“We’re on an island,” I whispered. “And I’m probably dead.”
“Don’t be stupid, woman. You’re thinking out loud and saying nonsense right now.”
My eyes snapped open as I felt arms shift on either side of my head. I was laying against the cold hard earth. My gaze landed on something dark. Black. A black t-shirt. A body wearing a black t-shirt. A very fit body wearing a black t-shirt.
“What do you think you were doing, late-bloomer?” Ren asked. I gasped as he hovered above me. His face was uncomfortably close. I could smell his scent: fresh pine needles and cold mountains. We’d fallen the entire way back down, and yet somehow, we were fine. His splayed hands sat on either side of my face, fingers fanning out to accidentally brush my cheeks. I sucked in a deep breath and tried to be brave while staring at this wolf in the face.
“We’re on an island.”
He snorted. “Close. Peninsula. At the end of a very isolated one at that.” My heart thumped wildly as he lowered himself even closer to me. “So isolated that nobody is going to hear you scream if you try to start more trouble.”
“All of you are hiding something for me.” The bravery is growing foolishly strong, but I don’t care anymore. “All five of you disappear constantly. You’re not sleeping. What’s going on?”
“You’re not exactly in the position to be asking questions.” I realized that he’s got my legs pinned in between his own. With one swift kick, I could take him out where the sun doesn’t shine. He was a lot stronger than me, though. Probably faster too. He could outrun me. I was already exhausted from my climb up the wall.
He was right.
And I hated him for it.
My vision swayed.
Suddenly, he was gone. Like the images of ashes and the crumbling ruins of my old house, a new image comes. For a brief moment, I’m suspended in air, floating. I saw myself again as a baby. I saw the other baby playing on the carpet beside me, shifting into a bear cub. Impossible. But this voice was beyond my body. It was around me. A disembodied cry. The child vanished, and suddenly, I’m tumbling into an inky black space.
“She must be protected.”
Another disembodied voice. I saw the outline of a swirly symbol arise out of a glowing liquid in the distance. It grew closer. My eyes squinted to make out the edges of it as it floated towards me. My stomach dropped. I knew that symbol well. The spiral sun.
It was the same mark on my back. My birthmark.
When the symbol came to touch me, the black fades away, and Ren’s face swam into view. I’m shaking underneath him. His brows are scrunched together. Half-disgust, half-confusion.
“Woman.”
I’ve been crying. The breeze struck my cheek, and I can feel the hot tracks of tears that have streamed down. Shit. I took advantage of his confusion to shove him off of me. He tumbled backward onto the ground, but even his fall is composed. I scooted away from him, pawing at my body to make sure it exists. The rope I’ve used was crumpled in a pile nearby me. When my hands made contact with my real-life body, I breathed a sigh of pure relief. I was here. I was back.
“You’re a strange woman.”
I glared at Ren. “I’m kind of going through a lot right now. Murdered parents. Flashbacks. Trauma.”
His face is torn between responding with a sneer and something else. There was a brief spark of connection. Of understanding. The glimpse was buried before I could make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.
“You can find your way back,” he said bitterly. “Dracus will see you for the Saturday meal tomorrow and deal out your punishment.”
In a flash, he was gone. Into the forest.
And he’d taken the grappling hook.
I collapsed against the ground and debate sleeping near the edge of the fence. A twig snapped. The crescent moon overhead begged me to go home. The darkness didn’t feel safe. I rubbed my cold arms through my sweater and hauled myself up.
He left me with my backpack at least. I took out the flashlight and find my way back to the manor. My muscles ached beneath the weight of the rope in my backpack, but I didn’t want to leave it.
I might need the rope again.
I’d have to hide it well.
Giving up wasn’t an option at the Academy.
***
Dracus scowled over his black coffee. Is this how I know I’ve really messed up—when the prince wasn’t pleased with his favorite breakfast before the rowdier dorm mates show up for the meal.? I’ve never seen this face before. Or at least never this early.
“What in the Great Dragon’s name possessed you to try to escape?” he asked in a tense voice. Somehow, anger made him even sexier. This might’ve been something shared among all shifter men, I’m learning. Sternness looked good on his sharp face and in a way that didn’t infuriate me like Ren’s indignation. Theo once told me Dracus was the hard-hearted father of our group.
I swallowed my shame. “I’m sorry.”
His dark eyes burn with anger. “Oh, I know.” An expert with delivering his words. I took a ragged breath.
“All of you are hiding something from me.” I watched him closely. “Nobody will tell me anything.” I swear that he sat up a centimeter straighter in his chair at the end of the table. Am I making the prince sweat? If I am, it won’t be long. I have to act fast. “Mysterious meetings. Only a few of the new students are brave enough to speak to me. My parents are dead. I’ve been transported to an isolated location that’s more like a prison than a college.”
He drew himself up even more in his chair. “Fiona. You were rescued and brought to the Academy for your safety.”
“Safety? Is that what you call this? My room was broken into by someone in this house. Ren hates my guts. Everybody watches me like a damn hawk.” My eyes narrowed. “And you. You don’t seem to even like anyone in this house.”
Dracus looks less than amused. The opposite of amused. Even less than that. I’ve sliced through the dragon’s pride with a viciously rude sword.
For a brief moment, my vision focused on his face. Like a film with an old vignette, darkness creeps in from the corner of my eyes. There was only Dracus and then...
I was floating. Like I’d been with Ren at the Academy’s wall. The world tumbled away. No, the world was yanked from beneath my feet. I tried to scream as I went back with it, but nothing comes out.
I’m near a white-picket fence. Someone is holding my hand. I’m so small, the gate looks as towering as the wall from the Academy. I looked at my hand. A child’s hand again. My gaze went upward.
“You’re going to grow up different, Fiona.” The man smiled. He’s handsome and tall, a towering figure with a warm grip on my hand. “A bit different from your sister, but it’s okay. Dad is here with you, ok?”
“Fiona.”
The gate and the man are gone. Dracus’ eyes narrowed. I realized he was no longer sitting at the end of the table but was almost touching me now in my chair. He reached his hand out towards my face.
“Your face was completely frozen.”
Up close, I realized his dark eyes aren’t quite dark at all. They’re violet, the color of deep bruises with flecks of shimmering gold. His pupils are slightly diamond-shaped.
“You scared me.” That’s all I managed to say before pulling away. It’s a lie, but it’s also half-true. The best kind of lie. His hand recoiled. I didn’t wait for him to lecture me anymore. I ran from the room as fast as my feet would carry me.
My muscles sighed against a hot shower. I sunk to the tiled floor of the shower.
That man holding my hand was not the father I left behind in the fire on Greenpark Ave.
I’m losing my mind here.
Comments (9)
See all