by S. L. Morgan
Chapter Fifteen
“Alright, thanks again. I guess we’ll see you again when—”
“Hold up,” Harrison snagged my arm, stopping me and cutting off Dom mid-sentence. “We’re not finished yet. We part ways when I am assured all my plans are finalized.”
“We need to get back to school.” Dom stepped up from my side to inform Harrison.
Harrison’s mouth quirked up on one side. “I know you want to go play on the playground, kid, but my mission is not finished with you two. So, unless you want to be questioned and have this be harder on you than it should be, I suggest you suck it up, play along, and shut up while I discuss grown-up matters with your dean.”
Dom and I both sighed together. Dom seemed agitated while I was simply dreading being in the dean’s presence.
Harrison opened the door to the main building I had never been in before. It was the one building I’d specifically avoided since day one. The one that housed all the authorities in this school, and the one that I knew the evil in this school was most likely festering in.
“Hey,” Harrison said as we walked through the eerie white halls of this place, “keep the thoughts to a minimum.”
“What?” I asked.
“Just think about anything other than how much you hate this place,” Harrison advised. “I need your thoughts tamed, and Dominic needs to wipe that murderous look off his face.”
“Okay. We’re fine,” Dom answered and brought his arm around me.
“Good,” Harrison said as we approached a witch who was sitting at a marble desk positioned off to the right of two polished, wooden double doors. “We’re here to see the dean.” Harrison casually leaned on the counter her desk hid behind.
“Sorry, sir, but the dean isn’t prepared to meet with a council mem—”
“Darius isn’t ever prepared,” he flashed her a grin, “that’s why I like to pop in and check on him every now and then.” Harrison placed his hand on my back, prompting me to look at him in confusion. “I’ve got two kids here who have been assigned to me by this school, and they need to be checked back in after their visit off-campus.”
“I can do that right now,” she said, rolling her eyes and shuffling through papers and inciting a sigh of annoyance from Harrison. “If you don’t push that fancy little button that opens the doors to Edgewater’s office, I’ll kick the doors in myself. Let’s not let it all come to that.” His voice seemed to plead with her dramatically, “I’m really pressed for time. These kids want to get out there and mingle with their friends again, and I’m actually in a halfway decent mood. Let’s not push it, shall we? Open the doors, and quit trying to feel good about yourself by pretending to act like some gatekeeper.”
“I’m a witch, Commander.”
“Good.” Harrison’s eyes widened, his annoyance clear now. “Either show me your skill and throw off a spell to open the door, or push that button you have. If you don’t do one of those two things, I’m kicking the doors in.”
“Dean Edgewater?” she glared at Harrison while she talked into a headset with a microphone in it. “Yes, a commander from the council is here with two students.” After a pause, her expression changed to fear, eyes wide, while Harrison strummed his fingers on the divider between her and us. “Right away, sir.” She looked at Harrison, “Sorry for questioning—”
“No need to apologize to me.” Harrison turned toward the opening doors, “You can apologize to Darius later after he deals with my annoyed mood.” We walked toward Edgewater’s office when Harrison looked back at her, “And for the love of everything wrong at this pathetic school, I’m Commander of the Guardians, not the council.”
“Commander Harrison,” Edgewater stood from his slate rock desk that somehow worked in the windowless room that was lined with polished wood. “Dominic, Jenna,” he greeted us with a smile as we walked in quietly, unsure of why we were even here with Harrison.
“Does the illusion of importance by having a secretary make you feel special? Whatever happened to open-door policies?” Harrison said as we sat in chairs that were lined up in front of Edgewater’s rock desk.
“She’s there to ensure I know who I’m meeting before they enter my office,” Edgewater said, seemingly nervous and actually scared to see Harrison in his office.
For the first time since meeting him, the creep dean seemed like a kid who was afraid of the dark or something. I swear I’d never witnessed an adult act so scared until now.
Harrison casually leaned back in his chair, crossing an ankle over his knee. “Let’s get down to business.” Harrison reached for my shoulder, “My kids are back since the school has cut vacations short.”
“Yes, Immortal Academy is grateful for your service in watching them outside of this school’s presence. They are to report to the dining hall. After that, Dominic is to report to—”
“That is all in their schedules with their bug navigation, I’m sure,” Harrison said. “I’m here to ensure that my newly-adopted shifter is to be treated well by this school.”
Edgewater’s eyes drifted widely to mine. “Adopted?” he questioned Harrison with the same confusion that I was feeling. “I’m not sure I follow you.”
“You don’t need to follow, but I am giving you the courtesy of informing you that my wife has fallen in love with this immortal orphan and,” Harrison snapped his fingers, “just like that, she’s ours.” He grinned at the dean’s wide eyes, “Yes, and now that we have a darling wolf shifter as our child, you can understand that as a parent, it is my duty to ensure she’s safe at this school.”
“Forgive me for asking, but how did you manage to adopt a shifter?”
“Easy. My wife fell in love with her while having dinner at the Rossi’s place, and Jenna fell in love with both of us…” He stopped, shrugged, and looked at my blank expression as I watched him and tried to follow what the hell he was doing and why he was doing it. “I guess we just became the family she’d always longed to have in her life. Crazy how fate can make that happen within a couple of hours, is it not? I shouldn’t be surprised. My wife and I have extremely magnetic personalities. People love us everywhere we go.”
Dean Edgewater blinked a few times in utter disbelief, Dom was trying not to laugh, and I was waiting for the punchline to Harrison’s joke.
“Okay, well, yes, of course Jenna will be taken care of. I will personally mandate she be treated better than all the others.”
“Nah, that’s not going to work for me,” Harrison said, stopping me before I could ask the dean what the hell that special treatment is about. “She’s to be treated as an equal, of course, but I refuse to have my little ray of sunshine put into any kind of troubled kids’ program again.”
“Then she will be treated as an equal of course.”
“Excellent. Now, where is Kurt?” Harrison continued.
“President Garrison?” Edgewater answered, more nervous than before.
“Yes. Use your lame and ridiculously unimproved technology to get in touch, and let him know that I’d like to speak with him. I will not be comfortable leaving these kids in your hands until we’ve had a chat.”
“Commander, Immortal Academy loves its students.”
“Yeah, I know. You love them to death,” Harrison said with a roll of his eyes. “Get the school president in here.”
“Right away,” Dean Edgewater said as he turned to his phone, pushed a button, and started talking. “Yes, the Guardian Commander is here to speak with you about Dominic Rossi and Jenna Silvers.”
“The commander?” I heard the president say through speakers on Edgewater’s desk. “From the Elite Council?”
“That would be the one, Kurt!” Harrison leaned forward and announced.
“I’m on my way,” President Garrison stated in a more authoritative voice.
Harrison exhaled while Dom and I did exactly what he asked before we all walked in. We stayed quiet and pretty much let this guy have an insane conversation with Edgewater that wo
uld have silenced me whether or not the commander asked me to keep quiet and let him do all the talking.
“I’m proud of you, Darius,” Harrison said while we waited for Garrison to show up. “You actually got my title correct. It’s almost as if I had stuffed that piece of information into your little walnut-sized brain myself.”
“If only an immortal could be altered,” Edgewater said, glancing at Dom and me and then back to Harrison. The way the man couldn’t defend himself against Harrison’s ridicule made him even more pathetic.
“If only,” Harrison said with a devilish grin. “If that were the case, then imagine the possibilities I could whip up from out of nowhere, and you would be none the wiser.”
Edgewater half laughed and looked over at Dominic and me. “Immortal Academy is sorry we had to cut vacations short this year, but we are really trying to fix the issues that keep coming back on our prestigious school. I hope you both at least enjoyed the visit to Dominic’s home.”
“Not as much as I did,” Harrison got Edgewater’s eyes off us and back to him. “Imagine, my wife and Kate, enjoying the remarkable relationship between our newly-adopted orphan child and their strong alpha son.”
“I am certain Mark was thrilled to learn you took in Jenna Silvers.”
“Mark was so thrilled that he had no problem with me drinking his Henri IV Dudognon Heritage, and I must say, not being much of a cognac man, I was impressed enough to ensure I enjoyed every last bit of his two-million-dollar booze.”
“You drank the entire bottle of cognac that my dad vowed never to touch?” Dominic leaned forward and asked.
“Believe me,” Edgewater laughed, “being family, I know Mark well enough to understand that he must’ve lost his entire mind to allow anyone to touch that guarded bottle.”
“Quit saying you’re a part of my family,” Dom snarled.
“Take it easy, Rossi Junior,” Harrison said with a warning in his gaze. “Edgewater is simply jealous, that’s all. I got into the good stuff and enjoyed it. He knows that, family or not, he would’ve never had the privilege.”
Before another word of BS was spouted off, the president of the school marched in with a face as red as his leprechaun hair.
Harrison didn’t stand to receive him like Edgewater did, but he motioned for the president to pull up a chair from across the room and set it across from us next to the dean. “President of the supreme and most prestigious Immortal Academy, I am truly honored you took time out of your busy schedule—handling matters my people enforced upon you—to speak with me.”
“Commander,” Garrison said with an icy tone, “why are you in here with the dean and these two shifters who I’ve already planned to have a word of my own with later on today.”
My eyes drifted to Harrison. The freaking leprechaun was calling BS on him. Harrison remained unaffected and leaned forward some.
“That’s why I’m here,” he said unflinchingly. “You see, Jenna is now a part of my family. She’s been accepted by my emperor and my wife, and therefore, I now have a teenage daught—” He stopped midsentence and looked at me, “Are you still a teenager? How old are you, anyway?” he asked with an expression that made me want to lose my composure and burst out laughing.
“I’m twenty-one, dad.”
“Eh, same difference,” he said before continuing whatever he was rambling on about. “See, you learn something new from these angels every day. Such a miracle and a blessing, am I right?” He smiled at me, obviously amused by his own speech. “I must say I do adore her feisty spirit, and her wolf form is very impressive. I can easily see why Dominic found true, devout love with her.” He grew more serious as he eyed Garrison’s fierce expression. “It seems as though you don’t approve of that.”
“I don’t approve of you believing you can call an immortal orphan your own, especially after Immortal Academy entrusted the Guardians to make sure Mark Rossi was made aware of what his son had done to hurt my daughter,” he mumbled in an angry tone.
“It doesn’t matter if you approve or not, Garrison. Your position here can easily be replaced by the Elite Council, and since I run it now—because your people can’t figure out how to govern the idiotic creatures coming out of this school—I can have you dismissed at once and replaced by Edgewater here. He does approve of Jenna’s adoption. You see, my wife would have it no other way, and—”
“You would allow your daughter,” the president mocked Harrison, “to find love with someone who would hurt another young woman?”
I felt the energy of the room tighten with Dominic’s mood shift alone. “Hurt?” Dom blurted out in rage. “I never—”
“Rossi,” Harrison’s voice was deep and commanding, “Let me handle this before you blow a fuse over there. I know the facts.” He looked back at Garrison with a darkened expression, “Before you allow your daughter—an immature, obsessed, and a fanatical fairy—to put lies into your mind, I suggest you silence your insults toward Dominic this instant.”
“You insult my daughter?” he barked.
“She insults you, leprechaun,” Harrison taunted. “If you desire to run this school and allow us to trust your judgment, I suggest you not believe everything your daughter tells you. Dominic is easily as attractive as they come. Women are sure to be drawn to him. I should know, I’ve been cursed with these unparalleled good looks for my entire life. Unlike you, I can sympathize with the handsome young man,” Harrison started as I felt Dominic’s energy wind down, and I watched the president turn another shade of red. “But know this, if you run this school with the jealous rage of a childish leprechaun putting ideas into your head about your most loyal and fierce shifters, you will lose your position at this school, and your daughter will be expelled immediately.”
“You don’t have the power to do that.”
“Don’t test me,” Harrison said in a low voice. “Put a leash on the girl before she’s removed from this school. I will not have my sweet Jenna dealing with a jealous fairy. I will not allow her mate—her true mate—to be annoyed by one either. Your daughter can and will be removed from this school.”
“This is Immortal Academy,” Garrison said, while Edgewater’s eyes were the size of silver dollars by this point. “This is the only school for immortals of her status. Period.”
“Yeah, that can be changed,” Harrison said. “It all can be changed, but you don’t want that, do you? You have a deep desire to keep all immortals at this school and remain the most prestigious school that any supernatural could attend.” He pointed at the school logo on Garrison’s chest. “Isn’t that why you have that sigil on your suit?”
“I cannot and will not have this school shut down.”
“I have the answers I need, then.”
“Answers?” Edgewater spoke up as Harrison rose to his feet.
“Yes. I’m ensuring that the president of this school insists upon keeping it open at all costs. Interesting to see someone so in love with a place that proves over and over to be the problem-child of all supernatural schools.” Harrison motioned for us to stand with him. “So, in order for the school to remain open, he will put a leash on his daughter regarding her crush. He will also mandate that Dominic, Jenna, and any of their friends are unaffected by her jealousy. If Mark Rossi or I hear one word about Dominic breaking her heart or Jenna upsetting her, parent-teacher conferences will happen, and we shall all sit down together and solve the problem once and for all.”
“Commander,” Garrison said, his voice more reserved, “I will make sure Melanie doesn’t go anywhere near Dominic or Jenna.”
Harrison smiled as he studied the leprechaun. “I appreciate your understanding.”
The president smiled and glanced at Edgewater—who was pretty much as confused as I was—and nodded toward Harrison. “You have my word.”
“The word of a leprechaun? The vow of a fairy to keep his word?” Harrison taunted. “I simply don’t trust you. If you both were as wise as you think you look, then maybe we won�
�t have a problem. Until then, I have quite a few immortals from this joke of a school to handle. Don’t make me waste my time in coming back here until my lovely daughter graduates with all honors and praise.”
“We aren’t finished with this discussion. Why isn’t Mark Rossi here?” Garrison snarled.
“We are finished with this discussion because I just ended it. Mark Rossi isn’t here because he has decided to help my men clean up the messes outside of this school. If you were actually bold and didn’t use this school to hide in, you’d be out helping us fight off all the rogue students this place is creating as well.”
“I’m not hiding from anything,” Garrison said.
Harrison sighed as we reached the door to leave. “We’ll see about that. Until then, gentlemen, I suggest you heed my warnings about leprechauns and school policies. If I have to return, the newest subject everyone at this school will learn will be taken out of my favorite book: There’s more than one way to kill an immortal.”
With that, Harrison walked out of the room, leading the way for Dominic and me. I was speechless, had no idea what the hell to say, and I wondered if all of Harrison’s lies in that room made things better or worse for Dominic and me.
“I bought you both time,” Harrison said. “Now, it’s up to you to handle your end of things.”
“Wait!” I said, stopping him as we reached the steps, exiting the main office building of the school. “What the hell was with everything you said in there?”
“I did what I went in to do.”
“And that was?” Dom questioned, Master Dom facing off to the Guardian Commander.
“Edgewater’s brain is exactly where I wanted it while I manipulated his mind further. Garrison is a lying and manipulative man, and he’s also highly dedicated to his job at this school. I was able to pull information out of their minds undetected.” He eyed Dom and me. “Listen, you both need to get on these matters and fast. They bought every lie I sent their way—for now—it will be the evil in this school that untangles their screwed-up brains in only a matter of time. Work with Ethan, the witch friend, and any other students you can trust.” His eyes drifted to me, “Sorry about the orphan talk; however, I believe growing up as you did will give you the determination needed to tame the alpha mood swings of Dominic, and get that power working in your favor. You two must play the roles of students at this school all while taking it down. Can you handle it?”
