Rescind: (Lycan Academy of Shapeshifting: Operation Shift, Book 4)

by Shawn Knightley

  She reached for the lantern and peered in my direction, letting me know that she would yank the lantern right out of its place if I moved too slow and leave me in total darkness.

  I collected the archival notebooks, gently placing them inside the box and back in their proper spot. The shelf on the bookcase rearranged itself as I got up to put it back. Then I gathered Margaux’s book and placed it back inside my trench coat once Miss Steinly took the lantern and turned away from me. I followed her up the spiral steps and back to the library above us.

  ‘Margaux’s notes are going to have to wait. I have enough to go on for now.’

  8

  My eyes darted over to Alina every twenty or so seconds throughout my first class. It didn’t matter that I needed to keep my head down as the other students completed their exams. Nor did it matter that my exam had been postponed due to Rodrick’s promise concerning my studies while we were away. It was rude to stare. And yet, I couldn’t stop throwing glances in her direction.

  She was propped up on the podium with her head resting on her hand. Every once in a while she would get too tired and I would watch her eyes fade. Then she would catch herself just in time before she slipped right off her hand as sleep threatened to overpower her. Large bags settled under her eyes. The poor girl looked exhausted.

  ‘I’ll slug Lothar if he left all the cleanup to her again after the Vontex was done last night. She needs to rest!’

  Once the timer went off toward the end of class and the exams were complete, Alina had everyone pass them forward in silence.

  She stacked them up evenly and then shoved the parchment papers in her bag. I watched her with curious eyes as she hopped down from the podium and walked down the length of the class to a young man who was still feverishly writing a few more sentences on his exam.

  “Your time is up,” she said with a scowl on her face. One that definitely didn’t suit her. She took the piece of paper out from under him and tore the extra page he worked on in half after the timer went off. “You don’t get the privilege of extra time over anyone else.”

  When she lifted her hand to tear it in quarters once more, I saw something just above her elbow. A dark line that I hadn’t seen before. Alina once pushed her way into a dressing room with me in a shop when they were all full, insisting that we were both girls and it was fine with her as long as it was fine with me. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. But I did recall seeing the various brands she had on her body. She didn’t bother hiding them when she was around me. This was one I didn’t remember.

  ‘Did she get a new one since the last time we were out together?’

  Jake once told me that the Vontex branded themselves with magical markings when they reached a certain number of kills. Something that instantly made me think of serial killers saving a keepsake from their victims, only more morbid.

  She lowered her arm and walked back to the podium. The sleeve of her blouse slid back down, hiding whatever it was on her arm from view. Our eyes locked when she passed my desk. I knew she saw me looking. She didn’t make it a mystery when she tugged at the cuff of her sleeve and pulled it down a bit further.

  Everyone rushed out of the class in a hurry, a bit stunned just as I was by Alina’s sudden shift toward callousness.

  When they were gone I approached her on the podium while she gathered her things.

  “I wanted to ask you about making up the first half of my exams,” I said. “Given I was absent for two nights.”

  Alina glanced up at me with an expression of superiority that I wasn’t used to seeing on her. Then she placed her hands before her on the podium and rested her elbows on it as though she was lowering herself down to my level.

  “Being a student at L.I.T. is serious work,” she lectured me. “Work you shouldn’t be thwarting.”

  “Christ, not you too,” I swore.

  “It’s not my fault you’ve been lapsing lately. We could have used you yesterday.”

  “I’m not a full member of the Vontex, Alina. You can’t expect me to be there every time. I doubt Rodrick would permit it.”

  She shrugged her shoulders. “He sure does permit a lot of other things considering the state you returned in last night.”

  I hesitated to speak, knowing full and well that saying anything might have been better than standing there with my mouth wide open. “What do you mean?” I finally blurted out.

  “It’s all over you,” she sneered.

  “What’s all over me?”

  “Rodrick’s scent. It’s saturating your skin.”

  The blood flowing inside my cheeks grew hot and I knew I had to be blushing. I stood up a little straighter, doing my best to appear offended. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  She rolled her eyes and threw the strap of her bag over her shoulder. “Male lycan drape their scent all over the female they lay claim to. It’s a way of letting all other lycan know that they’re taken. I smelled it on you last night.” She got so close to me that I could feel the heat of her breath crashing into my skin. “It’s most common after two lycan have mated. You’re only lucky that most students probably don’t notice it because so few have gotten close enough to Rodrick to know his scent.”

  Without another word, she stepped over the podium with her trench coat in her arms and marched down the center of the room between the aisles of desks.

  “You wait right there!” I shouted. “You can’t make an accusation like that then just walk off!” I jumped from the podium and went after her. When I got close, I reached for her arm and lifted the sleeve, seeing nothing but a bunch of ink smears just above her elbow. She brought her finger up to lift my chin so I was staring at her right in the eyes.

  “What did you expect to find?” she snarled. “I woke up early to help Lothar complete his logs about everything that happened last night. I guess I didn’t get all the ink off.”

  I wasn’t sure if I believed her. I knew how lycan could hide their brands when they wanted to. There was something else going on. And I knew my instincts had to be right when she tugged her arm away from my grip and pulled her sleeve back down as though I had exposed her in some embarrassing way.

  “I didn’t sleep with Rodrick, if that’s what you’re thinking,” I said.

  “Try explaining that to Lothar once he’s caught wind of you.”

  The sound of someone clearing their throat forced my attention away from Alina. Lothar was standing just outside the classroom. He had been waiting for me. And he heard the whole thing.

  “Tell her, Lothar,” Alina added. “What was I doing early this morning?”

  “She was helping me write entries for the archive,” he said. “We had some precarious encounters last night and I felt it was worthy of note. Alina offered to help me.”

  Alina left in silence, moving around Lothar and out of the classroom without another word.

  ‘Well, I guess I’ve been set firmly in my place.’

  If there was a touch of rouge hitting my cheeks before, it was intensifying now.

  Lothar walked up to me with his chin held high. He let out one long heavy breath once he was close enough for me to touch. I knew why he was getting so close. He wanted to smell me and know if it was true. I hung my head, not wanting to face him. The last time I saw Lothar he was pressed up against me and nearly kissed me outside the library. Now he knew what I had done. Or at least he knew a small piece of it.

  “I take it you didn’t heed my warning about Rodrick,” he scolded me, making sure I heard the bitter tone in his voice.

  “Nothing happened, I mean… we didn’t-”

  He stiffened. “It wouldn’t be my concern even if you did.”

  “Why’s that?” I asked, glancing up at him in surprise.

  “I’m a Vontex,” he said coldly. “Not a student. Even so, if something did happen your punishment would be handed down by the vixra. Teacher and student relations beyond the classroom are strictly forbidden, let alone relations with th
e Dean of L.I.T. But now that you’re done having fun, perhaps you can fill me in on what happened.”

  “Having fun?” I hollered a little too loud. My voice echoed across the classroom. “If you call being attacked by the most powerful luxra witchling coven in France, getting chased over rooftops, shot in the back with magic, and having a vampire throw me down a flight of stairs just to drive his fangs into my neck fun, then yeah Lothar. I had the time of my life!”

  His eyes told me everything he wasn’t willing to say out loud. I disappointed him. I didn’t listen to his warning. I chose wrong.

  I stood up a little straighter, letting him know that I wouldn’t tolerate being spoken to that way. I had only been at L.I.T. for a matter of months. And in those few months, I had been demoralized, humiliated, challenged, and degraded. I managed to come back from it all and continue fighting. I wasn’t going to apologize for one lapse of judgment that I not only tried to prevent but was more than likely caused by the power of a well-cast curse.

  “Fine. I’ll rephrase the question,” he said with a tilt of his head. “Did you learn anything new? Anything we can use?”

  “Tons,” I responded. I gave him the one word and nothing more. If he wanted answers, he was going to have to sweeten up.

  “Well?”

  I walked up to the door leading out of the classroom. He must have thought I was going to leave because he reached for my wrist. I was within distance of the door and swung it shut with my other hand. I faced him and showed him my empty palm. He was about to speak when he realized I was trying to show him. Only what I wanted him to see was for his eyes and his eyes only.

  “You said you were going to help me find my brother,” I said in a hushed voice. “You also said that I needed to be straight forward with you. So this is me being completely honest.”

  I extended my fingers out and let the silver engraved box appear from inside my skin where I was hiding it. I might have been a first-year at the academy but I took to learning how to shift objects rather quickly. Especially when McKenzie wasn’t here to put corspine in the object I was trying to shift.

  Lothar’s mouth twisted into a side grin. If he was irritated before he wasn’t showing it anymore. He was pleased.

  “May I?” he asked.

  He let go of my wrist and took the box into his hands, being very careful not to move the lid.

  “As it turns out, my father had a similar vision to mine,” I said. “He beat me to the ritual site and took this from Devon’s body before we could get there. Adeline helped him with the traps.”

  “Does that mean she’ll help us too?”

  “She asked for you to give her a date and she will be there.”

  He examined the box up close, rubbing his thumb along the engravings as though he was trying to memorize each marking with his touch. “Tell her three nights from now will suit us. The moon won’t be full but at least there will be a moon. We have enough vixra blood left to get us there and back. Then we’ll be out. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.”

  “It’s not?” I asked.

  “Like I said, it’s addictive. I’ll speak with Adeline about getting more when we see her.”

  I recalled what he had told me about his drug usage in the past. He wasn’t relieved about the vixra blood being gone. He wanted to make sure he wasn’t giving the slightest temptation to fall from his position after he struggled so hard to get there. Vixra blood was just another substance that could put him at risk.

  “How do you handle it?” I asked, hoping he would know my meaning without me having to be rude and bring up old memories.

  “I practice discipline. I visit the Alluring Forest almost every single night when I’m not with the Vontex. I shift, I practice my skills, and I make sure that I master whatever areas are weak. Whether they be mental or physical.”

  “Is that why Alina has been so out of it recently?” I asked. “Is she practicing in the Alluring Forest too? Is that normal for the Vontex?”

  “No, I go alone. Why do you ask?”

  “She just seemed so tired last night. Like she’s really worn down. You’re not giving her all the cleanup duties again, are you?”

  “No,” he insisted. “We had a relatively easy night last night. There were two bitten men and they gave up rather quickly. The lycan that bit them was the son of a Duke up north, so I felt it worthy of noting in the archival logs.”

  “That’s not what she said. She looks so tired.”

  He gave a small shrug of his shoulders. “She’s probably been up late with all her lesson plans for the exams. She works too hard. I tried talking her out of being both a professor and Vontex but she likes the privileges it gives her.”

  “What privileges?” I asked.

  “She has special access to the archives of all the lycan academies throughout Europe.”

  “Along with helping you log things?”

  “On occasion.” His eyes examined me like I had asked something peculiar. It wasn’t difficult to see through what he was thinking. He wanted to believe I was jealous of the time he was spending with Alina.

  ‘Don’t get too excited. I’m just worried about her.’

  I didn’t know the circumstances around why they broke up but it did leave me wondering. Alina was tough, gorgeous, and a hard worker. Qualities I assumed men liked.

  “Alina and I are always doing what the Vontex are expected to do,” he went on. “Bettering ourselves. Her way of bettering herself is through her mind and visiting libraries throughout the continent of the various lycan academies in Europe. Mine is through mental and physical challenges. The same will be expected of you if you become a Vontex.”

  “I must not be measuring up very well in your eyes.”

  “I think you’re doing what you can and you’ve made more strides than the vast majority of students who come through L.I.T. But the quickest way to fail is to assume you don’t have to be the best. The Vontex only get where they are because they settle for nothing less.”

  Lothar had a strange way of veiling a compliment in a cloak of expectations. Ones I clearly hadn’t surpassed yet.

  “You have regular lessons with Rodrick on controlling your crowning magic,” he said. “Maybe its time you had lessons of a different nature.”

  “What kind of nature?”

  “You need to use your abilities in a different surrounding. Perhaps you should come to the Alluring Forest with me and learn the physical aspects of being a Vontex. The training goes beyond just shifting and memorizing the history of our species. You need to live and breathe the forest air. The natural habitat for our kind. Not enchanted walls made of stone.”

  ‘Is this your way of competing with Rodrick for my attention?’

  I gave him a small nod. “Alright. I’ll come with you. When?”

  “Soon. First, we need to meet Adeline at the ritual site.” He handed the box back to me and I shifted it into my hand, making it disappear entirely. “Keep that safe and don’t let anyone know that you have it.”

  “I will.”

  He leaned in slightly. I instinctively knew what he was doing. He wanted one last whiff of my scent.

  “Don’t put me in a position where I can’t help you,” he whispered.

  “What do you mean?”

  “There’s a code among lycan. An unspoken one that we respect even though it’s rarely discussed.”

  “What code is that?”

  “If someone is marked by the scent of another the way Rodrick marked you, it’s no one else’s place to challenge them.”

  “Challenge them?” The realization washed over me. “So if Rodrick continues to mark me with his scent you won’t be able to pursue me?”

  I couldn’t help but grin. Lothar was disgusted by how blunt I was being with his carefully chosen words.

  “That’s two times you’ve shown me you were jealous only to prevent yourself from actually doing anything, Lothar,” I smirked up at him. “Wait much longer and I might not believe
you want to.”

  With that, I turned around and opened the door to leave Alina’s classroom. But not before I turned to give him just one more piece of my mind.

  “I’m not the sort of girl who appreciates being pined for and never pursued,” I said to him. “I hate it. Other girls might wait an eternity or prefer subtlety but I’m not one of them. And I don’t think you are either.”

  ‘And if you knew any better you would realize that’s why Rodrick is driving me crazy. The man stops himself at every turn. Maybe for good reason but nevertheless…’

  “Then rid yourself of that man’s scent and forbid him from ever touching you again,” he said, getting close enough for me to feel the heat barreling from his skin. “If there’s one thing I won’t do its pursue a woman who doesn’t know what she wants. Show me you’re a woman who not only knows what she wants but is willing to work for it. I’ll see you in three nights.”

  He pushed passed me and walked down the hall. I watched as he once again disappeared with his back turned away from me. Never once did he look back.

  If there was one key difference between Rodrick and Lothar, it was the way they both approached my training and what I needed to do. Rodrick would have me protected in his crowning magical shield for all eternity. He would keep me hidden away in the academy for my protection, just like my father would seal me up in his house so I couldn’t get into trouble. Lothar on the other hand, wanted me to come to the Alluring Forest to train with him. He wanted me strong and able to take on challenges. But not only so I could defend myself if Dirk found me again. He wanted me to find the danger and challenge it head-on.

  ‘I’ve already met impossible challenges and come out stronger. You want me to work for it? Then watch me!’

  9

  “Unshift this instant,” Rodrick hollered at me.

  “I can’t! It’s stuck!”

  My eyes widened in horror as my hand shifted into my brother’s form. It was an exact replica of his left hand right down to his stubby fingernails. He could never stop biting them. Even as an adult. The smallest bones in my hand were trying to shift back into their normal state of my much softer and smaller fingers. But to do so, they had to break. My fingers chipped away from the inside as the muscles and tendons tightened like screws trying to budge free from a piece of wood. Only the wood was cracking in the process and causing them to loosen even more.