by S. L. Morgan
Dom’s lips twitched while he watched my face light up from embarrassment. “Yeah, maybe not such a good idea.”
“It’s an awesome idea.” He stepped away from me, “Get over here and get your mind out of the gutter, Silvers.” He laughed while pulling up a beast of a motorcycle from the ditch next to the road.
“A motorcycle?” I asked, never having actually seen one up close before.
“Come here, gorgeous. I’m going to teach you how to ride it. It’ll help your brain focus on other things than being a shifter who almost got away from us last night.”
“Yeah, no. I’ll let you ride it, and I’ll hold on like your perverted little way of suggesting what I was thinking right now.”
Dom kissed my cheek. “Oh, that?” He arched a brow at me, “When that day comes, this adrenaline rush won’t touch how I’m going to make you feel.”
I swallowed hard. “Are you trying to get me all braindead again? I can’t think like that.”
“Then don’t,” he simply said, straddling the back, scooting back some, and tapping the seat in front of him. “Start thinking about not dumping this bike instead.”
“Is this part of your little plan to keep me in check?”
“Get over here, and quit asking questions.”
I straddled the bike, and Dom’s arms came up and around mine. “This is your throttle. Your feet are your gears and breaks. The clutch to shift is right here. It’s up one and down three with your right foot. Got it?”
“I guess so.”
He brought the engine to life and kissed my neck. “Let’s go, then.”
He placed his hands on my thighs, and after I killed the engine, hopping the bike forward, I laughed, feeling free from the fact that his sensitive touch high on my outer thighs wasn’t bothering me. I checked the mirrors of the bike and spotted Dom’s eyes studying my hand on the throttle.
Perfectly-sculpted, god-like face in the reflection? Check.
I had to get this bike rolling forward even if it was only one mile an hour. None of the sensual Dom cravings came into play while my mind was hard at work. Focusing on this bike was one of the hardest things I think I’d ever had to do.
“This time, you got it,” he laughed after I flooded the bike. “You’re so close.”
That’s when it all started to come together. I hadn’t made it out of first gear, and the roaring bike hated me for holding it back, and even though we were wobbling all over the place, I was officially riding my first motorcycle.
“I’m ready to go fast on this thing,” I yelled back to Dom.
“Then punch it,” he said.
“Nope. I’m done with my part. I want to see you live up to your words from earlier.”
Dom swung a leg off the bike, held the handle, and came in for a tasteful and rewarding kiss.
“Way to stay focused,” he said with a teasing smile. “Hold on tight, babe.”
That’s when I molded my body tightly against his, and we took off like this bike was built to go five-hundred miles per hour. Dom nearly laid the thing on the ground while going around turns, and when we were finally going straight, I looked up and saw Ethan’s owl chasing us—and actually keeping up with this motorcycle’s speed as we roared down the empty road surrounded by a tropical jungle.
It was remarkable, surprising, and all Dominic. He never ceased to amaze me with his hidden talents—even in the virtual human world. I wished we never had to go back to that academy, but the sooner we got back, the sooner we could end this second year. No more messing around. Hopefully, we could recruit people and find a way to extract the dark energy from the school that was waiting to come back and claim lives.
For now, I was reveling in screaming loud and doing pretty much everything Dominic had predicted I would do on the ride. I needed this last burst of energy to make up for the small moments of enjoyment I’d missed because my wolf decided to hijack me.
I held Dom tighter, knowing this powerful shifter meant more to me than just the words I love you. I felt his devotion, and I would hang onto that to keep my demon inside chained up. That’s how we were going to get through this until I got help.
11
I followed Bug on my map as I tried to navigate through the top floors of House Draugar. Good God, I was like a new student at this school again. Dom was missing from our training this morning, which wasn’t too much of a surprise since we were rotating to new masters in our shifter training classes.
Dom was an instructor for the incoming students. They started their training at 5:00 a.m., and we started ours at 4:00 a.m. By the time the new shifter students began their morning workouts, we were already on a small obstacle course that I’d never seen until now. They kept this area secluded, most likely for the effect of experiencing something new as a second-year shifter at this school.
Damn, Bug, where are we going? I could’ve sworn this bug was getting me back for thinking I had all the houses on the academy grounds figured out. I was totally wrong on that end.
“Still using the Scio to get around like it’s your first day?” Dom’s velvety voice blurred out Bug, who I’d been following all over this freaking place.
I glanced up at his handsome face, loving that he was wearing his dark combat uniform again and seeing that it complemented how badass he was.
“I’m in House Draugar,” I reminded him with a roll of my eyes. “You know, the fanciest mansion building on IA grounds.”
“Get over yourself. You may be a shifter, but your soon-to-be sister, Lus, is a vamp. You’re insulting her.”
My wolf snarled at the comment Dom made. WTH is that about? Did she have a problem with Lusa now? I ignored my wolf’s natural reaction to a future sister vamp—she needed to get over it and quick. Natural born enemies or not, Lus was Dom’s twin sister, which made Lusa her true wolf mate’s sister.
I glanced up at Dom as we walked hand-in-hand to my first vampire course of year two at IA. His expression was blank, but I felt his dominant spirit come into play. We hadn’t had a chance to go over anything since getting back from vacation a week ago, and this was my first time seeing him since all the changes went into effect.
“You’ve heard about them splitting Lusa and me up, right? My new roomy is freaking Kat of all the damn people.”
“Watch your language,” Dom reprimanded me. “Yes, I heard, and it’ll be okay. You’re safe. Lusa is the watchman of the dorms on that floor. They moved Ethan and me to House Draugar’s dorms below this floor. It sucks, but I’ve got eyes on you and that wolf, who seems to continue to get her way with her attitude.”
“I’m trying to work on it, but I haven’t had much time with everything changing.”
Dom stopped our walk and looked down at me. Sometimes it really sucked he was so damn tall. Right now, I wasn’t enjoying this side of him. Having him towering over me in a dominant form was severely agitating my unpredictable wolf, and I could feel my mood spiraling.
“It’s frustrating for you because the wolf doesn’t like it,” he confirmed as he answered my thoughts. “I just wanted to catch up. Your next class is your shifter class at House Braeclaw. I’ll see you there.”
“How come I haven’t seen you in the class before? Professor Samson’s doing something different today?”
“Yes,” he answered curtly. “Gotta go, I’m late for my next class. Quit letting the wolf fuel your mood, got me?”
Dom turned and walked off with his military posture, and I noticed him pointedly ignore the group of vamps, shifters, and fairies who were tripping over their feet to race me into the room we were meeting in. It was definitely not like him. He may have had a conceited appearance, but he was never dismissive of people in his path.
This first week had been bizarre, to say the least. I hadn’t seen Vannah except for in passing. My lunch was only about fifteen minutes long because my stupid fairy class—that oddly had only about twenty students in it—was always being held over. Maybe the second year meant splitting y
ou up from your friends and shaking things up a little bit.
I walked into an auditorium that made me think vamps and fairies were working together and were now the BFFs of the supernatural world.
Brilliant hues of light illuminated the velvet stadium seating. Sparkles swirled into mesmerizing stars all over the walls and ceilings. While the floating candles were all the same, their flames flickered in every color on the color wheel. For once, I admitted to myself that I missed the typical, overly ostentatious look of anything vampire related.
Even though the former instructor had been replaced—thanks to being responsible for murdering students at our academy—I sort of missed Miss Sirena’s way of keeping it true to vampire heritage. This new instructor must have been part freaking fairy because this was now the second stupid class I had to sit in that was blasting with all the colors of the rainbow.
My wolf found a way to sleep through the class, so there went her support in helping me process this class for the last week through her black and white vision—another shining example of how she continued to trot along as my inner beast who had a mind of her own.
“Today, we learn the history of how we were able to determine that vampires could live off of human energy instead of drinking their blood to survive. It all started with…”
And that was as far as I was able to get with a lesson I was actually interested in learning. Damn wolf and my frustration of not adapting to an unstructured routine. It was going to cost me my grades, and it was happening right when these classes got out of the basics of everything I’d already known. For the first time in my life, I was enjoying the school and the lesson plans. Now, I was back to spending free time trying to study crap I couldn’t pay attention to in class.
After an eternity of struggling to pay attention to a subject I was interested in—figure that one out—I was back to the familiar surroundings of House Braeclaw and our muscular professor, Professor Samson.
Dom said he’d see me here, but again, he was a no show. I had no idea where he was. Where had Tanner been? Vannah? All of them. They were gone whenever I looked forward to seeing them. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner I was separated from them all…even from Ethan, who managed to find a seat with my friends. I was sort of isolated with the new kids. I’m sure they were all cool enough, but I wasn’t in the mood to get to know new people. I wanted to know what the hell happened from the time our vacation ended to starting our second week of school.
“Silvers,” Professor Samson called out. “Front row,” he said in a voice that snapped my wolf wide awake, wondering what the heck was going on.
She was unsettled, I was unsettled, and I was continually wracking my brain to figure out this second year of mass confusion. This was worse than being a newbie. I hated this unsettling feeling. It made my hands absently tremble and my heart rate pick up, something I’d never experienced before. I was confused, my wolf was confused, and part of me thought this was a different kind of attack on the students than the last time. Did we wake that monster that this school fed students—
“Silvers!” Samson barked, interrupting my thoughts. “I’ve been watching your mind drift in my classes all week, so much so that I’ve put the word out to your other professors. They’ve confirmed that you aren’t paying attention in their classes either.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “This has resulted in your enrollment into a new program that has been in effect since the school decided that all of you—” he stopped himself midsentence and glanced out at the crowded room, “All of you—let that sink in—are to remain in this school an extra year. Miss Silvers is enjoying her second year at the school, but is she really?” He looked at me. “You’re not. You’re proving correct the assertions that our students aren’t ready for the human world, either to live among them or protect them from other supernaturals.”
“What!?” I shockingly shouted back to the professor who I admired above all professors at this school. “What are you trying to say?”
“Rossi, get out here.” He turned to his left where Dominic walked up the steps to join him on the stage…freaking Dean Edgewater smiling at Dominic like Dom was his prized student.
What the hell is going on?
Dom and Edgewater both eyed me—Dom more dangerously than Edgewater—at my internal reaction. Dom stood at Samson’s left, and Dean Edgewater was to his right.
“Many of you might be thinking to yourselves, what the heck,” Edgewater’s bright white teeth smiled at me, correcting my mental profanity, “is going on?” His eyes widened in humor while Dom stood straight-faced, eying the row I sat in. His arms were pulled back, and damn, he looked hot and in control up there.
“Samson is right. We’ve got problem children—so to speak—at this school. We want this fixed immediately. While Immortal Academy respects all those who are on our pre-graduation panels, we don’t like being insulted by some of the individuals on them. You’ve all heard that IA now requires students to be instructed and put through simulations here for a solid four years. While this is an idea I accepted, it should’ve never come down to this.
“Each house is now responsible for ensuring the weaker supes of our bunch get trained up and fast. This will be the last time IA holds students back because another race of beings out there are cleaning up messes that our supernatural elite forces—all of who graduated from this prestigious school—can’t control.” His face was starting to show the darkness I knew he had in him. Thoughts to self, Jenna! The guy’s been in your mind since jumping on stage. “So, we’ve had four of our strongest from each house working with their respective professors to single out our troubled students.”
“Students like Silvers,” Samson brought me up again. “Not paying attention in classes, uneasy, and therefore, unpredictable with the new changes and things that second-year students should be accepting. Don’t get me wrong, the majority of you have. The others have not. Students in the front two rows, please rise to your feet.”
I inhaled and stood up, glaring at Dominic’s unwavering, commanding expression. “Now, what?” I smarted off.
“You’ll be taken out of this class and isolated to your dorms for strict counseling if you say one more word out of line, Jenna Silvers,” Samson said while Edgewater smirked.
Double WTF! I was livid and clueless. Dom could have at least warned me that I was in some form of corrective studies with all the crappy kids at this school. My wolf was pissed too. Let’s hope she didn’t take up another offer from the overcrowded space in my head and go all crazy on me again.
“Sorry, sir.” I looked over at Dom whose eyes slanted in my direction for no longer than the blink of an eye. “I’m seriously confused.”
“We know. That’s why these two rows of shifters will be solely under the command of Master Dominic Rossi. Rossi was singled out after critical challenges, tests, and a quest was demanded to find the one shifter to work all of this out with our weak ones. He won’t be easy on any of you. He has been given full permission to use whatever methods he deems necessary to get all of you back under control. This school does not tolerate profanity, negative attitudes, or a mentality of prejudice given whomever you bunk with or are seated next to in class. First two rows, please follow Master Rossi out to Braeclaw’s gardens. You will be working with him for the rest of the evening.”
I marched over to Dom so I could figure out what the heck he was doing and how he could allow Dean Edgewater to control him into doing this to me.
“You do realize I’m a ticking time bomb, right?” I seethed under my breath to him.
He nodded, walking straight out to the square lawns and turning to the group that followed him, quiet and ashamed. Not me. My wolf and I were both sparked full of energy and furious at this entire situation.
“Everyone, get into formation,” Master Dominic commanded. He looked at me like I was more annoying than Bug who was playing dead on my map when I insulted the creature my first day here. “I gave a command, Silvers. You and your wolf would be wi
se to follow it.”
Oh. My. God. First, I’m dealing with my jealous and annoying roommate, Kat, all week. Second, I’ve not had one second to hang with my friends. Third, my boyfriend is a total dick again.
“Mental or not, watch your language,” he stared at me continuously through his dark sunglasses. “In fact, I’ll see you when you get back.”
“Really? Where am I going?”
He glanced out toward the illuminating forests where all the obstacle courses began but went off into different directions to send shifters on different challenges. “The fae course should work.”
I went to take off in a sprint, totally blown away that he would send me off through the glittery obstacle course. Foiled leaves, bright colors, and everything that gave me a headache with that obstacle course made from fairy magic.
How is this supposed to help my wolf when all it’s doing is pissing us both off?
Dom caught my arm, mid-lunge, and stopped me.
“Settle the wolf down!” he barked. “You’re not running that course. You’re walking the trail that snakes around the obstacles.”
“Walking? Through that?” I squinted my eyes, knowing this wasn’t a lesson in controlling my wolf, this was pure torture. “I’d rather stay here and do push-ups until tomorrow.”
“I’m sure you would, but that’s not what you were instructed to do. You’ll walk the course, and by the time you’re done, it’ll be lights out.”
“When am I supposed to do my homework? Which, by the way, I have three quizzes on that I’ll be failing tomorrow.”
“That’s not my problem. Paying attention in classes and respecting your instructors would have come in handy. If you fail classes, you get held back.” He took off his sunglasses, and I was praying I would see my Dominic’s eyes—no. These were severe, alpha, brown irises.
“Do I need to have you walk this trail for the next week, or are you going to get on it like I commanded?”
