by Rachel Jonas
Badly.
For some reason, she thought she could push me around. I had no idea what her problem was, but I was done letting her beat me.
That whistle blew and I breathed in deep, letting a little more of my true nature seep into my limbs and then my bones. I felt the second the dragon in me took control and I let her. I had a habit of trying to be ‘only human’, but in instances such as this, it paid to let my body respond in ways that felt most natural.
So, that’s what I did when Sasha closed the distance between us. I did what felt right, what my shifter wanted.
She came at me fast, but, this time, I was faster. Almost as if she moved in slow motion. I saw her feet pressing deep into the mat for traction, saw the fury behind her eyes when they locked on me. Just as she approached, I raised my arm and pointed my elbow directly at her face.
The room went completely silent for a moment as onlookers suddenly lost interest in their own sparring to stare at Sasha and I. That silence was interrupted a few seconds later when she started screaming bloody murder. The sound was awful, ricocheting off the gray, cinderblock walls of the training room. If I had to guess, nearly every shifter in the building heard it, thanks to our keener-than-normal senses, especially the lycans.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” The frantic words came from Dallas as he jogged to where I stood over my partner’s body. By now, she’d gotten a few drops of blood on the mat, making things look a lot worse than I knew they were. She was a shifter, and from what I’d seen with Liam, we healed pretty quickly. Even if her nose was broken, it wouldn’t be for long.
“She did it on purpose,” Sasha yelled out, putting on a show, probably hoping to get me in even more trouble than I was already in.
Dallas knelt beside her, but he watched me. “That true?” he asked.
I clenched my fists nervously at my sides when I nodded, admitting this was no accident. From the corner of my eye, I caught Beth doing a discreet fist pump as she stood beside Errol who held a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. I could see it in his eyes that he wanted to.
“Martinez, see to it that the bleeder gets some ice for that,” Dallas called out as he stood upright again. Pinching the material at the shoulder of my suit, He dragged me toward the door.
“You … come with me.”
—Chapter Eleven—
Evie
Couldn’t even make it through the first day without getting into trouble. But whoever would’ve guessed it’d be for something like this.
I didn’t hurt people. Like, ever. Not even when they deserved it like Sasha did. Dad taught me to always take the high road, turn the other cheek. However, the more time that passed since transitioning, the more I felt my peaceful resolve beginning to fade away. No, I didn’t imagine I’d ever look for fights, but I was beginning to think I wouldn’t always be inclined to run from them.
Dallas pushed the door open and didn’t let go of me until we were standing out in the hallway. His face was red as a beet, and based on the way his tense arms bulged when he locked them across his chest, I gathered that he was frustrated.
“Care to explain?” he sighed, keeping his eyes trained on me.
I chewed my lip, looking at the floor and walls while I searched for an answer that wouldn’t land me in even more hot water.
“I um … I was just defending myself. Like you said, but …” My voice trailed off because we both knew I’d done more than defend myself.
I hurt that girl.
In hindsight, yeah, I could’ve just dodged her or knocked her to the ground, but something in me wanted to make her feel pain. Kind of like I felt pain when she just about knocked me down to the building’s foundation every time we collided.
So, did I use excessive force? Yes, but so did she. That made us even.
“We’re supposed to be working on self-defense techniques, not MMA fighting.”
I managed to make eye contact when I mumbled a timid, “Yes, sir.”
At my words, Dallas’ expression softened and he exhaled sharply. Unfolding his arms, he shoved both hands in his pockets.
“You’ve gotta be careful,” he began. “I know you’re only part dragon, but I sense it on you stronger than your lycan side. Dragons have a rep for being barbaric, doing without thinking.”
As a novice to all this, I listened intently, ready to absorb any and everything that might help me understand what was happening to me. Dallas was violating his own rule about not turning this class into a history lesson or counselling session, and I had a feeling it was mostly because he wasn’t nearly as tough as he put on at the start of class.
“The blind rage … it’ll save your life when it’s time for a fight. We go kinda bloodthirsty when we feel threatened and it helps us defend ourselves with clearer heads. Focusing more on taking down an enemy without worrying about being injured or worse,” he shared. “But you have to learn not to flip that switch unless it’s completely necessary, kid.”
He smiled a bit and the sight of it helped me relax.
“In a training session, while sparring with a newly shifted lycan, is not the time nor the place to hulk out. Save that for when it really counts.”
I nodded. He was stern, but still managed to be understanding. Fair.
Another sharp breath puffed from his thin lips as he mussed the short, dirty-blond hair on his head.
“Unfortunately, whether I get what you’re feeling or not, I can’t let this slide.”
“Yes, sir.” I wasn’t expecting special treatment.
“She’ll be reprimanded, too, since it sounds like she instigated, but you gotta pay for your actions, understood?”
I nodded. “Yes, Sir.”
This was the part where I expected to be released, sent to whoever I was being sent to for my punishment, but, instead, Dallas just kinda scanned me for a few seconds before asking a question.
“What’s your name again?” he inquired. “It’ll take me a bit to memorize them all.”
I swallowed hard. “Evangeline, Sir.”
He kept his eyes trained on me and didn’t blink even once as he stood there, not saying a word.
“Evangeline. From where?” he asked next.
“Seaton Falls, Michigan, Sir.”
“And before that?”
“Chicago, Sir.”
His eyes narrowed a bit and I wasn’t sure why he wanted to know. “Before that?”
I shook my head. “Nowhere, Sir. Just … Chicago.” Of course that wasn’t the full truth, but it was the only truth I actually remembered. The only truth I felt comfortable sharing.
Silence ricocheted between us as he kept his thoughts to himself. “Only thing rarer than a dragon is a hybrid,” he commented.
I wasn’t sure what to say to that. Mostly because shifter stats were basically at the bottom of the list of things I wanted to learn. I took his word for it, though.
With a concentrated look, he worked his jaw. “…Hm.”
The long stare made me nervous. So much that I was beginning to look forward to being sent to whoever was supposed to deal with me.
“I’ll have Kas walk you down,” was the last thing Dallas said before stepping back inside the training room.
There was nothing to do but stand there waiting for my escort. However, the silence was disrupted by a question.
“What’s wrong? Where are you?” The voice inside my head made me push off from the wall I leaned against. I recognized it as Liam’s. Before now, only I could head-hop, but here he was. Inside mine.
“…How did you?” I started, speaking aloud because I’d been caught off guard.
“I felt you stressing and then felt the connection strongly enough that I knew I could speak. Can’t really explain it.”
His tone was urgent, which meant he was panicked and would much rather we address his question first. However, he obliged when I asked another.
“Could you do this before? In the past, I mean.” It probably annoyed him that I had yet
to give him the status update he’d been waiting for.
“It used to go both ways back when the link was first established, but I wasn’t sure it’d come back that way this time around. We were … closer then, so … the more connected we are, the stronger our tether becomes.”
When I failed to respond, I think he sensed that I was kind of shying away from what his answer implied, so he downplayed it when he explained further.
“My guess is it’s just because we’ve been around each other so much lately. But back to my question,” he said in a rush. “What’s wrong? I felt you all the way from this side of the building.”
Frustrated, I sighed, leaning against the bricks again. “Because I may or may not have gotten into an altercation.”
“I’m on my way.” There was absolutely no hesitation, which was strange because I was almost sure he had responsibilities here besides looking after me.
I frowned. “Don’t you have a class to teach or something?”
“I do, but they can get along without me.” I imagined him heading toward the door without any explanation to those seated before him.
“No, stay. I’m fine. We can talk about everything later.”
There was a distinct way my soul vibrated with additional energy while he was with me, so I knew he wasn’t gone, just quiet.
“Seriously, my instructor seems pretty cool, so I don’t think it’ll be too bad,” I explained, hoping to ease his mind. “Just go back to what you were doing,” I added. And then, taking a page from his book, I concentrated and forced him out of my head.
The second I was alone again, Kas emerged from the training room and a single nod prompted me to follow him. The halls were completely empty. There were no straggling students or kids wandering around with bathroom passes in hand. No, here there was a rigid sense of structure that I guessed didn’t leave much room for such things. And I was also sure it didn’t leave room for misconduct. At that thought, I began to worry what would happen when I got wherever Kas and I were headed.
And where was that exactly?
Was there a principal’s office or something? I didn’t even know the name of the person in charge.
We turned corner after corner and I got more nervous by the minute. Our pace slowed in front of a steel door and Kas glanced over to tell me to wait here before disappearing inside the room. I stood there with my heart racing, pounding against my ribs. It was a small miracle Liam didn’t pop in again, but I guessed he knew I’d reach out to him if there was something he could help with.
And there wasn’t. I was on my own with this one.
Kas returned and his expression stayed blank from the moment he first met me out in the hall. “Go ahead,” he said sternly, causing me to turn toward the door he just emerged from. It was cracked now, so I could see inside a little. Putting one foot in front of the other, I stepped in.
The room was nothing like I imagined. It was warm and inviting compared to the rest of this place. Still-life art hung from tan-painted walls and the carpet here was a medium shade of brown that made it feel like I’d entered a different world.
A head of jet black hair peeked above the top of a high-backed chair and I had yet to see the face of the woman who held my fate in her hands. She shuffled papers around and stuffed them into a folder before speaking.
“Have a seat, please.”
Her voice was … sort of familiar. I recognized it, but couldn’t place it right away. It wasn’t until she turned to face me that I put two and two together.
“Alice?”
It was like seeing a ghost. The woman had been my first counsellor, the one I began seeing in Chicago. And now she was here? That didn’t make any sense.
At the sight of my confused expression, she smiled, folding her hands in front of her on the desk. “It’s good to see you again, Evangeline.”
“You… you, too,” I stammered. There was a faint lingering of that same earthy scent I was starting to recognize as lycan. Of course, I wouldn’t have noticed it before because I hadn’t yet shifted when I used to visit with her, but it was hard to miss now.
“What’re you doing here?” I asked distractedly, trying to pull the pieces together. If she was a lycan, that meant she had to have known about me all along. And, if so, it meant she let me struggle with my identity issues, all the while secretly holding all the answers.
Or at least some of them.
My fists clenched at my sides as I stiffened in the chair.
“Evangeline, you must have so many questions, but I assure you I can only tell you what I know and that isn’t much.”
“How … Why are you …?” I didn’t even know where to begin.
“The High Council assigned me, and several others throughout the years, to keep watch over you. My service began when you turned fourteen, but I was told very little about you. Much like your watchers before me and the one who came after.”
Watchers?
“I don’t understand.”
“Neither do I, fully. We’re given a command and we follow it per our pledge to the High Council. I suspect the mission was mostly to ensure that you had someone safe to talk to, someone within the realm of the supernatural,” she clarified. “It was the only way to make sure pertinent information was never leaked to the outside world.”
As if any human would’ve ever believe the things I’ve seen and experienced if I told them anyway.
“It was a risk we couldn’t take,” she added with a smile. But why was she smiling? None of this was okay. It was just more lies. Lies on top of lies.
“And Cruz?”
Alice nodded. “Yes. And the two guidance counsellors in your schools before that, although you had a relatively normal childhood and never needed to speak with them,” she went on. “They were there for you just in case.”
There for me… She was trying to romanticize this, but it didn’t work. Not on me. Here I was, thinking no one but me knew I was different growing up, and all along, someone had placed these beings around me who at least knew I wasn’t imagining it all.
“So, everything I ever confided in you, you just reported back to whoever appointed you?”
Once, I used to regard this woman as a friend, someone I could talk to about my crazy world. But now, like everything else, I knew that was false.
“No, Evangeline,” she said calmly. “It was all still very much shared in confidence. Our mission was never to report anything because you didn’t know anything. It was merely a precaution should you begin to remember bits and pieces from your past. We needed to be in place as a failsafe should you ever decide to share your experiences. As your guidance counsellors, we were the first line of defense before your parents would decide to seek outside help.” The casual manner in which this was all explained made my skin crawl. “And, while I understand you’re likely upset right now, the argument is irrefutable because, well, it worked. We managed to keep you safe. Our future queen.”
The way she said that … it rubbed me the wrong way, hearing her justify her role in perpetuating my life’s lie.
The same burning hit my chest as before, the buildup of rage that swarmed me when I laid eyes on Baz’s witch Scarlet, and again before hitting Sasha. Dallas’ warning came to mind and I suppressed it. I couldn’t let that part of me rise whenever I got upset. I had to learn to keep a lid on it.
I did stand, though, still hating myself a little for ever having trusted her. It made me feel like I had no real sense of who to trust. They’d all put on this elaborate act and for what? To protect me? To protect the secrets of the supernatural? To protect whoever brought me back or how they believed my existence played into their future?
“How am I being punished?” I asked coldly, staring at the wall instead of Alice.
She was quiet for a moment, but then tried to smooth things over. “Evangeline, I know you’re upset, but you have to understand, we—”
“I’d like to know what my punishment is so I can go, please.” I felt th
e sting of tears, but my pride wouldn’t let them fall. Not here. Not in front of her.
Alice exhaled heavily and glanced down at a sheet of paper before her. “We’re revoking your topside privileges for the week.”
A frustrated sigh puffed from my nostrils. “What’s that even mean?”
“Topside,” she repeated. “It’s what we call the protected plot of land above the facility. Starting today, you and your peers were supposed to be allowed one hour outside in small groups to get some fresh air, but now you won’t be allowed.”
“So, I’m a prisoner here. That’s what you’re saying.” I chewed the side of my lip, still unable to look at her.
“No, but if you violate the rules again, I assure you we have cells several floors down.” Her voice went cold and it was clear she felt no remorse for conning me into trusting her years ago. No guilt for feeding into the big lie.
“Can I go now?” My tone was just as frosty as hers.
She hesitated a moment and then leaned back in her seat, crossing one leg over the other. “Of course.”
I was out of there the next second. The sight of Kas waiting beside the door startled me. He said nothing, just led the way back to the training room. I had to sit it out on the bleachers for the rest of the session, watching the others who seemed far more natural at all this than I believed I ever would be. Sasha was nowhere in sight, so I figured she’d been taken to the infirmary to see about her nose.
I was fuming and sad and hurt and confused all at the same time. What was the point of all this? The point of me being here … being alive?
I just didn’t understand.
And now, I knew of several prominent figures in my life who’d been strategically placed there at each stage—as a young child, preteen, teen—had been fully aware of what was going on.
And someone with all the answers had appointed them; someone I believed couldn’t be trusted.
Someone with their own agenda.
—Chapter Twelve—
