Daring Provocation (Shadow Veil Academy Book 3)

by Heather Renee

  That I can do.

  She went silent on me while we finished the meeting, and I was even more convinced most of the council didn’t believe me when the discussion moved on to what to tell the students and nothing else about the murders specifically.

  Jules, Marek, and Bennett seemed to be the only ones who were behind me, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me from figuring out what to prepare for next.

  Malina had the upper hand on us when she attacked the academy last time. We were still repairing the walls from her destruction, and I wouldn’t let it happen again. The next time she stepped foot in the school, she would leave in a body bag.

  Headmaster Stone asked our group to stay behind when all the council members left, but Marek and Jules had also stayed behind.

  “Phox was needed elsewhere, and she won’t be teaching your class for the foreseeable future. Marek will be filling in for her along with myself when he is needed for other situations. He will begin tomorrow and has already received your curriculum we’d given to Phox. Professor Melnier will continue his classes as normal.”

  Well, that could have been worse. I was more than happy to have Marek teaching our classes. Not only did I believe he had a lot to offer, I also knew he’d do it with less hope of tears from the seven of us than Phox did.

  “Any questions?” he asked when none of us responded.

  “No, sounds like we’re in good hands. It’s getting late, so we’ll see you tomorrow,” Enzo answered for us.

  Nobody seemed to object as we were dismissed and headed toward the platform. Glancing at the clock in the hallway, I realized how correct Enzo’s statement was when he mentioned it was getting late and let out a yawn. “How is it already after midnight?” I said, not really expecting an answer.

  “We’re going to be dead on our feet tomorrow after the day we’ve had.” Peyton groaned.

  “At least Phox won’t be there to make things worse,” Lyssa added.

  “But I will be,” JayLeigh’s voice sounded from behind us, and we turned around slowly. “Phox asked me to watch over your group and make sure nobody was babying any of you. We don’t have time for that kind of nonsense. So, I’ll be your unofficial teacher’s assistant while Marek is running the class.”

  Each of us held the same deadpan expression. This was not good news for any of us. JayLeigh was almost as bad as Phox, and I shivered when remembering her torturous training on Drakken. While it had been effective, it had also made me want to jump off a cliff.

  “Oh, don’t look so glum, plum. We’re going to have the best time,” she exclaimed before turning serious. “Now, get your asses to bed. I expect nothing less than your best tomorrow, so don’t disappoint me. You won’t like it if that happens.”

  Then, the crazy dragon disappeared. Though, none of us said anything, because we knew she was still present, and we weren’t idiots.

  She didn’t need any more reason to make tomorrow or the days after harder on us. I had full faith JayLeigh would make us hate her by week’s end, and she’d love every minute of it.

  Chapter 9

  The following day went by torturously slow. JayLeigh had done her best to make the morning as strenuous as possible, but Marek had also done a good job of keeping her in check.

  We’d learned Phox had pulled a lesson from something we shouldn’t have even been trying to accomplish until at least a month later, but since we had already made progress, Marek decided to let us continue to work on the defense creation.

  Anytime one of us was close to accomplishing something, JayLeigh would sneak up behind them and yell something totally random. Panty burp was a favorite of her, since people laughed every single time. She insisted that we needed to learn focus, and this was her way of helping us.

  When we met with Emmett, it was a huge relief on our bodies. He split us into groups based upon what he’d observed the previous day about each of us. I was teamed with Lyssa and Enzo, while the rest were put together in a second group.

  “You’ll be fighting as a team and each of you will focus on your own strengths. Where one is weak, another will be strong, and we will continue to work on balancing each other until the seven of you are the most feared group of supernaturals to face a Doyen,” Emmett had said.

  We all hung on his every word. He seemed to have faith in us that I hadn’t seen from anyone else. Not that Marek hadn’t been supportive, but he knew his role and was already resigned to the fact he’d have to kill Malina himself. He mainly talked about ways to protect ourselves, not to attack.

  Emmett, though, had spoken of the ways he planned to teach us to incapacitate Malina and move on the offense instead. He had a passion for what he was doing, and it made me wonder about his past and how he ended up at Shadow Veil. There was a reason the headmaster had sought him out, and I wanted to know why that was.

  “So, what are you doing for the rest of the night?” Gemma asked while we were eating dinner in the commissary after classes were done.

  “I want to sleep. Yesterday was a long-ass day, and twelve hours of sleep sounds pretty damn nice right about now,” I answered while glancing over at Enzo, who was paying more attention to Talon than my conversation with Gemma.

  My finger tapped against my cheek. “But if you wanted to convince me to go do something stupid and reckless like skinny dipping in the lake or flying through Salem with you on Chelle’s back, then I’m sure that could be arranged.”

  Talon smirked, and I knew he’d heard me, but Enzo still hadn’t looked my way.

  Gemma added to it. “Why don’t we do both? Skinny dipping first, then shower and dress up to go clubbing in town. Let our hair down and see what trouble finds us.”

  Talon’s chest rumbled. “Not a chance in hell.” His arm reached out and smacked Enzo in the side of the head. “Do something about this, bro.”

  Enzo shrugged. “She’s a big girl. I trust her. Maybe you just need to trust your woman some more.”

  My brow quirked up. “So, you’re good if I show my goods off to whoever might be hanging around the water and then leave the protection shields to go have my fun with my girls?”

  “Yep. Do whatever will make you happy, and I’ll do what makes me happy.” The grin that formed on his face told me the tables were about to be turned.

  “And what makes you happy?” I asked, even though I knew I’d regret it.

  “Beating the shit out of anyone who would dare ogle at your naked body and being your shadow as you have fun with your girls. I’m all for you doing whatever you want. Just know I’ll be right there with you, making sure nothing happens that shouldn’t.”

  “Possessive much?” I countered.

  “Nope, but protective? You bet your sweet ass I am, and you love it.”

  Damn him. He was right. I loved everything about how much he wanted to keep anything from harming me. His alpha tendencies were a turn-on I would never admit out loud, for fear they’d only get worse, but I never wanted them to go away.

  Gemma was doing her best to hold in her laughter, but I waved my hand. “Let it out, and just remember, yours isn’t much better than mine.”

  Talon raised his hands in innocence. “How did I get looped into this?”

  “You chose to be friends with Enzo. It’s a package deal, especially when you’re dating my best friend.” I shrugged. He really should have already known better.

  Enzo’s golden eyes bore into me. “We should head to bed.”

  “Seriously?” Peeking at my phone, it was just after six.

  “Hey, you said twelve hours of sleep sounds nice. What my baby wants, my baby gets.” He wasted no time picking me up and tossing me over his shoulder.

  My laughter filtered through the commissary as I waved goodbye to my best friend without a bit of embarrassment rolling through me. When I first arrived at the academy, all I wanted was to be invisible, but since things had been good with Enzo as of late, I didn’t really give a damn anymore. I had my circle, and what other people though
t didn’t get to me anymore.

  The moment others learned I was a dragon shifter, all anonymity went out the window, and Enzo loved to give everyone a show, so who was I to keep him from doing what made him happy? I loved him for who he was. Possessive overprotective traits and all.

  “There is blood rushing to my head that’s beginning to make me dizzy, darling,” I said with a grin.

  Enzo wasted no time switching positions, and before I knew it, I was cradled in his arms like a baby. “Better?” he asked.

  “Better would be allowing me to walk, but I’ll take it.”

  “Yes, take advantage of the short rest now, because there won’t be any when we get back to the room,” he murmured softly in my ear before nipping at my neck.

  “What happened to my twelve hours of sleep?” I fake pouted.

  He winked before flashing my favorite smile. “You know better than that.”

  My heart melted just a little more, and I couldn’t remove the grin from my face. Everything else around us might be going to shit, but moments like this made it all worth it. Our bond was solidified more and more every time we made love, which made not getting sleep the least of my worries.

  The rest of the week went smoothly with classes, and we found a routine that didn’t kill our bodies or minds. Marek was loosening up, and JayLeigh quit trying to challenge each of us every chance she had. None of us had learned how to do anything spectacular yet, but we were honing our skills and growing, which was something.

  The council had decided to tell the students in smaller groups about what was truly going on so that there wasn’t complete mayhem when they heard about the missing students. The two still gone hadn’t been far from my mind, and I wondered how in the hell we were going to find them.

  Each of the council members had gone to classrooms and given the information individually, so we weren’t present, but we’d certainly heard about it in the hallways.

  “What if the school gets blown up?”

  “Are we all supposed to go evil if Malina takes over?”

  “Should we just say ‘screw school’ and go home to never come back?”

  “All vampires are garbage. The dirty blood suckers need to be burned from this earth.”

  The last one had hurt the most, but Finley hadn’t been with me when I heard it, and I sincerely hoped she hadn’t overheard anything similar. Enzo had been with me and stopped to have a “nice” chat with the kid who said it, but when I asked what he’d said, Enzo refused to respond. Just stated it was taken care of, whatever that meant. He likely threatened the kid, which I didn’t mind if it taught him a lesson in being judgmental.

  Then, we’d continued on to our classes like nothing ever happened. After five mentally exhausting days, we finally had a day off, but it wasn’t really ours. We still had duties outside of learning, which meant no rest for the wicked.

  “We learned the identity of the two humans,” Headmaster Stone said after Enzo and I arrived in his office late Saturday morning.

  “Should we get the others?” I asked, referring to the rest of our team.

  “No, I can’t have all seven of you in here every time I have something to say. I trust the two of you to relay what’s necessary.”

  Enzo nodded. “We can handle that. So, where were they from?”

  “One was from Boston and the other from Medford. They were only fifteen and sixteen years old. The girl had been at the park with her little sister when she went missing and the boy was thought to be a runaway.”

  My heart constricted. That vampire really needed to die a gruesome death. “Nobody else has disappeared, right?” I asked.

  “No, the professors are required to take count in every class and send me the attendance first thing. I’ll know the second someone isn’t where they’re supposed to be. We don’t have any leads on the vampire, though, but we’ve been looking into your theory about how he could be connected to Malina.”

  My eyes rolled. Could be connected. There was no doubt about it in my mind.

  “Have you heard from your grandmother, by chance?” Alistair asked, and my body froze.

  Fear paralyzed every part of me as I thought about all the reasons he would ask me that. All of the bad reasons.

  “No, she hasn’t,” Enzo finally answered for me. “Why?”

  “I tried reaching out to her to see if she could ask the coven leader down there about potential rogue vampires we could look into. It’s normal for her not to respond to me right away. She has her hands full down there, but I thought if Raegan reached out, then she may hear from her sooner.”

  Breath whooshed out of me when he said it was a normal occurrence, but the stress wasn’t over. I’d be calling her as soon as we left the room.

  “I’ll see what I can find out for you,” I finally said.

  “I appreciate that. Now, how are the classes going? Are you finding them beneficial so far, or do we need to do something different?”

  Enzo went on about what we were learning while my mind went dark. If anything happened to my Meme, I wasn’t sure what would happen to my sanity. She was the last direct link I had to the parents who raised me, and I’d barely scratched the surface on getting to know her. I wanted years to spend with her still.

  Enzo’s hand tugged on my arm as he stood. Apparently, they were done talking and I’d missed it while I tried not to let the fear and potential wrath envelop my body.

  “I’ll see you two soon,” Alistair waved as we turned for the door.

  When it was closed behind us, I pulled out my phone and found the contact I needed. Pressing on her name, I held the phone to my ear while anxiously waiting for her to pick up.

  “You’ve reached the voicemail for Amalia. Leave a message and I might call you back.”

  The grin that appeared on my face couldn’t be helped. She was a spunky old lady.

  “Hey, Meme. It’s Raegan. I needed to ask you something important. Give me a call as soon as you get this. I love you.”

  Hitting the end button, my eyes met Enzo’s as his hands wrapped around my face. “I know you’ve been through hell, but try not to think worst-case scenario. Go find Jules and confirm Headmaster Stone’s theory about your grandmother always being too busy to call back. She has people down there who can confirm Amalia is fine as well.”

  Pressing my lips to his in a quick kiss, I decided I needed to see my aunt immediately. “Sorry, Love. I gotta go.”

  Before he could grab me, I ran toward the platform and hopped on just before it began to descend. Enzo was yelling my name, not at all happy I had ditched him, but he would forgive me later.

  Another student was on the platform with me, and I smiled at her, but she just stared wide-eyed at me, not saying a word. Weird, but whatever.

  Bringing my phone to my ear, I called Jules. “Where are you?” I asked when she answered on the second ring.

  “In my room, getting ready to—”

  “Don’t move. I’ll be there in five.” I hung up before she could object and bounced on the balls of my feet, wishing the platform moved faster.

  I was no longer afraid of falling off, but the slight thing next to me appeared to be petrified. “Are you okay?” I asked.

  She gulped and nodded, her doe-like eyes getting even bigger somehow. “Not a fan of these things.”

  “You’ll get used to them, maybe by your last year.” I offered a smile, but she didn’t return it, so I decided to leave her alone. If she wanted to be invisible, then she could be. I completely understood how that felt.

  The platform came to my stop, and I waved goodbye to the girl even though she didn’t really talk before I raced for Jules’s room and focused my mind on what it might take to figure out if my grandmother was okay. At the moment, it was all that truly mattered to me.

  Jules had left her door cracked for me, and I burst into the room without knocking, thankfully not out of breath due to all the training we’d been doing.

  “What’s wrong?” she aske
d immediately.

  “Have you been in touch with your pack in New Orleans recently? Like the last couple of days?”

  She shook her head. “Why? Did something happen down there?” Already on her feet, I could see the same tension filter into her that I’d felt earlier.

  “I don’t know. Alistair told me he couldn’t get a hold of Amalia, and I haven’t talked to her since we left other than a few shared texts. He thought it was normal, but in a time like this, it doesn’t feel normal to me. I need to know those I care about are safe.”

  Hysteria was bubbling at the surface by the time I stopped talking, so I took a deep breath while Jules got her phone out. “Give me a second.”

  She placed one call that went unanswered, then another. Despair was choking me when the second one was also unsuccessful, but the third person finally answered, and I breathed a little lighter.

  “What’s going on down there?”

  Waving my hands, I tried to ask her to put it on speaker, but she ignored me, plugging her other ear to focus on whoever was talking.

  “When?” She paused. “How many?” Another pause. “Do you need me there?”

  Damn it, this was going to be the death of me if she didn’t tell me what the hell was going on.

  “Okay. What about Amalia? Have you seen her?”

  An even longer pause caused me to lose it, and I pressed myself against her side in an attempt to hear the person on the line, but by the time I did so, they were already done.

  “Good. Keep us updated. We’re doing everything we can here, but this helps to know. I’ll call back if we learn anything else.”

  She hung up the phone and glared at me. “Girl, learn some patience.”

  “Is she okay? Do they know where my Meme is?”

  Rolling her eyes, she nodded. “Amalia is fine. She’s in the quarter helping with a turf war between the wolves and bears. A cub was found murdered, and the bears are blaming the wolves. Apparently, things are pretty tense, but no mention of vampires causing trouble.”