Unstoppable (Their Shifter Academy #6) - May Dawson Page 0,1

shrugged.

We could probably both imagine Clearborn would. Losing a weapon was an automatic ten with the tawse back at the academy. Clearborn might be understanding of our rather unique situation, or he might enforce the rules with that chilling fairness of his, making an example of us. No one was that special at the academy.

Although, who would carry out our punishment? Would we be absorbed into another team now that our numbers had dwindled so much, with another set of cadre? The thought was horrifying. I couldn’t imagine our team changing, but I knew it had to.

“There are some things Ty and Jensen would not do,” I mused out loud, trying to imagine how the scenario would play out if Ty was our sole cadre, and Clearborn ordered our punishment. If we weren’t all together, there was no team.

Rafe gave me a sharp look. I thought he was going to say something cutting, but instead, he swallowed, as if he didn’t much care for the memories either.

Still, he glanced at the orphanage and stepped closer to me. His hand fell on my shoulder, drawing me close to him as he lowered his voice. He might be all business, but that touch still made my heart race.

“I’m not asking you to betray Silas’s confidence,” he said. “But every time we started to talk about his life here when we were planning, he diverted the conversation to be strictly… academic. The structure of society, magic laws, history, and politics. I didn’t see it at the time.”

There was the faintest edge of irritation in his voice. He was annoyed at himself. He added, “I thought he was focused. Now I realize he was deflecting. Do you think his background is a liability?”

I worried about who Silas was in this world, about what my men would see that might make it harder for them to accept Silas as my mate. Even though he was no shifter, I knew Silas was just as much my mate as they were.

But Echo had tried to break me to make sure that Winter wouldn’t. He’d hand-fed me and forced me into dependence on him to shield me from the others in that house. My men would be furious if they knew what he had done.

“No,” I said, too late to convince Rafe, who frowned. “Silas will always do what he needs to do. He’ll get through the mission.”

Rafe started to ask something else, and I had the feeling he wanted to know if Silas himself was going to be okay. But he cut himself off and said, “All right. That’s what matters.”

I rolled my eyes. Right. Mission first. We were back to that.

“Maddie,” Rafe warned me, his voice husky and warm. “Not here.”

I had taken a few steps past him to try to catch up with the guys, but now I swiveled on my heels, which squeaked over the wet grass, as I raised my arms in a shrug. “You can’t do anything about it on a mission, can you? So why not here, from my perspective?”

Rafe leveled me a look that just made me smile.

“Let me go check in with Silas,” I said.

“Yes, you do that,” he said dryly.

Silas strode along without another glance at the orphanage. His face was relaxed and calm when I walked up beside him, his posture erect as ever but his hands jammed in his pockets. The incredible Silas Zip. Untouchable.

“I don’t suppose there’s anything you want to talk about,” I said. “Now that you’re home.”

“Not a thing, Maddie. But thanks for checking in.” He winked.

“You’re going to make me regret telling you that you’re my most emotionally-well-adjusted man, aren’t you?” I asked, tucking my arm through his.

“Hey,” Jensen said. When I turned over my shoulder to raise an eyebrow at him, he shrugged. “Okay, I see your point.”

Arm-in-arm, Silas and I sauntered down the road toward the town, walking past big open fields full of grazing cows and horses. The town lay in front of us, in a valley at the base of a green mountain that rose into those low-slung clouds.

We’d chosen our clothes for this mission before we ever went into the Fae world, to help us blend in. Instead of jeans, I wore olive-colored trousers and a thick cream-colored sweater with brown hiking boots. The guys were all dressed similarly, in jackets, sweaters, and trousers that had an old-fashioned, homespun quality.

“We have enough currency to get us on that train, but if we have time once we’ve procured