“Why not take her up on her request then?” I asked. “She said she wants to become a Vontex.”
“Like I said, I didn’t think it possible at the time. I need someone who can control their skills. McKenzie couldn’t. But tonight, I learned an important lesson. Skills can be taught. Obedience can’t. Perhaps McKenzie can learn to respect me enough to listen to my orders.”
‘She’ll lick the ground if you tell her to. And you know it.’
The memory of Alina standing over my broken body still lingered in the back of my mind. The way she looked down at me with disdain and pity. Her words didn’t mean much to me then but they did now. Was this the same tactic Lothar took with Alina when she became a Vontex? Did he flirt with her too then discard her once she became a Vontex? Was that Lothar’s game all along? To play with women’s emotions so he could figure out if they were suited for the Vontex?
We all had our loyalties. Mine was to my brother. Rodrick’s was to the academy. Ellinor’s was to the vixra council. Only now I could see Lothar’s clearer than ever. He wanted what was best for his Vontex pack and what he managed to build. It granted him the reassurance, the security, and the discipline he didn’t possess outside the academy before he became a lycan. Whatever he had in mind for the Vontex no longer included me. And it was all because I took risks to try saving someone’s life and hopefully countless others.
“Why the secrecy?” I demanded. “Why didn’t you tell Rodrick what she was right away?”
“Because she begged me not to. I promised her secret wouldn’t leave the dungeon once she passed the trials.”
“And you listened? Even though you knew we needed a kruxa to break the curse?”
“Unlike you, Riley, I believe in keeping my word. Besides, there was no point in getting McKenzie’s hopes up of potentially becoming a Vontex at that point in time. I didn’t trust she could control her magic. But her marks are by far some of the best in the entire class. Perhaps I misjudged her.”
“And perhaps I misjudged you. You say you’re a man of your word and here you are ready to discard me. You promised to help me find my brother. You told me to find out what I want when all along it appears you find what you want by manipulating people around you.”
I wasn’t sure which part triggered him the most but before I knew it he had me by the shoulders and shoved me against the wall. He slammed me so hard and so fast that a loud thud echoed throughout the entire ceremonial hall.
His hands were scorching hot. I could feel them through my trench coat just over my shoulders. His eyes narrowed down at me. My mind searched for something to say. My mouth opened but no words came out. I was in too much shock. He forced me into silence by pushing me into the wall over simply yelling like most men did when they were angry. He wasn’t someone who raised his voice unless he had to. And I knew better than most that he didn’t need to do so to sound menacing.
As it turned out, that wasn’t his intention. Not even close.
He crashed his lips into mine so fast that I didn’t know how to react. I couldn’t kiss him back, I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t breathe. Until he moved his hands away from my shoulders and pulled me in closer, nestling one hand behind my neck and another threading through my hair. He pressed me back into the wall and leaned into me until there was no space between us. I breathed him in. His scent drifted through my senses. The aura of the forest. The essence of winter carried through the brisk wind. The whiff of fresh rain and everything I loved as a child playing in the forests of Derbyshire.
I shut my eyes and didn’t break away. Before I knew it, I was kissing him back.
All the anger building up inside me was still there. It didn’t melt away. It turned into something else. A fire that stirred deep inside and needed to burn straight through me.
For so many months Lothar only gave me hints. Vague suggestions mixed with demands I wasn’t sure I was in any position to say yes or no to. I let any hesitation still remaining fall away. If this was his way of telling me I was wrong about his intentions, I was willing to accept it.
His hands were strong. They explored my back, the smallest hairs on my neck, and the sensitive parts of my skin over my collar bone. When he broke away to lay a trail of kisses down my tender neck right over where Devon left the mark of his teeth in my skin, I found myself wanting him to stop. Not because I wanted him away from me. I wanted his lips back on mine. I whispered his name. He didn’t listen. He tucked my hair behind my ear and kissed just under my hairline, giving me goosebumps all over my right side. Then he brought his mouth back to mine and deepened the kiss. I opened up his trench coat and brought him in closer. I needed to feel his chest against mine. To know him on a level he rarely let anyone experience. But most of all, I needed answers. I needed to know if he meant what he said. Did he really consider me a lost cause to the Vontex now? Did my disobeying him turn him off of ever wanting me in his pack or to fight alongside him? Would he keep his word to me even though I broke mine?
As it turned out, it wasn’t something that could be answered simply by kissing.
I was already exhausted and Lothar was leaving me breathless. He barely gave me the chance to breathe before he pushed me harder into the wall until I nearly couldn’t stand without him pressed up against me. He was a man left on the verge of carnage. His touch became rough, wanting, and without a shred of grace. He had waited long enough to get this close to me. As if I was a drug he was trying to resist and he finally caved. For all I knew, that’s what I was to him. A new form of addiction that he had sworn to abstain from.
When he finally broke away, I nearly gasped for air. He placed both his hands on the wall, keeping me enclosed and making sure I couldn’t getaway.
I opened my eyes and peered up at him.
He was holding back. That much I knew. Maybe he didn’t expect I’d kiss him back. Or maybe he thought I’d push him away. He didn’t expect me to give into him. And he especially didn’t expect me to kiss him back the way I did.
“I watched you become paralyzed by someone I used to be able to trust,” he spoke gruffly. “I watched as blood poured from your nose. I watched you go tumbling through a vixra tunnel with stones the size of boulders hurtling toward you. And you dare say that I went through all that just to manipulate you to do what I want?”
Even as he gazed down at me, I found myself questioning him. This wasn’t the first time a man pushed me into a wall filled with ecstasy only to deceive me. And I certainly wasn’t the naive young woman I was only months ago. I questioned his every word. I had to question everything. No one could be honest with me anymore.
He confessed his vices to me on a dreary day in the academy library. His past with drugs and alcohol was something he carried with him. As I looked up at him and did everything I could to catch my breath and calm my racing heart, I found myself wondering. Was Lothar a man of addictions? Was he addicted to Alina until he wasn’t? Was he addicted to the thrills and adrenaline of being a Vontex? And the worst possibility of all, was he addicted to the idea of acquiring me for his Vontex pack?
I did my best to hide the doubt creeping through my mind. I wasn’t the best actress but I learned how to hide my cards in recent weeks. If he suspected the myriad of traitorous thoughts running through my head, he didn’t let on.
He gently pulled away from me. I regained my footing and stood there before him, a woman left thoroughly confused.
“Take a couple of nights to recover.” The tension he had before was gone. Even so, the atmosphere had changed entirely. He wasn’t angry. He was determined. “If your intentions haven’t changed I expect you to prove to me that you’re capable of doing what you’re told. I’ll resume your training this coming Saturday in the Alluring Forest. Don’t be late. In the meantime, work up a plan with Adeline and Margaux to discover your brother’s whereabouts. And try not to do anything that will further anger the vixra council. You’re too valuable to be lost to witchling politics.”
He turned his
back to me and walked away without looking back. There was only the echo of the latch on the door clicking as it shut behind him.
I leaned against the wall with one hand holding my gut. My insides threatened to come spilling out on the floor below me. I was a mess beyond anything I had experienced before coming to the academy. From the very first time I met Lothar, he knew I was capable of much more than what I thought possible. He got me through the trials, he fought alongside me in the streets of London and at Chatsworth. He even helped train me beyond what was expected of him as my mentor.
And yet, his final words struck me in a way nothing else he said ever had. He claimed I was valuable. But valuable in what way? To him or to the future of the Vontex? Was he trying to guide me toward becoming someone meaningful in his life or someone he could depend on to watch his six o’clock when hunting werewolves in the night of a thick London fog?
Lothar once told me he was a man who knows what he wants. The only thing I knew for sure that I wanted was to feel valued for more than just who I became after I arrived at the academy. And whoever truly wanted me would have to prove that was as important to them as it was to me.
I waited a solid ten minutes, doing my best to calm the storm taking place inside my head. I survived more in the last forty-eight hours than most people could be expected to survive in a lifetime. It didn’t matter how good my lycan healing abilities were. The cries of my mother’s voice screaming for me at the Forum still rang in my ears. The mixture of defeat and relief in Margaux’s eyes once she was freed from the luxra spirit played in the back of my mind. The power of Ellinor’s magic gripping onto me like a hanging rope still made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. And the scent of Lothar’s skin drifting through my senses left me wanting for something I wasn’t sure existed.
No one needed to tell me to go back to my room and collapse as the sun rose above the academy’s high stone walls. I did that on my own without hesitation or even remembering to lay out the mixture around my bed preventing visions. No nightmare could possibly compare to the hell I just went through. I wasn’t even worried.
The warmth of the soft white sheets greeting my skin didn’t bring me much comfort. Nor did the ease of my back finally feeling the release of no pressure pushing down on it. I let my mind take comfort in one single thought.
I freed Margaux from the luxra witchling possessing her. And if I could do so for her, there was hope for Dirk.
I didn’t know who I wanted to spend my life with, I didn’t know if my relationship with my father could be repaired, and I doubted I would ever be the best-trained student to leave the academy. But there was one truth I would never allow myself to doubt again. I wouldn’t place my faith in someone I couldn’t trust. And the only person in my entire life who had loved me unconditionally despite the pain life threw at us was my brother.
‘Please stay strong, Dirk. I’m begging you. I will come for you too. I promise.’
7
I was used to the moon being my main clock after spending my entire life relying on the sun. Regardless, I woke up not knowing what damn day it was. My exhaustion kept my arms and legs nailed to the bed for what felt like days, refusing to let me move a single muscle until my magic was done healing me and rejuvenating itself.
I didn’t stir until a light sound reached my ears. I somehow managed to get my head up off the pillow with a grunt and a groan to accompany it. Someone had stuffed a note under my door and then took off down the steps.
After a snap and crackle of my body reluctantly doing as I commanded, I got my legs off the bed and walked over to the note waiting for me on the floor. My back let me know its discontent as I slowly bent over to grab the piece of paper. Being sore to this degree wasn’t something I was used to. My body had become accustomed to my lycan abilities healing me so quickly that doing so many things beyond my depth gave me the surprise of actually being sore and taking more than a few minutes to heal.
The note was closed with a wax seal of the academy. That could only mean one thing. The note came from Rodrick.
A rush of pink hit my cheeks. Could he know what Lothar and I had done?
Miss Blackburn,
Your classes and further accompaniment with the Vontex are temporarily suspended in light of recent events. I trust you understand that this isn’t due to my preferences but to the urgency of current circumstances. Miss Prescott and Mademoiselle Carville are expecting you at sunset to discuss plans regarding recent orders from Mrs. Prescott. You will find them in the Falcon Wing of the academy, room fourteen.
Dean Everleigh
I folded up the piece of paper and let out a small sigh. I got what I wanted. A real chance to get my brother back. Not to mention that I had the most powerful luxra witchling in all of France and Adeline, a vixra witchling, to help me through it. And yet, somehow, that wasn’t enough. A strange part of me wanted Rodrick there with me to help. If anything we might need him. Especially if we caught Dirk. Rodrick was the only reason I managed to get that wretched luxra out of Margaux’s body. And having two strong lycan like Lothar and Jake allowing us to use their remaining strength and the vixra blood in their bodies certainly got us the rest of the way there. The bottom line was that I couldn’t pull something like that off again alone.
I cleaned up and left my room right before sunset with the hood of my trench coat draped over my head. Whatever rumors were flying about the academy before were tripled now. The entire student body saw me nearly die by the hand of one of the most powerful vixra witchlings in the world.
‘What else is new? It feels like I have a date with death every week now.’
I was vaguely familiar with the Falcon Wing of the academy. It was where the upperclassmen were roomed. I imagined their rooms were much finer and perhaps an upgrade from what Alina and I had. I was surprised to find that they were more than an upgrade. They were practically suites.
There was a large common room with a fireplace, a small library for studying in peace away from the newer students, and even a small dining area. I concluded that studies got more difficult when students entered their final year at the academy and they rarely had the opportunity to leave their wing of the fortress, hence the special rooms.
I walked quietly up the stairs to room fourteen and gently knocked on the door. Adeline answered it in silence, perhaps waiting to see how I would greet her first. I didn’t see a point in holding a grudge for too long. She may have kept Alina’s treachery a secret but she did save me from her rather terrifying grandmother. And if she hadn’t made it easier for us Lothar, Jake, and me to get to Margaux, we wouldn’t be hatching a plan to save my brother.
I embraced her. And to my surprise, she embraced me right back. It was as if she had been waiting to see if our friendship was strong enough to survive everything we had both been through. I wanted her to know that I was determined to let that be the case, regardless of how she might have wronged me.
“Madamoiselle Blackburn,” Margaux greeted me from a large study table in the corner of the enormous room. It was decorated in a similar style to Adeline’s family home in Hungary. It wasn’t a stretch to assume Adeline had done it to match her taste with a touch of her magic.
Margaux scooted her chair out from the table and revealed the true Margaux I never got to know. She was back to what I gathered was her usual attire. A tight black lace dress with pale tights, perfectly coiffed dark hair, a stunning complexion, and glamorous red lips. I couldn’t help but blink a few times at the sight. She was stunning compared to how I was used to seeing her. A matter of months ago I was the one curling my long black hair and rocking red lipstick on a stage with nothing but my voice and an electric guitar. Margaux took glamour to another level. I was rocker-chic. She was red-carpet glamorous. I instantly envied her.
“You clean up nice,” I said to her as she grabbed a bottle of champagne from the table and filled a small wine glass for me. She brought it over and handed it to me with an elegance in her step that I
knew she must have picked up from being around Adeline. Or perhaps she was sophisticated in a way only French women seemed to possess.
“Is that an English way of giving a compliment?” she asked as her high heels clicked on the wood floor. “I realize most people don’t start their day with champagne, let alone before they begin discussing how to conquer their enemies. But I believe a toast is in order after what we have been through.”
I was seeing Margaux in her natural state. Alluring, classy, two arms, and a touch of arrogance. And I sensed a hint of ruthlessness that the luxra possessing her didn’t leave behind. It was already there. For the first time since my vision of Dirk tormenting her, I saw what Alexei found so attractive about her. She was a mix between a magical enchantress and a femme fatal. All she needed was the proper lighting and a cigarette held delicately in her hand.
‘Maybe she’ll end up giving Alexei what he deserves.’
She handed both Adeline and me a glass. I gladly accepted then clinked my glass against theirs. Margaux was celebrating no longer being possessed, Adeline was celebrating the vixra council still being blind to her actions, and I was celebrating that my back was finally beginning to feel halfway normal again.
“Come,” Margaux said, leading us to the table sitting to the left of the room. It was lit with an array of slender white and black tapered candles. The white ones burned with regular golden flames. The black ones flickered with bright blue.
“One second,” Adeline said before closing the door and holding her palm over the center. A flicker of emerald green light trailed from her fingers and across the edges of the door frame. It was the same spell Ellinor used to make sure we had privacy in the ceremonial room. “Now we can be assured no curious ears can listen in.”
Resummon: (Lycan Academy of Shapeshifting: Operation Shift, Book 6) Page 7
