Page 37 of Faerie Gift

I brushed off his praise and ignored the heat curling low in my stomach. I finally released my hold on Melia, leaving her free to congratulate Mike as well.

Headmaster Leaves continued with the assembly as he called out the rest of the names of the students who won the lottery. Cries and screams accompanied his announcement, those students who’d reached the end of the first-year line at the Fae Academy for Halflings.

Until one voice rose above the others.

“I’m not surprisedyou’rein the top, Chase. After all, you do nothing but kiss the teachers’ asses, and it must really pay off for you. Maybe I should try it myself.”

My ears pricked toward the sound, coming from the middle of the assembly. No one else seemed to pay the taunts and teases any mind no matter the violence I recognized in the words.

When I followed the sound, I saw a group of older boys crowding around a guy from my class. They were right; Chase was another top student. He’d managed to snag the number two spot so far this term, and deservedly so.

I noted the way the four boys crowded around him, Chase trying to remain seated and harmless while the others crept closer and closer. Mocking him. Leering at him and high-fiving each other.

A growl began low in my throat. I knew their kind. I’d seen it too many times in my shifter pack: teens who decided it was better to be predatory and set up their alpha order early. The easiest way they accomplished this was by being nasty to each other.

Except where I’d come from, the teens usually ended up bloodied and with broken bones. Most if not all of them, actually. I’d been in the midst of it too many times and although no one had ever questionedmyplace in the pack—Uncle Will being the alpha—I’d had friends caught in the fray, coming back with black eyes, missing fingers. My kind healed quickly, true, but it always seemed unnecessary and ridiculous.

Plus you couldn’t re-grow a whole limb.

I’d always refused to give in to the predatory behavior even when I couldn’t open my mouth to admonish them because I had secrets to hide. Then too, I’d had to push down one-half of my bloodline to survive.

The boys continued to harass Chase, going so far as to slap his glasses to the ground and laugh when he stumbled to look for them.

I’d seen enough.

“I’ll be right back,” I whispered to Melia and Mike.

Both of them stared at me with utter confusion painted on their faces. “You going to the bathroom?” Melia asked. I didn’t answer.

I crept to the end of the row and stalked silently toward the boys. They might not have had to raise their voices for me to overhear them, but I wondered why none of the teachers intervened. This kind of behavior shouldn’t be tolerated, not here.

The moment I was within earshot, I hissed, “You guys need to leave Chase alone. Right now.”

The four boys turned to me in unison, pointed ears sticking straight out, and although I knew I should be intimidated, I was not. They were older than me, taller. Definitely thought they were better than me.

One of them, the boy standing closest to me, laughed outright. It fueled my anger. “What are you going to do?” he hissed back. “Are you going to kick my ass? A tiny little thing like you? I doubt you have enough strength to knock me over.”

I might be tiny but I don’t need a full moon to show you my teeth, boy.

My head tilted to the side. “If the situation warrants, then yes. If there’s one thing I can’t stand, it’s a bully, and I don’t think what you’re doing is right,” I said.

The one who spoke—he seemed to be the ringleader of this little group of bullies—straightened as though to make sure I saw his height, his weight, the muscles pressing against the school blazer he wore. “Walk away,” he told me. “This doesn’t concern you.” His friends behind him snickered.

“I say it does.” My gaze flicked to Chase. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said with a hasty nod. He’d found his glasses and they sat askew on his nose.

“What’s going on?”Finally, a teacher decided to show. He marched closer and leaned over the chairs to stare at us. “Isn’t someone going to answer me?”

I stared at the lead boy. Or at least the only one who opened his mouth more than the others. “Aren’t you going to tell him?” I goaded.

Sudden, naked rage flashed in his expression, there and gone in an instant.

Then the boy shrugged and I watched a mask slip over his features, going from openly hostile to neutral with a hint of simper. “Nothing, Professor Reeds. We’re here minding our own business and this first-year decided she had something to say to us.”

Luckily, Professor Reeds, my water magic teacher, decided he knew enough about the boy not to believe any of the lies he was dropping. “The bullying has to end, Xander. How many times do I have to tell you? We don’t stand for this behavior at the academy, and you and your cronies have a bad habit of continuing even after you’ve been warned to stop. This is the last time I’ll say it to you.”

I narrowly avoided sticking my tongue out at the quartet. Then Professor Reeds turned his attention to me.

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