Page 154 of Mortal Shift
Nowthatwas a very good question. I open my mouth to ask how the hell someone who wasn’t a shifter could partially shift, but a loud gong rang out, cutting across my would-be words. As the sound died a voice spoke in its wake.
“Year one end-of-year sanctioned trial complete. All survivors report to your dorms immediately.”
Chapter Fifty-One
The academy healer had the worst of my injuries on their way to being fixed in minutes, but Cole still insisted I spend the day and night on the ward, in case anymore injuries made themselves apparent. Keen as I was to be back in my dorm alone with him, I figured this was as much torture for him as it was for me, so I didn’t protest too much. I was in good company—we’d found Jax in the foliage nearby, beaten and bloodied, but thankfully alive. His three cowardly attackers had run as soon as they’d heard Cole returning, but I was pretty sure there were scores there that would be settled next year. But that was a problem for another day.
With Marin’s healing magic doing its thing, I had the best night’s sleep I could ever recall, and I felt like a whole new person. When morning broke twenty-four hours after the trial ended, it found me sitting in a pool of blankets on one of Marin’s beds waiting to be discharged, with Cole sitting in a chair beside me, and Jax laid up in the next bed along.
“When can I get out of here?” I asked, trying and probably failing to keep the whine from my voice.
When you’re fully recovered,” Cole said, with the patience of a saint, given that this was the third time I’d broached the subject this morning alone.
“I’m fine,” I grumbled. And I was. There was no trace of any of my injuries left, and I felt better than I’d felt in years. Which was more than could be said for poor Jax, who still looked like he’d been hit by a truck. A truck with teeth.
“Well,” Cole said, “since you have in fact not studied as a healer, ‘I’m fine’ isn’t quite going to cut it.”
“But Iamfine,” I protested.
A set of footsteps approached, cutting across our argument. I glanced up to see Marin looking my way.
“What are you still doing here?” he asked. “You’re fine.”
I shot Cole a smug ‘I told you so’ look, and he opened his mouth then snapped it shut again.
“You, on the other hand,” Marin continued, looking over at Jax, “will be enjoying our facilities a little longer.”
The scowl on his face told me he wasn’t thrilled about his guest’s extended stay, probably not least because the semester was officially over—for first years at least—now the sanction trial had been completed. Or maybe he just didn’t like us cluttering up the place. Either way, I had no intentions of sticking around to find out.
I wasted no time pulling on the clean clothes that Cole had brought for me, and making good on my escape from the ward. Cole fell into step beside me, eyeing me cautiously the whole way, like he was waiting for me to collapse. It would be annoying if it wasn’t so sweet. It was nice to have someone who cared that I was okay, and after everything that happened this year, I still couldn’t quite adjust to that person being Cole. When he’d declared that I was his fated mate I’d been as unhappy about it as he was. Never in a million years would I have imagined I was capable of feeling like this about him—and that he’d feel the same way about me.
I started heading for my door, but Cole caught my hand and steered me down another corridor. I turned a questioning look to him.
“Results are up,” he said by way of explanation. Abruptly my gut started churning, and I swallowed acid. “They’ll be posted outside Astor’s office.”
Together, we wound our way through the academy, walking in silence. When we eventually reached the corridor outside Astor’s office, we found it deserted. I guess everyone had checked their results already. Then again, if I’d known they were up, I’d have headed down here hours ago—discharged from the ward or not.
It wasn’t just my fate on the line here. If I failed, Cole would be held back with me. Of course, the same could be said of him about me, but then, he wasn’t the one who’d been in danger of flunking history.
The plus side of getting here hours after everyone else was that there was no crush of bodies to push our way through to check the results list pinned to the wall. I slipped my hand into his, and he gave it a squeeze. This was it.
I ran my eyes down the list anxiously, and spotted Cole’s name first. I ran one finger along the row next to his name, noting pass after pass under each column.
“Swot,” I muttered.
“Right back at you,” he said, a smile playing over his lips.
“Yeah, right… Wait, I passed?”
“Try not to sound quite so surprised,” he rumbled with amusement.
“Surprised? I’m not surprised,” I said. “I’m flipping stunned.”
He laughed, and took my finger, guiding it down to my name, where, sure enough, I found a row of passes to match his—except in shifting, of course, where there was a blank space. On account of me not being a shifter. Except, apparently, for my right arm, and if it wasn’t for the witnesses, I’d have sworn the whole thing was a result of the concussion Kallan had given me.
Jax, I noted, running my hand down the list, had passed the year as well. Lucky for him, it seemed the only criteria to pass the final assessment really was to survive.
Seven people hadn’t managed it. The number punched a hole through my guts, and I swallow bile as I turned to Cole, my voice slipping out as a whisper.
