Academy of Beasts IV

by Becca Fanning

  “Ren’s hostile every night. Why doesn’t he get a lecture?”

  “Because he’s Ren and you’re Fiona,” he bit back, his voice growing. He probably thought I was being childish. I didn’t care. “Do you want to tell us if there’s something on your mind?”

  Boom. Checkmate. He’d come right into my plan. I smiled easily.

  Jasper’s eyes danced with delight. Enrique took a breath. Theo’s eye bulged as he watched me lean forward. I’d specifically taken the seat at the other end of the table for the dramatics. Sue me.

  “I was thinking about my dead parents,” I told him. The air left the room. “I was reflecting on the violence of it.”

  You could’ve dropped a needle in the room and heard it echo throughout the entire manor. Dracus’ nostrils flared. His eyes widened slightly, and as they did, the diamond-like pupils that dragon-shifters shared seemed to dilate and focus rapidly.

  “Fiona.”

  I pressed on. “I was thinking about the way I woke up in Beast Academy. What they told me before dragging me away from my burning house.”

  Ren’s gaze fell on me like a lightning strike. Was he thinking about his own dark past? I couldn’t worry about that now.

  “They told me that they were taking me to a special place because I was a shifter. They were doubtful. I remember them discussing if I was actually a shifter or not. Recent events have led me to believe that might not be the case.” I flexed my hands. Theo sucked in a breath and Dracus snapped towards him.

  “Don’t—” Dracus was too late.

  “How did you know?” Theo asked. His puppy eyes were trained on me. This wasn’t a part of the plan. My breath caught in my throat. Enrique cleared his throat and tapped the table in awkward rhythm.

  “Theo,” he said slowly. “That was technically my fault.”

  “How?” Theo’s brow scrunched together.

  Jasper was covertly hiding his mouth behind his napkin, probably stifling the chuckle of the century. I took a deep breath.

  “I tried to get information out of Enrique unfairly,” I said. Theo cocked his head to the side.

  “It was my fault,” Enrique insisted. “I was trying to get laid.”

  Theo shot up from the table. “You dirty dog. You—”

  “I kissed her, Theo. God. Calm down.”

  “You kissed her?!” Theo cried out. Oh, no. This wasn’t going as exactly according to plan as I’d hoped. His eyes roamed around the table. “Who else knew?” A guilty silence followed. He crossed his arms. “Unbelievable. All of you knew?”

  “We didn’t tell you for this reason,” Ren said bitterly. “You’re shouting at the damn table.” His gaze found me. “Excellent job, by the way. Your strategy is going great.”

  “Bite me.”

  “Piss me off and I might,” he retorted. “Or you can get Enrique to do it easily enough, I’m sure.”

  Enrique smacked a hand on the table. “Ren, fire off something again and I’ll rip your little wolf head off your fucking body. Acting like you’re better than everybody else when you’ve been running around and—”

  “STOP!” Dracus’ yell cast a terrifying spell over everybody.

  We froze, hovering our positions. Me, sinking into my chair. Theo, his crossed arms and barely contained rage. Enrique, about to launch himself at Ren on the same side of the table. Jasper, between Enrique and Ren, looking calm and collected despite being wedged amid utter chaos. I marveled at his composure.

  “We are not animals,” Dracus said sternly. He was grinding out the words. I could see how tightly his jaw was snapping. He was pissed. As pissed as he was the time I tried to sneak over the barrier of the Academy. My stomach dropped. A trail of smoke left his mouth. He waved it away and took a sharp inhale. “There are obviously things going on that need to be addressed.”

  “I’m glad that we agree on that,” I said before I could help it.

  He lifted a hand. A classic Prince Dracus move to signal that the next person to talk out of turn would be promptly set aflame and sent to Nurse Greta without any sympathy.

  “Let’s go over this calmly,” he said in a smooth voice. “Theo, sit your ass in your chair. Enrique, contain yourself or remove yourself from the table. Ren, stop baiting everyone for a fight, you child.”

  Ren reared back as if he’d been struck. Dracus rarely gave out such insults without reason, which made them all the worse.

  “Fiona,” he said and his eyes rest on me. “Express yourself but do it in a mature way. I understand that you’re experiencing difficult emotions, but I advise you to speak about your experiences in a logical manner.”

  “Every time that I try to talk, you walk off or shut me down.” I crossed my arms. “I want answers.”

  “You want answers?” he asked.

  His hand flew upwards into the air and back down. The locks on the dining room door locked audibly. The swinging door to the kitchen clasped itself shut. Nervous sweat began at my neck.

  He addressed me again, “Let’s get answers. Nobody is leaving until we’re done talking about this. Nobody. I don’t care if it takes until eight o’clock in the morning.”

  I was stunned into silence.

  He was ready.

  “Let’s begin.”

  Chapter 9

  I should’ve had more wine.

  “You want me to just state all of my problems and thoughts?”

  “Why not?” Dracus asked and pushed his plate to the side. “You clearly want to say something.”

  “You’re not wrong,” I said. “Fine. Let’s start.” From my jean pocket, I took out my list of things. Enrique smacked the table with a laugh. His rage had dissipated already.

  “She’s got a list.”

  Theo didn’t return Enrique’s grin. Instead, he huffed.

  “Sketchy Boys, item number one: You all disappear for mysterious reasons. You often come back injured. Bleeding, bruised. I ask about it and get brushed off.” I set the list down and stared at Dracus.

  “We have a certain role to perform at the Academy,” he said. “A job that requires utmost secrecy and discretion on the part of our employer.”

  “So, you do work someone. Someone is above you.”

  “Above?” His tone took on a haughty tone. “No, we work alongside them.”

  “And who is them?” I asked.

  They seemed to all look at one another except for Dracus. His eyes remained firmly on my face, refusing to budge. I almost wished he was less intense. A bead of sweat rolled downed my back. It quite possible that the dragon-shifter was heating up the room by accident, which meant that Dracus, of all people, was losing his usual poise.

  “That, I cannot tell you,” he replied. “I can tell you that they represent the safety of shifters everywhere and are trust-worthy.”

  “Second Sketchy Boys note—”

  “Sorry,” Enrique broke in. “What’s Sketchy Boys?”

  “It’s what I call you in my notes,” I said with a sniff. “Because you’re sketchy.”

  “Sketchy?” he repeated with an offended voice. “Mysterious and sexy, yes, but sket—”

  “Enrique, let Fiona finish her list.” Dracus never moved his gaze off me. I took a breath and continued, vowing to drop the sketchy label.

  “Second item: nobody will tell me what I am,” I stated. “It’s incredibly frustrating.”

  “What you are is a student at the Academy,” Dracus said. Jasper chuckled darkly, drawing everyone’s gaze.

  “Sorry, Dracus,” he muttered. “But I can see what she’s talking about a bit more.”

  Dracus exhaled in a measured breath. “Very well, Jasper. Would you like to try?”

  The fox-shifter lifted his brows. “Stop me if I get it wrong.” He turned to me. “Are you ready?”

  My heart leaped into my throat. I nodded numbly.

  “Fiona. You are a student at Beast Academy. You were brought here because your family was murdered, likely by someone that doesn’t like shifter
s. They had reason enough to suspect you were a shifter. You’re not a traditional shifter.” He paused for a beat. “But you’re something. Something that Dracus is afraid we don’t know enough about to tell you.”

  I blinked. “You’re not telling me because you don’t know?” My mouth dropped open. Here I’d been, thinking that they had the answers to all of my questions.

  Dracus sighed. “No, we don’t know everything for certain. It’s true. We have strong suspicions, but we cannot confirm them yet. On that point, you’ll have to trust me.”

  “Okay. Why couldn’t you have told me that you weren’t sure? I’ve been freaking out about the visions that I had ever since I came here.”

  “Visions?” The world stopped. Five pairs of eyes drilled into me at the end of the table. I swallowed a lump in my throat.

  “Don’t shifters have visions?” I ventured. In truth, I hadn’t meant to say that I had visions. “When I first came here, I had visions. I thought it was something to do with being a late-shifter or maybe the calming agents that Nurse Greta gave me.”

  “You had visions and you didn’t tell us?” Theo asked. His voice was pained. I bit my lip.

  “Can you blame her?” Jasper asked. He was emerging as the defendant that I didn’t know I had. “Her behavior has been saintly compared to what we would’ve done if any of us had been in the same position.” An uncomfortable silence fell over the table. When the fox-shifter spoke, he cut deep with his assessments.

  “What were these visions of?” Dracus asked. He must’ve seen my hesitation because he followed it up with a voice that was close to begging, “Please, Fiona. It’s important.”

  “I keep having a vision of when I’m a child. Well, I think it’s me. I’m seeing through a toddler’s eyes. I’m watching another kid. She looks like me. Except she’s shifting. She shifts into a bear cub.”

  Utter stillness. The tension was growing around me. I pressed forward, unwilling or unable to stop.

  “Then there’s someone there. A man. He’s nice. He’s holding me by the hand. He’s explaining to me that I can count on him. That he’s my father. There’s a white picket-fence. A bit like the one in the gardens. We walk towards it and he opens it for me.”

  I shook my head and stared at the table. The wood grain was beginning to blur. “I don’t understand any of it. Being at this place is making me crazy.”

  “You’re not crazy.” Theo’s soft voice hit my ears, but I was shaking. Trembling. I pushed myself into the back of the chair.

  “I don’t understand why I was brought here,” I muttered. “You know that I’m not a late-shifter, so what else could I be?”

  Dracus rose up from his seat, gently. “Fiona, I apologize. This has been a heavy moment for you.”

  I looked up at and realized that virtually everyone was staring at me with a mixture of some concealed pity or sympathy. Except for Ren, he was staring down at his plate, but his signature glare and fury were gone from his face. I downed the last of my wine.

  “You can’t tell me anything?” I asked.

  Dracus shook his head gravely. “Not now, but you’ve done right by sharing. There are things I can begin to explore for you. I’m asking for you to trust me.” He paused and glanced around the table at the other four guys. “I’m asking you to trust all of us here at this table. We won’t betray you, Fiona. We have your best interest in mind.”

  “Okay,” I said and nodded. My heart felt heavy and my head felt light. I rubbed my forehead. “I think I should go to my room now.” The doors unlocked themselves.

  “Theo, please walk Fiona back to her room.”

  “Me?” he repeated, but he rose up from his chair. I followed him out of the room. They were eerily silent behind us. It was even quieter with Theo as we climbed the stairs.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” I said. “I was embarrassed by what I did.”

  He glanced at me as if remembering that I existed. “Fiona, it’s not that. I’m madder at Enrique. He knows how to play girls. I was just worried about you.” He shook his head. “After you told us everything, I feel like I understand you a lot better. I feel bad. I was busy running around for work.”

  “Working for the mysterious them?” I asked but punctuated it with a playful smile.

  He swatted teasingly at me. It was a feather-light touch. “Yes,” he answered. “It’s hard. I thought about trying to tell you things, but Dracus is strict. He has to be. We’re all under a lot of pressure.”

  Priscilla’s words came back to me. The Council boys operated as if they carried an immensely heavy weight. I sighed.

  “It can’t be easy for you guys either,” I admitted. “But I’m glad that I told everyone what I was going through. I was going crazy.”

  “You have to be going crazy if you’re willing to kiss Enrique for some information,” he said with a dark chuckle.

  I blushed and he laughed even harder, keeling over at the waist. When he came back up, his cheeks were delightfully pink.

  “You’re not going to beat him up?” I asked.

  “Enrique, I always beat up,” he sniffed. “Don’t forget that I was your first friend here.” He puffed up his chest and we laughed.

  “I feel a lot better. Dracus was right to send you. You always lighten the mood.”

  A proud grin spread across his face. He pointed to himself and straightened his back, striking something akin to a superhero pose. “You can count on me. The loveable bear.” Indeed. He followed me into my room and asked, “Do you think we could still study before our quiz on Thursday?”

  “Sure. Sorry I was being a vague jerk at dinner. I was trying to bait Dracus into asking me what was wrong. It’s best to catch him off guard.”

  He chuckled. “Keep talking like that and you’ll turn into Jasper.”

  “He was nice to defend me tonight, though, the fox,” I added. He nodded and sat beside me on the edge of my bed.

  “Jasper’s a funny one. I don’t think anybody has fully worked him out. I know that he hates secrets. It’s probably why he’s so good at finding them.” He shrugged. “We’ll work hard, Fiona, to figure things out. I hope you can trust us to find information.”

  “I hope you can trust me to keep investigating on my own.”

  “That’s fair,” he said with a laugh. “Try to stay away from Enrique, though. I love him, but he’s led by a darker longing than most.”

  I shivered. “You think? He never talks about himself.”

  “For good reason,” he said in a low voice. “We’ve all got our curses to bear in life. You’ll notice that Enrique and Jasper rarely say things about themselves. They’re the opposite of open.”

  I nodded. Of course, I’d noticed. “I’ve always thought that they were cut from the same cloth.”

  He nodded eagerly. “Definitely! It used to creep me out at first, you know, since I’m the newest out of the original Council members. Enrique and I butted heads a lot. I used to think he was creepier than he is.”

  “Used to?” I asked with a raised brow. He snorted.

  “I had a lot of ideas about love and romance from my bear-shifter kind that didn’t exactly translate to Enrique’s ways. I realized that I was acting like he was taking advantage of women when they were often the ones initiating things with him.” He chuckled. “I still stand by my warning to be careful around him.”

  “And Jasper?”

  “Jasper freaks me out to this day, but he’s nice. It’s good to have someone that clever on your team.”

  I nodded. “Honestly, Jasper scares me more than Ren sometimes.”

  “It’s the fox spirit,” he said with a smile. “Ren is okay after a while. I’m sorry he’s been so hostile to you. In some ways, I wonder if you remind him of his own past.”

  “I’ve wondered that too,” I admitted. “Although his entire clan was taken away.”

  “Grief is grief,” he countered and rubbed a hand on his chest. “Phew. We’re really talking about heavy stuff
tonight.”

  I smirked. “Any dark secrets you’d like to admit?”

  “Well, well, well,” a voice said from the doorway.

  I turned to see Enrique’s handsome face pointed at us. “Criticize me and you’re sitting on her bed. Are you taking notes from me?”

  Theo turned peach pink. “We’re having a normal conversation!”

  I shook my head and laughed. “You guys are too much. Go fight somewhere outside my room. I’m exhausted.”

  Theo looked disappointed to leave, but he gave me a big hug. “Don’t give up,” he whispered to me. His hot breath in my ear distracted me from the comfort of the hug.

  “Uh-huh.” I waved them away. It wasn’t long before I heard muffled voices yelling down the hall. I rolled my eyes. There was always something to fight about between those two. It was nice to know that they somehow got along, though.

  I took a shower and slept well for the first time in a long time.

  Chapter 10

  Training was gruesome for the next few days. I was panicking over the quiz on Thursday morning and Dracus could tell.

  He stopped one of my feeble punches with a forceful blocking maneuver. “Fiona, get your head in the game. I can’t train you if you’re not present.”

  “Sorry.” I shook myself out of my thoughts. He pulled back and frowned.

  “Stretch for two minutes and meditate for eight. That’ll be all the training for today.”

  “Why don’t you have to stretch?” I asked him as he waltzed over to the gym mat. He performed a flip effortlessly and landed into a crouching pose, a position that was too advanced for me in Dragon Fist.

  “Because I stretch my body all throughout the day.” He said and cracked his neck. It popped with an audible sound. I made a face.

  “Point taken.”

  Theo didn’t join us today because he was busy cramming for the quiz. We’d studied last night with Priscilla, who’d been blissfully allowed to visit the manor. She stayed for dinner where everyone thankfully behaved. Ren was noticeably absent, but that wasn’t a surprise. I imagined he was off glaring into a mirror in some faraway bathroom in the manor.