Stained Egos Read online

  Stained Egos

  Serena Akeroyd

  Helen Scott

  Copyright © 2019 by Serena Akeroyd

  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.

  Contents

  1. Cade

  2. Raven

  3. Barclay

  4. Cade

  5. Raven

  6. Marcella

  7. Keiran

  8. Marcella

  9. Gideon

  10. Marcella

  11. Gideon

  12. Marcella

  Also by Helen Scott

  Also by Serena Akeroyd

  1

  Cade

  When Barclay jumped down from the Range Rover, his head pivoted as he lifted his nose to scent the air around him. The move reminded me of the dog he was, and I hid a smile as he stared at Westbrook Academy with a longing that, again, reminded me of the dog he was.

  Shifters.

  So sentimental. Pining for something none of us had yet, and when we did get it, who the fuck knew if we’d even want the final member of our brotherhood?

  Just because the little shit was top of Westbrook’s graduating year, didn’t mean we’d like the bastard. That was what had me dreading the next few weeks.

  Of my five brothers, I only really liked Raven. Raven was cool as fuck, though, and not hard to like. He knew shit that put him on a whole other realm compared to most people, and I appreciated that he wasn’t totally weird on top of what his mixed heritage had given him.

  The dude loved baseball, got a hard-on for Krispy Kreme donuts—any flavor, even the ube ones which tasted like crap to me—and refused to admit to being teary-eyed if we ever had the misfortune of watching a Nicolas Sparks’ movie—the approved movie list at Eastbrook Academy was a shower of shit.

  I just liked how normal he was, whereas Barclay, Gideon, and Keiran were just odd.

  That was what happened when you mixed blood, though.

  It was also why most of the purebloods shunned us.

  There was a reason why species stuck with one another, not mating outside of their own little genetic pot. When they didn’t obey, fuck-ups like us happened.

  And damn, it happened more times than you’d believe.

  Eastbrook Academy, where we’d graduated from three years ago, had over eight thousand students. Eight thousand mixed-species brats, or Stained as the purebloods called us, who’d been dumped there by parents who didn’t give a fuck. It was part school, part orphanage. Very few of us knew either of our parents, only knowing what their species were and what joyous future we had to look forward to.

  Would we be dream-walkers?

  Time-walkers?

  Would we turn furry some nights or grow wings?

  There were more alternatives, and most of them were harrowing.

  I moved time. And I didn’t always have a lot of choice in the matter, either. Sometimes, time moved me.

  “We might not like her,” I had to point out when Barclay kept staring at Westbrook like he was an adopted dog who’d just discovered his forever home. Maybe it made me feel like a shit to point that out, but he was looking so hopeful, and in my lifetime, I’d learned that hope was poisonous.

  It was more dangerous than what we faced on a daily basis in our roles as a brotherhood.

  Barclay turned to scowl at me. “We get a choice in who we pick.”

  Raven, also leaping out of the shiny black Range Rover, snorted, then slung his arm over Barclay’s shoulder. “Dude, if you think that, you’re more messed up than I thought.”

  Barclay shrugged him off, his wide brown eyes narrowing as he glowered at both of us. “You’re so fucking cynical. I’m sick of it. This could be our fresh start. Why are you putting a downer on it before we even begin?”

  “Just rolling with the punches, and those punches have led me to learn that we have no say in whatever shit gets doled our way.” I’d worked all my life to be good enough to join a brotherhood, figuring that once I made it, I’d have a freedom that most Stained didn’t have. Then, I’d made it. All my work, all my efforts had finally come together. I’d become one of the elite, and . . .

  Boom.

  No change.

  Same shit, different day, with a new pureblood thinking he was better than me and could boss me around like I was his bitch.

  This, what was happening here today and for the next month or so, was as out of my control as picking Raven, Barclay, Gideon, and Keiran to be on my unit had been. I hadn’t had a say then, and I wouldn’t have a say when it came time to pick our Sixth.

  And yeah, Sixth.

  Capital ‘S.’

  Why?

  Because that ‘S’ represented something we weren’t. A pureblood. The only one in our brotherhood, and therefore, the most important unit member in the eyes of the supernatural world.

  Fucked up?

  Yup.

  Gideon, having finished his phone conversation with our liaison—a douche by the name of Darius Maximus; an ancient Vamp who’d been around in the times of Caligula—climbed out from behind the wheel and frowned at us. “Leave Barclay alone. If he doesn’t choose to be as goddamn grumpy as you two, that’s his prerogative.”

  It didn’t surprise me that he’d been able to split his focus between the phone call and our conversation. The dude was half-Druid. Capable of more tomfuckery than a poltergeist on All Souls’ Night.

  I shrugged. “Just keeping shit real.”

  “Yeah, well, our version of reality isn’t exactly normal,” Barclay argued. “Who says we can’t change the status quo?”

  So naïve.

  See why I thought he was like a dog?

  Of course, being half-wolf helped with that. Give me a cat shifter any day of the week. They were way more independent, preferring solitude to a pack. Barclay insisted on shit that, three years later, still made me uncomfortable, even if I had to admit it brought us closer as a brotherhood.

  If we didn’t go running with him in his wolf skin once a month, he’d start to get restless—that meant even in a fucking blizzard, if it was his time of the month, we had to go out and run. Some nights we even had to bunk together, otherwise he’d have to run more, and none of us wanted that. His shifting put us in danger. The less time he spent in his wolf skin, the better, so that meant we had to pile into the same bed three or four times a week.

  A man liked his space, and with Barclay around, that just wasn’t happening.

  It didn’t even matter that we slept on three California Kings. I hated sleeping with these guys. It made me feel like a pussy. But mostly, I hated that the minute people knew Barclay was a shifter, they’d know we had to sleep together.

  Not ‘sleep together.’ His dick never went anywhere near my dick, thank you very much, but from the sly looks we received, I knew that was where the purebloods’ brains went anyway, and it pissed me off.

  “I’m hopeful, too, Barclay,” Keiran murmured, his voice low and soft as it usually was. He was a dream-walker, and he was gentle with it. Keiran was okay, too, actually. He just listened to too much Bach.

  I’d want to blow my brains out from being around these fuckers all the time if I didn’t have my noise-canceling headphones. They were military grade, so even my supernatural senses didn’t pick up on everything.

  Keiran stared up at Westbrook, a hope in his eyes that equaled Barclay’s and put me on edge.

  What the fuck was with these guys? Didn’t they know there was no point in having hope in our lives?

  We were puppets on
a string, and we weren’t even afforded the luxury of not knowing that.

  The Academy loomed over us like something from a horror story. It was as grim as Eastbrook had been, and that was saying something. I never wanted to return to Eastbrook ever again, and yet, here I was at its twin.

  The old stone was mottled and marred with yellow lichen, but over two thirds of it was covered in creeping ivy. As it was winter, the ivy had died, leaving brown skeletal branches behind. The windows were mullioned which meant, just like Eastbrook, the rooms were fucking freezing since the glass let in about as much of a draft as an open space would have. I felt that cold more than most. Pureblood Vampires didn’t feel the cold, were resilient to illness, could live for thousands of years, and even enjoy food—complete with garlic, because the folklore was bullshit. Stained could feel the cold depending on what species their other parent was, and while it was hard to make us sick, it did and could happen. We didn’t live for thousands of years, either. Mostly because we were killed off before we had the chance.

  Most of our traits depended on who our non-Vampire parent was. As a time-walker, I was more susceptible to the elements and illness because my kind were humans with gifts. That meant I was a weak link, and fuck, I hated that.

  Barclay was strong as shit because he was half-shifter. Gideon’s mother had been a Stained, too, which meant he had more Vampire in his genetic makeup than most, so he had enhanced senses, and could and had beaten Usain Bolt after the Olympic Gold medallist had downed more Red Bulls than were good for him, and generally made the Hulk look like a pansy. Raven’s mother was an enchantress. They rarely had kids with Vampires, and when they did, it was even rarer for them to have a boy. That made him weird. And the shit he was capable of even weirder.

  Only Keiran was like me. Dream-walkers were the same as time-walkers; they were also humans with gifts, which meant we both felt the cold like a motherfucker, so staring up at Westbrook with its windows, which were loaded in condensation from the chill, didn’t exactly cheer me up.

  The next three months of winter were going to be crap. Not only because I’d be freezing for most of it, but also because behind those walls our Sixth waited, and I really didn’t want to meet her.

  I could only hope the process would only take the month I promised myself. Any longer, and I might just blow my brains out rather than stay in that fucking Academy.

  Not that I had a say, naturally, but the Maker had to be on my side at some point, didn’t he?

  Raven eyed me a second, and as he had a way of doing, seemed to read my damn mind. “She’ll be cool.”

  “Aww, you trying to make me feel better?” I jibed, grinning when he slugged me in the stomach.

  “Is it working?”

  “Like a punch to the gut,” I retorted drily, rubbing my belly where he’d hit me. “I have a bad feeling about this.” The words were more ominous than I’d have liked, and the others, save for Raven and Keiran, just rolled their eyes at what I knew they considered to be my negative frame of mind.

  They said I was gloomy. I wasn’t. I was realistic. Had both feet on the ground—that was my only defense when time had, would, and could move around me.

  Raven leaned back against the Range Rover, his startling silver hair a sharp contrast to the inky black paint job. “Why?” he asked, and I knew he was taking me seriously.

  Keiran added, “Have you seen something in the future?”

  Keiran could walk through anyone’s dreams. I didn’t have that ability, but sometimes, walking through the past and the future messed with my sleep, and I had premonitions. Flashes of intuition that usually put me on edge—was it any wonder I was negative? I knew more about what the future held than most.

  I frowned up at Westbrook. “No. I don’t think I have. I didn’t dream last night, but, I don’t know, I just don’t have a good feeling.” I wished I could give them something more than just a few drab words, but I couldn’t vocalize what I didn’t understand, and to be honest, that pissed me off even more. I hated my abilities most days, but when they affected me like this, when there was no ‘yes or no’ answer and just an uneasy feeling? It made me hate them even more.

  “Well, whatever,” Gideon snarked. “We don’t have a choice. You know Darius says it’s time for a Sixth. We’ve pleased him, and this is our reward.”

  I huffed. Some reward. “Look, Barclay’s the only one of us who’s supposed to get excited at the mention of a treat.”

  The wolf-shifter flipped me the bird, but he was grinning as he did it. “Come on, dickwad. It can’t be as bad as all that, and fuck, we’re going to be surrounded by chicks. Chicks who’ve only had the company of other chicks for six goddamn years. That can’t be too miserable a fate, can it?”

  See? Total dog.

  * * *

  Marcella

  The sound of a car door being slammed shut drifted up through the library windows. At first, I thought nothing of it, people came and went from Westbrook all the time, although admittedly they tended to park by the garages, not the front of the building. It was only when the whispers and giggles started that I got curious, though.

  I should have known better, should have shown better impulse control, but the lure of the unknown called to me, and I stood from my study alcove and went to the window. Within one glance, I could see why all the other girls were giggling and gossiping amongst themselves.

  The brotherhood was here.

  With a swipe of my hand, I cleared the condensation from the window so I could see better. We had been told a while back that a brotherhood was coming to select their Sixth, but I hadn’t expected anyone like these guys. Most of the brotherhoods I’d seen since I’d started training here had been stuck up assholes, to the point where I’d been debating running away.

  The last thing I wanted was to be the link for a group of douchebags. But that would also mean I’d risk being turned into a ravager, because I’d be unable to regulate my feedings. Not only that, but most likely, I wouldn’t be able to get the high-quality blood I was used to. One of the secrets that purebloods kept, even from the brotherhoods as far as I knew, was how we were becoming more and more sensitive to different types of blood. Some of the older vamps I knew blamed the invention of dialysis machines, while others blamed the Contaminated.

  That thought drew my focus back to the men on the ground. These guys gave off a much different vibe than any other brotherhood I’d seen before. Not to mention they were all stunning. One was clearly some sort of shifter from the way he was smelling the air, even if he hadn’t been I’d have guessed it anyway because of how stacked he was.

  Another man looked up at the building as though evaluating it. I watched as his eyes swept across the stone and ivy. When they passed over me, I felt my heart thud harder in my chest. His dark hair and olive skin should have meant a pair of rich brown eyes, but what I saw was a blue so bright and pale it almost hurt to look at. They gave away part of his ability though, he was a walker of some kind, dream, time, or mind, I wasn’t sure which, but those eyes were only ever present on walkers.

  I watched another man get out of the car, and this one stole my breath. His hair was combed back but I could tell it would be a darker blond color if left loose, and pale jade-green eyes scanned the building just like his brother’s had. While he may have a Disney prince-like face, a face that would be the star of any modeling agency, it was the tattoos crawling up his neck that my eyes were glued to. From here, I could make out a lotus flower under his chin, but only because of the red petals. On each side there were intricate black patterns, but I couldn’t tell if they made up something specific or were just geometric as they disappeared into his coat.

  The tattoos continued on his hands. One looked like it might have a face, but his other hand was waving as he spoke, so all I could see was the black ink that stained his skin. It wasn’t just on the back of his palm, either, but on each one of his fingers. A wink of silver in the light drew my eyes back up to his head as he turne
d and said something to his brothers. Not only was the man tattooed, he was pierced as well. A thick silver bar went through two areas of his ear

  They clearly had a decent relationship with each other. The silver-haired one punched the grumpy one in the gut, and they laughed before the shifter flipped them off, and they all headed into the Academy. I’d been watching too long, though, and my interest had been noted.

  Lily walked over to me, a sneer front and center on her face, curling her pale-pink lips. “Like what you see?”

  “I was just curious,” I said, keeping my head down and retaking my seat in my study nook.

  “Well, keep your curiosity to yourself. I’m next in line to get out of this hellhole, and those men look like exactly what I need. Now, I’m going to go and introduce myself, but I expect you to stay away from them.” She turned away, swishing her blonde locks over her shoulder. Abruptly, she paused before spinning back around and almost jabbing her pointer finger into my shoulder. “I’m staking my claim, here and now, just so we are clear. If you try and take them from me, I will destroy you.”

  “Understood,” I whispered before turning back to my book.

  I could see her standing there out of the corner of my eye for a minute more, and when she turned and walked away, I watched. Part of me hated her, but part of me, the part I was disgusted with, envied her. She was every inch the pureblood. It was evident in everything about her, from the way she carried herself to the regal line of her neck, from her perfectly coiffed hair to the demure smile that graced her lips in front of our professors and trainers. She even looked good in the school uniform, that bitch. I mean who looked good in a gray pleated skirt, starched white shirt, and black blazer? It was the blandness of it all that killed me.