Secret Wolves: Supernatural Shifter Academy Series

by Bailey, G.

  "Sorry," I reply as I step through the door. "Force of habit."

  "Well, your timing is good," Josie replies, getting up from the desk and passing me a file of papers. "I have the latest dossiers on possible first year recruits. All I need is your sign-off, and then Amelia and I can head out again."

  "At this rate we'll be overflowing," I say as I examine the documents.

  "That's a good problem," Josie says with a smile, and then excuses herself.

  Moments later, Amelia and Hunter emerge from the records room. "I'm just saying, I think you could stand to be a little harsher with your grading," she's saying to him. "People aren't going to learn if you don't incentivize them, Hunter."

  "Positive incentive, Amelia," Hunter replies, stopping dead in his tracks when he sees me. A smile spreads across his face. "Someone really intelligent taught me that once."

  I grin, ducking my head as Amelia turns to me. "Hey, Millie," she says. It's amazing how all her former hostility has melted away; fighting on the same side tends to do that to people. "How's it going?"

  "Not bad," I reply. "I figured I would stop by and see if Hunter was around."

  "I'll take that as my cue to leave," Amelia says with a sly smile as she heads for the door. "Don't get up to too much trouble, you two." And with a wink in her brother's direction, she's disappearing out the door.

  Hunter steps around the desk and pulls me into a tight embrace. His chest is warm, and I bury my face in it for a moment, basking in the feeling of closeness. "Missed you," he mumbles into my hair, and I can feel him smile against my scalp.

  "It's been a while," I agree, pulling back to look him in the eyes. I have to crane my neck; sometimes I'm still surprised by how tall he is. His ocean blue eyes are bright, full of energy in spite of the long week he's put in preparing for the holiday break. "How are your students?" I ask when I finally pull away from him.

  "They're doing well, I think," the vampire shifter replies. "I'm still not sure I'm totally qualified to be teaching them, but…"

  "Hey." I take his face in my hands. "They admire you, Hunter. That's the most important thing. They look up to you. They know what kind of difference you've made in this place."

  "And I'm sure the fact that my father's a board member isn't influencing their opinions in the slightest," he remarks dryly.

  I interrupt him with a kiss, pulling him close in the warmth of the office. "You're cute when you get self-conscious," I mumble against his mouth.

  I feel his smile broaden. "I know." Pulling away, he interlocks his fingers with mine. "Come on," he says, tugging me in the direction of the door. "Are you up for a drink?"

  "Depends on what kind of drink," I reply. "As awesome as your blood is, Hunter, I think I'm more in the mood for something alcoholic."

  "Good," he says as we leave the office. The air outside is bitterly cold, hitting my face full-force, and I shrink against it, unable to keep from shivering. This doesn't go unnoticed by Hunter, who pulls me against his body, his arm draping around my shoulders. "I've got something better in mind." Tucked into his side, I allow him to lead me down the path and off to the right, away from the faculty building.

  "Where are we going?" I ask.

  "The board members' cottages are this way," Hunter explains. "I think it's high time I introduce my girlfriend to my parents. Officially, I mean."

  My blood immediately runs cold. "Excuse me? Parents?"

  Hunter laughs. "Relax. They already know we're dating, Boots."

  "Yeah," I protest, feeling color creeping into my cheeks that's decidedly not due to the cold, "but I'm willing to bet they don't know you're not the only one who's dating me."

  We continue to follow the cobblestone path, skirting around the outside of the quad in the direction of the faculty quarters. A few clusters of students are still milling about, done with classes for the day and eager to get back to the warmth of the dorms. As we pass by the academic building, a couple of freshman girls ogle Hunter, starstruck looks in their eyes as they whisper to one another about the President and her significant other. If Hunter notices the attention, he pays it no mind, looking at me like I'm the center of his universe. It's enough to chase my self-consciousness away entirely, and by the time we arrive outside the cottage marked "Mr. and Mrs. Ash," the worst of my nerves have abated.

  Hunter knocks on the door, his grip on my hand tightening almost imperceptibly. There's a pause, and then the face of a red-haired woman appears in the doorway. She's the spitting image of Amelia, and her expression brightens the moment she sees Hunter.

  "Sweetheart," she exclaims, pulling him into an embrace. "What a nice surprise!" I've seen her around, between the previous administrative visits to the campus and the ill-fated Boston conference, but I never put her association to Hunter together until now. Her blue eyes sweep over me, and I can't get over the feeling that she's assessing me, deciding whether I'm worthy of her son.

  Her gaze lingers on Hunter's and my joined hands for a moment, but her warm smile doesn't waver for an instant.

  "Mum," Hunter says, "I'd like to officially introduce you to Millie Brix. She's my, uh… girlfriend." He sounds like he's almost marveling at the word.

  There's a beat, and then another, and I'm on the verge of panicking and making a break for it when Hunter's mother extends a hand to me, her smile growing. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Ms. Brix," she says warmly. "I've heard a lot about you. Come in, please—it's freezing out here."

  A few minutes later I'm shrugging off my scarf and curling up next to Hunter on his parents' loveseat. The space is pretty small in here, not surprising, considering the board members' cottages are mostly reserved for the rare occasions when they visit the campus. They've been spending a fair amount of time here recently, though, helping with the transition process and voting on measures I've proposed as President. It's still bizarre that people decades older and more experienced than me are suddenly deferring to me about the management of the Academy, but if there's one thing I've learned from all of this, it's that humans and shifters have greatly differing definitions of the word "normal".

  "Blood?" asks Hunter's mom, turning around to reveal her shifted form, fangs prominent. In her hand is a wine bottle, but something tells me its contents didn't come from grapes.

  I turn to Hunter, raising my eyebrows. He's already in his vampire form. "I know you said alcohol," he murmurs to me, "but blood is just as good to us vamps."

  "There's a first time for everything," I reply gamely before shifting into a vampire.

  Looking pleased, Mrs. Ash pours some of the thick red liquid into a glass and hands it to me. I take an experimental sniff, marveling at how something that would normally smell disgusting now makes my mouth water. I can't resist drinking deeply, relishing in the taste, and Hunter eyes me with an affectionate grin. "Well?" he asks.

  "I'll take this over pinot grigio any day," I joke, making both him and his mother laugh.

  "I apologize that my husband isn't here right now," Mrs. Ash says, taking a seat across from us in a plush leather armchair. At the far end of the room, a roaring fire in the fireplace is helping to heat the building up, but I find myself clinging more steadfastly to Hunter for warmth. "He's been called back to Europe to discuss reopening the French Academy. This new push of yours to get the other teaching sites reopened all over the world is… surprising, I have to say."

  It's the type of question that could make a person balk, but there's no hostility in her tone—merely curiosity. "It is," I acknowledge, "but considering the number of new shifters we're finding every day, we have to make sure they can all be taught safely. Even better to start up a school that we can rebuild from the ground up."

  "Better for preventing corruption," Hunter adds. "Millie is trying to prevent more young shifters from being handed over to the humans for experimentation." He casts me an admiring look. “There's more to helping shifters thrive than just teaching them how to use their powers."

  "Speaking
of which," says Mrs. Ash, "I understand I have you to thank for teaching Hunter how to finally shift, Millie."

  I blush a little. "Hunter was the one to make the change, Mrs. Ash. I just helped him along."

  "You're being too modest," Hunter teases me. "Mum can vouch for me. I was a lost cause."

  "Hardly," I protest, unsure how to react to the compliment.

  "You made my son into a real shifter," insists Mrs. Ash. "More than that, though, I don't think it would be exaggerating to say you brought him back to life, Millie."

  I blink, looking from mother to son. "It's true," Hunter says quietly, his voice suddenly tender. "I didn't see a place in this world for me, Boots. Now that I think about it, you were as lost as I was. Maybe more. No parents, no community…"

  "I had you," I reply quietly, my heart leaping in my chest under his smoldering gaze.

  "And he had you," Mrs. Ash adds.

  "Damn right I did, and I didn't even realize it at first." Hunter pulls me closer, and even though his vampire body is cold, I still feel warmer than ever. "I don't care where my place is in the world anymore," he tells me seriously. "As long as it's with you."

  I'm stunned into silence, unsure how to react to such a raw display of affection. For a moment, a sense of discomfort at the public nature of his confession settles over me but then Hunter's mother speaks up and breaks it with a single question. "So why does he call you 'Boots', anyway?"

  The time clicks by easily after that, and with the metaphorical ice broken and the blood flowing, the conversation grows ever more entertaining. Mrs. Ash plies us with the classic "meeting the parents" stories—mostly referring to Hunter's childhood and his early difficulties mastering his shifting abilities—which Hunter takes in stride.

  By the time we stumble back out of the cottage, swaying on our feet and laughing like there's no tomorrow, we're past the point of being tipsy, and without having touched a smidge of actual alcohol. "Okay, okay, you're right," I manage to tell Hunter through the giggles, still in my vampire form and with no plans to shift back for the foreseeable future, "you were right—blood is better than booze."

  "You're only realizing this now?"

  I collapse into his side, more laughter taking hold of me. "Don't rub it in," I tell him teasingly.

  "I'm just saying," he replies, ruffling my hair with a hand, "you owe me for introducing it to you."

  "I guess I'll just have to come up with some way of repaying you," I reply, linking my arms around his neck.

  Hunter raises his eyebrow. "Is that a promise?"

  "Let's find out," I tell him, and pull him in for a kiss.

  The cold doesn't even make a difference.

  * * *

  For someone who's been on the wrong side of a detention room more often than the right one, Shade has by far been the biggest surprise in the aftermath of our fight with Hawthorne. To be honest, I had the most doubts about putting him in charge of his own class, considering his temper and general disdain for academics on the whole. But his understanding of the mechanics of shapeshifting is more progressive than that of anyone else, even many of the former Academy professors, and there was no question that he should have a shot.

  What's surprised me is how quickly he's taken to the whole thing, almost as if to spite anyone who had misgivings. His methods are decidedly Shade-like, which might spell trouble for anyone else, but they have, in fact, made him one of the most popular instructors at the new Academy. The only downside? When you have a whole school clamoring to be taught by you, you're not left with a great deal of free time. It's always the same issue.

  An issue that's presently on my mind as I make my way through one of the upper floors of the academics building, on my way to the Intermediate Wolf Shifting classroom. It's been a while since I've seen my temperamental boyfriend, and although there's been talk behind the scenes of constructing a wing in the faculty housing for me and the guys to all live in the same space, nothing concrete has happened yet. There are more important things to concentrate on.

  Nonetheless, I can't stop from smiling when I approach the classroom and hear Shade's commanding voice exclaiming, "Seriously, Ryerson?! Is that the best bite you can manage? My grandmother could do better…" His voice trails off when he catches a glimpse of me leaning in the doorway, and he grins. "All right, guys, that's enough for today," he says. "Take the extra five minutes to… do whatever it is you guys do."

  The students get up in a flurry, already chattering with one another. A couple of them cast longing gazes in Shade's direction, but he's already making his way over to me. "Hey," he says once everyone has left, closing the door behind him and kissing me quickly. "Been a while, Boots."

  "Unfortunately," I agree, basking in the feeling of his body pressed against mine. "It feels like I haven't seen any of you guys in weeks."

  "Yeah, way to neglect your significant others," the wolf shifter jokes. "God forbid you have a school to run."

  "And I'm not the only one," I reply, laughing. "You've really taken to this teaching thing, haven't you?"

  "For God's sake, don't tell anyone," Shade says. "I've worked hard for this reputation, Boots."

  I cross my heart. "Your secret's safe with me, Shade."

  "I know." He pulls me close again, and this time when he kisses me, he takes his time with it, humming with contentment when he feels me smiling against him. "So what do I owe the pleasure, Boots?" Crossing his arms over his chest, he gives me a disarming look with those silver eyes.

  "Is just wanting to see you enough?"

  The wolf shifter chuckles. "I don't believe you."

  "What—seriously?" I snort, shaking my head. "I swear, you're as bad as Hunter sometimes."

  Laughing, Shade runs a hand through his sandy locks. "You know, I'll take that as a compliment."

  I put my hands on my hips. "Wonders never cease." Moving back to perch on the edge of one of the desks, I eye him for a moment. "You know, considering how things worked out between the five of us…"

  Shade raises his eyebrows. "This should be good."

  I swat him lightly on the arm and continue, undeterred. "I'm just saying, it's a little surprising how, well… well everything has worked out. Us. This." I make a sweeping gesture with my arms. "I just… realize that it's not exactly normal, that's all."

  "Boots," Shade says, his eyes glinting with mischief, "what about any of us is 'normal'?"

  I laugh, rubbing the back of my neck. "Fair point. We all started out in the same place, as babies. It just…"

  "Makes sense," Shade finishes for me. There's a moment of silence, and he bumps the inside of my foot gently with his own. "Four shifters and a hybrid."

  "Yeah," I say, my smile diminishing just a little.

  The change doesn't go unnoticed. "What is it, Boots?" asks Shade.

  "Nothing," I reply, pinching the bridge of my nose. "I wasn't always a hybrid. That's all."

  "True," Shade agrees. "You used to be a human. We were shifters since birth."

  I nod slowly, unable to meet his eyes. "I've been… struggling with that a bit," I confess. "The idea that there won't be any more hybrids." Seeing Shade's brows furrow, I rush on. "I'm not saying I'm not happy we stopped him," I explain, already regretting bringing this up. "It's just—knowing that those experiments were what created me…"

  "Who says you're the only hybrid out there?" Shade points out. "I mean, Theo was a hybrid. Why shouldn't there be others?"

  I can't help but feel a pang in my chest at the mention of the name. The white-haired, white-eyed community leader still crops up in my thoughts from time to time. There was never anything between us, not really, but he represented possibilities. Sometimes I still wonder what things would be like now if I had taken him up on his offer to continue my bloodline, to bring more hybrids into the world. If I had taken that path, would he still be alive right now, I wonder? Would I?

  They're all questions without answers, and I have to shake myself to come back to the present. "I
suppose there could be," I acknowledge. "Theo was made by witches, not humans, so maybe…" But the possibility is both exhausting and maddening. To have history in both the human world and the shifter one, to feel like a freak even amongst freaks, isn't something that can be properly explained. "I just wish there were more of us," I admit. "A community. And with Theo gone, there's nothing I can do to continue that legacy."

  "Hey, now," Shade says, that annoyingly charming smirk in full bloom on his face. "Who said Theo was the only person you could have a legacy with?"

  Part of me wants to roll my eyes at the posturing, but the other is more focused on the butterflies that have erupted in my stomach. I settle for shuffling up to him with what I hope is a coy smile on my face and saying, "I wasn't aware you guys were offering."

  "Can't speak for them," the wolf shifter says, reaching down jokingly to press his hand to my stomach, "but I don't mind the idea of a few little Shades running around."

  "Sounds like a discussion we'll have to have as a group," I tell him sternly, grabbing his hand and bringing it up to my lips. "A long, long way into the future." Gently, I kiss his knuckles, smiling as I peer up into his gray eyes.

  "I can live with that," Shade replies, moving next to me and slinging an arm around my shoulders. "Now come on. Let's get out of here before those guys from admin figure out where you went."

  * * *

  Shade isn't the only one who subverted my expectations.

  This is a fact I'm pondering as I wander down the hallway of teachers' offices, searching for Silas's. The dragon shifter was the guy I fully expected to take to being an instructor, more so than any of the others. His temperament is perfect for it, and his head is in the right place—or at least, that was how it seemed to me. And I wasn't wrong, I think as I stop outside his office and peer in through the window. He's doing incredibly. His students love him. But…

  Silas's office is empty, and the lights are off. Frowning, I continue down the hallway until I reach one of the side exits and make my way out onto the grounds. But he's sad, another part of my mind speaks up.