Page 7 of Dead Wolf Falling (Bad Moon Academy 2)

Another bit of shifter information I store away for later. This world is so complicated compared to the one I’m used to. Humans don’t have super healing. While there are some people who are master manipulators with an odd aura which seems to draw people to them like magnets, they can’t control people with their words like I can. At least, not without abuse and conditioning. The toxic gravity of a narcissist is hard to resist, but it’s nothing compared to shifter power dynamics.

If I told Bea to eat the grass beneath her, she would. She may try to fight me, but she’d succumb to my luna power. If only spirits listened in the same way.

Speaking of ghosts, the voice from earlier is gone, and the silence is almost too quiet. The hair on the nape of my neck rises, and I help Bea stand before scooping Adler up in my arms and climbing to my feet. The grass is soft, so at odds with how dead it was when the pack wards broke. I eye the academy.

Why would the wards breaking kill the grass? Why was the academy broken and desolate when the gate finally opened? What type of spirit am I dealing with?

Frowning, I glance at the little shifter. “Bea, can you take me to the guys?”

She whimpers and shakes her head.

“Can you tell me where they are at least?” I hold up Adler. “You can watch my friend to make sure nothing bad happens to him?”

Her eyes fall on the eagle and widen as though she’s seeing him for the first time.

“Okay,” she whispers.

“Follow me.” I set off at a clipped pace toward the school.

Bea jogs to keep up with me, and when we reach the front door, which is standing wide open from Bea’s exit, we pause. I crane my neck to look inside. There’s no one in sight. The lights are blazing brighter than I’ve ever seen them burn, and the cold grows more intense, seeping into my bones like a winter’s chill.

“I’m scared,” Bea says on a whine.

Facing her, I take in the tears tracking down her cheeks and the tremble of her chin. Poor thing. She’s only fourteen. Sure, I’m four years older, but the years between fourteen and eighteen are more than just years. It’s the transition from child to young adult, and Bea has yet to go through the hardest parts of it.

“It’ll be okay,” I say because what else do I tell her?Yeah, me too. I’m pretty sure we both might die?No. I can’t give her a reason to panic. The best thing I can do for her now is to help her feel safe, so I lie. “I think I have a way to save everyone, but I need you to be strong. Can you do that?” I want to reach out and wrap my arms around her, but I can’t because of Adler.

Her light brown eyes search my face, and whatever she sees there must fill her with confidence because she wipes the tears away and nods.

“Okay, we’re going to go to my room. Whatever you do, no matter what you hear or see, don’t stop until you get there.”

Who knows what sort of shenanigans this spirit has in store for us?

This is a bad idea.

We don’t have a choice, Joan. We have to help the guys.

Oh, now you want a harem.Joan scoffs.

Do you want them to die?I ask.Because that’s what will happen if we don’t find a way to get them back from. . . this thing.

No,she admits.

I check on Bea again to make sure she’s still okay. Her jaw is set in determination and there’s a fierceness about her gaze which warms my heart. She’s a strong kid. I whisper count to three and we rush inside, making a beeline for the stairs. If I were human, the dash up three flights of stairs would affect me more, but as it is, I’m hardly winded by the time we reach the third floor.

Bea is right behind me as I sprint down the hallway toward my room. She surges in front of me when we reach it, opening the door and letting me in before pulling it closed. My heart is pounding in my chest. The lamp on my bedside table flickers a few times. I squint at it, wondering how every light suddenly got turned on when the wards slammed back in place, and then I set Adler’s bird form on the bed. I wish he would shift so I could put clothes on him. Hopefully, he’ll stay unconscious while I go to find the men; Bea doesn’t need to see him in all his naked glory.

I toss a shirt over the lower half of his body, hoping it’ll be enough to save them both the embarrassment. Bea’s carefully walking around my room, hovering her hand over the globe and the raven on my desk but not actually touching anything.

“Where are the guys?” I ask her, pulling on a sweater over my shirt—which is damp with sweat. The academy is so cold I’m shivering.

Or maybe that’s the nerves.

“She probably has them in the basement.”

“Which one?” I run my fingers through my messy hair and twist it into a bun, not caring when a few stray pieces fall out of place. “The gym or the crypt?”

“Neither. They’re in the dungeon.”

---