“Someone else was attacked. They turned last night.”
My stomach churned, and I doubled over. Someone else. The shifter who bit me had gone after someone else. Their life had been ruined, because Draeven and the druids had been fighting over the wrong guy. A guy who’d been locked up because I hadn’t been able to tell Draeven anything about the night I’d been attacked. Because I hadn’t been able to identify the wolf that had done it. I was as guilty as the wolf who’d bitten me. That wasn’t acceptable.
I gritted my teeth and forced myself back upright.
“What can I do to help?”
“You need to focus on yourself.”
“That’s not going to cut it, Shaun,” I said, and caught the rising volume of my voice. I lowered it and made myself carry on. “This is my fault. I need to make it right.”
“No. This was the action of a criminal. You aren’t to blame, Jade. Look at me. This is not your fault.”
His eyes burned into mine and I broke away, not because of any compulsion to submit, but because I couldn’t stand to see the faith there. The sincerity. Because I could have stopped this, and we both knew it.
“Look at me,” he said again. “This is not your fault. You didn’t bite that man.”
“No, I just didn’t give Draeven what he needed to know he had the wrong person. Two months, Shaun. Two months they could have been looking for the shifter responsible. That’s on me.”
I wrapped my arms around myself, like I could disappear into them and hide from this whole sorry mess. This sorry mess I could have prevented.
“No, it’s not. What happened is not your fault.”
“Please,” I said, and my voice came out as little more than a whisper. “Please, stop saying that.”
“You need to hear this. It was not your fault.”
“I should have found a way to remember. I should have fought back harder when he attacked me. I should never have gone to the farm alone. I should–”
The words dissolved into sobs, and then Shaun’s arm was around me, comforting me when I didn’t deserve any comfort, and I gave in to the tears and just let them flow.
I don’t know how long I cried – truly cried for the first time since this had all started, but Shaun just let me get it all out, making soothing noises until I ran out of tears.
I drew in a shuddering breath and dragged my hand across my eyes. Shaun squatted in front of me at arm’s length.
“I’m going to say it one more time,” he said. “And then you’re going to say it. Okay? It was not your fault. There was nothing you could have done.”
“It… it wasn’t my fault,” I mumbled, my voice uncertain. Shaun nodded his encouragement. “There was nothing I could have done.”
“Exactly.” His eyes searched my face, and I wasn’t sure what they found there. “You’re not responsible for the actions of another person. Nothing you did caused any of this. None of it, you understand?”
I nodded and he got up and moved away, then returned with a glass of water. We both sat in silence until I finished it.
“I still want to help,” I said. Shaun opened his mouth to speak, but I shook my head and carried on. “Not for the reasons you think. I know what he’s going through. Probably better than anyone else alive. I remember how awful those first weeks were.”
Shaun watched me silently, and I could see him weighing my words. Eventually, he nodded.
“I think you’re right. But I don’t want you jeopardising your own progress. You’ve worked so hard to get where you are. We’ll go and see him, but only as long as it doesn’t set you back. The minute it gets too much, I want you to tell me.”
“Oh, please,” I said, forcing false bravado into my voice, and a cocky smile onto my face. “I’m Jade Hart. I can handle anything.”
“Yeah, that’s what I was afraid of. Come on.”
He led me from his office down to the once-familiar dungeon door. I hadn’t been back here for a while, and I hadn’t planned to come back any time soon – but fate seemed to take a certain amount of pleasure in pissing on my plans.
He paused, one hand on the door.
“Ryan, he… Well, I want you to prepare yourself. He’s not adjusting well.”
“Pfft. I survived your psychoanalysis attempt. This is nothing.”
“I’m serious, Jade.”
I held his eye.
“So am I. I’m ready for this.”
He searched my face for a long, uncomfortable moment before he dipped his chin, and pushed open the door. We descended the stone staircase in silence, into the corridor lit with an odd combination of flickering lights and flaming torches. A shudder ran through me, and I stifled it before Shaun could notice and insist I go back out again. Truth was, I had no idea if I was ready for this. But that had never stopped me before.
A figure loomed at the bottom of the stairwell, and it took a moment for my eyes to pick him out in the dim light. When I did, my bravado failed and I blanched, falling a few steps behind Shaun. Fletcher fixed his eyes on us – on me – and I could see the tension in his jaw.
“What is she doing here?”
“Jade thought she could help, and I agree,” Shaun said, as we reached the bottom of the steps. Fletcher stood in the middle of the corridor, blocking our path.
“She shouldn’t even know.”
“She had a right to know.”
“A right?” Fletcher laughed; an angry, mocking sound. “She’s not even one of us. Four months ago, she was trying to scale the walls and endanger the local mundane population.”
“Uh, I never wanted that,” I put in, raising a hand. Both the instructors ignored me.
“And that is exactly why she’s uniquely qualified to help with this situation.”
“And what else have you told her?”
My interest sharpened, though I stayed half-hidden behind Shaun. Fletcher scared the crap out of me when he wasn’t pissed off.
“She knows about Ryan, and she knows about Leo.”
The two men shared an unspoken conversation in the dimly lit hallway, and eventually some of the stiffness eased from Fletcher’s shoulders.
“Fine. But I don’t like it, and I want that on record with Alpha Blake.”
“Noted.”
Fletcher glared past Shaun to me, and the skin between my shoulder blades prickled with cold anxiety.
“You will not utter a word to anyone about Ryan until we deem that he is ready to join the academy’s population. And you will never come down here without an escort, or you will find yourself back in a cell. Permanently. Is that clear?”
I swallowed and ducked my head.
“Yes, Instructor Fletcher.”
He turned and placed his hand on the first door on the left.
“Why don’t you leave this to us?” Shaun suggested. “I’m sure Alpha Blake would like to be appraised of recent developments.”
Fletcher brushed past us up the stairs, and the tingling sensation went with him.
“Still want to do this?” Shaun asked. I nodded. “Alright.”
He opened the door and swung it inwards, then stepped aside for me to enter. I took a deep breath and crossed the threshold.
Chapter Nineteen
He was a little older than me, perhaps by a year or two, and he was sitting at the back of his cell, glowering out at us like his personal trip to hell was our fault.
It wasn’t an entirely unfair accusation – Shaun had let him get locked in a cage, and I was standing right here with him. Guilty by association. When I’d been on the other side of those bars, I probably looked at them all like that, too.
“Hey, Ryan,” I said, stepping closer to the bars so he could see me properly. “I’m Jade.”
Ryan looked from me to Shaun and snorted.
“What, the intimidation act didn’t work, so you decided to try the honey trap instead?”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” I said, and his eyes snapped back to me. “But no. That’s
not why I’m here.”
“Then why?”
“I know what you’re going through.”
He curled his lip, running his eyes over me, sizing me up. I could guess what he saw: an eighteen-year-old uni student, naïve looking and innocent, with maybe a little trace of red around her eyes. Someone who hadn’t lived a whole hell of a lot. Someone who’d had a sheltered upbringing.
“I doubt that.” He gave his head a sharp shake.
“Really?” I yanked my trouser leg up, showing the circle of scar tissue from the shifter’s teeth. “Then explain this.”
He leaned forward an inch, narrowing his eyes at my scar.
“That’s… a bite. Like mine.”
I nodded and let my trouser leg drop.
“You okay?” Shaun asked in my ear. I nodded. I hated showing my scar, but it was the fastest way to get through to this guy. Maybe the only way. And he needed to know I was on his side.
Ryan took hold of the hem of his t-shirt, and hesitated. It was a Fur ‘n’ Fang t-shirt, I couldn’t help but notice. He must have already shredded his own. That meant he’d shifted at least once – probably last night, under the full moon. He pulled the fabric up.
I gasped before I got a hold of myself. His bite wasn’t like mine. He hadn’t been bitten just once. He’d been bitten again, and again. At least five bites, all over his torso. How the hell had he survived that?
Ryan let the material fall again, covering his mutilated flesh.
“Did you get bit by the same bastard that got me?”
I nodded, and took a moment to find my voice.
“Yes. I’m sorry that happened to you. It’s a lot to take in, huh?” I glanced around the room, underscoring my meaning.
“They say there’s no cure for this,” he said. He jerked his chin at Shaun, who stayed unobtrusively at my shoulder. “Him, and the others. Is it true?”
“It is. Everything they’ve told you is the truth. But it’s not that bad.” I wrapped my arms around myself. “Once you get used to it.”
He got to his feet and moved to the bars, wrapping his hands around them and looking them up and down through bitter eyes.
“And these?”
“Temporary,” I said, taking a step closer to him. I searched his face and took a step closer still, closing the gap between us. “I’ve been where you are now. And believe me, nothing you can do is going to change what happened, or what you’ve become.”
“So, what,” he said, clenching his trembling hands tighter around the bars until his knuckles turned white. “Just accept that my life is over?” I could hear his teeth grinding as he clenched his jaw.
“Not over,” I said. “Changed.”
“Not over? How can you say that? Look at me!”
He thrust an arm through the bars and grabbed hold of my wrist, yanking me closer to him until we were almost nose to nose through the cage. I pulled back, but his grip was too strong, his fingers cutting into my skin.
“Ow, you’re hurting me, get off!”
“Get off her!” Shaun shouted, surging forward.
I grabbed hold of Ryan’s wrist with my other hand, trying to prise him off me, but he was too strong. This was what I got for trying to help people. Fuck’s sake!
My hand flashed red and Ryan staggered back, clutching his wrist to his chest. The acrid stench of seared flesh stung my nostrils, and a series of red burns marked his skin. Burns in the shape of my fingers.
“I’m sorry,” Ryan said, trembling as he backed up to the far wall. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I did that.”
Shaun ignored him, turning to stare at me. His face looked pale in the flickering light, a mirror of my own.
“What did you do to him?”
“I don’t know, it just happened.” My voice shook as I stared down at my hands. I jerked my eyes up to Shaun, pleading with him. “It’s a shifter thing, right? It’s got to be.”
“No, Jade, that’s not a shifter thing.”
I reached out to the bars for support. I’d burned Ryan. With my hands.
“What the hell’s going on?” Ryan said, shooting looks between me and Shaun, as if he thought one of us might have the answer to this craziness. Shaun shook his head.
“I don’t know. And until I do, this never happened. Understand?”
Ryan nodded. I nodded. We both stared at each other in horror. I took a shaky breath.
“Are you okay?” I asked him. “Sorry, dumb question. Of course you’re not.”
“No, I’m fine. It’s okay.” He held his wrist up. “Barely stings.”
He lowered his wrist, frowning at it, and I knew what he was thinking. Same thing I’d have been thinking in his position. Why did it barely sting? Why were the burn marks fading already?
“Shifter healing,” I said, lowering myself onto the floor, just out of arm’s reach of the cage. “See, told you it wasn’t all bad.”
“I think we should take a break,” Shaun said. “Jade?”
I glanced up at him and shook my head.
“I’m fine. Honestly.”
I was pretty sure I’d never been less fine, but if Ryan saw me freaking out right now, how was he ever going to come to terms with what was happening to him? We could worry about what was happening to me later.
“Do you…” He broke off, and then started again. “Is the rage a part of it?”
I threw a look over my shoulder at Shaun, because that was a good question.
“Is it?” I asked. “Is the rage because we were bitten?”
Shaun grimaced.
“We don’t know. There’s nothing documented about Bittens being more aggressive, but it does seem to be a… common factor.”
“Sucks to be us,” I said. Ryan grunted his agreement.
“I think that’s enough of a pity party for one day,” Shaun said. “We should go.”
What he meant was he thought I should go, before I had another breakdown. But I wasn’t the important one right now. I got up and took a few steps back from the cage, lowering my voice.
“I can help him. Please, Shaun.”
“You are my priority. You’ve had a stressful day, and I don’t think being here is helping you.”
“And I don’t think,” I echoed his words with an edge, “I’ll be able to sleep tonight if I don’t at least try.”
“This isn’t–”
“–My fault. I know. But if I walk away and leave him, when I could be of some comfort, then that would be my fault. And it would be unforgiveable. I’ve been there, remember? In that cage. Confused. Scared I was losing it. He needs to talk to someone who knows what he’s going through.”
“Alright. We’ll stay a while longer.”
I shook my head.
“I need to talk to him alone. He’s not going to open up while you’re here. I’m guessing he didn’t exactly find his way into that cage willingly.”
“No, he didn’t.” He drummed his fingers against his thigh and darted a look at the Bitten. “I don’t know Jade, I don’t like this. His temper seems worse than yours ever was.”
“But hey, at least he’s not crying, right?” My attempt at levity fell flat. “I’ll be fine. Just ten minutes. Just so he knows he’s not alone.”
“Fine. I’ll get him some food. Ten minutes. And you stay away from those bars. I mean it.”
He locked eyes with me in case I didn’t realise he meant it, and I nodded.
“I’ve got it. It’ll be fine.”
Shaun turned and left, making a point of leaving the door open behind him. I rolled my eyes – behind his back – and then turned to Ryan.
“How much have they told you?” I asked, strolling back to his cage, but making sure I was out of arm’s reach. Though, apparently, I now had a pretty effective way to defend myself. I lowered myself onto the floor again and watched him.
“That I’m a…” he swallowed, then twisted his lips around the word, “werewolf. That I’m dangerous to people now.”
“Just until you learn to control yourself.”
“I guess I’m stuck in here until I can?” He gestured to the cage, then pounded his fist against the wall. “What the hell gives them the right to lock me up?”
“No, you’re right,” I said. “Much better they let you out to maul someone.”
He turned his head away.
“Look, you’ve got two choices,” I told him. “You accept what you are now, and make an effort to control yourself, and join the rest of the academy, or you stay down here until you do.”
“Well, those both sound like a barrel of laughs.”
“Yeah, not gonna lie. The dungeon sucks, but up top they make you do term papers. It’s kinda hard to say which is worse.”
He made a sound that was almost a laugh and traced his fingers over the brickwork at the back of the cage.
“What about the other option?”
“Other option?”
He twisted round and locked eyes with me.
“You know the one I’m talking about.”
“You can’t break out of here. The bars are inlaid with silver, and the academy’s surrounded by a warded wall.”
“Warded?”
“Enchanted. Trust me, you can’t get out. And why would you want to – have you been listening to me? You’re a shifter, and if you lose control, you’re going to hurt someone.”
“Right. The, uh, the mundanes? They care about protecting them, yeah? Well, what about protecting me? Where were they then? Where were they when that… wolf… was ripping me to shreds? Why was no-one there for me?”
I had no answer for that. No good one, anyway.
“You survived,” I said. “That’s something. And this life? It’s not as bad as you think, if you give it a chance.”
I got up and dusted myself off.
“Or you can carry on feeling sorry for yourself. What happened to you – to us – is shit. No-one’s denying that. But what happens next? That’s in your hands.” I headed for the door. “I’ll see you soon.”
I paused and threw a glance back over my shoulder.
“Or I won’t. Your choice.”
Chapter Twenty
“I’m sorry. I was out of line. I didn’t mean what I said. Madison really isn’t that bad.”
Fur 'n' Fang Academy: The Complete Series: A Shifter Academy Adventure Page 13
