Their Shifter Academy 2: Unclaimed

by May Dawson

  “And you don’t need the academy,” he said. It was the same thing Lex had said to me once before. Rafe was trying to remind me I was just a first-year, that I didn’t know anything.

  Well, I didn’t know everything. But I wasn’t stupid, either.

  “I think the academy needs me, so I’m not going anywhere.” I turned back and flashed him a smile.

  “You’re going to be on restriction until you graduate, if you graduate.”

  “Oh? You going to come back when you’re in the patrols just to chain me up in the library?”

  He could make my freshman year miserable, and I didn’t doubt he’d try. I wanted to win Rafe over…but I didn’t want Rafe’s approval more than I wanted to do the right thing.

  Helping Jensen was the right thing.

  Even Rafe had to feel that.

  Tension prickled across the back of my neck, as if I were being watched. At the front of Jensen’s car, I whirled to face Rafe. He still stared me down, his arms crossed over his chest.

  I didn’t try to look meek when I met his gaze in challenge. “I don’t care what you do to me once this is over. But now? Are you going to follow the rules and drag us back to the academy, or are you going to look out for your friends?”

  His jaw set. “I’m doing this for Eliza.”

  “Good,” I said. “She deserves the truth.”

  Let him say that. He was doing it for Eliza, but anyone could see it was more than that. The bonds within our team were growing stronger all the time.

  He gave me a long look, and I waved goodbye flippantly as I headed toward the next car parked down the road.

  Jensen stood at the trunk, pulling out an emergency duffel bag. Wolves always carried spare clothes; we tended to be hard on our wardrobes.

  Jensen tossed me a flannel shirt and a pair of boxer briefs.

  “I’m sure this will be a cute look,” I said, holding up his shirt, which was about eight sizes too big for me.

  “I’m sure you can rock it.” He winked at me. “You’re never dressed without a smirk.”

  Quickly, we all pulled on what ragtag clothes we could. Then I swung into the passenger seat of Jensen’s car as he got into the driver’s side.

  Chase and Silas clambered into the back. Chase’s knees jammed into the back of my seat, and he grumbled as he squeezed his massive body into the car. Silas folded his hands in his lap, his eyes bright.

  “I never even asked,” I said, looking into the backseat. “You guys don’t have to be a part of this. You could walk away.”

  Chase scrubbed his hand over his face. “Shut up, Northsea. You know we’re in.”

  Silas said, “Besides, Chase doesn’t want to go home again. His aunt is scary.”

  “You can shut up too,” Chase told him.

  Jensen held out his hand, and Chase tossed him his keys.

  I turned toward the window so they wouldn’t see me smiling.

  My men, my team.

  The ones I called.

  My magic had good taste.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Lex

  We put some distance between us and the forest where the Kierney pack had tracked us down. Rafe and I agreed to move into the nearest city, where we’d be hard for any shifters to track and where fighting was strictly forbidden.

  If humans ever realized shifters lived side-by-side by them, war would tear across the planet, and both shifters and humans would suffer.

  We parked the cars in a row in the garage beneath a nice hotel, the kind of place no one should look for us.

  “I’ll go in and get our room.” I said.

  “One?” Rafe put a lot of feeling into that one word, his brows arched.

  “We need to stay close together. And anyway, you’re already grouchy, so might as well keep it going,” I said.

  Rafe rolled his eyes.

  Silas knocked on the window. When I got out of the car, he said, “I ran out to the street and stole a debit card from a man’s wallet. We don’t want anyone tracking our cards. We can make sure it’s paid back later.”

  “I didn’t know you were so useful, Silas,” I said.

  “You have no idea,” he said.

  I thought he was dreamy and odd when we first met, but he’d grown on me.

  Silas and I headed into the hotel and booked a two bedroom suite, so there would be enough room for all of us. The thought of having Maddie more than a few feet away from me after someone had tried to kill her made my heart ache. Just being in this shiny marble lobby while she waited in the car made me twitchy with anxiety.

  “I’m glad you came to find her,” Silas said quietly as we headed back across the lobby toward the garage.

  “I’ll always be there if she’s in danger.” I pushed the elevator button. With my back to Silas, I accidentally blurted out what had been on my mind. “It’s everything else that makes me an asshole.”

  Shit, I’d just really said that. There was something about Silas that made him too easy to talk to.

  Now that I’d confessed that, I found myself spilling the other thoughts that had consumed me. “I was thinking about graduating early. I have the option—they need us out there. I could leave the academy in December.”

  He tilted his head to one side, his eerie, bright eyes intent on mine. “Do you think that would make things better for her? If you left?”

  “Maybe.” Rafe was right. All I did was hurt her.

  Sometimes at night, I couldn’t sleep; the memories of all the times she’d looked at me with hurt written across her face, with her blue eyes shiny as she held back tears, haunted me until I gave up and went down to the dojo. Sometimes I was lucky and there were others down there to fight, one after another, until I felt beaten and exhausted.

  “And yet, here you are, when she needs you.” He shrugged. “That girl has enemies. At the rate she’s going, she’ll have far worse ones soon. She needs good friends.”

  The thought of not being around to protect her if she needed me was like a spike in my chest. And at the same time… “I’m not very good at being her friend.”

  Not like Silas or Chase or Tyson, who were protective and sweet to her. They never lost their damn minds from wanting her.

  They never turned cold on her, afraid of the intensity of their feelings in such a fragile relationship.

  They didn’t have baggage from their lives before that made any misunderstanding seem like a fatal lie.

  I could see now where I’d overreacted when Maddie and I broke up, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t do it again. That didn’t mean she should trust me.

  “Did she ever want you to just be her friend?” he asked.

  My lips quirked to one side. I hadn’t expected that question from Silas, who seemed to be the perfect friend to Maddie.

  The elevator doors slid open, and a few people got out and streamed by us. We got into the elevator and rode it down with a human woman, which meant that the relationship counseling was over. Thank god. But his question would stick with me.

  His question would probably haunt me at night just as Maddie’s tears did.

  Relief ached in my chest when we went back and Maddie climbed out of the car, unharmed. She even smiled through her exhaustion as she traded smartass remarks with Chase and Jensen.

  Once we were in the hotel room, Rafe said, “We need to plan our next move.”

  “I think it’s clear,” I said. “The Kierney pack has Eliza’s sword. They had some kind of eyes on Reefer or even a spell… they’re guilty.”

  “Right, but next—”

  “Next, it’s time for me to go home,” I interrupted Rafe.

  Rafe’s mouth tightened. He knew how much I hated the pack I came from. He didn’t like this plan. “Sounds like a good way to get yourself killed.”

  “The Kierney pack alpha’s son was in Eliza’s patrol. I went to his funeral. I saw his…” I trailed off.

  “Could someone have faked his death with magic?” Chase leaned forward, his
face intent.

  “Yeah,” Silas said. “They could have used another body to replace his in the casket.”

  “They could have used a face-swapping spell,” Maddie said.

  “Another way magic is being used for good, I see,” Rafe said tightly.

  “Either way, someone knows who that survivor is and what happened to him,” I said.

  “It’s going to look strange. You never go home,” Rafe warned me. “Going back now, when your pack is on high alert—”

  “I can’t get married without the alpha’s blessing.” I broke in, as soon as the idea had come to me, even though it was half-formed. “I’ll go home, say I want to get married—”

  “You can bring me with you,” Maddie said, her voice sure. “They don’t know I was there with Jensen. We’ve killed everyone who’s seen me.”

  “Hell no,” Rafe said. “We don’t know that for sure. You’re not both going into danger—”

  Maddie looked back at him, her face calm as if she saw right through his sudden heat. “We stand a better chance of getting out of there if we’re together, watching each other’s backs. They probably knew we were dating, right?”

  They did—the packs were too gossipy to keep any secret like that for long—but I shook my head anyway. “It’s too dangerous, Maddie. You don’t know what they’re like.”

  “That’s not going to convince me you should go alone,” she reminded me. She looked at the rest of the team. “What do you guys think? Are they more likely to buy that Lex came home for permission if I’m with him?”

  Tyson leaned forward, his elbows braced on his knees as he looked to me. “I’ll go with Lex and watch his back. I can just be there as a friend…”

  “Yeah, that’s not suspicious at all,” Maddie said tartly.

  She shoved his shoulder playfully, and the friendly tension between them caused jealousy to flicker in my chest. Loving Maddie would mean sharing, if the two of us ever got back together, and I was fine with the idea. I just hated that she didn’t touch me like that anymore.

  “She’s right,” Jensen said quietly. “I don’t like it either. But you guys haven’t seen her in action. She’s Lex’s best chance.”

  Maddie’s lips parted as though in surprise. She reached out and gripped his leg. He took her hand in his, squeezing her tight.

  “Can I just take a second and ask what the hell is going on here?” Chase asked, his gaze shifting back and forth between Jensen and Maddie.

  “Not now,” Rafe said in exasperation. “Believe me, I have questions too.”

  “What if we just went back to the academy now? Talked to the council? Is that an option?” Penn asked.

  “They already covered this all up once,” I said. “You know how the packs are. If word gets out the Kierney pack is dirty, the other packs will use it as an excuse to challenge for their territory.”

  “The council needs us focused on the covens,” Rafe filled in. “Eliza’s reputation was a sacrifice.”

  “So should we stop?” Chase asked. He swiped his hand across his beard-stubbled jaw.

  “There’s no stopping now. The Kierney pack isn’t going to stop coming after Jensen,” I said.

  “Then let’s do this.” Maddie stood impatiently. She held her hand out to me, flashing me a smile. “Come on. Be my fiancé.”

  God, the thought of pretending to be her future husband tore something open inside me. But I shook my head. “I’m not taking you into danger.”

  “I’m not some fucking princess, Lex.” She ran her hands through her hair in exasperation, her fingers tangling in her long blond strands. Then she pulled a face. “Well, not really. I need to end this. Or Jensen and I will always be looking over our shoulders…”

  Her blue eyes met mine and her voice was soft when she said, “Please. Trust me.”

  The words hung between us as she waited for my answer.

  Impulsively, I stood from the couch, towering over her, before I dropped to one knee.

  “Madeline Northsea,” I said, holding my hand out to her. “Will you fake-marry me?”

  It was an invitation to havoc and bloodshed, and we both knew it.

  But Maddie’s smile was still like sunshine that warmed my soul.

  Chapter Forty

  Maddie

  As we drove, I twisted my new fake engagement ring around my finger absently. I did love shiny things, as much as I loved fighting. “Thank you for helping.”

  “Eliza was my friend,” Lex said. “I should’ve done this before. I should’ve been there for Jensen.”

  “I thought you couldn’t stand him,” I said.

  “He’s been a pain-in-the-ass since he was a kid. Cocky, manipulative, willful.” His mouth tightened as if he was disappointed in himself. “But Eliza always saw more in him than that. She saw the best in all of us. She would’ve been furious I let her kid brother down.”

  “You’re really close to Jensen’s brother, right? Will?”

  “Yeah, he’s my best friend. It was easy to be there for him. Meanwhile Jensen got wilder and wilder, and meaner and meaner, and I didn’t…” He shook his head.

  He looked so angry at himself that my chest ached. “You’re human, Lex. You’re allowed to make mistakes. Especially after losing a friend.”

  “Maybe I can make up some of it to Jensen, and to Eliza too, now.”

  “This means a lot to him,” I said, wanting to assure Lex we could all move on from the past.

  “You mean a lot to him.” Maybe he meant it as a simple statement-of-fact, but it came out sharply.

  “We’ll see what happens when we get back to school,” I said. I didn’t want to be vulnerable again.

  “Things will be different,” Lex said, and he sounded sure about it.

  “Sex isn’t magic,” I said, a smile in my voice to soften my words. I wanted to believe so badly that things would be different. But I didn’t want to open myself up to heartbreak.

  “No, but you are.” His voice was certain.

  I stared at him, but he reached over and snapped the radio on like he hadn’t said anything.

  I touched my necklace absently, trying to think of what to say to change the subject. “In case we get separated, I wish you had a pendant like mine to call us if you needed us. Could you…”

  “I’ll be fine,” he promised me. “Also? I have a cell phone. Speaking of, what happened to yours?”

  “Lost in the river.”

  “You have no idea what I went through to get you back that phone.” When I raised my eyebrows curiously, he added, “I incurred Rafe’s judgment.”

  “Ooh. That is the worst. Did he give you the eyes? Oh my god, did he give you the eyebrows?”

  He nodded.

  “I’m glad it’s not just me,” I said.

  He’d risked all that to make sure I had a phone in case things went badly for Piper. I’d checked in on her from the hotel with one of the guys’ phones—she had no idea I was in trouble, and she was delirious with happiness about the babies. It felt strange to keep such a big secret from her. But she deserved peace with her family…at least for now.

  Impulsively, I leaned into him, brushing my shoulder against his. The console between us jutted into my side, but I still managed to hug him. His eyes crinkled at the corner.

  When he dared to glance away from the road at me, his gaze was full of familiar warmth, and my breath caught in my chest.

  “It’s definitely not just you,” Lex said casually. “Rafe’s natural mode is bossy, and he tips over into furious when he cares about someone. Trust me. He’s tried to kick my ass too. It’s all love.”

  It’s all love. There were three little words I’d probably obsess over if I survived.

  “What did you do to piss Rafe off?” I asked.

  He shook his head.

  “Come on,” I teased him. “You can’t keep secrets from your fiancée.”

  His lips pursed. I didn’t think he was going to say anything more, but then he said,
“He feels very protective when he cares about anyone. He wasn’t happy with how I treated you.”

  His voice was so raw that my heart dropped. God. I’d meant to stay angry at Lex, but it was so hard when he was obviously torn up about what had happened between us.

  Plus, I couldn’t seem angry at him if we were going to get into the Kierney pack, get the info I needed, and make it back out alive. At least for now, he and I could have a truce.

  “Yeah,” I said, trying to disarm the tension between us. “Sure. He can barely look at me. I definitely can read protective from his simmering rage.”

  Lex’s gaze shifted away from the highway just for a second. Quietly, he told me, “You can.”

  Restless energy ran through my body at his words. Pushing it away, I slipped my feet out of my sneakers and propped them on the dash.

  “Tell me about your pack,” I said, changing the subject.

  He pulled a face at the question. “Well. I probably wouldn’t tell my girlfriend much about them.”

  “I know. Remember, you didn’t tell me anything about them when we were really dating?” My voice came out tart.

  Back in the hotel room, Rafe had reacted as if he knew the Kierney pack was bad news long before they tried to murder Jensen and me. It bothered me Lex never told me about them. Why had he kept it a secret?

  “I was surprised your pack even let you date me,” he said. “My pack has a… reputation. They deal drugs through the underworld and the human one too. They’re violent and cruel and dangerous.”

  His voice was bleak, and defiance spiked in my chest. I hated this whole damn world we lived in: the castes and the misogyny and the jockeying within the packs. Shifters were full of magic, but we made ourselves small.

  “No one could have stopped me from dating you,” I said fiercely. “You’re not like your pack.”

  His lips tilted up at the edges. “Yeah, I imagine they couldn’t have stopped you. I wouldn’t want to stand in the way of anything you wanted, that’s for sure.”

  He drove with his big hands lazy and confident on the steering wheel. I found myself stealing glances at his broad shoulders, hugged by his t-shirt.