Secret Wolves: Supernatural Shifter Academy Series

by Bailey, G.

  My conversation with Theo back in Oxford is coming back to me in a surge, his unspoken but clear desire to be more than co-rebels, to further the hybrid cause as much as the cause of shifters in general. He knows I'm taken, I remind myself, but for some reason I still can't bring myself to look him in the eyes. Thankfully, we're given a reprieve when the sound of hurried footsteps comes from the side entrance to the restaurant. "Sir," says a voice, and as much as I wish it weren't familiar, it is.

  Whirling around in my seat, I find myself face to face with someone I'd hoped I would never see again in my life, and I can't keep my mouth from dropping open. "Lyle?"

  The American looks almost as shocked to see me as I am to see him. "Brix. No fucking way." Letting out a humorless laugh, he turns to Theo. "Joke's on me, right? You brought me down here just to see my reaction."

  Theo's brows knit together in confusion, a look I never would have expected on him. "I'm sorry?"

  Now it's Lyle's turn to look confused. "You mean…?"

  "What is he doing here?" I demand, turning back to Theo. "He's on their side!" And I'm not wrong. The last time I saw the vampire shifter was back in Boston, when Hawthorne and Russo, an American Academy president, turned on the students who were there for our ill-fated visit to the peace convention. He was actively trying to prevent us from leaving, and if Hunter hadn't stepped in, he might well have succeeded.

  "I could ask you the same thing," Lyle snaps at me.

  "I'm here to stop the Academy," I snap. "And you? Taking a break from being Russo's lackey so you can live it up in Scotland?"

  "Millie," Theo protests, "Lyle-"

  Lyle ignores him. "It's been a long time since the convention, Brix. Long enough for me to realize Russo has completely lost her mind." A shadow crosses his face as he puts his hands on his hips, looking down at the floor. "I fought for her, damn it. I actually believed her bullshit." Raising his eyes, he says, "No one's more pissed off at me for not seeing what was going on than I am. So you can take your guilt trip and shove it right up your-"

  "Lyle," snaps Theo, "you're not to speak to her that way. Ever."

  Chastened, Lyle raises his hands defensively. "It's all right," I say, my hackles lowering. "How did you manage to get over here anyway?"

  "It's not that hard, when you're one of their prized RAs," the vampire shifter says, taking the spare seat at the table. "I told her I was going to track down a couple runaways, and just never went back."

  "That was… bold of you," I admit begrudgingly. "I guess I can't fault you for tenacity."

  "No one ever could," Lyle says, extending his hand to me. "Look, Brix, I know we got off on the wrong foot, and I know you don't like me. But we're on the same side here, whether we like each other or not. So what do you say?" He nods down at his hand. "Fresh start?"

  I stared down at the proffered hand for a long moment before hesitantly taking it and giving it a brisk shake. "Fresh enough," I state.

  "Well," Theo says, still looking somewhat taken aback, "I'm glad that's settled."

  "So what did you bring me down here for?" Lyle asks, scooting in.

  "We need your expertise," Theo explains. "It's my understanding that you know where a shifter might be able to… acquire certain enchanted items."

  "I have been keeping up with the black market," Lyle admits, "but there are never any guarantees with these people."

  "We don't need a guarantee," I tell him. "We just need possible."

  Theo nods. "We're looking for a tracking device," he explains. "The key to stopping the humans might be in finding a single witch shifter."

  "Those are rare," Lyle says, leaning back in his chair and pursing his lips.

  "Can you think of anyone?" Theo prompts. "Location doesn't matter."

  "Not off the top of my head," admits Lyle, "but I might know of an alternative."

  "Which is?" I ask, drumming my fingers on the tabletop.

  "I'm not the best person to explain it," Lyle replies, "but I know of a guy in Glasgow. He mentioned some kind of charm on the site I frequent - if we're lucky, he might still have it."

  "Excellent," says Theo, and I feel a wave of renewed optimism. "Do you have his contact information? Do you know where we can find him?"

  "Give me a few minutes,” the vampire shifter replies, “and I can find out.”

  I don’t realize how mentally drained I am until after I leave the restaurant, feeling like I’m only just now letting out a breath that I’ve been holding for hours. The bubbly concierge greets me as soon as I leave the restaurant, and proceeds to escort me through the lobby into a lavish elevator leading to an equally lavish third floor. There are more guests mingling about up here, all of them shapeshifters of different ages and proficiencies. It’s only as I’m approaching my room that I run into Landon, who is leaning against the balcony and watching the guests down below. “Hey,” he says, turning to me. “How did it go?”

  I can only look at him with a half-smile and reply, “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

  Chapter 74

  “I still can’t believe we’re actually listening to this guy,” Shade snarks as we make our way down the Edinburgh street. It’s been less than a day since our arrival, and by all accounts, dragging myself out of bed this morning should have taken a miracle (especially considering how far I jumped us yesterday), but once again, I barely feel the need to recuperate. Six hours of sleep and I’m already springing into action again in the morning. I barely even needed any tea to wake myself up. Needless to say, I can understand the guys’ relative grouchiness, all things considered.

  “I still can’t believe you didn’t rip his damn head off, Hunter,” Landon jokes. “As far as assholes go, he’s easily one of the highlights we’ve met so far.”

  “Are you sure we can even trust him, Boots?” Hunter asks, ignoring Landon’s gibe. “Just because he says he’s on our side now…”

  “I wondered the same thing,” I admit. “But it sounds like there are plenty of other rebels who can corroborate his story. And besides, Theo seems to trust him.”

  “Theo, Theo, Theo.” Shade shakes his head sullenly. “The sooner we can get away from that self-righteous son of a bitch, the happier I’ll be.”

  “Enemy of my enemy, remember?” Silas reminds him, casting an unreadable glance in my direction.

  Silence overtakes our group, and I fall silent, unsure what to say. It’s early yet, before the morning rush hour traffic really takes off, and the only sounds are the occasional chirping of a bird and the scuff of our soles on the pavement. In the heavy quiet, I tune in once more with my body—particularly, the almost overwhelming pool of power that’s lighting up my stomach like the world’s coldest thunderstorm. It feels as though my magic is trying to claw its way out, to wreak havoc and destruction on anyone unfortunate enough to get close to me.

  Swallowing hard, I pick up the pace, speeding ahead of the rest of the guys. “Boots?” I hear Landon call after me. “You all right?”

  “I’m fine,” I reply quickly. “It’s just chilly out here. That’s all.” Thankful none of them can see the blatant fear on my face, I pull my jacket more tightly around myself. It is chilly—more than chilly, in fact; it’s fucking cold, especially for this time of year. A thick fog seems to have descended on downtown Edinburgh almost as quickly as we left the hotel, and it’s making me shiver. The address Lyle gave me isn’t really a proper address at all; according to him, the man we’re supposed to meet, who only goes by the name Nathan, lives under the bridge that passes over the Water of Leith.

  We make our way through the thick mist in silence, each of us mostly lost in our own thoughts, and although the sun is gradually rising in the sky, it doesn’t burn off the fog like I would expect. In fact, the farther north we go, the thicker it seems to get. It gets to the point where I can barely see in front of my face, goosebumps sprouting on my arms. The feeling of a hand on my wrist makes me yelp, but my hand goes to my chest when I realize it’s just S
hade, who has caught up to me in the mist. “Sorry,” he says, his hand slipping into mine, “didn’t mean to scare you.”

  “It’s okay,” I reply. Shade’s hand creeps up to gently chafe my upper arm. The motion helps warm me up; sensing this, he pulls his body flush against his side. “Is everyone staying close?”

  “Barely,” Landon gripes from somewhere behind me. “I lived in Scotland my whole life, and I’ve never seen weather quite like this.”

  “So am I going to be the one to say it, then?” Hunter’s voice comes through the fog to my left.

  “Magic, no doubt,” says Silas. “I’ll take that as a sign we’re heading in the right direction.”

  “Are we, though?” asks Shade. “We could be going straight off a cliff and I wouldn’t be able to tell.”

  “Boots,” says Landon, “you wouldn’t happen to have any light spells in that head of yours, would you?”

  “Nothing I trust myself to cast,” I admit. Knowing what’s been happening lately, I might very well blind someone in the process. “Silas…?”

  “On it,” the dragon shifter affirms. Flickering embers rise in his throat, illuminating his tall figure with a flickering glow reminiscent of candlelight. It’s not enough to burn the fog away, which is probably a good thing - starting a fire in public isn’t exactly on my agenda for the day - but it’s enough to at least get a better view of where we are. Turns out, we have indeed strayed from our path, at some point getting turned around completely. “Look,” Landon says, pointing down in the glow of Silas’ flames. “Let’s follow the river.”

  Not needing to be told twice, the five of us work our way down the riverbank, becoming aware of the distant sounds of shouting and honking car horns. Clearly, this isn’t a normal weather phenomenon—an omen if I’ve ever seen one—and it seems to have already caused a couple of traffic accidents. The strange thing is that the sounds around us seem muffled, like someone draped a blanket over the five of us. Whatever this is, it was clearly meant to keep intruders out, particularly intruders of the shifter disposition.

  After what feels like an eternity, we’re finally able to make out the form of the high metal bridge rising out of the mist. It’s imposing in its own right, and the fact that I can’t see what’s beneath it only adds to its eeriness. “Nice digs,” Landon quips. “It almost reminds me of—” But his voice is immediately cut off as something snatches him out of the mist, knocking the breath from his lungs.

  “Landon!” I cry, pulling away from Shade and staring frantically into the mist.

  The sound of a mighty roar pierces the silence, followed by a grunt in pain from the siren shifter. A dragon.

  I roll my shoulders back. “Millie, wait—” begins Hunter, but I ignore him, whipping my dragon wings out and spouting a pillar of flame into the air. That lights up the world around me, giving me a view of the all-too-familiar dragon who is now shaking Landon in his jaw’s.

  I may not be great with faces, but I recognize Silas’ father when I see him—and so, apparently, does Silas, who intensifies his own fire with a roar of dismay. I swoop in to rescue Landon, descending on the other dragon’s back with enough force to make his mouth drop open. Landon tumbles downward, shifting into his siren form just in time to plunge gracefully into the water. The element of surprise is only going to get me so far, however, and Silas’ father flings me off his back with one easy whip of his tail. Thinking fast, I use a blast of telekinetic magic to cushion my impact with the ground. “Boots,” Silas yells. “You okay?”

  “Don’t worry about me,” I call back.

  “Millie.” The pleading in his voice is enough to give me pause. “Don’t hurt him.”

  A moment passes, and I nod. “I won’t, Silas.”

  Shade has already leapt down the bank in his wolf form to help Landon out of the water, although to my relief, the siren shifter is more or less unscathed. Hunter, meanwhile, is standing in front of Silas to shield our light source from an unexpected blow. It’s up to me.

  Flinging my arms out in front of me, I shift immediately into my witch form. Force fields are still a relatively new concept to me, but I know enough to do what I need to do. Summoning a fresh wave of energy, I conjure a spherical force field around Silas’ father and use it to carry him up and over our heads. I then launch it as far away from where we are as I can, not letting the barrier drop until I’m confident that the senior Aconyte has safely reached the ground. “That should keep him busy for a while,” I say, just as Landon and Shade reunite with us. Hurrying up to the siren shifter, I throw my arms around him. “You okay, Landon?”

  “As good as I’ll ever be,” he replies, before turning to Silas, who is still staring in the direction I sent this father. “I’m more worried about you.”

  “I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it,” Silas says flatly, before shaking himself. “Thank you, Boots. That was a close one.”

  “That son of a bitch Lyle set us up,” Shade growls, his wolf eyes flashing. “This Nathan guy is working for Hawthorne, guaranteed.”

  “Working for who?” comes a voice from in front of us. Just like that, the mist begins to clear, revealing a stout, bearded man wearing, of all things, a fanny pack. “Bold of you to assume I’d do anything for that bastard. Whatever problems you’ve brought here, that’s on you. You’d think the fog would be enough of a deterrent, but some people just don’t know when enough is enough.”

  “You must be Nathan, I take it,” says Hunter, crossing his arms.

  The man, Nathan, sweeps into a bow. “In the flesh and at your service… depending on what the service is.” His eyes land on me. “And who is this lovely specimen?”

  I honestly can’t tell if he’s pulling my leg, so I ignore the question completely. “Lyle Morgan told us you’d be able to help us.”

  “Lyle Morgan?” Nathan scoffs. “Give me a break. Kid’s slimier than algae.”

  “Maybe,” acknowledges Silas, “but he said you might have a charm we need.”

  Nathan crosses his arms. “Depends on the charm.”

  “Shifters are being brainwashed,” I say, not wanting to beat around the bush. “Our best guess is that a witch shifter is responsible. We need some way of tracking them down.”

  A slow smile creeps onto Nathan’s face. “Interesting,” he says, nodding. “I think I know what you need.” Without any ceremony, he begins to rummage in his fanny pack before withdrawing what looks like an intricate wire medallion hanging from a cord. “I lifted this from a coven in France,” he says, sounding proud. “This’ll lead you to the caster of any enchantment you can think of. Trackers everywhere would kill for it. There is a catch, though,” he adds somberly. “The person wearing it needs to be under the same enchantment.”

  “So…” I clear my throat. “We would have to put this on someone already being mind-controlled.”

  “Bingo.” I reach for the amulet, but Nathan snatches it away. “I have a lot of buyers asking about this,” he tells me. “You want it, we’re going to have to talk numbers.”

  “Let’s just take it from him,” snaps Shade. “He’s a human. It’ll be easy.”

  He advances on Nathan, who takes a step back and holds out his arm. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, wolf boy,” he advises. “You wouldn’t believe some of the charms I have on me. You’ll be dead before you hit the ground.”

  “It’s fine,” Hunter says, stepping forward. “Name your price.” His wallet is already out, a wad of bills in his hand.

  “That’s more like it,” Nathan crows. “Let’s say an even thousand and we’ll call it good.”

  Hunter rolls his eyes, but concedes. “Fine.” He forks over the requisite amount of money, making Landon raise his eyebrows, before extending his hand. “The amulet.”

  But a wicked glimmer is already flickering in Nathan’s eyes, making his heart sink. “You really are a bunch of pushovers, aren’t you?” he says, grinning.

  I see him reaching back into his pack and I cry ou
t, but not even my new reflexes are enough to prevent the subsequent explosion.

  Chapter 75

  At first I'm not sure what's happened, which, added to the fact that the world seems to have fallen into slow motion, makes for a few panic-inducing seconds. The explosion is relatively small, like a burst of fire from an unattended tank of gasoline, but we're already confined by the bridge above us and the water below us. The heat wave strikes me painfully in the chest, scorching my face and bringing with it the smell of singed hair, but the force of it is what sends me stumbling back, careening into Shade in the process. The wolf shifter lets out a startled cry as he tumbles to the ground, shifting into his form as he goes, and that's all I get a glimpse of before the fog is back in full force, like a tarp hasn't just been thrown over my face.

  "Shit!" I hear Landon say. And a steadying hand touches the small of my back. "Everyone okay?"

  "The amulet," Silas yells, and a flash of fire and the flapping of wings next to me alerts me to his presence, speeding past with enough force to ruffle my tangled chestnut hair.

  "Shade," I cry, throwing my hands out in front of me, "Hunter-"

  "He's getting away!" Shade exclaims, charging past me in a blur of fur as his superior sense of smell guides him through Nathan's obfuscation.

  Thinking fast, I shift into my vampire form, using my now superior speed to keep up with Shade's enhanced agility as he bolts through the mist. It's thicker than butter, but in this form I can sense every vibration of the air and water vapor around me, giving me a handy idea of which direction the wolf shifter is going.

  I can smell human blood, too, and the source is moving rapidly away from us. He was trying to screw us over, I think as I continue my mad dash, just not in the way we thought. This prompts a fresh flood of anger and frustration, which propels me forward with a newfound enthusiasm. Hunter is somewhere to my right, keeping up with me, and a splash below tells me Landon has jumped into the river where he'll benefit most from his impressive swimming ability.