by May Dawson
But as we left the house, she said to me, “Congratulations on your new research department, Dean Clearborn.”
“Thank you,” I said. I wouldn’t have had the votes without her.
War makes for strange allies.
I hesitated, and she said, “Even though I disagree, I appreciate that you care what happens to Maddie.”
“Of course,” I said, frowning.
“That girl will surprise you,” she promised. “She has a role to play in saving the packs. An important one.”
I stared at Piper, perplexed, as the pieces fell into place for me. I’d been confused by how quickly she’d leapt to support Hadley’s bright idea. “Tell me you don’t believe those ridiculous prophecies. Don’t gamble your sister’s life on a fortune cookie.”
Piper smiled. “I’m not gambling. I have faith in her. Hell, I have faith in you, Clearborn. You’ve taught your cadets well.”
“I’m touched,” I grumbled.
She laughed at my grumpiness before she moved away, across the porch, raising her hand in a wave as Arthur opened her car door for her.
I lifted my hand in goodbye. I hated this, but I’d find every safety precaution that I could to make sure Maddie Northsea made it home again.
I couldn’t shake the conviction that the alpha council—and Maddie’s own sister—were sending her on a suicide mission.
Chapter Six
Rafe
The last of my team—five exhausted cadets—huddled around Lex and me. Penn had his hands in his pockets, revealing tattooed forearms, his face still splattered with dirt and blood from the fight; Chase rested his elbow on Maddie’s shoulder with easy possessiveness, and Jensen stood with his arms folded across his broad chest, looking relaxed despite the split in his lip.
The four of them seemed to move as one little unit now, everywhere they went. Tyson stood near them, but not part of them, his face still and focused.
Pity swept through me unexpectedly. I felt a rush of jealousy sometimes when I saw how inseparable Maddie, Jensen, Chase and Penn were these days, but I wasn’t allowed to be their friend anyway. Whatever was going on between Maddie and Tyson might suck for them both, but he was the one who was left out.
“Good work today,” Lex said. “We might have the smallest team…”
“But small can be mighty.” Jensen palmed Maddie’s head in his hand.
“Still not a basketball,” she told him without looking up.
“You’re all secured for liberty,” I said, trying to ignore the easy way they touched each other. Lex reached into his backpack and pulled out their cell phones, tossing them to each of them in turn. “Curfew is still at ten.”
Before Clearborn came to the academy, the cadets could sign out overnight on Saturday. Penn’s lips tugged to one side, but no one complained.
“I know it’s inconvenient to have to wrap up your orgies by nine-thirty,” I said. “But stay out of trouble.”
Lex rubbed his hand over his face, as if I exasperated him these days.
“Always,” Jensen deadpanned. “You know how dedicated we are to following the rules.”
The funny thing was, Jensen had been dedicated to following the rules for the past few months. They all had.
Lex tossed Penn’s phone to him, and he caught it against his chest, flashing him a grin. Even Penn had been toeing the line, or at least, he was being even sneakier than usual.
Clearborn had ordered room inspections earlier that week. When Lex and I’d searched their rooms, I’d had a knot in my stomach, but we discovered neither drugs nor magical paraphernalia. Even Maddie’s scrying bowl could be explained away as part of Penn’s shaving kit.
It’d be nice if my cadets were good, but I’d accept competence in hiding their misdeeds if they couldn’t make it all the way to good.
“Mr. Hunt, a minute.” It was Clearborn’s voice behind me.
“Yes sir,” I called back. Then I turned to them, crossing my arms. I was half-joking when I asked, “What’d you do now?”
I was half not joking. What now? Expecting the worst, I turned and headed toward Clearborn, who stood watching the knots of students around the pits. He was perhaps the shortest man out here, not much taller than Maddie, but his presence was still commanding as he studied us all. The breeze ruffled his brown hair.
“Good afternoon, sir.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Hunt. Good work out there today. Your team is pulling together well.”
I nodded. Whether we all appreciated his methods or not, there was no denying the entire academy worked together better than they had a few months ago. “Thank you.”
“I have some visitors waiting at the academic building to see you,” he said. “They had hoped to watch your fights this morning, but I can’t have that distraction.”
“Who?” My voice came out cool, but I could already feel my muscles tightening with tension.
“Your parents. They dropped in to have lunch with you. Apparently, they find you elusive.” Clearborn’s eyes always seemed far too shrewd as he studied me.
I gestured toward Maddie and company, who were drifting across the quad toward the dorms—but slowly, as if they didn’t want to outpace me and whatever bad news I might have. I wasn’t sure if it was sweet or if they were just snooping. “They keep me busy.”
“Don’t they,” he murmured. “You’ll need a partner to leave campus, of course. I imagine your parents don’t want to eat in the dining hall.”
“No, sir.” No one did. But both my parents were shifters; did he really think I still needed a buddy to leave campus?
“You could take Northsea,” he said suddenly. “And later, I want you to ensure Atlas and Northsea begin working on developing their magic. Privately.”
“Sir?” There were so many alarming thoughts in that one sentence: taking Maddie to meet my parents, working with Maddie and Ty on their forbidden magic, how Clearborn even knew they had magic. “I’m not sure what you’re referring to—”
Clearborn cut me off with a wave. “Could we skip the part where you pretend to be an idiot in the hopes that I’m one myself?”
“Ah, yes, sir. You want me to supervise Atlas and Northsea developing magical ability? But what happens if…someone sees them?”
“I didn’t think I needed to spell out what privately means.”
“Mistakes happen. I just want to make sure that they won’t be…”
Clearborn’s brows rose in the silence that hung between us. “You want to make sure that I won’t betray them and have them expelled or executed? Let me assure you, Mr. Hunt, I secured the Council’s approval. But practicing magic at the academy is a delicate matter, and I don’t want to push our luck by antagonizing your fellow students and their packs.”
I nodded. “Is there some reason you want me to take Northsea to lunch with my parents? I could take Lex… he knows them already.”
Of course, Lex hated my parents.
Part of me felt a rush of excitement at the thought of taking Maddie with me. I wanted to spend more time with her. I just didn’t want to spend any time with my parents.
“Because they’ve already annoyed me.” He flashed me a faint smile. “I’d like to return the favor. It’s not an order, however. You’re welcome to bring whoever else you can connive, bribe or extort.”
How long had Clearborn spent with my father to come to the realization that spending time with him was painful?
“I’ll take Maddie, if she’s willing to go,” I said.
Clearborn’s lips pulled up at the corners, but he nodded curtly and moved on to another group of students.
When I hurried across the quad and caught up to Maddie, she looked at me with bright eyes and unabashed curiosity. The two of us fell behind the rest of the guys.
“I’m going to lunch with my parents,” I said. “And I need someone to come with me. Clearborn’s buddy system, you know.”
“I see.” Her lips tugged as if she were fighting a smile, but she
jammed her hands into her pockets and fixed me with an innocent look.
“I wondered if you would like to come along,” I said.
“Sure,” she said. “For safety.”
She couldn’t hide her grin, no matter what she said. What am I getting myself into? I just wished my parents wouldn’t be there, with all the weight of their expectations and judgment.
“I’m sure lunch will be somewhere dressy,” I said.
“I won’t embarrass you,” she promised. She glanced down at her mud-splattered utility uniform. “I do own nice clothes.”
“I’m not worried about you embarrassing me,” I assured her. I was worried my parents would embarrass me in front of her, and now I had sudden regrets about my spontaneous request that she come with me. I wanted her with me—I always wanted to be with her, no matter what I said—but it was a foolish impulse.
Twenty minutes later, freshly showered, I met Maddie outside the dorm. She looked different with her blond hair falling in soft waves around her pretty face, her coat open over a simple navy blue dress, her long legs looking even longer with classic nude heels. Even my mother would have to approve of the way Maddie looked, at least.
As we walked toward the academic building, Maddie kept glancing at me curiously.
“What?” I asked finally.
“I just never see you out of your clothes—I mean out of your uniform. Dressed down.”
My eyebrows arched, and she pursed her lips. She added, “It’s weird. That’s all I’m saying.”
“They’re just clothes.” I glanced down at my gray jacket, black button-down shirt, and dark wash jeans. “I am a person, Maddie. I’m not completely defined by the academy.”
“Well.” Maddie put in.
“I said not completely.”
“Maybe I was just disagreeing that you’re a person,” she said lightly.
“Oh, really? What then? Superhero?”
Her lips tilted up in a smile. “And I’m the cocky one?”
“Oh, I think we’re pretty well matched.”
Around here. I should have said around here. Cain, had I just implied that Maddie and I were well-matched? Phrasing. We both needed to watch our phrasing. Her smile widened as if she noticed, but she didn’t say anything more.
I was usually cool enough around Maddie, but now I was floundering.
My parents waited for us outside the academic building. There were a few wayward flakes of snow resting on my father’s thick salt-and-pepper hair. I assumed snow didn’t dare land on my mother.
“Brace yourself,” I told Maddie. “It’s about to get awkward.”
Maddie’s eyes were bright with curiosity, as if she wanted to know where I came from. She was about to get so much more than she’d bargained for.
“Maddie, this is my mother, Rose, and my father David,” I said.
My mother smiled faintly at Maddie as she shook her hand, then gave me a familiar cool glare. I’d done something wrong already.
My father ignored her pointedly, as he always did. “Shall we drive together?”
“I have to take Maddie home afterward,” I said, grateful to have an excuse. “We should take separate cars.”
“Very well.” My father smiled down at Maddie. He had a knack for being charming, at a distance, and I felt a sudden rebellious lurch at the thought that he might charm her. As we headed back across campus, he asked her about her weekend so far. She smiled brightly as she explained to him that there wasn’t a lot of weekend at the academy.
My mother put her hand on my arm, pulling my attention away from them. I glanced at her, irritated by the distraction; I didn’t want my father talking to Maddie when I couldn’t hear him. “What is it?”
“It’s nothing serious, Raphael,” she said. “You mixed up your introduction. You should have introduced Maddie to us, not us to her. You used to remember your etiquette.”
Hell, maybe it was a subconscious decision that Maddie outranked my parents. I nodded; I wasn’t going to apologize to her, but I acknowledged what she’d said. Let her take it as agreement.
Maddie turned away from my father to raise her eyebrows at me. “We could take my car if you want. I drove back myself.”
“That’s all right.” My day was harrowing enough; I didn’t think I needed to experience Maddie’s driving firsthand. Tyson had used a lot of adjectives to describe their previous trip together, ranging from terrifying to death-defying.
I was tense, but once I slammed the driver’s side door shut and it was just Maddie and me again, peace settled over me even as my car radio blared.
Maddie settled into the leather bucket seat beside me, smoothing her skirt over her lap. It was a feminine gesture I’d never seen from her. She was right—we only knew each other in one setting. That thought bothered me. I wanted to know everything about Madeline Northsea.
I twisted, putting my hand behind her seat, so I could back the car out of the crowded parking lot.
“Why did you invite me to come with you?” She glanced at me with big blue eyes.
I tried to focus on not running into anyone else’s car as I backed up, no matter how distracting her gaze. “No one goes off campus alone. The rules do apply to me too.”
“Besides that,” she said. “Why me?”
My hands were tense on the wheel as I followed my father’s car down the wooded drive. The branches hung low over the roof of the car, twisted together into an arch that felt oppressive on a gray winter day like this one.
I sighed. “Lex would’ve come with me if I asked, but he hates my parents.”
“Why?”
“Because I do.” I shouldn’t have just blurted that out. “How are the twins? What are their names? I never asked about their naming ceremony.”
“Don’t change the subject,” she chided.
“I’m not,” I said. She rested her arm on the windowsill as she twisted to give me a skeptical look, and I amended, “Not exactly. There’s so much I don’t know about you.”
“You don’t need to waste your time getting to know a First Year.” Her voice was arch.
“I think you and I are already pretty intimately acquainted on some fronts. Given that you’ve had your fingers in my guts. So I’m allowed to be curious about the others.”
“Am I allowed to be curious about you? Ask your mother for Rafe 101? Does she have baby photos on her phone?”
I was worried about just how much Rafe 101 Maddie might get tonight. “No, there are definitely no baby photos on her phone.”
“Is she a natural born shifter or…”
“Turned,” I said, “which seems to make her twice as determined to be the perfect shifter wife.”
“Your sister didn’t attend the academy.”
I shook my head. “No.”
My mother would never have allowed it. She thought Maddie’s attendance at the academy was a rejection of her god-given role.
I could see why Clearborn wanted to throw Maddie and my parents together for his own amusement, but I was starting to regret that I’d gone along with it. Maddie didn’t deserve to have one more person chip away at that bright, bubbly, resilient personality.
The thought that one day, maybe that personality would crack under the strain, and she’d become more guarded, more reserved, less her, made my knuckles turn white. I realized and slid my hands down the steering wheel, forcing myself to relax.
“Is your mother going to like me, Rafe?”
“Does it matter?” I asked lightly.
She hesitated, then said, “Yes.”
I hadn’t expected that. “Why?”
She shrugged, running her fingers through her blond hair to push it back from her face. “Do you care what my pack thinks of you?”
Given how Piper Northsea had found me… “It might be a little late for that.”
She tilted her head to one side. As her lips parted, I added hurriedly, “I wanted to get to know you better, Maddie. First Year or not.”
S
he smiled faintly, as if she knew I was distracting her. But she still asked, “What do you want to know?”
“The missions you had before you came here, with your pack. Tell me about them.”
“When I was with my sister’s pack…” she began, before launching into a story about tracking down a coven that used the internet to lure young people to their deaths. It was a gentle correction, but it was still a correction.
I’d thought I’d be able to relax once I had her talking—and put aside my tension over spending the afternoon with my parents—but instead, her story had me shaking my head.
“What?” she interrupted herself to ask.
“I don’t like you going off alone.”
“I’m not going off alone again,” she said, smiling. “At least not anytime soon.”
“Better not.”
She crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow at me. “That sounded typically threatening.”
“Oh, it’s entirely self-serving. I am dying to see you as cadre one day, with a dozen pain-in-the-ass underclassmen of your own.”
Her lips arched. “If karma’s in effect, I think my underclassmen would be awesome. Maybe I just wouldn’t see it.”
“Mm-hmm. I hope they’re mouthy. I hope they have the attention spans of rabid squirrels, and they take two hours to write a one-page essay.”
“That’s a bit melodramatic. And also, I’m doubting you know anything about the scientific effects of rabies on a squirrel.”
“Why wouldn’ I? I deal with rabid shifter teenagers all day, every day.”
“You’re barely more than a teenager yourself,” she shot back, but she was smiling. “I bet you and Lex do plenty of ridiculous things, you just don’t get caught.”
That made me think of Clearborn’s directive that she and Tyson work on their magic. I needed to talk to them both, but not now.
“Well, I’d be thrilled if you all managed not to get caught,” I said, “almost as thrilled as I’d be if you just stayed out of trouble to begin with.”
As the two of us bickered, I relaxed. Then my father’s car nosed into a parking space, and all my tension rushed back.
