Page 8 of We Hunt the Night

“We weren’t gonna kill you.” Kane is surprisingly calm—unfeeling almost—with every word. “I wanted to speak to you alone and help you find a fool to bond with in this forest. Now, you’ve cursed us all.”

“What?” I whisper.

“You bonded to the last four living dragon shifters left alive. You die, you take our entire race fucking with you.” He leans down. “You absolute bitch. Wasn’t what you did when we were kids enough? Didn’t you hurt me enough back then?”

What is he talking about?

“Don’t call her that.” Mazikeen moves to my side. “She is our bonded and I can already feel everything changing. We can begin this hating each other or find a way to make sure we all get out alive. We all have people that need us, Kane.”

Kane’s laugh is empty. He puts his hands in his pocket. “Be seeing you, Juni, and I’m going to make your life hell for this.”

His threat smacks into my heart, making it beat so fast it might escape my chest. He walks off with Black following him, who hasn’t said a single word to me. Vale is still here, watching me closely. He walks up to me, cocking his head to the side. “Run, Hex. I’m hunting you now.”

Mazikeen goes to say something, but Vale punches him—hard. The sickening crack of his nose breaking echoes to my ears, and Vale jumps on him, punching again and again. I care. Every punch feels like it’s hurting my heart, and my hands itch to do something. A spell. Anything. Is my magic back now that I’m bonded? Mazikeen goes limp, and Vale, with a face covered in a spray of blood, looks at me with his devil-like eyes. “Your head start is over.”

I turn and run from my bonded like my ass is on fire. I do not want to end up like Mazikeen. Vale’s laugh echoes through the trees, through the very forest, like he is whispering through ithimself. “Undo this or I will make every moment of your life hell. I will haunt you day and night.”

“I can’t undo a bond!” I yell into the trees. “I don’t even understand how it’s done in the first place!”

“There isn’t a spell to undo it, but you’re a smart witch, apparently. You’re going to make one.” His laugh is outright creepy. Make a new spell to break a bond? I don’t know where I’d even start. Yes, I can make new spells, small ones, but they are forbidden here. I run faster, clueless as to where I’m going, and I know Vale isn’t far behind me. He isn’t going to let me go that easily.

How is this possible? Four dragons and one witch? It hasn’t ever been done in anything I’ve read… In fact, one dragon shifter bond is all I’ve ever read about. The history books haven’t really explained bonded more than about two ever. The magic between us all is probably going to kill us. I’m so lost in thought I don’t see the black swirling portal until I fall right through it and out into cold air, a heavy breeze and thick snow. I’m high up, too high up, and I turn around to see I’m on top of one of the towers. Oh fuck. There isn’t a way down, and the portal shimmers as Vale walks out. He is so casual, like he isn’t hunting me.

“I should thank you for the magic boost. Portals have always been challenging until now.” I keep walking back until my back hits the stone edge of the half wall. He steps into my space, and he grabs my neck tight. I gasp, clawing at his hand, and he lifts me right into the air with hardly any effort. He holds me right over the edge of the tower of the academy.

“You are all betrayers,” he snarls at me. “I hope this fucking hurts and you’re with the healers for a few weeks. I’ll bring you back up here when you feel better.”

I struggle to get the words out, and I kick my legs, my stomach exploding with fear. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Let me go!”

He smirks. No, he fucking wouldn’t. “Bye, Hex.”

Valeron Drexan, my bonded, throws me right off the tower.

Chapter 7

Ispin in the air, in the chilling wind, and the ringing in my ears is so loud. I can’t think. I can’t breathe, as time itself feels like it slows for a long second as I fall through the air. I’m a witch, I know spells, and I don’t need anyone to save me—I never have. I whisper the Latin words under my breath, the old Latin rolling off my tongue easily, just like the hundreds of times that I’ve memorized each spell again and again. I’ve mastered the language so I could master the spells. Icy cold magic flings around me, and I bounce off the floor, never quite touching it, almost like an invisible cushion. It still takes the air out of my lungs from the impact, shaking my ribs, and a piercing scream echoes from my throat. The burns on my legs seem to brush every inch of the ground as I collapse onto it, wincing.

I roll onto my back, looking up as a silver dragon flies across the sky, with the stars twinkling above him. Vale. The fucking asshole who just tried to kill me. I might be bonded to him for life, but I am going to get revenge, and I am going to make him pay for what he just did. I don’t question how I know it’s him, how my soul seems to recognize his dragon and send the name into my mind. Our bond is new, and our souls’—magic—connection will only grow stronger from what I’ve heard.

I grit my teeth, standing up, and dirt falls off me, but it doesn’t help. A cleaning spell. Another few words and the mud is gone, most of the visible ash is cleared from my skin, and I look a slight bit better. Not great, but I only have to get to my room.

I walk up to the castle, through an arched dark gray door, and the warmth of the building hits me instantly. I sigh as I close the door behind me, taking a long breath even though I’m still shaking. I still can’t believe that just happened. Was it real? I’m not sure, but I lift my hands into the light, shining from the fire lanterns on the walls, and see the runes. They are real; they aren’t my imagination, and I am bonded to four dragon shifters. Not just four dragon shifters, but the last four in existence. Kane was right in a way when he said I cursed them all, because our enemies are going to want me dead because my death would kill all four of them too. That would it, the last real chance for the witches against the enchantress.

Dragons can win wars—they have done in our history. The last enormous battle for the witches was just under a hundred years ago, and seventy dragons and their bonded went to war. They all died in that battle, but the enchantress’s forces took a massive hit, and it was a victory for that alone, but the dragons lost too much. There were no more bonds between witches and dragons recorded after that, and slowly, their race has begun to disappear due to the low birth rates for all shifters. My lungs suddenly feel like they are too tight, like I can’t breathe fast enough. I don’t want this. This is too much pressure. What have I done?

The corridor lights up brighter, the rays of it flashing into my eyes. Under the light, I can make out the shape of a small creature. It’s about the size of a cat and has cat ears that are pointed, but its body is longer, and its tail hangs to the floor. I guess it wants me to go that way. The light dims away, back to normal, and the small creature is gone. I push off the wall. Thepanic attack was just about gone, thanks to the shock of the light. Maybe I can make friends with the small creatures here after all. Well, I hope so. I turn down a long, winding corridor that spins and turns in several ways, like most of this academy.

“Take me to them,” I say out loud, hoping it helps. “Take me to them so I can kill them,” I snap, because there is no way I’m staying silent for what Vale just did. Attempted to kill a bonded? I know it’s against the law, and he can’t just get away with it. They might be dragons, smug and arrogant, but I don’t think they can shift inside the academy, and they’re bonded to me now. It was an accident; it wasn’t what I wanted to do, but our fates are entwined now by the goddess because of what happened out there. It couldn’t be anything short of something our goddess wanted, and all of them seem like absolute assholes. Why would the goddess want that for me? I don’t know, and when I eventually die, I can ask her. I’m pretty sure Vale thought I wouldn’t die. I’d just be severely hurt, but even then, that’s bad. I’m going to have to watch my back around him continuously.

I’m so lost in my thoughts that I step straight out of the corridor onto a stage with the headmaster standing alone, waiting in the middle. Thick curtains mark the one wall, and I can hear people chatting, laughing, and their feet tapping the floor as they walk around. The headmaster waves me over, but my eyes go to the board behind him on the wall. It’s a chalkboard, all black, with the Latin for our heroes written across the top. The rest of it is a chart and a list of names. I count fourteen names, and right at the bottom, being written in white chalk as I watch, is my name. The other names have a box next to them and a rune inside, all of them different. Their bonded.

“Welcome, Juniper Daygan. I have gotten your name right?” I nod and he smiles. “Well, come closer then, Juniper. As you can see, your name has been added to the leaderboard, andwhen I confirm your rune and your bonded, that will be marked on there, too.”

“Leaderboard?” I look at Mentor Parker, confused.

He seems like he has answered this question a few—or fourteen—times before. “This is our leaderboard. You earn points throughout your years at the academy. Everything from your lessons to your tests and training earns a point. You name it, you get a point for it. We expect you to care for the weapons given to you and bring the right weapons to your classes. Points are subtracted for missing items. The leaderboard keeps count, and you can check it whenever you wish. Currently, it’s at random. Earning the points will begin tomorrow morning with your first class. The more tests you do, the more spells you practice, the higher you will get on the board. Everyone accepted to Bloodstone is competitive enough to be at the top of their classes, you included, and this helps keep that competitive spirit alive.”

“What happens at the end?” I clear my throat. “Are there rewards for being at the top?”

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