by May Dawson
I knelt next to her, eyeing the knife that had fallen a few feet from her. She tried to yank her torn dress a few inches further down her legs.
“Hey, you’re all right,” I said, trying to get her to look at me. Her wide, terrified gaze finally met mine.
“Do you have a phone we can use to call 9-1-1 for you?” I asked.
“I went out with him a few times,” she said, her voice coming out broken. “I thought he was just stopping by to talk. I always work by myself for a few hours on Tuesday nights while my dad goes to his bowling league…”
There was a thump behind me as Ty and Maddie brought her attacker down to the ground.
“We’ll stay with you until the cops come,” I promised her. Ty shot me a skeptical look, but I ignored it. We could wait. She deserved to feel as safe as she could.
It’s strange to think that the humans think we’re the monsters.
There’s plenty of monster in them, it seems.
Chapter Sixteen
Rafe
When I swung open the door to my room, Duncan smirked at me.
“What do you want?” I asked. I should be polite to Duncan, but there were no first- or second-years in the hallway behind him to hear me being rude to another member of the cadre.
I hadn’t liked Duncan at any point in our four years at the academy, but after the way he treated Maddie, I couldn’t imagine myself ever not despising him.
I wouldn’t have resented him being harsh. Maddie’s spirit and smarts were admirable, but the rough edges of her personality needed polish, and that inevitably required some pain. But he wasn’t just harsh. He was unfair and vindictive.
“The dean wants to see you and Jensen McCauley and Madeline Northsea.” He tilted his head back, studying me with satisfied eyes.
And besides that, he was just a rat.
“The dean? You’re calling him the dean?” I didn’t wait for his answer. “Where is Clearborn?”
“In the dean’s office.”
I grabbed my blazer from the back of my chair and swung it over my shoulders. I called through the open bathroom door to Lex’s side, “Hey, Clearborn summoned me. And McCauley and Northsea.”
Lex was through the door in a second, his book still in his hand. His lips parted to say something, but then he saw Duncan in the doorway and he swallowed whatever he thought.
Duncan was still standing in the door, in my way. I shooed him off.
Duncan was never any good at schooling his expression. His irritation and pride flashed across his face, then was replaced with smug certainty. “Things are going to change around here.”
There was a hint of threat in his voice, but it was easy for me to ignore. Duncan was nothing to me.
Lex followed me out the door and we left Duncan behind, heading to McCauley’s room. I knocked quickly.
“Come in,” Jensen called.
The faintest scent of Maddie lingered in his room, along with the mingled scents of their sex—faint notes of citrus and salt. My nostrils flared before I could stop myself; there was something intoxicating about the scent of Maddie’s arousal.
Lex glanced down the hall, then closed the door behind us. “Weirdo’s still lingering out there.”
I shot him a look. He didn’t need to talk that way in front of Jensen. Just like my parents pretended they didn’t each think the other was a worthless jackass, the cadre should present as much of a united front as possible.
“What’s up?” Jensen got up from his desk.
He’d apparently stripped off his uniform after dinner because he was dressed down to the white t-shirt most of us wore underneath, as well as a pair of basketball shorts.
Part of me still remembered him as the kid he’d been, and it was always surprising that he was as tall as me now, broad-shouldered and built. He’d been tall as a teenager, but he looked like he was growing into himself now.
“The dean wants to see us both,” I said, my voice clipped. “Uniform.”
“What the—what do you think he wants?” Jensen caught himself. Well, at least he was trying. That was better than he used to be.
Maybe Northsea, despite her faults, could work miracles.
“He wanted to see Northsea too,” I said. “Did you two idiots do anything lately I should know about?”
Jensen pulled on his white dress shirt, buttoning it quickly. “Nothing new.”
“There’s plenty Clearborn could go after them for in the past.” Lex said.
“Well, Maddie’s out of here, anyway,” Jensen said, and there was a note of relief in his voice.
“Unless he sends the patrol guard to bring them back.” I shot him a look. “Watch your mouth in there. Don’t provoke him.”
Jensen paused in knotting his tie. I could’ve sworn he was on the verge of some smartass remark, but then he promised, “I’ll do my best.”
Lex rubbed his hand across the back of his neck. It was his usual tell that he was worried.
A prickle of unease ran through my gut. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were walking into a trap.
“Ready?” I asked, already heading for the door.
Jensen ran his hand over the front of his blazer, smoothing it down. “Ready.”
I wasn’t used to seeing Jensen nervous. He got himself into plenty of trouble, but he never seemed to care much before.
Maybe he cared about Maddie—and even Tyson and Penn—in a way he never cared about himself, though.
When the three of us headed out, Duncan was still in the hallway, as if he intended to wander along with us to the dean’s office. Lex and I exchanged a look, then Lex peeled off, distracting Duncan.
Jensen and I headed down the central staircase and through the foyer of the house, which was quiet but busy at this time of night, with students studying at tables and having low, murmured conversations.
Then we were outside, crossing the dark campus. Cool fall air brushed across my face, and I breathed in. Normally, being outside gave me a sense of peace. It wasn’t enough today, but it helped.
Jensen was stone-faced and silent, reminding me of the sullen kid I’d known. I glanced at him, wondering how much I could really count on him in there. I trusted Jensen wanted to protect Maddie. I just didn’t trust his judgment.
But reminding him to follow my lead might activate his usual stubborn arrogance.
In the anteroom outside the dean’s office, his secretary, Cormac, looked up from his desk. He looked weary. “Dean Clearborn said to send you right in. He’s waiting.”
When we walked in, Clearborn stood in front of the window, his hands clasped behind his back. He seemed to be studying the campus, light glowing out of the buildings, the dark shadows of the pines beyond.
He turned, and when he saw Jensen and me, irritation wrote itself across his face.
“Where is Miss Northsea?” he demanded.
“Off-campus.”
Clearborn gave me a look. “I’m going to need more than a one-word answer to explain why Miss Northsea is not in my office right now, Mr. Hunt.”
“She had permission from the dean to leave with Penn and Tyson on a visit to Penn’s pack.”
As if Clearborn and McCauley were on such good terms.
Clearborn fixed me with a skeptical look. “Dean McCauey must have failed to mention it. Why exactly are students leaving campus in the middle of the week? And while they’re on restriction, no less?”
“It’s a unique situation,” I said. “Dean McCauley’s first priority has always been the mission for peace between the packs.”
“I don’t need you to remind me of the academy’s real mission,” Clearborn said, his voice soft. “I know you and the other fourth-years are under the impression you run this school. You’re still students, no matter how you style yourselves.”
Anger flared in my chest. But my tone was even when I said, “My apologies, sir.”
Clearborn leaned back in his chair, studying us carefully. He seemed comfortable sitting while
Jensen and I stood, even though we loomed over him. “Go on. Where are they?”
I hated to tell him anything about Penn’s situation, but it was unavoidable right now. “Penn is supposed to be the alpha, but there’s a lot of infighting within his pack. The Dean thought it was best to let him return home early for the weekend to straighten things out.”
Clearborn looked irritated at my reference to the dean, but he let it pass.
“And he took Northsea with him?”
I nodded. “Tyson Atlas and Northsea, yes sir.”
“Why?”
“Atlas will watch his back. Northsea is…” I stumbled to explain what Maddie was, even though we all knew that marrying a princess was a status symbol. I didn’t want to reduce Maddie to nothing more than that. “Having the two of them at his side will help him look more like an alpha. He’s young.”
Clearborn waved his hand impatiently. “McCauley overstepped. It’s not the business of the school dean to manage what happens in the packs.”
“Other packs will try to take their territory if they believe there’s no real alpha, and at this time when we have to face the witches—”
“Enough.” Clearborn cut me off.
If he looked, he’d find the letter from Dean McCauley authorizing Penn, Tyson, and Northsea to leave campus.
I paused, waiting patiently even though anger flared in my chest.
“I thought Northsea was being punished for leaving campus already,” Clearborn demanded.
“I don’t like it,” I admitted. I wanted Maddie here and safe. “But the situation in Penn’s pack is short-fused. She can write essays and scrub floors and be miserable next week.”
“Hm.” Clearborn looked to Jensen. “What about you? What was your ‘punishment’ for running away from the academy in the first place?”
Clearborn sure loved to use air quotes.
“I didn’t run away,” Jensen said gruffly.
“Spare me,” Clearborn said. “You were on that ‘restriction’ that’s supposed to keep you under control and you broke it. Having a tantrum because you don’t like how people talk about your sister.”
Jensen’s mouth tensed at the corners. Clearborn’s use of the present tense, suggesting that people still talked about his sister like she destroyed her patrol, irritated me. It must affect him even more.
“Well?” Clearborn asked.
“Restriction,” Jensen said reluctantly. “Hand-to-hand training—”
“So, more of the thing that you already disregarded,” Clearborn said. “And that Northsea isn’t even here to serve out. Amazing.”
“To be fair, sir,” Jensen said, and I tensed. “I didn’t break restriction for a weekend in Vegas. The Council betrayed my sister and her memory. It was time for someone to set things right, if the Alpha council couldn’t be bothered.”
This was hardly the time for to be fair, sir. I could feel that, and knowing Jensen, he would’ve bided his time if Clearborn hadn’t baited him with his sister.
“It’s remarkable you didn’t get yourself killed in the process, Mr. McCauley,” Clearborn said. “I’m less interested in what students see as their mission to save the world, and more interested that they are where they’re told to be, learning a measure of discipline.”
“I’m sure we’d all appreciate if the Council did their jobs, and we never had to worry about saving the world,” Jensen said.
Anxiety unfurled in my chest. Jensen wasn’t exactly making a case for the current system of discipline here at the academy.
Clearborn looked at Jensen consideringly, then nodded. “Yes, the Council should indeed be doing their job far more efficiently than they are. And the same goes for the Dean of this school. We’ve let you all down, I agree.”
That was unexpected, and some of the tension loosened its vice grip on my lungs.
Clearborn looked to me. “Letting Northsea loose from her punishment for a special mission to feed her ego? That was yet another time this school has let her down.”
His wording almost tripped me up. How else did Clearborn think we’d let Northsea down? But I promised, “Next week, I can make her regret her choices just as much.”
Clearborn tapped his pencil absently against his desktop. “Will you really, though?”
“Sir?” I asked.
“Doesn’t it seem strange that you’re all full-grown wolves—the future of our packs—and we ground you? It seems childish, doesn’t it?”
I glanced at Jensen, who stood there sullenly, his arms crossed over his chest. The look on his face made me want to slap him.
“It’s effective,” I said, even though the look on Jensen’s face didn’t suggest it was.
“When are your wayward cadets due back at school?” Clearborn asked.
“Sunday night,” I said. “Curfew. They’ll be ready for P.T. that next morning.”
“I hope they are,” Clearborn said. “And then you expect they’ll have some extra chores until the next time they’re called upon for some essential mission even though they’re barely more than kids.”
“I promise,” I said, “I’m capable of making them miserable.”
Jensen nodded, one corner of his mouth quirking in a faint, rueful smile.
“Maybe,” Clearborn said. To Jensen, he said, “It hardly seems fair that you’re here on restriction while Northsea is not. I’m releasing you from your current punishment.”
Jensen said, tightly, “Thank you, sir.”
Clearborn said slowly, “I want to see you two and Northsea back here Sunday night.”
Whatever Clearborn had up his sleeve, I didn’t like it at all.
But all I said was, “Yes, sir.”
“Mr. McCauley, you can head back to the barracks,” Clearborn said. “I’d like to talk to you in more depth, Mr. Hunt.”
Jensen nodded good night to Clearborn and me even though he knew better, but his jaw was tight as if he was holding back his thoughts. I was glad to see the door close behind him, and I exhaled slowly, not wanting Clearborn to see my relief.
But I was still trapped in here with the man.
Chapter Seventeen
Maddie
We drove late into the night to get to Penn and Ty’s pack. When we arrived, it was early in the morning.
“Home sweet home,” Ty muttered, staring out the window as Penn drove up the long driveway.
I was always glad to go back to my pack’s house in Blissford. It worried me that Ty had mixed feelings about being home. But then, I hardly ever visited the Atlantic pack grounds on the island. There was nothing wrong with the island—it was idyllic in its beauty—but it was haunted for me.
“Prepare yourself for Mel,” Penn said.
“Are you talking to me or Maddie?” Ty asked as he got out of the car.
Penn glanced at him over the roof of the car before he slung his leather jacket over his shoulders. “Both of you.”
The two of them didn’t look alike at all—Penn was slender and elegant under all that ink, Ty was clean-cut and built like the varsity all-star athlete he’d been while he’d pretended to be human—but sometimes, they gave me a definite vibe of brothers.
They were brothers who loved each other, but that didn’t mean they always liked each other.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Mel stood on the front porch. She didn’t look as disgruntled as her words sounded.
“I called to tell you I was coming,” Penn said, looking aggravated. “Answer your damn phone sometimes, sis.”
Mel suddenly threw herself off the porch at him, and Penn grinned as he hugged her.
Then Mel pulled away to jump into Ty’s arms. And she did jump. Her legs wrapped around his hips, and he caught her with his arm around her waist. If he hadn’t, she would’ve fallen.
“Welcome home,” she told him, bumping the tip of her nose against his. It was surprisingly wolfish…and surprisingly intimate.
“Mel,” Ty said, sounding exasperated. He leaned over, tryin
g to put her down, but he had to wait for her to finally deign to unwrap her legs. “Hello to you too.”
“And this is Maddie,” Penn said pointedly.
She glanced at me. “I can guess who she is.”
“My whole pack has gone feral,” Penn told me, catching one of Mel’s belt loops and tugging her away from Ty. She reluctantly backed away, shooting a dark look at Penn.
“Would you make us something to eat?” Ty wheedled to Mel.
“I’m pretty sure you two are competent to make us food,” I teased him. I gave Mel a conspiratorial glance. She didn’t have to cater to her brother just because he was the alpha or to Ty just because he was so…Ty.
Ty pulled a face. Mel glanced at me in surprise, then frowned.
“I don’t mind doing it,” she said, and there was something barbed in the way she looked at me, even though her voice was sweet. “I love taking care of my men.”
She rested her hand on Penn’s shoulder.
Penn hesitated. “Maddie’s right. We roll in this late, it’s rude to expect you to cook for us. What were you doing, anyway?”
“Going to bed.” She let her hand fall off his shoulder and headed for the porch steps.
“Don’t let us keep you up,” Penn said. “We can catch up in the morning.”
“Stop trying to get rid of me, Penn,” she called over her shoulder.
Ty glanced at Penn in irritation. Penn shrugged. “I tried.”
“I’ve got questions,” I told Ty, bumping my elbow against his as we headed for the house.
Tyson just grunted in response.
I caught glimpses of the alpha’s expansive house as we headed into the big farmhouse-style kitchen at the back of the house.
Penn rifled through the fridge and then pulled out steaks, mushrooms, tomatoes, parmesan and cream cheese. “Start heating up the grill pan, Ty. Oh, and a pot of water for pasta.”
His voice was friendly, but Ty still gritted his teeth as he snapped on the burner on the stove.
I leaned over Penn’s shoulder to snag a red can of Coke from the fridge. Penn rattled off directions to Ty, who started chopping onions and garlic. Ty was far clumsier with a paring knife than he was with any other blade, and I winced, hoping he wouldn’t cut his thumb open.
