  A gasp leaves my mouth as I shoot up to sit. Immediately, I regret moving. Everything hurts. What happened? Where am I?

  The bed or cot I am laying on is hard, a metal pole digging into my butt. I look around at the concrete walls, and the bars that line one side. Where am I, in a cage?

  The heat is gone, and I immediately feel cold as my sweat-soaked body adjusts to the cool air. I begin to shake, feeling tears prick in the corner of my eyes. I’m scared.

  A small voice comes from the bars. “Are you cold, miss? I have a blanket and water if you would like them.”

  I look over to see a boy. He can’t be older than ten, with a mop of blond hair and blue eyes. He sits with his feet propped on a container as he reads what looks to be a comic book. I’m not sure what is going on, but I am freezing and thirsty, so I take his offerings. Wrapping the blanket tightly around myself, I open the bottle and down it in one swig. “Where am I?”

  The boy is about to answer when a door slams open and footsteps pound toward me. My heartbeat again spikes through the roof. I look around, but my cell has nowhere to hide, so I pull the blanket in tighter and hide my face in my knees, sure I’m about to die.

  Someone calls my name as the metal bars clink. Before I can look up, I’m pulled into a tight embrace. Wren. I know him without seeing him. The warmth from his body sinks in immediately. All the tension I have been holding fades as the tears begin to fall. In his arms, everything feels right.

  After a few minutes, I look up into those light brown eyes I love. Wren is here, everything will be okay.

  He pulls back slightly to look in my eyes. There is so much concern on his face I almost start crying again, but I struggle to hold myself together. If I keep crying, he won’t be able to explain what is going on.

  Keeping one hand securely around me, he uses the other to swipe the sweat-drenched hair out of my eyes. As he begins to talk, I feel his chest rumble. “Jamie, god Jamie, I thought I had lost you.”

  What happened?”

  He pulls me in tightly and just rocks me softly, further calming me. This feels so right. Being here in his arms, in this moment.

  The silence is broken when the boy mutters, “Are you guys going to start making out or something? I’m not supposed to leave, but I really don’t want to watch that. Gross.” I had completely forgotten he was here.

  Wren chuckles. “Hey Andre, why don’t you tell everyone she is awake? I will help her get cleaned up and then bring her down to the dining room.”

  Andre grabs his comic and responds as he begins to run up the stairs. “Sounds good, bro. Glad your girl didn’t die.”

  His girl?

  He shifts and scoops me up. I want to argue, but I feel so weak I don’t know if I can walk upstairs right now.

  I’m still wrapped up in the blanket as he carries me out of the cell and up a dark, stone, spiral staircase. It’s as if we are in a real-life dungeon.

  Shifting me to one arm, he opens the door and enters a large hallway. Light streams in from a large bay window that frames the mountain. I lean my cheek against Wren’s chest. As I look down the hall, I think I see a mop of red hair move around the corner.

  A flash of recognition hits me, but I shake my head. It can’t be. I’m so exhausted, I’m making things up in my head.

  It hits me as he moves me through the building, the old arched stone doorways, the stately, dark-wood paneled columns, and the tapestry-covered walls, that we are in The Academy, but Wren hasn’t said a word since we left the basement.

  He stops at a door. “Can you stand?”

  I nod, hoping I’m not overestimating myself. I already feel like a damsel in distress, and the last thing I need is to collapse in front of Wren.

  On shaky legs, I stand with one of Wren’s arms still supporting me as he fishes a key from his pocket and turns it in the lock. Then he helps me into the room.

  I look around and notice the much more modern touches than the rest of the building. Wren leads me to the huge bathroom.

  Wren sits me down on a chair. “Bath or shower?”

  There is a beautiful standing shower lined in white tiles, but it’s the bathtub calling me. “Bath.” I say, not wanting to admit that I don’t think I can stand long enough to take a shower.

  After Wren turns on the water and pours something in that fills the bathroom with the smell of lemongrass, he squats down in front of me, just looking at me.

  He takes a deep breath. “I bet you have a few questions. I’ll answer them all. I’m just so happy that you are alive, I’m still in shock. A female has never survived the transformation. I had
hope since your dad has the wolf spirit, and according to the legend, you are the white wolf. But, after five days, I started to lose hope when you didn’t wake up. There is something very special about you, Jamie Carter.”

  I clear my throat because it still feels like sandpaper. “I was out for five days?”

  Wren fills a glass with water and brings it to me. “Jamie, it’s been two weeks since the night in the forest.” He must see the shock on my face, but he continues before I can say anything else. “Let’s get you into the tub and then I will explain the rest.”

  Wren stands up and starts by helping me grab the blanket I still have tucked around me. As I look down, I realize I’m still wearing the boxers and t-shirt I had on when I ran out into the forest after Wren. That is the last thing I remember, other than the feeling of burning.

  As Wren reaches to help me with my shirt, I hesitate for a second. After this, I feel so connected to him, but I am still with Liam.

  He sees me hesitate and says, “Nothing will happen, Jamie, I promise, but you need my help. Let me help.”

  I see how much he needs this, and I don’t feel strong enough to do it on my own, so I let him. As he is helping me, I notice a bandage on his arm. What happened to the other wolf? Was it the Eldest Brother? Why does he want me?

  After Wren helps me out of my clothes, he supports me as I make my way over to the bathtub. The little energy I had seems to have disappeared and I feel exhausted. As I try to climb into the tub, I struggle and slip. Wren catches me, holding me up.

  “Dammit Jamie, be careful.” He sets me so I am sitting next to the bathtub and quickly begins to undress.

  I am too tired to argue, let alone get in the bathtub. As he peels his shirt over his head, I see a large, raw scratch down his chest.

  I reach out without thinking and run my fingers along it. Wren flinches with my touch and I worry I’ve hurt him.

  He finishes pulling off his pants and gets into the bathtub with me. “I was able to hold him off until others came. What were you thinking, running out there after me? When I entered the clearing and saw you there, my heart shattered. I thought I had lost you. I can’t lose you.”

  “Who was the wolf with the icy eyes?” I ask. As Wren gently helps me wash the sweat and grime that is coated to my skin, he fills me in.

  He tells me the wolf that attacked me was the Eldest Brother, but doesn’t give me any more details. After backup came, they chased him for hours but were never able to catch up to him. He was fast. Since I had been scratched, they brought me back to The Academy. Nobody knew what would happen. Traditionally females don’t survive twenty-four hours after they’ve been infected. It isn’t that females are weaker; it is because the spirit originated from a male, or so the folklore says. For a female to survive, she must fight twice as hard as any male.

  After I survived the first day, there was hope. I had been placed in the cell in case I transformed. Typically within 48-72 hours after being infected, you either die or transform. I did neither. According to Wren, I was in a fevered haze for the remainder of the two weeks. They tried to give me an IV, but I was writhing so much, I wouldn’t let them. Wren stayed by my side most of the time.

  My parents and Liam have no idea where I am. At some point, I am going to have to tell them. How do I explain what happened? What can I explain?

  I’m awake and alive. Nobody thought I would make it this far, so there is no plan moving forward.

  After I am clean and dressed, Wren offers to go down to get me food from the cafeteria. I want to see more of The Academy and learn more about what I am, but I’m too tired to focus.

  I fall asleep almost instantly when Wren leaves.

  The sound of the door reopening stirs me from my dream. Shortly after, I feel a warm hand rubbing my arms trying to rouse me.

  “Hey Jamie, I need you to eat a little. Then you can go back to sleep.”

  Slowly, I open my eyes. It has gotten dark outside. Wren sets a large tray filled with more food than I could ever eat on the table.

  He sits next to me and says, “I didn’t know what you would want so I grabbed a little bit of everything. Sorry it took so long, everyone wanted to talk about you.”

  “Everyone … who?”

  “You’ll see. If you are up to it in the morning, you can come down to breakfast. But I told them it might take a few days.”

  I nod and look over the food Wren brought. I grab a bowl of chicken noodle soup with a slice of bread. My stomach is uncertain for the first few bites, but then I become ravenous. I devour the soup and move to a bowl of pasta. Finally, I finish with a bowl of fruit and sit back, stuffed.

  Wren is smiling at me, silent. I give him the, what’s up? look.

  “It’s good to see you eat. I know I have already said it a hundred times, but I was so worried the last two weeks. It has been torture. All I could do is watch you suffer as you tossed and turned.” He pauses for a moment, looking like he wants to add more then he shrugs, stands up, and offers me a hand. “Why don’t we get you to bed?”

  My eyelids are already dropping as he leans down to pick me up. I feel safe against his warm chest and never want him to let me go.

  As my head hits the pillow, I enter the oblivion of sleep. I don’t know what my life will be like tomorrow, but for the moment, I am safe and content.

  Chapter 30:

  The morning sun streams through the window and hits my face. My eyes flicker open, and I lie there, stretching. I have more energy. My muscles are weak and my skin raw as if it has been burned from the inside out, but I’m not the zombie I was yesterday.

  I’m alive and I’m a wolf, or at least I think I am. I don’t fully understand everything that is going on. Supposedly, I was born a wolf, yet I have never transformed and now I have been scratched, but didn’t change. I didn’t physically transform, but I feel as if I was reborn. All my senses are heightened and the world looks different. I’m different. Now that I am aware of it, I feel the wolf inside me. It was always that inner voice that I kept hearing, but she is louder now. The side pushing me to return to the mountains. She is trapped and I don’t know how to let her out.

  As I become more conscious, I’m slowly made aware of the warm, hard chest my head is laying on. I run my hands over the contours of muscles and hear a purr come from Wren. I look up and find his eyes.

  He looks tired. The last two weeks have taken a toll on him as well. What is worse? Living the hell or watching someone you care about go through it?

  He runs his hand up and down my arm. “How did you sleep last night?”

  “Good. My body still feels beat, but not as much as last night.”

  “Think you have enough energy to head down to breakfast? If we don’t go down soon, everyone is going to break down our door.”

  His words ring in my head, our door. Are we an our?

  The last two weeks have felt like a dream. The whole realization that I have blood running through my body that will help me turn into a wolf is still new and I need time to adjust. But I can’t wait forever. “All right.”

  Wren leans in and kisses me on the forehead. Desire instantly floods me.

  I push myself off Wren’s chest and get out of bed, a task made difficult by my beat-up body.

  Once showered and dressed, I almost feel normal. My hand moves to my necklace, the moonstone I bought right after returning to town, it feels warm against my neck. I feel comforted when I place my hand on it and wonder if I was drawn to it because of it being a moonstone. I definitely lost weight over the last two weeks. I catch a glimpse of Wren’s scratch as he is pulling his shirt down. It looks better than it did last night.

  Without thinking, I walk over and run my fingers over the outline of it through his shirt. “Does it hurt?”

  He doesn’t wince as I touch it, but I know he tries to be tough, so I don’t know how he feels. “Not much anymore. The first few days it burned from the infection of the wolf claws but it’s better now. Unfortunately, it wi
ll leave a scar. The Wolf Warriors heal faster than normal, but injuries that are sustained from other wolves don’t completely disappear like others.” He pauses and then asks, “You up to walking down to the cafeteria?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  The stairs take me longer than I would like, but I make it down. Now that I am more with it, I can take the time to really look at The Academy. I have always seen it from a distance, but I didn’t realize how big it was. Large open hallways made of stone are lined with paintings. Most of which depict wolves in battle, wolves with humans, and all of them are set in the lush forests that surround this area.

  I’m stopped when I see a small painting hanging by itself. I find myself staring when Wren comes up behind me. “That is a painting of the youngest son and his wife, the daughter of the leader to the Accalia settlement. This was said to have been painted right after they opened The Academy. It was much smaller back then but, over the years, it has been expanded to the size it is today. If needed, we could house one hundred people here. Mostly, The Academy is for boys that, by birth or by attack, find themselves with the wolf spirit running through their blood, but we take in anyone that needs a place. If the need exists, we also take in the siblings of the ones that are affected. Those are the females that attend The Academy.”

  I hear what he is saying, but my eyes have not left the painting. They are about ten years older than Wren and I are now, but the resemblance is uncanny. I am looking at an older version of Wren and myself.

  I think back to the story Wren told me. He is a descendant of the brothers, but he said I was from another spirit line, born out of wedlock. It doesn’t make sense. My parents were married when they had me, maybe the prophecy isn’t totally accurate.

  We are interrupted by a door opening down the hallway. A group of teenagers walk out, all but one of them boys. When I think back on it, I realize most of the people I saw from The Academy were boys.

  When the group of teenagers sees us, they stop and stare.

  Wren breaks the silence. “Jamie, I’d like you to meet some of the students that live here at The Academy. Jack, Matt, Brad, Chloe … this is Jamie.”