Minnie looked hot in skinny jeans, ballet flats, and smoky eye makeup that brought out the emerald in her eyes.
My gray eyes were unremarkable in comparison. Heck, I’d never relied on my looks, though; my smart mouth was what got me places.
And here we were, slipping under the canopy of trees into the cool confines of the forest. The aromas of earth and flora filled my head, and then we were running, weaving through the trees toward the grove. Howls rose up on either side of us. Wolves on a run. Free, wild, and natural. The nightblood beneath my skin surged to the surface, and with a challenging glance Minnie’s way, I broke into fast mode.
The world whizzed by with the scrape of leaves, the slash of branches, and the exhilaration of the chase. Minnie was on my tail. She was fast, but heck, I was faster.
I leapt over a log and landed on the edge of the grove. The sounds of the party wrapped themselves around me—music, laughter, and the distinct aroma of poppy seed cigarettes, a favorite of the feyblood.
Minnie joined me a moment later. “Damn, Indie. You’re rocket-powered.”
“Yeah, shoved one up my butt before we left the dorm.”
“Don’t look now, but Thomas is heading over.” She moved closer to me. “If he mentions the damned test, I’ll nut him.”
Thomas stopped a few feet away from us, hands in his pockets. “You okay?” he mumbled.
Wait, what? Had I just heard right? “Who are you, and what have you done with the intolerant nightblood called Thomas?”
He gave me a smile and opened his mouth to say something.
“Hey, Carmichael, you gone over to the dark side now?” someone called out.
I looked over his shoulder to see a group of nightbloods holding drinks. Carmichael and Hartwood lads.
“Nah!” Thomas backed away from us as if we gave off toxic fumes. “Just checking out the freak show.”
I shook my head. “And there he is.”
Minnie snorted. “Sheep.” She linked arms with me. “Come on, let’s get a drink.”
Alcohol didn’t affect supernaturals the same way it did humans, but it did give us a warm buzz. It made the world a little softer. A trestle table had been set up to one side, and we wove our way toward it, past half-naked grinding moonkissed and necking nightbloods. Past feybloods in lip locks and toward sanctuary.
How many of the guys here would be with us tomorrow, and how many will have been shadow marked and shipped off to the shadow cadet wing?
“Shit, these things get steamy,” Minnie said as we reached the table.
Several bottles of lethally strong vodka were lined up on it with neat piles of plastic cups.
I grabbed a cup and filled it. “Horny supernaturals on a full moon.”
“And bitchy supernaturals on the prowl,” Minnie said. “Harper alert.”
Oh, great. I turned to find Harper and her posse descending on us. Tonight they were dressed in various shades of green. They looked good, and plenty of male heads swiveled their way, but Harper had eyes only for Minnie. She stopped a little way away and said something to her girls. They turned and melted into the crowd as she approached us.
“Hey, Min, you look good,” she said. “I was hoping we could talk.” Her gaze slid to me then back to Minnie. “Alone.”
Minnie tensed. “If you’re here to apologize for the way you spoke to Indie then I’m happy to chat. If not, then we have nothing to talk about.”
Harper crossed her arms, and for a moment, there was a look of vulnerability on her overly painted face. She glanced over her shoulder to where her posse was mingling and then fixed her eyes on me.
“Look, I’m sorry if I offended you. But you know what I said was true. You are a criminal. You’re here because you have to be, not because you want to be. You don’t even care about being in the Nightwatch.”
Her words, which would have been like water off a duck’s back a day ago, hit home hard. She was right. All of it, and in that moment, I saw myself through her eyes—an uncaring, snarky woman who’d come in and stolen her friend.
“Harper!” Minnie chided.
Harper held up her hands. “I’m trying here, Min. Just … Can we please go for a walk and chat?”
Minnie shook her head, but I caught the hesitation. She and Harper had been close before me. She had to have seen something in the blonde bombshell to be friends with her.
“Go.” I shrugged. “If I’m going to be taking this Academy stuff seriously, I should probably try and mingle.”
Harper looked at me in surprise.
Minnie locked gazes with me. “You’re just going to stand here and drink, aren’t you?”
I downed the contents of my cup and poured another. “Pretty much. But it makes me happy.” I raised my cup.
Minnie narrowed her eyes. “I’ll be right back. Hide a bottle for me.”
She headed off with Harper, and they slipped into the forest.
My stomach quivered. Fuck, this friendship shit was dangerous. It had you caring and feeling insecure and—
“What the fuck?” Harmon’s gruff voice, raised in anger, cut across the clearing.
I tracked the commotion to several half naked moonkissed being herded into the clearing by a group of guys dressed in black. Booted and lethal-looking, they caused the volume in the clearing to drop instantly and drew every eye.
Shadow cadets.
Second years by the looks of the burgundy emblems on their shirts. Hair combed back and clean shaven, they were the epitome of what the shadow knights were all about, and in a year, they’d be joining the veterans at the fortress.
Shadow cadet training was super strict. Fun was prohibited, or so I’d gleaned in my time here. The shadow cadets didn’t join in the social events of the Nightwatch Academy, so what were they doing here tonight?
Harmon thrust out his hairy chest and advanced on one of the cadets, who placed a hand on his shoulder and brought him to his knees. A petite, dark-haired moonkissed girl ran forward, yelling at the shadow cadet to let her brother go.
Lottie Black. Spitfire extraordinaire. She had a temper as volatile as mine but none of the control. So far, we hadn’t shared any classes.
The cadet shoved her away, his face contorted in anger, but he did release Harmon, who glared up at him murderously. Lottie fell to her knees by her brother, and murmurs broke out across the clearing. Angry and shocked.
What the hell?
The shadow cadets fanned out, circling the grove. Wait, was that a glint of steel at their sides. Weapons? They had weapons. What the fuck?
Something was wrong, and the atmosphere was now one of tension.
A familiar blond head came into view. Piercing blue eyes cast a net over the grove, and a chiseled jaw flexed with intensity. Lloyd Faraday stood at the edge of the clearing several meters away and proceeded to scan the crowd.
Minnie’s brother was there. This visit had to be official because no way would the stick-in-the-mud break protocol for a party. So, the question remained, what was he doing there?
The last thing I wanted was to be in Lloyd Faraday’s orbit. Derision didn’t look good spattered all over me, but my curiosity was piqued. Throwing back the drink in my hand, I headed across the clearing toward him.
Lloyd’s attention zeroed in on me as I approached. His nostrils flared in annoyance.
I crossed my arms, needing some defense against his searing gaze. “What the hell is going on?”
His attention slipped over my shoulder and then back again. “Nothing for you to worry about. Just remain in the clearing. Do not try and leave.” He made to brush past me, but I grabbed his arm.
I could smell his anxiety and hear the rise in his pulse. “You’re … afraid.”
His gaze slashed across my face. “I am not afraid. I’m concerned. You shouldn’t be out here. This is an unauthorized gathering. But then that’s typical of a rule breaker like you, isn’t it?”
“Look around, arsehole. I’m not the only one here. This shi
ndig happens every term, and no one bats an eye, yet here you cadets are, surrounding the grove while carrying weapons.” My pulse spiked. Wait a minute. They were here as protection. They were here as a guard. “What is it? What are you protecting us from?”
My gaze flicked to the left where a feyblood couple was blocked from wandering off into the forest by one of the cadets. The feyblood looked familiar, and then I caught sight of his profile. Oberon. Figured.
He was squaring off with the cadet now, getting irate.
Lloyd pulled out of my grip, but I stepped into his path.
“You’re supposed to keep us here, aren’t you?” I peered up at his stern face. “Is there something out there?” My pulse kicked up as the scenario suddenly made sense. “Lloyd, for fucksake answer me. Is there something out there?”
He took a sharp breath through his nose. “Just stay put, and everything will be fine. We have it covered. Everyone is either right here or back at the Academy.”
My breath was coming shallow. “No. No, they’re not.”
His eyes widened. “Minnie’s not back at the Academy, is she?”
I shook my head slowly.
And then a female scream cut across the grove.
Nine
Minnie was in danger.
Nothing else mattered.
There was no stopping me as I blurred past Lloyd and into the forest.
Another scream.
Over fallen tree trunks, and through tangled branches.
Two figures came into view. Back to back with a silvery orb surrounding them.
I skidded to a halt, kicking up dirt.
Harper’s feyblood protection was shielding them from something. But what? I scanned the clearing for the threat.
“Indie, watch out!” Minnie warned.
Something flesh-colored and huge slammed into me from the side, taking me down. My breath whooshed out of my lungs, and a crack was followed by darkness and stars.
Shit.
Do not pass out.
Adrenaline surged through my limbs as my nightblood power took over, and my arms shot up to ward off the beast. Red eyes burned into me from either side of a wide snout with bumpy ridges running up it. A fomorian hound. I’d seen pictures, but how the heck was it here?
Jaws snapped in my face, drool splashed my cheek. My head began to tingle, and my vision blurred.
What the fuck, what the—I bunched my muscles and put everything into the release of tension, throwing the creature off. It slid across the earth, and then snapped its head back toward me and charged again. I braced, ready for impact, but the monster never made it to me. It was met by a mass of muscle and power dressed in black and blue.
Archer Hyde’s six-foot-six frame of muscle grappled with the hound, forcing it back, forcing it away from me. The hound resisted, but Archer locked down. Unmoving, unyielding.
His bionic leg. It was giving him the upper hand. I raked my gaze down his powerful back, over his taut buttocks, and skimmed his legs. The material of the cargo pants was too baggy to make out which leg was the real one and which was the mech one.
“My sword!” he called out over his shoulder.
It was strapped to his back. He couldn’t get to it, not without releasing the hound.
I broke into a run toward him at the same time as Lloyd exploded into the clearing along with two other cadets. They cut across me and made a beeline for Archer and the hound. There was a loud snapping sound.
“Stop!”
A barrel-chested, bearded man huffed into the clearing followed by a woman dressed in a dark cloak. He was clutching a sword that seemed like a little bit of an overcompensation, if you get what I mean.
“Don’t hurt it,” beard guy shouted. “I can wrangle it.”
But the beast lay still, its neck at an odd angle.
Archer stepped away from the hound. “Too late for wrangling. Any more escapees we need to know about?” he snarled. “You have one job, Redmond. One. You almost got these cadets killed.” His gaze flicked to me briefly before returning to Redmond. “Are there any more?”
Redmond looked over at the cloaked woman, then to the fallen hound. He shook his head and stood taller. “No. We caught the other youngling, which is what we asked you for help with. Catching, not killing.” He sounded pissed.
Hyde’s expression was unreadable. “My priority is the cadets at this Academy.”
“You used to care about these beasts once,” Redmond threw back.
“But now they’re your problem,” Hyde said.
“We should get back.” The woman’s voice was smooth and calm. Something glinted green on her chest. An amulet? The mark of an official weaver. “We need to check the warding and dispose of the dead.”
“You need to report to Brunner,” Archer said. “She should know about this breach.”
Redmond held up his hands. “Wait a second, Archer. I came to you for help because of your expertise at wrangling these hounds. You know me. You know I don’t make mistakes. This is hardly a breach. A few younglings escaped their pens before I could get them into the catacombs. We dealt with it, so why bother the administration?”
Archer crossed his arms and glared at Redmond.
“You owe me, Hyde.”
Archer’s shoulders relaxed. “Damn you. If this happens again …”
“It won’t. Mariana and I will get the body back to the stables. Thank you for your assistance.”
Archer made a sound of disgust deep in his throat and turned his attention to me. He strode over, and then his impressive frame and his lethal aura were pressing in on me, surrounding me so it was hard to draw breath.
He stopped a foot away, forcing me to crane my neck to look up into his scarred face. That close, it was easier to see his Tuatha ancestry. The hard, chiseled features, the pout of his mouth, the slightly flared nostrils, and thick dark lashes. He had been beautiful once, was still beautiful beneath the scars that slanted diagonally across his face. His eyes were what captivated me, though. A color somewhere between blue and green were hard with anger.
He looked down his nose at me. “You’re lucky to be alive, cadet.”
His tone was low and abrasive to my senses, but in a way that sent shivers of desire down my spine. Shitting heck. I took a step away from him but not before I caught a whiff of his citrus aroma and the sweet scent of blood rushing beneath. A sound somewhere between a groan and a moan escaped my lips. I clamped my mouth shut and stared up at him, mortified.
He arched a brow and then his lip curled slightly. “You got lucky. Next time you see a huge fucking fomorian hound, run.” He turned away and strode toward the tree line. “Get back to the dorm,” he called out as he vanished between the trees.
The two cadets with Lloyd said something to him, then jogged off after Archer. Lloyd headed toward Minnie.
Harper’s silver shield had vanished, and Minnie ran into her brother’s arms.
“Damn it, Minnie,” Lloyd snapped. “Fucking hell. I thought … Oh, God.”
They hugged tight, and my gaze went to Harper, whose eyes were dazed and fixed on her friend.
My friend.
But if not for that shield …
Everyone knew how Bourne feyblood powers worked. They were more Tuatha than lower fey, and they had something called the shining—a defensive halo that enveloped them in protection when they were in mortal danger. It came in very useful as a Nightwatch agent. But what many people didn’t know, and what I knew – due to my time in the slums with all its dirty secrets—was that the shining could only be extended to protect a loved one.
Loved one.
Harper loved Minnie, and from the look on her face a moment ago, it wasn’t in a platonic way. It was obvious Minnie had no clue. The jealousy and prejudice I’d thought had prompted Harper’s bitchiness toward me was much more than that. It was pain.
I walked over to Harper. “Good thinking on the shield.”
Her expression closed, and she shrugged and hugg
ed herself. “It was instinct.”
Minnie wrapped her arms around me and squeezed. “Crazy bitch, you could have been killed.”
I hugged her back, and Harper averted her gaze.
Minnie released me. “Come on. Lloyd’s going to walk us back to the Academy.”
I looked over to find Lloyd staring right at me, his mouth pressed in a thin line like he was holding back a tide of words. Critical ones, no doubt.
Yeah, keep them to yourself, blondie.
It was only when we were exiting the clearing that I realized that I hadn’t noticed Redmond and the weaver leave with the youngling.
Ten
Back in the confines of our dorm room, the events of the night seemed like a bad dream. We’d been attacked by a fomorian hound. A youngling, but still. If Harper hadn’t acted so quick, if she wasn’t in love with Minnie, then Minnie would be dead.
I glanced over at my friend from my bed. Just the top of her head peeked out from the covers. It wasn’t my place to tell her. Not my place to reveal someone else’s heart.
Or maybe you just don’t want to lose your only friend.
Piss off, inner voice of reason.
“What the hell were fomorian hounds doing on Academy grounds?” Minnie said softly, breaking the silence.
Ah, so she’d emerged from her cocoon.
“Wreaking havoc. We were lucky no one was seriously hurt.” I pulled the covers over me and snuggled down under them. “Who’s that Redmond guy?”
“He’s the shadow trial master,” Minnie said. “He’s responsible for catching fomorian hounds that come into the mist. Not sure what he does with them, probably tames them … I’m not sure.”
“What’s a shadow trial?”
“The test that shadow cadets take. Not sure what it involves, though. Lloyd wouldn’t go into detail. I don’t think they’re supposed to talk about them. I don’t even think he should have told me about the hounds they keep stabled at the fortress.”
Shadow Caster: The Nightwatch Academy book 1 Page 6
