by Alex Lidell
Fucking gravity is all I have time to think before launching myself away from the door just before the whole thing explodes. And not just the door, which flies off its hinges. Beakers, containers, the clock—everything in the room shatters with a spectacular fountain of shards. To top it off, as I take cover beneath one of the metal tables, a long crack takes hold in the wall facing the green.
If anyone didn’t know where I was before, they sure do now.
“Samantha!” Reese punches his fist through the crumpling wall, his hand bloody as he moves away the debris. “Samantha!”
“Here,” I try to shout, though the sound comes out in choking fits.
The Reese who shoves his way into the chem lab is nothing like the aloof instructor I’ve come to expect. With crisp movements, he checks the corners and blind spots of the room, a trained and honed military machine. Even after his gaze marks my location, he finishes scanning the room before grabbing the front of my shirt and dragging me out from under the table.
“Bleach?” he asks with a preternatural calm, his nostrils flaring delicately as he takes in my state.
I manage to nod.
Before I can say a word, Reese is ripping off all my clothes and dragging me naked to the back of the room. Confusion rushes through my muddled brain, my hands digging into Reese’s powerful forearm. I don’t know what the male thinks he’s doing, but I know I need out of this room, not deeper into it.
“Shower,” Reese says in that too-calm voice of his, as if the word is code for something that makes sense. Though a moment later, it actually does, as the vamp pulls some kind of rope hanging off the ceiling and gallons of freezing water dump themselves onto my head. Who the hell knew there was a shower in the damn lab all along?
“A pack of rogue fae are attacking the Academy,” Reese says, pulling off his black T-shirt to give to me, his unsheathed sword held at the ready. With splashes of water on his smooth, pale skin, he seems to glisten under the harsh lab lights. “This room now has too many entrance points to defend. We need to move to a better position.”
“Humans hunters?” I pant now that I can breathe again, though my hands shake as I pull on the male’s shirt. Seems Asher and the nonstop drills he held before Victor showed up had it right.
“Rogue shifter fae,” Reese says, glancing over his shoulder at me. “Why are you here with bleach all over you?”
“Practicing magic.” I adjust the hem of his shirt, which hangs just to my thighs, and my attention follows Reese’s gaze to where the crack in the wall is spreading with silent determination. Given that the chem lab is about to be missing a wall, there seems little point in lying now.
“In the chemistry lab?”
“That’s where Victor told me to do it.”
Reese’s body stills, his cool blue eyes swinging toward me. “Victor. You’ve been practicing magic in secret with Victor.” The vamp holds his hand up, forestalling my answer as he peers out through the opening to the green. Despite his calm tone and crisp movements, the male’s jaw clenches hard enough that I can see a muscle ticking in his chiseled chin. “The attackers have breached the green, but we have a clear path to the gymnasium now.”
I nod, though Reese can’t see me, my pulse picking up speed. The gym and barracks are our shelter locations, the ones I’ve gone to many times in drills. Except now it’s for real.
As if scenting the healthy dose of anxiety that just spilled into my blood, Reese spares a glance toward me. “I need to you to stay right beside me, Samantha. Eyes on me. Your attention on me. Nowhere else.” Despite the shouting I can already hear coming from the other side of the wall, Reese’s voice stays even and confident, his strong fingers reaching out to touch my chin. “Do that, and I promise I’ll get you to the gym safely. Do you understand?”
“Can we stay here?” As if hearing my question, the building creaks ominously, a piece of the ceiling crashing down onto a nearby table. “Never mind. Let’s go.”
Reese nods once. “Let’s move,” he orders sharply, then leads the pair of us onto a green that looks nothing like the one I remember.
35
Sam
The blazing siren continues to sound as students rush over the grass toward garrison points, the rumbling chaos resembling nothing of Asher’s once-constant drills. Wind whistles through the air, billowing my shirt, my bare feet slipping against cold grass. The setting sun casts the whole world in brilliant pink-and-orange light—the lamps will come on soon, but the darkness will still give full fae an advantage over demis.
I try to keep my eyes on Reese as instructed, but manage only two heartbeats before the first ear-piercing scream snares my attention.
Turning my head, I see a pack of two dozen wolves rushing onto the green through the front gates, which have been smashed down, their graceful gray bodies leaping through the air. As one wolf after another streams into the open, the air around the predators shimmers, leaving grim fatigues-clad warriors in the animals’ place. The first three to shift swing their swords without bothering to look, and the next scream has a familiar voice.
Christian, Victor’s pet vamp, goes down with a blade sticking out of his eye. A moment later, Wayne and his fledgling pack are cut down as they try to outrun the immortals. My breath catches, my feet tripping on the grass.
This isn’t battle, I realize as my knees bang against the ground. It’s a mindless killing spree.
A strong hand closes on my upper arm, Reese’s steady voice and tangy scent cutting though my haze. “On your feet, Samantha,” the vamp says into my ear as if nothing at all is happening around us. “You are with me. It’s a hundred-yard sprint now. Nice and easy.”
I swallow and scramble back to my feet—only to stop dead as a familiar form jumps clear out of the second-story window of the cadets’ barracks, pale blond hair streaming behind him. Landing in a perfect crouch, Ellis moves with predator’s grace, his sword an extension of his body. He cuts two thugs’ throats before I can draw one breath. Again. Again. Again.
Screams and howls batter my eardrums.
I can feel shock sinking into my blood, my fingertips, my brain. I’ve never seen so many immortals in one place. I’ve never seen so much blood.
From the edges of the green, a host of Academy guards and instructors are coming to join the fight, others breaking out to herd the last of the cadets to the garrison points. But they don’t matter to me. Not when all I see is Ellis in the middle of a storm, dancing with his sword. Blood, at least some of it his, soaks his shirt. His face is calm and deadly. As is Asher’s as he joins the fight at his brother’s left side.
“Move,” Reese orders, yanking on my arm. “They’re buying us time, Sam. Let’s go.”
“That’s her!” A dark-bearded male across the green points his sword right at me, the long blade catching blood-orange sunset light like a streak of fire. “That’s her! Get the witch!”
My blood chills to ice. Me. This is happening because of me.
Reese curses, yanking me so hard that I nearly lose my footing as he starts us back into a sprint. But we aren’t the only ones running.
As if turned with the tide, a pack of five attackers separates from the main melee and head directly for us at an angle, half of them turning into wolves midstride to gain speed.
The hundred yards between us and the garrison point at the gymnasium are suddenly miles long, no matter how hard my legs pump against the ground. We’re halfway to safety when the pack intercepts us. Reese spins between me and a shifting fae, taking the tip of a sword in his shoulder. I scream, but Reese only grunts and strikes back immediately, his movements too fast for me to follow—until I hear the crunch of bone as Reese cleanly breaks the first attacker’s neck.
“Run, Samantha,” he orders, his voice steel, his body sinking into a defensive crouch to meet the coming rogue. Reese doesn’t sound scared at all, but I know well enough what happens when bare hands fight steel. Know that if I run, this will be the last time I ever see him.<
br />
A dam inside me bursts open, letting in the rage and fear and enough fucking determination to down the whole damn world. It’s me the jackasses are here for, and they will not spill my males’ blood. My males. Rage fills me, bees buzzing and crackling inside my blood.
I spread my bare feet against the grass, feeling the cold grounding earth beneath me as the world around me seems too slow, each movement and sound and smell its own distinct thread.
The copper of blood mixing with the sweet scent of fresh-cut grass.
The cold wind cutting across my damp skin, the sensation simultaneously stinging and energizing.
Threads of saliva whipping back from a gray wolf’s lip as it hurtles through the air.
My males. Ellis’s powerful legs kicking a foe so hard that the male goes airborne before falling. Asher taking a slash across his biceps to protect his brother’s back. Reese twisting an attacker’s arm while another readies to sink his sword into the back of Reese’s neck.
“Stop,” I yell, and I feel my command crackle through the thick, thick air. The buzzing in my blood intensifies, growing louder and louder until I’m certain the whole green must hear it. Must feel how overfull, how saturated the whole damn world has suddenly become, the pressure building and building until—
Until it suddenly gives with a clap of thunder and lightning, the energy surging from both the unnaturally gathering clouds and me.
The witch they came here to capture.
Sinking an invisible hand into my thick, palpable magic, I launch it right at the male holding his sword at Reese’s neck. It feels like launching a grenade, except instead of exploding, the little bubble of magic becomes a target for a live jolt of electricity crackling down from the sky.
The male has no chance to scream before he falls, and I have no time to watch his demise. Focusing my power, I bring it down onto the green in a rhythmic crack crack crack of lightning, throwing my targets where I want them, spinning to launch the next before even waiting to check my aim. I beat out a circle all around the battleground, taking out those warriors who still dare to stand against us.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
Rain streams from the sky, each bolt of lightning eliminating the night’s growing darkness. The power vibrates through me like music along the strings of Cassis’s piano. Ready to be played. To be turned into a beautiful melody or a deadly crescendo of notes. When my next crack of power reflects off a downed sword, I snatch the steel from the ground and hold it above my head, attracting a bolt of lightning that flows through me with gentle warmth, grounding in the earth below my feet.
“Get. Out!” I yell over the momentary silence, my control over my magic slipping at last with a final great crack hitting the crumpling chem lab.
The rogue wolves need no further invitation to flee.
36
Sam
Of all things I expect to happen next, the sound of applause is far down the list. Yet, as I stand there, naked beneath Reese’s oversized shirt, the sound of exactly one person clapping rings through the singed air.
Dressed impeccably as always, in a dark suit and bloodred tie, Victor walks toward me with a small smile in his black eyes. King Bryant walks beside him, the wet grass squelching under his expensive loafers, his face unreadable. The quietness around the green changes, even the whimpers of the wounded becoming subdued in the background as I raise my chin and meet the two males’ penetrating gazes.
My heart pounds against my chest as they stop before me, and I tighten my hand around the hot hilt of my new sword. Its smooth leather grip makes me feel less vulnerable—not that I’d have any idea what to do with the thing.
Though the rain is continuing to pour, the high of energy still buzzes inside me.
“Well, it is a day of most unexpected events, isn’t it?” Victor says with a cold smile, directing the words more to Bryant than to me.
Slightly shorter than Victor, the tanklike Bryant—who I last saw wearing a public defender’s disguise—tips his head in acknowledgment. When his blue eyes meet mine, however, the hate and fury inside them is enough to make my blood chill.
“I do thank you for bringing us forewarning of the attack, Bryant,” Victor continues, giving the fae king a short bow. “Your timeliness doubtless saved many lives.”
“It was the least I could do.” Bryant returns the bow, the tension between the men as palpable as my magic. “No leader likes to learn that rogue packs fester in his realm, but I thought mitigating the potential damage was the immediate priority. But it seems you had everything well in hand, Victor.” The king turns to me, his thin lips hardening almost imperceptibly. “I am a bit surprised, though, that you permit the witch quite such free rein on her magic. Are you certain it is safe for all cadets?”
I feel movement behind me, Reese’s minty ocean tang letting me know that he’s near, his quiet support calming my nerves. A few paces away, Ellis is inching his way toward me as well, though the male is careful to look anywhere but my face.
“She surprised us all.” Victor opens his palms, his hawk-eyed gaze clipping me for a moment. “Now that we know the magnitude of Samantha’s power, however, I’m certain we will be in a good position to help her harness it. The Academy is the place for just that, after all. Will you be making the report to the council about the attack, or should I take care of the paperwork for both of us?”
“I would never burden you with my paperwork, Count Victor.” Despite his generous tone, Bryant’s jaw is so tight that a vein pulses visibly along his temple. “Allow me to ease your job in one small way, though—I will take my delinquent pup home where he belongs. Ellis. Get your things.”
My throat tightens, the elation lingering from the battle morphing to a heart-pounding ache.
Bryant’s eyes narrow on me. “Is something the matter, Samantha?” he asks.
I don’t know what to say. Don’t even know what Ellis wants, given the male’s frozen silence, his opaque golden eyes.
Bryant snaps his fingers, pointing to a spot right in front of him. “Ellis.”
My stomach sinks as Ellis obeys, the beautiful, battle-torn male walking obediently toward the king. Three steps away. Two. With the final strong stride, Ellis steps…right beside me and turns crisply on his heels.
“No.” The single word crashes between the king and him with a finality that I know is deeper than I fully understand.
Bryant’s eyes widen, surprise and fury flashing in their blue depths. “That wasn’t a suggestion, Ellis.”
“And my answer was not a debate,” Ellis replies.
Behind me, Reese draws a rare breath. I know that provoking Bryant in the middle of the green was unlikely a wise move on Ellis’s part, but the male’s words flood me with relief anyway.
Victor clears his throat, his hand covering his mouth.
“Let me phrase it another way,” Bryant says, his low, menacing voice promising pain to come. “You return to Talon with me now, or you will never be allowed to step foot there again.”
Ellis stiffens beside me, and I know Bryant has hit so deep that I would not blame Ellis for leaving. Not with what the asshole king is threatening. Talon is Ellis’s home. The key to the male’s magic. The missing piece that always hangs at the corner of his mood, weighting him down with its absence.
Never is a very long time for an immortal. Much longer than a witch’s tiny life span.
“Well?” Bryant presses. “Have you made your decision?”
“Aye. I have.” Taking hold of my shoulders, Ellis turns me toward him and seals his mouth over mine with a possessive heat that chases the entire rest of the world away.
“So, are you still upset over me using magic?” I ask Reese as he and Ellis walk me back to my room.
Just moments ago, Victor escorted a red-with-fury Bryant off the green—and presumably back to his armored car and out of our lives. Asher immediately set to work restoring order at the Academy, cleaning up the battleground, organizing the wounded, and
making arrangements for the ten cadets who died.
“You really don’t want to know what I think,” Reese murmurs, the low warning in his voice making my sex grow damp and warm, especially when his hand snakes casually down my spine to my ass. Fuck. The fact that I’m half-naked and they are not is utterly unfair.
Ellis leads the way into the cadets’ barracks, the three of us climbing the steps together. I sniff audibly. “Well, I think you both need a shower.”
Ellis turns back to give me a predatory look over his shoulder. “Watch yourself, witch. You have no idea what battle fever does to a wolf.”
I swallow, my breath quickening. Fuck everything. I just want to get to my room, and then we can discuss exactly whose battle fever is—
“Stop it! No! Nooooo!” Mika’s wail seeps out from under our door into the hallway, sending the three of us into an all-out sprint.
Reaching the door first, Ellis doesn’t bother knocking before throwing his shoulder against it, the door giving beneath his force. A moment later, his curses join my roommate’s, and Reese grabs the back of my neck with a growl to keep my ass behind him.
“Status?” Reese asks, blocking my final step to the door with his arm.
“See for your bloody self,” Ellis calls out.
Shoving Reese aside, I rush into my room—and stop dead.
Down feathers, which once lived inside my two pillows, are now covering the entire space, the rest of the bed in similar cotton bits. My clothes, what’s left of them, have likewise been pulled from the dresser and shredded.
All courtesy of a little green…lizard monster thing that is now happily reducing my wooden chair to ash.
“Where did that come from?” I demand.
Mike throws up her hands. “The window.” She points to the broken glass. “I don’t know where it was before that. Or why it’s here now.”
