by S. L. Morgan
“I cannot protect you if I’m not with you.”
“Ethan,” I smiled at him, “I figured out how to cloak the room. I think I’m doing better with my magic. I’ll make sure we’re safe.”
Ethan nodded. “If you don’t come within the next day, then I will come back.”
“E,” Dom said in a low voice, “We will be okay. Whatever you do, don’t you dare come back to this school looking for us. Got me? We’re going to be fine. I feel much stronger from having been close to Jenna all night.”
“I will worry. The president isn’t happy, and the leprechaun doesn’t like Jenna.”
“We know,” I said.
“Listen to me, Ethan Carter,” Dom’s voice was lower and more lethal now. “If anything—I swear to God, anything—were to happen to you because of that girl, it’ll be the last thing she does. If I have a leprechaun up my butt, you’re not going to suffer because of it. I want you gone on vacation. Do this for me, bud.”
“Jenna will be safe with me too.”
Dom looked at me and sighed. “Damn it, he’s right. The best way to handle this chick is to hide you too.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I answered both of their concerned looks. “She doesn’t scare me. What scares me is what she’s trying to do to you. We’ll handle her together, and if you go on tour with this creep, then you get to stipulate that you’re bringing your girlfriend along. That’ll show her how well her stupid trap worked.”
“Jen,” Dom argued.
“No. I’m not leaving you. You’re finally normal again, and I’m sick of this chick hitting us sideways every time we turn around.”
Dom ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Fine. Jen and I will be safe, Ethan. She’s coming into her powers, and I think you can feel that. If we think it’s getting too bad, we’ll merge the wolves and kick everyone’s asses.”
“Dom, it won’t be that easy. You should merge the wolves.”
“E, I already told you we can handle this,” Dom said, then looked around Ethan. “Lusa! Scott!” he said, leaving the bedroom. “Yeah, take him on that vacation. Minimal human interaction. Jenna and I are probably going to have to go on tour with that idiot fairy who is finding every way she can to keep Jenna and me separated. In a way, the joke will be on that tricky leprechaun this time.”
“You sure you both can handle her?” I heard Scott say.
“I’m more worried about Ethan not being safe. It seems like the president of the school wants to talk. Apparently, he’s all about getting me out of here and touring schools with his crazy daughter. I want Ethan out of here if things go unexpectedly wrong.”
Silence.
“You do look a lot more rested and healthier,” Lusa said.
“Yeah, I finally got more than three minutes alone with my mate,” Dom answered.
“From the way you two were separated, I figured it’d take a lot more than simply hanging with Jenna to get you back to your old self again,” Scott said. “Where is she, anyway?”
“Haven’t seen her yet. She’s probably with Vannah.”
“We just left Vannah and Ian in the lunchroom,” Scott answered. “Those two act like something’s going on between them, but no one’s talking.”
“I’ll find Jenna later,” Dom ignored Scott’s relationship thought while I stayed hidden in his room, covering my smile. “Ethan, go pack your things for vacation,” Dom called, and Ethan dismissed himself to his room.
Vannah hadn’t said anything to me about Ian, but if another relationship had blossomed right under my nose and I didn’t notice it, I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. The freaking leprechaun had the last half of this school year in such disarray for me that I was shocked I even passed my classes.
“Alright,” Lusa said. “We’ll see you both in a few days unless you have to go on tour. Ethan will love this vacation.”
“Awesome. Hopefully, we’ll get to experience it too. See you later,” Dom said as Scott and Lusa left his suite, and Dom walked into his room again.
“Vannah and Ian?” My eyes must have been as wide as my smile.
“Yeah, I’ve noticed Ian has been interested in your friend. He’s cool, but I’m shocked Vannah is cool with it.”
“Um, why not? Ian’s gorgeous. I’m pretty sure he caught Vannah’s eye a while ago.”
“Let’s get showered up and out of here. We’ll catch those two at breakfast.” He eyed the clothes I was wearing—drowning in—and grinned. “Let me walk you to your room. I don’t want the president to catch you out there alone. I’m starting to not trust that one either.”
“You sure you don’t want to deal with that jerk first, then meet us at lunch?”
“If you are certain you want to play into this stupid tour with his daughter? That means you and I will have to stick out this miserable summer with her.”
“Hell yes. I’m not leaving you alone, especially with her.”
“Then, you’re going to have to be there when I talk to the asshole. So, let’s get some lunch, then we’ll meet with the school president.”
Dom and I showered, dressed, and he was at my dorm as I finished pulling my hair up into a bun. I opened the door, and his hungry eyes made my heart race.
“Can it wait until after lunch?” I chuckled.
Dom pulled me into his arms, and the next thing I knew, I was tasting his intoxicating kiss.
Screw it. Who needs to eat, anyway? This is as satisfying to my soul as eating pie.
Dom pulled away, laughing. “At least my kisses have reached a point to where she loves them as much as pie!” Dom snatched my hand. “Come on, let’s go meet Vannah and Ian in the lunchroom, tell them our plans, and also tell them we’re onto their little relationship they’re trying to hide from us,” he winked at me as we rushed through the halls.
“Sounds—”
I was cut short when we exited the building to see three men dressed in dark clothes, standing next to a strange looking car.
What the hell?
The president stepped in front of us and studied us both. “I had a feeling my intuitions were true about you two.” He looked at Dominic. “Your rude approach to me, your insults to my daughter, you leading Melanie on to believe that she was the one you loved.”
“That’s absolutely insane!” Dominic growled. “Is that what your kid told you? Even if she did, how could you possibly be okay with your seventeen-year-old daughter being in a relationship with a twenty-two-year-old man?”
“I know what’s right for my daughter. Number one is her happiness. This is most displeasing to find…you with this shifter.”
Shit! Shit! Shit!
The leprechaun school president was sending massive hate vibes directly at me.
“Um, we’ve been a couple for a while. She definitely knew that,” I interrupted.
“You owe him no explanation, Jen,” Dom seethed. “Why is one of my father’s cars here?”
“Because you are going home,” the president smiled. “You’re not going on tour with my daughter. I won’t have her heartbroken when she learns about this.”
“Going home? As in I’m free of this school?” Dom said, not once taking his eyes of the president.
“No. Mark Rossi and I have been in communication since you raged into my office and insulted me, my daughter, and this school to get your way and go against what I wanted to have happen with the shifters. Your attitude has changed drastically, and your father has requested you spend the summer with him.”
“I’m not going anywhere unless my mate is with me.”
“Oh, yes,” a familiar voice that made me want to barf said. “She’s coming to the Rossi Mansion too,” Dean Edgewater said, hopping up the steps to where we stood.
“What?” I swallowed hard, seeing his white, shark teeth that appeared in his creepy smile.
“I know, I know,” he held his hands up to Dom’s first reaction, then looked at the smiling school president. “I was honored when they all re
quested that I come back. Apparently, you losing it on the president like you did got me my old job back.”
“Fantastic,” Dom answered while I remained silent at his side. “Then I guess coming back for what will hopefully be my final year at this school will be thrilling.”
“You won’t be losing your titles,” the school president suddenly seemed to be kissing Dom’s butt.
“I wouldn’t care if I did or didn’t at this point,” Dom said, clenching my hand. “Get out of my way. If I have to head home to my father, I’d rather go now than later.”
“Hold up, kid,” Edgewater said. “Before we all take this exciting summer trip together, I want to say that I love how you two managed to stay together in my absence.”
“What do you care?” I asked the creepy dean. I couldn’t believe this joker was back. This is precisely how leprechauns screwed you, though. They didn’t go straight for the kill, they slow-played every move. They were big on the long game. This is why they felt like children of Satan, spawns from hell, and the trickiest SOBs in the universe.
“Because Mark Rossi can’t wait to meet the girl who has captured his son’s heart, the heir to his empire.”
“How would you know?”
“Jen,” Dom glanced over at me. “Let’s go. I’m sure you’ll love being with my mom and dad much more than being at this Godforsaken school.”
“And that’s exactly why both of you are leaving,” the president answered. “Yes, Ian? Sahvannah? Can we be of some assistance?”
“We were coming to get Dominic and Jenna,” Vannah stammered. Her eyes were nearly bulging out of her head because she and Ian had probably heard most of everything.
“Dean Edgewater?” Ian questioned.
“Back in black,” he tugged on his suit jacket. “Listen, you kids run along to your vacation. I’m personally escorting Dominic and Jenna to Mr. Mark Rossi’s house. Wish Dominic luck. He’s going to be introducing his new mate to his father on this trip.”
I sucked in a breath of air, lifted my chin, and walked with Dominic down to the sleek black car that waited right in front of our dorm rooms on the lawn. It was surrounded by men who seemed to be bodyguards. I looked over at Vannah and gave her a nod of reassurance. She knew I was progressing with my power. She knew everything Dom and I had been through up until now, so my best friend knew that we could handle a summer trip to the…Rossi Mansion?
Dom’s the heir to an empire? What empire?
“Oh, you haven’t told your true mate all there is to know about the Rossi family of House Braeclaw?” Edgewater asked Dom in response to my thoughts as he took a seat in the leather chairs facing our seats.
The car sped away without another word from the president, Vannah, or Ian. Now, here we were, a large vehicle pulling in front and one falling in line behind us, heading out of this academy and on our way—with Edgewater—to Dom’s family home.
I wasn’t even going there with the importance of who Dominic was or is. I was stupid to believe he’d be anything less than important, knowing how hardcore he was as a shifter in the first place. Where I was going and what I was going to have to do was stop thinking because Dom could only chatter on so much—being this pissed off—trying to cover-up my shocked thoughts about this unexpected change of events.
I inhaled deeply—the windows tinted so darkly that I couldn’t see outside of them—and I closed my eyes. I pulled my thoughts away from anything and everything that tried to enter them. Edgewater could read my mind, and we were stuck with the creep to watch our every move outside of the school.
Dom and I had this. We’d already been through hell and back, so there was nothing I wasn’t prepared for as long as we were together.
Immortal Academy: Year Three
Chapter One
Dom and I sat awkwardly but comfortably in the back of the car that his father had sent to transport us to their family home. The vehicle moved so unbelievably fast that it wasn’t too much of an effort for me to keep my thoughts closed off to creepy Dean Edgewater as he sat across from us because I was too busy trying not to barf.
There were a million things I wanted to say to Dom, but I knew that the moment I opened up, Dean Edgewater would be in my head. It was apparent that Dom was shutting down too, but the look on his face reassured me that everything was going to be okay.
Maybe going to his father was a good idea. After all, his family helped to establish Immortal Academy, and they could possibly be the allies that we need to rid that school from the evil that lingers there once and for all. We may look like two students who had gotten busted and were on our way to be punished by Mark Rossi, but we were much more than a couple of idiot children, and we needed to deal with this unexpected change of events in the smartest way possible.
As the car barreled down the road, the windows went black, and we could no longer could see the mountain scenery that moved past us in a blur of speed.
“Since when did my father start blacking out his windows like it’s a secret as to where the car is headed?” he questioned Edgewater’s plastered smile.
“Since bringing someone he doesn’t know or trust to his home. Your father has always been protective of his whereabouts and family like that.”
“I would think my father would understand that his son is with his true mate, and he shouldn’t embarrass himself by being so rude.” Dom’s fists were balled up tightly, and his knuckles were turning white. “Although, maybe I shouldn’t fault him. God only knows what all of you have told him about Jenna and me.”
I remained silent, reaching for and holding onto Dom’s hand to prevent his tight fists from punching the dean is his face.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I finally admitted as the car swerved back and forth. I had no sense of direction and couldn’t see the next turn coming. “Dom,” I looked at him, my palms sweaty and feeling like shit. “I will barf all over this car if it doesn’t stop.”
“Stop the car,” Dom shouted to the driver. “She’s carsick, asshole.”
Edgewater handed me a bag and snapped it open for me. “Maybe if you two had some breakfast this morning, your stomach wouldn’t be so sensitive. If you’re going to get sick, you can use the bag to catch the contents in your stomach.”
“Stop the car!” Dom growled at the driver.
“I’m following my orders,” the man answered Dom. “We’re almost there.”
Dom glanced past where Edgewater sat, purposefully obstructing our view from the front window. That’s pretty much all I saw after dry heaving into the bag that Edgewater had so nicely offered me.
“Damn it!” Dom reached for my hair and ran his hand over the top of it.
After I finished heaving into the bag, I managed to close it and lean my sweating head back against the leather headrest. I closed my eyes, and the bag was taken by someone while Dom ran his hand over my forehead.
“We’re almost there, Jen,” he said, caressing my face, helping to subside the headache that had joined my barf party. “Do you want to tell me why we’re heading to Wolf Ridge Manor? I thought we were going to our main house.”
“Change of plans. You can ask your father when we show up.” Edgewater glanced over his shoulder as the car slowed. “Ah, we’re at the gates! Only a few more turns, and we’ll be out of the car, Jenna.”
“Shut the hell up.” I was miserable, sick, and feeding off of Dom’s pissed off emotions. “I need out of this car.”
“We’re almost there, Jen. It’ll help to get your feet on the ground,” Dom said. “It looks like it’s winter here, but I think you’ll enjoy the nature and cold air. So nice of them to give us a heads up at our sudden change of climate.”
“It’s a good thing that shifters can regulate their body temperatures at will. We’ll see how strong Jenna is with all of that when she steps out of the car,” Dean Edgewater added.
“Yeah, I guess we will,” Dom growled back.
The car came to a stop, and the door opened. I bounded ou
t of the vehicle, and the blast of an arctic chill slammed into me so hard it sucked the wind out of my chest.
“God dang!” I said, leaning over and gripping my knees. Dom’s hand was on my back and his face close to where I hung my head, trying to get a grip before being introduced to his elite family.
“You doing okay?” he softly asked.
“I have a pounding headache,” I answered.
“Take some deep breaths. You need to eat. Our abrupt change of plans isn’t exactly helping things.”
“Yeah,” I answered. “I need a second to get my bearings, I think.”
“Let’s go. It is dinnertime here, and your family is getting ready to serve hors d’ oeuvres before they sit down for the dinner they’ve had prepared for you and your mate. Ah, it’s good to be back at Wolf Ridge,” Dean Edgewater said with some chilling, weird excitement in his voice.
“Then go eat,” Dom snapped. “If my parents want to meet Jenna, they’re going to have to wait. We’re still in our IA uniforms, and since we didn’t have time to pack, it looks like this is going to be a quick trip before we’re heading back to where our clothes and friends are.”
“Have you forgotten your family’s hospitality already, Dominic?” Edgewater asked. “Of course, the school was mandated by your mother to get Jenna’s sizes so she could have clothes waiting for her here. As for you, I think you know you’ll be wearing the latest human fashions.”
“Get out of here,” Dom seethed.
I slowly lifted up and looked over at Dom, who was glaring at Edgewater as the man walked up to a massive three-story lodge. Windows spanned the entire front of the house that spread across the ridge it sat on, and the home’s stone masonry matched the stone driveway we stood on next to the car. This place was a wolf shifter’s dream home. It was surrounded by towering trees, and it overlooked snowy valleys below. The snow blanketed everything but the driveway and the steps to the lodge, and it hung heavy on the branches of the pine trees in the forest that surrounded the back and sides of the home.
