Daring Provocation (Shadow Veil Academy Book 3)

by Heather Renee

  My mind began to process the words, and as I really thought about what she’d said and realized I didn’t have to worry about my grandmother, I put the connection together.

  “We need to find out how many other packs or covens or whatever there is out there are having issues with losing their young. This isn’t a coincidence, Jules. Malina is doing this. She wants to divide us before she attacks. We came together before and beat her. But if we have no back-up, then she will win.”

  Her eyes widened, and I knew that if she hadn’t truly believed me before, she did then. She would have stood by my side no matter what before, but there was no denying it now. If other supernaturals were having the same issues we were at the academy, the others had to see that I was right.

  Malina was going to tear us apart from the inside if we didn’t figure out a way to come together again, and I’d be damned if I let her win.

  Chapter 10

  Jules called a meeting with the council for that afternoon, while I gathered the team and relayed the information I was convinced to be true. There was no doubt in my mind that when the other supernaturals were asked about their young, a majority would have regrettably suffered losses recently.

  When I was done explaining to the group what I knew, the rage flowing through my and Enzo’s room was thick.

  “So, what are we doing now? Why aren’t we with the council?” Lyssa asked.

  “Jules thought it would be best if she met with them on her own. Not all of them believe our little group holds true value, and if the information is coming from her, well, it would have more weight to it, unfortunately,” I answered honestly.

  “That’s bullshit,” Peyton snapped, surprising me because she was usually the calmer one.

  “While I agree, I also trust Jules. She will get the point across, and we will continue to work on a plan.” I glanced at Enzo hoping like hell that he had one, because I didn’t.

  There was a knock at the door before anyone could say anything else. Tension rolled through me, because Jules shouldn’t be done already if everything went well, and the council wouldn’t want to meet with me if the meeting didn’t go as we hoped.

  When Enzo opened the door, I craned my neck to see who it was. Marek’s head stood several inches above Enzo’s as he glanced at me before saying something I couldn’t hear from where I sat.

  Enzo moved aside, and they both came to the table we were currently sitting around. Marek stood even though Enzo offered his seat, which made me laugh because both men ended up standing, stubborn in their own ways as usual.

  Talon moved his chair back, facing Marek. “Is everything okay, King Marek?”

  It still took me off guard to hear him referred to as King. I knew he was, but since we’d left Drakken, it wasn’t often he was addressed that way. I wondered if we offended him by not doing so.

  “I’m not sure. As you all know, Phox left here in a hurry a few days ago. I haven’t heard from her since she left, but she gave me instructions to come find you today and tell you that it’s important to believe in yourself even if nobody else does.”

  Shit, shit, shit. Was Phox trying to tell us that we wouldn’t have the support of the council?

  “Did she say anything else?” Enzo asked.

  “Just that our future was at stake, and we needed to continue to train and prepare. It sounded as if she knew Malina would be showing her final hand soon and we needed to be ready at a moment’s notice,” Marek replied.

  “What about the vampire? We can’t let the psycho roam from place to place killing children,” Finley snarled.

  Standing up, I began to pace behind the table. “I think if we can track the vamp, then he might lead us back to Malina. Do you think we should go back to the barn and search it for anything the idiot might have left behind? Anything that would be helpful in conducting a locating spell? I doubt Malina has a protection over one of her pawns that would prevent us from tracking him magically.”

  “I can handle that part,” Marek replied. When I eyed him curiously, he continued, “We’ve adapted to much while living in Drakken. I have more magic up my sleeve than I’ve yet to reveal.”

  There was a slight grin on his face, and it warmed my heart in a surprising way. Ever since he’d faced Malina, there had been a cloud of doom hanging over him, but giving him something to contribute to the team that didn’t require physical violence had brought him true joy.

  For a powerful dragon king, he sure hated war. It was something he’d hopefully overcome before we faced Malina again, because we couldn’t afford to have our most-needed team member hesitate. If we lost again, so would all supernaturals.

  “Did Phox say what the rest of us should do while we wait for her to return?” Talon asked.

  “Not specifically, but from what I understood, until we can nail an exact location down for Malina, she wants us to do what we’ve been doing and hopefully, the council will send out the warning about the children.”

  Frustration tugged at my body. If the council didn’t listen to Jules, I was going to lose my shit on them.

  Enzo came to me and wrapped his arm around my waist, which immediately calmed the dragon within me. Chelle wasn’t happy about what we were hearing, either, but until we knew more, there wasn’t a damn thing we could do about it, no matter how much we wanted to.

  We had no idea where Malina was and scouring the states looking for her wasn’t the best use of our time. No, the only thing we could do was warn as many people as possible about the foreboding threats to their children and keep preparing. I might not like the plan, but Marek was right.

  We’d wait for Phox and I’d just have to hope that Ophelia would give her the permission she needed to help us. Otherwise, we might all be screwed.

  My phone buzzed in my pocket, so I stepped away from Enzo to answer, assuming it would be Jules with bad news, based upon what I’d just learned. Though, to my surprise, Meme Amalia was on the screen instead.

  She was already talking when I answered the call, so I let her finish, enjoying what I was hearing.

  “No, that’s not what I said, damn it. Does the little old lady have to do everything around here? Don’t you dare answer that or I’ll give you a pig nose. That’s right, run off and do your damn job, so I can talk to my granddaughter.”

  “Uh, hi, Meme,” I said while trying to hold back my laughter.

  “Hello, Dear. Sorry about that. It’s complete chaos around here, and everyone is acting like we’ve never been threatened before.”

  “Did something else happen besides the cub’s death?”

  She sighed. “There have been children taken from each race. It’s taken days to convince the group leaders this is not an attack by the people of New Orleans. Something smells fishy to me, and its name is Malina.”

  “That’s what I already told Jules. She’s meeting with our council now, but I’m not convinced they’ll believe her,” I said, resigned.

  “Didn’t I tell you I needed to talk with my granddaughter? That means go the hell away and do as you’re told before I bend you over my knee and spank you like I did when you were a child!”

  I couldn’t contain the laughter any longer, and everyone in the room turned to look at me like I was crazy, but I didn’t care.

  “Meme, who are you talking to?”

  “The wolf alpha. He thinks he’s in charge here, but I have no problem putting him in his place. I used to change his diapers, for Christ’s sake. Anyway, the council will believe her, or they’ll be seeing me, and they don’t want to make me leave New Orleans. Everything is going to be okay. We know who and what we’re up against. That’s the most important part.”

  I didn’t respond, because I didn’t know what to say. We’ve known for over a year what we were up against, but she still hasn’t been stopped. We were too far apart to keep each other safe, and no sane parent would be willing to help us and leave their children unprotected while others were going missing.

  “Raegan, stop it. I
can’t even see you, and I already know you’re pacing and fidgeting while thinking of all the ways this won’t work. I have a plan brewing, and as soon as I get the race leaders to stop acting like toddlers, I’ll be putting it into place. Just have patience.”

  Ha, patience. Something I’ve struggled with all my life. But I trusted her, so I promised to do my best.

  “That’s my girl. I’ll be seeing you soon, and text me the moment something changes. I can check those quicker than voicemails. Then, I’ll call you as soon as I can.”

  “Will do. I love you, Meme.”

  “Love you, too, Dear. Talk soon.”

  The line disconnected as my emotions warred with each other. Hearing her voice had been good for me, and hearing her act like a crazy tyrant over men who could possibly squish her was even better, but there was an ominous feeling in my gut that wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

  When I turned back toward to the team, all eyes were on me. “What?” I asked.

  “Care to fill us in, Love? We only heard one half of the conversation.” Enzo smiled, stating the obvious.

  “Oh, yeah, sorry. Amalia had already come to the conclusion that Malina was at fault for the children as well. She’s working on something down there and, like everyone else has said, apparently we’re just supposed to stay put and prepare to act at a moment’s notice.”

  “Your grandma is life goals. I heard everything she said, and she is one badass old lady. I’ve never heard a race leader talk like that to another without starting a war,” Finley said with a spark in her eye that had been missing lately. I was sure her vampire hearing came in handy most days, and I was glad it brought her some joy in this instance.

  “We can learn all we need about being a feared old lady from her after Malina is dead. As much as I don’t like it, we’ve had plenty of people we respect, Marek included, tell us we need to stay and keep preparing. Which means training in our classes and behaving. We might not like it, but hopefully it’s short-lived.”

  Gemma groaned. “I never thought I’d say this, but I miss normal school. Where homework wasn’t talks about impending wars with crazy powerful sorceresses and whoever else is stupid enough to follow her. This was not at all how I pictured my last year at Shadow Veil.”

  Talon took her hand and whispered something in her ear that had her blushing, so I left the consoling up to him. He seemed to be better at it than me.

  “You guys go enjoy the rest of your day. As soon as we hear from Jules, we’ll let you know,” Enzo finally said when we realized there was nothing else to really discuss until we knew what direction the council thought was best.

  It was either going to make things easier or harder, but whichever way it went, I already knew what needed to be done, and we were doing it with or without the council’s permission.

  It wasn’t until after dinner when we heard from Jules and, even then, it wasn’t exactly the news we were hoping for. She sent a text saying they were still discussing things and she’d see us the following day.

  “Try not to stress about it. There’s nothing you can do to change what they may be thinking,” Enzo murmured in my ear as I read the text.

  “Sure, there is. I can go in there channeling my inner Meme and tell them all how it’s going to be.”

  He grinned. “While I’d love to see that, I don’t think that would further any of your plans.”

  My shoulders shrugged. “But it would make me feel better.”

  “How about chocolate cake and ice cream?”

  My stomach growled. I’d barely eaten anything for dinner, and chocolate always made me feel better, even if it was a temporary fix.

  “I won’t say no to that.”

  Trusting him again had been the best thing I’d ever done. It had taken a while, especially after watching him stab Marek, but instead of taking off like before, I had stayed and listened. While the reasons had pissed me off to no end, I was able to truly put things to rest once Marek had woken up.

  Enzo was a good man. Stupid sometimes, but loyal to a fault. I knew without a doubt in my mind that he loved me, and that was more than enough.

  A few minutes later, he brought me a heaping bowl of chocolate ice cream with chunks of mint and a cake drizzled in hot fudge. “You are the greatest thing to ever walk this Earth,” I murmured as I took my first bite.

  “Thanks, Love.” He chuckled.

  My eyes peeked up at him. “Oh, I was talking to the cake.”

  He threw a pillow at me from the couch, and I let it hit me in the head while I protected my goods from being spilled. “Don’t mess with me when I’m enjoying my dessert. That’s grounds for break-up.”

  He lowered his face to mine, eyes smoldering. “There’s no breaking up here. You can have your cake and eat it, too, Love.”

  My eyes went from the yummy dessert to him several times before I took one more overwhelming bite of sugary greatness. “You win,” I mumbled with a mouth full of food before setting the plate down.

  “I win every day I fall asleep next to you.”

  My body melted faster than the ice cream I was leaving behind as Enzo carried me to our room. I knew without a doubt, no matter how bad things got, I was still the luckiest girl in the world.

  Chapter 11

  Enzo

  A couple of weeks had passed, and our training sessions were getting more complex, but also more manageable. Watching Raegan disappear for the first time had nearly given me a coronary, but Professor Melnier had been just the teacher needed to focus her on the task.

  He’d also taught Talon how to do illusions so real that even the teacher didn’t know when he was in one. When I thought there was nothing special left for the rest of us to learn, Emmett showed us otherwise.

  “It’s not just dragons who are capable of pushing their mind beyond normal restrictions. You each have a place in this team, and before I’m done with you, you’ll know exactly what that is.”

  Peyton and Finley had struggled the most since magic had never been their thing—brute force and speed was more their calling—but I watched in fascination as Raegan worked tirelessly with them when the professor wasn’t, so that nobody felt left behind.

  “Yes, Peyton, just like that. Now, use your hand to twist. Yep. You got it. Just a little bit more.” Raegan paused, watching every move Peyton made closely, and when her fading form began to solidify again, Raegan was right there cheering her on to keep trying.

  “I don’t mean to sound like a tiny fairy, but you just have to believe, Peyton. Believe in yourself and what you’re capable of,” Raegan said.

  Peyton flipped her off, and I just shook my head. My mate had the kindest soul I’d ever known, and I was damn proud of her.

  Lyssa strode up next to me. “Never thought I’d see the day a dragon would be teaching a wolf how to manipulate magic.”

  “Neither did I, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it.” I grinned as Peyton finally disappeared completely. It only lasted for a few seconds, but it proved she was capable of more than she previously thought.

  “You wouldn’t?” Lyssa asked.

  “Huh?” I had been so distracted watching the celebrations, I’d forgotten what I’d said.

  “You wouldn’t change any of what’s led us to this point?”

  “Oh, well, I guess some things, but I don’t mess with fate, Lys. We all have to go through bad shit to get to the good stuff. This isn’t Utopia. Sure, I wish I hadn’t screwed things up so badly with Raegan to begin with, but I can’t change what’s already happened, so I don’t dwell on it.”

  She remained pensive, and I knew she wanted to keep talking, but a part of me wanted to walk away. I tried to keep my distance from her so that Raegan would never have doubts, but when I took two steps toward Raegan, she narrowed her gaze at me and motioned toward Lyssa.

  I read between the glares and stepped back, but the moment was already gone.

  “I’m going to run with Finley,” she said, then disappeared. Finley
seemed to be her favorite, because the vampire was good company without the deep stuff, and that seemed to be just what Lyssa needed.

  It was nearing dinner, so I went to break up Raegan’s training session before they decided to go all night, but just as I moved to do so, a hand wrapped around my arm.

  “Wait for it,” JayLeigh whispered with a sadistic smile on her face, and since I was a curious bastard, I let her have her fun.

  Just as Raegan vanished into thin air, Phox took her spot, and Peyton screamed like a banshee when the dragon seer’s form appeared instead of Raegan’s. “What did you do with Raegan?”

  Raegan was rolling on the grass, laughing her ass off just ten feet to the right. “Sorry, Pey. I swear I did not plan that, but I sure as hell enjoyed it.”

  “Screw you both.” Her chest rumbled.

  Phox feigned offense. “Now, Peyton, I know you only had one class with me, but I’m sure you’ve heard the stories. Do you really want to growl at me?”

  Peyton blanched and shook her head, then Raegan nudged Phox. “Leave her be and tell us what happened.”

  JayLeigh and I moved in closer. Phox had been gone for almost three weeks, and this was a moment we’d all been looking forward to: knowing whether Ophelia had given her permission to share the vision that caused Phox to leave in the first place.

  JayLeigh’s face fell and my gut told me it wasn’t just the vision we had to worry about any longer.

  “Maybe we should gather the others and take this inside,” I suggested.

  “Gemma and Talon will be here soon, and we don’t have time to track Lyssa and Finley or anyone else you consider necessary,” Phox said. My head cocked to the side as I tried to determine if she was being snide or if it was just her personality. Likely, it was the latter, so I let it go.

  “So, what is it?” Raegan pushed.

  “Ophelia is dead. I’m the only dragon seer left in any of the worlds.”

  Everyone remained silent as we processed the information. I wasn’t really sure what it meant, though we knew it had to happen at some point. From what we’d learned, there was always a predecessor and successor, and the two could not co-exist for long or their visions would begin to meld and confuse their minds.