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  She smirked at me as we faced off. Mr. Kyoto turned to me. “There are several weak spots on a wolf body. The eyes.” He pointed to Mag’s face. “The throat and if you’re fighting against a male wolf…” He shrugged as some of the girls started to giggle. He turned to Mags. “You should never under-estimate your target. Both of you need to be the first to take the other down. The best target is one that is on the floor.”

  “Not a problem.” She rolled her shoulders. This time when I looked around I took in everything. The climbing frames on the far wall left out from another class. The ropes. A plan started to form. One thing was for sure. I couldn’t let Mags get a hold of me. I wouldn’t be strong enough to break free.

  Mr. Kyoto stepped away from us. “And start.”

  “Any particular reason you don’t like me?” They were the first words which popped into my head. Something I hoped would throw her off balance. And for a second it looked like it worked. Her eyes widened slightly in what had to be surprise before they narrowed.

  “Henry used to be my boyfriend.” Her words had barely sunk in when I saw her tense, a split second before she took a swipe at me. I ducked, and her hand missed me by inches. Henry had a girlfriend? Or had one? It didn’t surprise me, but I honestly hadn’t given it much thought. He hadn’t mentioned her. And it hadn’t even occurred to me to ask if he’d been seeing someone.

  “Seriously? That’s why you’ve been shooting death glances at me all week?” I lashed out at her knee. Mag’s scooted out of the way. I didn’t really think I’d be able to hit her. Last time I had surprise on my side. Jonas hadn’t known much about me and hadn’t deemed me as a threat. That had been his mistake. Pretty sure that the pink haired girl opposite me might make the same mistake.

  She growled, and I caught sight of the flash of fangs.

  “Mags, I know that you always like to excel, but I would prefer that you didn’t shift. That’s for the last exam.”

  Her head shot to the side as she glared at Mr. Kyoto, before she nodded. She shook her head as if to clear it and studied me again. We were a little more on equal footing now. She still had brunt strength on her side, but I would put money on the fact I was sneakier. It was time to make my move. If it worked, it would look awesome. If it didn’t? It was going to hurt, a lot. I ran to the climbing frames and Mag’s chased after me. In one smooth motion, I grabbed one of the ropes, but I didn’t stop. Instead I ran at the wall, jumped off it in a wide arch, let go of the rope and landed behind a surprised Mags. Before she could react, I kicked her in the back. She stumbled forward, and I wrapped the thick rope around her neck. After I planted my knee in the centre of her back, she snarled and tried to throw me off, but I had the leverage and I applied more pressure to the centre of her back. Suddenly her body started to change. Her muscles popped, and her body started to get bigger. I dropped the rope in surprise and backed away from her. She hunched her shoulders and hair started to sprout all over her. I’d seen wolves shift before, but it the bright glare of the morning sun, which shone through the windows, it was terrifying. The other girls gasped, and I noticed them edging away as well. Mags was supposed to be an Alpha, had the thought of me beating her caused her to loss control?

  “That’s enough!” Power flooded through the gym like a wave. “Mags, you’re an Alpha, act like one.” There was no telling how out of control she was. If she was too far gone to listen to Mr. Kyoto.

  What happened to shifters who lost control? We were all kids, but if they had to put us down, would they?

  “Go back to the changing rooms. We’ll talk about this later.”

  Pure rage shone in her eyes. From where I stood, I swore there was a red tinge to her eyes. For a second, I thought she might argue with him or worse, fight him. She glanced at the other girls. They were all scared. Even the other pureblood. She whipped her head back in my direction. Her eyes were now a vivid shade of blue. Had they ever seen one of their own lose control like Mags? How many of them were Alphas? How many were led to believe that Mags’ brand of shifter were the better ones because they’d been born that way? Finally, she glared back at me and snarled. Her top lip curled and revealed very sharp white teeth. She stepped toward me, but stopped mid step as if she thought better of it and stalked away from us.

  Mr. Kyoto sighed before he turned to me. “Sorry about that, but well-done Ms. Valentine. You used your surroundings to your own advantage. That was an impressive display.” He looked at the rest of the girls. “Okay ladies, pick a partner and practice getting them on the floor. I need to have a quick word with Mags, so I’ll be back in a minute.”

  For a second, nobody said anything. There was a stunned silence which was broken when Gilly ran over to me. “That was incredible. Where did you learn to do that?”

  “My dad taught me.” The thought that my dad didn’t know where I was, and we’d left it on bad terms didn’t sit well with me. I couldn’t tell my mum what she could do, but I didn’t think it was fair on him. He was the only human in a family of wolves and he didn’t have a clue. “The only way I beat her was because her anger got the better of her. You want to partner with me?”

  “Hell yeah,” Gilly replied rather excitedly. “Can you teach me the thing you did with the rope?”

  Chapter Nine

  The only person I wanted to see was Henry, but I hadn’t see him all day. I wanted to ask about Mags. Had she been telling the truth? And if it was true, why didn’t Henry mention it to me? It wasn’t like we’d have the boyfriend and girlfriend conversation. We’d kissed a few times but that didn’t make a relationship. Mags obviously thought that something was going on between us. Did Henry break up with her when he got back to the Academy?

  And she figured it had something to do with me?

  I hated having so many unanswered questions and nobody to talk to about it. Gilly was in her room and while we might be friends I still didn’t feel comfortable talking to her about it. That left my brother and I really didn’t want to have that conversation with him. I sat on the windowsill and looked out of the window. That left finding Henry. He was probably somewhere in the Academy unless Arturo had sent him out somewhere on assignment. I picked up my phone and sent him a message. When I didn’t hear back from him, I sent a message to my brother. Michael confirmed that Henry was in the Academy. He’d gotten back a few hours ago and as far as Michael knew he would be in his room on campus. He told me where it was. My phone beeped again. You know you’re not allowed to walk around the grounds at night, right? I didn’t know that, but it was something I suspected. Could I wait until the morning before I talked to him? And give Mags more time to plan another attack?

  Nope.

  I put my shoes on and pulled out a map of the grounds. Something Henry had given me when he’d handed me my books. I worked out the quickest route and then discarded it before I looked at the window. I was on the first floor. Which I could probably leave that way and work myself around. There were plenty of trees which I could hide behind. I folded the map and slipped in it my back pocket and grabbed my jacket. Then I unlatched the window and pushed it up. Brisk cold air hit me in the face before I swung my leg over the windowsill and slipped out.

  I hadn’t spent much time outside the Academy, but it sure looked different in the dark. The trees were a more looming and unyielding presence. Twigs snagged on my clothes. A wolf howled somewhere, and my breath caught in my throat. Where the Alphas out hunting somewhere? They wouldn’t do that near the school, would they? That would be a terrible idea.

  Wouldn’t it?

  I pushed the disconcerting thought to the back of my mind. Sure, I could get back and nobody would have noticed that I was gone, but I was committed now. Moving from tree to tree and making sure that I blended in. It wouldn’t make any difference since shifters had a stronger sense of smell. If someone was searching for me, they would find me. I kept moving. The sooner I got back into the academy, the safer I would be. Most of the windows were dark and I counted them until I reached
the one that belonged to Henry. The light was still on. I crept toward it and kept my head down. I reached up and grabbed the window ledge. I pulled myself up, peeked in and was about to knock on the glass when I managed to stop myself.

  Henry wasn’t alone. They were both sat on his bed and there was no mistaking who the girl was. Nobody in the academy had pink hair. Her hand was on his knee and her head slightly cocked to the left, like she was kissing him. I dropped back to the ground and managed to muffle the sob that threaten to tell them someone was outside. We might have never had the girlfriend chat, but I thought that we would have it eventually. Careful not to make a noise I backtracked back to my room.

  My phone beeped, and I picked it up, wiping at the tears on face. Got back late. I’ll see you in the morning. A message from Henry. I sank to the ground. I didn’t know what to send back to him. I bit my lip before I took a deep breath. The tears gradually came to a stop. I’m busy with Gilly in the morning. Message you later. After I sent it, I pushed the power button and the screen went dark. Maybe I was wrong. It was possible my brain played a trick on me and showed me the one thing I hadn’t wanted to see. There had to be a perfectly good reason why it looked like Mags had her tongue shoved into the mouth of a boy I cared about.

  I rarely got angry and the emotion was pointless here. What did I hope to do? I couldn’t fight Mags. I imagined punching or slapping that smug grin off her face would end with my head in her hands after she twisted and pulled it off.

  It wouldn’t be a fight I would win.

  In a place filled with shifters I was very low on the food chain.

  ***

  Morning arrived quickly, and the sun snuck in though my window hitting me square on the face. It was like it didn’t have any decency to match my dark mood. I growled and rolled onto my side, away from the pesky light and closed my eyes again. I had a class in the afternoon, which meant the morning was mine. So how would I spend my morning?

  I need to get out of here.

  I reluctantly got to my feet. Arturo hadn’t said that we were confined to the grounds, so I shouldn’t get into trouble if I tried to leave it. After I got dressed, I opened the door and made my way to the entrance. The corridors weren’t filled with students and I didn’t bother to peek through the small windows on the door. The best thing I could do was not to make eye contact with anyone. Eye contact encouraged conversation and I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I pushed the door open and walked down the stairs. The grounds of the academy were immense, and they were enclosed by a line of trees, it had taken a good couple of minutes by car to travel from the entrance to the front door.

  I knew that I couldn’t leave. If I really wanted to, I knew what I needed. It wouldn’t have been the first time I’d run away, but I hadn’t brought the money with me. It hadn’t even occurred to me. My life was here. Even if it hurt. I kept my head down and the back of my neck grew warm. As soon as I hit the tree line I picked the tallest tree and started to climb. It had been a long time since I’d climbed trees. A lifetime ago, but it seemed like I still remembered how. When there was a fair distance between me and the ground I stopped. The leaves and twigs hid me from view and I made myself comfortable, closing my eyes. I just needed to forget everything for a while. My life had never been normal. My brother running away, learning the skills that my father didn’t want me to know, fighting against werewolves. I had to learn how to deal with everything, but I still couldn’t get my head around the idea that this was my life now.

  One day I’m going to be able to shift.

  I guess I’d never been comfortable with my life. Maybe I knew that something was missing, and this was it. Something so fantastic it couldn’t be real. I thought that everything was clicking into place. In a place where people understood me. No longer at odds with my mother because we had something in common. A boy who had helped me save a city? Someone who I thought had feelings for me. I needed to talk to him, but I felt angry and betrayed. There was no way I could talk to him about it without losing my temper. There had to be a reason why Mags was in his room late at night.

  Because the little human had kicked her butt in gym.

  But it wasn’t like she knew I’d go to his room, that I would see them together.

  There was something inside of me. Something that paced and snarled. At first, I used to think it was just my anger. I always managed to keep it buried deep inside of me because of how destructive it could be. Now I knew better. It was my wolf. The animal inside of me that wouldn’t be triggered until I was bitten. I clenched my hand into fists.

  Suddenly something moved underneath me. I glanced down, but I couldn’t see anything. I kept myself perfectly still. Even as I did it I knew it was pointless. If it was a wolf, they could probably smell me already, but I couldn’t move. It was like I’d been nailed to the spot. A black shadow darted underneath me. It moved at such a speed that I couldn’t make out who it was.

  Rachel? a familiar voice filled my head.

  It was like I was a child again, caught somewhere I shouldn’t be. I kept my mouth shut. Maybe my brother wouldn’t sense me or at least wouldn’t be able to pin me down. The wolf appeared again. He moved his large head from side to side and just as I thought it might keep moving, it glanced up. What are you doing out here?

  “I needed some space, I’m not missing any classes.” Carefully I made my way down the tree and then dropped down next to him. “Why are you looking for me?”

  Gilly told me that she went to your room. It looked like it was ransacked. I was worried. I don’t remember you ever being that messy.

  I frowned, worried that I’d misheard him. “What do you mean that my room’s been ransacked?” I’d barely made an impression on my room. There was no way he could have mistaken me living in the room for it being tossed. I crossed my arms, suddenly cold.

  I don’t know if someone went there looking for you, but it looks like you might have someone holding a grudge against you. He sounded disgusted, his voice odd in her head. It might be one of Jonas’ pack. They were offered a new life here, but it had conditions. It they were caught seeking revenge against those who stopped Jonas, they risk banishment. I hoped that there weren’t going to be any problems, but it looks like someone doesn’t think they’ll be caught.

  “Mags doesn’t like me very much.”

  He shook his massive head and knocked his head against my leg. She was my first thought, but she’s been in class. I found her there.

  “Did my room smell like anyone?” I fought against the urge to shudder at the thought of my brother sniffing my room. But the thought that a stranger had been snooping around my stuff scared me more.

  No, which is odd.

  “Why is that odd?”

  Because everything smells, but your room is devoid of anything, like someone has deliberately masked their scent. Which should be impossible.

  I started walking back with him. The pit of my stomach felt like it had been twisted into knots. A part of me wanted to rush back, to check out my room, but there was also a part of me. A part that I thought I’d left behind, that wanted me to run, to hide. There was also something else. The rage that I identified as my wolf reared its ugly head. I tried to ignore it, but it was like a red mist threaten to overwhelm me.

  “Can a witch do that?”

  You mean Rose? I guess it’s possible, but I doubt she would risk coming onto Academy grounds. The day she went missing was the day she went onto every watch list we have.

  Rose betrayed a lot of people. She ran the Rose Motel with her son, Colin. She was also a witch. The only one I knew and the only person, besides Mags, who might have a grudge against me. It had been me who had helped bring down Jonas, a son that none of her friends had known about. Someone who wanted to take down the current ruling Alpha of London and put his own makeshift pack of misfits and runaways firmly in charge. I helped to stop him. If I hadn’t been searching for my brother, Jonas might have succeeded. The thought terrified me. “She still so
unds like the mostly likely suspect. I haven’t meet any other witches who might want to hurt or freak me out.” If it was her, she managed to get into a place full of shifters without being discovered. Suddenly I felt less safe, yet again.

  I’ll bring it up with Arturo.

  We both walked up the stairs, my brother kept his wolf form as he accompanied me down the hallway to my room. We both drew interested gazes, but I didn’t meet any of them. I didn’t want to be the subject of rumours. There had been enough of those to last a lifetime in my last schools. Plus, I’d come to the Academy with a lot of baggage. This just added fuel to the fire. Outside of my room there were three people, I only recognized one of them, Arturo was a tall man, with long dark hair and an easy smile. There was something instantly likable about him. A principal that would be happy for you to knock on their door and might even have cookies on his desk or a bowl of sweets. He was also a man who stopped a roomful of shifters from rioting on the streets of London. A woman, who wore her hair up in a bun and glasses on the bridge of her nose was writing something down in a book. She glanced up as we approached and smiled before saying something to Arturo which I didn’t pick up on. I would have to ask Michael about it later.

  Arturo nodded, and the woman scurried off. The other man was small, slim and was something else entirely. In my short time in the supernatural world I’d only met shifters and one witch, but I knew that there were more things out there that I didn’t know about. When I had stayed at the Rose Motel I’d been told about the vampire and banshee by Henry, but I’d never seen them. I frowned at the odd man, confused. He bowed when he saw me, a wide smile on his face.

  “Ms. Valentine, it is a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard so many nice things.” He stretched out his hand, the smile never left his face and without even thinking, I shook it. My brother shouted a warning at me, but it was too late, a blast of cold energy hit me, and everything went black.