Shifter Academy: Year One

Copyright © 2019 by Jody Morse and Jayme Morse

All rights reserved.

Shifter Academy: Year One is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents in this book are products of the authors’ imaginations or have been used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons or locations is coincidental and not intended by the authors.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Jody Morse and Jayme Morse.

Click here to visit Jody & Jayme’s Facebook fan page for updates about the Werewolf Academy series.

Content

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 1

I had never believed in magic.

Even when I was a child, I had never given into the notion that witches, fairies, and mermaids existed. I’d always thought it was all just a bunch of hocus pocus. And don’t even get me started on monsters. I had never believed in vampires, Bigfoot, or the Boogeyman.

But all of that changed on the night of the back to school carnival. My entire life would change, but I didn’t know that yet as I sat down at a table covered with a purple tablecloth with silver moons printed on it.

There was a sign that read: Psychic Readings by Gretta.

“I can’t believe I’m about to get a psychic reading. Why did I let you talk me into this?” I asked, glancing over at my best friend Rachel. “You know I don’t believe in psychics.”

Rachel looked up at me from her cell phone. “The proceeds go to support prom, remember?”

“It’s just going to be a waste of twenty bucks,” I muttered under my breath.

“It’s just for fun, Lena,” she said, rolling her gray eyes at me. “And it goes to support a good cause.”

“I don’t know if I’ll even go to prom now that Jake and I aren’t going together,” I pointed out.

“There are way hotter guys in our class to go to prom with than Jake, trust me.”

“It’s not about looks,” I replied with a sigh. Jake may have been Cherry Valley High’s star quarterback and every girl in school’s dream guy, but my interest in him had never been about how attractive he was. Until my parents died last year, he had been my next-door neighbor. He was my best friend, and my boyfriend.

Keyword: was.

Now, he was my ex-boyfriend.

Before Rachel and I had the chance to discuss it further, the blue curtain opened, and Gretta sat down at the table across from us. She had long, black hair, olive skin, and striking amber eyes.

“Which one of you would like to go first?” Gretta asked.

“I will,” I volunteered. Honestly, I was ready to get this phony shit over with.

“Okay.” Gretta nodded and pulled a crystal ball out of a blue velvet bag. She placed it on the table in front of us.

As she ran her hand over it, the crystal ball glowed a vibrant shade of pink. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought it looked real… but it was obviously battery-operated.

“I can see that you are not who you believe you are, Lena,” Gretta began.

My eyes widened. I hadn’t told her my name. But Rachel had probably written it down when she’d signed us up for this.

“You are about to go through a major transformation,” Gretta continued. “I see a new school in your future. A new boarding school.”

Well, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that much out. We were high school seniors. Of course I was going to be headed off to an overpriced university in the fall.

“You may struggle to fit in there,” she went on. “It may take some time, but you will find your place.” Gretta paused, narrowing her eyes at the crystal ball, which flashed blue now. “I see that you have lost two important people in recent times. Two people who meant a lot to you. Everything has changed.”

Her eyes met mine sympathetically.

I swallowed hard. Just because she was right didn’t mean she was a psychic. Maybe I just looked sad. Maybe I just looked like a girl whose parents had died.

Gretta’s eyes narrowed as she stared into the crystal ball. “I see lions… and tigers.”

“Lions and tigers?” I repeated.

She nodded. “And bears.” Gretta’s amber eyes flicked up to meet mine.

“Oh my,” Rachel joked. Gretta shot her a dagger-eyed glare.

“I see three bears,” she continued. “It is the bears you need to worry about. The cats will guard you, as long as you let them. You shouldn’t fear them.”

So, apparently, I was going to go off to college and come across three bears. My future was beginning to sound a lot like Goldie Locks. The only difference was that my bears were apparently going to eat me.

“I can see the color purple.”

“Let me guess. That’s going to be the color of my dorm room.”

Gretta shook her head. “No. Purple is the color of your heart.”

Lately, I was pretty sure that my heart was black, but what did I know?

“I see a crown,” Gretta announced.

“A crown?” I questioned with raised eyebrows.

She nodded. “And a struggle for power.”

This was all beginning to sound a bit unbelievable. I shot Rachel a glance that said I told you so. She just shrugged.

“There is one more thing I see,” Gretta said. Her amber eyes locked on mine. “I see a kiss. A kiss that will happen sooner than you think. A kiss that will change everything.”

***

“You were nominated for junior prom queen last year, so you’ll probably be nominated for senior prom queen this year,” Rachel said as we stood in front of the cotton candy stand. “Maybe that’s what the whole crown and power struggle thing was about.”

“I guess that makes sense,” I agreed. Gretta must have somehow gotten her hands on the flyer for last year’s junior prom king and queen nominees. That would explain how she’d known my name, too, since Rachel said she hadn’t given her it.

“And I think I’ve found our next stop,” Rachel said, coming to a stop in front of a booth.

My eyes fell on the sign, which read:

$2 Per Kiss

I turned back to Rachael. “A kissing booth? Really?”

“Well, the psychic did say this life-changing kiss was going to happen sooner than you thought,” my best friend replied with a shrug.

I rolled my eyes. “I am not paying for someone to kiss me.”

“I have two bucks.” She reached for her wallet.

I put my hand up. “If you want to pay for your own kiss, then go for it. But I’m not kissing someone working in a kissing booth.”

“Suit yourself,” Rachel replied, popping some pink cotton candy into her mouth.

As we walked past the booth, my heart stopped.

Jake was walking in our direction. And he was holding hands with Morgan Thompson, who lived across the street and was one of my former best friends. That friendship had come to a screeching halt when Morgan decided to start dating Jake, knowing that he and I dated all of sophomore and junior year and that he was the first boy I’d ever loved.

This thing between them was still so new. So fresh. Seeing the two of them together still hurt like hell.

I watched as Jake’s eyes met mine. He stopped in his tracks and then turned to Morgan. He lowered his head and kissed her on the lips.

What. The. Fuck.

He had obviously kissed her just because he knew I was watching. He had wanted to get to me.

The worst part about it all? Whatever he was trying to do, whatever reaction he was trying to elicit from me…  It was actually working. I could feel the jealousy and anger surge through me like a wave of electricity. It flooded my veins.

As I took a few steps closer, I completely collided with a guy—a very strong guy. His chest was rock solid.

Taking a step back, I took him in. I had never seen him before. He had short, dark brown hair, and a lean but muscular build. His sun-kissed skin had this radiant glow to it, unlike anything I had ever seen before.

As his blue eyes met mine, they just seemed to pierce through me. My breath caught in my throat.

He was absolutely gorgeous. I had never seen a guy as attractive as him in my entire life. His good looks were out of this world.

The guy just stood there, staring at me almost expectantly. It dawned on me that he must have been waiting for an apology for my bumping into him.

“Sorry about that. I just saw my ex and he’s dating my old best friend now and they kissed…  and I wasn’t watching where I was going,” I blurted.

“No need to apologize, Lena.” The guy leaned in closer to me and whispered, “I know he’s still watching.”

Before I even had the chance to ask how the hell this gorgeous guy even knew my name, his lips were crashing down on mine.

And that was when I felt it: This electric-like energy that passed between the two of us. It was this pull, this gravity, unlike anything I had ever felt before.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him into me.

His hands fell to my back as he deepened the kiss. He kissed me like we were the only ones at the carnival—like we were the only ones in the entire world.

When the mysterious stranger pulled away from me, I was completely breathless.

I found myself wanting, craving more of him.

Wow.

The stranger glanced over in Jake’s direction and then commented, “He looks pretty jealous right now.”

But after that kiss, Jake being jealous was the absolute last thing on my mind.

I just wanted to know more about this gorgeous stranger. Because that kiss was… well… incredible.

That kiss was life-changing, a voice in the back of my mind whispered. I hadn’t known before now that a kiss could even feel like that—that a kiss could be so amazing.

“So, I hope that helped with your situation,” the guy said, interrupting my thoughts.

“Thank you,” I replied, even though I didn’t even care if it helped or not anymore. “I didn’t catch your name.”

His lips curved upwards into a smile. “It’s Ezra. Ezra Gray.” His eyes locked on mine again. “I will see you around.”

There was a sense of certainty behind his voice. It was as if he was positive that he would see me again. I didn’t understand how he could be so sure when we hadn’t even met each other before now.

“Yeah, see you,” I managed to respond.

Then, without saying another word, he walked away.

“Okay, who the hell was that?” Rachel asked.

“Ezra Gray.”

“I’ve never seen him before.”

“Me either,” I replied with a shrug.

“Wait, you don’t even know him?” Rachel stared at me with wide eyes.

“Um, if I knew a guy who looked like that, don’t you think I would have mentioned it before now? I’ve never seen him before in my life.”

“So, this guy who you’ve never even met before just randomly walks up to you and makes out with you?” Rachel asked.

“I think he was trying to help me make Jake jealous,” I replied. At least, that was how it had seemed, but something about it still felt… off.

“I wish I had that sort of luck,” Rachel replied.

I glanced over my shoulder again, hoping to catch another glimpse of him. But he was gone.

“You know what this means, right?” My best friend asked as we fell into line for the Tilt-a-Whirl.

“What?”

“The psychic was right. You did kiss someone sooner than you thought you would.”

“Yeah, but we don’t know yet if it will be a kiss that will change everything.” But even as I spoke the words, I just had this feeling that it somehow would.

Chapter 2

I was just about to fall asleep that night when I heard the sound of a knock on the sliding glass door.

What the hell.

Tossing my comforter to the side, I climbed out of bed and glanced out the sliding glass door. I found myself face-to-face with Ezra.

My room had a balcony. How had he even gotten up there?

“Come outside,” he mouthed as he stared at me with those eyes. I had never seen anything like them before. They were a shade of light blue that was so unnatural, so striking, that I found myself unable to look away from them.

Under ordinary circumstances, I would have known better than to go outside on the balcony with him. There were so many red flags. He was just a stranger—an incredibly gorgeous stranger who I happened to love kissing. A stranger who had figured out my name and where I lived.

But, somehow, I just knew nothing about this was ordinary. And so, I slid into my shoes and then stepped out onto the balcony.

“What are you doing here? How did you get on my balcony? How did you even find me?”

“Lena, do you trust me?” Ezra asked, his eyes pouring into mine.

Deep down, I knew I had every reason in the world not to trust him. And yet, for reasons I couldn’t even begin to explain, I did.

I nodded. “Yes, but I’m not sure why. How do you even know my name?”

“I’ve been following you for a while now,” he explained. “I’m a Tracker.”

“A what?”

“I was sent to follow you.”

Because that wasn’t creepy at all. “So, you’ve been stalking me?”

He nodded. “Yeah, pretty much.”

Well, at least he was honest.

“For how long?” I asked.

“About a year. Long enough to know that you’ve been through hell and back,” he said quietly.

My parents’ deaths. Somehow, Ezra knew about it all. And while I probably should have felt like he’d violated my privacy, I didn’t.

It probably sounded crazy, but for some reason, it was almost comforting to know that he’d watched those things happening to me.

“Lena, I need you to come with me,” Ezra said, his blue eyes locking on mine.

Damn those blue eyes. I was convinced they could persuade me to do anything.

“Come with you where?”

“I don’t think you’d believe me even if I told you. It would be better if I just showed you.”

“Ezra, just tell me,” I insisted.

“Well, here’s the thing.” He hesitated, as if trying to figure out the right words to say. “You’re not human.”

“What do you mean I’m not human?” I let out a little laugh, taken back by his words. “If I’m not human, then what am I?”

There was a serious look in his eyes. “You’re a shifter, Lena. Just like me.”

“A shifter?”

“There are different kinds—werewolves, werebears, tiger shifters, lion shifters, fox shifters, bird shifters. You name it, and it probably exists,” he explains.

I just narrowed my eyes at him. “You want me to believe that I’m a werewolf?”

He nodded. “Or one of the other kinds of shifters.”

The psychic’s words echoed through my mind. “I see lions and tigers… And bears. I see three bears… It is the bears you need to worry about. The cats will guard you, as long as you let them. You shouldn’t fear them.”

What were the odds that the psychic had just talked about those animals and now he was telling me that I might have actually been one of those animals? I wanted to believe that all of this was a coincidence, but it was a little strange.

“By staying here, your life—and the life of everyone around you—is in great danger,” Ezra went on. “You turn eighteen soon, which means you’re about to shift for the first time. You need to learn more about yourself, to really reign in on your powers. Shifter Academy is a boarding school for our kind. It will help you learn to be a shifter, and to become the most powerful—and in control— shifter you can possibly be.”

The psychic’s voice played through my mind again.  “You are about to go through a major transformation… I see a new school in your future. A boarding school.”

I had just assumed she’d been talking about college, but was this what she had actually meant?

“Just let me show you. Please.” Ezra’s eyes locked on mine then.

“If I don’t like this Shifter Academy, will you bring me home?” I asked.

“Of course. If that’s what you want.”

“How would I even pay for Shifter Academy?” I asked him.

“We offer one student a scholarship every year, and given your… circumstances...”—I knew he was referring to my dead parents— “we felt that it should go to you this year. If you want it. It includes free tuition, room and board, books, and uniforms.”

“Uniforms?” I wrinkled my nose. “I need some of my own clothes.”

I glanced around at the house. Aunt Lily was sleeping. We lived together because I had nowhere else to go since my parents died, but the two of us led entirely separate lives. Most of the time, I just felt like I was nothing more than a burden on her lifestyle, which mostly involved out of town business trips and falling into bed every night with whatever guy she found on Tinder that week.

I knew she wouldn’t even notice if I left. She never did. When Jake and I were still together, I had stayed at his house for days or even weeks at a time without Aunt Lily noticing.

Maybe that was why it was so easy for me to decide to go.

“Okay,” I agreed with a nod. “I’ll go to Shifter Academy. But I need to pack some clothes first.”

Ezra nodded. “I’ll wait here.”

I went back into my bedroom and grabbed a backpack. I started tossing all of my favorite clothes inside: a pair of jeans, some tops, a pair of flip-flops, some leggings, and underwear. I eyed the dresses in my closet before tossing a little black dress in the bag, too. Who knew if the school had dances or anything? I also threw in some makeup and a brush, my toothbrush and toothpaste, some deodorant.

Then I gave myself one last look in the mirror. My dark brown hair fell over my shoulders in long, loose waves, and my honey brown eyes stared back at me. My skin still had that summer glow.

Was I really a shifter?

Not that I knew what one would even look like.

I was really about to do this. I was about to leave behind everything. Even though it seemed crazy, the truth was that I felt ready to embark on a new journey. A new life.

A part of me secretly hoped that Ezra was telling the truth. If he was lying—if this was some sort of cruel prank—I would have been disappointed.

I stepped back outside and slid the door closed behind me. “I’m ready now. We need to sneak out of the house, unless you want us to climb down whatever tree you used to get up here.” I glanced around the backyard trying to figure out which one it had been, but all of the trees looked like they were too far away.

“So, here’s the thing. I don’t want to scare you, but you don’t get to Shifter Academy by car.”

“Oh. Well, I don’t mind flying,” I replied with a shrug.

“That’s not what I mean. Shifter Academy is in a completely different realm.”

“A different realm?” I just scared at him skeptically. It was hard enough to believe that I could be a shifter, but did he really expect me to believe there was another realm?

“Yeah. So, in order to get there, I need you to hold my hands,” he instructed.

I turned to face him. He extended his hands to me, and I felt my skin tingle as we touched. I laced my fingers between his. My hands felt tiny in comparison to his large hands.

Ezra closed his eyes then and spoke in a language I’d never heard before, and then I saw a poof of blue smoke surrounding us.

It was magic.

When the smoke was gone, we were no longer standing on my balcony.

A stone castle loomed before us. There was a wooden drawbridge that spanned across a moat filled with water.

The castle itself was enormous. It was all I could see in the distance, with numerous towers. There was a large clock tower, which rested above the main entrance of the castle.

What stood out to me the most was the gray stone, which glowed a shade of purple underneath the light of the full moon.

It was beautiful. It looked like something straight out of a fairytale.

Ezra glanced over at me. “Welcome to Shifter Academy.”

Chapter 3

As we crossed the drawbridge, I noticed the gargoyles that stared down at us almost menacingly from one of the towers above. There were about twelve of them. They creeped me out.

“What’s with all the gargoyles?” I asked Ezra.

“They were a gift from Hercules.”

I stopped in my tracks. “Hercules? As in the Greek God?”

He nodded. “That would be the one.”

“So, Greek Gods are real?”

“One of the things that you’re about to learn, Lena, is that most of what you’ve ever heard about in the human world… all of the myths, all of the legends are true,” Ezra said. “The real stories just often diverge from the way humans tell them.”

“Wow,” I whispered. “Why would Hercules gift all these gargoyles to Shifter Academy?”

“Probably to get them out of his hair. They can be rather annoying. They’re mostly inanimate, but they do come to life during the full moon. And when they do, they can be a real pain in the ass.”

I knew that I shouldn’t have even been surprised that gargoyles could really come to life when shifters apparently existed.

At least, I assumed they did. I hadn’t actually seen any shifters yet, but I had witnessed magic. Real, actual magic. My mind was completely blown.

How the hell had this suddenly become my life? Just hours ago, I’d kissed Ezra, a total stranger, and now I was at an actual castle where I would be going to school with other shifters—a school where gargoyles also came to life at night.

“The gargoyles weren’t actually a gift to Shifter Academy,” Ezra went on. “They were actually a gift to the original family who lived in this castle—the Fox family.”

“Let me guess. They were Fox shifters?” I asked, glancing over at him.

“Yup. During the ancient times, the fox shifters were the most powerful shifters—and the Fox family, who called this castle home, ruled the shifter world,” he explained. “Isabella and Alexander Fox were the Queen and King of the shifter world.”

“Is the Fox family still in control?”

“Nope.”

I expected him to explain how the foxes had been dethroned, but he didn’t dive further into the topic as we approached the castle entrance.

Ezra opened the door for me. As we stepped into the castle, I drank it all in.

A beautiful chandelier with hundreds of little golden lights hung from the center of the room, and there were pillars throughout the foyer. The marble floors led to a red-carpeted double staircase, which met at the center of the second story of the castle. There were intricate details everywhere, from carvings of animals on the walls to tiny carvings of paw prints on the railings of the staircase.

It was absolutely incredible.

As I followed Ezra up the stairs, he glanced over his shoulder at me. “Classes start in two days. The Sorting Ceremony is going to be held tomorrow night at the stadium.”

My eyebrows lifted. “Sorting Ceremony?”

All of this was beginning to give me Harry Potter vibes.

Ezra nodded. “It’s to determine what type of shifter you are, which will help place you into some of your classes. There are some classes here that everyone has to take, but others are dependent on your shifter race.” As we reached the next story of the castle, he began to lead me down a hallway. “This is where the majority of the general classes are held. The electives will be held in each of the towers, which are mostly divided according to type of shifter.”

Ezra led me down the hallway to another set of doors. “This is the Shifter Academy library.”

As I looked into the library, the breath caught in my throat. I had never seen more books in my life—and that made me sort of excited. The truth was that I was actually a total book nerd. I could never get enough of reading. Knowing that all of these books were right at my disposal was amazing.

“Some of these are books that you’d find in the human world,” Ezra went on. “But most of them are books about this world. Our world.”

As his eyes drifted over to mine again, my breath hinged in my throat.

There was one thing I had realized, and it was that I would never get tired of looking at him. I wondered if that was the entire reason that I was so attracted to him, and why it felt like there was this amazing chemistry between us. We weren’t human. And as far as I knew, he was only the first of my kind who I had ever met.

He stared at me for a long moment before finally clearing his throat. “I should probably show you the Dining Hall next. It’s in another building.”

I nodded and allowed him to lead the way down another set of stairs.

“So, are you a first-year student, too?” I asked, wondering if we would have any classes together.

“No, I’m a sophomore.”

“Oh.” I knew the disappointment probably showed on my face.

“I have a busy schedule,” he continued. “A lot of my time is spent tracking prospective students, so I juggle my classes and commuting back and forth to the human realm.”

“How did you even find me?” I asked him.

“The Headmistress sent me to find you.”

“Why did she want you to find me of all people?”

“They don’t let just anyone come here, Lena. Only shifters from very powerful bloodlines and, sometimes, shifters who were bitten,” Ezra explained. “You were chosen to come here before you were even born because you come from a strong bloodline.”

“I do?” My eyebrows shot up.

He nodded. “Both of your parents came from powerful shifter bloodlines.”

“My parents were shifters?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Wow.” It surprised me, to be honest. My mom and dad had only ever seemed like normal human parents. There was no way they could have been shifters without me even knowing it.

But it wasn’t like I could ask them now, considering both of them were dead.

“What type of shifters were my parents?” I questioned.

Ezra’s blue eyes moved over to meet mine. “I don’t really know for sure. I’m also not at liberty to say.”

“Why not?”

“I’m under strict orders from the Headmistress not to share anyone’s bloodlines with them,” he replied. “All I do know is that your parents’ bloodlines are both far more powerful than most students who go to Shifter Academy.”

“What does that mean for me?”

“You are likely far more powerful than many shifters.” He looked like he wanted to say something more, but he didn’t. Instead, he continued his way down the hallway. He opened a door, which took us outdoors.

There was a stone building that sat diagonal to the castle. “This building right here is the Dining Hall. You’ll find it right inside those doors,” Ezra informed me. “It’s closed now, so I can’t show you it, but it’s got just about anything you could ever want to eat—from pizza and burgers to French cuisine and sushi.” He glanced around, as if he was trying to figure out what to show me next. “The towers. I should show you the towers.”

He led the way to the large courtyard. “The tower to the northwest is where the werewolf classes are held. That tower at the southeast of campus is where the cat classes are held. All of the classes for tigers, lions, cougars, jaguars, cheetahs, panthers—you name it. All of the towers in between are designated to other types of shifters.”

“What about that tower?” I asked, pointing to a tower located at the dead center of the campus. I wasn’t sure what it was, but something about that tower gave me weird vibes. The full moon and the courtyard lit up the back of the castle, casting an illuminating glow over the many towers. But this tower looked darker than all the rest… almost eerie.

“That tower is for the bears,” he replied.

I could hear Gretta’s voice replay through my mind again. “It is the bears you need to worry about.”

“Want to see my favorite part of Shifter Academy?” Ezra asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Sure,” I agreed.

Ezra led me into one of the buildings. “This is the student rec center. There’s a gym, a weight lifting room, and a lot of other color things. But my favorite part is right behind this door,” he explained, pushing it open.

As we entered the room, I was surprised to find that we were standing in what looked like a forest. A really warm, tropical forest. Even though it was dark outside, the sun was beating down on us here, and I could hear the sound of birds chirping.

“Where are we?” I asked Ezra.

His blue eyes smiled down into mine. “Where do you think we are?”

I hesitated for a moment. “It feels like we’re in the rainforest.”

“That’s because we sort of are.” Ezra held out his hand to me.

As he began to lead me through the rainforest, I asked, “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

We walked deeper into the forest until we reached a pool of clear blue water, nestled within the trees. There were waterfalls that flowed into it.

“This would be The Lagoon,” Ezra informed me.

“Why is it here?” It seemed really random to have a lagoon in the middle of a boarding school.

“The Academy has recreated some of the natural habitats animals would normally be in. This helps most shifters thrive. There’s also a forest, an aquatic flora, a desert, and an arctic room.”

“So, what do you think?” Ezra’s blue eyes met mine. The color looked even more vibrant against the clear blue water that surrounded us.

“I think it’s breathtaking,” I replied.

“So are you.” His blue eyes found mine again. He leaned in closer to me.

I might have only been imagining it, but I was pretty sure he was going to kiss me. And there was nothing I wanted more in that moment than to kiss him. But I heard the sound of laughter slice through the air, completely ruining the moment.

A moment later, three girls wearing bathing suits walked out to the area where we were standing.

A girl with light brown hair, who I was pretty sure was the leader of the group, shot dagger eyes in my direction as she walked past me.

What the hell had I done to her? I’d only been here for a second and already I was making enemies?

Then, she and the other two girls—a blonde and a girl with burgundy hair—headed into the water.

“So, uh, I should probably help get you settled into your dorm room,” Ezra said then.

“Okay,” I agreed with a nod.

As we began to walk back down the trail that would lead us out of the room, I glanced over my shoulder at the girls… only to find out the brunette was still glaring in my direction.

What I couldn’t figure out was why.

Chapter 4

“So, you’re in dorm room number—” Ezra glanced down at his phone for confirmation— “seventeen.”

“This is thirteen, so it’s right down the hall.” He led the way. “Cell phone service does work on campus. We have Wi-Fi. There’s a laptop in your dorm room. One of your roommates checked in a few days ago. Here’s your key.” He handed me a gold key and then tapped his foot against the marble floor. “I feel like I’m forgetting something. Oh. Your uniforms are in your dresser.”

“How did they know what my size is?” I found myself asking.

“I’ve been watching you for a year. I can see how petite you are. You’re an extra-small, correct?”

I nodded.

“Thought so.” He paused as we came to a stop in front of Room 17. “So, unfortunately, this is where I need to bid you farewell.” His blue eyes slid over to meet mine. “Try to get a good night’s sleep, okay? Tomorrow is going to be a really busy day for you with the Sorting Ceremony and all.”

“Okay. Thank you for bringing me here.”

“There’s no need to thank me, Lena. It was my pleasure.” He looked sincere. “I’m sure I’ll see you at some point tomorrow.”

I nodded. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, lovely girl.” Then, without saying another word, he turned and walked away from me.

My heart ached a little as he went. I didn’t want him to go.

Finally, I took a deep breath and turned my key in the knob. I opened the door, surprised to find that the dorm room was absolutely beautiful. With a teardrop chandelier, pearly white tiled floors, light gray-colored walls, and three queen-sized beds with matching dark gray upholstered headboards, it looked more like a luxury apartment than a student dorm room.

“Hey.” My roommate glanced up at me from the book she was reading. Her dark brown eyes met mine, and she ran a hand through her obviously colored hair; no one’s hair was that silvery blonde in real life, and it was a lot lighter than her bold, dark brown eyebrows, which were one of her most striking features. She had olive skin, and her makeup skills were on point.

What I noticed the most about her, though, was her body type. She looked incredibly athletic, with really defined, muscular arms. “I’m Alexis.”

“I’m Lena,” I replied as I tossed my backpack on the floor next to my bed.

“Where are you from?” Lena asked.

“New Jersey. How about you?”

“San Diego.” She put the book down on her nightstand and sat up. “We have another roommate, but she’s not supposed to get here until after the Sorting Ceremony.” Alexis glanced over at me. “I’m not sure what could be more important than being sorted, personally. This is the moment every shifter has been waiting for our entire lives, you know?”

“Actually, I can’t relate,” I replied as I sat down on my bed. “I just found out tonight that I’m a shifter.” Allegedly a shifter, I reminded myself.

“Really? Were you bitten?” Alexis asked.

“No, I was born this way, apparently. But no one ever told me.”

“Wow. Your parents never mentioned it?”

“Nope.” I swallowed hard. “So, what was it like growing up shifter?”

“A lot different from human teenagers, actually,” Alexis admitted. “I always knew there would be no college. I mean, I might go to college eventually, but I knew Shifter Academy would come first. My parents were only strict because they were always so afraid that I would bite someone and turn them. That’s a crime in our world, by the way. Don’t ever bite someone to turn them.”

“I definitely don’t plan to,” I replied. The idea of sinking my teeth into someone else’s flesh completely weirded me out.

“Some shifters bite to turn others intentionally, but sometimes it just happens naturally. Until we learn to gain control over our inner animal, we’re at risk of biting anyone who we come into contact with. That’s part of the reason they encourage us to come to Shifter Academy in the first place. To gain control over that. Otherwise, we could all end up turning everyone in the human world,” Alexis explained.

“That makes sense.” I paused. “Have you already shifted for the first time?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“I wonder what it’s like.”

“Painful. At least, the first few times are supposed to be excruciatingly painful. I think you get used to it over time.” She shrugged.

“Oh. Well, I’m good with pain.” I paused. “Come to think of it, I’ve never even felt pain. I broke my arm once while I was playing soccer, and it never even hurt a bit. The doctor was impressed.”

“And let me guess. Your arm healed up faster than other patients,” Alexis said.

My eyes widened. “How did you know?”

“Because it’s a shifter thing. We heal up really fast when we break bones or get other injuries when we’re kids. Faster than human children, anyway. Once we shift for the first time, our wounds and bones usually heal within minutes,” Alexis explained.

“That makes so much sense,” I murmured.

“It’s one of the benefits of being a shifter,” she replied.

“What are the other benefits?” I found myself asking.

“Well, we’re all ridiculously attractive,” she replied.

“Is that why I was so attracted to the Tracker who brought me here?” I questioned.

“Did it feel like your connection with him was out of this world?” Alexis asked.

“It was unlike anything I’ve ever felt for anyone before.”

“Then yes.”

“Will I feel that same sort of connection with every shifter I meet?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“No,” she replied, shaking her head. “Don’t get me wrong. You’ll probably never find a shifter to be ugly. From what I’ve been told, there’s no such thing as an ugly shifter. But we do tend to feel deeper attractions when we do connect with one.”

I breathed a slight sigh of relief. “So, what I felt with him might actually be… real?”

“Oh, it’s totally real, girl,” Alexis assured me. “It’s just deeper and stronger than what you’d feel with a human.” She paused. “It’s also possible that he might be your mate.”

“My… mate?” Like the Australian word? “I felt that way for him because we’re friends?”

She laughed. “No. All shifters have a mate—like a soul mate. It’s someone who you’re destined to be with. Usually, it’s someone who’s the same type of shifter as you are, but not always.”

“Wow,” I whispered. I had never believed in soul mates, of course. That was too much like magic. It was crazy to think that this was actually real.

“Our skin tends to regenerate at a much faster rate,” Alexis went on. “That’s why we heal so fast, and it also makes us look younger than humans.”

That made sense. Everyone had always said that I looked younger than people my own age.

“We’re also immortals. Well, mostly immortal. There are very few things that can actually kill us.”

“But that doesn’t make any sense,” I said, shaking my head.

“Why doesn’t it?” She looked a little confused by my reaction.

“It’s just…” I swallowed hard as I tried to make sense of this. “The Tracker who brought me to Shifter Academy told me my parents were shifters, but they died about nine months ago.”

“I’m sorry,” Alexis said gently. “That must have been so hard for you.” She paused. “How did they die?”

“In a car accident.”

She frowned. “There’s no way a car accident would have killed your parents.”

“So, what are you saying?” I asked.

“That they must have died some other way.” Alexis met my eyes. “If I had to guess, I would say they were murdered.”

***

I didn’t sleep at all that night. There were just so many thoughts running through my mind. I was having a hard time processing everything.

I was a shifter.

I had just met and kissed the most gorgeous guy I’d ever laid eyes on.

I was now going to this boarding school.

And my parents, who I believed had died in a horrific freak accident, had probably been murdered.

It was all so much to take in.

***

Around noon, Alexis and I decided to head to the Dining Hall for lunch.

As we entered, I was surprised at how huge the buffet was. Ezra hadn’t been joking about how many food options there were.

I decided on shrimp tacos, while Alexis grabbed a hamburger and fries.

We had just sat down to eat our lunch when I saw them: Three absolutely gorgeous guys who strode across the Dining Hall like they fucking owned the place.

And judging by the way people moved out of their way and stared at them, I was pretty sure they did own the place. It almost felt like something out of a movie scene.

They moved across the room and then sat down two tables ahead of us.

Every shifter who I had encountered so far was way more attractive than the average human. But something about the three of them just seemed to exude hotness. I tried not to stare at them, but it was really hard not to.

The guy who sat on the left had black hair, which he wore in a crew cut, and his emerald green eyes glimmered underneath the dim cafeteria lighting. His shoulders were extremely muscular, but his body was sleek at the same time, which led me to wonder what type of shifter he was.

The one in the center had dirty blonde hair, which was longish in the front, and sun-kissed skin that made it look like he spent a lot of time at the beach. There was a serious look in his golden-brown eyes as he spoke. He was the tallest and, by far, the most muscular of the three of them.

The third one had the most unique looks of the group. He had deep caramel skin that just seemed to glow from across the room, and sharp, angular features. His dark hair was cut into a short buzz cut.

But it was his eyes that stood out to me the most. Even from a few tables away, I could see that they were an inhuman, striking shade of violet.

He looked up at me then, and I darted my eyes away from him, pretending that I hadn’t been staring.

“Those guys,” I said quietly, glancing over at Alexis. “They’re powerful, aren’t they?”

She followed my gaze to the table where the three gorgeous guys were sitting by themselves.

“Powerful would be an understatement,” she replied. “They’re the Alpha Brotherhood.”

“The what?” My eyebrows lifted curiously.

“The Alpha Brotherhood. They’re seniors here.”

“How do you know who they are?” I asked with wide eyes.

“I’ve been here for a few days now, remember?” she asked. “But even if I wasn’t, I would still know who they are. They’re famous in the paranormal world. They’re all best friends, and they’re all incredibly powerful—the most powerful of their kind,” she explained. “They pretty much run this school. Everyone knows not to mess with them because they’re from the most powerful shifter bloodlines. You see the one with the black hair?”

I nodded. How could I miss him? He was possibly the most gorgeous of the three—though all of them were extremely good-looking.

“That’s Rafael Kahn. He’s a descendant of Shere Khan.”

“Shere Khan? Isn’t that the tiger from The Jungle Book?” I asked with wide eyes.

“Yes, and no,” she replied. “That’s just one depiction of him in literature, but it couldn’t be further from reality—except for the fact that he was really known to be that ruthless in real life. Actually, ruthless is an understatement. He was evil. But here’s what The Jungle Book got wrong. Shere Khan wasn’t just a tiger. He was actually a tiger shifter—and not just any tiger shifter. He was the King of the Tigers, and the most powerful tiger shifter in history.”

“So, that means Rafael’s a tiger shifter?” I asked.

“Yup, and the next in line to be King of the Tigers.” She took a swig of soda. “The blonde one is Damon Crowne.” She paused. “You know of the zodiac sign Leo, right?”

“Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?” I asked with raised brows.

“The lion shifter Damon descended from is Leo, the lion for which the zodiac sign was named,” Alexis explained. “Leo is sometimes known as the Nemean lion. You might have heard about it from Greek mythology. Leo was King of the Lions. He was known to be so powerful that the only one who could kill him was Heracles, Zeus and Alcmene’s son. Leo’s spirit is said to be trapped in his constellation. Meanwhile, Damon is his direct descendant.”

“Wow,” I murmured. “So, that would make Damon next in line to be King of the Lions?”

“Bingo. And then there’s Harden Swift,” Alexis said, focusing her attention in on the last one at the table. “He’s a jaguar shifter.”

Somehow, I could actually see it. With his caramel skin and violet eyes, he probably had the most striking looks of the three of them.  Something about his appearance just screamed jaguar shifter to me.

“He descended from the Jaguar Knights, which were jaguar shifters who served the Aztec sorcerers during the ancient times,” she explained. “They were the most powerful jaguar shifters known to exist, and his father was King of the Jaguars.”

“Meaning Harden is the next King of the Jaguars, too?” I was starting to notice a trend.

“Yup,” she replied, just as Ezra joined them at the table at that moment, sliding in across from Rafael.

“Wait. Ezra is one of the Alpha Brotherhood?”

“Yup.” She raised her eyebrows at me. “You know Ezra?”

“Yeah. He’s the Tracker who brought me here,” I explained.

“Wow. That actually makes perfect sense,” she replied. “His mother, Ella Gray, is the Headmistress of Shifter Academy.”

“She is?” For some reason, that information surprised me. I guess what shocked me the most was that he had left that little detail out.

Alexis nodded. “Yeah. The Grays are said to be the most powerful werewolves today. They descended from Lycaon of Arcadia.”

“Who’s that?” I questioned.

“You’ve never heard of Lycaon?” Her eyes grew really wide.

I shook my head. “Nope.”

“I keep forgetting you didn’t grow up knowing about shifters,” Alexis explained. “In this world, Lycaon is a legend. We’re taught about him from the time we’re children. He’s another famous figure in Greek mythology, but the legend in our worlds are slightly different. Lycaon was the King of Arcadia. He was known to be a ruthless king. He tried to trick Zeus into eating the flesh of his lover—not his son, like in the story the humans tell.

“In return, Zeus turned Lycaon into a wolf shifter. He was the first wolf shifter in history, and went on to become King of the Werewolves. His descendants have remained in the royal bloodline, which means Ezra is the next in line to be King.”

“Wow.” It was strange to think that I had kissed the next in line to be King of the Werewolves. “So, does that mean his mom is the queen?”

“Yes,” Alexis explained. “He’s got a bunch of siblings, but they’re all younger.”

“So, the entire Alpha Brotherhood all comes from powerful bloodlines, and it sounds like most of their ancestors were pretty freaking ruthless. Are they ruthless?” I asked Alexis.

Even as I spoke the words, though, the question sounded silly to me. Ezra seemed sweet to me. Nothing about him had seemed ruthless.

“I would stay far away from them, if I were you,” Alexis answered.

“Why?” I asked.

“Rumor has it that they’re not good guys.” She didn’t explain further, and I didn’t question her.

The thing was, everything she was saying about them… and all of the rumors… may have been true. But I didn’t care.

That didn’t stop me from wanting to know them.

Chapter 5

As Alexis and I made our way to the school stadium, where the Sorting Ceremony was being held, she explained, “They always do it during a full moon. It’s supposed to be more magical.”

“Do you have any feeling on what type of shifter you’re going to be?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “My mom’s a fox shifter, and my dad’s a werewolf. I’ve always thought I would be a wolf. It just seems like those genes would be more dominant than fox genes.” Her dark eyes darted over to me. “What type of shifter are you hoping to be?”

“I’m not sure.” I paused as we climbed up the bleacher stairs. “I’ve always liked animal print, so I guess it would be kind of cool to be a cheetah.”

Alexis snorted. “That reason’s kind of funny.”

“Well, beyond that, I’m not really sure,” I replied with a shrug. “Is there a certain type of shifter I should want to be?”

“Most people want to be werewolves, but lions are the most powerful,” Alexis replied with a shrug. “Though tigers and werebears are pretty powerful, too.”

I thought of the psychic’s warning. There were three werebears I was going to need to stay away from. But a lion and tiger were going to protect me…

For some reason, my mind drifted to Damon Crowne and Rafael Khan when I thought of the lion and tiger. Except I was sure it was incredibly unlikely that her prediction was about them, considering they didn’t even know I existed.

At least, I assumed. There was always the chance that Ezra had mentioned me to them. But I doubted that.

Even though I wanted to believe that the chemistry and connection between us was real, when it came down to it, I was no one special. I was just another one of the students who he’d had to track down to bring here. Meanwhile, he was the next in line to be King of the Werewolves. I was just another girl who he’d kissed—probably one of many. With his status, I was sure he could have had just about any shifter girl he wanted.

“Lena!” I heard a familiar voice call out.

I glanced over my shoulder.

Speak of the devil.

Ezra was making his way over to me.

“What are you doing here?” I asked. “I thought the Sorting Ceremony was only for first year students.”

“It is, but I thought I would sneak in to the Sorting Ceremony so I could be here with you when you find out what you are,” Ezra’s lips curved upwards into a grin as he sat down on the bleacher next to me.

“Ezra, this is my roommate, Alexis,” I introduced them.

“Hey.” He gave her a wave.

“Hey.” She smiled, but I was pretty sure it was forced. Since, you know. The Alpha Brotherhood were allegedly such bad guys.

“So, any feelings yet on what you are?” Ezra asked me.

“I have no idea,” I replied, shaking my head.

“What do you think you are?” he pressed.

“I don’t know. I just got done telling Alexis that I might like to be a cheetah because I like cheetah print.”

“Okay, no offense, but that’s a pretty lame reason,” he replied.

“Alexis thought so, too.” I giggled. “I don’t know. What do you think I am?”

“Well, I hope you’re a wolf like me,” Ezra replied.

“Really? Why?” I was sort of surprised by his words.

“It would just be cool to have something in common with you.” He looked like he wanted to say something more, but before he had the chance, a voice came over the loudspeaker.

“Welcome incoming freshman to the annual Sorting Ceremony. I’m Headmistress Gray, and I am excited to have you all with us tonight.”

Headmistress Gray was gorgeous. She looked a lot like Ezra, with dark brown hair, which fell over her shoulders. She had long legs, and she looked muscular. Strong. Even from a distance, I could see that she had the same striking blue eyes as he did. It took me a moment to realize that they were werewolf eyes, similar to the color of blue that regular wolves’ eyes often were.

I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, that Ezra’s expression completely changed as he watched his mom speak. His blue eyes had clouded over with a look that I couldn’t quite identify.

“You are all here tonight because it has been determined that your bloodline, breeding, and abilities made you a good candidate for Shifter Academy.”

“Did she really just say ‘breeding’?” Alexis whispered to me.

I nodded. “Yep.”

“Before we sort you into your shifter races, I’d like to go over some of the rules of Shifter Academy. I know that most of you won’t read the handbook.” Her joke got some giggles from the audience. “We ask that you avoid going out past curfew, which is nine p.m. on school nights and eleven p.m. on weekends.” She paused. “The Black Forest is off limits at all times. There are no exceptions. While we encourage you to avoid going outside the perimeter of our campus, we do understand that you might not always be able to control when you shift. If you do have an uncontrollable urge to shift, we would prefer that you shift in a safe place. The Red Woods would be the best place for you to do that.

“You are not to use your powers or abilities against any students or Shifter Academy staff,” she continued. “We do not condone any form of fighting at this Academy, neither in human or shifter form. Bullying and harassing other students, for any reason at all, will not be tolerated.” There was this warning in her tone that told me they dealt with the issue of bullying and fighting a lot at Shifter Academy.

“Professor and student relationships are entirely off-limits. There are no exceptions. One might argue that your professor could be your mate, but your mate bond is only ignited when you kiss. You should not be kissing your professors, so therefore, you will not learn about your mate bond until after graduation.” She paused. “Failure to follow these rules may result in your suspension or, in some cases, your expulsion from Shifter Academy.”

She paused for a long moment. “Now that we’ve covered all of that, let the Sorting begin!” She said cheerfully into the mic, igniting a round of applause and excitement from the audience.  “We’re going to call your names one by one. Please stand at the center of the stage. You will feel the slightest bit of pain at the spot where the tattoo is. We will then call your shifter race aloud.”

“Tattoo?” I asked, glancing over at Ezra.

No one had said anything about a tattoo.

His eyebrows shot up. “No one told you?”

I shook my head. “What type of tattoo?”

Don’t get me wrong. I had always wanted a tattoo. But was I really willing to ink up my body for Shifter Academy when I had only just learned about this aspect of my life?

“You’ll be marked with a tattoo that identifies your shifter race,” Ezra explained. “That’s how we find out what we are, initially. It will determine your schedule, which you’ll receive first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Oh.” It looked like getting this tattoo was going to be inevitable if I actually wanted to go to school here.

Headmistress Gray had already begun calling names out. So far, I didn’t recognize anyone, which wasn’t surprising. I hardly knew anyone who went here.

“Anastasia Brink,” Headmistress Gray called off.

I watched as Anastasia, the brunette who had given me the dirty look at The Lagoon the night before, headed for the stage.

As she stood at the center of it, like the other students had done, her tattoo appeared on her arm.

Headmistress Gray studied the tattoo for a moment before her lips slid into a smile. “Tiger!”

“Alexis Brunswick,” Headmistress Gray called out next.

“Good luck,” I said as Alexis rose to her feet and made her way down the stairs.

I watched her say something to Headmistress Gray, who moved to stand behind her. She lifted her shirt up, which I assumed was where the tattoo must have been. “Fox!” she called out.

Wow. So, Alexis had been wrong about her shifter race.

I was sure I wasn’t a cheetah, either. I didn’t move fast enough. Not that I was sure if your human speed had anything to do with your shifter speed.

Headmistress Gray continued to name off names.

“Macy Klein!”

Anastasia’s burgundy-haired friend.

“Lion!”

“Penelope Sinclair!” she called right after. Anastasia’s blonde friend.

“Cougar!” Headmistress Gray announced.

I listened as she continued to name off races, even though I didn’t know any of the students.

“Tiger!” “Wolf! “Wolf!” “Tiger!” “Panther!” “Coyote!” “Lion!”  “Bear!” “Bear!” “Panther!” “Bird!” “Snake!”

I cringed. “There are snake shifters?” I asked, glancing over at Ezra.

“Actually, they prefer to be called serpents. That was actually politically incorrect of my mother,” Ezra replied.

“Fox!” “Bear!” “Wolf!” “Panther!”

And then she read off, “Lena Falcone.”

Nervously, I rose to my feet and headed for the stage.

This was going to be a moment that defined the rest of my life. That much I knew for sure.

All of the worst-case scenarios ran through my mind with every step I took. What if I was a bear? Or even worse, a serpent?

Once I reached the center of the stage, I stood there for a moment. That was when I felt a sharp pain that hit my wrist.

I glanced down at the tattoo that had formed there.

My heart pounded against my chest.

A purple crown.

I held out my tattoo for Headmistress Wolf to see. She glanced down at it and then gave me a strange look.

“Your shifter race cannot be identified,” she said after a long moment. “Please stay to talk to me after the Sorting Ceremony.”

As I walked off the stage, I realized that the audience had gone silent. Then they began to whisper.

I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on, but I knew one thing.

This wasn’t what was supposed to happen.

Chapter 6

“What happened?” Ezra asked as I rejoined him and Alexis.

“She said my shifter race couldn’t be determined,” I whispered back, not wanting any of the other students to hear me. I felt really self-conscious about this. It made me feel like I was… different. I didn’t want to be different.

Gretta’s words filled my mind. “You may struggle to fit in there… It may take some time, but you will find your place.”

“I didn’t know that could even happen,” Alexis said. She turned to Ezra. “Have you ever heard of this happening before?”

“No.” A strange look passed through his eyes then.

I nervously waited for all of the other students to be sorted.

A few hundred students later, Headmistress Gray finally announced into the speaker, “This concludes the Sorting Ceremony. You may all return to your dorm rooms. If you need to speak to me, please come to the stadium.” Her eyes found mine through the crowd.

As we all rose to our feet, I turned to Alexis. “I have to meet with her. I’ll see you back at our dorm room later.”

“Okay.” She began to head in the direction of the dorms with the other students.

“I’m going with you to talk to the Headmistress,” Ezra said.

“You are?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well, there’s something I haven’t told you yet. The Headmistress is my mom.”

“Thanks for sharing, but I already knew that,” I replied, glancing over at him with a smile.

“How do you know that? You’ve been in this realm for, like, a second. Does word really travel that fast?” He looked completely flabbergasted.

“Apparently.”

“So, let me guess. You also know that I’m next in line to be King of the Werewolves.”

“Yes. It’s, um, nice to meet you, Your Majesty?” I wasn’t really sure how you were supposed to address the Prince of the Werewolves, who you had already happened to kiss.

“There’s no need for that nonsense,” Ezra replied.

“But you’re a prince,” I said pointedly. “That requires some level of respect.”

“I’d rather just fit in.”

Him and me both. But it looked like that wasn’t going to be so easy for the two of us.

As we approached the stage where Headmistress Gray was waiting for me, her eyes moved past me, to Ezra. “What are you doing here?”

“I just figured I would accompany Lena here.” He shrugged.

“Your presence isn’t necessary,” she replied.

“I want him to stay,” I insisted.

Her blue eyes met mine. She stared at me for a long moment before finally nodding. “Very well, then. There’s something I would like to show you.”

She pulled something out of a bag and handed it to me. It was a poster with various designs on it.

“These are the tattoos of each of the shifters,” Headmistress Gray explained.

My eyes poured over it. Each type of shifter was represented by its animal: a howling wolf, a walking bear, a flying bird, a snake slithering. Most of the cat shifters were roaring in their tattoos.

There were so many different tattoos, so many kinds of shifters.

“Notice that there is no purple crown,” Headmistress Gray said as I glanced up at her.

“What does it mean?” I asked her.

“That’s the thing. I’m not sure what it means, Miss Falcone. The only thing is that I do know that you are, indeed, a shifter.” She sighed. “This makes it very difficult to place you in terms of your course load. It seems that we won’t know what your shifter race is until after you’ve shifted for the first time.”

“Why don’t you just give her some of the electives from each of the shifter races?” Ezra asked his mom.

The Headmistress nodded. “Yes, I’m afraid I have no choice but to do that. I am, however, going to narrow it down to the most obvious shifter races.”

“Most obvious shifter races?” I repeated.

“How much do you know about your parents’ bloodlines, Miss Falcone?”

“I didn’t even know until last night that they were shifters,” I admitted.

“Well. That’s quite the turn of events.” She paused. “Your parents both came from extremely powerful bloodlines. Your father was a werewolf.”

I found myself clutching to the slightest bit of hope that I could be a werewolf, just like Ezra.

“Your mother was a tiger,” Headmistress Gray continued. “But both of your parents had very… complicated… lineage. I believe that’s probably why you’re in this predicament.”

“Complicated how?” I asked her.

“Your mother comes from a very unique lineage. She herself was a tiger, and so was her mother. However, your great-grandmother was a tiger, and your great-grandfather was a cougar,” she explained. “Your mother’s father was a lion. His mother—your great-grandmother—was a lion as well. Her husband, your great-grandfather—was a jaguar.”

“So, on my mom’s side, I have lion, tiger, cougar and jaguar genes?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

Headmistress Gray nodded. “Yes. Your father comes from a very unique lineage as well, but not quite as complicated. Your father was a werewolf, just like his mother. His father, on the other hand, was a bear.”

I swallowed hard. I just didn’t want to consider the possibility that I could have been a bear.

After what Gretta had told me about the bears, I couldn’t help but fear them a little.

But just because I needed to worry about three bears didn’t mean that all bears were bad… did it?

“While it seems most likely that you will be some sort of cat shifter—most likely a tiger—or a werewolf, there’s also the less likely chance that you could potentially be a werebear,” Headmistress Gray went on. “I think it would be best to include electives from all three of these shifter races until we know, for sure, what your shifter race is.”

“Okay,” I agreed. I hoped we would figure out what my shifter race was really soon, because I hated the idea of taking classes with bears.

“Your schedule will be delivered to your dorm room by tomorrow morning, just like the other students will be.” She paused. “There’s something else I’d like to discuss with you. I understand that this is going to be a very big transition for you. While some of the other students were raised in the human realm, the majority of them grow up knowing the truth about what they are. I know that not knowing what you were your entire life is going to make this time difficult, on top of the recent loss of your mother and father.” She met my gaze. “My condolences.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

“I understand there may be an adjustment period. I also know that you might not have some of the basic knowledge other shifters have about our world. I will be sure to inform your instructors of the situation, just so they understand that additional patience and instruction might be required with you.”

“I’m sure that Lena is very capable of figuring out everything for herself, Mom. She will probably pass up all of the other students’ knowledge very soon.

“I have no doubts that she is very intelligent. It’s just a formality.”

Ezra looked like he was going to say something more to his mother, but I intercepted then. “I appreciate it, Headmistress Gray. Thank you.”

“You’re most welcome. And Miss Falcone?” Headmistress Gray’s lips curved upwards into a smile. “Welcome to Shifter Academy.”

***

As Ezra walked me back to my dorm room, I glanced over at him. “Your mom seems nice.”

“Don’t let her act fool you,” he muttered under his breath.

“Are you saying she’s not nice?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“She’s nice when she wants to be. But she’s also very two-faced… as most queens are.”

“Yeah, about that. Am I supposed to, like, courtesy and stuff?”

Ezra laughed. “That’s not necessary. My mother’s role as Headmistress is separate from her job as Queen of the Werewolves. She prefers to keep the two roles separate and, like me, prefers when people treat us normal… except for when it suits her. She does like to play the Queen Card when it’s convenient.”

“The Queen Card?” I asked.

“Yeah, you know. Uses it to her advantage. Not that she really needs to. Everyone bows down to her, anyway.” His eyes met mine. “All of the werewolves, anyway. My mom is the Queen of the Werewolves, but we don’t rule the entire shifter world. If we did, she wouldn’t be the Headmistress of Shifter Academy.”

I glanced over at him. “So, who does rule the entire shifter world then?”

“It’s all a hierarchy,” he explained. “There’s a Shifter High Court where multiple kings and queens hold a seat. We’re second to the top, but the lions are in the main seat. They have the most power and control over the rest of the shifter world.”

“So, Damon Crowne is next in line to rule the shifter world?”

Ezra’s blue eyes slid over to meet mine. “For a girl who just arrived, you sure know a lot about who the future kings of our world are. Let me guess. You’ve already made it your goal to marry a king.”

His question caught me completely off-guard.

“No. I don’t know why you’d even think that would be my goal.” Really, I was just trying to make it through until tomorrow. Besides, I was only seventeen. Marriage was the absolute last thing on my mind.

“Because. That’s what most girls in our world want,” he replied with a shrug. “To be the next Queen of their shifter race.”

Oh. Apparently, he was afraid that I only wanted him because he was royalty. A lot of other girls must have only been interested in him for that reason.

“So, what you’re telling me is that you’re extremely sought after.”

“I guess you can say that,” he replied with a shrug. “Most of the werewolf girls want to date me, but currently, I only have my sights set on one girl.”

“I see.” I swallowed hard, knowing the girl he had his sights set on probably wasn’t me. “So, you say the werewolf girls want you. Are you saying that a royal can only marry one of his own kind?”

“Yeah.” His blue eyes, which glimmered under the light of the full moon, met mine. “Why did you think I said I hope you’re a werewolf?”

“Because you wanted us to have things in common?”

“No, Lena. It’s because I want you.” His eyes didn’t stray from mine.

“How can you know that when we only just met?” I found myself asking, even though the feeling was extremely mutual.

“I’ve been watching you for a year, long enough to know you are exactly who I want.”

Then, without saying another word, he pressed me up against the stone wall of the building that housed the dorm rooms and kissed me like he meant it.

Chapter 7

When I opened my dorm room the next morning, there were two envelopes pinned to the door.

One read Alexis Brunswick and the other read Lena Falcone.

“Our schedules are here,” I announced.

Alexis came out of our bathroom and walked over with her toothbrush in her mouth and took the envelope from me. I tore mine open and pulled out the schedule, which was tucked neatly inside.

My eyes poured over the words typed on the paper:

Lena Falcone

Freshman

Shifter Type: N/A

The History of Shifters 101 (Gen. Ed.)

Professor Harris

Castle, Room 12

8:30 - 9:30 a.m.

The Science of Shifting (Gen. Ed.)

Professor Donahue

Castle, Room 202

9:30 - 10:30 a.m.

Felidae Pack Dynamics (Elective)

Professor Hart

Cat Tower, Room 4

10:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Lunch

11:30 a.m. - 12:30 pm

Sociology of Werewolves and Werebears (Elective)

Professor Anderson

Werewolf Tower, Room 7

12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Shifter Laws and Civics (Gen. Ed.)

Professor Klein

Castle, Room 19

1:30 – 2:30 p.m.

Shifter Mates and Families (Gen Ed.)

Professor Reed

Castle, Room 305

2:30 – 3:30 p.m.

I wasn’t going to lie. My schedule looked a little… scary. Especially that Sociology of Werewolves and Werebears class. But that wasn’t the only thing that scared me. I didn’t even know what Felidae meant. A quick Google search told me it was used to describe the biological family of cats. So, Cat Shifter Pack Dynamics.

“What Gen. Eds do you have?” Alexis asked me.

I read off my classes and times to her.

“We have The Science of Shifting and Shifter Mates and Families together,” she said with a smile. “This is probably the only good thing that’s happened so far. I’m seriously bummed that I’m a fox shifter.”

“Why are you bummed? Foxes are cool,” I insisted as I began to change into my uniform—a purple and blue plaid skirt and a white button-down top. The school’s colors were royal purple and navy blue, so most of the uniforms included those colors or neutral shades.

“Foxes aren’t exactly known to be the strongest shifters,” Alexis explained. “We’re tiny. In fact, we might be the smallest shifter, aside from the serpents and birds.”

“Foxes might be small, but they are clever. I bet you’re really smart.”

“Well, that much is true. I don’t even have to study and I always end up getting straight A’s. At least, I did in the human world, anyway.”

“See. I bet there are lots of other things you’re amazing at thanks to being a fox shifter.” I paused. “And at least you actually know what type of shifter you are. I don’t even care what I am anymore. I just want to know.”

“True. I really wonder what you are—and why it gave you a purple crown, instead,” Alexis replied.

I really wished I knew.

Chapter 8

As Alexis and I sat down at a table in the Dining Hall, I smeared some cream cheese on my bagel.

“Do you believe in psychics?” I asked her.

Alexis stabbed a piece of sausage with her fork. “Of course I do. It’s actually an ability some shifters have.”

“Interesting.” I wondered if Gretta was a shifter. It would have made a lot of sense. “I saw this psychic in the human world two nights ago. She told me a lot of predictions that have come true. She said I was going to have this kiss that would change everything really soon—and minutes later, Ezra kissed me.”

“He did? You didn’t mention that.” Alexis’s dark brown eyes had gone wide.

I nodded. “Yeah. I mean, it was originally to make my ex-boyfriend jealous,” I replied as I took a bite of my bagel. “But then he kissed me again last night. He also may or may not have told me he wants me to be a werewolf so he can marry me.”

“Well, maybe luck actually is in my favor. My roommate—and best friend here, so far—just so happens to be the Queen of the Werewolves. Don’t forget about me when you rule all the lands.”

“I doubt that very much,” I replied with a laugh. “But, anyway, back to the psychic. She also told me I would go to a boarding school—and here I am—and she told me that lions and tigers were going to protect me. But then I needed to watch out for three bears. But here’s the weirdest part of it all. She told me my heart is purple and she said she saw a crown.” I held up my wrist. “And then I got this purple crown tattoo.”

“That’s too strange to be coincidence,” Alexis agreed with a nod. “Know what I would do if I was you?”

“What?” My eyebrows shot up.

“I would go back to that psychic. It seems like she might already know what you are.”

Before I had the chance to respond to her, the door flew open and the Alpha Brotherhood came in. Damon led the way—which made so much sense now that I knew he was, one day, going to be the next leader of the entire shifter world.

Ezra, Rafael, and Harden followed after him, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they were walking in order of hierarchy.

As they sat down at the same table that they’d eaten lunch at yesterday, I noticed that Rafael’s emerald green eyes were looking in my direction.

Actually, I take that back. It wasn’t just him.

All of them were looking at me. Including Ezra.

I got the sense that they must have just been talking about me moments before. It was the only thing that made sense.

Had Ezra told the others in the Alpha Brotherhood that he wanted to make me the next Queen of the Werewolves? I couldn’t think of any other reason they would have been talking about me.

I looked away from them, trying my hardest to focus on Alexis and pretend like they weren’t staring. “So, um, what class are you most looking forward to?”

“Shifter Mates and Families,” she replied. “My brother told me the class is really cool. You learn so much about what it’s like to be mates with someone. And, more importantly, how to find your mate.”

“It doesn’t just happen naturally?” I wasn’t sure why, but I just assumed that people naturally gravitated towards their soul mates.

“Sometimes, but for others, it can be a longer process. Some shifters actually search hundreds of years to find their mates.” She paused. “I hope that’s not me.”

“Me, either.” I didn’t want to spend forever looking for my mate.

My eyes drifted over to Ezra again. He was deep in conversation with the others.

What if I didn’t have to spend forever looking for my mate? What if I was actually looking at him at that very moment?

“Do you think Ezra could be your mate?” Alexis asked.

“I don’t know. How would I even know?”

“Well, did anything happen when the two of you kissed?” she asked.

“Actually, something did happen,” I realized, glancing back over at her. “When we kissed, it felt like there was this electrical surge of energy that passed between us. It was almost shocking.”

“That’s… strange.”

“Is that an indicator of being mates?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“I’ve always heard that you usually start to hear each other’s thoughts once you’ve kissed your mate. Some just feel a deep longing for their mates.”

Well, I was pretty sure I had that…

Last night, after Ezra had dropped me off at my dorm room, I missed him in this indescribable way. I wasn’t sure how to even put it into words, but I had never even felt that way about Jake during our entire relationship.

“But I’ve never heard about the electrical energy thing,” Alexis replied. She paused. “But it must mean something. Whatever it is definitely isn’t a human thing, that’s for sure.”

“That’s what I’m thinking.” Truthfully, I really wanted Ezra to be my mate. I just wasn’t sure if I was that lucky.

One thing was for sure. I couldn’t wait for Shifter Mates and Families class.

***

“Welcome to the History of Shifters,” Professor Harris, a tall woman with jet black hair, said as she stood at the center of the classroom. “I am Professor Harris, a panther shifter. In this class, we’re going to cover as much of the history of all of the different types of shifters as we possibly can. We will begin with the foxes, since, historically, they were the first shifters to rule the world. You might already know that Shifter Academy was, at one point, home to the royal fox family—Alexander and Isabella Fox, the first King and Queen of the shifter world. The royal Fox family ruled the entire shifter world for nearly five-hundred years before they were overthrown by the werewolves. They were overthrown mostly due to the Great Fox War, which took place during the 12th century.”

She glanced around the room. “A lot of the stigma that foxes face today is because of that war. Many shifters consider the foxes to be weak or unworthy, but it’s important for us to remember that this stigma is just that—stigma. It’s not based on fact. Foxes are incredibly clever individuals. Most of them are quite intelligent, and they are known for their slyness. Although foxes are also known for their trickery, it’s important to remember that most foxes today are neither sneaky or manipulative, despite the reputation they have earned.”

So, that was why Alexis was so disappointed to find out she was a fox shifter. They weren’t the most accepted shifters in our world.

As Professor Harris began to talk about some of the most common fox traits, I glanced around the room, wondering what type of shifter everyone was. Although I remembered a few of their shifter races from the Sorting Ceremony, there were a lot of blanks to me.

I noticed a guy then who was sitting towards the right of the classroom. He had short, light brown hair, and fair skin. But the most noticeable thing about him?

His icy gray eyes were staring right at me.

I glanced away from him, trying to pretend that I hadn’t noticed, but it didn’t matter.

I could feel the guy’s eyes on me for the remainder of the class.

Chapter 9

The Science of Shifting turned out to be a total bore. It was basically an anatomy class that explained why we were able to shift.

The only good thing about the class was that Alexis was in it with me, so we could suffer through it together.

When the bell rang indicating that class had ended, I was pretty excited to head to my next class. I hoped it wouldn’t be as boring as this one. I was also interested to learn about cat shifters. Even though I might not have been one myself, my mom had been a tiger. I was curious to learn more about her.

I was trying not to think about the fact that my parents had probably been murdered.

It wasn’t easy, though. I just kept wondering who would have wanted to kill them. Had my parents even had enemies? My dad had been a principal at a junior high school, and my mom had been an accountant. As far as I had known, they had both been well-liked in the community.

But, obviously, my parents had led a secret life—a life where they were shifters. Who knew what types of enemies they may have had in this world?

If Alexis was right and there were very few ways to kill a shifter, then that meant that someone must have known my parents were shifters and how to kill them. And that probably meant that a shifter was responsible for their murders.

As I entered the classroom for Felidae Pack Dynamics, there was a short woman with blonde hair cut in a short bob sitting at a desk.

I found a seat towards the middle of the classroom. As I glanced up, I noticed that Anastasia, Macy, and Penelope had entered the room.

Anastasia’s eyes fell on me and then she whispered to her friends as they found seats towards the front of the room.

What was her deal with me? The first time she had given me a dirty look, it had been when I was with Ezra. It seemed reasonable to assume that she didn’t like me because she wanted him, but there was just one problem.

Anastasia was a tiger shifter, and Ezra was a werewolf. It wasn’t like the two of them could be together, anyway. She couldn’t be the next Queen of the Werewolves when she, herself, wasn’t even a werewolf.

So, now that it seemed unlikely that Anastasia hated me because of Ezra, I didn’t know why she hated me.

Before I could give any more thought to it, Professor Hart began her lecture.

“Welcome to Felidae Pack Dynamics,” she began. “I am Lindy Hart, and I will be your professor for this course. I’m a tiger shifter.” She paused. “We’re going to learn all about tiger packs. As you probably already know, all shifters have a pack. Werewolves have werewolf packs, while bears have bear packs. The interesting thing about cat shifters is that while most of us tend to run in a pack with our kind only, we don’t have to. It is not uncommon to find a pack that’s made up of various types of cat shifters. And there is a reason for this. It has a lot to do with your genetics.”

She glanced around the room at us.

“The reason you’re in this class is because you have the Felidae gene. One of the more interesting things about cat shifters is that we all have the same gene. This means that you might be a lion shifter, but your future offspring could be a tiger or a snow leopard shifter—even if none of those kinds of shifters has ever been traced back to your bloodline.”

Huh. So, that was why so many different types of cat shifters ran in my bloodline.

In theory, this meant that I really could have been a cheetah. Or a leopard. Or something that none of my ancestors had ever been before.

“Therefore, it is considered more acceptable for different types of cat shifters to run in the same pack. Today, many shifters have relationships and produce offspring with shifters outside of their kind, such as a tiger shifter mating with a werewolf, for example. Traditionally, however, this was considered unacceptable… except for cat shifters. The reason is simple. A lion shifter has nearly the same chance of producing a tiger shifter child as a tiger does.” She paused. “The only time when this intermixing was—and still is—off-limits is when it comes to the royal families. This has a lot more to do with keeping the bloodlines strong and pure, however.”

All I could do was wonder what my odds were of becoming a cat shifter.

The truth was that it wasn’t what I wanted. More than anything, what I wanted was to be a werewolf. To be with Ezra.

But there was one thing that I knew all too well… and that was that we don’t always get what we want.

***

When Sociology of Werewolves and Werebears rolled around, I was anxious, to say the least. The idea of having class with werebears was enough to put me on edge.

The only good thing was that this class wasn’t just for bears. It was for wolves, too. That was why it was held in the Werewolf Tower.

As I found a seat towards the back of the classroom, I glanced down at the purple crown on my wrist again, trying to make sense of it.

What could it mean?

Truthfully, I hated the tattoo. It wasn’t even a nice crown. Even though it was easy to make out what it was, the crown was sort of sloppy. I wished it wasn’t what I had been marked with. I would have been happier with any other tattoo that Headmistress Gray had shown me on the chart… even the tattoo for the serpents.

“Are you Lena?” A guy asked as he slid into the desk next to mine.

“Yeah. Sorry, have we met before?” I asked, meeting his familiar blue eyes.

“No, we haven’t, but my brother told me all about you,” he replied.

My eyebrows rose questioningly. “Who’s your brother?”

“Ezra.”

“Oh.”

The similarities between the two of them were actually pretty uncanny.

Their bodies closed resembled one another’s. Just like Ezra, he was muscular but lean at the same time. They had the same striking shade of blue eyes, but while Ezra had dark hair, his brother’s hair was chestnut brown in color.

The big difference between them? Even though he was undeniably attractive, just like his brother was, I didn’t feel an unusual connection or pull to him. It made me wonder, yet again, if it was because Ezra and I may have been mates.

“I’m Eric,” he told me.

“It’s nice to meet you, Eric.”

Before we had a chance to talk further, Professor Walters rose to his feet.

“Welcome to the Sociology of Werewolves and Werebears, everyone.” He was a tall, burly man, so I wasn’t surprised when he said, “I am a bear, and I will be your instructor.” He paused, staring out at us. “You may have already guessed that the reason you’ve been placed into this course is because you are either werewolf or werebear. Your kinds are the only shifter races who this elective has been made available to.

“This course is designed to explore the way werewolves and werebears interact with one another in society. As many of you know, werewolves and werebears historically have never gotten along. Since the beginning of time, there has always been a bit of a competition between our two kinds. It all comes down to who is the most powerful. Some would say that werewolves are the strongest shifter race. They are the most agile, as well as the fastest shifter race. Others would argue, however, that werebears are the most powerful shifter race. We are the largest and, physically, the strongest shifters.

“Regardless of who you believe to be the stronger of the two shifter races, there’s one thing for sure. Historically, there has always been a struggle for power.”

Gretta’s words filled my mind again. “I see a crown… And a struggle for power.”

Was it merely a coincidence? Or was the struggle for power between the wolves and bears what she had been talking about?

Chapter 10

After class ended, Eric and I fell into place alongside each other in the hallway. He glanced over at me. “So, I hear that you’ve caused quite the talk around here.”

“Is that so?” I asked.

“It’s not every day that someone’s shifter race can’t be identified during the Sorting Ceremony,” Eric replied.

“Yeah, so I’ve heard.”

“You know there is one way to find out what you are for sure, right?” Eric said.

“There is?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “You just gotta make yourself shift.”

“And how, exactly, do I do that?”

He made it sound so effortless, and maybe it was for someone who had grown up knowing about this world. Maybe it was common knowledge for a werewolf prince. But I obviously knew nothing about how to make myself shift, and Professor Donahue hadn’t covered that yet in The Science of Shifting.

“Easy. Meet me on the quad around eight-thirty tonight,” Eric said.

“Eight-thirty? That’s cutting it really close to curfew,” I pointed out.

“So? You do want to find out what type of shifter you are. Don’t you?” There was a look of challenge in his eyes.

Challenge or not, the truth was that I really did want to know the truth about what my shifter race was. I was willing to do anything.

Besides, would Headmistress Gray actually punish me for being out past curfew if her son was with me? He was Prince of the Werewolves. Even if he wasn’t next in line to take the throne, that still had to count for something—like bending the rules when it came to staying out past curfew.

I glanced over at Eric then. “I’ll see you tonight.”

***

Shifter Laws and Civics class turned out to be the most interesting class of the day, so far.

I learned that the shifter world had its own prison system and that you could land yourself in it, whether you broke the shifter laws in the human realm or the paranormal realm.

We had gone over just five laws today.

The first was what Alexis had already told me about; it was illegal for us to ever bite a human and turn them into a shifter. It was also something that apparently happened all the time. It wasn’t always easy to be convicted of it. Although it was possible to trace it back to the biter, a lot of werewolves used dark magic to cover their tracks.

Biting someone was considered a “mid-crime,” or the equivalent of a misdemeanor in the human world. The penalty for committing this crime was ten years in shifter prison or twenty years on house arrest, given the shifter’s circumstances.

The other four laws that we learned about during our first class were all considered “high crimes” or the equivalent of a felony in the human world. These laws were:

1.  It was illegal to kill a human. The sentence for this was up to 50 years in prison, given the circumstances of the crime. If you murdered a human while you were in your shifter form, however, you could face up to 1,000 years in shifter prison.

2.  It was illegal to commit treason against your shifter race’s royal family.

3.  It was illegal to kill the Alpha of your pack, unless it was in self-defense. While an Alpha could be removed from a pack, it was a decision that the Royal Family of the shifter race in question had to make.

4.  It was illegal to use trickery, bribery or blackmail to become the Alpha of your pack.

Professor Klein had said that there were, literally, hundreds of other laws out there that we needed to follow, but these were considered to be some of the worst crimes.

And there I was, afraid of breaking my curfew order for the night.

***

When I got to Shifter Mates and Families class, I was ready for the day to end already. This day had felt longer than a human school day, probably because I’d had to absorb so much new information.

A woman with dark hair and mocha-colored skin stood at the front of the classroom. “I’m Professor Reed. I’m a coyote shifter, and I will be your instructor for this class. In my personal opinion, this is one of the most important classes you will ever take during your time at Shifter Academy. Love and romance play such an important role in our lives, and it’s my job to help you navigate it. Some people search their entire lifetime for their mates, which is both tragic and unnecessary. There are other ways to find your mate, and this is something we will be covering later in this classroom. We’ll also talk about how mates place their mark on one another. This is a very important step in the mate bonding process, one that cannot be ignored or forgotten.”

Professor Reed flicked off the lights. “But today, I’d like to discuss what it feels like when you find your mate. How do you really know for sure once you’ve found the one? I’m going to go over the signs with you in a slide show.”

The first slide read: Connection.

“Once you meet your mate, you will feel a connection with them unlike anything you have ever felt with anyone before. The connection you feel will transcend any attraction you’ve ever felt and the relationship will be far deeper.”

She flipped to the next slide. Changes in senses.

“As many of you already know, the mate bonding process begins when you kiss for the first time. For many shifters, this kiss is what tips them off that they even have a mate because of what comes next—and that’s changes in senses.” Professor Reed paused. “Most mates will be able to hear one another’s heart beats from miles away. The same applies to smell. Over time, their hearts will even begin to beat in sync, and they can hear each other’s thoughts.”

I frowned. Well, none of that had happened with Ezra. I figured that I could probably give up on the idea of the two of us being mates.

“The final sign of being mated to someone is something incredibly rare, and it’s often something that only those from the royal bloodlines experience,” Professor Reed explained, as she flipped to the next slide, which read An Electrical Surge of Energy. “For some shifters who come from strong and powerful bloodlines, there’s an electrical surge of energy the first time they kiss.”

Alexis glanced over at me, and I knew that she was thinking the same thing I was. I had felt that electric feeling with Ezra… even if he was the only royal involved in this kiss.

But the weird thing was that I hadn’t experienced any of the other reactions that came with kissing your mate for the first time.

Alexis’s hand shot up then.

Professor Reed pointed at her. “Yes?”

“What if a shifter experiences one of these signs but not all of them after kissing someone for the first time?” Alexis asked.

“For some shifters, some of these signs of becoming mated don’t happen overnight,” Professor Reed explained. “While they might hear their mate’s heartbeat at first, it might take a while for them to be able to hear their mate’s thoughts, for example.”

“What if the only sign they do have is the electrical surge?” Alexis asked.

Professor Reed. “I’ve never heard of this being the only sign of someone becoming mated, but there aren’t many royals in general, so there isn’t a lot of research in this area. That being said, I’ve never heard of any other cause of an electrical surge of energy when two shifters kiss.” She paused, seeming to consider it for a long moment. “The other effects might just start later in these shifters, for reasons not fully understood. It would be my professional guess that the two shifters in question are, in fact, mates.”

As she spoke the words, I tried to process what she was saying. But my heart was too busy doing its own thing as I freaked out inside.

Ezra was my… mate?

Chapter 11

“I’ll be back soon,” I told Alexis as I slipped out of our dorm room around 8:15 to meet Eric at 8:30.

I headed to the quad, feeling so many emotions. Nervous about shifting for the first time and the pain that would come with it. Anxious to find out the truth about what I was. Afraid that I wasn’t a werewolf.

What would happen if I wasn’t a werewolf, but Ezra was still my mate? Even though I didn’t care what we were, as long as there was a chance that the two of us could be together, he had already made it clear that he was only allowed to marry another werewolf.

I couldn’t be the next Queen of the Werewolves if I was a tiger shifter, or a werebear.

Not that being queen meant anything to me. Unlike all of the other girls in this world, being the strongest and most powerful shifter wasn’t one of my concerns. I didn’t care about royalty. All I cared about was being happy… genuinely and truly happy. It was something that I hadn’t been in a long time—not since before my parents had died and Jake and I had broken up. But Ezra… Well, he made everything better. He was the only thing I could seem to think about most of the time.

I just hoped, with every ounce of my being, that I was a werewolf.

Well, I was about to find out soon for sure.

As I arrived on the quad, my cell phone chimed from my pocket.

I pulled it out.

Rachel:Are u ok Lena?

It wasn’t the first text she had sent me today. I read back through all of them.

Rachel:Hey where are you? Homeroom is about to start. (8 a.m.)

Rachel:Where are you??? (10 a.m.)

Rachel: Are you sick? (11 a.m.)

Rachel: You’re starting to worry me, Lena. It’s not like you to miss the first day of school. Did you get hurt or something? Text me back… (12 p.m.)

Rachel: I’m at your house now. Why aren’t you answering your door or texting me back? (5:30 p.m.)

Rachel: You have me seriously worried. (7 p.m.)

Rachel: Lena are you ok????? (8:20 p.m.)

I sighed. I really hated not responding to my best friend. She was clearly so worried about me. But how did I tell her that I decided to skip out on Cherry Valley High School this year to come to an academy for werewolves and the like? She would have thought it was crazy.

There were times when I still thought it was crazy. Because it was completely crazy. And yet, this was where I was.

Obviously, I couldn’t tell her that. But I didn’t know what I could tell her instead, so it seemed a lot smarter to tell her nothing at all.

Eventually, everyone would know I was missing, including Aunt Lily. I hadn’t gone to school for one day, so far, but if it went on for too long, then the school would think I was committing truancy and open some sort of investigation. I considered what it would be like if people thought I was missing. That wasn’t what I wanted—to let people think that I was hurt or, even worse, dead, but it seemed like it would have been the easiest way to deal with this situation.

At that moment, I noticed Eric walking across the quad, towards me.

If I hadn’t known that he would be meeting me here, I could have easily confused him with Ezra. From a distance and in the dark, it was difficult to see the difference in their hair color. If it wasn’t for that, the two brothers were nearly identical.

“Hey, L,” Eric said as he approached me.

“Elle?” I asked him. “My name’s Lena.”

“I know your name. That’s why I’m calling you ‘L’. It stands for Lena.”

“Oh. Got it,” I replied. “I didn’t realize the two of us were on a nickname basis.”

“You and me?” He motioned from me to him. “We’re best buds.”

That was news to me, but I wasn’t about to argue with him. Not when he had some valuable information for me.

“So, let’s get straight to you shifting then.” His eyes met mine and he instructed, “Try to shift.”

I just stared back at him. “How do I do that?”

“Just think about it. Think about how badly you want to shift. It’s mostly a mental thing. Usually when shifters can’t change into their animal form, it’s because they’re putting up some sort of mental block. You need to overcome that. Wipe your mind clean of everything else—school, friends, love, life,” he said, his voice calm and soft as he instructed me, “and think only of shifting.”

I took a deep breath and then did as he told me to. I didn’t think about anything, wiping my mind clean of everything that had been plaguing it lately: my parents’ murders, Ezra, the Alpha Brotherhood—everything. Instead, I thought about the only thing I wanted more than anything right now, and that was to shift.

“Put all of your energy into it,” Eric instructed. “Try your hardest.”

All of my physical, mental, and emotional energy circled around one thing: my desire, my need, to shift into my animal form.

After a few minutes of seriously trying, it became obvious that it wasn’t going to happen.

I opened my eyes and glanced over at him.

“It’s not working,” I sighed. “Why isn’t it working?”

“Well, that’s okay. I’m not really surprised. This is how experienced shifters get into their animal form, but it doesn’t usually work for amateurs. In fact, it only very rarely works the first time you shift,” Eric informed me.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “If it only very rarely works the first time you shift, then why did you try to get me to do it?”

“I just wanted to see if you were different. Since, you know, you’re different in other ways.” Eric shrugged.

“Am I some sort of guinea pig to you?” I asked him, feeling myself growing even more annoyed.

He looked amused. “Calm down, L. It was just a neat little experiment. Now we know.”

I rolled my eyes at him and then glanced down at my phone. “It’s already eight fifty-two. Eight minutes until curfew. You dragged me out here, at risk of getting caught, for nothing.”

“It wasn’t for nothing,” Eric replied. “I do have a back-up plan—a very good back-up plan, if I do say so myself.”

I glanced over at him, not at all convinced after what he had just pulled. “What is it?”

“Have they taught you yet how shifters change?” Eric asked.

I shook my head. “No. I thought it just… happens.”

“Well, for the first time, it does just happen—randomly and completely unexpectedly. You might be in the middle of class or hanging out with your friends, and then, bam, you’re naked,” he explained. “It will randomly happen as a young shifter, too… especially if you experience a lot of emotions. If anything pisses you off, you’ll just turn into a beast. It takes a lot of time and practice to really hone in on the craft and gain control over your inner shifter, but once you do, then you’ll be able to do it whenever you please. There’s another way to change, too.” He pulled a little vial out of his pocket and handed it to me.

“What is this?” I asked, glancing up at him with wide eyes.

“It’s a potion that will make you shift,” Eric explained. “I bought it from the school bookstore.”

I stared back at him skeptically. “They sell shifting potion at the bookstore?”

“Yup. It costs about twelve dollars.”

“Why would they sell shifting potion in the book store? Call me crazy, but it seems like a dumb idea to sell a bunch of young shifters potion that will make them shift.”

“Because there are a lot of hands-on classes here where you might need to shift but aren’t able to,” Eric explained. “I highly suggest you get yourself some.”

“Thanks for the tip,” I muttered. “So, how long after I drink this shifting potion will it take effect?”

“Seconds,” Eric replied. “Maybe a minute, at most.”

I glanced down at the vial I held in my hand. It would unlock the answers to my entire life. To my destiny. To my future with Ezra. To everything.

With nervous hands, I unscrewed the lid and lifted the vial to my mouth.

It smelled really sweet.

Bringing the vial to my lips, I drank it all in one shot. It tasted like a fruity mixture as it hit my tongue.

A hot feeling washed over me and then I felt the burn. It came over me slowly at first before spreading through me.

“It burns!” I yelled at Eric, shocked by the pain as the burning sensation flooded my veins, radiating throughout my entire body.

Chapter 12

“It’s not supposed to burn.” There was a nervous look behind Eric’s eyes as he watched me hunching over in pain.

“Well, it does. It burns like fire.”

“I don’t even hear the sound of your bones twisting,” Eric replied.

Great. So that’s what I had to look forward to next.

After what felt like a few incredibly long moments, the painful feeling passed almost as quickly as it had hit me.

Once the feeling passed, I waited. And waited. I had definitely been waiting longer than a minute when I glanced up at Eric.

“It didn’t work,” I said quietly, trying not to let the disappointment show on my face.

“Well, that was a bust,” Eric said, just as a voice behind us said, “You guys are busted.”

I turned to find a guy in a Shifter Academy security uniform standing behind me. He looked large, which made me think he was probably a bear shifter. The male bear shifters seemed to be taller than everyone else.

“It’s against the rules to be outside after nine,” the security guard told us.

“We know. We were just heading back to our dorm rooms,” Eric replied.

“Not so fast. It’s only the first day of school. We don’t tolerate bending the rules around here, and I’m sure that if I let you get away with that now, I’ll only regret it later on.” The security guard glanced from Eric to me. “What are your names?”

“Lena Falcone,” I replied.

“And Eric Gray.”

“Prince Gray, I’m sorry to bother you.” The security guard bowed before him. When he straightened his posture, he looked shaken by the fact that he had given this warning. “You may go back to your dorm room, Prince Gray. Miss Falcone, I need you to come see the Headmistress with me.”

“If you’re taking her to see my mom, then I’m going, too,” Eric informed him.

“That won’t be necessary. I’m willing to let this slide, Prince Gray,” the security guard said to him.

“Stop treating me different just because I’m a prince. If Lena has to get in trouble for this, then I should, too.”

It sort of surprised me that, like Ezra, Eric didn’t want to be given special treatment for being a royal. I was willing to bet that the majority of royals would have eaten that shit up like candy, but there was something about these Gray brothers that was different.

The security guard led us across campus. Finally, we reached the main castle building, which housed Headmistress Gray’s office.

Her door was closed.

The security guard knocked, and a moment later, Headmistress Gray stared back at the three of us. “What’s going on?”

“I found these two out after curfew,” the security guard informed her.

“Thanks, Nolan. I’ll take it from here.” Headmistress Gray opened her door a little wider, allowing both me and Eric to come into her office.

“Please, have a seat, Miss Falcone,” she said, motioning to the seat across from her desk.

I sat down in the chair closest to the window. Eric slid into the chair next to mine. His mom shot him a strange look before turning to me.

Her blue eyes met mine. “Miss Falcone, I thought I made it very clear at the Sorting Ceremony that all students are expected to return to their dorm rooms by nine o’clock every night. Am I only imagining that I said that?”

“You did say it,” I replied quietly. “I’m sorry. We were just about to head back to our dorm rooms.”

“You should give yourself adequate time to return to your dorm each night,” she said, clasping her hands in front of her dark blue dress. “This is not behavior we tolerate at Shifter Academy. If we cannot expect you to follow the small rules, how can we trust you not to harm anyone?”

To say that Ezra’s mom had the worst first impressions of me was an understatement. Judging from the way she was looking at me—like I was some sort of criminal—I was pretty sure this woman couldn’t stand me. And that was the absolute last thing I wanted. She was my mate’s mom.

I opened my mouth to respond, but Eric was already speaking up. “Mom, the reason Lena went outside close to curfew was because I convinced her to.”

Headmistress Gray turned to her son and blinked. “You did?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “I told Lena I could help her solve her problem and figure out what type of shifter she is. I gave her the shifter serum.”

“That was an incredibly smart idea. Why didn’t I think of that myself?” Headmistress Gray whispered.

“Everyone knows I’m the brains in this family,” Eric said with a shrug.

His mom rolled her eyes at him. Then she turned to me. “Well? What type of shifter are you?”

“Um, so, here’s the thing. The shifter potion didn’t actually… work,” I told her.

“How is that even possible? The shifter potion always works.” She looked completely baffled at this news.

“Not on me, apparently.” I hesitated for a moment before asking, “Headmistress, do you think it’s possible that I might not actually be a shifter at all?”

“No,” Headmistress Gray replied. “I don’t think that’s possible.”

“Why? My shifter race can’t be identified and my body doesn’t even respond to shifting potion. Wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that maybe I’m not a shifter at all?” I asked.

“There’s no way you could be anything but a shifter, Miss Falcone,” Headmistress Gray replied. “In order to be a human, you would need to have human blood, but you don’t. Your blood is one-hundred percent shifter. And beyond that, you wouldn’t have been marked with a tattoo at all if you were only a human. While your tattoo is something different and something that we can’t make sense of quite yet, it was a mark that you received during the Sorting Ceremony.” She paused. “I’m going to call in some experts to see if they can try to figure out what your tattoo is in the meantime. I’m not sure what your shifter race is, but one thing is clear. It’s not ready to be unveiled just yet. That’s why your tattoo didn’t identify what you are or why you didn’t respond to the shifting potion the way other first-year shifters would.” She leaned in closer to me. “Do you want to know my opinion on what your shifter race is?”

“Sure,” I replied with a nod.

“I don’t think it’s been determined yet,” Headmistress Gray replied. “I think you might be a late bloomer because fate isn’t ready to show you, or any of us, for that matter, what you are yet.”

Well, fate needed to hurry the hell up. I was ready to find out, once and for all, what I was.

***

The next few days passed quickly. I went to class, the Dining Hall, and straight to my dorm room to study. I needed to stay out of trouble, and Headmistress Gray was right. I did have a lot of catching up to do. It was a lot of information to take in, but I was absorbing it all really well.

When I could pay attention, that is. I was having a really hard time focusing lately. Ever since Eric and I had gotten caught on the quad after curfew, I hadn’t heard from Ezra at all. I wondered if he had found out that I was hanging out with Eric—which was likely, considering his mom knew—and if he was mad about it.

But that would have been stupid. It wasn’t like we had even officially put a title on anything yet. Professor Reed might have thought we were mates, but I wasn’t sure if Ezra had any idea that we could be.

The weird thing was that Ezra wasn’t the only one who had been M.I.A. The entire Alpha Brotherhood had been missing from the cafeteria. I hadn’t seen them on the rest of campus, either.

I couldn’t help but feel like they were all avoiding me, but it didn’t make sense why. It wasn’t like I actually knew Damon, Rafael or Harden.

And yet, even though I knew it sounded completely illogical and irrational, there was this feeling that I had deep in my gut. I wasn’t sure why or how, but I got this feeling that their absence had everything to do with me…

Chapter 13

The following week, Alexis and I were in our dorm room one day after curfew. We were watching Teen Wolf, which was her favorite show. I’d never actually seen it before (since, you know, I had never gotten into the whole teen vampire and werewolf show thing), but Alexis had been telling me how much about the show was fact and how much was fiction. When I watched it from the fact vs. fiction perspective, I found myself a lot more interested in it.

As our door opened, I glanced over my shoulder. A girl with long, honey blonde hair with platinum blonde highlights that she wore long with Zooey Deschanel-style bangs stood in the doorway. She was wearing a short pink dress that showed off her long, endless legs. She had golden skin.

Everything about this girl was completely flawless.

But the most noticeable thing about her was her height. She had to have been close to five eleven, and she was perfectly shaped; she was slender with an hourglass frame. She looked like she should have been a contestant on America’s Next Top Model.

“Hi. Are you guys…” The girl, who spoke in a thick British accent, glanced down at a paper and read off, “Alexis Brunswick and Lena Falcone?”

“Yeah. I’m guessing you’re our roommate?” Alexis asked her.

The girl nodded.

“We actually didn’t think you were going to show up at all,” Alexis told her.

“Yeah, I know how this probably must look. I’m a few days late for school, but that doesn’t mean my education isn’t important to me.”

“A few days late?” Alexis snorted. “Talk about over a week late, girl.”

“I know, I know. I didn’t mean to let things interfere, but life just got in the way. I’m sure you can understand. I just know first impressions are everything, and I don’t want you girls to hold it against me,” the girl explained. “Especially considering my title and everything. I don’t think I should receive special treatment or anything because of it.”

“Your title?” I asked with raised eyebrows. I had no freaking clue what she was talking about.

“Oh.” The girl let out a nervous laugh. “I guess you’ve never seen a picture of me before. And no one’s told you, have they?”

“Nope.” At least, I assumed not. No one had told us anything about our roommate.  We really had just thought she was going to be a no-show, which we had both been sort of excited about, to be honest. Alexis and I got along really well, and we were both afraid that a third roommate might completely throw off our dynamic. Plus, we weren’t sure what type of monster we’d be getting for a roommate.

Not that the girl who stood before us seemed like a monster at all. She actually seemed to be incredibly sweet.

“Oh, boy,” the girl replied, leaning against the door frame. “Well, I’m not quite sure how else to put this. I’m Katerina Kordova.”

Obviously, that meant nothing to me. But when I glanced over at Alexis, I could see that her eyes were practically bulging out of her head and she was staring at the girl like she had never seen a person before.

Whoever this girl was… She was… well, someone.

Katerina gave me a funny look. “You still don’t know who I am, do you?”

I shook my head. “No. I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but this world is completely new to me. I only found out last week that I’m a shifter at all.”

“She’s…. she’s…” Alexis cupped her hand over her mouth, unable to get the words out.

Why was she freaking out over this girl? Was she some sort of shifter celebrity or something?

“No need to apologize. How frightening that must have been for you. I’m just a little surprised because I’ve never had this reaction in the shifter realm before. Everyone knows who I am.”

“Can you fill me in?” I pressed.

Katerina’s eyes met mine. “I’m Princess of the Bears.”

Chapter 14

So, my roommate was a bear. That was all I could seem to think as I stood there, staring at her in surprise.

A bear. I supposed that her height had been a giveaway. I had noticed that most bears tended to be abnormally tall, and Katerina was no exception.

The problem was just that I had been trying to avoid bears. I made a deliberate effort not to mingle with any of the bears in my classes. I didn’t even talk to them. That was my plan until I figured out who the three werebears I had to watch out for were.

At least, that had been my plan. It looked like I was going to have to come up with a new plan now. Now that my roommate was a bear. And not just any bear, but Princess of the Bears.

“Now, try not to look overly shocked. I promise, I don’t bite.” Katerina’s lips twisted into a smile and she joked, “At least, no more than the rest of you do, anyway.”

Well, she had a sense of humor, at least. And she really did seem super sweet.

“I would prefer if both of you would just treat me the same way you’d treat anyone else. I am a Princess, so it might mean extra luxuries for all of us at times. But I want the two of you to treat me no different than you would treat each other,” Katerina said. Her voice sounded so elegant.

“So, you don’t want us to curtsey and bow before you?” Alexis, who had apparently finally regained her ability to speak, asked.

“No, of course not! That would be silly of you. What I really want is some girlfriends. I haven’t had many of those—not real ones, anyway. It’s part of the reason I wanted to come to Shifter Academy in the first place. I want to get the true boarding school experience.”

“I’m sure the castle experience is probably so much better,” Alexis insisted.

“The Royal House of Bears can be incredibly boring at times. It’s also very lonely.” Katerina shrugged. “The Royal Change of Hands happens in two years from now. I wanted to make the most of this time while I can before I become Queen of the Bears.”

“Royal Change of Hands?” I asked.

“Yes. Every one hundred years, the Royals are forced out of their leadership roles. The Kings and Queens are all dethroned, making way for their children to become the next Kings and Queens.”

“Does this apply to all of the royal kingdoms?” I found myself asking.

“Yes. Every single shifter race that has a royal who sits on the Shifter High Court will be changing hands. That includes the bears, the lions, the werewolves, the tigers, the jaguars, the coyotes, the foxes, the serpents, and the birds,” she named off. “Anyway. Tell me more about you. Which one of you is Alexis and which one of you is Lena?”

“I’m Lena,” I replied.

“Got it.” She paused. “Lena Falcone. That’s a pretty name.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

“Alexis, I love your hair. It’s so silver and pretty.”

“Thanks.” Alexis beamed.

Okay, so unless Katerina was trying to butter us up before she ended up devouring us, or something, she really did seem nice. I needed to chillax.

“I heard we have to wear uniforms,” Katerina said. “I’m not sure how I feel about that. Are they completely dreadful?”

“They’re not too bad,” I replied with a shrug. “We’re allowed to wear whatever we want in our free time, thankfully.”

“Oh, good to know.” Katerina set her stuff down and then glanced at the TV screen. “Teen Wolf is one of my personal favorites. Do you girls like the Vampire Diaries, too?”

“I love the Vampire Diaries,” Alexis said with a grin.

“Me, too!”

“Are you Team Damon or Team Stefan?” Alexis asked.

“Actually, I’m Team Klaus,” Katerina replied.

“Good. Choice.” Alexis smiled.

I could tell that we were wrong to fear getting a roommate. It looked like this whole arrangement was going to work out just fine.

Maybe I was even going to walk away from all of this with a werebear best friend.

***

The next day during our lunch hour in the Dining Hall, Katerina wrinkled her nose. “Ugh. I simply can’t stand those girls.”

“Which girls?” I followed her gaze. “Anastasia Brink, Macy King, and Penelope Sinclair?”

“Those would be the ones,” Katerina replied with a nod.

“I’m with you on that,” I replied. “Why don’t you like them?”

“They think they’re all that and a bag of chips,” Katerina replied with an eye roll. “Seriously. They think they can treat others with so much disrespect just because they’re Hell Cats. It’s bloody pathetic.”

“What are the Hell Cats?” Alexis asked the same question that I was wondering.

“It’s a secret sorority exclusively for cat shifters who come from powerful bloodlines. Anastasia is the leader of the group because she’s from one of the most powerful cat bloodlines. They’re the second most powerful tiger family in the world, aside from the Khan family.” Katerina paused. “She’s also, possibly, the next in line to be Queen.”

“How?” I asked with raised eyebrows. “I thought Rafael was the next in line to be King.”

“The Khan family wants him to marry Anastasia. They consider her to have the worthiest bloodline.”

“How do you know all of this?” I found myself asking her.

“My mother keeps me well-informed of the discussions that take place at the Shifter High Court meetings,” Katerina explained. “There’s a process that a Royal shifter must go through before he or she is allowed to take a husband or wife.”

“What type of process?” I asked.

I couldn’t help but be interested. Just in case I actually did turn out to be a werewolf and Ezra actually wanted to marry me one day. The idea was a bit much to grasp at the moment. I had barely come to terms with the fact that we were probably mates. The idea of maybe becoming Queen of the Werewolves one day just felt… huge. But I wondered what the process was like, and what steps needed to be taken, in order for that to actually happen.

“Well, the first step is that the majority of the Shifter High Court must vote in favor of the marriage,” Katerina began. “I’ve been having a difficult time with that myself. I wanted to marry this guy Louis, but the Shifter High Council voted no. They didn’t think he was strong or powerful enough for him to rule alongside me.” She glanced across the table at me and Alexis. “This is another one of the reasons I decided to come to Shifter Academy. There are so many bears here to choose from. I just have to find one to fall in love with who the Shifter High Court will also approve of.” She sighed. “That all sounds so much easier said than done.”

The truth was that the entire royal marriage process sounded much easier said than done.

***

That night, Katerina, Alexis, and I were doing face masks and giving each other pedicures in our dorm room when there was a knock at the door.

Katerina glanced down at her watch. “Who would knock at this hour? Don’t they realize it’s bloody late?”

“I don’t know,” I replied as I rose to my feet to answer the door.

When I did, there was no one on the other side… but there was a shiny gold envelope.

Lena Falcone was written on the front.

“How strange,” I commented, glancing down at the envelope.

“What is it?” Alexis asked.

“It looks like an invitation,” Katerina said, eyeing it from across the room.

She was right. It did look like an invitation. It also looked almost too pretty to open.

Carefully, I opened up the envelope and pulled out a sparkly gold invitation, which was neatly tucked inside.

Lena Falcone,

You and your roommates are invited to attend the annual back-to-school party, which will be held by the Alpha Brotherhood this Saturday night at eight p.m.

The party is to be held in the Alpha Brotherhood penthouse apartment, located in the Sapphire Tower.

As I reread through the invitation, two facts hit me. The first was that the Alpha Brotherhood lived in a freaking penthouse. I had assumed that they lived in the dorm rooms, just like everyone else. This suddenly seemed very silly of me. Of course they had their own suite. They were too important to mix in with the other students. It was surprising enough that Katerina was allowed to dorm with us.

The second important fact? The Alpha Brotherhood had invited me to their party. Me. I was certain that Ezra was probably the one who had added me to the guest list, but even so, that meant he had been thinking of me, even though it had been over a week since the last time we had seen each other.

Then again, how could he forget me if I was his mate? A voice at the back of my mind whispered.

“Well? Are you going to tell us what it is?” Alexis asked me.

“It’s an invitation. It’s technically addressed to me, but you guys are invited, too. The Alpha Brotherhood is hosting an annual back-to-school party in their penthouse suite, and they want us all to attend,” I explained.

“I’m slightly confused by this. Why is the invitation addressed to you?” Katerina just looked completely baffled.

I supposed that I didn’t blame her. The party was being held by the Alpha Brotherhood, and she was the Princess of the Bears. It would have made so much more sense for her to receive an invite than me.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean that to come off as rude,” Katerina quickly apologized. “It’s just that the Alpha Brotherhood are my friends. Why wouldn’t they address it to me?”

She actually looked hurt by this.

“Because I kissed Ezra,” I blurted then, hoping that it would help clear things up for her.

Her dark green eyes went really wide. “Really? You kissed Ezra Gray?”

I nodded. “Yup. Guilty.”

“Wow.” She let out a little laugh. “Sorry. Again, I’m not trying to come off as rude. It’s just that if I was going to kiss one of the Alpha Brotherhood, Ezra would probably be the last one on my list.”

I understood what she meant. Ezra was undeniably attractive, but even I could admit that Rafael and Harden were probably tied for the most attractive of the group.

“Tell her the rest,” Alexis said, glancing over at me.

“The rest?” Katerina glanced over at me with wide eyes.

“This wasn’t just any kiss,” I informed her. “I’m pretty sure that we’re also mates.”

“Well, that was quite the plot twist.” Katerina moved across the room. “I’m a little confused. I haven’t even seen the two of you together yet. I thought mates couldn’t ever take their hands off one another.”

“Yeah, well. Professor Reed thinks the effects of being mates are setting in more slowly for us,” I explained. “I can’t hear his thoughts or anything like that yet, but we did have an electrical surge of energy when we kissed.”

“An electrical surge of energy?” Katerina’s eyes knitted together at the center of her forehead. “I didn’t know that could even happen.”

“Professor Reed said it’s more likely to happen with royals,” I replied. “Except, I’m not a royal, obviously. Only Ezra is.”

“Hmm. I’ve never heard of this happening in royals before, but who knows?” Katerina shrugged. “I’m sure Professor Reed is more of an expert on this than I am. I’ll let you know once I find my own mate.”

Suddenly, I couldn’t help but doubt what Professor Reed believed. If this only happened to Royals, then shouldn’t Katerina have at least heard about it? I couldn’t help but wonder if this was something my instructor had been completely misinformed about.

Was it possible that Ezra really wasn’t my mate at all?

“So, are we going to the party?” Alexis asked, her voice sounding hopeful.

“Of course we’re going to the party!” Katerina glanced around at us. “Unless you girls really don’t want to go, then I suppose we can just stay in.” She put on a pouty face.

I laughed. “I want to go to the party. I really want to see Ezra again.”

And maybe introduce myself to the other Alpha Brotherhood…

Okay. Maybe Professor Reed had been wrong. Maybe Ezra really wasn’t my mate.

Because if he was, would I have even been interested in the rest of them? Probably not. I was pretty sure that if he was my mate, I would have had eyes for him… and only him.

And yet, for reasons that I couldn’t even begin to explain, I was interested in the others. They intrigued me in a way that I wasn’t even able to make sense of. I wanted to talk to them. I wanted to know them. And, secretly, a part of me wanted to kiss each of them, too.

Of course, I knew that all sounded crazy. Most girls probably would have considered me lucky to kiss even one of them, considering they were all so sought after. What were the odds that more than one of them would be interested in plain, boring old me?

That also wasn’t to mention the fact that it was illogical. I was interested in Ezra. Why would I have any interest in the others? It was greedy of me to want them all to myself. And what if I did end up falling for more than one of them? That sounded incredibly messy and complicated on just about every level.

The thing was, I knew all of that.

But it didn’t matter. It didn’t change the fact that I felt this incredible pull to the entire Alpha Brotherhood, and I didn’t know why.

Chapter 15

Friday night after classes had ended, Alexis, Katerina, and I decided to go shopping for something to wear to the party. Although I’d brought that little black dress from home, both of my roommates had convinced me that I needed to make more of an impression on Ezra.

If only they knew I was trying to make an impression on the entire Alpha Brotherhood.

Katerina had a limo and driver who she’d brought to school with her, so we took her limo to the nearest shopping mall. It was the first time I had left school grounds since I’d arrived, and it felt really nice to get away.

“This is the place. Lucy’s Dresses,” Katerina said as we stood outside the store we’d found online.

We walked inside the store and began to browse through the dresses.

“I’m not even sure what look I’m trying to go for, you guys,” I told them.

“Sexy. You want to look bloody sexy,” Katerina replied.

“Yup, what she said,” Alexis agreed with a nod.

“I’m not good at this. I’ve never tried to be sexy before. The only guy who I ever dated back home was a guy who I knew since we were in diapers,” I said.

“Aw, that’s quite romantic.” Katerina smiled as she began to grab dresses from the hangers. “Don’t worry, Lena. I’ve got you covered.”

“Okay,” I agreed with a nod as I began to search through the pile myself. I grabbed a light pink dress with a sparkly bodice and a short, strapless black dress that looked much “sexier” than the Old Navy dress I had at home.

Once all of our arms were full of dresses, we headed back to the changing room. There was only one, so we had to take turns trying the dresses on.

Alexis went first. She tried on a midnight blue dress with sparkles. It dipped into a low V-neck cut in the front, and it had a leg slit on one side.

“That dress looks absolutely amazing with your hair color,” Katerina commented. “This dress was made for you.”

“Really?” Alexis glanced over at me. “What do you think?”

“I think you look stunning. You should definitely get this one.”

She nodded, beaming as she glanced down at the dress again. “I think I will.”

“Maybe you’ll end up meeting a cute fox shifter at the party, Alexis,” Katerina told her.

“Is there even such a thing as a cute fox shifter?” Alexis asked from behind the other side of the door as she changed back into her regular clothes. “Don’t get me wrong. I know all shifters are more attractive than humans, but most of the fox shifters who I’ve encountered just aren’t my type. They’re all so short.”

I was short. I was barely five feet tall. I wondered for a second if it was possible that I could have been a fox shifter.

Then again, Alexis was about five inches taller than me and she was a fox shifter.

“Have you ever met Sean Fox?” Katerina asked.

“No.”

“Allow me to introduce you to him. He’s not only attractive, he’s absolutely darling. A real gentleman. It’s so rare to find that quality in a royal anymore. I’m sure he will be at the party on Saturday night.”

“Sean Fox is a royal,” Alexis replied. “I’m sure he would want nothing to do with me. I don’t have royal blood. I don’t even come from a powerful bloodline of foxes.”

“But you’re forgetting one little thing. And that’s love. Royals don’t care about lineage if they fall in love with you. And you, my dear, are a far more beautiful person—both inside and out—than any fox shifter I have ever encountered.”

“You’re going to make me cry,” Alexis said, as she opened the door to the changing room. “That’s, by far, the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me.”

“And I meant every word.” Katerina glanced over at me. “Your turn.”

I went into the changing room and closed the door behind me. I pulled my clothes off and stepped into one of the dresses—a red little number that I wasn’t entirely sure would even cover my underwear—when I happened to push my hair to the side and catch a glimpse at my neck in the mirror.

“Um, you guys.” I pushed the door open and then showed my neck to my friends. “Do you guys see my new tattoo? I can’t even make out what it is.”

“What the hell.” Alexis pulled her phone out and snapped a photo of the tattoo.

I glanced down at the picture. There was the faintest outline of two sets of pawprints with a splash of blue and purple watercolor over them.

“Can either of you make out what type of pawprints these are?” The truth was that I didn’t even know pawprints well enough to be able to identify them, but maybe my friends would be able to since they had grown up in this world. At least, I hoped.

Katerina stared at the photo through narrowed eyes. Then she pushed my hair to the side and looked at my neck. “I can’t make it out. The lines are just too faint.”

“Me, either,” Alexis agreed. “But from what I can tell, it doesn’t look like they match.”

“You’re right,” Katerina agreed. “The one in the top left corner is larger than the one next to it. And the one below it is narrower than the one alongside it. See?”

I could see what she meant. It didn’t look like the pawprints matched. At all.

I wondered what all of this meant. It wasn’t there at the Sorting Ceremony, so why had this tattoo just randomly appeared on me?

I wanted to believe that this tattoo had something to do with my shifter race, but it wasn’t on the chart Headmistress Gray had shown me. I was at a complete loss of what it could all mean.

***

A half hour later, we were walking away from the store with our dresses, which Katerina had practically begged us to let her pay for. She had chosen a short fuchsia dress that only accentuated her long legs even more, and I decided on the light pink dress with the sparkly bodice.

“Now that we all know we’re going to be hot on the night of the party, what should we do next?” Katerina asked.

“I could really go for some ice cream,” Alexis said.

“Ice cream sounds bloody amazing,” Katerina replied with a nod.

As we headed toward the mall’s food court, my cell phone beeped with an incoming text.

I glanced at my phone, afraid that it was going to be Rachel yet again.

To my surprise, it was Jake.

Jake: Lena, where have you been?

“Douchebag,” I muttered under my breath as we fell in line for ice cream.

“You’re going to be a bit more specific, love,” Katerina said. “Who’s a douchebag?”

“Jake. My ex-boyfriend from the human world. He left me for one of my best friends and now he wants to know why I’m not in school.” I rolled my eyes.

“Want me to get rid of him for you?” Alexis asked, holding out her hand for my cell phone.

“I’m just going to ignore him,” I replied.

At that moment, there was another text message from him. I opened it and read what it said. And then my heart stopped.

Jake: Are you already at Shifter Academy?

I glanced over at my friends. “You guys, he knows.”

“That you kissed Ezra Gray?” Katerina asked.

“No.” I shook my head and then handed her my phone. “Read.”

Katerina and Alexis both read the text.

“How does he know?” Alexis asked, glancing over at me.

“I have no freaking clue. It doesn’t even make sense. I didn’t even know that Shifter Academy existed until I got here. How would he know about it?” I wondered.

“Well, there’s one possible explanation,” Katerina replied. “Maybe he, too, is a shifter.”

I wanted to tell her there was no possible way that my ex-boyfriend could have been a shifter, but… it was one of the only theories that actually made sense.

“Are you going to respond?” Katerina asked me.

“I don’t know,” I replied.

“You should give it some time before you decide,” Alexis said. “Right now, I’m afraid we have a much more pressing matter to deal with.”

“What is it?” My eyebrows shot up as I just continued to stare down at Jake’s text message.

“Who is that guy?” Alexis pointed her chin somewhere behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder, and a knot in my stomach twisted.

It was the guy who had been staring at me in the History of Shifters class.

“He’s been following us around this entire time, I think,” Alexis said quietly. “I noticed him standing outside the dress store. And now he’s here. The thing is, he just keeps staring at you.”

“He’s in my History of Shifters class,” I said, turning my back to him. “He was staring at me all morning. It was pretty creepy.”

“Talk about a stalker.”

“You know what? I’m going to go talk to him,” Katerina said.

“You are?” I just stared back at her with wide eyes.

“Of course I am. I’m the Princess of the Bears. He should know better than to mess with me or anyone who I care about if he wants to live another day.” She looked so angry.

“Don’t do anything to actually hurt him. It’s not worth it,” I told her.

“I’m not going to hurt him. I’m just going to give him a good warning so he knows to stay the hell away from you,” Katerina explained.

As she turned to go say something to him, he was gone.

Chapter 16

The following evening, Alexis, Katerina, and I walked to the Sapphire tower. I was so curious to see what the Alpha Brotherhood’s penthouse suite looked like. I was hoping to get a peek at Ezra’s room.

If it weren’t for the fact that Ezra had been following me around for an entire year, I would have thought it made me sound like a total creep.

When we reached the tower, there was a sign on the door.

The location of the party has changed. Please follow the arrows in the woods to the beach.

“There’s a beach here?” I asked with raised eyebrows. How had I been at Shifter Academy for two entire weeks without knowing there was a beach near our campus?

“Yes, but it’s off-limits during school days to students. That’s probably why it wasn’t mentioned,” Alexis explained as we all headed towards the woods, following the first arrow leading us onward.

“This is so exciting. I’m just loving the fact that this is a beach party now,” Katerina said with a grin as we continued our way down the heavily forested path.

As we came out on the other side, I was surprised to find that there were so many other students on the other side. They were all just as dressed up as we were. It almost looked like a spring formal, except it was held on the beach. The moonlight casted a glow over the area, and there were tiki torches placed throughout the beach. Music blared from speakers, and everyone was drunkenly dancing.

“We should get ourselves something to drink, and then we can go look for Sean Fox so I can introduce you,” Katerina told Alexis as we headed over to the drink table.

I grabbed a cup and filled it with some rum and coke.

“You’re just going to adore Sean Fox. Then they can call me the Royal Matchmaker,” Katerina was saying, but that was when I stopped paying attention to them. My eyes were scanning the area for the Alpha Brotherhood—and that was when I saw them.

There were four thrones set up on the beach, overlooking the party. Each of the Alpha Brotherhood sat in one of the thrones.

I found myself rolling my eyes. I knew they were the next in line to be King, but was it really necessary for them to flaunt their status at a party they were throwing? How arrogant could all of them have really been?

The worst part of all was that Ezra had made it perfectly clear that he didn’t want special treatment just because he was the Prince of the Werewolves. And yet, that didn’t stop him from sitting his ass on a throne in front of the entire school.

“Hey, L,” I heard a voice say from behind me. Turning around, I found Eric standing there.

“Hey, you,” I replied with a smile.

“Are you having a good time?”

“We actually just got here.”

“I’m sure it won’t be as much fun as you and I had together a couple of weeks ago, right? We’re like partners in crime now. There’s no one else who I would rather have been hauled off to my mother’s office with.”

“Thank you for that, by the way. I didn’t get to thank you at the time, but I appreciate that you decided to come with me.”

“It’s no biggie. The last thing I would have wanted was for my mom to rip you apart for it,” Ezra replied.

“Do you happen to know if your brother heard about what happened?”

“That’s a good question—one that I do not know the answer to.” Eric shrugged. “Why don’t you ask him yourself? He’s standing right behind you.”

I whirled around to find Ezra standing just feet away from me.

My breath hitched in my throat as his blue eyes landed on mine.

Was this what it felt like to see your mate again after being separated for so long?

“Hey.” Ezra’s lips remained in a flat line. He looked so… serious.

“Hey,” I replied with a smile. A smile that he didn’t return.

His eyes didn’t move away from mine. “What were you doing talking to my brother?”

And there it was—the reason he must have been mad at me.

I sighed. “I’m sure you probably heard that he and I got into trouble together.”

“No, actually. I didn’t.” He didn’t look happy by this news. “What did Eric talk you into doing?”

I wasn’t sure why, but I suddenly felt defensive over his brother. “How do you know it wasn’t me who talked him into doing it?”

“Was it?” He stared back at me skeptically.

“Well, no,” I admitted.

“See, I didn’t think so. Here’s the thing about Eric. Trouble is his middle name. It follows him anywhere he goes. What did he convince you to do?”

“We just got caught being out past curfew,” I replied with a shrug, trying to play it off coolly.

“Did you kiss him?” Ezra asked.

“What?” I let out a little laugh. “Why would you think I’d kiss your little brother?”

“You must have found him charming enough to stay out past curfew with him.”

“You sound jealous,” I commented.

“That’s because I am jealous, Lena.” His blue eyes locked on mine. “Any shifter would be jealous when it comes to his mate.”

“So, it’s true then?” I found myself whispering. “We’re mates?”

He nodded. “I have heard your heart beating like a drum all week.”

“But if we’re mates, then why can’t I hear your heartbeat?” I asked him.

“I have my own theory,” he muttered. “Now, you didn’t answer my question. Did you kiss my brother?”

“Of course I didn’t kiss him,” I replied with an eye roll. “We were out past curfew because he told me he could help me shift for the first time. He gave me the shifting potion, but it didn’t work. It just burned really bad.”

For some reason, Ezra didn’t look surprised by that information.

“I’m glad you didn’t kiss him,” he replied. “I don’t want your lips going near anyone outside of the Alpha Brotherhood. You got it?”

What an odd choice in wording. If I didn’t know any better, it sounded like he had just given me permission to kiss the others, but there was no way that was the case. He probably just meant that he was in the Alpha Brotherhood, so I should only be kissing him. Him, my mate.

That made the most sense, anyway.

“Got it,” I said after a long moment. Swiftly changing the subject, I asked, “What’s with the thrones, anyway?”

“It was Rafael’s idea. It’s pretty stupid, if you ask me.”

“Then why did I see you sitting on them?” I asked him.

“It wasn’t worth a fight,” Ezra explained. “When it comes to the Alpha Brotherhood, you pick and choose your battles.”

His words caught me off-guard. “Battles? I thought you were all best friends.”

“We are, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t have disagreements. We’re all Alphas of our individual packs. You put four Alphas in a room together for too long, and that just leads to all types of power struggles.”

“I don’t get it. Why do you hang out with them all the time if you struggle over power?” I asked.

“Because, despite being Alphas, we really are best friends,” Ezra explained. “But it’s more than just that. We have no choice but to get along. We’re all the future rulers of the shifter world. It’s best for us to learn to get along right now than it is for us to figure out it one day when the shifter world is at stake.”

“My roommate is Princess Katerina,” I informed him.

“I know,” he replied.

“How did you know? I haven’t even seen you around campus at all since the last time we kissed. Where have you been?”

“My Alpha Brotherhood duties called,” he replied. “We all had to go away for a couple of weeks.”

“And they just hold your spot at Shifter Academy for you?” I asked.

“Doesn’t really seem fair, does it?” Ezra asked.

“Not even the least bit fair.” I met his eyes. “Is it always going to be that way? You going away for weeks at a time, without even saying goodbye?”

“This mission was considered an emergency, or else I would have let you know I was going,” he explained. “But I was also still processing the fact that we’re mates.”

“I see. It would have been nice if you had let me know.” I met his eyes. “I wasn’t sure what that electric feeling was or what was going on.”

“I’m sorry.” His arms fell around my waist then, and he pulled me closer to him. “The important thing is that we are mates now.”

“Yeah. Who would have thought we were truly destined to be together?” I asked, smiling up at him.

A strange look passed through his eyes, one that I couldn’t identify.

Before I could question it, his lips came down on mine.

If only I had known then, as I kissed him in the middle of the beach with people dancing all around us, that things were about to get more complicated than I ever could have imagined.

Chapter 17

It must have been the hot night and the salty air, but one drink later and I was more wasted than I had ever been in my entire life. I also couldn’t help but feel drunk on life, drunk on knowing that the mystery was solved, that Ezra really was my mate.

He and I danced out there in the middle of the beach without a care in the world.

Every time I glanced over at the thrones the other Alpha Brotherhood still sat upon, at least one of them was staring at me. I knew that I was drunk—so drunk that I had actually begun to slur my words a little, but there was no way I was imagining their eyes lingering on me.

***

Sometime after midnight, Rafael and Harden climbed down off their thrones and began to walk down the beach, away from the party.

Ezra followed my gaze to them. “I need to go with them, but I’ll be back soon. Wait for me here?”

“Okay.”

He kissed me again before he moved, at the speed of lightning, down the beach after them.

Once Ezra was gone, I glanced around.

Alexis was dancing with a guy who I could only assume was Sean Fox. He was just a couple of inches taller than her, and he had a thin but athletic build. Even through the darkness, I could see that he had auburn hair and fair skin.

Katerina was dancing with an extremely tall guy; he towered over her, and he had an extremely muscular build. I was pretty sure he could have only been a bear shifter, which made sense. Even in my drunken state, I remembered Katerina’s quest to find her mate and the next King of the Bears.

Shifting my gaze away from them, I scanned the beach. That was when my eyes landed on Damon Crowne, the only one from the Alpha Brotherhood who was still sitting on his throne.

His golden-brown eyes met mine from across the beach. I might have only been imagining it, but from the way he was staring at me, I was pretty sure that he wanted me to come over to him.

My legs began to move on their own in the direction of him. It was as if something was pulling me to him. Something was compelling me.

Once I stood before him, I half-debated if I should curtsey. But I couldn’t have even if I wanted to; I was too paralyzed with fear.

The first time I had met Ezra, I hadn’t been nervous. Of course, during our first meeting, I hadn’t known that he was a werewolf, let alone the Prince of the Werewolves. I hadn’t had any reason to suspect that he was anything other than human. But even after I found out, I hadn’t actually been nervous around him. Ezra made me feel comfortable… at ease.

But something about Damon made me nervous. I hadn’t felt that way when I’d seen him in the cafeteria, but now that I was just feet away from him, introducing myself… The nerves were hitting me in full force.

It was easy to see that he was going to be the next ruler of the shifter world. Something about him just seemed so confident, so self-assured, as he sat there on that throne.

“Hi. I’m Lena,” I said nervously. My legs shook a little as I stood before him, and my heart thumped against my chest.

Damon’s golden-brown eyes met mine. “I know who you are.”

“Why don’t you join the party?” I asked him.

“Because,” he said, “that would send the wrong message.”

I frowned. “And what message would that be?”

“That I’m available.” He motioned to the throne next to him, the one that Rafael had been sitting in earlier. “Have a seat.”

Clutching my drink in one hand, I sat down on the throne next to him.

“How does it feel?” Damon asked, glancing over at me.

I glanced out at the beach and the other party goers, who all looked like they were having the time of their lives.

“Lonely,” I admitted. “I think you would be having more fun if you were out there mingling with everyone else.”

“Ah, on the contrary.” He paused. “There’s a certain power that comes with sitting on a throne. Do you feel it?”

I swallowed hard. The truth was that I did feel powerful, sitting here on this throne next to Damon, the next ruler of the shifter world, while everyone else was dancing below us. I may have been wrong, but I got the sense that he wouldn’t let just anyone sit on this throne next to him. I wasn’t sure why I was allowed to, but I assumed it had something to do with the fact that I was Ezra’s mate now.

“I do feel it,” I admitted after a long moment.

“I figured you would.” The faintest hint of a smile hit his lips. “Welcome to my idea of fun.” Damon paused for a long moment. “I have a question for you.”

“What is it?” I asked, wondering what he could possibly have to ask me.

“Why has it taken you so long?” Damon asked.

I glanced over at him. “So long?”

“To talk to me.” His gold eyes locked on mine again. “I was waiting.”

My heart pounded. “Then why didn’t you come talk to me first?”

“Because I didn’t know.”

“Know what?” I paused, wondering if he always spoke in sentence fragments.

“If you wanted me to talk to you.”

“I did,” I admitted quietly. It was the truth. I had wanted all four of them to talk to me. I knew it probably was something that I should have kept to myself now that I knew, for sure, Ezra was my mate. But something about being in Damon’s presence took away my ability to lie. Just looking into his eyes had a truth serum type of effect on me.

“Good.” Damon’s lips curled into a smile. “I hear you’ve caused a lot of waves around here. People fear you.”

“They do? That’s news to me.” I paused. “I don’t know why. I’m not even scary.”

“Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong, Lena. You are very scary,” he insisted.

“Me?” I asked with raised eyebrows. I wasn’t sure what Damon, a lion shifter and the next ruler of the entire shifter world, could find even the slightest bit scary about me. Physically, I had to have been the furthest thing from scary. Katerina and Alexis both looked like they could kick someone’s ass, but me? Well, I was barely five feet tall. I couldn’t imagine anyone finding me scary.

“People are afraid of you because they’re not sure what to expect from you. No one knows what you are. This makes you unpredictable. The unknown is scary to most, but it’s not to me.” Damon’s eyes met mine. “Personally, I find myself addicted to the unknown.”

My heart beat faster. Was he saying he was addicted to… me?

“The outcome is what I’m most interested in,” he went on. “Will you turn out to be something as weak as a bird or a fox or will you be the next Queen?”

I just started back at him, allowing his words to sink in. The next Queen. Had Ezra told him that he wanted to marry me, to give me that title?

If so, he was really jumping the gun. We didn’t even know if I was a werewolf yet, let alone the next Queen of the Werewolves.

Damon was right. Everything about me really was unpredictable.

“Why aren’t the Hell Cats here?” I asked, realizing for the first time all night that I hadn’t spotted Anastasia and her friends.

“This party was invitation only,” Damon replied.

“Why didn’t you want them here? I thought Anastasia was the most desirable option for the next Queen of the Tigers.”

“Raf doesn’t want her. He has eyes for someone else. We all do,” Damon said simply.

I waited for him to elaborate further on the subject, but he didn’t. Instead, he said, “After this party is over, I want you to come back to the penthouse with us,” Damon told me. “We need to talk to you about something.”

“What do you need to talk to me about?” I asked.

“It’s a theory we have about you. We think we might know the truth about what you are.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, but there’s only one way to find out for sure.”

“And what way is that?” I asked.

“We’ll talk about it later,” Damon replied dismissively.

How could they have known? And if he was right, then why hadn’t Ezra told me about it yet? Why was he keeping secrets from me? He was my mate. Even if we still had a lot of getting to know each other to do.

It was crazy, actually. I couldn’t tell you what Ezra’s favorite color was or what type of music he listened to. But I could tell you that I didn’t want to live without him. I already felt that emotionally—and physically—attached to him. The idea of being away from him for weeks again broke my heart a little.

Speaking of which, where was he?

I glanced in the direction he and the others had gone in and, as if on cue, they were all walking towards us.

Rafael moved quickly towards me. As he approached me, his emerald green eyes met mine. “Why are you sitting on my throne?”

Chapter 18

“S-sorry,” I replied, climbing down from the throne. “Damon told me to sit there.”

“I’m only joking with you, Lena. A beautiful goddess like you can sit on my throne any time.” Rafael’s emerald green eyes locked on mine. “But I’d prefer if you’d sit on my lap.”

I glanced over at Ezra then, who was standing to the right of me. I knew that he had heard what Rafael had said. There was no way he hadn’t heard it. But the strange part was that he seemed to be completely unfazed by it.

The stranger part? Ezra had been so jealous about the possibility that I had kissed his brother, but Rafael was telling me to sit on his lap right in front of him and he just didn’t seem to care. It just didn’t make any sense.

“I should, uh, probably get back to my friends,” I told them.

“Remember to come to our place after the party,” Damon said.

“I will,” I promised, even though I wasn’t sure that I actually had a choice. I was pretty sure that if I didn’t show up, the Alpha Brotherhood was going to drag me to the penthouse and sit me down to have this talk.

Not that any of that was actually necessary. Truthfully, I was dying to know what their theory was.

As I made it over to Alexis and Katerina, I found that they had both broken away from the guys they had been dancing with.

“There you are!” Katerina, who was now barefoot in the sand, came in for a sloppy hug and kissed me on the cheek as I approached them. “We saw you talking to the Alpha Brotherhood.”

“Yeah, we saw you talking to Damon. What’s going on with him?” Alexis asked.

“And with Ezra?” Katerina questioned.

“Well, for starters, Ezra and I are mates,” I informed them.

Katerina’s eyes widened. “You really are? How do you know for sure?”

“He said he can hear my heartbeat,” I explained.

“But you can’t hear his?” Alexis asked with a frown.

“No. We’re not sure why, but this is proof enough for me.” I paused. “They also have a theory on what type of shifter I am.”

“What is it?” Katerina asked, her eyes lighting up.

“I don’t know yet. They want me to go to their penthouse after the party is over,” I explained.

“Are you going?” Alexis asked.

“Of course I’m going. I can’t wait to hear what the theory is.” I paused and then glanced over at my friends. “Where did your guys go?”

“They went to get us some drinks,” Katerina replied. “You have got to meet Andrew. He’s very handsome. Not the same type of guy who I would normally go for. I’ve always gone for the clean-shaven Teddy Bear kind of bear shifters, but Andrew’s not like that at all. He’s much more ragged. Much more… bear-like. I am really attracted to him.”

I laughed at her werebear descriptions.

“And I’m really attracted to Sean. I didn’t even know before tonight that a cute fox shifter existed, but it turns out they do.” Alexis tucked a strand of silvery blonde hair behind her ear. “I really don’t want this night to end.”

“Me, either. I feel like Cinderella. I even lost one of my shoes,” Katerina said with a giggle.

“Do you guys know yet if Sean and Andrew are your mates?” I asked.

“Nope. I’m hoping that I’ll find out by the end of the night,” Katerina said.

“Me, too,” Alexis agreed with a nod. “You’re so lucky that you’ve already found your mate. Your quest for your soulmate is over.”

I wasn’t sure if lucky was exactly the word for it. I glanced over at Ezra then. He was sitting on his throne again, talking to the other guys in the Alpha Brotherhood.

“Actually, I have a question for you guys,” I told Alexis and Katerina. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure Ezra was still sitting on his throne and, therefore, out of earshot.

He was.

“When we find our mates, are we still attracted to other shifters?”

“That depends on which type of attraction you mean,” Katerina said. “You’ll still be able to see that other shifters are good-looking. Having a mate doesn’t mean you’ll be blind. But you won’t want to hop into bed with another shifter if you’ve already got a mate.”

So, what I was feeling wasn’t normal, then. I had suspected as much.

“Why do you ask, Lena?” Alexis asked, her dark eyes meeting mine with a hint of concern behind her gaze.

“It’s going to sound completely crazy to both of you, especially since Ezra and I are already mates.” I paused, unsure of how to phrase this. “But every time I look at one of the other members of the Alpha Brotherhood, I want him. And I don’t just want them—I feel the same connection I felt to Ezra early on.”

“So, what exactly are you saying?” Alexis asked with a frown.

“It’s just that I feel something completely unexplainable for all of the Alpha Brotherhood—something that goes beyond attraction. It’s like there’s something pulling me to all of them. Ever since the moment I first laid eyes on them, I had this feeling about them.” I glanced at my friends, unsure of how else to put this. “And I know this is going to sound completely crazy of me to even ask, but do you think it could be possible that all of them are my mates?”

“If they are, it would be incredibly unfair,” Katerina said.

“I know. I feel so greedy to even think it. And the absolute last thing I want is to hurt Ezra.” In fact, it pained me to think about ever having to tell him that I was drawn to his best friends.

“You should probably keep those thoughts to yourself,” Alexis said.

“Nothing good will come of them,” Katerina agreed with a nod. “I’ve heard horrible stories about mates who have actually killed one another because there was someone else in the picture. Shifters are even more jealous than humans. They tend to get into a jealous rage. If Ezra thought that you had eyes for one of the others, he might try to hurt one or both of you.” She paused. “Not that I’ve ever personally known Ezra to be a violent guy. But that was before.”

“Before?” My eyebrows shot up questioningly.

“Before he met you. Before he had a mate. Now, he might find himself incredibly jealous and ready to kill for you.”

The thing was, I wasn’t entirely sure if she was right.

After seeing the way Ezra had reacted—or how he hadn’t reacted—to Rafael telling me to sit on his lap, it seemed safe to say that he wouldn’t get that jealous or angry about the possibility of me being with another guy. Unless that guy was his brother.

Then again, I wondered if Ezra might have been afraid to react in front of Rafael, for some reason. I already knew that Ezra let the Alpha Brotherhood talk him into things he didn’t always want to do, like sit on a throne at a beach party.

Was it possible that Ezra hadn’t thought that this was a battle worth fighting over?

And if he did feel that way, was Ezra really the right mate for me?

***

My roommates and I walked along the path that led back to the Alpha Brotherhood’s penthouse. They were headed back to our dorm room.

“Good luck, love,” Katerina said, drunkenly kissing me on the cheek again. “Have fun.”

“Yeah, have a good time.” Alexis paused, her eyes meeting mine. I couldn’t help but notice the look of concern behind her gaze. “And be careful.”

“I will,” I promised, even though I didn’t think I had anything to be worried about. Nothing had changed since the first day Ezra and I had met; for unexplainable reasons, I trusted him with my entire being.

As I reached the penthouse, I realized that I was earlier than they were.

I waited outside the tower for a few moments before I heard the sound of feet moving quickly up the trail.

I glanced over to find Harden walking towards me. His violet eyes caught on mine. “Hey, Lena. I’m Harden.”

“I know who you are,” I replied with a smile.

“The others will be here in a few minutes, but they sent me to let you in.”

“Okay,” I replied as I followed after him.

He pulled out a key ring and opened the door. “This entire tower is ours,” he explained as he led me into the foyer. “The first floor is our study quarters.”

As we walked past several sets of French doors, I noticed that there were individual offices set up behind each one. There were desks with computers and bookshelves with little libraries in each room.

Their studies all looked so… professional. The strangest part was that I couldn’t imagine even one of them actually using these spaces to study.

Harden led me to an elevator then. “Our living quarters are in the penthouse.”

As we stepped inside the elevator together, I could feel my heart racing.

Being in such close quarters with him just made me want to move in closer to him. I could feel the heat of his body, radiating off his skin.

It was the strangest thing. I had never felt anything like this before.

Energy. I wasn’t sure how I knew that, but I just did. It was his energy that was vibrating through the air, pulling me to him.

His violet eyes locked on mine again. “So, how do you like Shifter Academy so far?”

“It’s okay,” I replied. “I think I’ll like it a lot better once I figure out what type of shifter I am.”

“Well, hopefully we can clear that up for you tonight,” Harden replied.

“Do you really think you know what I am?” I asked.

“We’re pretty sure.”

I turned to him as the elevator came to a stop. “So, what is it?”

“The others want to be here so we can talk to you about it together.”

“Not even the slightest hint?” I asked as the door opened.

His lips formed a smile as he climbed out of the elevator. “The others would kill me. But don’t worry. You’ll find out soon enough. Then you’ll wish you didn’t know.”

“Are you saying that it’s bad?” I asked, wondering if I was a fox shifter. Damon had made it clear that a fox shifter was not the thing to be.

“No, I’m saying it’s complicated. There’s your hint, I guess.” Harden held the elevator door open for me. “Are you coming in or are you going back down?” A joking smile hit his lips.

“Sorry,” I muttered as I stepped out of the elevator and followed him into the living room of their penthouse.

It was completely stunning.

The entire room was lined with windows, which overlooked the forest below. The walls were painted a shade of ivory, and numerous pieces of artwork hung from the walls. There were four sectionals in the room, and a large flat screen TV that hung from the walls. Gold drapes hung from the windows, hitting against the white marble floor.

It was, by far, the most beautiful living room I had ever seen in real life.

“So, what do you think of our place?” Harden asked me.

“It’s beautiful,” I told him.

“There are five bedrooms.” His eyes slid over to meet mine. “One of them could be yours.”

“You guys want me to live here?” I was surprised by his statement. The last thing I would have thought was that they wanted me to live with them. And even if they did, wouldn’t it have made more sense for me to live in Ezra’s room? He was my mate, after all.

I wondered if the others even knew that he was my mate. Had Ezra kept our bond a secret?

If he had, it would have explained why Rafael had made that comment about sitting in his lap in front of him like it was no big deal. It also would have explained why Ezra had seemed to be unfazed by it.

At that moment, the sound of the elevator chimed as it opened, snapping me out of my thoughts. I heard Rafael saying, “They’re in the living room.”

As the three of them came into the room, I glanced over at them, and the breath caught in my throat. All three of them were so gorgeous… and they were all staring at me. It was almost too much to handle.

I stared at them for a long moment before finally asking, “So, are you guys going to tell me what I am now?”

Damon’s gold eyes locked on mine. “We believe you’re destined to be the next Queen of the shifter world, Lena.”

Chapter 19

As the Alpha Brotherhood moved further into the living room, I just stared back at them, trying to make sense of what they had just said.

“What do you mean I’m ‘destined to be the next Queen of the shifter world’?” I questioned. “There’s no way that could be possible. I’m not royalty.”

Even though I was, technically, mated to royalty.

But even so, Ezra wasn’t even destined to be the next King of the shifter world, only the King of the Werewolves. If what they were saying was true, then they were also implying that I was destined to be with Damon, since he was going to be the next King of the shifter world.

“There’s this ancient prophecy. It was written thousands of years ago about the future Queen of the shifter world.” Damon walked over to a book that was laying on an end table and, handing it to me, pointed to one of the sections. “Read this.”

With hair like chocolate and eyes like honey, the future Queen of the entire shifter world won’t be born into royalty. But though she will lack royal blood, she will make up for it in elegance, grace, and skill.

Initially she will be a mystery, but the answers will soon become clear. She will become mated to one Alpha from each of the four shifter races,

But it will be up to her to decide which of the four Alphas to marry. The marriage will break her mate bond with the other three Alphas, and it will also determine which shifter race will rule the world.

A ruler at heart, she will be the most important Queen to ever rule the shifter lands, for under her rule, everything will change.

There will be a struggle for power, breaking out in a war among every shifter race. It is up to this Queen to unify them, once and for all.

I read it over about five times before glancing up at him, confused.

“I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head. “What does any of this have to do with me?”

“We’re pretty sure the Queen the prophecy is describing is you, Lena.” Rafael’s emerald green eyes locked on mine from across the room.

“How could this be about me?” I swallowed hard.

“Well, for starters, you match the physical description. It said the future Queen of the shifter world will have chocolate brown hair and honey brown eyes, just like you,” Ezra said, eyeing my hair and then meeting my gaze. “But it would also possibly explain why your shifter race can’t be determined as of right now.”

“How do you figure?” I asked.

Ezra took the book from me and read from the prophecy. “It says initially she will be a mystery.” His blue eyes shifted to meet mine. “Your shifter race is a mystery, and this could describe why.”

I shook my head. “It must be talking about some other mystery. It has to be.”

“We’re pretty sure the mystery is you, Lena.” Damon’s gold eyes met mine from where he stood across the room from me. “But that brings us to the other part of the prophecy… and that involves us.”

“The prophecy says that you’ll become mated to four Alphas from each of the shifter races. We’re pretty sure that’s talking about all of us,” Harden said, his violet eyes meeting mine.

“How do you know?” I questioned. “Even if this prophecy is talking about me, which is incredibly unlikely, but on the extremely unlikely off-chance that it is about me, then how do you know it’s about any of you? There are other Alphas from other shifter races who it could be referring to.”

“Come on, Lena. Don’t try to tell us you don’t feel what we feel because we know you do.” Damon’s eyes locked on mine.

My heart pounded. “What do you feel?”

His eyes didn’t move away from mine as he said, “Attraction. It’s an indescribable attraction that none of us has ever experienced before.”

“All I can do any time I look at you is undress you with my eyes,” Rafael told me.

A blush rose to my cheeks. I would have been lying if I said that it wasn’t extremely flattering that Rafael, who was downright gorgeous and that wasn’t to mention the next King of the Tigers, thought about me that way.

“Whenever you walk into the room, this energy just radiates around all of us,” Harden added. “It makes us feel like you’re the only girl in the room. You’re the only one any of us has eyes for.”

I noticed that Ezra was being quiet through all of this. Knowing that we were already mates, he probably hated hearing the others saying these things they felt about me.

“There’s something else.” Damon met my eyes. “In order for this entire prophecy to come true, it means that you need to become mated to all of us.”

“Well, I’m already mated to Ezra,” I replied.

“No.” Damon let out a little laugh. “You’re not. Not completely, anyway. The mate bond has been initiated, but you are not fully mated yet. There’s more involved in the process of becoming a mate. You have to place your mark on one another.”

I remembered Professor Reed mentioning that on the first day in Shifter Mates and Families class, but she hadn’t actually gone over it yet.

“I didn’t know what a mark is or how you place one,” I admitted to the Alpha Brotherhood.

“It means to mark your mate with your scent. Your mate will smell like you—and you like him—which will ward other shifters away from the two of you. It’s basically the same idea as wearing a wedding ring,” Harden explained.

“Once you’ve placed your mark on your mate, the bonding process finishes, and the two of you are officially mated,” Rafael explained.

“And there’s only one way to place your mark on your mate,” Damon said.

“How?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“You have to have sex.”

I just stared back at him for a long moment, allowing this to sink in, and then glanced at the others. “So, wait. Are you guys saying that, in order for this whole prophecy to come true—in order for me to become Queen of the entire shifter world—I have to have sex with all of you?”

“Yeah,” Harden replied with a nod. “Pretty much.”

“I don’t like it, for what it’s worth. I want you all to myself.” Rafael’s emerald green eyes met mine.

“We all feel that way,” Damon said quietly. “But this is the right thing to do.”

“How? How is it the right thing?” I asked him, completely bewildered at how these guys thought that me having sex with all four of them was “the right thing.”

Don’t get me wrong. The idea was more than tempting. I wanted more than nothing to rip all of their clothes off and jump their bones. All four of them.

But were they not taking into consideration that this all could have been hurtful to Ezra, to the mate I already had kissed? Judging from how quiet he had been this entire time, I wasn’t entirely sure that he liked it.

“So, who do you want to kiss first?” Rafael asked.

“You mean second,” Harden corrected. “Ezra was first.”

“That lucky son of a bitch. I wanted to pop your Alpha Brotherhood Cherry.” Rafael’s eyes caught mine from across the room. “But maybe I still will.”

God, he was freaking hot.

“We know that you aren’t… satisfied… right now,” Damon continued.

“Satisfied?” I questioned.

“You aren’t happy with only Ezra. You need more. You feel something for all of us, and you want more. That isn’t normal behavior for a mate, but it’s because of the prophecy. It’s the reason you look at us the way you do, and it’s the reason you feel drawn to us… and us to you.” There was a certainty in Damon’s voice that told me how much he really believed in this prophecy. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me you don’t want all of us, Lena.”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to hurt Ezra, but most of all, I didn’t want to admit that this was my reality. That this prophecy could actually be about me.

Damon stared at me for a long moment. “You’re not answering me because you know it’s true.”

I wasn’t sure what it was then, but it felt like the walls were beginning to close in on me. Because if what they were saying was true, if the prophecy really was about me, then it meant everything was about to change.

“I need some air,” I murmured.

“Take that door.” Harden pointed his chin at the left of the room that I would have assumed was a closet. “It will take you out to the rooftop.”

“I’ll be back,” I said with a nod.

The truth was that they were right. If this prophecy was true, it would have answered so many questions. It would have explained why I lacked a shifter race and why being mated to Ezra wasn’t enough for me. It would have explained why our mate bond didn’t have the same effect on me as it did on other shifters. It would have been a reasonable explanation for why I was still drawn to all of them for some reason, even though that wasn’t what normally happened.

On the one hand, I thought it was extremely logical. But on the other hand, I also still thought it sounded absolutely crazy. A large part of me didn’t believe that this could all be about me.

I sighed as I stood outside on the roof, overlooking the forest. Beyond the trees, I could see the beach and the waves that crashed against the shore. It made me realize how high up I was… and how unafraid I was.

Was that because I was a cat shifter? I wondered. I had always heard that cats didn’t have a fear of heights, but I wondered if that only applied to domestic or wild cats, or if the same held true for shifters, too.

It was crazy to think how much had changed in just a couple of weeks. I was barely able to make sense of what they were saying.

If all of this was true… if this prophecy really was describing me… was this what I even wanted? I had been nothing more than an average teenager a couple of weeks ago. Was I ready to be Queen of the entire shifter world?

It sounded absolutely terrifying, completely irrational, and totally crazy.

And yet, the idea of not ruling the world, or at least one of the shifter kingdoms, alongside one of the Alpha Brotherhood sounded even worse.

I was, by no means, ready to be a Queen. But I wasn’t ready to give up on the idea of being one of them, either. Even though I gravitated to Ezra the most, I knew that was because we were mates. But what if I let the others claim me as their mates, too? What if I became mated to all of them?

It would be incredibly painful.

That much I already knew for sure. I wasn’t even mated to three of them and already the idea of choosing only one of them broke my heart a little.

A part of me thought that Ezra was who I would pick. I had known him the longest, and he had been my first mate. But I couldn’t be so sure. I would have had to know what being mated to the rest of them felt like first.

Suddenly, I felt like I was on a shifter version of The Bachelorette.

If the prophecy was even true. There was a chance—a big chance—that it wasn’t.

“So, what do you think of all this?” A voice asked.

I glanced over my shoulder to find Rafael standing behind me. His emerald green eyes almost sparkled beneath the moonlight.

“I think you guys are all crazy,” I said, letting out a little laugh. “To think I could be the shifter who this prophecy is about…” I just shook my head. “It’s crazy. Completely and utterly crazy.”

“Crazier things have happened, Princess.” He stared at me with an amused look in his eyes.

I could feel the heat rising to my cheeks. “I’m sure I’m not a Princess,” I insisted.

“Well, of course you’re not a Princess yet,” he agreed. “There’s a lot of things that would actually need to happen before that could happen. But, in the meantime, you are a Princess to be.”

“I don’t know about any of that,” I replied with a sigh. It almost felt like it would have been too easy if this was the answer to the mystery that was me.

“There is one way for us to find out, you know.” He moved closer to me then, and instinctively, I moved in closer to him, too. Except, it didn’t feel like it was me.

There was this gravity that was reeling me in to him. Before I even knew what was happening, we were so close that I could feel his rock-hard body pressed against mine.

“Just kiss me,” Rafael whispered, leaning in closer to me.

And as much as I wanted to blame it on the prophecy and the alcohol, I knew that wasn’t it. It was the energy that hung in the air between us, the heat that I could feel radiating off his body as he pressed his chest to mine. It was this magnetic force that pulled me to him—to all of them—as we stood out there under the crescent moon.

It was the way his emerald green eyes pierced through mine, peering into the depths of my soul.

It was the combination of all of those things and more that drove me to bring my lips to his, kissing him gently. He hungrily pushed back, as his hands fell to my cheeks.

And I felt it. The electrical surge that passed through us; it cascaded through my body, more powerful than it had been with Ezra. It was like a lightning bolt that radiated through us.

When we broke our kiss, I could tell from the look in Rafael’s eyes that he had felt it, too. The energy. The electrical force.

The prophecy was true. We were mates.

Chapter 20

“The prophecy is true,” Rafael announced as we went back into the living room where the others were sitting.

“So, you kissed him.” Ezra’s blue eyes fell on mine.

“Yeah. It just happened,” I told him honestly.

“I bet it did.” He didn’t look even the slightest bit happy.

“Ezra.” Damon let out a low growl. “We talked about this. You knew we were all going to have to kiss Lena eventually.”

“That doesn’t mean I like it. She’s still my mate, you know? She was mine first.” Ezra shook his head, obviously frustrated. “Whatever. I’m going to bed.”

He rose to his feet and headed down the hallway. A moment later, I heard the sound of his bedroom door slam shut.

“He took that a little rough, didn’t he, Princess?” Rafael smirked at me.

“I’m not a Princess!”

“Fine. My Queen. Is that better?” Rafael questioned.

I rolled my eyes at him. Though, technically, I couldn’t even deny it now. Now that we knew Rafael was my mate, we knew, for sure, that this whole prophecy theory was actually about me.

One of the things Professor Reed had taught us in Shifter Mates and Families class was that it wasn’t possible to have more than one mate. Therefore, there didn’t seem to be any other explanation for any of this.

I really was destined to become the Queen of the shifter world. And that was exciting and also incredibly nerve-wracking at the same time. I had a lot of preparing to do. I didn’t even know how to shift yet, and I was going to be expected to rule over the entire shifter world, eventually.

“It’s late,” Damon said, glancing down at the time on his phone. “You’re spending the night, Lena?”

“Oh, um. Sure.”

“You can have the guest bedroom. In fact, you might as well call it your own bedroom from here on out. We can hire some decorators sometime next week,” Damon said.

“That’s nice of you, but that won’t be necessary,” I told him.

“Nonsense. I want it to feel like home.” His eyes locked on mine. “It is your home now. You are always welcome here at any time.”

“Thank you.” I got the sense that Damon didn’t extend offers like this to just anyone, so that in itself meant the world. “Well, I guess I’m going to go to sleep now.”

“Your room is the third down the hall, on the left,” Harden told me.

“Thanks.” I had just started to walk down the hallway when I realized I didn’t have any pajamas here. I turned around. “Um, I don’t have anything to sleep in.”

“You should just sleep naked, My Queen,” Rafael said. He paused. “But if you choose to do that, then you should do it in my bed with me.”

I rolled my eyes at him, even though the idea of being naked in bed with him made my heart flutter a little.

“There are some t-shirts in the closet,” Damon told me. “I’m sure they will be more than long enough on you.” His golden-brown eyes were lingering on me then, and I got the feeling that he was somehow sizing me up.

“Well, goodnight,” I told them all then.

“Goodnight,” Harden replied.

“Goodnight, My Queen.” Rafael smiled at me.

“Goodnight, Lena,” Damon said. “Sweet dreams.”

I pulled out one of the white t-shirts, which reached below my knees and then climbed onto the huge king-sized bed.

I grabbed my own phone and reread Jake’s text message for about the millionth time since the afternoon before.

Jake: Are you already at Shifter Academy?

With nervous hands, I texted him back.

Lena: How do you know about Shifter Academy?

I waited a long time for a response, but he didn’t answer me.

Then my head hit the pillow, and I somehow managed to get a better night’s sleep than I had gotten in months.

***

The following afternoon, I spent the morning hanging out with the Alpha Brotherhood in their penthouse. We watched Tiger King and laughed and laughed. I had so much fun with the four of them that I didn’t want to leave. But I had a lot of studying to do before class the next day, so I had no choice but to leave.

“I’ll walk you to your dorm room,” Ezra said, heading for the elevator with me.

A long, mildly uncomfortable silence hung in the air between us as the elevator crept to the first floor of the tower.

“Are you okay with all of this?” I met Ezra’s eyes.

“I’m not going to lie to you and say that I like that this happened the way it did because I don’t. I wanted you all to myself, and I do hope that you’ll pick me in the end,” Ezra admitted, his blue eyes locking on mine. “But I also know how important this prophecy is. I have no choice but to share you if it means that the shifter world will become a better place in the end.”

“I get it,” I replied with a nod.

“I’ve also watched you so long from afar. I know you might believe that this prophecy is really about you, but I know you better than you think I do, Lena. I watched the way you dealt with your parents’ deaths. I know how strong you are. In fact, you might be one of the strongest girls I have ever known. I have no doubt that you’ll be a great Queen in the future.”

“Well, I’d have to be a powerful Queen with you be my side,” I said with a wink.

Ezra’s expression went stony. “Don’t joke like that, Lena. I don’t want you saying things like that to me—or to any of us, really—that might get our hopes up unless you actually mean it.”

“I’m sorry,” I apologized. “I didn’t mean to get your hopes up or anything like that.”

“It’s fine,” he replied as we approached my dorm room. “I guess I’ll see you later?”

“I hope so,” I replied.

Ezra leaned in close to me then and kissed me. Then, without saying another word, he headed back to the Sapphire Tower.

***

When I got back into my dorm room, I told my roommates everything. Every. Last. Thing. From the prophecy and how I would have to have sex with each member of the Alpha Brotherhood in order to fulfill the prophecy to how Rafael had kissed me and we were mates.

“So, let me get this straight. I don’t even have one mate, but you have two? Or possibly even four? That hardly seems fair. I’m completely jealous of your predicament,” Katerina said with a sigh. She had kissed Andrew after we’d parted ways last night, and as it turned out, he wasn’t her mate.

“I wish I could trade with you. This is a lot more complicated than I bargained for. I came to Shifter Academy to learn how to be a good shifter. To be a powerful shifter—a shifter who’s in control. Instead, I have no idea what type of shifter I am. In fact, I can’t even shift yet, at all. Even shifting potion doesn’t make me shift. And now I feel like I’m on an episode of the Bachelorette with four completely gorgeous shifter guys and whichever one I choose in the end is going to be the one who I rule the entire shifter world with.” I slumped down on my mattress. “It’s a lot to take in.”

“I’d say so. I always thought it was going to be stressful to become Queen of the Bears someday, but you have far more than that on your plate,” Katerina commented. “I wouldn’t want to rule the entire shifter world. No way. That would mean ruling over those serpents. Have you met a serpent yet?”

“Not to my knowledge,” I replied with a shrug. I didn’t know what shifter race a lot of the kids in my Gen. Ed. Classes were, though, to be fair.

“They’re wicked evil,” Katerina said, shaking her head.

“Some would say that about bears, you know,” Alexis chimed in then.

“Well, they wouldn’t be wrong. Some bears are wicked evil.” Katerina shrugged. “I guess there’s some wicked evil in every shifter race.”

“It’s just so… crazy.” I sighed. “I have to choose between the four of them. I have to choose one to marry. How do I even make a decision like that if I’m mated to all of them?”

“It’s quite exciting. Really, you’re so lucky you don’t know what type of shifter you are. The possibilities for you, as of right now, are endless. I’m just a boring old bear.”

“You’re not old or boring,” Alexis said, glancing over at her. “I’d rather be a bear than a fox any day.”

“I bet you will turn out to be the slyest fox of them all,” Katerina said.

“Thanks.” Alexis paused. “I do have news, though.”

“What is it?” I asked with wide eyes, realizing that she had been unusually quiet today. It must have been because she’d been keeping this news, whatever it was, inside.

“Sean and I kissed last night, and he’s my mate,” Alexis said with a grin.

“Oh my gosh! We are officially looking at the next Queen of the Foxes!” Katerina threw her arms around Alexis in a big hug.

“I’m so excited for you,” I told her.

“Thanks. I was thinking about it, actually,” Alexis said. “And isn’t it strange how all three of us are going to be Queens in the future? It’s almost like fate decided we should be roommates or something.”

“It’s very strange, now that you mention it,” Katerina agreed.

“It makes me wonder how many other Royal shifters are on this campus,” I commented.

“Not many,” Katerina replied, shaking her head. “Aside from the Alpha Brotherhood and Sean, there’s the future King of the Serpents, the future Queen of the Birds, the future King of the Coyotes.”

“Then that’s really strange that we ended up being chosen to dorm together,” I agreed.

“It almost seems intentional,” Katerina said with a frown.

“There’s something I don’t understand,” Alexis said, glancing over at me. “The Alpha Brotherhood was able to figure out that this prophecy was about you, but how is it that they were able to figure this out and Headmistress Gray wasn’t?”

“Good question. I didn’t even really think about that.” I paused. “She must just not have thought about it too deeply. The Alpha Brotherhood had more of a reason to be curious about it, since they were all so attracted to me.”

“Good point.”

I heard the sound of my phone beep with an incoming text message then.

I glanced down at my phone.

It was Jake.

Opening the text, I read the message.

Jake: Meet me outside the Werebear Tower Friday night at 7 p.m.

“What. The. Fuck,” I muttered under my breath.

“What is it?” Katerina glanced over at me with wide eyes.

“Remember my ex-boyfriend Jake and how he knew about Shifter Academy?” I asked.

“Yes, what about it?”

“Well, I asked him how he knew, and he told me to meet him outside the Werebear Tower next Friday night,” I explained.

“Wow. That’s bloody strange.”

“Will you go with me?” I asked her. “Both of you?”

“Yes, of course,” Katerina said with a nod.

“We can do that,” Alexis agreed.

“Thanks.”

They probably thought that I was afraid of Jake, but that couldn’t have been any further from the truth.

What I was really afraid of was meeting at the Werebear Tower. Being around bears still weirded me out, even though I had yet to meet three bears who had seemed worrisome.

While the psychic’s predictions had all seemed to be true, was it possible that she had been wrong about that one thing?

Even though I didn’t want to believe that there were any werebears who wanted to do anything to hurt me, I also didn’t doubt Gretta’s predictions when she had been right about, literally, everything else.

Chapter 21

The next few days passed by quickly. I didn’t even get to see either of my mates, or the Alpha Brotherhood, in general. None of them were in the Dining Hall when I was, but I did spot them walking around campus, so I knew that they hadn’t actually left Shifter Academy again.

Although I wanted to spend more time with both Ezra and Rafael—and, well, all of them—I knew that I needed to focus on my schoolwork, too, if I had any shot at getting decent grades at Shifter Academy. And I knew that my grades actually mattered, considering I was on a scholarship. I didn’t have any other way to afford tuition without that scholarship, so it looked like I was going to have to figure out a way to be a straight-A student so I didn’t end up on academic probation or something.

On Wednesday, Professor Donahue let me know that Headmistress Gray wanted to see me in her office. Mostly, I was just excited to get out of the Science of Shifting. Today, we were learning about a type of protein we had that humans didn’t, which was why our hair and nails grew at a more rapid rate.

When I reached the Headmistress’s office, the door was open, and there were two people inside.

Headmistress Gray glanced up at me. “Miss Falcone, please come in and close the door behind you.”

As I entered the room, she motioned to the chair across from her desk. “Please, have a seat.”

I sat down, and she continued. “Lena, I’d like to introduce you to Detective Patricia Heaton and Detective Marcus Wilburn from the Investigative Department of Shifters.”

I frowned. “Am I in some sort of trouble?”

“No, of course not.” She paused. “Patricia and Marcus are here because they’ve decided to take on your case.”

“My… case?” I just stared back at her curiously.

“Yes, Miss Falcone. There’s currently an open investigation regarding your parents’ murders,” Detective Heaton explained. “It has been brought to our attention that their deaths were suspicious. It’s suspicious any time a shifter is killed, but it’s even more suspicious when someone goes out of their way to make the death appear as though it was the result of natural circumstances or an accident, such as the car accident the human world believed your parents died in.”

“Are there any suspects?” I asked.

“Not yet. However, this is the reason we wanted to meet with you. We wondered if you knew of any enemies your parents had. Anyone who seemed suspicious or like they could have been capable of committing such a horrific crime. We know that you weren’t aware until recently that your parents were shifters, which probably rules out a lot of potential suspects. But if there’s anyone you can think of—anyone at all—please let us know.” Detective Heaton stared at me for a long moment.

After thinking about it for a long moment, I finally shook my head. “No. My parents were well-liked by just about anyone they came in contact with. I never knew them to have any sort of enemies.”

“Very well.” Detective Heaton nodded and then pulled out a card. “If you can think of anything that might link anyone to the crime, please don’t hesitate to call me.”

“I will,” I promised. The truth was that I wanted to get to the bottom of my parents’ murders more than anyone. It truly made me sick to think that someone could have wanted to hurt them. Who could have hated my parents so much?

“It looks like we’re done here, then,” Detective Wilburn said.

As they left Headmistress Gray’s office, she said, “Miss Falcone, there’s something else I would like to discuss with you. Something… personal.”

“Oh?” I shifted in my seat uncomfortably. I wasn’t sure what she was going to bring up that was personal, but the only thing I could seem to come up with was that it must have been about Ezra. She probably knew that we were mates. He might have even told her that I was about to become mated to the entire Alpha Brotherhood. I wasn’t entirely sure why, but the truth was that I did feel slightly uncomfortable about her knowing that. I didn’t want her knowing that I had placed my mark on all of the Alpha Brotherhood, especially if there was any chance of me ever ending up with her son. I realized then, for the first time, that Headmistress Gray could one day be my mother-in-law if Ezra was the mate who I chose in the end.

“The last time you were in my office, you were with my son Eric,” Headmistress Gray began. “While I think it’s lovely that you’ve begun to make friends so early on, especially after only recently learning about this world, I would advise you to stay away from my son.”

Well, that wasn’t where I had been expecting her to go with this. Not even close.

“Can I ask why you feel I should stay away from Eric?” I asked.

“It’s just that Eric isn’t necessarily what I would call a very good influence,” Headmistress Gray replied. “He’s always landing himself into some sort of trouble. He spent a year on house arrest once. They wouldn’t have actually put him in a juvenile shifter detention center because of his title, but he truly did belong in one. I’m afraid that if you spend too much time with Eric, you might end up finding yourself in trouble, too. I’m sure that’s the last thing either of us wants, isn’t it, Miss Falcone?”

There was an almost threatening tone behind her voice. It was as if she wasn’t leaving this open for argument. So, I said what she wanted to hear, even though it wasn’t what I necessarily felt or wanted myself. “No, of course not. I’ll stay away from now on, Headmistress Gray.”

“Good.” Her red-painted lips curved into a smile. “You may go back to class now, Miss Falcone. Have a good day.”

“You, too,” I replied. As I walked back to my classroom, the only thing I could seem to think about was how strange my exchange with the Headmistress was.

I wasn’t exactly sure what it was, but for some reason, Headmistress Gray really wanted me to stay away from her son.

The only thing was that I couldn’t really figure out why. I did get the feeling, however, that it somehow had more to do with me than it did with him.

It made me wonder how Headmistress Gray was going to react once she found out that I was mated to her other son.

***

“Make sure you dress to the nines,” Katerina said as we were getting ready to meet Jake on Friday night.

“For my ex-boyfriend?” I asked, meeting her eyes in the mirror.

“Yes. Put on some red lipstick and don your finest high heels. Show the poor fool what he missed out on,” she replied with a grin.

“It doesn’t matter what he missed out on because we’re not mates,” I pointed out. “Even if we hadn’t broken up, we wouldn’t have stayed together.”

It made me wonder how long Jake had known about shifters. Obviously, he must have been one. How else would he have known that this place even existed? And if he had known about shifters, then why had he led me on for so long? It didn’t really make sense.

To say that I had questions for him would have been a total understatement. I had been mentally preparing a list of questions for the entire week.

Ten minutes later, Katerina, Alexis, and I stood outside the Werebear Tower, waiting for Jake to show up. It was dark out, which made the whole aura of the building seem even darker and creepier than it usually was—and it was creepy. Even during daytime hours, there was always this weird shadow over the tower.

At that moment, I heard something come from somewhere near the top of the tower. It sounded like a growl.

“Did you guys hear that?” I asked, glancing over at my friends.

“Hear what?” Alexis asked with raised brows.

“It sounded like a growl, from up there,” I explained.

“Class isn’t in progress. There shouldn’t be anyone up there right now,” she replied with a frown.

The logical side of me knew she was right, but the other part of me was seriously on edge.

At that moment, I heard a noise from the woods behind the tower. The sound nearly gave me a heart attack at first, but when I saw Jake emerge from the woods, I breathed a deep sigh of relief.

“He’s here,” I told Alexis and Katerina, shooting them a nervous look before walking over to him.

At first, we just stood there, staring at each other. I wasn’t sure what to say, even despite that list of all those questions.

“You look good, Lena,” Jake finally said, meeting my gaze. “Really good. You’re looking real strong and healthy.” He paused for a moment before adding, “Happy, too. You look real happy.”

“Thanks.” I stared back into his blue eyes. Even though I was no longer in love with him, Jake represented a lot of things to me: my childhood, my parents, my human life. Seeing him here at Shifter Academy made me realize that the human life I had led was a complete and total lie. Not only hadn’t my parents been human, but my best friend and first love hadn’t been human, either. It was weird to think that everything I had believed… everything human about my old life… had never actually been human at all.

“Is Shifter Academy treating you well?” Jake asked me then.

“It’s been okay,” I replied with a shrug. “Why are you here, Jake?”

His face twisted into a weird expression. “Aren’t you happy I’m here, Lena?”

“Why would I be happy, Jake?” I asked, shaking my head at him. “Not only did you break up with me for my best friend, but apparently you’ve been keeping this secret from me for… how long now? How long have you known about shifters? How long have you known that I was a shifter?”

“I’ve known since we were kids,” he replied.

Tears began to stab at my eyes then as the betrayal hit me. “My whole life, you were supposed to be my best friend, but you kept this… this lie from me.”

“Lena, let me explain.” He held my gaze. “Your parents didn’t want you knowing. They made us swear not to tell you. I don’t know if you realize this, but your dad was a pretty scary dude when he was in his wolf form.”

“Us?” I questioned.

“Me and my family,” he explained. “The reason your parents moved in next to us to begin with was because we were shifters, too. We were also another mixed shifter race family, which, in case you don’t know, is pretty rare in this world.”

“What type of shifter are you?” I found myself asking.

“I don’t know yet.” His eyes filled with a strange look. “I’ll find out once I start Shifter Academy.”

“When will that be?” I asked him with wide eyes.

“I start here next year,” Jake replied.

“Lovely,” I muttered under my breath. The idea of going to the same school as him… Well, to be honest, I completely hated it. One of the best parts about leaving the human world behind had meant leaving Jake behind. The last thing I wanted was for him to go here, too, especially now that I had mates. Two—and soon to be four—mates.

The only bright side was that Jake being a first-year student when I was a second-year student meant that the two of us probably wouldn’t have any of the same classes. Hopefully, anyway.

“Anyway, why did you want me to meet you here?” I asked him.

“Because there’s something I need to tell you, Lena.” He sighed. “I think I might know who killed your parents.”

A knot in my stomach tightened. I felt like I was going to puke.

“Who?” I whispered.

“The serpents,” Jake replied. “The King of the Serpents came to see your parents about a week before their deaths. I don’t know all the details, but your mom told my mom that the King threatened your dad.” His eyes met mine. “He threatened to kill him if your dad didn’t do what he agreed to, but I don’t know anything more than that.”

I swallowed hard. “There are these detectives who have been looking into my parents’ murders. They’re trying to solve the case. Would you be willing to talk to them?”

“No. I can’t. And you can’t tell anyone it was me who told you this. If they knew…” He met my gaze, a worried look in his eyes. “The serpents are not good, Lena. They’re evil. I wanted to come here so that you could know the truth. You deserve the truth. I would have wanted to know if it was my parents who were murdered. But if the serpents knew that I came here and told you this, they would have my entire family killed. The King of Serpents can never be trusted.’ He took a deep breath. “Promise me you won’t say anything.”

“I promise,” I assured him. Even though Jake was still a piece of shit in my mind, the last thing I wanted was for anything bad to happen to him or his family.

“Thanks.” Jake paused.

“Listen, Lena. I’m really sorry about Morgan, but there’s something you should know.” Jake met my eyes again. “Someone blackmailed me into breaking up with you.”

“What? Who?” I just stared back at him, wide-eyed and speechless.

“I don’t know. They left an anonymous letter at my house one day. They told me that if I didn’t break up with you, they would expose the truth about me and family. And as much as I loved you… and still love you… I didn’t know who I was dealing with. I couldn’t risk them actually exposing the fact that my family and I aren’t human.” There was a genuine look behind his eyes. “Will you forgive me?”

I wanted to believe him and part of me almost wanted to forgive him.

Almost.

“I want to forgive you, Jake, but I just can’t.” I swallowed hard. “Of all the people for you to date after me, you had to choose Morgan? My best friend?”

“Morgan’s a shifter, too, Lena,” Jake explained. “She’s the only shifter, besides you, who I know from Cherry Valley. She understood everything I was going through, better than anyone.”

“I get that—I really do. But it was still a major betrayal from both of you. You were my first love and my best friend, and she was my other best friend. I understand, but I can’t forgive you,” I said, shaking my head. “But I do appreciate you coming here to tell me about the serpents.”

“Yeah. It’s the least I could do. I should probably be getting back to the human world now,” Jake said. His eyes met mine again. “Take care of yourself, Lena, okay?”

“You, too,” I replied.

As I walked away from him, I wasn’t sure how to feel. Even though he had given me some answers, I felt like I had more questions now than I’d had before. Why would the King of the Serpents have killed my dad? It didn’t make any sense.

As I approached my friends again, Alexis asked, “How did it go?”

“Yeah, what did he want? Is he a shifter?” Katerina asked.

“He is a shifter, and he knew since we were kids that I was a shifter, too,” I explained as we began to walk back towards the dorm building. “He’s going to be starting school here next year. That should be… fun.” I shook my head frustratedly. “The reason he wanted to meet me here is because he wanted to tell me he knows who killed my parents.”

“Who was it?” Alexis asked, walking quickly to keep up with me.

“The serpents,” I replied over my shoulder. “The King of the Serpents.”

“I’m not the least bit surprised. King Amaru has the darkest soul out of anyone who I have ever met!” Katerina said as she ran after us. “I am so sorry he is the one who killed your parents, love.”

“Me, too. I’m just glad that I finally know who’s behind it. I’m going to make him pay.” In fact, all I wanted to do now was get my hands around King Amaru’s snaky little neck. Now that I knew who had murdered them, avenging my parents’ deaths had suddenly become my goal.

“How are you going to do that?” Alexis asked as we reached the dorm rooms.

“I’ll figure it out.” Of course, first I had to learn how to kill a serpent. But I was pretty sure that would be the easy part. The actual killing would be the hard part. I would figure it out, though. I was determined.

As we approached our dorm room, my eyes landed on the envelope that hung from the door.

To Lena Falcone.

I pulled the envelope down and tore it open. Pulling out the letter that was folded and tucked neatly inside, my eyes poured over the words on the paper.

You’re next.

Shivers cascaded their way down my spine as I realized what this letter was talking about—the only thing it could have been talking about.

My parents’ murders.

Chapter 22

“Who would even do something like this?” Katerina said, staring down at the letter.

“The King of the Serpents, apparently,” I replied with a sigh.

Katerina shook her head, pushing her long honey blonde hair over one shoulder. “No, there’s no way the King of the Serpents would ever set foot on this campus. He barely ever leaves his castle.” She paused for a moment then. Judging from the look in her eyes, it was obvious that a lightbulb had gone off in her head. “He must have had one of the other serpents do it for him.”

“I wonder if the King of the Serpents is the one who was blackmailing Jake, too,” I murmured.

“Jake was being blackmailed?” Alexis asked.

I nodded. “He said an anonymous sender told him to break up with me or they were going to expose him and his family as shifters.” I paused, thinking about it for a long moment. “What I can’t seem to figure out is why the King of the Serpents would have wanted Jake to break up with me.”

“I get this feeling that it has something to do with your shifter race,” Alexis said slowly.

“What if the King of Serpents somehow knew, all along, that the prophecy was about you?” Katerina asked.

“That seems sort of far-fetched, doesn’t it?” I asked.

“Crazier things have happened, love. It’s entirely possible that he’s known all along.” She shrugged.

“Maybe,” I replied, even though I wasn’t convinced by her theory. “We’re also jumping to conclusions. What if this note isn’t about my parents’ deaths? What if it’s just some sort of note threatening me for some other reason?”

But even as I spoke the words, I knew just how dumb that theory sounded.

I knew, deep down, that whoever had left this note must have been whoever had killed my parents. And as much as that angered me, the truth was that it scared me a little, too.

***

The next day at school, I was in the girls’ restroom when I heard the sound of heels clacking against the marble floor.

I came out of the stall I was in, and then walked over to the sink to wash my hands.

Anastasia Brink was applying lipstick in the mirror.

As I washed my hands, she glanced over at me. “You can’t have him, you know.”

“Excuse me?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“Don’t play dumb, Lena.”

“How do you even know my name?” I asked her.

She rolled her eyes at me. “Everyone knows your name. You’re pretty popular around here.” She paused. “You know, it’s funny. I always thought I was going to be the most popular girl at Shifter Academy. That was before you came along.” She tossed her lipstick in her bag and then moved closer to me. “You need to back off, girl.”

“Back off?” I just stared at her dumbly.

“If you’re turning this into a competition, you should know that I always win. In fact, I’ve won just about any contest I have ever entered.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “And there is nothing I have ever wanted more than Rafael Khan. So, I suggest you leave him alone if you know what’s best for you.”

I shot her a glance. “I’m sorry, Anastasia, but you should probably know that Rafael is my mate.”

“What?” She let out a laugh. “There’s no way that could possibly be true.”

“Well, it is,” I replied, folding my arms over my chest.

“Are you even a tiger shifter?” Anastasia asked me, as if she was looking for a reason to believe that I was lying to her.

“I don’t know what I am yet, but it’s possible that I could be.” I shrugged.

“I thought you seemed more into Ezra Gray. There’s no way you would look at him the way you do if Rafael was really your mate.”

I wasn’t about to back down from her. “Ezra’s my mate, too.”

She rolled her eyes at me this time. “Yeah, okay. We all know it’s possible to only have one mate.”

“Not really. You see,” I said, leaning in closer to her. “There’s this prophecy that states that one shifter will have four mates before going on to become the future Queen of the entire shifter world. As it turns out, that future Queen is me.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “And as your future Queen, I suggest that you back off. Otherwise, I just might have to kick you out of my kingdom.”

Without saying another word, I walked away from her.

***

I had just finished my Shifter Laws and Civics class when I heard a familiar voice say, “Lena, I really need to talk to you.”

I glanced over my shoulder to find Rafael heading in my direction.

“What is it?” I asked, surprised to see him. He didn’t normally flag me down in between classes just to talk to me.

“Did you tell Anastasia about the prophecy?” Rafael asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, she was threatening me to stay away from you. It just sort of slipped,” I explained.

“For someone who was so hesitant to be called Princess, you sure are letting it be known that you’re a future Queen, huh?” Rafael asked, his emerald green eyes meeting mine with a look of amusement.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not a Princess. Queen, I suppose, suits me more.”

“Yeah, well, here’s the thing. You shouldn’t have told Anastasia that.”

“Why?” I asked. “I wanted her to know so that she would back off. I don’t need to be threatened every day to stay away from you. You’re my mate, not hers. She needed to know that.”

“I understand why you felt that way. I also totally get the jealous mate thing. But here’s the thing, My Queen. It’s not good for anyone to know this little fact about you,” Rafael explained, glancing over at me. “This is a secret that needs to stay between just the five of us.”

“Why does it need to stay a secret?” I asked.

“Because if people knew the truth about you, they would want to kill you, Lena,” Rafael replied. “Almost everyone fears someone in power. Someone in control. Not only that, but there’s always someone who wants to overthrow the one in power. If everyone at Shifter Academy knew the truth about what and who you are, they would all want to harm you.”

“Oh. Great. Why didn’t you guys warn me about all of this when you told me about the prophecy?” Now, I didn’t just have to worry about my parents’ killer wanting to murder me. Anastasia probably wanted to kill me, too—especially now that she knew I was mated to Rafael when she wanted to be Queen of the Tigers more than anything else in the world.

“We just didn’t think about it,” Rafael replied. “But here’s the thing. You don’t have to worry about this right now. Anastasia doesn’t know. Not anymore.” He met my gaze. “She’s… forgotten.”

I just stared at him skeptically. “There’s no way Anastasia forgot something this huge.”

“She didn’t just forget on her own. I had to compel her to make her forget,” Rafael said with a sigh.

“You’re able to compel people?” I asked with raised eyebrows. We had learned in Felidae Pack Dynamics class that some cat shifters possessed the ability to make someone do whatever they wanted them to… even if that meant forgetting something by command. It was one of the scariest—not to mention, one of the most dangerous—powers that any shifter could possess. I wasn’t even sure how to feel about the fact that my own mate was capable of this ability.

“Believe me. It’s not something I actually like doing,” Rafael told me. “I only reserve this ability for situations where it’s necessary or life-saving. In this case, I did it to save your life.”

“Thank you,” I said, glancing up at him with a smile.

“Anything for you, My Queen.” Rafael glanced down into my eyes.

I glanced up at him, and the butterflies began to swirl around inside my stomach.

He was so freaking gorgeous. To think that he was my mate, when there were so many other gorgeous cat shifters out there who he could have been mated to instead.

His lips came down on mine then. We stood there in the courtyard, kissing for what felt like an eternity.

I hoped that Anastasia saw us or that word would get back to her somehow.

She didn’t need to know I was going to become Queen one day, but I wanted her to know that Rafael was mine.

When we pulled away then, I heard the sound of something pounding.

It took me a moment to realize what it was.

His heartbeat.

Apparently, I hadn’t been able to hear it after our first kiss, but I could hear it after our second. But that was strange.

If our second kiss was all it had taken for me to hear Rafael’s heartbeat, then why hadn’t I heard Ezra’s yet?

Was it possible that my mate connection with Rafael was somehow stronger than my mate connection with Ezra?

And if that was the case, was it because Rafael and I had more in common? Could this have been my first sign that I was a tiger shifter?

Chapter 23

The weeks flew by. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to see more of the Alpha Brotherhood, but I knew that they were a major distraction for me when really what I needed was to concentrate on my schoolwork. I saw them here and there, but we didn’t spend a lot of time together. I wasn’t sure why, but it sometimes felt like they were avoiding me, too.

The week of Halloween, I received another invitation from the Alpha Brotherhood on our dorm room door, this one for a costume party at their penthouse.

***

On the night of the party, I walked with Katerina, Alexis, and their dates to the party. Alexis was obviously going to the party with Sean, while Katerina was going with this guy Walker who she was seeing.

I wasn’t going to lie. I was sort of jealous of the two of them. They got to wear couples’ costumes, which was something I couldn’t do considering I had not just one but two mates, with two more still waiting to become mated to me.

Alexis and Sean were dressed as Fred and Wilma Flintstone. It was a classic couple’s costume, and they both looked ridiculously cute.

Katerina and Walker had gone for a slightly more creative idea. She had dressed up as a sexy version of Curious George, while Walker was dressed as the Man in the Yellow Hat.

In comparison, I just felt sort of… well, boring. I had put on a short, black velvet dress and cat ears. I had also put on red lipstick.

“I’ve never been to a Halloween party before,” Katerina said as we headed to the penthouse.

“Really? Never?” Walker, a tall bear with platinum blonde hair, sounded surprised.

Katerina shook her head. “No, my parents always forbade me from taking part in anything like that. The only thing that ever came close was a masquerade ball they let me hold at the castle once. But that was only okay because the party wasn’t only for fun. It was mostly all of the most eligible werebear bachelors.” She rolled her eyes.

“Your parents are really anxious to marry you off, aren’t they?” Walker asked.

“To say the least,” Katerina muttered.

“I’ll marry you,” Walker offered.

Katerina laughed and then exchanged a look with me. We had already discussed this at great length. Her rule for marriage was simple: she would only marry her mate.

Of course, her parents had other plans. They had a whole set of requirements for the future King of the Bears. They wanted him to be someone who came from a powerful bear bloodline. There were also different types of Werebear shifters. Katerina and her parents were black bear shifters. They had already forbidden her from marrying someone from the grizzly or panda bear lines because they were known to be traitorous. That only left the black bear, polar bear, Kodiak bear, and honey bear shifters for Katerina to choose from.

Walker was technically acceptable by her parents’ standards. He was a Kodiak bear shifter from a fairly powerful bloodline. But he wasn’t Katerina’s mate. That was why she kept calling him her “Just for Now Guy.”

As we reached the Alpha Brotherhood’s penthouse suite, we entered through the first floor and went up the elevator that led into their suite.

“I can’t believe they have their own elevator,” Alexis said.

“Fancy, right?” I agreed. I knew it only seemed fancy to the two of us… and possibly to Walker. Katerina and Sean had both grown up living in castles, so I was sure they weren’t impressed by the Alpha Brotherhood’s elevator.

I wondered what castle life was like. It was strange to think that I would find out eventually. When I was a little girl, I had never really gotten into the whole princesses and fairytales thing like most other little girls did. The truth was that I had actually sort of thought it was bullshit. And now, I was going to be a Queen. It still didn’t even feel real most of the time, but I knew it had to have been. There was just no other explanation.

As the elevator finally came to a stop at the top floor of the tower, I heard the sound of the party even before the door swung open.

When it did, I was surprised by the number of students who were partying in the penthouse. I was almost surprised the penthouse was capable of holding so many.

Even though a lot of people weren’t wearing costumes, there were tons of people who were.

As I entered the living room, I was shocked at how much the Alpha Brotherhood had outdone themselves in terms of over-decorating. There were bats hanging from the ceiling, and ghosts, witches, pumpkins and Jack-O-lanterns everywhere.

I had never been to a more decorated Halloween party in my life, but I supposed that it made sense that a bunch of paranormal beings would go crazier than most about this holiday.

I heard the sound of obnoxious, high-pitched laughter coming from one side of the room.

I followed the laughter to Anastasia Brink, who had her head tilted back and her hand pressed against Rafael’s chest. She was dressed as Daisy Duke, and he was a cowboy. From the exterior, they almost looked like the perfectly paired couple.

Except, they weren’t a couple. He was my mate.

Anger flooded my veins. I was pretty sure that if I had the ability to shift, seeing Anastasia with her hand on my mate would have been enough to ignite the change right here at this party.

The thing was, I wasn’t entirely sure who to be angrier at. Sure, Anastasia Brink had her grimy little paws all over my mate, but it wasn’t like she actually knew he was my mate. He had compelled her to forget that important fact.

And it wasn’t like he was doing anything about her being all over him. He clearly wasn’t trying to stop it.

Focusing my attention away from them, I headed into the kitchen. I noticed Ezra talking to a group of the werewolf guys from my Sociology of Werewolves and Werebears class. He was wearing a pirate costume.

As I rounded a corner, I nearly collided with Harden.

“Hey, gorgeous.” His violet eyes locked on mine.

My god, he looked hot tonight. He was wearing a black, collared cape and black button-down vest. He had used white face makeup, and it looked like he had blood trickling down his lip.

“So, let me guess.” I tapped my chin, pretending to be in deep contemplation. “You’re a vampire.”

“I vant to suck your blood, madame,” Harden said in the cheesiest gothic vampire accent he could muster as he reached for my hand and brought it to his lips.

I giggled.

“So, do you want to come to my room with me, Kitten?” He cocked his head to the left as he stared down at me.

A fiery feeling rose to my cheeks. The idea of me and him alone in his bedroom made a million naughty mental images pass through my mind. It was also exactly what I wanted in that moment.

I nodded. Glancing over my shoulder, I turned to let my friends know I’d see them later, but to my surprise, they were already gone. I glanced across the room and noticed then dancing in one corner of the room.

“Come on, I’ll lead the way,” Harden said, extending his hand.

I grabbed it and followed him down the hallway to the last door on the right.

As he flicked on a lamp on his nightstand, I glanced around at his room. It was decorated in shades of green, which reminded me of the rainforest. It made sense, considering Harden was a jaguar shifter.

Harden closed and locked the door behind us. “Lay on my bed with me, Lena.”

As he fell onto the bed, I laid down beside him. He turned to face me and then wrapped his arms around me, pulling me close to him.

The heat radiated off of his body, and I felt completely consumed by him—the same way I had felt by both Ezra and Rafael. It was as if he was a drug, and I wanted a fix.

But that wasn’t the only thing I noticed about being in his embrace. His arms were so… comfortable. It was a feeling I had never really experienced before. Sure, I had cuddled with Jake plenty of times back home, but it had never been this comfortable.

It probably sounded crazy, but it almost felt like Harden’s arms were made for me. I molded to him perfectly, and him to me. The thing was, he also felt like home. It was something I had never experienced before, but it was all I could think.

“You’re so beautiful, Lena.” Harden ran a hand through my hair, tucking a loose strand behind my ear. “And I’ve never felt so connected to someone before.”

“I feel the same way about you,” I replied, meeting his gaze through the dim lighting of his bedroom. His violet eyes sparkled and glowed a little. “There’s something I’ve always wanted to ask you.”

“Ask away,” he murmured, pulling me closer to him.

“Your eyes. Why are they that color?” I asked him.

“Why? Do you hate them?” Harden asked.

“What? No, of course not. Why would you think that?” I questioned.

“A lot of girls say they find them intimidating. Girls have even refused to date me because of them.”

I touched his cheek gently. “Well, I think those girls are crazy. You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen.”

His lips formed a smile. “I feel the same way about your eyes.”

“Mine are nothing special. Just brown.”

“Honey brown,” Harden corrected.

“They’re just… plain. Average. Nothing special. But I’ve never seen someone with violet eyes before.” I stared into his eyes. “They’re extraordinary, Harden.”

He kissed me gently on the forehead.

“It’s something that happens with cat shifters sometimes. It’s indicative of this gene. I probably have it because my bloodline originated from the Jaguar Knights, who were Aztecan. The gene is linked to some rare abilities that other cat shifters don’t have,” Harden explained.

“And what abilities would those be?” I wasn’t just curious to learn about what violet eyes meant for all shifters. I was curious to learn more about Harden, to know what type of rare abilities he possessed.

“Well, one of the biggest is the invisibility gene,” Harden explained. “I haven’t been able to do it just yet, but I have the gene that allows me to go invisible at my own will.”

“Wow,” I whispered. “I didn’t know that was possible.”

“That’s because it’s incredibly rare. I’m also like a lie detector. I can sense, from a mile away, whether someone is lying or not,” Harden explained. “That might be my most useful ability.”

“You’re the only cat shifter I’ve seen with those eyes,” I commented.

“That’s because it only affects about one in a million of us. Even my own parents don’t have them, and neither does my sister.”

“I didn’t know you even had a sister,” I commented.

“I do. Her name is Hannah.” He paused. “She can’t wait to meet you.”

My eyes widened as a realization hit me. “You’ve talked about me?”

“Lena, you’re all I ever want to talk about,” Harden murmured then.

Wrapping my arm around his neck, I pulled him in closer to me then.

I softly brushed my lips against his. Immediately, I felt it. The electric shock. The wave of energy that surged through me, causing my heart to race against my chest.

Harden pulled away for a moment. “Did you feel that?”

“It was our bond,” I whispered. He shifted then, and I took the opportunity to climb on top of him, straddling his lap.

I kissed him again. Our kiss was gentle at first. Slow. But the tension between us quickly became too much to bear.

It wasn’t just that, either. The emotions within me were running high.

As our tongues explored each other’s mouths, all I could think about was the fact that he was my mate. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

Chapter 24

Later that night, I stood outside by myself on the rooftop. I didn’t feel like going back to the party.

Truthfully, there was just too much on my mind. I didn’t want to mingle with everyone. I just wanted to think and be alone.

I couldn’t get over how much my life had changed. And while I had already known about the prophecy, tonight had only further confirmed it for me.

Three out of the Alpha Brotherhood were now my mates. The only explanation was the prophecy.

Knowing that I was going to be Queen of the shifter world… Well, I wasn’t kidding when I said I had a lot of studying to do. I had no choice but to do good in my classes, to learn everything there was to know about the shifter world.

So far, everything about the prophecy seemed to be coming true. That must have meant that the rest of it was true, too—that, eventually, there would be a war. A war that I would need to unify the entire shifter world from.

The truth was that there was still so much I didn’t know, not just about myself but about every shifter race. I needed to learn everything about everyone—and not just about the werewolves, cat shifters, and werebears, but about the serpents, the birds, the foxes, the coyotes. I needed to know everything there was to know about everyone. That was the only way I would ever be able to serve them as their Queen, the only way I would be able to unify all of them, just like the prophecy said.

I wished I knew the truth about what I was. It was the biggest mystery of all.

At that moment, I heard the sound of footsteps coming from someone behind me.

Glancing over my shoulder, I was surprised to find that Damon was standing there on the rooftop with me.

“Hey, you,” I said with a smile.

“Hey.” He moved so that he was standing next to me, overlooking the forest below us. “You weren’t enjoying the party?”

“I just needed some time to myself,” I replied with a shrug. “I have a lot on my mind.”

“I see.” He stared out at the ocean.

“What about you? You weren’t enjoying the party?” I asked him.

“I’m not one for parties,” Damon admitted quietly.

“Yeah, I’m starting to see that,” I replied.

“I don’t like most people… or shifters.” He paused. “I suppose I should probably rephrase that. It’s not that I don’t like them. It’s just that I don’t trust them.” His golden-brown eyes darted over to meet mine. “That’s one of the first things you’ll come to realize once you’re Queen, you know. Not everyone can be trusted.”

I met his gaze. “Do you trust me?”

“Should I trust you?” Damon asked.

I just stared back at him for a moment. “I guess I haven’t given you much of a reason to trust me yet.”

“I’m joking, Lena. Of course I trust you.”

“Why?” I found myself asking. When it came down to it, the truth was that we still barely knew one another. I hadn’t known any of the Alpha Brotherhood for very long. What was it about me that made him want to trust me?

“Because,” Damon replied, “fate wouldn’t have chosen you to be our Queen if you weren’t trustworthy.”

I sighed. “Sometimes, I don’t know what fate was thinking when it chose me. I don’t know if I’m really fit to be a Queen of any shifter kingdom, let alone the Queen who will rule over all of the shifter kingdoms. I feel like there had to have been someone out there who was better-suited for this.”

“Nonsense. You shouldn’t talk like that,” Damon said softly. “There are plenty of things about you that will make you a very good Queen.”

“Like what?” I pressed.

Damon turned to face me. “Well, for starters, you don’t have the same amount of bias that many of us have against the shifter world. You didn’t grow up here like the majority of us. You didn’t even grow up knowing about it. That sets you apart in several ways. You don’t already have preconceived notions about which shifters are the ‘good’ shifters”—He made air quotes with his fingers—“or which shifters are the ‘bad’ shifters. That means you can go into your reign with a clear mind. An open mind. Not many of us can say the same.”

“I guess you’re right,” I replied. That seemed fair enough.

“There’s also the fact that you’re incredibly headstrong. You’re not the type of girl who gives up easily. I can see those qualities in you,” Damon went on. “And then there’s also the fact that you’re fearless.”

I let out a little laugh. “I don’t know about that. I’m pretty sure I’m actually the furthest thing from fearless.”

“I beg to differ, Lena.” His eyes locked on mine. “Are you afraid right now?”

“Why would I be afraid?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“Look at the ground below. Look at how far away it is. Does it scare you?” Damon asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

“What are your biggest fears in life?” he asked me.

“I don’t know.”

“Think about it. Really think.” Damon’s eyes met mine.

I thought about it for a few long moments. Finally, I shrugged. “I can’t seem to think of anything.”

“That’s because you don’t actually have fears,” he replied. “I can tell.”

“How can you tell something like that about a person?” I asked.

“I have seen the way you move around campus. You move carefree and with an incredible ease. You move the way that Royals do.”

I shook my head, not really understanding what he was saying. “What does the way that Royals move have anything to do with my allegedly being fearless?”

“Our DNA might be different, but there’s one thing all of the royal shifters have in common… and that’s that we don’t experience fear in the same way humans or even other shifters do. We’re fearless.” Damon’s golden eyes locked on mine. “You might not have royal blood, Lena, but you do lack the fear gene. I can see it in you.” His eyes met mine. “I wasn’t sure how to tell you this, but there’s something else that you should know—something that I’m sure you can handle now that I know just how fearless you really are.”

“What is it?” I asked him.

“There was a second prophecy written about you. It’s a slightly scarier prophecy.”

A knot tightened in my stomach. “Scarier than being Queen?”

“That doesn’t actually scare you, Lena. I know it doesn’t.”

“Well, you’re right,” I agreed with a sigh. “I’m nervous about disappointing the entire shifter world, but I’m not actually afraid of it.”

Even though it was crazy and something that was obviously going to take a lot of getting used to, the truth was that I actually loved the idea of becoming Queen. I loved the idea of ruling over all of the shifter kingdoms, of helping to unify them.

Most of all, what I loved was the idea that one of the Alpha Brotherhood would rule alongside me. And for that reason, especially, Damon was right. The idea of becoming Queen really didn’t scare me at all.

“See,” Damon said, pointedly. “That prophecy might not have scared you, but there’s a chance that this one could. Except, since I think you lack the fear gene, I don’t actually believe that it will.”

“What does the second prophecy say?” I asked him.

“The future Queen who will rule over all the lands, the most significant shifter Queen there will ever be, will face an uncertainty. There is a chance that the Queen in question may not survive her first shift,” Damon recited.

I swallowed hard. “Does that prophecy mean what I think it means?”

“If you think it means that your first shift could kill you, then the answer is yes.” Damon’s eyes studied mine, as if gauging them for my reaction. I was pretty sure that he was looking to see if I was scared, and the truth?

The truth was that I wasn’t afraid. So, maybe Damon really was right about me.

Maybe I really was as fearless as he claimed.

“You’re not scared,” Damon observed.

I shook my head. “We all have to die some way, right?”

Something about my fearlessness seemed to intrigue him. “Lena Falcone, you are the most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on.”

“You’re not so bad yourself,” I said.

“Did Harden kiss you already?” Damon asked me, his golden eyes pouring into mine.

There was no point in lying or avoiding the truth. There were no secrets between the four of them.

“Yes,” I replied with a nod.

“Good.” A smile hit his lips as he leaned in closer to me. The cool scent of his cologne filled my nostrils. It was almost intoxicating.

“Good?”

“I’ve been wanting you to save the best for last, Lena,” Damon whispered as he brought his lips down on mine, kissing me deeply. He tasted of cocoa, spices, sugar, and rain.

The electrical surge didn’t hit right away, but once it did, it was intense—causing both of us to pull away from one another.

Damon’s eyes locked on mine and then he pulled me in closer to him, kissing me harder and deeper.

I felt it deep within me then, this feeling that I hadn’t been expecting to feel, a feeling that surprised me.

It was a feeling of completeness.

Now that I was mated to all four of them, everything in this world suddenly felt right. It was as if all of the pieces of my puzzle had fallen into place.

Chapter 25

The perfect feeling lasted throughout the night, long after everyone had gone home, leaving me alone with the Alpha Brotherhood.

I realized that the perfect feeling was probably because the prophecy had been fulfilled.

Well, sort of.

The mate bond had been initiated. But the Alpha Brotherhood still needed to place their mark on me, and I needed to place mine on them.

I wasn’t ready for that just yet. I still wanted to know all of them better first. But I wondered who I would choose to mark me, and to place my own mark on, first.

I was laying in my bed in the guestroom that now belonged to me when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I called.

The door slowly opened, and Ezra came into the room. “Hey, can I join you?”

“Yeah, of course.” I sat up in bed.

He sat down on the edge of the bed. “How did you enjoy the party?”

It was life-changing. I kissed not just one but two of my mates,I thought to myself. But I couldn’t bring myself to tell that to Ezra. He seemed to be slightly more jealous than the others.

“It was fun,” I replied. “How about you?”

“It was alright. I was looking for you earlier. I couldn’t seem to find you.”

Because I was too busy kissing the others. “I was on the rooftop earlier. Just thinking about… everything.”

“I see.” His blue eyes, which glimmered under the dim lighting of my room, locked on mine. “How are you handling everything?”

“I’m doing okay with it.”

“Good.” His eyes remained on mine for a long moment. He looked like he wanted to say something else, but he didn’t. After a long moment, he rose to his feet. “I just wanted to check on you. I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, then.”

As he turned to leave the room, I said, “Ezra, wait.”

Glancing over his shoulder at me, he asked, “What is it, Lena?”

“Stay here with me tonight?” I asked.

Ezra didn’t seem to think twice about it. He moved across the room and climbed into bed with me, draping his arm around me and resting his chin against my neck.

The same feeling that I’d had with Harden came over me then.

It felt like I was home.

***

The next morning, the Alpha Brotherhood was sitting in the kitchen eating breakfast when I came into the room.

“Look at that bedhead,” Rafael commented, his eyes on my hair.

“Reminds me of a lion’s mane,” Harden said, popping a piece of pancake into his mouth.

To be honest, it did look like a lion’s mane. I had actually wondered if there was a possibility that I could have been a lion because the summer months made me look a little like Mufasa. Damon had quite a full head of hair, in comparison to the others.

“How did you sleep, My Queen?” Rafael asked.

“Fine,” I replied. I thought about keeping my thoughts to myself, but I knew that they were going to come to the surface, anyway, so I might as well get it over with. “How about you? Did Anastasia spend the night?”

“Why would Anastasia spend the night?” Rafael asked with raised eyebrows.

“Oh, come on, Rafael. She was all over you last night.”

His emerald green eyes danced around with amusement. “Well, don’t you sound like a jealous mate?”

“It’s not even jealousy,” I lied.

Harden’s eyes darted over to me. Oh. Right. His ability to tell whenever someone was lying.

“Okay. Scratch that. Maybe I am a little jealous,” I said with a sigh. “But it’s about so much more than just that. I also think how you behaved with Anastasia last night was stupid.”

His eyebrows lifted questioningly. “Stupid how?”

“We all know that Anastasia wants to be the next Queen of the Tigers. By letting her be all over you like that, she probably thinks there’s a very good chance of that actually happening,” I explained. “Knowing that you’re my mate now, you should probably make it clearer to Anastasia that the two of you don’t have a future.”

At least, not any time soon. I wasn’t sure what would happen with the three mates who I didn’t choose as my King. I assumed that they would go on to be with other people and marry Queens of their own.

So, if Rafael wasn’t the one who I ended up choosing in the end, then maybe Anastasia had a chance with him. Someday.

“Stasia knows I could never be with her in that way,” Rafael responded with a dismissive shake of his head.

“I didn’t know you had a nickname for her,” I muttered.

“Of course I do. See, the reason I can’t ever be with Stasia is because we’ve known each other for too long. She’s like a sister to me,” he explained. “Obviously, you’re the one who I really want to be with. But even if you weren’t in the picture, I still wouldn’t be interested in her.”

“I just don’t think she realizes that,” I replied, shaking my head. “I remember how confident she was about the two of you when we talked about it in the bathroom. She really believes the two of you will end up together—and for good reason. It certainly looked, to me, like you have a thing for her.”

“Well, I guess I’ll have to talk to her again sometime and let her know that I don’t have a thing for her,” Rafael replied. His green eyes met mine. “Because I truly don’t.”

“Anyway,” Damon said, seeming to grow bored of the subject. “We figured we could all go on a road trip today.”

“Sounds good to me,” I agreed with a nod. The truth was that I was willing to do anything to get away from Shifter Academy.

Ever since that note had been left at my dorm door saying “You’re Next,” I had been looking for just about any chance to leave the campus. Any time Katerina asked me to go on an impromptu shopping trip with her, I was more than willing—even though I did worry about that kid from my History of Shifters class following me. The kid had dropped out of my class after we had caught him following us at the mall, but I still saw him on campus sometimes, so I knew he was still around. I often wondered what his shifter race was, and if he could have been the one who was working with the King of the Serpents. If so, that gave me even more reason to fear him.

It was strange that Gretta hadn’t predicted that serpents were the ones who I really needed to worry about at Shifter Academy. So far, I hadn’t encountered any bears here who seemed like they were working against me. In fact, I had barely come into contact with any werebears, aside from the ones in my classes, who I barely spoke to, and Katerina, who had quickly become one of my best friends.

But nevertheless, I was still willing to do whatever it took to get away from Shifter Academy. The fact that I was leaving with the Alpha Brotherhood made it even better.

I couldn’t wait to see what my mates had in store for me today.

Chapter 26

A few hours later, I was sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking a lake below. It wasn’t just any lake, either. The water was a shade of a violet, similar in color to Harden’s eyes. It was a magical lake; the color had come from a spell a witch had cast on the lake hundreds of years ago. It was absolutely beautiful. I had, obviously, never seen anything like it before.

We had been sitting there, dangling our legs over the edge, and talking for a while now. I was sitting in the center, with Ezra and Rafael to my left and Harden and Damon to the right of me.

“What kills shifters?” I asked my mates. “We haven’t learned about it in any of my classes yet, and I’ve always wondered.”

I knew that we were all practically immortal, but what I didn’t know was how we could be killed. But most of my curiosity involved my parents. As much as I hated to think about their deaths, a big part of me secretly wondered how they had died.

“Actually, that all depends on what type of shifter you’re talking about,” Harden replied. “It’s possible to kill a bird shifter by decapitating it.”

I cringed at the idea.

“Werewolves, cat shifters, fox shifters, and coyote shifters can only be killed two ways: with a silver bullet straight through the heart or wolfsbane.”

“That must mean my parents were killed with wolfsbane,” I realized aloud. “No one would have believed that they died in a car accident if there had been a bullet wound.”

“Actually, there wouldn’t have been any evidence,” Damon replied. “We heal so fast that our skin and tissue regrows even as we die. The only way anyone would have known would have been if they did autopsies and discovered the bullets in their hearts.”

“Oh.” Well, that was a little disappointing. I hated to consider the possibility that my parents could have been shot to death. But as Jake had told me, the King of the Serpents was evil. It didn’t sound like I could put anything past him.

I swallowed hard. If there was any chance of me ever avenging my parents’ deaths, I needed to know how to kill a serpent. “How do the serpents die?”

“There’s only one way to kill a serpent,” Damon replied, “and that’s fire.”

A weird feeling filled my gut. Just knowing that I was going to have to kill the King of the Serpents with fire one day was enough to freak me the hell out.

“And werebears?” I asked. “How do they die?”

“They can die from all of the ways mentioned above—a decapitation, silver bullet through the heart, wolfsbane or fire,” Damon explained. “The hardest thing about killing a bear is their power and abilities. They’re so strong that the only way to decapitate them, usually, is to tranquilize them first. They have a better sense of smell than any of us, so they can smell wolfsbane from a mile away. Even though you can kill a werebear with a silver bullet, their size and posture in shifter form makes it difficult to hit them in the heart, so your best shot is during human form.”

I nodded. Even though I hoped that Gretta would be wrong, that really no werebears would ever mess with me, I couldn’t be positive that there wouldn’t be three bears who tried. And even though Gretta had said the tiger and lion would protect me, I wanted to be prepared in case I ever found myself needing to kill a werebear.

Something dawned on me then. Gretta had told me that the lion and tiger would protect me, which I assumed was probably in reference to Damon and Rafael now. But she hadn’t mentioned the wolf or jaguar. Why had Ezra and Harden been left out of the equation?

Maybe her predictions were only half-accurate. Which I really hoped meant that the whole entire thing about the three bears I needed to worry about wasn’t true altogether.

“Enough of this talk about death. We didn’t come here to think morbidly.” At that moment, Rafael rose to his feet. “Who’s jumping off this cliff with me?”

I glanced down at the violet pool of water below us. It looked so refreshing, especially in comparison to the hot sun that was beating down on us. It may have been November, but it felt unseasonably warm. It was far different from what November in New Jersey would have felt like.

But it was so far down. This cliff must have been a couple of hundred feet higher than the lake.

“We’ll break our legs or necks or something if we jump off of this,” I commented.

“Lena, Lena, Lena. You’re thinking like such a human,” Harden said with a laugh as he rose to his feet, too.

“It’s pretty cute,” Damon added as he stood up.

“We’re shifters, My Queen. Even if we somehow broke our necks or legs or any other bones in our body, they would grow back within seconds,” Rafael added.

“Oh.” Duh.

“So, what do you say?” Ezra asked. He was the only one who was still sitting down with me. Leaning in closer to me, his blue eyes met mine. “You want to go for a dip?”

I nodded and then grabbed his hand, pulling him to his feet.

Rafael ran across the landing of the cliff and then dove, headfirst, off the cliff.

I watched as he splashed into the water and then came up, waving for us.

“The water’s warm!” He shouted up at us.

Damon dove in headfirst, just like Rafael. He was followed by Harden, who did a cannonball into the water.

I glanced over at Ezra. “Am I jumping next, or are you?”

“Let’s go together.” He reached out for my hand. Lacing his fingers between mine, we both ran together.

As we jumped off the cliff, I looked down. The distance from where we were jumping to where we would land didn’t even faze me. If anything, it only made the adrenaline rush through me.

It felt like a long way down… and every foot of air only made the excitement flood my veins.

It didn’t bother me in the least that we had just jumped off a freaking cliff. That was all the proof I needed to know that Damon was right.

I was fearless.

More fearless than I had ever realized.

Chapter 27

As Ezra and I plunged into the water, he pulled me close to him and kissed me. His lips were wet and salty from the water.

Rafael definitely hadn’t even been joking about the fact that the water was warm. It felt like we were swimming in a hot tub.

“Are there fish in this water?” I found myself asking.

“Yes, there are,” Harden said with a nod. His violet eyes took on a seriousness as he glanced over at me. “There are sharks, too.”

“Are you trying to scare me?” I asked, swimming closer to him.

He was treading water. “Maybe.”

“It’s not working,” I replied, shaking my head. “When I was a little kid—maybe about six or seven years old—sharks were actually my favorite animal. All of the other kids at school thought I was weird because we had to do a school project on our favorite animal, and I chose the Great White Shark.”

In hindsight, I supposed that probably should have been my first sign that I did lack this fear gene. Going to the Jersey Shore had never scared me. I would go with friends all the time, and they’d always be afraid of sharks, jellyfish, crabs, and other marine creatures. But none of that had ever scared me.

The only animal that had always weirded me out was snakes. What if it was possible that the way I had felt about snakes was somehow foreshadowing how my parents would one day be murdered? That may have been a bit strange, but who knows? The one thing that I had learned about in my classes was that shifters were known to have really good intuition. Some of us were even psychic.

Speaking of which, I wondered if any of my mates had that psychic intuition.

“So, I already know Harden has some unique abilities, but what about the rest of you?” I asked them. “Are any of you psychic or anything like that?”

“No, none of us are psychic,” Damon replied, shaking his head. He ran a hand over his sopping wet hair.

“Unfortunately. I wish one of us was psychic. Then we’d know which one of us you’ll end up picking,” Harden added.

A blush rose to my cheeks. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt so awkward any time one of them mentioned me choosing. I guess it was just the guilt that came along with knowing that I was going to have to choose only one of them, and hurt three of them, in the end.

What I worried about the most was hurting the Alpha Brotherhood. I didn’t want to ruin the dynamic of their friendship. They were all best friends. The last thing I wanted was for me and my decision to come between them.

“I think Rafael has the coolest abilities out of all of us,” Harden went on, interrupting my thoughts.

“Really?” My eyebrows rose. “Even cooler than yours?”

“Way cooler,” Harden said with a nod.

I turned to Rafael. “So, what are your abilities?”

“In or out of the bedroom, My Queen?” He waggled his eyebrows at me.

I rolled my eyes. “You already know the answer to that question.”

“I can camouflage to my surroundings, no matter what they are,” Rafael began. “So, whether I’m in the forest or in the snow, I can make myself blend in.”

“Really?” I had learned about this ability in my Felidae Pack Dynamics class, but I knew that it was supposed to be incredibly rare. Less than one percent of all cat shifters possessed this ability.

“You think I’d lie about my talents? Just watch.” Rafael went deeper into the water so that the only thing you could see was the top of his head.

I watched as he turned a shade of violet, just like the water around us. If I didn’t know he was there, I wouldn’t have been able to find him at all.

A moment later, I could see his skin and hair color again as he uncamouflaged himself.

“Wow, that was amazing.”

“It’s cool, but it’s not an ability I’ve had to use all that much. If I’m ever hunting or at war or something, I’m sure it will probably come in handy.” He paused for a moment. “You already know I’m able to compel people and shifters into getting them to do what I want. I’m also able to heal others with just the touch of my hand.”

“Why have you been holding back on all these interesting talents?” I asked him.

“I can assure you, My Queen. My talents far exceed these.” He winked at me.

Rolling my eyes again, I turned to Ezra. “So, what abilities do you have?”

“I don’t think I have any. If I do, I haven’t really figured them out yet.” He shrugged, seeming to consider it for a long moment. “I’m pretty good at moon magic.”

“Moon magic?” I just eyed him curiously.

“It’s a class you’ll take during your second year at Shifter Academy. It’s a required course. All shifters are required to take Moon Magic. We’re all very much in alignment with the moon, so the majority of us have powerful magical skills during that time,” Ezra explained. “My professor’s pretty impressed with me.”

“Well, you did bring me to Shifter Academy using magic,” I recalled.

“That was nothing. Just an easy little spell.”

“And how did you get on my balcony?” I questioned. “I always wondered.”

“That was easy,” he replied with a shrug. “I jumped.”

“You can jump that high?” I just stared back at him. That balcony had to have been at least twenty feet high, if not higher, from the ground.

“Yeah, most werewolves can jump that high,” Ezra replied with a nod.

“So can most cat shifters,” Rafael added.

“So, I should be able to jump then, too, right? Since I’m probably either a cat shifter or a werewolf?” I paused and then wondered out loud, “And if I can’t jump, is that a sign that I might actually be a bear shifter?”

“If you are a cat shifter or werewolf, your ability to jump won’t begin until after you’ve shifted for the first time,” Ezra explained.

“So, if I actually survive my first shift, then I might be able to jump.”

“Pretty much,” Ezra agreed with a nod.

I sighed. I couldn’t help but feel slightly let down. The truth was that I really wanted to jump. To me, it was one of the most intriguing shifter traits I had heard about so far.

I glanced over at Damon then. “So, what about you? What unique talents or abilities do you possess?”

“Lions don’t tell,” he said simply.

“Really? You’re not going to tell me what you’re capable of?” It sort of upset me a little that he wasn’t willing to share this part of himself, especially when all of the others had shared. It was almost as if he didn’t trust me to keep his secrets or something.

Except, I knew that it didn’t actually have anything to do with trust. Damon had just told me the night before that he did trust me. I was pretty sure that it must have been some sort of pride thing. That or he was trying to remain mysterious.

“If you stick around long enough, you’ll figure out all of my talents,” Damon said matter-of-factly.

To say that I was intrigued would have been an understatement.

I really wondered what his talents were and why he was so secretive about them.

Chapter 28

We went out to dinner that night. As we sat around a long table in this dimly lit pizzeria scarfing down pepperoni and Hawaiian pizzas, I grilled the Alpha Brotherhood about their families. I wanted to know more about all of them.

“I have a brother named Ricky,” Rafael told me. “He’s a dick.” He grabbed another slice of pizza. “He’s been fighting with me over the throne since we were kids.”

“Fighting with you over it?” I asked. “I thought you were the next rightful heir.”

“Yes, but only by just a few minutes,” he explained. “I forgot to mention the fact that we’re twins. I was born just three minutes before Ricky, which has led to a lifelong competition between us.” His green eyes met mine. “Ricky has spent most of his life hoping that I’ll die so he’ll be next in line to be King of the Tigers.”

“Your own brother wants you to get murdered just so he can be King?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“Yep.”

“He does sound like a dick.” I shook my head. I turned to Damon. “How about you? Any brothers or sisters?”

“I have five sisters: Elsa, Megan, Catherine, Kylene, and Dolly.”

“Dolly?” I let out a little snort. “Sorry. I’m not trying to be rude. Her name just doesn’t really fit in with the rest of them.”

“My mom loved that singer from the human world—Dolly Parton,” Damon explained as he took a swig of his Coke. “I get along with my sisters really well, but they’re all very overprotective.”

“I see.” That was worth noting. If I did end up choosing Damon to be my future husband and King of the shifter world, he came with five overprotective sisters. I didn’t know if they would even like me.

I realized that I should probably meet them—and all of my mates’ families—before I ended up making a final decision. My life was beginning to feel like it should have been called The Shifter Bachelorette by the day.

I glanced over at Harden, who would have been next in line to answer me. “I know you already have your sister, Hannah,” I said.

“And I have a brother named Henry,” he replied. “He’s older than me.”

“Older?” My eyebrows lifted. “But I thought you were the next in line to be King of the Jaguars.”

“I am. That’s because Henry was banned from ever becoming King,” Harden explained, gnawing a piece of pizza crust. “He got into a lot of troubles when he was in his twenties. Drugs, alcohol, trouble with the law—you name it, and chances are, he’s probably done it.”

“Henry is pretty much the older version of Eric,” Ezra said, his blue eyes sliding over to meet mine.

“I keep meaning to ask about your other siblings,” I said, recalling that Alexis had told me he had a bunch of siblings. And yet, Eric was the only one who I had met or heard of so far.

“I have six brothers and three sisters. All of them are younger. There’s Ethan, Eddie, Elijah, Elliott, Emmett, and Eric, of course,” Ezra named them off. “Then there’s Emmalyn, Elouise, and Erica.”

“Your parents really liked the letter ‘E’, didn’t they?” I asked.

“All of us are named after my mom. Her name is Ella,” he reminded me.

For some reason, it didn’t surprise me that Ella Gray had named all of her children after herself. Everything about the woman gave me those vibes. She seemed very into herself, to say the least.

I wasn’t sure what it was, but something about Ezra’s mom gave me all the bad vibes.

***

As we headed to the car, I noticed him out of the corner of my eye—the kid who used to be in my History of Shifters class. He was sitting in a car parked near Damon’s.

Conveniently, the car faced the window of the pizzeria, giving him a good view of the table that we had only just been sitting at.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I muttered under my breath.

“What is it?” Harden asked, glancing over at me with worried eyes.

“That kid is always following me, and I’m going to find out why,” I replied. Without saying another word, I walked over to the kid’s car.

He looked completely blindsided by the fact that I had actually approached him.

He rolled the window down and glanced out at me. “Listen, I can explain.”

“You better have a damn good explanation. You’ve been following me for months now. What is it that you want?” I asked. “Are you a serpent?”

“No, I’m a cheetah,” he replied.

It would have made perfect sense for the King of the Serpents to have a cheetah working for him. It would have made him seem like he wasn’t behind this at all. In fact, it really would have been the perfect coverup.

“Are you the one who left the note outside my dorm room?” I questioned.

“Wait, so they left you a note, too?” he asked.

“What do you mean too?” I just stared back at him through narrowed eyes.

The fact that he apparently knew about the notes made me wonder, even more, if he was the one writing them.

“I keep getting these notes telling me that I have to follow you. I have to send pictures of you to this anonymous number,” he explained. “They blackmailed me. If I don’t follow you, then they’ll expose my family’s secret. I can’t risk that.”

This all sounded eerily familiar. It was almost identical to the experience Jake had told me about.

“Actually, come to think of it, I have one of the notes on me.” He reached into his glove compartment and pulled out a yellow sheet of paper.

I read the words that were scrolled across it:

Send me pictures of Lena Falcone tonight at the Alpha Brotherhood’s Halloween party or your family’s secret will be let out. Neither of us would want that, now would we?

My stomach clenched at the thought that he had been at the Halloween party the night before, and I hadn’t even noticed him. How many other times had he been following me around without me realizing it? It made me feel nauseous and a little creeped out, to say the least.

As I glanced back into the kid’s eyes, I couldn’t help but think there was something that looked so genuine behind them. He almost looked… afraid. Whatever his family’s secret was, it was clearly something he wanted to keep private.

“What is your name?” I asked him.

“It’s Duke.”

I glanced over at my mates. All of them were staring over at us with suspicious looks in their eyes. If Duke were to make even one wrong move, I was pretty sure that my mates would pounce on him in a heartbeat.

“Listen, Lena. You really don’t have to worry. I mean, you should probably be worried about whoever the hell is sending these notes. I don’t know who it is, but they have this way of getting their hands on all this information you didn’t know anyone could figure out. They have this way of figuring out your deepest, darkest secrets. It’s some seriously scary shit. But when it comes to me, you don’t need to worry. I’ve only been following you around because I have no other choice. I have to do it to protect my family. But I would never actually do anything to hurt you. I don’t have a problem with you.”

The sincerity in his eyes and the genuineness in his voice made me believe everything he was saying.

“I totally get it, Duke. Thanks.” I took a deep breath. “Listen, the next time you need pictures of me at a party or whatever… I totally understand. I don’t mind. You do whatever you have to do. I’m sure I would probably do the same.” I paused. “If you do happen to figure out who might be sending these notes, though, can you let me know?”

“Absolutely. If I figure out who it is, you’ll be the first person I tell.”

“Thanks. I guess I’ll see you around.” Walking away from his car, I headed back over to Damon’s car.

“What was that all about?” Ezra asked as I slid in next to him in the backseat of the car.

“Someone has been blackmailing him to follow me,” I explained. “Someone who wants pictures of me all the time.”

“Do you have any ideas on who it might be?” Harden asked me.

“I thought it was the King of the Serpents, but now I’m not so sure.”

“This definitely isn’t his doing,” Damon said from the driver’s seat. He met my eyes in the rearview mirror. “He wouldn’t be this sneaky about it. He would just come out and kill you, if that’s what he wanted to do.”

“Great,” I muttered under my breath. “I have absolutely no idea who could be behind this then.”

And that was what scared me the most. Knowing that there was someone out there who wanted to hurt me—someone who was getting eerily close by having people follow me without my even knowing—freaked me out.

I had always thought that I didn’t have enemies, but it seemed like I actually did.

Chapter 29

I went back to my dorm room that night. There was a shifter holiday the next day, so we didn’t have classes. I ended up sleeping much later than I had planned to.

When I woke up, Alexis and Katerina were painting their nails and watching The Originals.

As I stretched and got out of bed, Alexis glanced over at me. “Morning, Sleepyhead. You slept through breakfast and lunch.”

“You must have been very busy this weekend,” Katerina commented. “Did you let all of your mates place their marks on you?”

“No,” I murmured, but then it hit me. I was pretty sure that my exhaustion had something to do with the fact that my mate bonds had begun with both Damon and Harden this weekend. I was now officially bound to all four of them, and I was pretty sure that had taken some sort of physical toll on me. “I did become mated to Damon and Harden this weekend, though.”

“Is that where you were during the Halloween party? Snogging the two of them?” Katerina questioned.

“Pretty much.”

“Which one of them do you think you’ll end up choosing?” Katerina questioned.

“I’m not sure,” I murmured.

“Which one are you falling for the most?” she pressed.

I thought back to the kisses. It had been absolutely amazing kissing all of my mates. But something about that kiss with Damon on the night of the Halloween party stood out in my mind. I kept replaying it over and over again in my mind.

It was my first kiss, with Ezra, and my last first kiss, with Damon, that I thought about the most.

Did that mean the two of them were my top contenders?

I wasn’t entirely sure if that was what it meant or not.

“It’s too early to decide,” I replied. “Right now, I’m falling really hard for all of them.”

“You’re so lucky,” Katerina said with a sigh. Then, glancing over at Alexis, she added, “Both of you are so lucky. I can’t wait to just find my mate already. But I have this feeling that I’ll be searching for him for a lifetime.”

“I’m sure you’ll find him before that. Professor Reed will give you tips on how to find him,” I reminded her.

Katerina wrinkled her nose. “I think that Professor Reed is a bit of a phony.”

“What makes you think that? I love Professor Reed,” Alexis replied.

“I saw Professor Reed kissing not just one but two guys. Not at the same time, of course,” Katerina said quickly. “But, still. If Professor Reed knows so well how to find your mate, then why hasn’t she found her own?”

“Maybe she has found her own. Maybe she was just cheating on him,” I suggested.

“Shifters rarely ever cheat on one another,” Katerina replied, shaking her head. “We all have an undying loyalty for our mates. Cheating isn’t even in our minds or something that the majority of us could ever go through with. There’s no way she has found her mate. So, it doesn’t seem like her method actually works.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want a mate,” I said with a shrug.

“Who wouldn’t want a mate? It would mean not ever finding your soulmate—your other half. I’m pretty sure that all shifters want to find their mates.” Katerina shrugged. “I just find it strange. That’s all.”

“It is strange,” Alexis agreed with a nod.

***

The following day in Shifter Mates and Families class, Professor Reed stood at the front of the classroom.

“It has been brought to my attention that some of you”—Her eyes darted over to me, Alexis, and Katerina— “have been wondering what my own situation with my mate is. Some seem to think I am a fraud and that my system to finding your mate doesn’t work because you believe I haven’t found mine.”

Alexis, Katerina, and I exchanged a glance with one another. How the hell had Professor Reed heard that we’d talked about this the day before? Our conversation had taken place in our dorm room, privately.

Was it possible that Duke—or someone just like Duke—had been hired to eavesdrop on us? And then he had taken that information immediately to Professor Reed? That seemed… strange. But it was the only thing I could seem to think of that could have potentially explained this.

“I had a mate once,” Professor Reed continued. “But he was killed. A silver bullet, straight through the heart.” She paused, glancing around the room. “This is something I wanted to talk to you about to lead into today’s discussion. What happens to you when your mate dies? Well, for starters, you don’t get another mate. That isn’t to say that you have to be alone forever, because you don’t. However, you will only have the type of relationship that a human is capable of. You can have a human-like romance, but it won’t be the same type of connection you had with your mate. Because your soulmate will be gone. That being said, it doesn’t mean you have to be any less happy. You can, and will, love again.”

She paused. “I also wanted to talk about the physical effects of what happens to us when—and, more likely, if—our mates die. I wish that someone had prepared me for what to expect.” She glanced around the room. “You will feel a tremendous amount of pain, and I don’t only just mean emotional pain. I mean physical pain, as well.” Professor Reed took a deep breath. “When my mate was shot through the heart, I immediately felt the pain in my chest. It felt like I, too, had been shot in the heart. This is because we, as shifters, tend to experience what our mates experience. If something were to happen to your mate that causes him or her to be seriously injured, you will feel it. And if your mate is fatally wounded, you will feel it. The moment my mate’s heart stopped beating, I just knew. I knew that he was gone, that he had left me.” She swallowed hard, as if she was replaying the scenario in her mind, reliving it all over again. “Then there’s the emotional pain. The heartbreak. If you ever should lose a mate, the heartbreak will be unlike anything you have ever experienced before. I hope, for all of you, that it’s something you will never have to face.”

“I feel like a total asshole,” Katerina whispered to me.

I felt really bad about the fact that word had gotten back to Professor Reed that we’d been talking about her. But, most of all, what I felt was anger. I was so angry that someone had been listening to us… someone who had the nerve to tell our professor what we’d said.

It just made me wonder if any of the conversations we had in our dorm room were safe, or if everything we said was being circulated around the school.

***

“Okay, that was freaking weird, you guys. Who told Professor Reed what was said?” Alexis asked once we were back in our dorm room. “I don’t understand.”

“Me, either,” Katerina said with a sigh. “I suppose that I should probably apologize to her, at some point. She probably hates me now.”

I hesitated for a moment, thinking about it. “I just keep thinking that someone must be listening to us, but what are the odds that they were right outside our door at the exact moment it was said?” I paused. “What if they have another way of listening to us?”

“What do you mean?” Alexis asked with raised eyebrows.

And that’s when I began to search our dorm room. I looked under each of our beds and began to look in the closets and in our dresser drawers.

That’s when a painting that Katerina had brought caught my eye. It was hanging on the wall above her dresser, and it seemed like the perfect place to hide a recorder of some sort.

I pulled the painting off the wall, and that’s when I saw it: a long, thin pencil-shaped object, which was taped to the back of the painting.

A voice recorder. Sure enough, it was set to “recording.”

“We’re being bugged,” I said, turning it off. “Someone has been recording us.”

I wondered if that was the only listening device in the room, and if there wasn’t one just in the room, but anywhere else I might have been going.

“But I don’t understand. Why would anyone do that?” Katerina asked.

“Someone has made it very clear that they want to watch my every move. The fact that they’ve gone as far as to blackmail someone into following me and bugging our dorm room tells me that they mean serious business.”

Alexis frowned. “This is really scary. What worries me the most is how they got inside our dorm room. It has to be someone who can access it easily.”

“Who knows. They might have blackmailed someone into giving them a key or something,” I said with a shrug.

“You guys, this really worries me. What else have they heard? And more importantly, what exactly will they do with it?” Katerina questioned.

“I’m wondering the same thing.” Alexis paused. “They’ve made it clear that they’re willing to get us into trouble with the professors. You know Professor Reed probably hates all of us now. Whoever this person is who’s been listening to us doesn’t only hate Lena. I’m pretty sure they hate all of us.”

“Or they hate you guys simply because you’re my friends,” I suggested. “They might be trying to show you that being my friend comes with risks. They’re willing to do whatever it takes to hurt anyone who’s close to me.”

I was sort of surprised that they hadn’t done anything to the Alpha Brotherhood yet. But maybe they didn’t want to start problems with them because of who they were. Maybe they were afraid of their powers.

Then again, they should have known that messing with me, ultimately, meant messing with the Alpha Brotherhood. Because if something should happen to me, I knew damn well that my mates would protect me. They wouldn’t hesitate to hurt anyone who hurt me. They were strong and powerful Alphas. They were my Alphas, my mates.

At that moment, Katerina said, “Let’s discuss this more later. Right now, I need to meet Walker. He’s going to take me to the arctic room in the student rec center. Isn’t that just the sweetest date?”

“It’s adorable. Have fun,” Alexis said, smiling at her.

“See you later,” I said.

Once Katerina had closed the door behind her, Alexis glanced over at me. “I have… thoughts.”

“What type of thoughts?” I asked.

A moment later, she opened the door, making sure that Katerina was no longer standing in the hallway. She was gone.

Alexis closed the door again, and then glanced over at me. “What if Katerina is the one who put the recording device there?”

I frowned. “You think she would do something like that? She’s our best friend.”

“She’s also Princess of the Bears,” Alexis replied. “Your psychic made it clear that there were going to be three bears who you needed to watch out for. What if Katerina is one of them?”

I considered it for a moment. I didn’t want to believe that there was a possibility that Katerina could have done something like that to me. We were best friends.

Then again, whoever was behind all of this was apparently very good at blackmailing people into getting them to do whatever they wanted. So, even if Katerina wasn’t the one who was behind all of this, I supposed that it was always possible that she could have placed the recording device behind her painting.

“I don’t know,” I said finally. “I don’t want to believe that she could do something like that to me… to us.”

“It just seems strange that someone was in our dorm room at some point to put that recording device there and to check it. Not only does that mean that they were in here once before, but also that they were in here once since yesterday, too. I just think it makes more sense that it was someone who has access to our dorm room. Someone like Katerina, since neither of us is behind this.”

I frowned. What if Alexis was trying to place the blame on Katerina because it was actually her who was behind this?

I tried to shake the thought away. I didn’t want to believe that either of my roommates could have done something like this to me. They were both my best friends here.

“I’m going to show the Alpha Brotherhood this recorder,” I said then. “Maybe one of them will know something about it.”

At least, I hoped they would.

***

As I stepped into the Alpha Brotherhood’s offices, I found Harden sitting at his computer desk. “Hey. Where are the others?”

“They went off campus for a while. Why? What’s up?”

“Do you know anything about technology?” I asked.

“I’m actually a total techie. Why do you ask?”

I placed the recording device down on the desk in front of him.

Harden picked up and began to examine it. “We have something just like this in the Royal House of the Jaguars,” he explained.

“You do?” My eyebrows shot up.

“Yeah. It’s actually very common for the Royals to use these.”

A knot in my stomach twisted. Did that mean that it actually could have been Katerina who had put it there? If they used them in the Royal palaces, that meant that she would have had access to it.

“The cool thing about it is that it operates with a computer system,” he explained. “You just link it to your laptop or desktop, and the recording device delivers anything that was said directly to that.”

“So, you don’t have to actually check the device then?”

“Nope.” Harden’s violet eyes locked on mine. “Why?”

“Someone told Professor Reed something me and my roommates said about her yesterday,” I explained. “We got back to our dorm room, and I found this. Someone has been listening to us. Alexis thought it might have been Katerina, since she has access to our dorm room, but I don’t want to believe it could have been her.”

“Katerina wouldn’t do something like that,” Harden said, shaking his head.

“I didn’t think so, either.” But it made me even more relieved to hear it from him, knowing that he and the others had known her for so long.

“Why don’t you talk to Headmistress Gray about this?” Harden asked me.

“Headmistress Gray?” I asked with raised eyebrows.

“Well, I mean it’s pretty obvious that someone broke into your dorm room. That’s a violation of the rules on so many levels,” he explained. “But I wonder if the Headmistress might be willing to implement some sort of security system. She might also be able to review the security cameras to see who was in your dorm room.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. I’ll go see her now.” I leaned in and kissed him.

I was pretty sure it caught him off-guard.

His arms fell to my back, and he pulled me in closer to him.

I somehow ended up on his lap, straddling him, as we continued to kiss. His lips began to move down my shoulders, which were bare from the off-the-shoulder top I wore, and he planted a trail of kisses there.

“You are so damn perfect, Lena,” Harden whispered.

“So are you,” I whispered, meeting his violet eyes. “But I really need to get going if there’s any chance of catching Headmistress Gray in her office before dinner. I’ll see you later?”

He nodded and gave me another kiss on the lips. “Bye.”

As I removed myself from his lap and walked away from him, I sighed. Kissing him felt pretty… well, perfect.

And that was going to be my problem when it came time to choose.

Kissing them, spending time with them… It was pretty perfect with not just one but all of them.

Chapter 30

Headmistress Gray’s office door was open, and she was sitting at her desk.

I knocked on the door, and she glanced up at me. I might have only been imagining it, but I could have sworn that there was a disappointed look in her blue eyes. It was as though I was the last person she wanted to see in her office.

I couldn’t help but wonder why Headmistress Gray seemed to hate me so much. If I ended up choosing Ezra to marry, it would have meant having a mother-in-law who couldn’t stand me.

“May I help you, Miss Falcone?” Headmistress Gray asked after a long moment.

“I hope so,” I said, stepping into her office and closing the door behind me. “Someone has broken into my dorm room.”

Her lips formed a flat line. “How do you know? Did you see them?”

I shook my head. “No, but I found this.” I handed her the recording device.

Headmistress Gray’s eyes stared down at it for a long moment, but she didn’t say anything.

“It’s a recording device,” I explained.

“I know what it is.” She glanced up at me. “How do you know someone was in your dorm room?”

“Someone put the recording device in my dorm room,” I explained. “Then they told Professor Reed something that my roommates and I said about her.”

“And why were you gossiping about Professor Reed?”

“I-I don’t know,” I replied. “But this isn’t the first strange thing that’s happened. I got this note that said, ‘You’re next’. I’m pretty it was in reference to my parents’ murders.”

“What are you saying, Miss Falcone? That someone wants to murder you?” Headmistress Gray questioned.

“So, it seems,” I replied with a nod.

“How do you know you aren’t jumping to conclusions? How do you know the note was even intended for you? Maybe someone placed it on your dorm room door without thinking that it was the dorm room of someone else.”

“Maybe,” I replied. That was a possibility, but when combined with everything else I knew, it wasn’t likely. “But it all seems a little bit weird.” I hesitated while I considered how much I was willing to share with her. “This guy has been following me around, and he also received a note. I read the note. It told him that he had to follow me around or else they were going to expose some sort of secret of his. My name was specifically mentioned.” I paused, because the look on her face told me she either thought this whole thing was a lie or far-fetched, or something. “I was just wondering if maybe you could look into the security footage and see if you can figure out who was in my dorm room. Maybe you can even set up some additional security for me.”

“I’m afraid that this school can’t afford additional security. Need I remind you that you’re on a scholarship, Miss Falcone?” Headmistress Gray asked pointedly.

“I know, but isn’t my safety important?” I asked, starting to feel a little stupid for even coming to her about this.

“We try to ensure the safety of all of our students. However, if I make special arrangements to provide you with extra security, then that would mean I’d have to provide extra security to the next student who asks for it. Eventually, it would all be far too costly. It would get to the point where we would be spending more on security than we would be to pay our professors. We can’t risk any of that, now can we? Professors are the backbone of the academy.” Her lips curved into a smile. She looked so amused. “I will review the security cameras to see if anyone unusual has been in your dorm room as of late, Miss Falcone. If I find anything out of the norm on the tapes, I will handle it accordingly. Now, if that’s all you came here for, you may go.”

“Thanks,” I muttered under my breath as I turned away from her.

The annoyance washed over me as I left her office.

It was blatantly obvious that Headmistress Gray had no intentions of helping me. And as much as I wanted to believe that this all had to do with the cost of security, I was pretty sure that it was something more than that.

I was pretty sure the main reason she was unwilling to help me was because she disliked me so much.

I wasn’t sure what I had done to the bitch, but one thing was for sure.

She was going to be livid once she found out I was mated to her son.

***

It rained that night—a peaceful, calming downpour that kept most of the students inside their dorm rooms.

Katerina, Alexis, and I stayed in our dorm room where we ordered tacos from a local Mexican restaurant that delivered to our campus and caught up on Real Housewives of the Tiger Kingdom, a show that Rafael swore was completely scripted. Even so, it was fun to watch and to pretend, for just a second, like I was in the human world.

I was just about to reach for a third taco when there was a knock on our dorm room door.

“Who could that be?” Alexis asked.

“I don’t know.” I rose to my feet, almost afraid to see who was on the other side of the door. The last thing I wanted was to find myself face-to-face with Headmistress Gray.

When I opened the door, there was a guy who I had never seen standing there in front of me.

Based on his height alone, I was pretty sure that he must have been a bear. To say the guy was tall would have been an understatement. He had to have been at least six foot five, maybe even taller. He felt gigantic in comparison to me.

He was so tall that he had to lower his head just to look down at me.

“You Lena Falcone?” the guy asked in a deep voice.

I nodded. “Yeah. Who are you?”

“This is for you.” He handed an envelope to me then and walked away.

Closing the door behind me, I glanced over at my friends.

“What is it?” Alexis asked.

“It looks like an invitation,” I replied as I tore it open.

You are cordially invited to attend the Bear Ball, which will be held on December 11th in the Diamond Ballroom at 7:00 p.m.

I read the invitation to my roommates.

“I can’t believe that you’re invited to the Bear Ball when I’m not—and I’m a bear. Why is everyone around here always getting invitations besides me?” Katerina pouted. “For being the Princess of the Bears, you would think I’d have some popularity around here, but no. No one ever invites me to anything.”

“Sorry, girl. If It’s any consolation, I’m not going to the Bear Ball,” I replied.

“Why not?” Katerina asked, her eyes wide. “It sounds like it would be a blast.”

“Well, for starters, I’m not really into the idea of going to a ball by myself.”

“It doesn’t say you’re not allowed to bring a date,” Katerina pointed out. “It could be fun to bring one of your mates.”

“True, but the question is why am I being invited to the Bear Ball?” I asked. “It would make a lot more sense for them to invite you, considering you are actually a bear.”

“There is a chance that you could end up being a bear,” Alexis reminded me. “Maybe they’re under the impression that you already are a bear. Maybe they know of your lineage.”

“True. I guess that does make sense.”

“Besides, aren’t you curious about why you’re being invited?” Katerina asked. “If you just go to the Bear Ball, then maybe you’ll find out.”

Going to the Bear Ball would also mean being surrounded by bears when I knew that there were going to be three bears who wanted to harm me, I thought to myself.

But the tiger and the lion would protect me, I reminded myself. So, as long as I brought either Damon or Rafael as my date to the bear ball, then I should be okay.

“Okay.” I nodded. “I think I’m going to go.”

Chapter 31

On the night of the Bear Ball, Rafael and I entered the Diamond Ball Room together. It was a ball room on the edge of campus. Rafael explained to me that it was where Shifter Academy held Homecoming dances, proms, and other formal events.

He was wearing a black tux with a light blue vest, which coordinated well with the sparkly dark blue dress I was wearing.

I’d kept my accessories simple. On my wrist was a gold bangle with tiny sapphire accents that Katerina had let me borrow. My earrings were in the shape of gold leaves that dangled down to my cheeks. My nails and my pointed high heels were gold, too.

“You look beautiful,” he told me, intertwining his hand with mine.

I glanced over at him with a smile. “You look pretty amazing yourself.”

He brought my hand to his lips and kissed my fingers.

An Ed Sheeran song came on, and the two of us headed out to the center of the dance floor.

Wrapping my arms around his neck, Rafael’s arms dropped to my waist.

As we swayed to the music, it felt like everyone else in the room sort of faded into the background. It felt like Rafael and I were the only ones in the world in that moment as we stared into each other’s eyes.

The song went off, and we headed over to the table we had been placed at. But at that moment, a guy who stood well over six feet tall walked over to me.

“Lena, I’m glad you were able to make it,” the guy said, his eyes meeting mine warmly. Then his gaze shifted over to Rafael. “I didn’t realize you were bringing a date.”

“The invitation didn’t say I couldn’t, so I thought it would be okay.”

“Of course. The more, the merrier,” the guy replied with a warm smile, even though I was pretty sure that he wasn’t actually thrilled that Rafael had come to the party with me.

“I’m sorry, but I didn’t catch your name,” I told him.

“Oh. I’m sorry about that. My name is Cal. There’s someone here who really wants to meet you.”

Who could have wanted to meet me? I was so curious to find out.

“Are they the one who decided to invite me to this ball even though I’m not a bear?” I asked.

“The decision to invite you was a collaborative effort,” Cal replied. His eyes met mine. “But I’m sorry. Did you say you’re not a bear?”

“I mean, I don’t exactly know that yet for sure. I don’t actually know what my shifter race is yet,” I replied.

“I see.” He looked really surprised by that fact, which made me wonder if everyone here thought I was a werebear, for some reason. “Anyway, would you like to meet him right now?”

“Sure,” I replied with a shrug.

“Okay, great. I’ll take you to him.” He began to move across the room.

We hadn’t even reached the guy who he was about to introduce me to yet, but I could tell which one it was.

He was tall—much taller than all of the other werebears here—and he seemed to be the center of attention tonight. I had seen several girls talking to him.

Something about the energy he gave off just gave me the impression that he was powerful. Powerful and popular.

What could he have wanted to do with me?

When we reached him, the other bear shifters cleared out of the way.

Cal nodded at me. “It was nice meeting you, Lena. I’ll see you later.”

As he left us, the guy smiled down at me. “Hi, Lena. I’m Dom. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“It’s nice to meet you, too,” I replied with a smile.

His eyes met mine. “There is a reason I wanted you here tonight, Lena. I need your help.”

“With what?” I asked with a frown.

“It’s in regards to Katerina,” he explained, keeping his voice as low as possible. “She is the next in line to be Queen of the Bears. She has no siblings. I am from the second most powerful werebear family, and the next in line to be King if something should happen to her. That’s where you come in. I need you to help me get rid of her.”

“Get rid of her?” I just stared back at him, confused at what he was even getting at.

Was he suggesting that he wanted me to kill Katerina?

Dom nodded. “Yeah. Kill her. Or lead her to one of us so we can kill her.”

“I’m sorry, but I would never do anything to hurt Katerina,” I said, shaking my head. “She’s my roommate and one of my best friends. I’m sorry that you’re not going to be the King of the Bears, but maybe that’s for the best.”

The anger flashed through his eyes then. It was obvious that my words had angered him, but I didn’t care.

Grabbing Rafael’s arm, I led him out of the ball.

I’d had enough experience with a bear to know that I didn’t want to ever attend one of their events again.

I just hoped that I wasn’t a bear because it would have really sucked.

Chapter 32

The following Wednesday, I had just gotten out of the shower when I heard the sound of my phone chime with a new text message.

I glanced down at it.

Ezra: Meet me at The Lagoon in 15 mins. Bring your bathing suit.

He didn’t have to tell me twice. My heart was already pounding excitement throughout the rest of my body. It was the first time Ezra and I had done something by ourselves in a long time, and I was more than ready for it.

I quickly changed into my bathing suit, a black bikini that featured a mix of light and hot pink flowers on the bottoms, and pulled my uniform on over it. Grabbing a clean towel, I headed for The Lagoon.

When I stepped into the room, the heat hit me like a ton of bricks. It almost felt unbearable. It was so much hotter inside The Lagoon than it was in the cold December air.

As I walked through the rainforest and to the beach, I saw Ezra. He was about waist high in the water.

He waved at me as I pulled my uniform off and laid it down with my towel on the sand.

Then I entered the water, noticing how warm it felt against my skin. It was almost like being in a hot tub, and the room was like a sauna. The good thing was that shifters were better equipped to deal with heat than humans were, since we had naturally high body temperatures.

As I swam towards him, he met me halfway and tugged me by my hand over to him. “Hey, beautiful,” he said, his blue eyes finding mine.

“Hey.” Moving in closer to him, I kissed him. His lips were warm and slick with saltwater.

He moved so that he was underneath me, and I was straddling his lap.

Wrapping my arms around his neck, I pulled him close to me, deepening the kiss.

When we pulled away, we were both breathless.

“We’re all alone here,” he whispered.

One of his hands dropped between my thighs. He slid his fingers beneath the fabric of my bikini, his fingers slipping inside of me.

I was as wet as The Lagoon.

His mouth came down on my neck, planting kisses on it as his fingers moved in and out of me—slowly, at first, until he built up to a good, steady rhythm.

As his fingers moved to my clit, I found myself driving my hips against his hands, desperate for my release.

He kissed me again, and his lips on mine was all it took. I could feel myself tightening at the core as I came completely undone, moaning out against his mouth.

Once I was done rocking my hips against his hand, I glanced up into his blue eyes.

“You are so freaking hot, Lena,” he whispered, kissing my forehead.

“What about you?” I questioned, feeling his hardness.

Ezra shook his head. “If you touch me, I will want you… and I mean all of you.”

“That’s what I want, too,” I said, wrapping my arms around his neck and kissing him again.

“Have you ever… given yourself to someone in that way before?” He glanced up into my eyes.

“No,” I replied quietly.

“So, I would be your first.”

“Yeah.” Jake and I had fooled around a lot in the past, but that was a line that we had never crossed. We were planning to wait until prom night.

Ezra seemed to consider it for a long moment. “I think it’s too soon. You’ve only just mated to the others. You should take some time to think about who you want to place your mark on first.”

His words hung in the air between us. I knew what he meant, and he wasn’t wrong.

I was going to end up doing it with all of the Alpha Brotherhood at some point. But my first time should have been special.

“Besides, your first time should happen somewhere a lot more special than here,” Ezra continued.

“I don’t know. I think this place is pretty romantic,” I replied.

“It is really romantic,” he agreed with a nod. “And, eventually, I want that to happen for us here. Just not your first time… and not today.”

“Okay,” I agreed with a nod.

Ezra came in for another kiss then.

***

After Ezra and I said our goodbyes, I headed back to our dorm room where I found Alexis standing there in the middle of the room. She was just staring around at it.

I got the sense that something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t seem to put my finger on what it was.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

She didn’t answer me at first; it was like she was just rooted in place. “It’s Katerina. She’s gone.”

“Where did she go?”

“I don’t know. I came back here, and she was gone. She didn’t leave a note or anything. She didn’t even say goodbye.”

I frowned. “Are you saying she left Shifter Academy?”

It didn’t make sense that she would leave so abruptly. I had warned her about Dom and the other bears, but she hadn’t seemed threatened by it.

“It looks that way. All of her clothes, all of her stuff… everything is gone. Something is happening, Lena.” Alexis moved across the room and began tossing her clothes into her suitcase.

“Like what? And why are you packing?” I asked her through narrowed eyes. “Are you both leaving me?”

When she didn’t answer, I glanced over at her and noticed for the first time that she looked like she had seen a ghost. All of the color had drained from her olive skin, and she just looked terrified.

“Alexis, what the hell is going on?” I asked.

Her dark brown eyes met mine. “We’re about to be called to the auditorium soon. I’m not sure what’s going on exactly, but Sean told me he had to leave right away for an emergency meeting with the Royal House of Foxes.”

“A meeting over what?” I pressed.

“He wouldn’t say. He said he couldn’t say. Whatever it is, he’s not allowed to share it with me—or anyone—just yet,” she explained. Her hands shook as she reached for the last of her clothes. “But whatever’s going on isn’t good, Lena.”

“Are the two of you okay?” I asked her with wide eyes. “You seem so shaken up.”

“We’re fine. I don’t know what’s going on, Lena, but I get the feeling that whatever it is… It’s bigger than us—so much bigger than us. It’s bigger than all of us. Katerina disappearing the way she did only confirms that something is going on.”

“I don’t understand. What does any of this have to do with you packing?” I sat down at the edge of my bed, trying to make sense of what was going on.

Stepping away from her suitcase, Alexis moved across the room. She opened the dorm room door and then glanced outside, as if to make sure that no one was around to overhear what she was about to say next.

Closing the door behind her, she told me in a low voice, “The only thing that Sean did tell me on the phone is that Headmistress Gray is about to close school for the rest of the academic year. We’ll all be going home.”

“What? There’s no way that can be true. It’s not even Christmas yet.” I just stared at her skeptically.

“Exactly. What could be so bad that they’d close school for the entire year?” Alexis closed her eyes. “I can hear his heart pounding, Lena. It’s beating so fast and so hard. Whatever is going on, Sean is seriously afraid.” She glanced over at me. “I’ve never been able to sense his fear like I do right now.”

“I’m sure that everything’s going to be okay,” I assured her, even though I wasn’t entirely convinced of it myself. I couldn’t help but feel slightly worried. If what Alexis was saying was true about Shifter Academy closing, then something big really must have been going on.

Where would I go for the school break? I didn’t even have a home. I supposed that I could go crawling back to Aunt Lily, but that would have meant telling her the truth about… well, everything. How could I explain my disappearance to her or to Rachel? It felt like my best bet was to stay missing, even if that meant their hearts were broken in the process.

I knew that made me a horrible niece and a horrible friend. But there was no handbook on how to walk away from your human life to your shifter life gracefully, and I wasn’t sure how else to handle it.

At that moment, Headmistress Gray’s voice came on over the loudspeakers. “All students, please report to the auditorium immediately.”

I exchanged a nervous glance with Alexis, whose dark brown eyes had grown wide with fear.

Just like she had said, we were being called to the auditorium. Shifter Academy was really closing, apparently.

Whatever Sean had been trying to warn Alexis about, whatever he was so afraid of, it was real.

Damon’s words echoed through my mind. “Our DNA might be different, but there’s one thing all of the royal shifters have in common… and that’s that we don’t experience fear in the same way humans or even other shifters do. We’re fearless.”

That meant that whatever was going on, it must have been huge… or else Sean wouldn’t have been afraid.

Chapter 33

The auditorium was filled with other students from every grade. Alexis and I sat down towards the center. We waited for what felt like the longest time. Everyone else in the room talked, laughed, and just went about their business like it was any other day.

None of them knew that our lives were about to change in really huge ways. Alexis and I just sat there, paralyzed with anticipation. Even though we had some idea of what was about to happen next, neither of us understood why. And that suspense was driving us crazy.

Finally, Headmistress Gray finally approached the stage and spoke into the microphone. “Students, may I have your undivided attention, please?”

All of the chatter throughout the auditorium died down as we all turned our attention to her.

There was a huge knot in my stomach as she began to speak.

“Students, tonight I am here to address you all as one. You should remember this moment because it is likely the last time, for a very long time, that you will receive an address in which you are considered as one. You see, over the last few hundred years, all shifter races have managed to live in peace and harmony. It was a peace that was built based on mutual respect, a peace in which we all believed that we were all as one. Though we may be different, we all considered ourselves to be one kind—shifters. I’m here to tell you today that this is about to change.”

Headmistress Gray stared out at us solemnly. “The past few hundred years were unusual, to say the least. Historically, shifters of all kinds have always fought against each other, as we all wanted to become the most powerful. As we all struggled to find our place as one, however, we have forgotten what it is like for us to have individual societies. We have forgotten what it is like to struggle for power.” She paused, glancing around the room. “I suppose that this is why the Royal House of Bears has declared war on the rest of the shifter world. A world war between us—a world war between all of our individual shifter societies—has begun.”

Gasps of shock filled the room, and Alexis and I exchanged a look with one another.

This. This was what Sean had been afraid of. This was why his heart was pounding. Because we were facing a shifter world war.

And it hit me then that this was why Katerina had to leave so suddenly, without even saying goodbye. It was her parents—the King and Queen of the Bears—who had started this war. She was probably afraid everyone would hate her… or worse.

“A shifter world war is frightening enough, but we need to discuss what this means for you as students,” Headmistress Gray went on. “Our first priority at Shifter Academy is you and your safety. I am afraid that we cannot allow you to stay here because there is a risk to you. Not only will Shifter Academy be seen as a target for those who are looking to hurt a large portion of shifters, but you can expect to see a lot of riots breaking out in the very near future. As this war grows into something larger, and you all become more patriotic of your individual shifter societies, you are at risk of harming one another. Your friends here at Shifter Academy will soon become your enemies. Your biggest risk to each other is yourselves. For this reason, we feel that the safest thing we can do is send you home for the remainder of the academic school year.

“Your education doesn't end here, however. While it’s important to us for you to be protected during the tumultuous, unpredictable, and unprecedented times that lay ahead of us, we also want to ensure that you all receive a valuable education. And so, we have made the decision to continue your education online for the indefinite future. We also know that some of you may be drafted to fight for your individual kingdoms. If this is the case, then please know that we won’t hold your absence against you. There will still be a spot for you next school year.

“We hope that this will only last for the rest of the academic school year, but as of right now, we cannot definitively say what next school year will bring. While we hope that this war will be over by then, there have been no wars in the shifter world that have ended within just one year’s time. That being said, we are choosing to remain cautiously hopeful.” Headmistress Gray glanced around. “Please take care of yourselves, students, and see you, I hope, next year.”

As she walked off the stage, everyone in the auditorium began to go crazy. Girls at the front of the room were hysterically crying, and everyone was talking at such a loud volume that it was seriously hurting my ears.

I glanced around the auditorium, looking for the Alpha Brotherhood, but I didn’t see any of them anywhere. They had been missing from this, and the reason why was obvious.

They had already known.

Why hadn’t any of them warned me the same way Sean had warned Alexis? Knowing that they had left me out of this made me feel slightly betrayed.

I wondered if any of the Alpha Brotherhood was even still at Shifter Academy, or if they had gone to their individual shifter kingdoms. And if they had, then why hadn’t they even bothered to say goodbye?

Alexis grabbed my elbow, and we headed back to our dorm room, at the speed of light.

“We need to pack and get out of here right away,” she told me. “I have a really bad feeling.”

“Bad how?” I asked her.

“There might be riots breaking out, or worse. I don’t know.” She shook her head. “We just need to get out. Now.”

“I don’t even have anywhere to go,” I said as I followed after her. “This is the only home I have.”

How could this have been happening? Everything had been going pretty perfectly here, and now life as I knew it was about to change. And my life had only just changed in the first place.

“You can come home with me,” Alexis offered.

I shook my head. “Thanks for offering, but I really don’t want to inconvenience your family.”

“You wouldn’t be,” she insisted. “My mom can’t wait to meet you.”

I hadn’t even gotten the chance to answer her yet as we reached our dorm room. My heart stopped as I realized that the door had been left open.

All of my belongings were strewn throughout the room—my clothes, my books… everything. Everything that I owned at Shifter Academy was scattered everywhere.

And there was a note on the mirror.

Come be our Goldie Locks.

-     The 3 Bears

“What the hell.”

I had been joking before about my future looking a lot like Goldie Locks. And now I had this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. This message was… well, it was confusing.

It was the first hint that I’d had during my entire time at Shifter Academy that Gretta was right about the bears—that there really were three bears who I needed to watch out for.

Unless someone was playing games, which was a really good assumption. Maybe someone had caught wind of the fact that Gretta had given me that psychic reading.

And yet, there was just something about this message. Something that seemed so… threatening. It made goosebumps erupt on my arms and chills cascade their way down my spine. I wasn’t sure who had been here, but it seriously creeped me out.

“Thank god we weren’t here when this happened. Who are the ‘three bears’?” Alexis asked. “Is this code for something?” She paused. “And Goldie Locks. It’s on your mirror, and your stuff is everywhere, but you don’t even have blonde hair. Is this message even directed at you or is it about Katerina?”

“I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t really even want to know. I’m just so glad we’re about to get out of here,” I replied, picking my things up off the floor and tossing them into the same backpack I had brought here.

“Lena?” I glanced over my shoulder to find Ezra staring in the doorway. “You’re coming to our summer home with us.”

“Oh, thank god you’re here.” I moved across the room and wrapped my arms around him in the tightest hug ever. “I’m so nervous. I feel like I’m going to puke. This war—”

“Don’t be nervous,” he replied quietly. “You have nothing to worry about.”

Pulling away from him, I glanced up into his face. “Are you joking? Did you not hear the news? There’s about to be a shifter world war, Ezra.”

“I know. I know what’s happening. But I can tell you that I will do whatever I can to keep you safe. I will protect you, Lena.” His blue eyes stared deeply into mine. “We all will.”

And I knew that he was right. I knew that my mates would do everything in their power to keep me safe.

But my worry wasn’t just for me. It was for them, too.

I couldn’t lose them… not even one of them. Because when it came down to it, the truth was that they were my home. The only home I had, and the only home I wanted.

“I’ll call you,” I told Alexis.

She nodded, but I could already see how afraid she was. She moved across the room and gave me a hug.

We hugged for a long time, neither of us knowing when we would see each other again… or if we would see each other again. We didn’t know for sure if we would ever come back to Shifter Academy, or if one of us would fall victim to the hatred this war was bound to create among different shifter races. There were so many uncertainties right now, so many things we didn’t have the answers to.

Then I turned to Ezra and took his hand. “Let’s go home.”

Chapter 34

The Alpha Brotherhood’s summer house was absolutely beautiful. It was a huge log cabin on a lake, tucked deep within the woods. They had assured me that we would be safe here, that no one would be able to find this place.

If we had to be hiding out, this definitely wasn’t the worst place to do that. The house was full of all of the amenities you could have ever dreamed of. There was a huge library, the most gorgeous kitchen I had ever set foot in, a home gym, a hot tub overlooking the mountains, and a tennis court and Olympic-size swimming pool outside.

I also had my own bedroom. It was absolutely huge and well decorated, with a white canopy bed, walk-in closet, and a private connecting bathroom—which was a huge relief, because it meant I didn’t have to share with the four guys.

But the truth was that I really didn’t care about any of those things.

The only thing I really did care about was the fact that we were all together. All I cared about was that I didn’t have to be without even one of my mates.

We were safe. We had a roof over our heads and food to eat. We were going to be fine… unless one of them ended up getting drafted in this war.

They kept assuring me that wouldn’t happen—that princes didn’t get drafted. But I couldn’t help but worry about it somehow happening, anyway.

I had been video chatting with Alexis just about every day. Sean had been visiting her at her family’s home. They were talking about moving her to the Royal House of Foxes, but he was afraid of something happening there. Her family’s home was probably the safest place for her. Sean didn’t want Alexis getting hurt if the Bears planned an attack on the Royal House of Foxes.

Speaking of the Bears, we had left Shifter Academy about three days prior, and neither Alexis nor I had heard from Katerina yet, even though we had both tried reaching out to her numerous times. We were both extremely worried about her.

There was an office with a laptop that I could use for my schoolwork. I had been completing my homework assignments as they came, on top of studying from some of the books in the library. I knew that I had so much learning to do.

I had to learn everything I could because the prophecy was more important than ever. This war was already beginning, and I had to make sure that I knew all I could. I had to fight for all of the shifter races in the world, and that was exactly what I was going to do.

***

On the third night at the Alpha Brotherhood’s summer house, we were all sitting in the living room watching Hook when I heard the sound of something shooting off somewhere in the distance.

“What was that?” I asked my mates.

“It sounded like a gun to me,” Harden said.

“Might have been fireworks,” Rafael said.

“In December?” Ezra questioned.

“It’s getting close to Christmas. People sometimes shoot off fireworks for Christmas,” Harden said with a shrug.

“Well, I don’t like that sound… whatever it was. I don’t want to sleep alone tonight,” I announced. “I want one of you to sleep with me.”

“To sleep with you or to sleep with you, My Queen?” Rafael winked at me.

I rolled my eyes at him, even though I felt a blush rise to my cheeks. “I want someone to spend the night in my bedroom at all times.”

“I’ll sleep with you,” Ezra offered.

“We’ll all sleep with her,” Damon spoke up. “We’ll take a turn each night. Ezra can go tonight, then Rafael, Harden, and me.”

I nodded my head. “That sounds like a good plan to me.”

“I should warn you, My Queen. I only sleep naked,” Rafael informed me.

“Duly noted,” I replied. A yawn hit me then. “I’m actually tired now, so I think I’m going to head to bed.” Rising to my feet, I glanced over at Ezra. “Are you ready?”

He nodded, hopping off the sofa and following me upstairs to my bedroom.

Once we were in bed, he hooked his arm around my waist, pulling me close to him.

“Sweet dreams, Lena,” he whispered as he rested his head against my neck.

***

The next day, I slept for what felt like forever.  I slept long after Ezra climbed out of bed, mumbling something to me about wanting breakfast.

It was the first time since I’d left Shifter Academy that I had gotten any sleep. My bed was just so comfortable. This house on the lake was just so perfect, and it had been even more perfect last night with Ezra sleeping beside me.

This place here, with the Alpha Brotherhood, was home.

I knew that in my heart. No matter where I ended up, no matter which shifter castle I decided I wanted to live in, this house would always be home. It would be our sanctuary, away from the rest of the crazy world. It was tucked so deep in the woods, making it the one place where no one could find us.

When I finally woke up, it was already dark out. I wasn’t sure how I had managed to sleep through both breakfast and lunch, but I didn’t regret it.

Pulling a robe on over my leggings and tank top, I slid into my slippers and went down the stairs. All of the lights in the house were on, but none of my mates were anywhere to be found.

I went out onto the back porch, and that was when I spotted them.

My breath caught in my throat as I saw all four of them walking towards me. Even though I had known all along what they were, seeing them all together, in their animal forms, was quite a sight.

Damon walked in between Rafael and Harden. His body was the largest, and he appeared to be the strongest. His gold mane looked so shiny as it caught the moonlight. Even from a distance, I saw his golden-brown eyes lock on mine.

Rafael’s body wasn’t quite as large as Damon’s, but he came pretty close. What stood out to me the most about Rafael was his fur, which looked a vibrant shade of fiery orange even in the dim lighting. His emerald green tiger eyes also glowed in the moonlight.

Harden was smaller than both of them. His body was strong but sleek. He walked in long, swift steps. His markings were prominent even in the darkness, but that wasn’t the most attention-grabbing thing about him. It was his violet eyes, which just seemed to glow as he stared across the field at me.

Ezra was slightly smaller than Harden, but not by much. He moved a few steps ahead of the rest; it was easy to see that he was the most agile of the four. His bright blue eyes locked on mine.

Even from a distance, they all looked completely regal. So majestic. So powerful.

And they were all my mates. My protectors.

I would place my mark on all of them, but in the end, three of their hearts would end up getting broken.

I would only choose one of them to marry, the one who I would be with for an eternity.

Only one of them would be my King, the next King of the shifter world.

But first, we had to survive this war.

***

Shifter Academy will continue in Year Two (click the link to pre-order)!

Visit Jayme & Jody’s Facebook Fan Page for updates about the Shifter Academy series.

Table of Contents

Content

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34