I tried to focus it, but my shadow veered left and pierced Damien through his shoulder.
“Ah! I’m sorry, Damien!”
He grunted and stumbled forward into the shadow, making it pierce deeper. “Fuck, little bird. Always with the shadow.”
“You’re one to talk,” I muttered, and after verifying that he was fine, I focused on the apple again. The shadow slipped out of Damien and sliced through the apple, almost slicing Simmons, but his shadow blocked mine.
He huffed out a laugh. “You’ll get the hang of it, eventually. How’s your other power coming?”
“Really good, actually.” I took a few steps back as my shadow sank back into my mark. “Believe it or not, but I think I’ve got the hang of it.”
“Really? I haven’t seen you do it before. I’ve never even heard of anyone with that power, but I would love to see it.”
“One day soon, I’ll show you.”
“We will have to schedule a private session for that per Rowan’s request.” Simmons chuckled. Damien’s growl rippled through his throat. “With your mate present, of course,” Simmons added.
“That’s acceptable then.” Damien crossed his arms.
Training was going well for once. I felt like I was finally making progress. The other students were spread across the training yard sparring in groups, and ever since those charms were taken from them, barely anyone whispered when I walked past, and Thorn and Damien’s quota had gone from several names a week to none.
I smiled as Simmons′ gaze caught mine. “You remind me of someone.”
My brows rose. “Really? Of who?”
“An old friend,” he said with a sad voice.
”Is that a good thing?” My heart squeezed, hoping I hadn’t reminded him of a painful memory.
“The best actually.” He hesitated, opening his mouth as if he was going to tell me something else, but a new scent hit my nostrils that smelled kind of like embers, but different.
Simmons stepped in front of Damien and me, turning toward an unknown man walking through the archway of the training hall.
The man had bright red hair, but it was buzzed, so there was only a bit of it sticking out from his head. His eyes had red flames around the irises, and I knew immediately that the man was a firedrake. From the look in his eyes and the way he sniffed the air, it was clear he was sniffing someone out.
His gaze landed on me and darkened. Damien’s demon form took over as he stepped in front of me, and Lachlan jogged over.
“What’s going on?”
“Firedrake,” I squeaked, and our class went silent, watching Simmons and the strange man.
“Who are you?” Simmons approached the man. “What business do you have in my class?”
“I’m here for the arctic fox shifter.” His lips pulled into a sinister smirk. “I’ll just be taking her, and we’ll get on our way.”
“She’s not going anywhere with you, and I’m sure if you ran it by our headmaster, he would have never let you step foot on our academy grounds. So I’ll ask you this, how did you get in here?”
“A nice student opened the gate for me.” He smiled, but his gaze never left mine. “I just told her that I was a friend of Rowan’s, and she let me in.”
“And how do you know Rowan?” Simmons asked as he took a defensive stance.
“Rowan and I are brothers. Maybe not from the same parents, but we are both firedrakes, so what’s his is mine. So his mate…” He trailed off.
“His mate is mine,” Damien finished for him, whipping his tendrils around us as anger flooded his bond.
“And mine,” Lachlan said, wrapping me in his arms as we stood behind Damien.
“Both of you need to step back. This is a firedrake,” Simmons muttered under his breath.
