Lion Shifter Read online

  “I mean, no, it’s not okay, actually. I just said that without thinking. It’s just”—I shrugged again—“there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m used to it, I guess. Guys always say crap like that.”

  He stared at me without blinking for a full thirty seconds. “If that’s what men say to you, then they shouldn’t.”

  An inexplicable wave of emotion rose within me, and I fought to tamp it down. He’d obviously never been in Berry Bramble High, or any comparable high school across the United States, where inappropriate behavior was an everyday occurrence.

  He tilted his head and trailed his attention across my face. I sensed the trajectory of his gaze like a caress. “Though I suspect that you must be tasty.”

  My cheeks instantly heated and I hurriedly looked away. When I couldn’t resist any longer, I peeked back at Leander. My breath hitched. His eyes were illuminated like bright full moons, and they were pinned on me … as if nothing else existed. My own gaze dipped to his full lips, the ones I’d pictured against mine more times than I’d admit to anyone.

  “I’m sorry we didn’t get to spend much time together while we were at my home,” he said. “I’d hoped there would be time for us to get to know each other.”

  I smiled gently. “That would have been nice.”

  So damn nice.

  “Maybe while we’re here we can—”

  “Hey, Leander, we should go chat with Sir Lancelot,” my brother called, moving toward us, his eyes narrowed, jumping from Leander to me and back again. “You know the owl, he doesn’t like to wait for his updates.”

  “Fine. I’ll be right there,” Leander called over his shoulder, not turning to look at my brother. He stared at me for several unblinking beats. “I guess this will have to wait.”

  But as he stood, I wasn’t sure what “this” was or what any of it meant. I kept thinking—maybe hoping—that Leander was interested in me. But he hadn’t said or done anything that made it explicitly clear what he was thinking. Okay, maybe saying I looked tasty was something, but what was it exactly? I wished I knew!

  The elfin prince stuffed his hands in his pockets, tucked his feathery wings firmly against his back, and smiled. “I’ll catch ya later, Rina.”

  “Sure. Yeah. Sounds good. Great,” I rambled.

  His smile broadened, and I flushed. I watched him walk away, allowing my gaze to travel the length of his body, lingering anywhere I wanted … until I noticed that Ky was glaring at me. Oops. I softened my eyes and mouth until I projected innocence, but Ky only scowled and fell into step with Leander, Boone right behind them.

  “What was that all about?” Adalia asked as she settled on the ground next to me once more.

  “I’m not really sure, to be honest.”

  “You like Leander Verion.” It wasn’t a question, and I wasn’t surprised. Adalia didn’t miss much, despite her happy-go-lucky, upbeat attitude.

  I sighed heavily, resigning myself to the conversation. There was little point in denying what she’d already deduced. “Is it that obvious?”

  “Yes.”

  Ouch.

  “You realize you two can never be together though, right? Not even for a casual fling on campus?”

  “I hadn’t really thought of it.” I ran a hand across blades of grass, sensing the fairy’s opalescent eyes on me.

  “Prince Leander Verion will marry another fae, a princess from one of the stronger clans. King Dillmon Erion will be mindful of alliances now more than ever. The first prince has been committed since birth, as is common for the heirs to the throne. The only reason Prince Leander Verion hasn’t been promised yet is because the king has been keeping his options open, seeking to ally us with the strongest available fae tribe.”

  “Hmm, I see.” I couldn’t compose a more appropriate response in time. Why hadn’t anyone told me this before? I’d realized Leander was off limits; I couldn’t help but notice with how his father worked to keep us apart, always sending us in opposite directions of the Golden Forest. But hearing that he was a bargaining chip to be married away … well, it would have been good to know.

  “I wasn’t planning on marrying him,” I said defensively, mostly because I was annoyed with myself for not realizing what everyone else but me apparently had.

  “I know,” she said gently. “And I know that my prince is intriguing … you’ll just have to find someone else to crush on.”

  I scowled, allowing myself to be fully petulant for a few moments before caring what Adalia thought of my reaction. “I wasn’t crushing on him. I just … I don’t know, I just thought there might be something there. Obviously I was wrong.”

  “Oh, I’m not so sure. I see how the prince looks at you, especially when he thinks no one’s watching. But he knows better than anyone what he can and can’t have. The king won’t budge on this. He can’t.”

  I nodded too quickly, allowing my long hair to slide across my face, affording some privacy for my disappointment. I couldn’t have Leander. All right, I’d deal. It wasn’t like there weren’t far more pressing issues to worry about anyway. With Rage and Fury after Ky and me, my focus had to be on survival—nothing more. The shifter brothers had the support of the entire rebel faction of the Voice behind them.

  “What’s up, bitches?”

  Another voice I recognized instantly. I hurried to blink my moodiness away and found Jas arriving with Wren and Dave in tow. A wave of relief spread through me at seeing Dave. He’d been afraid the Academy Spell would kick him out over the summer break, but I’d been relatively certain he’d be back. Despite his many botched shifts, he wasn’t a quitter—an attitude I suspected the academy rewarded—and he possessed enough power to keep Melinda busy healing him of his varied magical mishaps.

  “Does Jas always have to be so crude?” Adalia asked before our friends entered hearing range. “There’s no need to call me a ‘bitch.’ That’s just uncalled for.”

  “I agree,” I said. “But I have the feeling you’ll make her pay for it throughout the term.”

  Adalia blinked at me with big, innocent, doe eyes. “Why, whatever do you mean?”

  I threw my head back and laughed. “You’re brilliant, you know that? She has no idea that you’re messing with her.”

  She grinned. “Don’t ruin my secret.”

  “Never. It’s way too much fun to see Jas squirm.” I laughed again.

  “What’s so funny?” Jas asked as soon as she was close enough for us to hear without her yelling. I looked beyond her to Wren and Dave. My brother, Leander, and Boone were halfway across the quad, cutting across the grass to Sir Lancelot’s office in the library building, I assumed.

  “Nothing much,” I said.

  Jas scowled at my useless answer.

  “Hiya, roomie,” Adalia chirped. “Isn’t it a splendid day?”

  “Yeah, especially since those killer bunnies didn’t eat us on the way in. There was a good chance of it.”

  We all sobered for a moment. Wren and Dave were huddled together like trauma survivors.

  I got to my feet as Adalia did. I wrapped Wren and Dave in hugs while Adalia pounced on Jas, squeezing her until Jas batted at the pretty fairy to release her.

  “Let’s get something clear right now, Adalia,” Jas said, smoothing down her tank-top. “I’m not doing your happy shit again this term. If you want to be all happy until you cry, fine, but don’t try to wrap me up in that crap.”

  “It’s nice to see you too, Jasmine Jolly.”

  Jas growled, threw her hands in the air, and spun on the heel of her clunky Doc Martens Mary Janes, storming off in the direction of Acquaine Hall. We stared at her retreat.

  “I guess we should go with her,” Wren said weakly.

  “Yeah, we need to check in too,” Dave said.

  “Maybe in a little bit.” Wren shrugged apologetically. “She’s been a lot to handle since we met up. I don’t know what’s up with her.”

  “She’s Jas,” I said, and Wren and Dave nodded.


  “Well, she’s been extra Jazzy since we met up with her at the airport in Phoenix,” Dave said. “She’s got a thorn in her paw, for sure.”

  “I’d better go make sure she’s all right,” Adalia said, a little too happily.

  “That’s nice of you,” Wren said. I didn’t think she or Dave had realized how much of what Adalia said and did was to rile up the skunk shifter. I stifled a chuckle as Adalia skipped off to catch up to Jas, whose head was down, her shoulders hunched up by her ears, as she stomped toward the admin hall.

  “How were your summers?” I asked.

  “Good,” they answered in unison, then shrugged and smiled. “Nothing special,” Wren added. “How about you? How was sharing the summer with the prince?” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

  “Nothing special.”

  Wren frowned. “Hmph. That’s not what I expected.”

  Yeah, you and me both. I shrugged nonchalantly, hoping to convince Dave that I didn’t care, if not both of them.

  “We’re still roommates, right?” Wren asked. “We can catch up later.”

  “For sure.” But my heart wasn’t in it.

  “We should go check in,” Dave said. “We’re running a little late as it is. Jas had us pull over at rest stops way too often.”

  “I’ll catch up with you guys after. I need to check in with my dad anyway.”

  But just as I was pulling out my phone, and Dave and Wren were setting off, wind chimes tinkled musically, drawing our attention.

  “Ahem. All students—except for oners and initiated vampire students—please report to the auditorium in Irele Hall just as soon as you’ve checked in and received your schedule for the upcoming term. I repeat, head to Irele Hall as soon as you can. Headmaster Sir Lancelot wishes to address you all before the commencement of term. Don’t make him wait. He has very important, pressing things to do with his time.”

  Nessa. I recognized her voice even though a spell delivered the disembodied words to my head. I could picture the tiny fairy puffing out her chest at the importance of Sir Lancelot’s message.

  The many fae around us got to their feet and began heading toward the auditorium. “I’ll grab seats for you guys,” I called to Wren and Dave as I hurried to follow the others. Though I’d been in the heart of the fae’s lands during summer break, I hadn’t exactly been kept in the loop. My brother, Leander, and Boone obviously knew more of what was going on than I did, but they were stingy with the information they shared—in an effort to protect me, I suspected.

  I slowed when I reached the granite steps that led toward the large wooden double doors of Irele Hall. A handful of people I’d never seen before bordered the doors, standing beneath the large Corinthian columns that held up the portico.

  These men and women were hardened fighters. The edge to their eyes would have suggested it even if their sculpted bodies hadn’t. Weapons of every kind peeked out from most available surfaces—swords, daggers, sigils, and quivers. One man even clutched a mace; the way he held it implied he was a master at using it. Who needed to use a mace in these times? Wasn’t a gun more efficient? But what did I know of magical warfare? Approximately nothing. Their magic probably interfered with modern weaponry or something.

  Every student around me slowed and gave the strangers a wide berth, skirting through the doors as quickly as they could. As I slipped through the doors myself, I felt the attention of every single warrior there like a knife through the back. I might not know who they were, but every one of them knew exactly who I was … and who was after me.

  5

  I’d imagined everything would be simpler now that I’d survived a complete term at the school. The Academy Spell hadn’t kicked me out—score!—I’d survived the shifters’ attack; revealed that I indeed possessed magic, even if said magic was peculiar and unstable; and the bizarre environment that was the campus, along with its equally bizarre resident creatures, was somewhat familiar, though I didn’t think I’d ever get used to the cantankerous trolls or the way plant life up and moved of its own volition. Compared to my first term, this one should have been easier and more comfortable.

  I could already tell I’d been wrong in thinking it.

  As the scary-looking warriors who’d lurked on the front steps entered the auditorium and lined up on either side of the raised dais at the front of the room, my stomach churned. The men and women scoured the crowd already assembled. A rustling of unease followed their attention in the form of urgent whispers … until their combined gazes landed on me.

  I met their stares as long as I could, well aware that I shouldn’t appear weak, not even in front of my fellow students. But after a solid minute of meeting their gazes, during which not a single one of them looked away, I fiddled with my hands in my lap, wishing I had a notebook and a pen—anything—to provide a distraction and disguise my cowardice.

  When Jas slid into the seat beside me, I heaved a sigh of relief. Wren, Dave, and Adalia sidled in front of me and took the remaining seats beside me. My breath shuddered.

  “Who are they?” Wren whispered shakily. “And why do they look like they want to eat you for lunch?”

  So it wasn’t just me. Crap. “They won’t stop looking at me,” I whined, refusing to look up.

  Jas leaned toward me. “Whoever they are, I hope they’re on our side.”

  “Yeah, me too,” I whispered. After encountering Damon and Sadie in the parking lot, I suspected the band of hoodlums at the front of the room might be Enforcers as well, though it made no sense, not based on the story we’d been told.

  Ky, Leander, and Boone entered the room, and Boone snapped down the kickstand, propping the door open. The three men flicked quick looks from the hoodlums to me. They zeroed in on me right away, I supposed, because all they had to do was follow the stares of the others. Ky scowled, Boone squinted in displeasure, and Leander’s face betrayed none of his thoughts. They paused in front of the hoodlums, and tension ratcheted up in the room.

  Nessa and Fianna chose that moment to fly through the open doorway, and Nessa, regularly less observant of her surroundings than her cousin, swooped in front of all of them, where she hovered self-importantly at the head of the room. Her diminutive wings flapped so quickly they blurred.

  Ahem. “The great headmaster of the Magical Creatures Academy will now address you. Well, not precisely now, but very soon. He’s right behind us.” The voice of the hummingbird-sized fairy reverberated through my head, enhanced by the Academy Spell. “What he has to say is of utmost importance, so make sure you pay close attention.”

  The blue fairy glared at all of us students as if we’d already caused trouble. Fianna drew next to her. “With all the recent … events, Sir Lancelot has been busier and more preoccupied than usual. Running an institution of the caliber of the Menagerie is challenging at the best of times.” Clearly, these were not the best of times or else a band of thugs wouldn’t be lined up behind the fairies.

  “Once Sir Lancelot is finished speaking with you,” she continued, “don’t delay him with questions. If any remains after he leaves, Nessa and I will be available to help you.”

  “Yeah, because the two of them are nothing but helpful,” Jas muttered under her breath. “They cause as many problems as they solve.”

  Nessa raised both arms in the air. “Without further ado, your headmaster!” When her announcement wasn’t met with thunderous applause, she pouted, and I caught one of the thugs smirking.

  When Sir Lancelot flew into the room, landing primly on the desk atop the dais, a hush settled across the assembly. He tucked his wings behind his back and faced us, his brow furrowed so deeply that it shadowed his bright yellow eyes.

  “Students,” he began in a crisp voice as Nessa and Fianna settled on either side of him. En masse, the assembly leaned forward to catch every one of his words, though they were augmented inside our heads. “I wish I had better news to share with you. But I won’t mince words, you deserve the truth, or at least as much
of it as is appropriate to share with students. You might have noticed that I requested that oners not attend this meeting. I’ll share similar information with them later, but in a way that is more accessible for students new to our world.

  “Since all of you here are necessarily survivors, I’ll speak more frankly. You overcame the odds and remained students of the academy when the academy dismissed nearly a third of your classmates They didn’t make the cut.”

  Damn! I’d hoped Sir Lancelot’s warnings at the beginning of first term had been exaggerated. But if half the students we’d started out with were expelled, he hadn’t exaggerated at all. Because the Academy Spell dismissed the students and whisked them away without notice, none of us was sure how exactly the spell removed them from school. Rumor had it that the students would suddenly find themselves in their homes, their belongings packed for them, every sign that they’d ever attended the academy gone but for their memories. Others said the students would find themselves at the base of Thunder Mountain, the entrance to the school sealed to them forever, appearing as nothing more than ordinary rock. One sixer swore a kid he knew was yanked from his bed in the middle of the night and dragged through the air backwards, hanging from an invisible, spelled hook, until he was pulled clear through the mountain to be unceremoniously deposited at the trailhead. Only one thing was certain: once the academy decided your time here was finished, there was nothing you could do to resist expulsion.

  “To be a student of the Menagerie, not only must you be magical and extraordinary in your own way—even if you don’t understand your magic or potential yet”—the headmaster’s big, serious eyes alighted on me for a moment—“but you must also be fierce and resilient. You must have the kind of courage and fight within you that will allow you to survive in our world, while at school and after, when you join the ranks of the Enforcers.

  “Every one of you is required to do a brief stint as an apprentice with the Enforcers, but after the attack at the end of last term, their numbers have dwindled alarmingly. The loss to the supernatural community has been great. I invite each and every one of you to consider a career within the ranks of the Enforcers. Remember, every single Enforcer is a graduate of the Magical Creatures Academy. They were once exactly like you.”