Academy of Beasts II Read online

  Academy Of Beasts II

  Becca Fanning

  Copyright © 2020 by Becca Fanning

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Also by Becca Fanning

  Chapter 1

  Last Time at Beast Academy

  “I need you to tell me about the mark on your back, Fiona,” he whispered in a husky tone. Before I can stop him, he closed the gap between us with a speed that I couldn’t see. I gasped as he leaned in towards me, pushing me against the wall. His touch sent a wave of heat through my body.

  Worse.

  He kissed me.

  He kissed me until I was breathless.

  “I’ll be back,” he promised.

  And then he was gone.

  Chapter 2

  I woke up on Sunday with a headache and the memory of a kiss. The ceiling stared back unsympathetically. Outside, birds sang happily. I buried myself beneath the blanket and vowed to never come out. They couldn’t force me to go to class, could they?

  Beast Academy wasn’t for the weak. I learned that lesson quickly. In less than a week, I’d been rescued by a mysterious group of shifters who were insistent that I was a late-shifter (a shifter that doesn’t present their powers until later in life, far past childhood) and dragged to this elite college. I’d been placed in the Core Council, a select group of students who lived in a separate dorm away from the main castle. With five guys. Sketchy handsome, secret-hoarding boys that refused to reveal much about where they snuck off to altogether.

  Maybe they were dating each other! My mind roared with lots of naughty thoughts. I bulldozed them immediately. My new school was pushing me to be a lot wilder…

  And reckless.

  I’d privately accused all of the Council boys of suspicious activities with mixed results. My heart winced. The kindest of them was Theo. I’d yelled at him two days ago, saying that I didn’t trust him. I needed to apologize somehow. Maybe I could ask Moony, the resident chef at the Council manor, to help me make some cookies or something. It was a good enough peace offering for a hungry bear-shifter I’m sure.

  And then there was that situation with Mr. X.

  My face burned as I thought of his lips pressed against mine. Back home, I hadn’t dated much. I had the occasional boyfriend throughout high school, but nothing super passionate. When I’d found my mom’s hidden stash of romance novels underneath the bed, I realized that none of my relationships had been nearly as passionate. They were awkward kisses with safe fellow high schoolers. But, Mr. X?

  I buried my face into my pillow and let out a strained groan. He had kissed me! What a bastard. A presumably handsome bastard, though, beneath that mask. With a grunt, I got out my secret notebook that Moony gifted me the other day, and added something to my list of notes about the Council boys:

  Mr. X??? Kiss-stealing, curious about my birthmark. Maybe one of the boys OR a new boy entirely? Unsure.

  I clicked the pen shut and glared at the paper. You know, it was super rude for the universe to throw a young woman into a sea of supernatural babes and suspicious behavior. I might be dealing with six shifter dudes, and I could barely handle one of them. With a sigh, I shoved the notebook beneath my pillow and tried to get a few more hours of sleep. If the universe offered any luck, the boys would all be out of the house for the entire day. Maybe I could chat with Moony and ask him if he’d ever seen a mask-wearing boy in the manor before. There was also a stack of homework still waiting for me on my desk.

  The red and black mask burned in my mind as I faded back into sleep, desperately hoping that today wouldn’t hold any adventures.

  I didn’t think I could take it.

  This was…not ideal.

  “Can I help you, princess?” Enrique asked as he lowered his face to meet mine. Both of his hands were on either side of me against the wall, boxing me in like a tiny rat with a ravenous lion. His signature smirk would be plastered on his face. I felt a tightness in my chest.

  My eyes were glued firmly to the ground. This was his room, and his signature scent hung around us. It was the same scent that caused me to realize that he’d been the one to break into my room to snoop around on my first night in the manor.

  But I wasn’t about to look up.

  He was mostly naked.

  And incredibly, incredibly attractive.

  Fiona! How had I gotten myself into this mess?

  Chapter 3

  The plan was to stay out of trouble. It really was. When I finally got out of bed at noon, it was because someone knocked loudly on my door. I dragged myself up to unlock it, barely opening my tired eyes. It was by a miracle that my primal brain had the instinct to grab the fluffy pink robe on the back of the door to cover up my sheer tank top and tiny sleep shorts.

  The door swung open. Dracus. I pawed at my bed hair and wrapped my bathrobe tighter around me. He looked immaculate as usual, dressed in black slacks and a button-down shirt. The top button was undone, of course. Our resident prince was dressed to the nines. A tiny chain with a dragon holding a ruby in its claw was hung around his neck.

  “You’re alive,” he announced and then scanned my person, seemingly unimpressed. “Theo was worried.”

  And yet…Theo hadn’t come. I sighed and shuffled my feet; a guilty weight settled on my shoulders.

  “Sorry, I was tired.”

  He nodded but said nothing. That was Dracus’ power, I’d learned. A stern face and silence. Like when your parents said that they weren’t mad, merely disappointed. Everybody knows that disappointment is worse. Dracus certainly knew that.

  An idea slithered into my sleepy brain. I feigned an exaggerated yawn of outrageous casual proportions.

  “Do you know a Mr. X?” I asked him outright. It was best to catch the Head of the Council when he wasn’t expecting it. His blink was careful, measured.

  “I know nobody of that name.” His brows dipped down as he studied me. “Why?”

  “He paid me a visit,” I said nonchalantly and leaned against the doorframe. “That’s why I was so tired.” I took a pause too long to continue, “He was forceful.”

  His face became a shade paler. “I’ll tell everyone to keep an eye out,” he said in a tight voice. “The chef has left you a lunch. He says he knows how you like your lunches.” He stalked down the hallway, and I could nearly see a trail of smoke coming from behind him.

  “His name is Moony! Moony the Chef!” I called as he disappeared down the hallway. Off to yell at one of these Council idiots, I imagined. With a quick movement, I flew inside my room and started getting dressed.

  He was definitely going to scold someone! This meant several things.

  Mr. X was one of the Council boys, and he wasn’t Dracus. I could never see Dracus pushing me against a wall and kissing me, interrogating me about a birthmark. The birthmark, I caught sight of in the mirror as I dressed. For a moment, I examined it. What was so curious about it?

  My mom had always told me that normal birthmarks were where angels had placed a kiss on a baby’s skin. She’d told me that mine was where the sun kis
sed me. It was true. I ran my fingers over the mark, above my lower back. It was slightly tanned like a port-wine stain, but it resembled a crudely drawn spiral sun. Not clear enough to be purposeful, but not messy enough to seem like an accident. It was natural and completely unremarkable in my eyes.

  Who had even seen the birthmark?

  Jasper? Doubtful. There had been that moment in the library, but the light was low from the lamps. Somebody might’ve watched me change in my room when I’d forgotten to draw the curtains one night. I shivered, unsure of whether that was from excitement or fear. Maybe both. My hormones seemed more mixed up than ever in this place.

  Nurse Greta could’ve seen it. They probably looked me over while I was sleeping. She could’ve reported it to everyone. A creepy thought but I wouldn’t put anything past the weirdness at the Academy.

  I hurriedly yanked on my clothes, a pair of jeans and a fitted black V-neck. Nothing fancy. The goal was to be casual. I practically ran out of the room and tried to catch the scent of smoke in the air. Nowhere to be found. I sniffed the air like a lunatic, silently wishing I was a bear-shifter or wolf-shifter.

  I went over the entire house. I’d never even had the courage to see where Dracus lived before, but his was the first room I went to. It was easy enough to find. I ended up going to all of their rooms. When I got to each of their doors, I hovered next to them without knocking. Eavesdropping might be my new favorite hobby. I realized that each of their rooms had a color: forest green for Theo, dark blue for Ren, amber yellow for Jasper, crimson red for Enrique, and an eggplant purple for Dracus.

  Nobody. Nothing. Nada. Every door and hallway were utterly silent. It seemed like wherever Dracus had gone, it wasn’t in the manor. If I had been an actual shifter, I might’ve been able to catch their scents.

  I scowled, coming to rest in the entry room with the grandfather clock. It ticked loudly, mocking me.

  Moony was gone, but a lunch was left for me just as Dracus had said. A tidy piece of tape with my name on top of the box! I grabbed the lunchbox and headed to the gardens, hoping that I might catch someone coming back into the house. Wherever they met, it must’ve been in the castle. There were virtually no other places besides a sports area, but it wasn’t a cover gymnasium. There was no way to hide.

  I settled beneath the biggest tree in the garden and dug into the meal. Today’s lunch which was chicken lo mein noodles with vegetables, which I’d mentioned to Moony last week that I missed from home. A painful throb started in my chest. I’d have to thank him again. What a kind man.

  I leaned against the trunk of the tree and closed my eyes, imagining myself as a plane overlooking Beast Academy. The castle was huge, but I’d studied a map of the grounds in a book. After drawing it out in my journal, I could mostly bring it to mind without much effort.

  The main castle with a large courtyard that turned into the path towards the Council manor. A small outdoors sports area next to the castle, but on the opposite side as the manor. My brain turned over the map in my mind. What had the book said? There is a foundation level of the castle, but underneath, there is an ancient network of—

  A soft snap sounded on the opposite end of the garden. I don’t know why, but I instinctively dove behind the nearest hedge. When I peeked through a space in the greenery, I tried hard not to gasp. I saw a flash of two heads of blond hair going through the window of one of the first-floor rooms. My stomach seized in terror and nearly forced the contents of my lunch back up. There was red. Red blood coming off of one of those bodies. In a second, they were gone. As quickly as they’d come.

  I crept closer to the window they’d gone through. It was shut. I peeked in, using my hands to shield the incoming sunlight so that I could see inside. Nothing. It was a living room. Actually, it might’ve been the same forgotten salon that I’d used to sneak out to the barrier around Beast Academy. Remember that wonderful wall which Ren threw me off of? Delightful.

  As quietly as possible, I pushed up the window, and it gave way easily. Red drops on the window ledge. No, no, no. My skin felt suddenly itchy when I saw blood sprinkled on the white surface. No! Was one of them hurt? Jasper and Enrique were the only blond-haired boys that I knew of. I paused. It could’ve been Enrique and a blonde girl with a short hairstyle…but blood and sneaking through a window? Enrique was far too proud to show off his dates by dragging them through the entryway and loudly announcing their arrival.

  The living room was immaculate besides a few more drops of blood, closer to the door. I shut the window behind me and tiptoed towards the door to open it softly. There was nobody in the hallway. I frowned. Odd. At the least, one expected to hear someone in the house today.

  If memory served correct, Enrique’s room was closer than Jasper’s, which meant that it’d be wiser to go to the lion’s room first. From down the quiet corridor, I could see his door, as red as the blood on the window. It was open a crack. I crept towards it, being careful to listen for any sounds. Nothing. As silent as earlier when I first went to see if I could find where Dracus had gone. Pin-pricks of icy worry came over me, but I couldn’t back down. This was the first real evidence that something was going on, something potentially dangerous.

  And technically, Enrique had broken into my room…

  He owed me a break-in. That’s how it worked, right? I nodded enthusiastically to myself as I slowly pushed his door open. The room was dark. I glanced around and nearly gasped. While my room had kept the trappings of a proper manor, Enrique had turned his into a sexy bachelor’s pad. The walls were oxblood red to off-set the black tile on the floor. Heavy black velvet curtains were covering the windows. His bed was enormous, a thing fit for a king….if that king also happened to be a flashy vampire. I wondered how he even got the bed through the door. The lamps had been replaced with some modern mood lighting, various strips of LED cleverly placed behind the bed and bits of furniture. He could have a second career as a designer for romantic hotels.

  “Don’t lecture me.”

  I froze. That cross voice was certainly Enrique coming down the hall. Quickly coming down the hall. I glanced wildly around the room. The desk. The bed. The bathroom. The large wardrobe. I opted for the last one without much thought to consider anything else. I needed something to hide my scent, and his clothes would have to work. With barely enough time, I flew into his stupidly big wardrobe and shut the door. I was wedged between a series of identical peacoats (maybe, it was dark) when two voices came into the room.

  “It’s not a lecture.”

  Jasper! I was right.

  “Shut it, foxy.” Enrique sounded like he was snarling. My nose itched and I covered it. His overpowering cologne on every article of clothing was going to cost me my hiding place. It was odd to hear him annoyed. The resident playboy of the Council had an easy-going air. “We weren’t seen.”

  “We should’ve figured that they would’ve put up traps. Do you think Greta told the Officials?”

  “The old nurse?” He let out a painful grunt followed by an exasperated hiss. “God, why haven’t we invented something better for disinfecting shifter wounds?” It sounded like they were fumbling with a few objects. A bottle? A strong smell of alcohol came through to the wardrobe. It was Enrique who was wounded. My heart thumped wildly in my chest. Despite his annoying flirting, I never hoped that the lion-shifter would be hurt.

  Something else cut through my worry: How did he get hurt?

  “Magical cuts call for magical supplies,” Jasper replied coolly. “I’ll need to wipe up the blood in the room before Dracus has a fit.”

  “I’m bleeding out, and you’re worried about what Dracus will think? He’s the one who sent us on this mission.” Something cold crawled up the back of my neck. Fear. Anticipation. I held my breath as my flesh prickled with goosebumps. Don’t jump out of the wardrobe to confront them.

  “You know how he wants to keep everything covered up.” There was a pause. “If Fiona suspects something—”

  Enrique snorted
unsympathetically. “We already know she does. She knows it was me in her room. I’ve told you all.”

  “We can’t let the Officials know.” Jasper’s voice was worried. A needle of pain pierced my heart. What was happening? “Not now.” I wanted to burst out of the wardrobe and yell at him. Why not now?

  “That’s she a—”

  “Don’t say it. We’re not sure. Let’s talk to Dracus.”

  “You’re awfully safe for a master thief.”

  I covered my mouth to stifle a reaction. No! Were the rumors true about Jasper? I thought back to the library book I’d intended to check out. How it was missing. How easily he had swiped it from me!

  “Dracus wants to meet with us, but I’ll go and report to him. He’s angry about something.” There was a rustle of fabric. “I’ve got to run. I’ll tell him what happened with the mission.”

  “Have fun in the dungeon,” Enrique called. A door shut firmly. He sighed a tired and pained sound that nearly broke my heart. Until another feeling hit me. I was alone with Enrique in his room, hidden among his clothes.

  My mind reeled. I couldn’t get caught here. How on Earth would I explain that to him? Sorry, I just popped in to smell your clothes because I’m secretly obsessed with you? No, he’d know that I was spying. I bit my lip and considered my options. He was injured; he’d need a fresh change of clothes. Gods, I hoped he would opt for a shower first. I stood as still as possible when I heard him moving around his room. He shuffled something around on his desk and kicked something softly. His hamper? It hit the wardrobe, and I contained my oncoming yelp of surprise. I refused to budge an inch. Finally, it sounded like he was hovering in his room.