Animage Academy: Year Three ~ The Shifter Academy Down Under (The Shifter School Down Under Book 3)

by Qatarina Wanders

  12

  Elaine knew this was a golden opportunity—her plan had worked, and all that was left was to close the deal, and she had only hours to do that.

  “Hey, she’ll be back soon,” she purred at Tarun since he was staring off in the direction Ava had left from. Elaine continued brightly, slinging her arm easily into his. “In the meantime, we have a centennial celebration to plan.”

  He met her eyes and frowned. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that.”

  “You can ask me anything on the way,” she cut in, knowing that irritated look. He was pretty so she was going to overlook his blindness. Didn’t he see that they belonged together? He didn’t belong with Ava. “We are already late for the meeting; we don’t want to keep the others waiting.”

  She released his lax arm and walked ahead, making sure to swish her hips from side to side. She was currently encased in a red dress that stopped above her knees, so tight she was sure he could see the lines of her lacy underwear.

  She’d chosen the empty Mythical Training class; it was large yet intimate. Elaine heard his steps falter a couple of times.

  “Shall we get started?” she asked, rubbing her palms together gleefully, “Oh,” her face falling as she turned to Tarun where he glowered by the door.

  “What the hell, Elaine?” he said softly.

  “I don’t know, I made sure everyone knew about the meeting! What in the world happened?!” she shouted, injecting as much drama as she could into the sentence. She even managed to squeeze out a tear or two.

  Tarun turned to mush instantly. He hated to see females cry. He never knew what to say to make them stop.

  “There, there…” he muttered, patting her hair. He struggled not to breathe through the barrage of scents from there alone.

  Elaine whimpered and sniffed. “I work so hard to organize this, and all they have to do is show up! Just show up!” she wailed, nuzzling his chest, snuggling closer and closer.

  He was stroking her hair silently. The thump-thump of his heart excited her, and it thumped louder, faster. He was reacting to her, it was working! She shimmied closer, making sure to rub her hip into him. She took it as a positive sign—this was the killer moment. If this failed, then the entire afternoon was going to be a flop.

  Slowly, she raised her head, trying not to dislodge his hand on her hair. Eyes still sparkling with tears, she gazed at him, sorrowfully lowering her lashes and sniffling softly.

  “Hey, hey…it’s okay,” he tried to reassure her. “I’m sure people won’t miss the meeting next time.”

  “Mmhmm,” she murmured, demurring prettily. She inched her fingertips toward her hair, gently tucking the small escaped wisps behind her ears.

  Just looking at his chiseled, hard face made her want him more. Those beguiling smoky eyes, deep-set and bright. Lips so dark she could see the blood pulsing through them.

  Her mouth flooded with want in the form of saliva. Her insides roiled—they’d be perfect together, the king and queen.

  With her lips a breath away from his, she balanced on her feet, took a step back,

  “We can’t,” she whispered.

  “Uh… Can’t what?”

  Okay, apparently she had to explain a little...that was fine.

  “We can’t do this—any of it. We’re promised to other people,” she clarified, hoping He hadn’t heard about her breakup with Colin yet. She made circle motions on her arm, shuddering for effect.

  “Elaine,” he jerked his chin back, perplexed, “I came in here for a meeting. I was consoling you, that’s all.”

  Elaine had bottled it up for so long, had watched from the sidelines as a totally nothing kitty cat took her man from her.

  “Is it? Is that all?” she snapped. She then forced laughter from somewhere deep within her, giggled girlishly, and prodded his chest with a finger. “Gotcha!”

  Tarun wasn’t fooled for a second, but he played along. “Don’t play with a guy like that,” he answered, mock frowning.

  “You should have seen your face, so serious. Please. You think I’d hit on you after all this time?”

  “I honestly don’t know what to think with you.”

  “You bet. Hey, I’ve got some decoration samples in my room. We can pick them out together since no one showed.”

  It was on the tip of his tongue to ask why she didn’t bring it to her meeting, but he kept mute, only nodded and stood aside for her to sashay past him.

  But as he moved up the stairs to her room, he wondered why it had to be today. Just when Ava went on tour to BSA. Calling him in to the MT room, rubbing against him like that…clearly, she was up to something.

  Frankly, he would’ve preferred to be up in his room with his guitar and a bunch of Friends episodes. It still shook him, how close he’d come to losing his life. Sure, he did feel guilty about his father; more than anything, he’d wished that no one would find out about the ordeal except for Matilda and his friends, but that ship had sailed.

  Waking up the next day, people looked at him with pity, some with judgment. They believed he killed his father, and of course, Tarun had no intention of clearing the air with anyone.

  He owed no one an explanation; however, he was curious about the loudmouth who’d disclosed his secret. It didn’t just affect him, it affected the entire school. Since then, parents had begun to withdraw their kids massively. More than a third of the school had gone on the BSA tour, including Ava.

  If it hadn’t been for Ava’s mother’s faith in Animage, he probably would've lost her to Bravura.

  Which brought him back to the only person he could think of who stood to gain something if Ava left: Elaine.

  It was a far reach, but it wasn’t the first time she had gone to extremes to get what she wanted.

  Silently, he let her usher him into her room. On her side, there was an explosion of pink and frilly delicates. It instantly made Tarun feel like a big burly bear about to trash everything. Stuffed animals lined the bed; her closet was painted pink; even her vanity table was in the brightest shades of pink with symmetrical dashes of white.

  Also on her bed she’d scattered glue, cards, glitter, ribbons, and paint in buckets.

  “Help me move some aside,” she asked.

  “You got all these?”

  “Before I came back, yes. I’ve always dreamed of hosting the centennials, so I had to be prepared.” She shrugged like it was no big deal.

  They arranged the decorations on the foot of her bed, and Tarun perched on the end, waiting for the bed to fall or turn brown any moment. He watched her flit around the room, talking about everything and nothing, brushing her hair, rushing off to the bathroom to change into something “a little bit more comfortable.”

  He gave appropriate responses of “hmm” and “ah” at the right moments. She hadn’t even seemed to notice that he was basically silent—obviously, she liked the sound of her own voice.

  She came out of the bathroom in a shimmery blue number this time, even more beautiful than the red dress she’d gone to take off.

  This better not be what he was thinking.

  She couldn’t be that shallow and selfish. No way. Elaine shared his love for Animage, so why would she go to such lengths to jeopardize and betray the school?

  And all for what?

  His attention?

  No, there was no truth to that, he tried to believe.

  As she sauntered over to sit beside him, her blue eyes enticing, he shifted a little and returned her scrutiny. His eyes, with a steel in them, cut right through her. She saw it and flinched conspicuously.

  “It was you,” he said blatantly.

  She held strong, kept her gaze leveled on his. If anything, her chin went up higher.

  “What?”

  “You told everyone about my accident.”

  “You’re spouting nonsense.” She chuckled derisively. “Why would I ever want to do that?”

  It was small, but he’d heard it. The small stutter that betraye
d her.

  “Let’s see, I’m sitting on your bed, I held you downstairs, and you lured Ava away from the school.”

  “How little you think of me.”

  “I don’t think little of you, Elaine. If I did, I would never have figured out how malicious and devious you could be.”

  She recoiled, his words hitting her like punches.

  Tarun leaped from the bed and bent close to her pale face, his breathing hot and heavy on her. “I don’t ever want to see you next to me or Ava. Do you understand? This is the last line you will ever cross. If you ever come for me or mine again, I will hit you with all I’ve got, and trust me, you won’t survive the repercussions.”

  “Ta—Tarun…I—”

  “How could you knowingly harm a school you love or was it all just pretense?”

  “No—I just wanted—”

  “You want. That’s the problem.” He squeezed his fists painfully against him. He had to take several steps back from her. “I have to go before I do something I’d regret. Ava was right—you are the devil.”

  With that, he threw the piece of paper he found under her bed at her and stalked out.

  It was a half-written note to Diana, gloating about her achievement.

  13

  Ava moved to James’s side, leaving Jack and his parents ahead. She was temporarily distracted by the ambient yet sheer monstrosity of a simple hallway. Her head tipped fully backward just to be able to see the ceiling fully. More slashes of silver and the pale backdrop of the finest gold. Animage used most of the hallway walls to honor past students or current exceptional ones, but this school had no such qualms, leaving the walls with stunning pieces of art. Terrifying and arresting paintings. One showed two men, half shifted, fighting to what looked like the death.

  Ava couldn’t stop staring at the realistic splashes of blood, the suffering depicted in each beast’s eyes—the cruelty in the man’s blood-splattered face. Jack, in the midst of explaining their next route, noticed the unbridled fascination and strolled down to her. James, being ever so protective of his best friend’s girlfriend, moved in closer to her and folded his new buff arms.

  “That’s a piece by one of our students,” he explained. “We don’t condone such bloodsport here.”

  James scoffed, loudly. “That’s stupid. Most of us are predators.”

  Jack’s eyes crinkled again, this time condescending, as though he were speaking to a dumb kid. “You harm what you are, how different are you from the poachers?” Then he shook his head sadly and strode to James’s parents who were staring at the three of them avidly—all that was missing was popcorn.

  They walked down the hallway into a class, or so he called it. “This is where wolves are trained, educationally, in combat, and emotionally.”

  “What do you mean emotionally?” Linda asked, moving to a machine that looked like it killed rather than trained.

  “Wolves are…volatile. They have to learn how to control the outbursts and keep them within the wolf form. The walls, as every other in the BSA, are lined with demetria, a magical protective barrier only activated when there is magical danger.”

  Ava saw Linda glance meaningfully at her son, mouthing ‘see?’

  “Oh, that’s thoughtful,” Dr. Eddie said, completely sold on Bravura already and they had barely even started.

  Jack moved to an adjoining door and pulled it in. “In this room, the werewolves train.”

  “There are werewolves here?”

  “A number of them, yes. We keep them here at full moon with the demetria activated. They pose no harm at all, but we can’t take chances.”

  ‘Here’ was a line-up of rooms, the doors shut. Ava thought she could hear movement inside, then it was quiet, so maybe not. She wondered how it felt to be caged, locked up and away from your friends, all because of who you were once a month.

  “We don’t isolate them. They only stay in at night on the full moon. During the day, they are allowed to move around as they please.”

  Jack gestured them out of the wolf training room. She could hear other tour guides explaining the rooms, and the families arguing, sometimes, a burst of laughter.

  She glanced at James, no chance of laughing there—he was stoic as could be. She walked beside him as they entered another training room.

  “This is for shifters that take flight,” he announced grandly, sweeping his hands over the room.

  “You mean birds,” James groused, sticking close to Ava.

  The smile didn’t falter, “Birds, griffins, Tengru—if it flies, it’s here. That’s why it has to be built huge.”

  “What happens to the smaller birds?”

  “Nothing. They train together. One after the other depending on size.”

  Ava knew what James was thinking; it was printed boldly on his face, even though he was trying his best to appear foul-tempered and uninterested. The different modern training machines Jack was picking out and explaining were hard to pass up.

  And James could finally play with the big birds.

  Animage believed in the power of one's mind, the ability of one’s mind to conjure up what needed to be done. There were no machines or computers to aid the process.

  Evidently, Bravura disagreed.

  Out of nowhere, Linda asked the million-dollar question: “How do you coerce second transformations?”

  Jack laughed outright then. “We don’t coerce. It’s already there, just needs a small nudge.” He made words sound like clipped music with his accent—he was like one of those people no one could stay mad at.

  “But to answer your question, at least to the extent I understand, we have specific training rooms tailored to the specific needs of every shifter admitted. If the problem—I assume it is here—is second transformation, we simply make adjustments to suit that purpose.”

  Linda and Eddie appeared to be visibly relieved. Ava looked down between them and saw the hands they’d been clenching relax.

  “Can we see this room?” Eddie asked.

  “Why not?” Jack shrugged. He rushed through the explanations, pointing out the processes for being in the class. Ava stifled her yawn—unavoidably, he caught her.

  When they came out of the room, there were two families waiting to be introduced and a slightly impatient blond guide. Amazingly, the scowl disappeared when Jack came out last. She was twirling her long hair, and oozing all the charm in the world.

  Jack returned the smile and moved on. Ava caught the dejected look on the girl’s pretty face before she turned away. She knew that expression, and the pain that came with it.

  Boys were so dense.

  They followed him into the largest room they’d seen so far, lined with earthy shades, heavy drapes for the windows, and like Jack had said, the equipment differed heavily from Animage—some was massive, metallic, dangerous—looking things, some small and as simple as a stone.

  But what really interested Ava, and apparently James who couldn’t hide his excitement, were the extensive monitors on the walls, and attached on the equipment.

  There was not a single computer at their own school. It was against the policy, and Levine insisted it was a distraction and that the crown wouldn’t function normally with all that static centered around computers.

  “The screens show you what to do while training. Most of our professors rarely leave their offices. They use the spare time to carry out intensive research on shifters and discover new ways to help us train better. In the mornings, we have combat trainings with the coach and that’s all,” Jack carried on his well-rehearsed speech. “The rest of the programs are monitored. Bravura recognizes that this is no ordinary human school, so the students are allowed to take classes any time of the day.”

  “So they’re just allowed to laze around all day? How do you keep track? What about exams?” Linda asked, a creasing of fine lines on her forehead.

  Score one for Animage, Ava thought, mentally pumping her fists into the air.

  “What? No. The headmast
er tracks all classes and attendance, too. Exams are taken at the end of the semester as it should be. Part of our goal is to train students with a mind of their own, able to make decisions, attend classes, without constant prodding from professors.”

  “So, if my son were to go here—”

  “Mom, not this again!”

  Linda heartily ignored her son. “He wouldn’t have to combine heavy academic work with training.”

  “No, Ma’am.”

  “That’s bollocks,” she cussed, refusing to look at her husband. Yes, she cussed, she knew it. Move on, her posture implied.

  Jack walked with measured steps to the front and gave it another shot. Linda might be protesting, but her son was impressed, and even Eddie seemed to love the style. “The headmaster believes in giving his students free rein during the daytime. There are three theoretical classes each day that can be taken at any time after combat training. This method gives us more time to hone our shifting abilities to perfection. Every student here wants to be the best, so instead of the authorities pushing us, we push ourselves to be better.”

  “I suppose that last bit is acceptable,” Linda caved. The delight on Jack’s narrow face was palpable. Probably because it was important to convince parents more than the kids. He didn’t even care that James’s dark glower deepened.

  Jack led them to the back of the building, which dramatically changed to a blinding snow-white sheen. Beeping machines could be heard in the sterile rooms. He pushed open one door with a green light blinking outside. “This is our clinic. The headmaster made sure to employ qualified shifter doctors who would understand the student’s human and animal needs. We have access to a world of portions and remedies for every mythical injury. Even vampires.”

  When Linda’s pencil-thin brow disappeared doubtfully into her head, he confirmed it. “Yes, vampires. Though the chances of one attacking are very slim, we have only two students like that. The headmaster procured the cure only as a precaution to heal and to prevent unwanted turning.”