Their Shifter Academy 2: Unclaimed

by May Dawson

  No one had harassed me since Jensen told them to stop, but the lesson I’d learned in those weeks lingered. I knew my guys would stand by me. The rest of them? They could be nice to my face, but I’d never know if they were happy to bury a knife in my back.

  The Dean finished, “Now, have a safe, relaxing weekend. It’s well-deserved. I’ll see you all back here Tuesday morning, bright and early.”

  I’d never actually seen the Dean out there during our 5:30 am physical training sessions, but whatever. He raised his glass to toast, and we all returned his salute.

  “Here’s to Maddie Mae staying out of trouble for four days,” Tyson said, a playful smile arching his nicely shaped mouth.

  “I’ll drink to that.” I clinked my glass with his.

  Silas toasted with us, then quickly hid his smile behind his glass. I wondered, as I so often did, what he was thinking.

  But I didn’t dare ask, because I was afraid he’d tell us all.

  Chapter Nine

  Jensen

  I didn’t want to hear the Dean’s bullshit speech about being proud of our first month back at the academy. I waited in my dorm room as the hall outside went quiet.

  At the last possible minute, I headed out. If I waited too long, I’d get locked out of the dining hall. Punctuality was a virtue around here, even if the other virtues were often misplaced.

  Out in the hall, I could hear Chase arguing with someone. His door was propped open—I swear to god, their door was always propped open so they could all stalk their pretty roommate’s movements if she stepped out into the hall—and his voice was exasperated.

  “I’m trying to get home!” he said. “I have the money for rent. Can’t you come pick me up?”

  Whoever was on the other end of the line sounded female and just as upset as Chase.

  He broke in. “Listen. Just hang on. I’m going to take care of all three of you, but give me a break… I don’t have any way to get the money there if you don’t pick me up.”

  He paced in front of the window, his back to me.

  I banged on the doorframe to his room. He turned around in a hurry as embarrassment flashed across his face as though he’d been caught.

  When his gaze met mine, he said, “Look, try to figure something out. I will too. I’ll call you back.”

  He threw his cell phone on his desk, then demanded, “What, Jensen?”

  “I’m stuck here all weekend,” I said, not that I had any intentions of staying at the academy. I’d made sure I was on restriction for a reason. “I stopped by to offer you my car. I know you talked about going home.”

  I fished my keys out of my pocket and tossed them to him, and the tension on his face changed as he caught them.

  “Thanks,” he said, frowning.

  I stuck my hand in my pocket and lingered in the doorway, curious if he’d find the balls to bring up with bothered him.

  He hadn’t opened up to me about all the shit with his family, but my father had told me over a couple of glasses of bourbon all about how easy Chase Freeman was to control.

  His ‘scholarship’ at the academy was the only thing keeping his siblings out of foster care.

  My father was the most manipulative dickhead in the world.

  “What are you going to do this weekend while you’re stuck here?” he asked.

  “Catch up on my sleep.” Break into my father’s office. Steal his files about Eliza’s death. Get some answers.

  My father would be gone this weekend too, and once he’d made his plans, I started making mine.

  “Cool,” he said.

  “You going to dinner?” I asked. “You’ve got your shit sorted out, right? Might as well go eat.”

  “Yeah.” He sounded reluctant, but he kicked the wedge out from under the door and let it close behind him as he stepped into the hall.

  “It’s cool, man.” I raised my hands. “You can go ahead. I get it. You don’t want to walk in there like you and I are friends. Maddie and co. would doubt your loyalty, but they should anyway, right?”

  He frowned at me, pretending he didn’t know exactly what I was talking about.

  “It’s fine. You might as well play all sides,” I said. “You don’t have a pack yet. It’s just being smart.”

  “I’m not trying to play all the sides,” he said, his tone surly. We headed side-by-side toward the staircase that led to the house lobby. Then, he added, “You and Maddie both piss me off.”

  “Oh?” I hadn’t expected that from Chase. I tended to have a sense for people, and it was a thrill when someone surprised me.

  He shook his head, as if he didn’t want to say anything more.

  “Don’t wimp out now,” I told him. “I’m not sure which has me more curious. What I’ve done to you—with my car keys in your fucking pocket right now—or what Ms. Perfect has done to offend you.”

  “I really appreciate you loaning me—”

  “Cut the bullshit,” I interrupted him. “I’m not going to take them back. You can have the car. Just spill, Freeman. I didn’t realize you had actual independent thoughts firing in that brain of yours.”

  “Well, there’s stuff like that,” he said drily. Then, unexpectedly, he added, “Thanks for laying off Maddie.”

  “I’m not laying off her,” I said.

  “Well, you called off…”

  “Don’t say the dogs,” I warned, even though it didn’t offend me. “Shifters take that very personally.”

  “You know what I’m talking about,” he said.

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “Why?” He asked the question with genuine, frank curiosity.

  I slipped my hand into my pocket. I could barely even remember what I was thinking when I pulled Maddie up onto the table beside me, then warned the other underclassmen that anyone who bullied her would deal with me.

  But rage tightened my chest when anyone bullied her. I could feel it now, brimming up again as Chase’s innocent question. I’d felt it every time someone had tripped her or spilled food on her. I’d wanted to turn around and punch anyone who hurt her.

  “They were getting in my way,” I said tightly.

  He glanced at me like he knew that was bullshit.

  “Why are you thanking me?” I asked. “You feel some kind of pull toward her?”

  “No,” he said, too quickly.

  “Because you’re going to have a fight on your hands, science experiment,” I said. “You don’t even have a pack. And half the guys here want to bring a shifter princess back to their packs. They’re going to be chasing her.”

  “Then why were they so willing to…” He hesitated over the word harass, or bully, or whatever it was he didn’t want to name. But any of the words would work. Might as well call it what it was.

  “Because they’re assholes who don’t deserve her,” I said flatly. “They want a girlfriend, eventually a wife, but not an equal.”

  “And you?”

  “I’m definitely an asshole,” I said. “You know I own it. I’m not pretending to be anything else to win her over.”

  But sometimes, I thought that maddening pain-in-the-ass girl and I did, in fact, deserve each other.

  “Do you think you could stop calling me a science experiment?” he asked. “We’re in the same team. The fact that I was turned younger than pack law allows…it doesn’t make me that much of an experiment.”

  It changed a lot more than he realized. He didn’t have a pack, but most of all, he’d been turned to prove the Council’s point. They could make the shifters they needed to fight the war. They could create loyal warriors.

  Right now, the Council had to depend on shifters whose first allegiance was to their pack. Those shifters’ first priority would be the constant, stupid little wars the packs waged between themselves.

  The alpha council didn’t even want Chase to know who his sire was. They hoped he’d have no loyalty except to the academy, and then one day, to the Council.

  Chase had no idea what h
e was in for, but maybe I could help him figure it out eventually.

  “Sorry,” I drawled. “But the truth is, you’ll never really be one of us. You better hope Maddie turns out to be more than a princess, like her sister. She’s your best chance at survival. Unless the Council turns a lot more kids soon and you guys form your own pack.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” he demanded. “Survival?”

  “You’ve got four years to figure that out,” I said, clapping his shoulder. And then I added, just to piss him off, just to make it harder for her and for him, “and to make Northsea fall for you.”

  Maddie was absolutely right. I was jealous.

  I flashed him a smile, and his jaw set as the two of us headed up the steps of the cafeteria.

  Chapter Ten

  Maddie

  “Stay out of trouble, Maddie.” Tyson hugged me so hard that my toes left the ground, and I grinned into his shoulder as I hugged him back. There was something so easy and charismatic about Tyson.

  “I make no promises,” I said.

  He sighed, ruffling my hair. “Okay, well, call me or Penn if you need us.”

  I caught his hand, pulling it away from my hair—as a werewolf, my hair is frizzy enough, thankyouverymuch—and gripping it for a second against my chest.

  Sometimes the way Tyson called me kiddo and playfully touched me made it feel as if he was putting distance between us, like he was friend-zoning me.

  And at the same time, things with Tyson felt nice. Warm. Caring.

  Sometimes, I caught him looking at me, just for a second, with heat in his eyes that made me think he didn’t want to be just friends at all.

  “You sure you won’t be too bored on your own?” Penn caught one of the loops on my jeans and tugged me toward him, reeling me into his arms. His eyes were worried. But his dad, and his pack, needed him at home.

  “I could use a break.” I hugged him tight to murmur into his ear, “I’ll miss you, though.”

  Penn’s arms tightened around me, and he turned his face into my hair as if he was breathing me in, like he was memorizing me for the few days we’d be apart. “I’ll miss you too.”

  Silas stood back, watching us until Ty and Penn got on their bus to the airport. It had felt as though they were reluctant to leave me, which left a strange sense of unease creeping up the back of my neck. But it was nothing. Just wolf-boy possessiveness.

  “I wish I were going home with you,” I teased Silas as I reached to hug him goodbye. I wanted to know about his life and his pack.

  “I’m not going home this time.” He turned to one side, hugging me carefully, his arm around my waist. Our shoulders touched, but nothing else. His smile was warm as we stepped apart, though. “Just visiting some friends.”

  “Have fun,” I told him lightly.

  “You too.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of fun for me.”

  “I think you always find a way to make things into an adventure, Maddie,” he disagreed. His eyes twinkled at me before he headed down the row of cars.

  Once the guys were gone, the academy was painfully quiet. I wasn’t really alone—the academy was patrolled by the guard—but I still felt odd being left behind.

  When I walked back from the parking lot, Rafe’s ancient sedan was parked in front of the house.

  He’d definitely spent all his money on his motorcycle, because it looked like the bumper was falling off the front of the car. Lex and Rafe were both such tall, athletic guys that if they were riding together, I worried their combined muscle would cause a tire to pop off this ratty old car.

  Lex strode down the steps, head down, his bag thrown over his shoulder, and my breath caught in my chest. The breeze tousled his light brown hair, and his leather jacket hugged his big shoulders.

  I still had a ridiculous crush on Lex, no matter how weird things were between us.

  He looked up, and his eyes brightened when he saw me before he nodded stiffly. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” Oh, were we not doing that weird distant good evening, sir/good evening, Northsea shit for once?

  He opened the trunk of the car before slinging in his overnight bag. Where was he going? He’d been guarded about his pack, even when we dated, but he didn’t care much for going home. I hesitated. I should walk away.

  But when I finally did head for the steps, he said, “Maddie.”

  “Yeah?” I turned around.

  He leaned against the side of the car, crossing his arms over his chest. “You feel…okay? Being here this weekend. Safe?”

  “I don’t think there’s anyone left on campus who’d hurt me,” I said. I didn’t like Jensen, but I trusted him.

  His mouth tightened. He didn’t care for that answer, but I wasn’t going to lie to him.

  I hesitated, on the verge of talking to him about that damn necklace of my father’s. I’d meant to tell him about it when I went to his room, but Rafe was there, and I couldn’t open up to the two of them. One of them on their own was fine, but as a unit they were intimidating.

  Dani headed down the steps, dragging a rolling suitcase behind her.

  “Jeez.” Lex unfolded himself from against the car to jump up the steps so he could rescue her bag as it bump-bumped down the steps. He picked it up easily, carrying it gallantly back down the steps. “Do you have enough stuff for four nights, Dani?”

  “It’s mostly weapons,” she shot back. “Well, and shoes. I do have a lot of shoes.”

  As the two of them traded smiles, jealousy tightened my chest. I wanted to be like the pretty witch, on the receiving end of that uncomplicated smile. I wanted to be leaving campus with Lex and a bag full of knives and shoes. Where the hell were the two of them going together?

  Not that I cared. I was fine. Everything was fine.

  Lex tossed the bag into the trunk.

  “Hello, Maddie,” she said, turning that bright smile on me. “I hope you get lots of reading done this weekend.”

  Oh my god, what a heifer she was. Yes, I’d have plenty of time to read. While she and Lex did lord-knows-what, anywhere they wanted. “I’m sure I will.”

  Was there anyone who didn’t know I was on restriction this weekend? The worst part of the whole situation was how public it was. Apparently, everyone knew they could find me by waiting outside the library while I suffered with Jensen and Rafe.

  Or the other possibility was Lex talked about me with her. That was far too easy to imagine. “That girl is such a mess…”

  Whatever. None of it mattered. Dani had mentioned a prophecy, and I desperately wanted to know more about what she meant. She’d been trying to avoid me.

  But it didn’t seem like she and Lex had any secrets, so surely it would be fine to mention it now. “I’d like to know more about that prophecy. Just curious.”

  Her eyebrows rose. Lex frowned, but she ignored him. She flashed me a smile as she said, “Good. I left a book for you by your door.”

  “Really?” Did I have to take back all the rude things I’d thought about her for the last five minutes?

  Rafe came down the stairs and rested his tattooed forearm on her shoulder as he faced me. “Stay out of trouble this weekend, Northsea.”

  The two of them looked so comfortable together. No, I was definitely not taking back all the rude things.

  “I don’t know how I’d manage to get in trouble,” I said. There was almost no one on campus and nothing to do. I didn’t have any plans to flout the rules.

  Rafe snorted. “Really? Because I have faith in your abilities.”

  “I’m sure Maddie will do exactly what she’s supposed to do,” Dani said, giving me a smile like we were friends. “I do have faith in her, and you should too, Rafe.”

  Rafe shook his head as he tossed his keys in his hand, heading to the driver’s side.

  “Is that thing even going to start?” I asked skeptically.

  “Shotgun,” Lex called. He flashed me that damned, dizz
ying smile of his and headed for the passenger side.

  “Try to be a gentleman for once,” Rafe chided him.

  “I’m a gentleman with long legs,” Lex shot back over the top of the car.

  I rarely saw them being playful, joking with each other, and it just made them cuter to me.

  Which was especially agonizing when Dani looked at me like she saw right through me.

  “Bye,” I said, suddenly eager to embrace the lonely, empty academy grounds. It was better than watching the three of them drive off together, so friendly.

  Dani winked at me—what?—then slipped into the backseat.

  Lex swung his car door open, then hesitated. “Call me if anything goes wrong. Or feels weird.”

  “I wouldn’t want to ruin your weekend.”

  “Maddie,” Lex said, his voice warning.

  I smiled as if I didn’t care. “Bye, Lex.”

  I’d tried to say goodbye to him before. When we had sex one last time. And then we’d had sex again. Oops.

  But this time was really going to be goodbye. Goodbye to all my wayward feelings. I had the weekend to sulk, and I’d have myself all squared away by the time Tuesday morning came.

  “Bye,” he said, his voice tense, that word loaded. He slammed the car door behind him, just a little too hard.

  When the car pulled away, I headed up the stairs.

  Jensen sat on the top step. I wondered how long he’d been there. He seemed to be intent on the book in his lap, but Jensen never missed a damn thing.

  I expected him to say something to me, but he ignored me, and I silently walked past him into the house.

  It was just Jensen and me now.

  Four days.

  I could stay out of trouble and ignore Jensen McCauley for four days.

  Chapter Eleven

  Actually, I couldn’t ignore Jensen McCauley for ten minutes.

  When I reached the door to my room, there was no book propped next to the door like Dani had said. I glanced down the hall, wondering if she even knew where I lived. I did a circuit through each floor, checking all the doors for a wayward book. The halls were eerily quiet.