Azure Dragons (Supernatural Shifter Academy Book 2) Read online

  Azure Dragons

  Supernatural Shifter Academy Series

  G. Bailey

  Regan Rosewood

  Azure Dragons © 2020 G. Bailey/ Regan Rosewood

  All Rights Reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental and formed by this author’s imagination. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design by Mirela Barbu.

  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

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Epilogue

  About G. Bailey

  About Regan Rosewood

  Description

  Wolf, Siren, Dragon, Witch and Vampire shifters in one academy? Make that two academies and then there is a big problem.

  Our magical boarding school is in danger and its students are being hunted. With the humans blaming the supernaturals and the supernaturals blaming the humans, no one knows who is doing this. But everyone knows they are no longer safe.

  With a trip to Boston suddenly coming up, my five “friends” becoming more than I ever imagined they would be to me. Supernatural Shifter Academy is no longer a safe place.

  For my heart…and my life.

  Someone wants us dead and the secrets we have found out buried with us.

  But I won’t let that happen.

  18+ Reverse Harem Romance which means the main character will have more than one love interest. This is book two of a five-book series and will be rapidly released.

  Chapter 1

  My life is insane. In a good way.

  A little less than a year ago, my school guidance counselor sat me down for one of our requisite meetings. I think it was meant to help get us thinking about life after graduation and figure out a game plan for our future—one of those misguided things that the administration thinks is more helpful than it really is. I remember her asking me where I saw myself after finishing school, no doubt fishing for some answer about university, picking a career, and soldiering out into everyday society without a care in the world. In the end I made up something about “seeing where things went”, because the answer “I’m probably going to end up burning out in a dead-end job, since I have no friends, no family, and no connections” somehow didn’t seem like it was going to placate her.

  How could I have known that by this time the following year, I would be standing in the middle of a forest with a shapeshifter, desperately trying to master the art of transforming into a wolf in time for next week’s practical?

  It’s funny how these things work out.

  “Boots. Earth to Boots.” A familiar voice breaks through the reverie, and I shake myself as I cast the memories aside. Shade Ivis, the handsome, lanky, ash-blond wolf shapeshifter and U.K. Shifter Academy’s resident criminal is standing a few feet away from me, his hands cupped around his mouth in an exaggerated gesture. “Are you still with me?”

  “Sorry, sorry.” I clear my throat. “I just zoned out for a second, there.”

  “Really?” he teases. “I never would have guessed.” Taking a step forward, he crosses his arms over his chest. “You’re not going to impress anyone by zoning out, though, Boots.”

  Boots. Even though it’s only been a few months, the name already has a homey ring to it, like an old coat or a used car. It suits me, but more than that, it makes me feel like I’m a part of a bigger group, which isn’t something I would have ever expected. I think maybe that’s what’s struck me the most about all this, in the end: the ease with which I’ve connected with the people here, in the aftermath of a lifetime on my own.

  They say people change after leaving school, but usually they don’t mean it literally. In my case, though, instead of a new set of goals or a new lease on life, a few months ago I found myself with a new body—five new bodies, to be exact. What started out as a day on the run, a desperate attempt to get away from my alcoholic foster father and his escalating temper, ended in a night of being attacked by squatters in a building I had thought was abandoned. That was when everything had, as the saying goes, gone pear-shaped. Looking back on it now, I can still hardly believe it—it was the kind of thing I thought only happened in stories: the cornered orphan discovers that she has magical powers and uses them to save the day before being whisked off to a new home and new life. On the surface, it was almost too perfect.

  They say that shifter magic usually first presents itself during young adulthood. The jury’s still out on where the magic comes from, exactly, with theories ranging from a genetic mutation to occult meddling hundreds of years ago. Either way, what do you get when you cross a runaway foster kid with unknown superpowers?

  Me, of course. The only difference being that instead of having access to just one shifter form, like pretty much every other shifter in the world, I have access to all five: witch, dragon, wolf, siren, and vampire. It’s like something out of a comic book, except usually comic book characters don’t have as much trouble using their powers as I do. I’ve made a decent amount of progress since first coming to the Academy, but I’ve got a long way to go before I’m on par with the upperclassmen—and even longer before I’m capable of handling myself in a world that I now know is nowhere near as straightforward as I once thought it was.

  “You’re not giving up, are you?” Shade asks, smirking. “And here I was thinking you never gave up, Boots.”

  “You’re damn right, I never give up,” I fire back, rolling my shoulders and widening my stance. Closing my eyes, I follow the advice he gave me all those months ago and casting away the outside world. It’s not an easy thing to do, especially for someone like me, who would rather overthink everything than let instincts do what they’re supposed to. Everyone says that’s the key to mastering your shifter form: to learn to let go. The only problem is that it’s easier said than done, and I’ve only really ever gotten the hang of it in life or death situations. But that’s a story for another time, I think.

  I suck in a long breath, focusing on the feeling of the cool autumn air on my skin and the sounds of the leaves rustling in the trees overhead. It’s a Sunday, and there are no classes today, which means the students of the Academy have free reign to roam about the campus, study, and practice their forms. It’s a simple life, but I’m not complaining, especially now that I’ve seen what it’s like to have the Academy on lockdown. It’s been a bit more than a month since that student, Brody Patton, disappeared, and the faculty has only just eased up on the curfews and restrictions. How many of them know the real reason behind Brody’s disappearance, I can’t say.

  I feel my breathing start to slow down, that cool, familiar feeling that I’ve come to know as my magic making itself known in the pit of my stomach. I resist the urge to reach for it, to try to grab onto it; Shade was the one who told me how counterproductive th
at is. The key is to let go and let it come to you. So I do… or at least, I try to.

  The truth is that I’m finding it incredibly hard to focus with Shade in such close proximity to me. He’s close enough that I can feel his breath stirring the chestnut flyaways on my forehead, and can smell him—earthy and musky, with a layer of danger that sets my heart pounding whenever I catch it. Not for the first time, I catch myself wondering if he’s picked up on my feelings yet. What do I even call it, anyway? A crush? A friendship? An attachment? Somehow, none of those feel quite right, and that’s the problem.

  That’s the problem with all the guys.

  “Take your time, take your time,” Shade says dryly. “It’s not like it’s almost dinnertime or something.”

  I open my eyes and give him a playful shove, sending him stumbling back. “You’re making it hard to concentrate.”

  Shade gives me a devilish grin that sends a swarm of butterflies moving through my stomach. “That’s the point.”

  My eyes go wide, and I open my mouth to ask what he means by that, but think better of it at the last second. That’s opening a door I’m not sure I want to open.

  Aside from Hazel, the siren shifter who I met on my first day at the Academy, most of my friends here have been guys. It’s not like that’s a problem, or anything—I don’t discriminate—but when I arrived here, I wasn’t used to being close to people. After a life of bouncing from place to place, never able to settle down and form real connections, I had almost forgotten what it was like to care about someone—let alone multiple someones. The fact that each of the guys is compassionate, handsome, and intelligent? That’s the issue, and it’s complicated even further by the fact that they, in a sense, made me.

  I straighten up and redouble my efforts, forcing all thoughts of the guys, my past, and the Academy from my mind as I bring the image of a timber wolf to mind. Focusing on every detail, I back away from the pool of magic, allowing it to branch out and envelop my body. Within moments, I can feel the telltale prickling of fur emerging from my skin, my posture changing and my muscles shifting. It’s a bit like meditating, in a sense; the second you think about it too much, you lose the thread, and then you’re a human again. So instead I open my eyes as I become a wolf, focusing on something else instead—namely, the tall student who stands watching me with a crooked smile. Not for the first time, I find myself lost in his gray eyes, my wolf’s vision allowing me to see flecks of color and tiny details that I can’t as a human.

  He’s so handsome, I think, and nearly kick myself. But I can’t help it, especially now; I can feel the heat rolling off him in waves, sending fresh shivers up my spine as we stare each other down like predator and prey… except which one of us is the predator, and which one of us is the prey?

  The tension mounts until Shade finally speaks up, that cocky grin still on his face. “Take a picture, Boots,” he tells me. “It’ll last longer.”

  “Ass,” I mutter, still struggling to form the words around my wolf’s snout and thankful he can’t see my embarrassment at being called out like that. And then, without thinking about it, I lunge for him, sending him tumbling to the ground as I pounce on him playfully. The forest floor is carpeted with leaves and fallen pine needles, cushioning the fall, and Shade lets out a laugh as I land on top of him, my weight pressing him against the ground.

  Weird, I think. Usually I can’t hold the form this long.

  And that does it. In an instant, the control slips away from me, and I pop back into my human form in a split second—which, as you might imagine, leaves us in a rather compromising position. For a moment we just lie there, staring at one another with me on top of him in a tangle of limbs. The seconds tick by, seeming to stretch on into infinity, and it dawns on me how close I am to him; my face is inches above his, close enough to make out the scar on his temple and the blasé look in his eyes. “You don’t look so bad from this angle, Boots,” he remarks, and I groan, rolling my eyes.

  The moment broken, a familiar nervousness seizes me, and I scramble off him, dusting leaves and dirt off my pants as I hold out a hand to help him up. He takes it and gets to his feet, his skin cool against mine, and I realise my heart is pounding wildly. In spite of his arrogance, I think Shade realises it too; he tips me a wink before turning around. Through the trees, we can make out the shape of the Academy in the distance, a campus of stalwart brick buildings that have been on this remote Scottish island for years.

  Even now, though, I can’t help but wonder—is it a refuge, or a prison?

  The sound of the clock tower bell ringing shakes us out of our thoughts. “Come on,” I say, nodding in the direction of the quad. “You said you didn’t want to miss dinner.”

  Shade smirks. “There are more important things than dinner,” he observes. “I could maybe be talked out of it, if it means spending more time rolling around on the ground with you.”

  I raise my eyebrows. “Oh? Is that why you offered to help me get ready, then?”

  “I’ll leave that for you to figure out, Boots.”

  Shaking my head in a combination of exasperation and self-consciousness, watching as the wolf shifter turns on his heel and heads off in the direction of the campus without so much as a glance back over his shoulder.

  A moment later, I straighten up, square my shoulders, and follow him.

  Chapter 2

  Even though I’m finally starting to learn my way around the main academic building, I find myself occasionally getting confused by the winding halls and endless doorways. The only way I’m normally able to navigate the place is by following the crowd and hoping it leads me where I need to go… unless, of course, we’re talking about the dining hall. When food is concerned, I have a sixth sense—although the fact that everyone else is heading in the same direction doesn’t hurt either. It’s a sea of starched uniforms and buzzing weekend energy, and all the students seem supercharged with the respite of a day off. I fall into step beside Shade as we allow the crowd to sweep us away and catch myself eyeing him out of the corner of my eye as we navigate the hallway that branches off the foyer. His hair is getting long, and a lock of it falls into his eyes as we walk; I’m struck with the urge to reach out and brush it out of his face, but manage to stop myself—that’s not a road I’m ready to go down right now. Or ever. Still, I can appreciate him from a distance, even if he does need a haircut.

  I’m pulled out of my thoughts by a familiar lilt off to my left: “There you two are.”

  I turn around to see Hazel muscling through the crowd to sidle up next to the two of us, smiling broadly when she sees us. “What are you up to?”

  “Just trying to help Boots here practice her wolf form a little more,” Shade replies, elbowing me playfully. “She has a practical this week, and believe me, she’s screwed.”

  “She is right here, you know,” I retort, pushing between the two of them and linking my arm through Hazel’s. “And she is going to ace that damned test if it kills her.”

  “Well, I guess positive thinking is the first step,” Hazel says, smoothing things over as she shoots Shade a look over my shoulder. The two of them haven’t exactly gotten on swimmingly in the weeks that I’ve known them, and I suppose I can understand why: Shade’s personality is a bit abrasive—certainly more so than our other companions—and his reputation around the Academy precedes him. It sounds like he’s a bit of a problem child, which makes some sense—all of us are castaways, in some way or another, either separated from our families, with no families to speak of, or with families we don’t get along with. We needed each other, I think—more than any of us ever really expected to. That said, I don’t know much about Shade’s story other than the fact that he was adopted. From the sounds of it, he didn’t exactly get on swimmingly with his new family, either. He doesn’t seem too keen to talk about it, so I don’t push the issue.

  The three of us make our way into the large dining hall, where the students are fanning out to find seats at the long tables and po
unce on the buffet which is stocked with an assortment of delicious foods. I pause in the doorway, looking around until I catch a glimpse of a familiar face near the back of the room: Landon Thyme, the siren shifter, is sitting at one of the far tables, and he seems to have cleared a space for us. Next to him sits Hunter Ash, the surly vampire shifter who might as well be a self-parody, if it weren’t for the difficulty he also has changing into his form. We’re two of a kind in that sense, which is for the best, considering that we couldn’t be farther apart in every other way. His father is one of the Academy board members, and it’s obvious from square one that it’s a family of stuffy, uptight over-achievers and high expectations.

  None of this is helped by the fact that his sister, Amelia, is an overly protective upperclassman hellbent on getting her little brother’s shapeshifting abilities up to the same level as her own. She also seems to take issue with me on the grounds that I’m a hybrid, although part of me can’t help but wonder if her reasons go deeper than that. My origins, while clearer to me now, are still shrouded in mystery, but Hunter’s family has connections with the Academy and, most likely, to the experiment that brought me here in the first place. It was a bastardization, if the most vocal opponents are to be believed, a repetition of the kind of horrific rituals used by witches hundreds of years ago in order to combine shifter powers. A child, taken from the hospital as a baby, was used as a test subject, a blank slate for men in white coats to give her the powers of one of each of the other shifter species. I’ll give you one guess as to who that child was.