Her skin tightened as her head flung back and eyes closed. With a shake of her hair, she lowered her face and opened her eyes once more, looking directly at me. My body betrayed me and flinched at the sight of her dragon eyes. Then, as my stare moved down, I noticed scale impressions just beneath the surface of her skin, along with claws for nails. Not as long as mine were when I half-shifted, but present, nonetheless.
“In this form, Marek won’t be able to sense I’m coming. I will be free to move through his lands that will soon be mine and do as I please. When I come back, there will be an army ready to descend on Drakken, and then I will have what I’ve always wanted.”
Glaring at her, I held my head high, hopefully showing her she didn’t scare me. “You’re not going to win. There are too many powerful people willing to take you down.”
She moved closer. “Yet, the most formidable of them all wouldn’t get off his throne to stop me.”
Damn it, she had every reason to be cocky. We’d done absolutely nothing to prevent her from growing stronger since her escape. If anything, I’d only made things worse by going to Drakken. Phox needed to show up soon with the others, so I could warn Marek, or things were about to get a whole lot uglier.
“Sylas, darling. Let’s go.” Malina said before turning to glower at Desmond. “I mean it. Touch her and I will use you to experiment on next.”
“Understood,” he replied gruffly.
Malina and Sylas left the room, leaving me chained to a chair and alone with Desmond. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that, but hopefully he was going to take Malina’s threats seriously and I didn’t have anything to worry about.
He yanked on the top of the chair and drug me from the room once they were gone. “Time for you to go away. If I can’t torture you, then I’d rather not have to look at you.”
My mouth stayed shut as I paid close attention to the paths he was taking and our surroundings. We were in some sort of old industrial building on an upper level, I was pretty sure. There were several hallways, but none of them very long. I could see light streaming from around a corner, but we never made it that far.
Desmond opened a door and practically tossed my chair inside with me still secured to it. He must have used a spell, because there was no way the sorcerer was strong enough to accomplish the task on his own.
Cocky bastard hadn’t even checked to see how I landed. Instead, he slammed the door shut, and I was surrounded by darkness. The only light that peeked into the room came from underneath the door, and it wasn’t much.
My only saving grace was that when he had thrown me, the wooden back of the chair had cracked, giving me some room to maneuver. I was laying on my side, head touching the concrete floor, and my body ached from the impact. I needed to get out of there, though, and no amount of pain was going to stop that from happening.
Wiggling my ass around as much as I could, I heard the wood splinter even more, so I kept going. Only my hands and chest had been bound, so I used my legs to get me closer to the wall. Once I hit something solid, I used it to push myself over onto my knees.
My legs hadn’t received the entire resting time they needed, so my muscles were screaming at me, but I didn’t care. If Phox and whoever else she might have told weren’t around to break me out yet, then I had to assume I was on my own and Phox wasn’t to be trusted.
Just as I was preparing to slam my body against the concrete floor again, the door opened, and I let out a groan, feigning injury. If Desmond had come back to check on me, I didn’t want him to know I’d been trying to break free. I needed him to think I was weakened and use it to my advantage.
“Seriously? Did you not learn anything from all those ass-kickings I gave you? We’re going to have to start over with your training,” JayLeigh drawled from the doorway.
My head snapped up. “Well, don’t just stand there. Get me out of this damn chair.”
She grinned. “There’s the spark I was looking for.” As she bent to unbuckle the metal straps, she let out a low whistle. “No wonder you couldn’t get out of these. This metal is old school and would have taken you hours to break free from.”
I was still on my knees, and when the straps were undone, my body felt like it was going to collapse, but I didn’t stop. Instead, I pushed up, and the chair fell from my back before JayLeigh could remove it. I faced her with a renewed determination flowing through me.
“How many did you bring with you?” I asked.
“Just four. Your people weren’t prepared enough to face whatever army Malina’s been gathering on such short notice. At least, not that I could tell. I didn’t ask too many questions, just hopped in the truck when asked.”
“Who’s here? Enzo, Alistair, Phox, and you?”
She grimaced. “Enzo’s not here, but Talon is. I know Sylas turned on us and don’t worry, he’ll pay for that, but Talon is one of the good ones. I’d bet my life on it.”
“Why isn’t Enzo here?” I didn’t particularly care about anything else she’d said.
“Well, Alistair thought it was best. You’ll have to take that up with your headmaster later. Right now, I’ve been told to find you and get out, so that’s what we’re doing.”
She tugged on my hand, and I followed her out, seriously confused about why Enzo wouldn’t be present, but JayLeigh was right. We just needed to get out of there and warn Marek if it wasn’t already too late.
“Malina left to Drakken. She took one of my scales, and Sylas opened a portal for her,” I said, almost out of breath as we went down a flight of stairs.
“Shit, are you okay? That’s like the worst kind of pain.”
“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Glancing down, I double-checked it had stopped bleeding. “But what about Marek? If we send him a message, will it get there in time?”
She nodded. “It should, and he’s supposed to be checking it often since he has three dragons down here, but my guess is Marek already knows. A lot of the wrong people believe he has no idea what’s going on, but Marek’s smarter than that. He has a plan, even if the rest of us don’t know what it is.”
I groaned. “It would have been nice if his plan included coming back to Earth to kill Malina. Maybe he can just do it while she’s there. I wouldn’t be sad about that.”
“We’ll see. I don’t know what’s going on in his head, but I have faith he has it handled as much as any of us could in his situation.”
Nodding, I paid closer attention to the door in front of us. Headmaster Stone was waiting there, dressed in full tactical gear, his white beard standing out starkly against the dark clothing and causing me to do a double-take, but Talon was nowhere to be seen.
“Let’s go,” the headmaster said. “Talon’s waiting with the truck out front. We saw the two of you coming down the hallway from down here and got a head start.”
“Someone please tell me why we’re not blowing this place up right now?” I asked, full of irritation.
“Because finding you was more important, but don’t worry, we’ll be back,” Headmaster Stone said as we all entered the waiting truck.
Nobody had followed us out, and I briefly wondered if it had been part of the plan to let me escape. That had all seemed way too easy.
“Wait, where’s Phox?” I asked.
JayLeigh laughed. “Now, that’s a woman I want to have my back at all times. She’s evil and twisted and amazingly awesome. She said she’d meet us back at the academy. She wanted to screw with them a little bit, keeping the guards distracted while we got you out.”
That explained the easy escape well enough.
A scream came from inside, and JayLeigh snickered. Phox was definitely having her fun as we drove away from the building.
“Where are we?” I asked when we left the industrial part of town and got on the interstate heading east.
“Just outside Greenfield, Massachusetts. We knew the general location of Malina’s hideout, but we would have been searching for a while had Phox not followed you. The tracking
we had wasn’t as accurate as I would have liked,” Headmaster Stone answered with a bit of irritation.
As I stretched my legs out, I remembered something that should have been one of my first questions. “Why didn’t you bring Enzo?”
If they suspected he had anything to do with this, I was going to lose my shit. All the preaching about forgiving him, and just when I finally did… no way would I be able to keep my cool if they had proof he wasn’t trustworthy.
“I wasn’t going to risk him doing something stupid. Malina had some sort of hold on him at one point, and I haven’t forgotten that. I fully believe he’s on our side, but I won’t deny that I’m worried Malina will be able to force his hand in some way down the road.”
I considered the headmaster’s words carefully and leaned back in my seat. I didn’t have a reply to it, but I certainly had a lot of opinions about his statement, ones I would be sharing with Enzo as soon as we were back. If there was any reason to worry that he could turn on us again, even if he had no control of it, I needed to know how likely that was to happen and do everything I could to prevent it.
JayLeigh nudged my shoulder, and whispered, “Don’t think too hard about what he said. The old man was just being cautious. Enzo is going to be fine. The two of you have a bond I’ve rarely seen on Drakken. He loves you, and you shouldn’t ever doubt that.”
“Right. Easy to say, a little harder to do,” I murmured.
As the trees passed by, I stared off at nothing in particular and wondered just what taking down Malina was going to cost.
More importantly, was I willing to pay it?
Chapter 20
When we arrived back at Shadow Veil, the sun was just setting, meaning I’d been gone for just over twelve hours. Nothing seemed amiss with the school, but as we drove through the gates, an ominous feeling settled over me.
“Where are all the students?” I asked.
“Inside. Nobody is allowed outside after sunrise until Malina is caught,” Headmaster Stone answered.
Not a bad idea, but I doubted it would really keep anyone safe if Malina wanted access to them.
As soon as we pulled in, I carefully extracted myself from the truck, making sure not to put too much strain on my body all at once. Everything in me was sore, but mostly my legs and face. The bruising was already fading from my accelerated healing, but it didn’t make it hurt any less just yet.
“I’m going to go find Enzo,” I said, and JayLeigh laughed.
“I think he’s found you.”
Sure enough, when I twisted around, Enzo was stalking toward us, indignation filling his eyes. Though, he didn’t say a word. He simply picked me up and snarled at Talon who thought it would be a good idea to take a step in our direction. Not so much. When the dragon raised his hands in mock surrender, Enzo walked away with me in tow.
I’d seen his caveman side enough that I didn’t bother trying to talk to him. As we passed by other students, I simply waved or apologized if Enzo growled at them being in his way. Gemma was nowhere to be seen, which surprised me, since I figured I’d be bombarded by her as well.
Just as we were getting on the platform to go up to Enzo’s dorm, Peyton and Finley flanked us. “Where do you think you’re taking her?” Finley snapped.
“Uh, ladies, now isn’t really the time. I promise I’ll catch up with everyone tomorrow,” I said before Enzo could harm my friends.
“No. We haven’t forgiven the bastard for what he did to you. What he did to all of us.”
Shaking my head, I worried Enzo was going to completely lose his shit. His whole body vibrated beneath me.
“Seriously, you two need to go. I will be at breakfast tomorrow. I promise.”
Enzo’s snarls grew louder, and their eyes went wide.
“Are you safe with him?” Peyton asked.
“Yes, but you’re not. So, please go,” I begged.
With one last glare from Finley, Peyton drug her away and Enzo stepped on the platform. Still no words had been spoken from him outside the grunts and growls, but I knew he was just scared and would calm down as soon as I was safely tucked away in his room.
When we got to his door, his hands wouldn’t remove themselves from my body, so I punched in the code and he practically kicked the door in before I even had the handle all the way turned.
“Enzo, I’m safe now. You need to calm down and let me go,” I said.
“If I let you go, I’m going to kill someone. It’s better I hold on to you,” he grumbled, carrying me to his bedroom and sitting on the bed. “Where are you hurt? What did they do to you?”
“My legs are sore. I’d really love to be able to stretch them out.” Which I couldn’t do if he refused to let me go. He stared at me for a long second before sighing in resignation.
“I’m not leaving your side. Today was too close. Malina had you, and they wouldn’t let me do anything about it. Alistair spelled me. I couldn’t leave the academy grounds, no matter how hard I tried. I want to kill that sorcerer.”
My hands cupped his face. “Enzo, you don’t have to leave me, but you do need to put me down. I’m not going anywhere, and Alistair isn’t here.”
His forehead pressed against mine as he took a deep inhale. “You’re really okay?”
“Yes, I really am. Now, quit acting like a caveman.”
Kissing me gently, he finally pulled back and laid me on the bed, but far enough over that he could lay next to me. He wasn’t kidding about not leaving my side. Literally.
“What happened?” he asked, voice tight with barely controlled anger.
“Quick recap, and then I need food and sleep. Tomorrow will be soon enough to deal with the rest. JayLeigh should be taking care of the important stuff.”
He nodded, so I summarized the key pieces I could think of since the moment I had slipped out of his room earlier that day. His grip tightened almost painfully on my hip when I explained a few parts, but other than that, he handled it better than I had imagined he would. At least, on the outside.
When I was done, I closed my eyes and he got up to order dinner, but I never got the chance to eat it. I was out before he even left the bedroom.
Three days had passed, and I was beginning to feel the frustrations Jules and Gemma had when I was gone. Time working differently on Drakken was making it hard to know if JayLeigh had been successful in warning Marek before Malina’s arrival.
She’d told me the night before that if we didn’t hear from him by week’s end, then she would go back home, but with Sylas still out there and Malina intending on coming back, she wasn’t sure Marek would be happy with that choice.
He’d ordered her to not only continue training me, but to protect me as well. She hadn’t realized that included babysitting within the academy, but now between her, Enzo, and Gemma, I never had a moment alone.
Though, I was down one overprotective aunt, at least. She’d reluctantly gone home to New Orleans to deal with pack stuff there that she was pretty tight-lipped about but had promised to be back as soon as possible.
Since Malina wasn’t on Earth, I had decided to resume some of my classes and replace others with training time with JayLeigh.
I still hadn’t seen Professor Phox since arriving back at the academy. Her classes had been canceled the last couple of days, but she was supposed to be back today, and I was eager to see her again. The more I thought about her, the more I wondered just who she really was.
She had talents others around the academy didn’t appear to have, except she managed to stay under the radar, for the most part. There had to be a reason for that, and I was going to figure it out.
Enzo escorted me and Gemma to class that morning, complaining the entire way that it was pointless for me to continue, but what he didn’t understand was I actually liked the classes. Well, most of them, anyway. I wasn’t giving them up just yet.
“Enzo, darling dear, you’re smothering like a mother. If you don’t want to wake up with a knife in your chest, then
give me some damn breathing room,” I said as sweetly as I could, but failed at the end.
He’d somehow mastered the ability to walk next to me but turned just right, so anytime there was a loud noise or someone came too close, he was standing in front of me, blocking any potential threats.
“I’ll take the knife to the chest as long as it keeps you safe.” He shrugged, and I decided the only way to get past his suffocating ways was to ignore him the best I was able. I’d at least get a break during some of my classes.
That was a nice thought until we walked into Professor Phox’s room and he followed us in. “Enzo, go to your own class,” I snapped, and he smirked.
“I’m already here.”
My eyes widened with anger. “What does that mean?”
“It means Headmaster Stone changed my schedule to match yours, and I’m in this class.”
“You’re in Advanced Shifting and Magic? A class for witches and shifters? You’ve got to be kidding.” So much for getting some space.
“Yep.”
“You’re not a shifter or a witch,” Gemma piped in, stating the obvious.
Then he grinned, and it all clicked. Smart, cocky bastard.
“Technically, I am a shifter. I might not be able to shift now, but one day I could, and I want to know what to expect.”
“Then you should have started with the first-year classes,” I grumbled.
Gemma’s hands flew up in the air. She was just as frustrated as I was with my constant guard dog. At least when she was with me, it was more because she wanted to spend as much time with me as she could before I up and disappeared again, not because she thought I was incapable of handling things on my own.
“Enzo, I’m going to say this once, and know that I say it with love. I’m being very serious right now. If you’re in every one of my classes today, there will be no sexy time for you for at least a month.”
His face paled. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I raised a brow. “Do you really want to take that chance?”
He mumbled several curse words under his breath and glanced around the classroom. “Fine. You can have this class, but only because Phox is the teacher and she helped bring you back to me before. I’ll meet you right outside the door when it’s over.”
Deadly Declaration (Shadow Veil Academy Book 2) Page 17
