Azure Dragons (Supernatural Shifter Academy #2) - G. Bailey Page 0,49
off to have our powers drained. Again.”
“They’re sure as hell not,” snaps Shade. “I’m getting out of here. I’m not about to let them turn me into a test subject.”
“Good luck with that,” Hunter replies, snorting. “How are you going to leave, exactly? We’ve got to be more than fifty feet up. You couldn’t make that drop if you tried.”
“It has to be better than getting tortured to death in a lab somewhere,” the wolf shifter fires back.
I slump into a chair, feeling like the world is collapsing around me. Is this how it’s going to end, with us waiting to get carted away to some underground bunker, never to see the light of day again? The thought of it is enough to bring tears to my eyes, and I wipe them feverishly with my sleeve, ashamed of myself. It’s all too much, and some half-mad part of me wonders if maybe Shade has a point, if I shouldn’t just throw myself off the balcony and hope for the best? At least then Hawthorne wouldn’t have the satisfaction of knowing he got the best of me, got the best of us. At least then they wouldn’t be able to use me to hurt anymore shifters. But even as I think about it, I know I can’t do it; I don’t have it in me, and in spite of his bravado, I’m pretty sure Shade doesn’t have it in him, either.
“I can’t believe the board voted in favour of this,” Hunter mutters, running a hand through his hair. “Why the hell would they do that? I know the politicians are human, but the school board is mostly shifters. Why would they just sign away our rights like that?”
“They probably felt like they didn’t have a choice,” Silas replies, sighing. “If humans were willing to destroy a convention center full of innocent people, then they sure as hell won’t have any qualms with coming after the Academy, if it comes to that. They probably figure this is the only compromise that won’t lead to even more death.”
“That’s such bullshit,” Shade mutters. He has his arms crossed over his chest and is pacing back and forth by the windows. “The whole point of this damn conference in the first place was figuring out a way to put a stop to this without more people getting hurt.”
“Yeah,” Landon agrees, “but that was before a bunch of military types attacked us point-blank. They’re scared—we all are.”
“So what now, then?” Hunter asks, sitting back in his chair. “We can’t just wait for them to come take us, can we?”
“What choice do we have?” Landon demands. I watch as he rolls his shoulders, closes his eyes, and tries desperately to get into his siren form, but nothing happens, even as he strains. The stone on the floor flares a bright red, and when Silas moves to pick it up, he lunges away from it, cradling his hand and letting out a hiss.
“Are you okay?” I ask, eyes wide.
“It burns,” he replies, examining his hand. “It’s like it knows who we are.”
“Damn it,” I mutter, putting my head in my hands. I can feel the tears coming, and I’m hopeless to stop them. As much as I don’t want to look weak in front of the others, I can’t help it. Here I was, finally having found a place—a family—and now the same people who made me what I am are trying to take it all away from me. Slowly, I raise my head and look around at the faces assembled in the dorm room: Silas, Landon, Shade, and Hunter, these guys I’ve come to know so quickly, so honestly, in spite of everything that makes us different. We’re the same, in the end, we’re on the same side, and I…
I love them; I realise with a start. The revelation is so sudden and so strong that it’s nearly enough to knock me out of my seat, my eyes going wide and a warmth flooding my chest. Holy shit, I actually love them. Not like, but love.
It feels so simple, and yet so powerful. Maybe it’s a truth I’ve known for a long time, but been afraid to admit to myself. But now, in the face of torture and death, in the face of losing these guys to Hawthorne’s treachery, it’s become as unavoidable as it is magnificent. It doesn’t matter that I feel this way about all of them. It doesn’t matter that our connection comes from