Chapter 34 Avery
AVERY
By the time the arena doors had slammed behind me, anger had overtaken hurt. I stalked down the hall that led past the trainee locker rooms, intent on meeting up with Ian and the rest of our friends outside and getting the hell out of here.
A man stepped into my path.
“Impressive,” he said, but it did not sound like a compliment.
I took a step back and shifted my bag into my left hand, freeing up my dominant hand to grab a sword if necessary. I eyed the man warily.
He was tall and built like a Prime male—at least six foot three or four, broad shoulders, thick arms, and a long mane of dark hair that contained a few stray grays at the temple.
He looked to be in his forties, but given how shifters aged, he was probably older.
Menacing gray eyes took my measure, and his lip curled.
I didn’t allow Prime males to menace me, but this one gave me serious pause. His hair was a dead giveaway that he was a lion shifter, and the beastly dominance he wore like a cloak said he was a very powerful one.
Instead of rising immediately to the challenge like she normally would’ve, my beast paced her cage, wary and guarded.
“Thank you,” I replied tersely, moving to step around him. “If you’ll excuse me—”
He shifted, blocking my path again. My beast hissed, her fur standing on end.
“You know,” he said lightly, adjusting the cuff of his sleeve, “I’d heard about the female who’d shown up to this college and decided to make waves in the Guardians.
I found it distasteful, certainly, but I’d assumed the males here wouldn’t stand for it and that you’d be put right back in your place. ”
I shifted from foot to foot, debating whether reaching for my sword would escalate this too quickly. “They did try, sir. But maybe you’ll all get lucky and a real live wraith will eat my soul in field training.”
“Hmm.” He pondered me again. “Perhaps. You won’t luck into fighting alongside my sons again, that’s for sure. Your future… unit will be less skilled.”
Shit. This was Heath and Aiden’s terrible dad. The one trying to sell Clara to his rich friends.
My beast growled a low warning in my chest.
“I’m told,” he went on, “that you don’t shift. Not even in the heat of battle or when injured.” He leaned closer, his gray eyes turning silver. “What are you hiding?”
“Step away from me, Mr. Blackwell,” I said through gritted teeth.
That made him smile. “Ah, so you’ve figured out who I am. You’ll know, then, that I’m a member of the Southeastern Council. You will tell me who and what you are. Now.”
“No, and it’s against the law for you to even insinuate that I have to.”
His silver eyes began to glow, and dark-brown fur crawled up his neck. He lashed out with the invisible force of his beast’s dominance, hitting me with such a punch, I nearly stumbled backwards.
Pain flared and dug into my skull. He pushed his will onto me, to answer his question, to bow, to submit.
To shift.
My beast tore to the surface of my skin. I held her tightly, desperate to prevent the shift. She shoved with all her might, roaring as she broke the crucible Blackwell had put me in.
It was his turn to almost stumble as his hold snapped, and he snarled in surprise.
I took advantage of his momentary shock and bolted, skirting around him and sprinting for the doors at the end of the hall that led outside.
When I burst into the warm evening air, I didn’t stop running until I was safely wrapped in Ian’s snug embrace.
It was difficult to tell, between my brother and me, which of us was watching the other one harder.
Ian was as rattled by my confrontation with Councilor Blackwell as I’d been.
I swore up and down that I hadn’t shown my beast’s true colors—no fur, no fangs, some glowing eyes at the worst—but there was no denying the man knew I had a beast and that she was powerful.
A high-powered female beast was a rarity among us, sure, but it wasn’t illegal, nor was it the main reason I was hiding her.
Dad assured me that the Council had no power over the Guardians, which was why it was more important than ever that I become one.
Ian was also acting like I was one mean look from Heath away from a nervous breakdown. I wasn’t really, but I’d have been lying if I’d said the whiplash his quad had given me didn’t hurt. My beast was pathetic and confused over it all, which made me feel pathetic and confused, and I hated it.
On the other hand, I was on Ian’s ass constantly because I was worried he’d run off and try to stab a member of the Blackwell Quad, including the guy who was a professor and the one who was a terrifying mythical snake monster.
Ian didn’t discriminate, and he was going to end up severely injured or dead if he tried it.
Brody and I kept watch on a rotation as best we could, but Ian just shrugged it off like he was amused by our antics.
I knew better—that was how he lulled us into complacency.
“Okay,” I said to my brother as we stood in the hallway in front of my Shifter History classroom. “You have walked me the thirty feet from Lunar Magic class to this one, and no one tried to kill me, nor did I collapse under the unbearable weight of my sorrows.”
He pointed a finger in my face. “I’m getting tired of your attitude, Aves. Excuse the fuck out of me for caring about my sister.”
I swatted his hand away and arched a brow. “I’ll stop complaining about you smothering me if you stop plotting to murder any or all members of the Blackwell Quad.”
He lifted his chin and sniffed. “No deal.”
“Oh, good,” I said as Mallory and Brody arrived, both just getting out of some useless upper-level magical theory class. “You guys can escort my brother to O-Chem.” It was my turn to point a finger in Ian’s face. “No. Throat. Slitting.”
He winked. “Sure thing, Aves.”
My beast gave a guttural growl within my chest, the only warning I received before Kace Mahoney sauntered around the corner, Drew the panther in tow.
Ian’s eyes flashed electric blue. He reached behind his head where the hilt of his katana stuck out from along the side of his backpack, and he yanked his blade free.
Passing students gasped and hurried along.
I groaned. “Brody, help.”
“Babe,” he cooed at Ian, rubbing his knuckles lightly up and down my brother’s side. “We’re not allowed to spill blood in the hallways. Patience. We’ve got all summer to run into him in one of the local bars.”
Ian cooled down, sheathing his blade with a disappointed sigh.
Kace sneered as he saw me and slowed his steps.
Great.
“Well, if it isn’t the whore of the Guardians,” he said. Drew snickered at his shoulder. “Heard Blackwell tossed your ass to the curb. Who’re you spreading your legs for now in that joke of a program?”
Mallory linked her arm through mine and blinked owlishly at him. “Avery, is this the guy who didn’t know a wraith from his own teammate? Maybe I should check him for a concussion.”
“Shut up, you mangy fucking house cat,” Drew snapped.
“Go away, both of you.” My beast began to pace her cage, and I let her peek through my eyes as I leveled Kace with a glare. “Unless this is an official challenge?”
Kace stepped right into my face. Brody and Ian shouldered in front of me like a couple of reckless idiots, and they both winced as Kace’s dominance hit them full force. I tugged Ian behind me, and Mallory yanked Brody over to the wall.
“Outside, Baxter,” Kace growled, crowding me, his fetid breath wafting into my face. “Now that King Blackwell doesn’t appear to care what happens to your ass, it’s time someone showed you what happens to females who don’t know their fucking place.”
I shoved him in the chest with everything I had.
He stumbled backward, his eyes widening like he was shocked at my strength.
It was so ludicrous yet so fucking typical—the guy had seen me run and jump and swing a sword, but it still somehow came as a shock to him that I might actually be strong.
“Back off, Mahoney. If you ever touch me again, I will kill you. Count on it.”
“I said,” he gritted out, “get the fuck outside. We’re finishing this.”
Before I could respond, Kace’s huge body suddenly went flying sideways. He hit the wall so hard that he crashed through the sheetrock, bellowing expletives as he went.
Wyatt had arrived, apparently, and he gave Kace’s plight a cursory glance, a lazy smirk on his face, like he hadn’t been the one who’d just thrown him through a fucking wall.
Heath was with Wyatt, of course, since we all had this class together. He gave me an irritable look before pushing past us. “Stop causing so much fucking trouble, Avery. It’s getting annoying.”
I gaped at his back. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me,” he said tersely, without turning around.
Ian lunged, reaching again for his blade, but I snagged him and handed him to Brody.
Wyatt moseyed along behind Heath. He paused to shoot me a taunting smile over his shoulder. “Sorry I took your kill, Wildcat. Probably should’ve let you get expelled. Would save all of us some headaches.”
My beast snarled in my chest, then buried her nose in her paws. “Fuck off, Wyatt,” I said, only managing to sound tired.
He chuckled and disappeared into the classroom.
I gave my frowning friends and very pissed-off brother a half-hearted smile. “It’s fine. I’m used to… all of this.”
Mallory shook her head sadly. “I’d just thought maybe Heath’s quad was… different.”
I wasn’t sure if I’d thought that, too, or just wished for it like a deluded fool.
Shrugging, I shouldered my backpack and headed for the door. “We live and we learn, Mal. See you guys at lunch.”
I steeled my spine, shoved every emotion threatening to spill out of me into the cage with my beast, and went to class.