Bewitched: A Paranormal Academy Romance Read online

  “These won’t do here,” the spindly guy said to me when I told him what I liked. He couldn’t be much older than Gabriel. The next hour showed me that his age didn’t play the slightest difference in his skill. He came out of his workshop with a dozen of dresses and placed them on the large table in the middle of the cozy waiting room. Gabriel put down a newspaper and I did likewise with a fashion magazine.

  “Please be harsh,” he said with a smirk. “These are prototypes. Let me know what do you think.”

  He spun, making the hem of his coat whirl in the air, and started retreating.

  “Hey!” I called after him. “Can I put them on?”

  He glanced back with a shock, blinking rapidly.

  “You’re expected to. But fear now, I leave you in the capable hands.” The warm smile he offered Gabriel confused me. What in the moon’s name was going on here? Were they... No. They were not. This of course made me forget about an even more important question. Where was the changing room? I was sure that Ryder would tease me to no end but Gabriel didn’t hesitate for a second as he showed me to the changing room.

  The room had four massive mirrors with a few smaller ones placed above my head and below my knees. I couldn’t say what exactly was a standard but this seemed extremely professional. I even had a comfortable stool to sit on if I needed a rest. After the sixth dress, I needed to put my ass down. It was rather taxing. The dresses were masterpieces. Unfortunately, they seemed over the top. And expensive. I remembered when once a peddler showed my father a similar tiered dress. Craftswise, the other one wasn’t close to this and the price made my father’s eyes water.

  Twenty minutes later, I stepped out of the changing room with an apology and similarly watered eyes. These were amazing dresses and pretending they didn’t appeal to me did a poor job. I desired to have them. I wish to look ... beautiful. But in reality, I was a home-schooled girl without manners and good taste. Why didn’t Gabriel see it?

  “I...” I was about to lie when the tailor – his name was Lucas – strode out of his workshop. All his emotions were painted on his face in such details, I couldn’t do it to him. “I love them.”

  Lucas perked up and his expression flared up blissfully. Wanted it or not, I shared his happiness. Thrilled, I spun toward Gabriel, and only then I realized the simple truth – I couldn’t afford these beautiful dresses. Accepting them from Gabriel irked me a little. It’s a matter of honor, I remembered his words about his hair but what good use of honor would I have? I had nothing proper to wear in the classes? I haven’t had time to check the academic papers and didn’t know the dress code.

  “I cannot accept them.”

  Lucas frowned, his brown eyes saddened and I was struck with the display of his emotions. I thought Gabriel would argue or be angry. He did neither. Well, he told his friend to make the dresses anyway. I huffed as we walked out of the tailor. Somehow, he talked me into shirts, blouses, pants and in his head, it was only a beginning. Our next stop was a shoemaker. I seriously considered dropping on the cobbled pavement and make a tantrum.

  “Hey!”

  I froze because I didn’t expect to meet him. Totally. Ryder approached us with a bright step. He gave his brother a glare which didn’t last long enough to be anything grave.

  “Ryder?” Gabriel asked. “It’s noon. Why are you up?” Up?

  “It is good to get up earlier than normal from time to time, Gabriel. Now, what’s the plan?”

  Gabriel buffed up, standing straighter and taller than before. His tautened suit strained under the pressure of his massive biceps and chest. Ryder wore a plain white shirt and jeans but somehow he looked as majestic as his brother. The two of them faced each other. On the street, with tens of people wandering about or in this case gaping at them… We’re doing a show. Do they forget who they are? I smelled their wolves. They were surprisingly close to the surface. In response, my wolf snarled, demanding freedom. Instinctively, I glanced up at the palace that stood on the hill, towering over the town, and imagined the invisible eyes of the alpha king.

  “Guys,” I said, hoping to sound relaxed as if this wasn’t a contest between two potential mating rivals. It isn’t! “I don’t think it’s the best time and place...”

  Gabriel nodded and stepped away from his brothers. As he gathered bags with clothes, he said to Ryder.

  “I won’t be able to deter you, but remember to behave.”

  Chapter 12

  I didn’t know if it was some deliberate plan on Gabriel’s part but going through fifty different shoes made Ryder groan in pain. He kept inquiring when would we finish until Gabriel asked him to book a dinner at Plaza de Amon. Ryder’s torn expression stayed with me for a while after he’d left. Clearly, he understood what his brother did there.

  “He’s a pest,” Gabriel said when we packed ten pairs of shoes.

  “He doesn’t seem bad.”

  “It’s not that,” Gabriel replied, not looking at me, his eyes elsewhere. “Ryder doesn’t know when to stop. The shifter community is a difficult one to manage. Many of us demand the return of old ways. Primal instincts run in our blood. Ryder thinks he can push social boundaries. But he’s wrong. That’s why I warned him about pressing the matter with our uncle.”

  “Do you think they’d duel?”

  “Certainly.”

  “To death?” I asked aghast.

  “My uncle has built his reputation challenging and dueling other shifters to death. If he could he’d challenge my father and Hunt as well. But he’s smart. He knows he can’t win against these two.”

  We—I needed to tell that idiot to stop! Did he wish to get himself killed? I put on the pace as the urgency filled my every limb. My heart thumped in my chest like crazy. When I told Gabriel to hurry up, he explained that there was no need as his uncle was away to check on the Second Ring. The assault on the protective barrier was still underway and Victor Goldfury was responsible for keeping the Greater Evils out of the shifter world.

  I froze as a familiar scent crossed my path. It was the same one from the last night. I looked around but at least twenty people were walking ahead and behind us. It wasn’t possible to tell who could it be. Someone is following me. I played with the notion of telling it to Gabriel but decided against it. I could take care of myself. All these clothes and shoes were too much anyway.

  “What’s wrong?” Gabriel asked and sniffed the air.

  “Nothing,” I quickly said, resuming my stride. He didn’t inquire further but his violet eyes drilled me with a quiet puzzlement. From now on, I must be on alert.

  I was naïve of course. Once we got to the Plaza de Amon, a restaurant located on the terrace overviewing Blacktooth town and plains beyond the wall, my mind was once more dumbfounded by the sheer magnitude of beauty and sense of belonging. Shifter Island was the place of my birth. I was home, although currently trapped inside the walls. It would change once I pass the first year and start the hunts or gather whatever plants that could make me and my clan money.

  Ryder got us the best table with more space between us and other tables. Massive pots held tall plants with sharp upwardly pointed leaves. We passed by one of them, suddenly, all the scents fled. A gasp betrayed me as Ryder glanced up and the corners of his lips traveled up.

  “Oh, so you haven’t encountered a skyflower yet.”

  I sat down while Gabriel went to arrange the delivery of the shopping items to my flat. I swept my eyes over Ryder but eventually looked away. It was wrong on many levels.

  “So this is the skyflower, huh?” I said totally not knowing a thing about it.

  “Well then, you know something,” he said but didn’t sound joyous about this. “And here goes my grand plan of giving you private lessons.”

  I snorted. Surely, his grand plan was only an excuse to spend time with me. Or was this too presumptuous on my part? It certainly is. Yesterday, you were wondering why they are so nice to you. True.

  “I wouldn’t laugh if I was you,” he sai
d with a faked solemnity and self-importance. “Things I could teach you...” His dreamy voice drifted away and a vague vision of the things he spoke of appeared in my head. I shivered.

  “One day,” I muttered. “Maybe.”

  He perked up, obviously hearing my quiet response.

  “Is that a promise?”

  “It’s a possibility.”

  He nodded, pleased with himself. Was this his plan all along?

  Gabriel approached and I had to give him this, he possessed a presentation of a prince. Before he managed to get to us though, a group of richly-dressed girls crossed his path. Their chattering was loud but too many of them talked at the same time and I didn’t make much more than a word ‘ball’. I didn’t also want to mention how jealous these few minutes have made me. Shifter’s possessiveness was a legendary trait. Once shifters claimed his one mate, nothing could stand between them. Obviously, no one claimed anyone here but my hackles rose when I saw these girls writhing like snakes around Gabriel.

  “Does it anger you?” Ryder asked with a note of satisfaction. He watched me with a chin raised high and an arm draped over another’s chair backrest. I had a vibe that he’d had something to do with this.

  “It does not,” I replied with an emphasis that totally gave me away. I expected Ryder’s humor to sour. It didn’t, which only enforced my puzzlement of him.

  “You did this,” Gabriel said after he freed himself from the tangled web of female arms.

  “Are you surprised?”

  “A...” Gabriel hesitated and when Ryder upheld his wide grin, he didn’t finish. What does that mean? Gabriel took a seat on my right, while Ryder sat on my left. Waiters appeared right after the white-haired shifter tapped a table, runes flared to life. Here, the waiters took the orders manually, answering questions and explaining meals. So many exotic names were thrown around, I told Gabriel to pick the food and drink for me.

  The waiters retreated gracefully leaving only a tiny smudge of scent behind. Within my clan, masking one’s scent was against rules because it fostered distrust and a clan had to be all about unity. This was how my father saw it. I wonder how his life looked like when he lived here...

  The guys ended up ordering three thunderbirds in an icing sauce, two buckets of fruits, and three salads, all this complemented with juices from freshly squeezed oranges and moonberries.

  “There is nothing better than a well-done thunderbird,” Ryder announced with satisfaction.

  I’d not only never eaten a thunderbird, but I’d also never heard about it. My father explained that many of the animals on Shifter Island shared similarities with the mortal world animals. When I told them this—there was no point pretending—they exchanged glances and fell silent although for two different reasons. Ryder was searching for words and Gabriel gave his sibling a chance to explain.

  “You can see the moons,” he said, pointing up. “They’ve been brought here by our father and his friends. You know this already. With the moons arrived unexpected things…”

  I felt as if I was about to fell of a cliff. What the fuck he meant by ‘unexpected things’? Aside from the unexpected things, how did they do it in the first place? Raising another barrier was one thing, but hauling moons ... where did they come from anyway? Moons weren’t something idly waiting to be taken. My knowledge about astronomy was enough to know that creating one was out of the question as well. Then how?

  “How?”

  “We cannot tell you how as it is the alpha king’s secret, but getting them here worked like augmenting the island. Without a warning, other lands were revealed, already attached to the main island.”

  “As if they belonged to it all along,” Gabriel added, sounding ... excited.

  “Belonged to the island? What does it mean?”

  “There are hundreds of shifter-wizards working to answer that question.”

  I glanced at the vast plains beyond the walls. What have they done to this place? I didn’t mean the current alpha king. I meant ... someone who supposedly fucked this island up. But a few things didn’t add up. Dramarung for one. If what they said was true and I had no reason to believe otherwise, the moons looked to me as real as the air I breathed in, then only the outer edges of the island should’ve been augmented. Not the forest a few miles off the alpha king’s palace.

  Father could not prepare me for this. The peddlers were forbidden from telling us what was happening on Shifter Island. Breaking the rule would see them exiled like us. No one wanted this.

  The food and drinks arrived at the exact moment I was going to question them further. I could if I wanted, honestly, but the smell, the aroma. Holly molly moon. My mouth filled with drool as I watched thick slices of silver meat covered with pure white sauce. Tiny electric arcs jumped between the slices. This meat belonged to a magical animal. Around the meat, a circle of green fruits ... or vegetables created a mesmerizing decoration.

  “Before each piece of a thunderbird, you must eat one of the coolers. The green fruits.”

  “Why?”

  “Meat belongs to the fire-type magic while the green coolers belong to the ice-type magic.” They even had a magic classification of food? How cool was this? Well, I hoped to not end up checking on everything I was about to eat.

  “What if I don’t eat the green cooler?”

  “You’ll burn to a cinder,” Ryder said enthusiastically and then popped the first ice-type fruit into his mouth. A slice of meat followed. A soft electrical discharge shivered him and he howled, wearing a blessed expression.

  “Try with a sliver at first.” Gabriel showed me a tiny piece of meat. It’d take me a day to eat what was on my plate. I didn’t argue though. They were experts. “And one more thing, don’t wait too long. The green cooler would numb you if you won’t follow with a fire-type.”

  I followed his advice and put the first green cooler into my mouth. I gasped because it felt as if someone slapped my face or rather dropped an iceberg on my head...

  “Now the meat,” Gabriel reminded.

  Now the meat.

  I was electrocuted before it got into my mouth. Holy shit! It didn’t hurt but the surprise factor was ten out of ten... It tastes—

  A palette of impossible flavors exploded in my mouth, and then my mind seemed to explode as well, my body convulsed as wave after wave of bliss and energy hit it. This is godly. I wanted to howl, run, dance, love...

  “It is our favorite food and is it is only second to sex.” Ryder winked at me. Oh, shit. If I only could come up with a good quip. But not like this when my body was entering godhood and needed every ounce of attention to not lose control.

  “Manners,” Gabriel said and I could say how deadly serious he was right now. Then he turned to me and asked. “Do you like it?”

  “It’s freaking amazing,” I gasped. “With food like this who needs drugs?”

  “Oh, girl, you have no idea.” Ryder offered me a sly but enigmatic smile. Gabriel didn’t comment on this.

  With each green cooler and a slice of thunderbird meat, I began understanding what they meant about ice and fire types. My insides felt like caught in a whirlwind. Cold and fire fought but also danced with each other. A perilous ritual of lovers and enemies caught in an eternal struggle. Fuck. Where does this stuff come from? An alpha heir writing poetry. Great.

  “What the hell is this?” a cold, familiar voice rung in the air. My heart’s pace increased because it was one of the four brothers – Rocco. I wished to not run into him and yet when he appeared, I realized I waited for this moment.

  Chapter 13

  Rocco didn’t arrive alone. A stunning beauty who accompanied him had a face of an angel but the soul of a demon. Her velvet black hair was reaching a belt, wrapped around her thin figure. I couldn’t take my eyes off her white, almost transparent summer dress. Then her glittering golden eyes caught my attention and I knew that Hunt and she were siblings and it made her sister of Rocco, Ryder, and Gabriel as well. This was a relief. I couldn
’t compete with a creature as delicious as her. We’ve been created by two completely different worlds. Hers was here, in the palace, amongst the opulence and beauty. Mine belonged to the wilderness and hardship. Or so I thought.

  “So that where you disappeared,” Ryder said. “To get help from the devil herself.”

  “Watch your mouth,” Rocco snapped. His arrival stirred the atmosphere in the restaurant. I noticed a few glares. Woah. He wasn’t liked. What a surprise. “Or I will challenge you before uncle has a chance.”

  I inhaled, sensing the situation inching over the dangerous ground. I couldn’t say who would win. I didn’t want to see either of them dead. A good beating would be good for Rocco but it wouldn’t end there. Our wolves wouldn’t let go that easy.

  “Scary,” Ryder purred.

  For an instant, I believed Rocco would actually attack his brother but instead he only tsked.

  “Who is that fiery doll?” the black-haired beauty asked. Rocco scowled.

  “You know exactly who she is.”

  “Of course I know, you idiot,” she said fiercely. Rocco didn’t snap back. Woah again. “It was a rhetorical question. Now, what are the clown and Mr stiff doing here?”

  “I already asked this,” Rocco said, his temper taking the better side of him. I hated to say but he was kind of cute when he grew angry.

  “You’re boring, Rocco. Did you know that?” she said then her golden eyes sparkled with excitement as they met Ryder’s gaze. “Oh, I see. You’re right, Ryder. Rocco likes her.”

  Rocco spun about, facing his sister. She was over a head smaller than him and her posture seemed so fragile in comparison but I sensed from her determination so powerful, my knees grew weak. So living under so many moons made them so strong and beautiful, huh? I was not jealous. Totally.

  “You better be careful with your words,” Rocco whispered with intensity.

  “Or what? Will you challenge me too?” I shook my head with shock. That female shifter was a total badass. I should not but I liked her. I told her so and it changed something in her. She relaxed.