I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV | XV | XVI | XVII | XVIII

My feet hit the ground as I jumped the last few inches from the window of the bedroom. Ethan had told me to stay in the house and rest, but I couldn’t bring myself to sit idle after seeing what I had. There had to be something I could do to warn everyone. 

I quietly made my way across the grassy grounds and towards the administration building, where I saw the light shining from Adrian’s office. He had to be there. 

My feet flew up the stairs and arrived at the door in moments. I could hear yelling on the other side of the solid wood. There were more than just two people in there. The voices where muffled, but I could make out a few things. Mostly along the lines of, “why should we trust her?” Or my favorite, “She’s just a child with an overactive imagination!” 

A deep sigh pushed past my lips, and I felt a tug in my chest; Ethan was indeed within this room. I could feel him there. Well, time to bust up this party.

Always one to make a grand entrance, I made one swift kick to the door, and it slammed open, banging off the walls. Everyone standing in the room turned to look at me, and Ethan standing next to Adrian with a severe scowl on his face, only rolled his eyes and shook his head. I smirked. He knew me too well and had known it was only a matter of time until I showed.

“This child is here to tell you it’s all true!” The one who had called me that froze and darted a look at my Dragon mate. In turn, who was glaring at the man before slowly making his way towards me from Adrian’s desk. 

“Ellie, I told you to stay in bed. You’re still recovering.” His voice was soft, caring—direct opposition to his current demeanor.

“Oh, please, you know I can’t do that. There has to be a way I can help. They’re coming, Ethan. All of them and the entire academy is going to be wiped out.” We both turned from each other to look at a woman behind us with a slightly crooked nose and bowl-cut hair. Her eyes scanned me and narrowed as she crossed her arms.

“Little girl, we have the best the Corp has to offer currently at this campus. I think we can handle some Shadows.” She smirked, and the others chuckled with her. “I can’t believe you were chosen as Ethan’s pair. There are many more qualified women here than you.” 

Ethan took a step forward as I bristled at her insinuation. I stopped him, though, as I pushed past his larger form and stood toe to toe with the woman. 

“More qualified, like you?” She scoffed at my words. The nervous look in her eyes said it all, though. “Right well, if you are so qualified, then please, be my guest and try to tame that Dragon. I’ll let you know, it was nearly impossible, and I visited the infirmary one too many times doing so.” I motioned towards Ethan as a devious smile spread across his face. I could see his Dragon shining through his eyes and a soft voice in my whispered with amusement.

She would burn to a crisp under my flames like fried chicken…

I chuckled as Ethan tried to hold his in unsuccessfully. Shaking my head and turning to the group before me, I cleared my throat. “Look, I don’t know you all, and you don’t know me. I get it, I’m the newbie here and completely untrained to boot.” 

I felt Ethan step up behind me, ever the silent sentinel. “But I do know what I saw in that nightmare. It was real, it was terrifying, and everyone will die if we do nothing.”

They looked at each other, unsure of what to say. “Ok, let’s put it this way.” I held up my hands to placate them. “We make ready, we make sure we do everything we can to protect this academy. If nothing happens, great, the worst that came to pass is we had an exercise in preparedness, right?”

Some started to nod at my words. This encouragement spurred me on. “Let’s say that something does happen, though. Getting ready now, not ignoring this possible threat, potentially saved all of the lives here. You’ll be heroes.” Play to their stupid pride, Ellie. I stood nervously as I waited for their responses. Adrian made his way to us and patted my shoulder for support. Ethan reached over and took my hand in his, the warmth spreading through me.

Finally, one of the men off to the right nodded and smirked. “Alright, let’s get ready then. She speaks the truth. What could it honestly hurt? Either we ignore it and potentially cause massive loss of life. Or we listen and prepare.” Everyone sounded their agreement except the woman from earlier. She frowned and looked about to say something to me, but Ethan tugged me after him as he spun around, waving to the small group.

“We need to discuss some things, and then we’ll join you. Adrian, get everything started!” He called over his shoulder, and we rounded the corner disappearing from their views. Our march didn’t’ stop until he’d pushed me into an escape stairwell and slammed the door behind him. 

His eyes blazed as he stalked towards me. Oh boy, this was not going to be good.