Page 8 of Mortal Shift
“About not being tracked down by psychos? Not so much, no. And as entertaining as this whole conversation has been, I think it’s time for you to get out of my home now.”
I gestured to the open door.
“Neither of us will be leaving through that door.”
A shudder ran the length of my spine, and the intruder tutted again. “You’re really going to need to do something about those signs of weakness. They’ll get you killed, you know.”
“Killed?” My voice had gone up an octave and I couldn’t quite bring myself to care. “When did we start talking about killing?”
“You seem not to have a particularly strong grasp on the situation, so allow me to explain. Do try to keep up. You’re fated to be the mate of Cole, son of Cain, alpha of the Iron Shadow pack. He’s due to attend Darkveil Academy, where the elite of the supernatural world are trained, and only the strongest survive. Unfortunately for you, the powers that be have decided that, human or not, if you’re to be the mate of a future alpha, then you’ll need to demonstrate your worth, too—such as it is.”
“I… What?”
He carried on as if I hadn’t spoken. “Your expenses will be covered by the Iron Shadow pack, since you’re to mate one of their own.”
“You keep saying that. Mates. Mating. I don’t even know what you mean.” I blanched as my brain plucked the only context for the word I had, and recalled my extreme sexual attraction to the asshole last night. “I mean, you can’t mean…”
My ‘guest’ frowned. “You seem unusually slow for a human. Were you injured as a child?”
“You know what? Fuck you. You can’t just bust into my life, start spewing a whole load of crap, and expect me to just play along. So get the hell out of my house. Now.”
He canted his head, and a slow smile stole over his lips. “Ah. Interesting. Not quite so meek as she first appeared.”
“I’m still here, asshole.”
“Zane,” he said.
“What?”
“My name. And if you think I’m an asshole, wait until you meet the rest of the instructors at Darkveil.”
I planted my hands on my hips. “You know what? I’m done. Frankly, I’m having a shit day, and I don’t need this right now. I’m sorry I crashed the party last night, and you can tell Cole I’m not interested in being his mate, and I sure as hell am not going off to any imaginary academy. I’m a bit too busy living my own perfectly normal life, thank you very much.”
“And such a fine job you’re doing of it, too,” he drawled. “I can assure you, Darkveil Academy is real, and attendance is mandatory.”
“Right. Of course. Tell you what, why don’t you just have an owl drop off my invite, and I’ll head down to King’s Cross first chance I get.”
“That won’t be necessary. And we’ve wasted enough time discussing this. I’d planned to take you tomorrow, after making sure Cain hadn’t shredded you to cover up the whole dirty secret, but I can see you’re a walking trouble magnet. We’ll leave now.”
I laughed, edging towards the door again. “I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“That, Ms. Ellis, is where you’re wrong.” His expression darkened. “Attendance at Darkveil Academy is not optional. I will drag you there kicking and screaming if I must, but I guarantee if I do, you won’t survive your first semester. So, I’m going to do you a favor.”
“Yeah, and what’s that?”
He locked eyes with me. “Go into your room and pack some clothes. Now.”
My feet picked themselves up and carried me into my room before I could finish processing what he’d said.
“Hey, what the hell?” I ground my teeth together but I couldn’t stop my hands from pulling open my wardrobe and grabbing some clothes out. Zane followed me, and I turned to glare at him. “What did you do to me?”
“Do it without talking,” he said, holding my gaze again, and my mouth snapped shut. And no matter what I did, I couldn’t force a single word out.
“I compelled you,” Zane said, apparently taking pity on me while I crammed a random assortment of clothes into a bag without looking at them. “Now, get a move on, and try not to make me expend any more of my magic on you.”
I opened my mouth, but of course not a word made it out, so I gave up and snapped it shut again. Because quite frankly, if he thought his little hypnosis trick, or whatever it was, was magic, then there was no point trying to argue. Especially when I couldn’t speak.
He ran an approving eye over my bulging bag.
