Page 10 of Fortune Academy: Year Two
I tossed the ball, sending it hard towards the panther. Aaron caught it with ease as his lithe form jumped through the air.
Beautiful.
He ran straight for the goal and Logan snarled, ready to attack. The rage in his eyes said that there would be violence.
“Oh no you don’t!” I shouted and launched for the wolf, pinning him to the ground. To my surprise his muscular form gave underneath me and yipped as if I’d hurt him. We rolled across the field and wetness spread across my shirt. I looked down to see a large splotch of red soaking my uniform and I froze.
Did I do that?
The crowd cheered as Aaron barreled past the lone wolf and made a second goal, but my attention was locked on the bloodied naked man clutching his chest.
“Logan?” I scrambled over to him and went to turn him over to assess the damage, then froze.
My hands.
My very… inhuman hands.
Long elegant talons extended from each finger and streaks of black ran up my veins, dissipating at my wrists. I turned to see the shifters had noticed me and I searched to see if there was any way to hide what I’d done, but no such luck. Bleeding wolf. Me, literally red-handed.
Yeah, they were going to eat me alive.
“You were bested by a dud?”came a snide reply from one of the female wolves. She lifted a lip at me. “Disgusting.”
I looked down to see that my hands had reverted back to human with healthy pink cheerleader-worthy nails garnished by Logan’s blood.
Had I imagined it?
Was I going insane?
The long gash along Logan’s side said otherwise. I’d done that to him, somehow, and he wasn’t looking so hot.
Well, no, he was pretty fucking hot. I just preferred him less bloody and in agony.
He snarled at the shifters who judged him. “Didn’t expect her to have claws.”
Another wolf laughed. “Little baby human claws? Absolutely pathetic, packleader,” he said, tossing the last word out with a heavy dose of sarcasm. “You’ve been stalling as Alpha for weeks and now this shit, plus we lost two goals! I’m out.” He turned on his heel and barked.
The other wolves echoed the sentiment, following him to their lockers. The audience murmured with excitement, but they seemed to take a hint that I wasn’t getting and started to leave as well.
I blinked a few times. “Uh, is the game over?”
The panthers watched the exchange, slowly slinking off one-by-one to leave the field. They’d won a game, probably the first ever, but they weren’t celebrating.
When we were the last ones on the field, Logan staggered to his feet and hissed in pain. “You. Come with me. Now.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me towards the panther’s lockers. He smashed my hand onto the pad to open the door and shoved me inside.
“Don’t manhandle me… or wolfhandle me… or whatever the fuck you’re doing!”
He grunted in response and glared at the panthers who were getting dressed. “Out,” he commanded.
“You can’t just—” I began, but Aaron shot up a hand.
“It’s all right. We’ll leave you two alone to… discuss.” He glanced at Logan. The two were Alphas of their packs and seemed to have an understanding that completely went over my head.
“You can’t leave me alone with him!” I shouted, real panic filling my chest. I’d been trying to get to Logan for ages, but being alone with him when he was pissed off, and with no witnesses no less, felt like it put me at a distinct disadvantage. Even if I did have sporadic inhuman claws that appeared of their own volition.
A supernatural trait I was so not cool with, by the way.
