by Cali Mann
“We can’t help her if we don’t know what’s going on,” Larkin said, sitting down on the chair across from me. She was dressed in an elegant pantsuit of forest green. She looked professional and sounded reasonable, but I’d been taken in by that show before.
“I told you what’s going on.” A rock of guilt settled in my stomach and I shifted trying to dislodge it. I told you as much as I’m able. I can’t do anything more.
Larkin sighed. “I can’t protect my students…”
I leaned forward, my elbows dug into my knees, and said, “You can’t protect them anyway. Seven in the infirmary proved that.”
She sighed, rubbing her temple. Her perfect vampire skin was unmarred by age, but she looked tired anyway. “Sasha . . .”
“I will do whatever I can to help,” I said. “But he’s threatened my brother and he’s proven he can carry through on those threats. I have to do whatever he says.”
Larkin pressed her lips together, her eyes studying me closely. “What can you do to help?”
“I told you Molly didn’t do it,” I said, lifting my hands in a helpless gesture. “Let her go.”
“The Council won’t go for that. They believe her guilty.”
I sighed. “Can’t there be some like temporary release for good behavior? Like parole?”
Larkin’s lips twitched. “You know that the shifter penal system is much harsher than the human one.”
“But Molly couldn’t have done it. She’s not old enough to have started the madness.”
“I happen to agree, but the Council doesn’t,” she said. “Nor do the parents who keep threatening to pull their children from Thornbriar.”
Raising an eyebrow, I said, “I thought this was your school?”
Larkin glared at me.
“Isn’t anyone on our side?” I asked.
“The Oracle,” she said with a frown. “She wants you and Molly to stay no matter what. But she’s not exactly giving me a lot of back up.”
The honesty in her voice was more than I’d ever heard from the headmaster. I don’t think I’d ever seen Larkin so rattled. She was stuck between a rock and a hard place, between keeping her students safe and knowing this wasn’t the right way to treat spirit shifters like Molly and me.
I nodded in understanding. I knew what it was like to have no good choices. We’d been around and around this subject for more than an hour now, and neither of us were getting anywhere. I couldn’t reveal who my tormenter was without getting my brother killed, but I did want to help Molly. The headmaster wanted his name so she could fight off this threat against her school.
I stood, stretching. “Are you going to kick me out?”
“I don’t know.”
I stood. “Well, let me know what you decide. I’m headed back to the infirmary.”
Larkin scowled, but she didn’t stop me as I made my way to the door. “Sasha, you really ought to decide who’s side you’re on.”
I looked toward her. “I know who’s side I’m on, Headmaster. I’m on my brother’s. I’ll do anything I have to in order to keep him safe.”
3
Sasha
Outside the door, Drew leaned against the wall. He glanced up at me as I exited the headmaster’s office and smiled. I wanted to grab his muscled arms and wrap them around me as some kind of barrier against the world.
“You waited.” I grinned foolishly.
“Did she kick you out yet?” He lifted a shoulder, then spun to walk beside me down the hall.
“Not yet,” I said, running my teeth along my lip. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t coming soon. I didn’t have anything I could tell her, and I didn’t think she’d be patient for long.
“I don’t think she will.”
I grunted. Nothing was guaranteed in this world, that was for sure. What would I do if I got kicked out? Alex would have to come with me. I couldn’t keep him safe from a distance. Not that I’d been doing a bang-up job of it here. Visions of his battered form when they’d carried him in after the attack rose in my mind, and I rubbed my tight chest.
Fretting over it wouldn’t do me any good. I shoved down my worries, burying them in that deep dark place in myself and pretending they didn’t exist. It’d always worked for me before. Why wouldn’t it work this time?
Nibbling my lip, I glanced at Drew. “Shouldn’t you be in class?”
He chuckled. “I have better things to do.”
The look in his dark brown eyes made my insides swirl, and my heartbeat sped up. They held a promise to take me away from all my problems and make me scream. I grinned.
Grabbing my hand, he pulled me along the hallway.
“Where are we going?” I asked. A little shiver of hope ran through me. I needed a distraction. A little time where I didn’t have to be responsible caregiver Sasha and I could forget—or at least ignore—Chuck’s threats and the headmaster’s anger and this whole mess. And Drew sounded like he had an idea.
“You’ll see,” he said. At the end of the hall, he turned down a narrow corridor and stopped at a picture frame. He dropped my hand and slid the frame to the side, pushing on the panel that lay behind it. A door opened in the wall across from us.
I blinked. I could have sworn the wall had been smooth before he’d touched the panel behind the picture frame. “What’s that?”
With a sly grin, Drew winked. “Come and see.”
Behind the door was a tight staircase that led upwards. Drew gestured for me to go ahead and squeezed in behind me. He pulled the door closed after us, and the stairs plunged into darkness.
“I can’t see.” My heart thudded against my chest. I was trapped, bound in by walls and darkness on every side. Fear skittered along my nerves, and I froze.
“Follow them up,” Drew said, giving me a gentle push.
It’s Drew. He would never hurt me. I forced my foot onto the next step and stopped again. “What if there’s rodents or something? How did we get behind the stone anyway?”
“Magic,” he said, and I could hear the smile in his voice.
He placed his hands on my hips, offering the silent message: I’m here. I sighed, nodding my head. Drew wouldn’t knowingly take me into danger. I trusted him. I took a step forward and another.
He leaned close to my ear and whispered, “You know there are more creatures in the world than just shifters and humans, right?”
“Like what?” I couldn’t imagine a world with even more magic. The humans I’d grown up around had no idea.
“Fairies, witches, demons, to name a few,” he said. “My nanny was a fairy.”
“Oh.” I blinked, trying to imagine what it would have been like not having to hide what you were. To grow up encouraged to use your talents and explore. I couldn’t. Alex and I had to hide our very existence most of the time, tucked into the back bedroom. Never allowed to leave things out that might betray our presence to Mom’s men.
I trailed my hands along the cold stone, letting it guide me, but ran into a sticky spider web and yanked it back. “There’s a web.”
Drew chuckled. “But no spider. Keep going.”
“How do you know?”
“Vampire eyesight,” he said, squeezing my hip. “Besides, I won’t let anything else bite you.”
I exhaled, warmth swirling in my gut as I remembered the pleasure of Drew’s bite. He always asked consent, but I never hesitated to give it. I bit my lip, wanting him now. I didn’t even care about the spiders and the webs and whatever creepy crawlies lived in this passage. “Drew?”
“We’re almost there,” he said, stroking my back.
We turned a corner and ran smack into a flat wall. I felt around the hard wood, not stone, but I didn’t feel any knobs or handholds. “What now?”
He wrapped his arms around me, pulling me against his strong chest. I breathed in the fresh air scent of him and sighed. He reached around me and tapped his knuckles against the wood in several places. Again, a door that I hadn’t been able to find slid ope
n.
I didn’t want to let Drew go, and I squinted at the bright light ahead, feeling blind.
“Just a little further,” Drew said.
We stepped inside to find a bright room with a slanted ceiling. Various pieces of furniture draped in heavy cloths and some old trunks were scattered around. A large window covered one wall. I looked toward it and rubbed my nose as a musty scent filled my nostrils. “Where are we?”
“At the very top of the building,” Drew said.
I picked my way over to the window and stared out across the front drive. I could see the guardhouses and a good way down the hill. The clouds floated low in the sky, their wispy lengths dragging across the treetops.
Drew came up beside me and unlocked the window, swinging it open.
Leaning forward, I peered over the edge of the narrow lip of the roof and then down the straight drop to the ground. I swayed a bit at the height, and Drew slid his arm around me.
“It’s so high,” I whispered. The wind whistled by us as if trying to hurry along the slow-moving clouds.
He chuckled close to my ear. “Not nearly as high as a hawk can fly, but the closest you can get.”
I smiled. “Damn, I can’t wait to fly.” I’d had all of the downsides of being a shifter and none of the benefits. I hadn’t shifted into anything yet, but everyone hated me for being a spirit shifter anyway. If I kept doing what Asshole wanted, I’d probably be dead before I ever transformed.
“Close your eyes,” Drew said, pulling off his jacket.
“Why?” I trailed my gaze over his arms. My fingers itched to follow the line of wing tattoos and find the little bend in his neck that I liked to kiss. I licked my lips.
His eyes darkened with desire, but he shook his head. “I want to show you something first.”
I pouted playfully, but I was curious.
He grinned, bracing himself on the edge of the window. “Do you trust me?”
“Of course,” I said.
“Close your eyes.”
He lifted me into his arms, and I let my eyelids fall. His hands were tight on my waist, holding me away from his body. A cool breeze ran over me. My eyes snapped open, and I gasped. Far below lay the gravel drive. I glanced back at Drew. His feet were firmly planted on the windowsill, and he’d stretched out his arms through the open window.
Drew grinned. “You wanted to fly?”
“Shit,” I exclaimed, my heart hammering at my chest. Not what I was expecting. But as I met his eyes, I knew I trusted him. No matter what, Drew had my back. I just hoped I could be as much to him as he was too me.
“Fly, Sasha,” he said.
I spread my arms and legs, feeling the air rush across me. My hair flew back, and I could almost believe I was airborne. “This is incredible.”
Drew laughed, whole-hearted. I hadn’t heard him laugh like that before. My heart squeezed that giving me pleasure could give him such joy too.
I grinned. I imagined soaring through the distant treetops, coasting on the up currents and diving for the earth. What kind of creature would I be when I transformed? Spirit shifters had forms for all of the elements, but air was the only one that would let me fly. Would I be a hawk? Or a crow? With my luck, I’d be a blue jay.
It didn’t matter. I’d be able to fly far away from here—away from my problems. I closed my eyes, imagining plunging into the sunset and darting past clouds. My chest ached with the possibility of freedom.
Because none of that was going to be true. I was going to do what Chuck wanted and keep Alex safe, and if I wasn’t killed, they’d lock me in the deepest darkest cell and throw away the key. I was never going to be free.
Eventually, he brought me back inside. We sat on the ledge, our legs dangling. I marveled at the incredible strength in his arms, both from being a vampire and from his archery workouts. I did what I’d wanted to do before and traced his wing tattoos up to his shirt sleeve, where the edge of our mate tattoo emerged.
“When was the first time you flew?” I asked.
His shoulders stiffened, and his face fell. He looked away from me and out over the misty sky.
“I’m sorry,” I said, interlacing my fingers in my lap. “You don’t need to tell me.”
He lifted his jacket and put it back on, like it was a defense against every bad thing that had ever happened to him. Then he gave me a soft smile and grasped my hand in his. “I want to tell you everything, Sasha. We’re mated, and we shouldn’t keep secrets from each other.”
I shrugged. “You don’t have to tell me right now.”
He brushed a stray hair out of my face. “My father held me out of an upstairs window very much like I just did you.”
I grimaced. I trusted Drew, but I knew he didn’t trust his dad.
“And he dropped me.” Vampire red encircled the deep brown of his irises, making them appear a russet color.
My breath caught in my throat. “Did you?”
“Not that time.”
Tears sprung up in my eyes. “What the fuck?”
“I didn’t die.” He shrugged. “Although it hurt like hell.”
“How old were you?” I asked.
“Twelve, the first time he tried.”
“How many times did he try?” I could barely get the words out. I’d known that Drew had problems with his dad, but I hadn’t thought it was like this. To drop your kid from the top of a house? More than once?
“Three times, until I finally flew on my seventeenth birthday,” he said softly. “He was so proud.”
“Proud that he nearly killed his son?” My heart clenched as fury ripped through me. What a fucking bastard. Heat seared my skin and, when I opened my mouth, puffs of smoke erupted. Why hadn’t someone done something? Couldn’t his fairy nanny have protected him? Or his mother?
Pain shot through my back, and I flinched away from Drew. Something was wrong with me. I swung my legs inside. Agony screamed along my nerve endings.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“I don’t know.” I stood and backed away from Drew. I screamed as my bones moved under my skin, my spine twisting. “Something’s happening.”
Drew climbed to his feet, his face puzzled.
Another ripple of torment hit me, and I cried out. What was happening to me?
He ran forward, reaching for me. “Sasha . . .”
“What’s going on?” I choked out. My shoulder blades tried to push themselves through my back. Pain shot through me as I tried to sort out my thoughts. What was going on? Was I shifting? I laughed, but it was cut short by another pang. Here I’d been thinking I’d never experience it.
Drew studied me. “I think you’re shifting.”
“Does it hurt like this every time?” My whole body ached, and I wanted to curl up in a ball on the floor. Drew’s arms came around me, trying to comfort me.
“It’s hard the first time, but you’ll get through it.” His voice was calm, but his muscles tensed.
“Just the first time?” I asked, then, burrowing my head against him, I cried out as another jolt ran through me. “Drew, help.”
He stroked my brow. “You’ve been running hot, and then there’s the smoke . . .”
My vision blurred, then it was as if I could see far and close at the same time. I couldn’t breathe as another bout of agony ricocheted through me. My whole body contorted. I’d wanted to shift, but not like this. I fell to my knees, shaking.
Drew looked around the small room frantically. “There’s not enough room.”
“Room for what?” I gasped, flames licking their way up my spine. Even with the wide-open window, the attic felt stuffy and overheated.
“You trust me, right?” Drew stood and held out his hand.
I tried to nod, but another shudder of pain racked my body. What was going on? I grasped Drew’s hand, and he dragged me to the window.
“Wrap your arms around me.”
I did.
Lines of determination crossed his forehead as
he looked in my eyes. “We’re going to have to climb to the roof.”
I swallowed and nodded. I held on as tight as I could while he climbed the face of the building. My feet dangled over the rocky ground so far below, and I gritted my teeth as another agonizing shock wave whipped through me. “We don’t have much time.”
He nodded and jumped to the side, pulling me along with him.
“Fuck,” I muttered. We hung for a moment in midair before he caught the wall again. I peered around, trying to see where we were going. He wasn’t headed for the eves directly above us but the turret to the right. Drew scampered up the wall as if he were a spider rather than a vampire and not carrying my weight either.
When we reached the edge, he shoved me up and over the top. I pushed off on his shoulders, and he grunted.
“Sorry,” I gasped.
The roof of the turret was flat and wide—lots of space for whatever I was turning into. With that thought, my body reformed, and I screamed. My back arched, and flame roared from my mouth. My thoughts churned. I looked at Drew, and he seemed refracted through my new eyes. His form was a mass of colors and light. What am I?
He threw his hands over his ears and bent in half.
What’s the matter? I asked, only the words didn’t come from my lips. But I felt like he heard them.
“I can hear you, but it hurts my brain. You’re so loud,” he said.
Oh no, I didn’t want to hurt him. I flapped my wings and tried to speak quieter: When did I get wings? And how can you hear my thoughts? Air pushed out from me, and I lifted off the ground. Drew? What am I?
He looked up at me and grinned. Then he shouted, “A dragon, Sasha. You’re a fucking dragon.”
What? That’s not even possible. They don’t exist.
“They do and you are!” he hollered. “And it’s awesome!”
I rolled my tongue around in my mouth and it touched sharp teeth. I grinned, but I’m not sure what I looked like, because Drew backed up a few paces, his face worried. I tilted my head, feeling the weight of it pull me to the side. I was huge, taking up almost the whole turret that we stood on. I looked out across the sky, gazing at the trees and the mountains in the distance. They seemed much closer and clearer to my dragon eyes. I guess I really am a dragon. Who’d have believed it?
