Immortal Academy- The Complete Series

by S. L. Morgan

  “Jen,” he looked at me seriously. “We’re not going any further than this.”

  “Why not? You know it’s why your mental state is all jacked up.”

  “Because half the fight that was going on when I walked out on my dad and Edgewater was that asshole trying to convince my dad that you and I should go through with what fate wants for us. If he’s down for it, then it’s not happening.”

  I sat next to him and took his hand in mine. “Okay. So, since Edgewater is all about us merging our powers, the demon thing in me was too, that’s completely out of the question.”

  “We can’t go through with it.”

  “That’s what I just said.” I looked at him, and it was if he wasn’t even listening to me. “I need you back, and I need you strong.”

  He looked over at me. “Just lie here with me. Having your closeness will help. It helped the other night.”

  “Yeah, but I’m thinking…” I bit my bottom lip, remembering how amazing that night was. “What do you think about me trying my hand with my magic…on you?”

  Dom sat up in bed and ran his fingers over my shoulder. “I’m not trying to offend you, but you would probably agree that sealing that door up was a good run of luck with using your powers, right?”

  “First of all, I don’t get offended,” I narrowed my eyes at him and grinned, “I get even! I have fairy genes in me, bro, so you’d better watch it.”

  Dom didn’t laugh at my lame joke. “I’m glad it worked on the door, I’m just not sure if it will have an effect on a living individual.”

  “It’s worth a shot. What’s the worst it could do, kill you?”

  Dom grinned. “I love your feisty little butt, you know that? Alright, combining our powers is off the table, because God knows who or what is out there waiting to pounce on us when we do.”

  “Don’t forget, we really don’t know the power of the real enemy that we’re going up against, either.”

  “Okay.” He gave me an uneasy smile. “I’ll go with it. I’ll try anything at this point, even if you tap into some uncontrollable fairy magic.” He exhaled with a laugh.

  “Don’t press your luck.” I brought my lips to his for a simple kiss and smiled. “Ready? I’ve heard Vannah talk about some mind-calming spells, so let’s see if we can start with that.”

  “I’m all yours, babe.” He gave me a flirty smile, and it was the lightest expression I’d seen him wear in far too long.

  We sat in silence as I tried to conjure something up, but me staring at my palms wasn’t doing a damn thing. If I were a palm reader, maybe I’d know exactly where I was screwing this up.

  “I still feel like ripping Dean Edgewater’s throat out,” Dom interrupted my thoughts. “Did it work?”

  I looked up at him. “I can’t get the damn fireball things to work!”

  Dom pulled his fingers through my hair. “It’s okay, Jen. I will find a way around this. I’m just cracking under pressure a lot easier than usual. I’ll get myself together. Let’s try to rest.”

  My lips twisted as I looked into Dom’s dark, shadowy eyes. “No. I’m not giving up. If Melanie stomped her feet, threw a fit, and had us sent here to get busted, then the joke will be on her since I’m away from school and can practice using my magic.”

  “Well, the joke might be on me if you screw something up.” He laughed.

  “You’re not helping,” I tried to scold him.

  “Alright. Well, let’s talk it out, then.” He ran his fingers in circles over my palms that were still flipped up. “When you conjure your magic, where is your mind usually at?”

  “I’m pissed off, determined, and mentally forcing my thoughts into wanting something so bad that it suddenly happens.”

  “There’s a start. It would probably help if you felt what I was feeling, then I’m confident that you’d fix this shit right now.” He grinned.

  “Why don’t you let me in? Let me feel the torment that I can see you fighting. I felt it through my wolf.”

  Dom shook his head. “There’s no way I’m letting you feel that. Like I said, I’ll get over it.”

  “Quit being a stubborn ass.” I glared at him. “We’ve already vowed that we’re each other’s other half, so you will let me in on this and let me help you.”

  Dom stared deeply into my eyes. “Alright then, I’ll tell you. How about this for starters…my wolf calls for yours every time we’re together and every time you enter my thoughts.” He shook his head. “Which is all the damn time. I fight this every second of every day. I know what we need to do, and I resent everything that’s stopping you and me from doing what’s best for us both. Maybe that’s why I tripped out so hard tonight. Edgewater confirming it’s what he wants—why would that bastard care? I’m certain it’s not just to make IA look good. There’s a dark motive behind everything that man wants.”

  “Vannah said that not sealing the bond and merging our wolves the right way would weaken you,” I said, resting a hand on his crossed legs. “So maybe we try and get to the magical side of that merge—create an illusion or something in your mind to ease this for you.”

  Dom’s eyes darkened, and he instantly looked away. “No,” he whispered, shaking his head. “We’re not even going there.” He looked at me after I touched his arm. “Jen, you have no idea how much work E and Vannah had to do to make that happen.”

  “I know,” I answered him. “I’m not talking about what they did to have your wolf gain my power and extract the demon. I’m just saying there could be a way for me to help your mind stop craving it like it is.”

  He sighed and smiled. “Why don’t we just rest?” he pleaded with his eyes. “I feel like I haven’t slept in days, and if I’ve got you by my side, I think that’s what will make up for this sleep deprivation I’m experiencing.”

  Dom and I relaxed into the soft pillows of the grand bed we were in, and my mind couldn’t stop reeling about how I knew I could help him. I understood—kind of—the physics of how my magic worked. Dom definitely looked like he was sleep-deprived in addition to these rage and panic emotions that were dominating his mind. It seemed like if I wanted something badly enough, my magic would surface, and I could make it happen.

  “I’m hearing everything in your mind right now.” Dom smirked and turned on his side to face me. “I love you and trust you with my life,” he said, running his hand over my hip. “Don’t take this on, babe. Let me settle my mind down, and I’ll be fine by morning.”

  I lifted my chin to kiss his lips and found it odd that his hand reached for my cheek and gently pulled my lips away.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “My first rejection from Dom Rossi,” I teased, looking into his troubled eyes.

  “Far from that.” He pressed his lips together, his brown eyes swirling with energy. “I said that I trust you, but I don’t trust myself.”

  “I get it.”

  Dom pulled me in close to him, and I could have easily drifted off into a blissful sleep from being close with my alpha shifter, but my wolf was perked up and unsettled with what was going on with Dominic.

  “Let me try and give you her strength,” I said, not letting this go.

  “This is going to be a long-ass night if you don’t just go to sleep,” he teased.

  I brought my lips back to his and imagined how he’d helped lend me the strength of his wolf on our summer vacation. He had saved my wolf and me both from that demon by holding me close and offering a small intimate kiss—just enough for him to get into my mind and handle the demon.

  Dom relaxed into our kiss, and then his kiss became consuming. He groaned in what I sensed was relief, peace, and satisfaction. Sparks ignited and exploded when I became as equally motivated with this kiss.

  I had to focus and not get caught up with what both of us were craving from each other. As Dom’s lips began claiming my warm skin, I ran my hands through his hair and took this moment to catch my breath and focus.

  The first thought that hit
me, the more Dom continued, was that my alpha needed rest. A sleeping spell! I thought hard while trying not to get distracted that my guy was totally turning me on.

  Put him to sleep, Jenna! I thought over and over again.

  I imagined him in a deep sleep, his mind healing from the void he was suffering from, his subconscious returning to a state that lacked paranoia, yet remained sharp on intuition and in control. I imagined seeing him as he took control of his units and drilled us with expertise and experience. He was a total badass and nothing jacked up his thought process—in fact, he was forever fixing all of ours.

  He needed sleep. He needed to heal. Put him to sleep! I thought again as I covered his forehead that was just in reach of my hand. I felt his relaxation as he kissed along the body of the woman he loved, and that’s also when I felt the opening into his mind. A surge of energy bubbled up inside my veins, and a glittery purple swirl of energy highlighted the back of my hand and left it, entering Dom’s forehead.

  The bright colors of purple and magenta swirled around my hand when his lips left my chest, and his eyes lazily looked up at mine.

  “Jen?” he stammered. “What the…”

  His eyes followed his hand that came up to my magic swirling one. He intertwined his fingers through mine. “God,” he let out a breath, “I love you. You know that, right? More…” his eyes shut slowly, then he reopened them. “How did you…” he let out a breath, burying his face in my neck, kissing it softly. “A fairy spell?” he questioned against my flesh before he went limp.

  Shit! Of all the things I could conjure up with these magical genetics, I blasted him with a freaking fairy spell?

  I covered the back of his head with my hand, bringing him close to me.

  “Damn it, I’m so sorry, Dom,” I whispered, hoping I didn’t put my guy to sleep for a year.

  Dom was breathing heavily, knocked completely out, and all I could do is stare at the door that I magically locked us behind after hitting it with a spell. I was unstable, uncertain, and really had no business messing with the side of the genetics that almost killed Dom already and that I had zero experience with.

  If my body wasn’t somehow also falling under the spell I’d just put Dom under, I’d be a panicked mess. Instead, playing with fairy magic turned on my stupid ass, now I was stoned out and ready to sleep for days.

  The last thought I had, before I drifted off, was the hope that I hadn’t placed us under some sleeping-beauty spell that we’d both never wake up from.

  Chapter Seven

  As I slowly began to wake up, I saw that Dom and I hadn’t moved a muscle since we fell asleep. He was curled into me, and our bodies were continuing to absorb strength from each other. I wasn’t going to lie, I needed this almost as much as he did. I felt stronger, more alert, and recharged.

  I looked over at the clock to the right of our bed, and I saw that it was one o’clock in the morning. My bladder was about to burst, so I had to maneuver my way out of Dom’s arms and hit the toilet ASAP. Dom rolled to his back with a soft exhale, and it was easy to see the man was in a much needed, restful sleep.

  After I used the bathroom, I walked back to bed and carefully slipped in next to Dominic, trying not to wake him. Although, I probably should have tried to rouse him a little bit, because I honestly had no idea how much fairy magic I’d used to knock him out.

  I was a bit relieved when he rolled back to his side, facing me, and covered my waist with his hand. His wolf seemed to be awake and driving him to continue gaining strength from our closeness.

  I studied his face and brought my hand up to trace the fading, hard lines he had developed since fighting the void inside him. Even though the lines of anger and stress were a reminder of his mental battle, his face showed nothing but contentment at the moment. I felt my wolf ease up as if she were checking on her mate and wondered if I could feel—through her eyes and spirit—what Dom was battling to send him so wildly off the rails last night.

  Now that I had her eyes, I saw more than I’d anticipated. Dom’s wolf was projecting what was going on with my guy and the constant absence they both felt after the magical merge was severed.

  Dom’s anger was being driven by losing his mate, the consequences of saving me, and the long separation that magnified his need to be close to me. The leprechaun bitch was in his mind, too, and his thoughts of the immature girl were sending rage through his system like lava running through his veins. He wanted to end her every time he sensed her around, which was totally against his nature. It was like she was his own personal demon that needed to be expelled.

  I focused hard on his feelings, and from out of nowhere, Dom’s memories played in my mind like I was watching them in real-time.

  “Dom?” Melanie giggled. “You’re spacing out. Go back to what you were saying about Jen loving the human world.”

  I felt Dom control his rage at her statement. “Call her Jen in front of her, and it might be the last thing you remember.” He kept his voice even.

  “I don’t see why.”

  “You don’t need to. Just don’t call her that name. To you, her name is Jenna. Can we get back to what we were doing? Small talk is wasting time.”

  “Well, excuse me,” she said, annoyed. “I just want you to elaborate more before I create this.”

  “Just create it. I told you what she enjoyed on our vacation. Maybe it will help her fall into the trap.”

  “I still can’t believe you’re letting me do this to your ex-girlfriend.” She giggled.

  Dom’s energy shifted, but he controlled himself by focusing on helping me. “I’m not letting you do anything to her, and I would never let you do anything to hurt her. She’s a shifter on a quest. Test it out, this may be how we stop the rogue immortals out in the human population. From what I’m learning, they’re drawn to humans, enticed by them. I think if we can replicate that, we might have a way of derailing most supernaturals toward our fabricated humans or objects and catch them before they do harm.”

  “You’re totally right. OMG! Dom, this is the best idea ever. You seem upset that we’re using your ex as our little lab rat, though.”

  “Jenna is the shifter I love. I will always love her, and I will always protect her even if she doesn’t return those feelings.” I felt Dom’s deep desire to expel the demon he knew was running the show inside of me at that time. “I will get her back. Now, get to work on what I showed you. You have a lot to prove here at IA, and I’m only giving suggestions. If the idea flops, it’s on you for trusting me.”

  “If I fail, I may be going back to that stupid high school.”

  “Sometimes, things work out for a reason. Don’t take it personally. In fact, why don’t you use that fear of failure to push you into creating something that’s going to help me save a life?”

  “You need to save a life?” she asked. “Is there something I should know about?”

  Dom’s mind remained calm at the fact he went too far with info about how he was using her to save my butt and cover-up him bringing me to the cabin to expel the demon.

  “I think everyone knows that I plan to work for the Supernatural Elite Forces after I graduate. If this idea works, then it will help me save a life, maybe two, maybe a thousand.”

  “You really need to let her go.”

  “I’m not having this conversation with you. You were tasked to help build this, I was requested to help you, and that’s as far as it goes.”

  “I think you want more,” she said. “I see the way you smile at me, the way you talk to me. I feel more than you know, Dom.”

  “Then your fairy genes are off, and I wouldn’t trust them if I were you.”

  The next thing I knew, I felt a boiling wave of fury that was threatening to injure a fairy. “You need to stop and get a grip on yourself. Kiss me like that again, and you will regret it.”

  “I thought you needed to feel it. You know, surface the emotions I know you have for me.”

  “Oh, my God, like I haven�
�t heard that line before,” Dom growled. “Listen, trying to kiss me to get emotions out of me won’t work. You’re a fairy, not a shifter.”

  “Easy on the language. I thought it would work.”

  “Well, it didn’t, and it won’t, so don’t try anything like that again.”

  “I guess I can take out Jenna the hard way, so I don’t need to worry about the competition.”

  “If you even think about going after Jenna because you’re a jealous fairy who isn’t getting her way, then, if she doesn’t finish you off, trust me, I will. Don’t even begin to go there, or I will insist you be removed from IA for threatening a student.”

  “Take it easy, I was totally kidding,” she said.

  “I wasn’t.”

  “You are brave to challenge a fairy, you know that?” she said in some fake-ass tone.

  “I’ve had my fair share of dealings with fairies, and I’m doing just fine.”

  “You think you can handle me?”

  “Is that a threat?” he asked, unamused.

  “I’m teasing you, Dom, lighten up. I’m just playing around.”

  Dom’s groaning alerted me to the fact that I was bringing these memories to the forefront of his mind. Shit! I traced his frowning lips with my fingers and had to think of a way to bring up better thoughts while he remained asleep.

  My anger about what the leprechaun had said and done to Dom was replaced when I saw myself through his eyes.

  Dom had worked hard to get into military-skilled training over the summers since we were at Dark Water so he could become the responsible shifter he knew he should be. His mind was scrambled and trying to find purpose, and he carried around a nagging sensation that he had been abandoned by his mate, but he couldn’t make out why he would possibly feel that way.

  Then he met me. He was curious by the draw he had toward me, yet some weird instinct showed him I was all wrong for him. When we fake dated to protect Ethan and we shared our unexpected cover-up kiss, his emotions and instincts shifted like the wind. He became fascinated with me, and his soul felt at ease every time I was near him. His alpha wolf’s behavior tried to fight off these emotions with another female alpha, but soon, the wolf agreed, and his shifter instincts knew I was his other half. My wolf and I were what fate had in store for Dom and his wolf.