Unstoppable (Their Shifter Academy #6) - May Dawson

Chapter One

Maddie

* * *

The Greyworld was supposed to be our salvation. But life brims with disappointment, and the Greyworld just looked muddy.

Silas had slammed the door shut behind us as soon as we were through, ensuring the shifters who had chased us couldn’t follow through. When the last of the golden glimmer outlining the door faded, the four of us stood in an open field, surrounded by trees that rustled in a constant wind. The sky was heavily overcast, with the kind of dark gray clouds that seem to press down.

“Where are we?” Rafe asked.

Silas looked around rather than pulling out his enchanted compass, then heaved a sigh.

I followed his gaze to the brick house in the distance and the old metal play equipment behind it.

“The orphanage,” I said.

Silas looked almost abashed. I’d thought he wasn’t capable of embarrassment, he always seemed so certain of himself. He admitted, “My mind must’ve lost some focus—”

“When we saw Clearborn shot?” I asked. “Yeah, I wonder why. It’s okay to be human, Sy.”

The four men grouped around me all looked miserable and angry. Of course they were angry; just like me, they probably felt scared for our friends and Clearborn. But these men had a serious problem dwelling on one note when it came to their emotions.

“Oh my god,” I said. “Are we not going to talk about this at all? We just watched the dean get shot—”

“Did we like him enough to mind?” Jensen asked irreverently. In lieu of healthy coping skills, Jensen had sarcasm.

I went on as if he hadn’t spoken. “And we know our friends are dealing with some kind of fight without us. We don’t know what’s going on at the academy now. Right? I imagine we’re all a little…”

I glanced around at them, but no one supplied an adjective for their emotions. They stared at me skeptically.

“You’re all hopeless,” I said, throwing up my hands. “Fine. Let’s get to work.”

They were all going to pretend they didn’t have feelings. But I knew the four of them; they had big feelings. And those feelings would come out sooner or later, despite their best efforts.

As we were walking toward the road, the back door to the orphanage flew open, and a dozen kids raced out. They ran to the swings or the big metal climbing dome, jostling each other for position. A couple of kids came more slowly after the others, surveyed the landscape, and headed into the shelter of the woods rather than fighting for a place at the playground.

Silas stopped and watched them all, just for a second, with something haunted in his eyes.

Rafe was watching him. Then he said, “Tell me more about this orphanage.”

Silas’s gaze swept to Rafe, and the bleak look on his face transformed into his usual dreamy smile. Another of his masks.

“The shield is in the museum at Quorum, so we’ll have to catch a train,” Silas said as if he hadn’t understood. He set off briskly toward the road in the distance.

Rafe crossed his arms, but he let Silas go. He gave me a curious look, though.

“It’s not my story,” I said, to cut him off. They weren’t my secrets to tell.

“How’d you recognize the place?” he asked, falling into step with me, the two of us bringing up the rear as Silas and Jensen walked ahead.

“Silas let me walk through his memories.”

“I see,” Rafe said. “And here I assumed you guys spent your free time solely in debauchery.”

“Assumed?” I asked lightly. “Or hoped? Perhaps for an invitation?”

Rafe gave me a sidelong look. “I don’t need an invitation.”

“You are pretty resourceful when it comes to debauchery.” I fiddled with the straps on my hiking pack absently. My own worries were tormenting me, and I tried to ground myself in the messy present. My sword was concealed between the metal frame and canvas, where I could draw it quickly if I needed to drop my pack.

Well, not my sword. I’d borrowed a sword from the armory.

“I hope Ty brings us back our swords,” I said lightly. The Fae still had our weapons. I wasn’t sure what Turic had done with them, but we hadn’t time to find them in the wreckage of the city. I wondered what Ty was doing back in the Fae world right now.

I couldn’t imagine the year ahead at the academy without Ty, or Lex and Rafe, if we failed in our mission or if the Alpha council simply changed their minds.

“I can’t imagine Clearborn would—” Rafe broke off, then