Academy Of Beasts XVII: Shifter Romance

By Becca Fanning

How are we supposed to protect the Academy when we're under house arrest? Who is behind this and what purpose does that serve?
The guys say I'm doing well as a Calm, but I think they're just trying to make me feel better. People are dying around us, and I feel, somehow, like it is all my fault.
This has to stop!
USA Today Bestselling Author Becca Fanning is proud to bring you this Reverse Harem Academy Romance serial, packed with all the action, intrigue and great chemistry you can handle!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gizmo Media
• Release date: Mar 23, 2021

Book preview

Fanning

Chapter 1

Frantic, that’s what I was. Feverish. How was I supposed to be a Calm when I was the only one doing it, and are doing poorly? Everyone was telling me how well I was doing, how far I had come.

I just didn’t feel that way. If I really was that great, why was everything going wrong?

And I knew what they were saying. Because, technically, I had come a long way. I had developed my magic to a point where I could reach it whenever I wanted to. I could conjure it, and it would happen; it wasn’t like it had been before where nothing had happened and I stood there looking like a fool.

Still, I just didn’t feel like I was capable of helping everyone like I could be enough to fix this mess.

It wasn’t my mess to fix, not entirely. I was fully aware of the fact that I was part of the team. We were all working together, each of us with different talents. It was why the Council consisted of five different shifters. When they had thought I was a shifter, I would have been the same as Theo. It was what they had thought when they had found me.

Now, I wasn’t a shifter at all. I had my magic, but I wasn’t one of them.

And even though I knew that I was a part of the team and that my power was growing, I had value to add, I just didn’t feel like it was good enough.

Maybe it came from the dream I had about Leia. I didn’t know if it was just a dream or if it had been a vision of some sort. I had gotten a lot of visions after I had arrived at the Academy, but it had been some time since I had had them so often. And if I had visions now, it could often be confused with normal dreams. Or nightmares.

Which I often had, too.

I shook my head, rubbing my temples. A headache throbbed dully between them, and I struggled to focus on the book in front of me.

I wasn’t researching my magic the way I had done before. I wasn’t looking for information on what it meant to be a Calm, and I wasn’t trying to dig up something about the Slayers.

This time, I was looking for information about Leia, who she was, what she did. Which team she was on. I needed to understand who the person was that had appeared in my vision. I needed to understand why she would tell me that it was time to stand up and fight. Because I had no idea what I was doing, and I had no example to follow, no one to teach me. Besides the Council and my best friend, Priscilla, no one knew that I was a Calm. Everyone thought I was a late Shifter. And that was fine by me, I didn’t need the extra attention. Being a late Shifter already drew enough attention, there had been whispers about me from the start.

But with no one knowing what I was, no one could give me advice. I had no guidance. And the guys… Well, they had no idea how to teach me. Even Dracus, who had been teaching me how to meditate and training me so that I was stronger and faster, didn’t exactly know what he was doing. He only knew how to prepare me for whatever I was going to go through, physically. He didn’t know how to prepare me mentally.

Because even the great Prince didn’t know.

My stomach turned. I felt sick. I knew that I had something to offer. I kept telling myself that. But despite the mantra in my head – everything is going to be fine. You’re a valued member on the team, you can help in ways no one else can - I felt like I wasn’t going to do anything other than let everyone down.

How long had the guys needed to protect me? How long had they hidden information from me because they didn’t think I could handle it? For the longest time, they had been my bodyguards, nothing else.

It was only recently that I had started becoming an equal member of the team.

And I was scared that I was going to disappoint them. When push came to shove, could I really deliver?

I closed one book and opened another. I have found a stack of them in the library. I had grabbed anything that would look like it could help.

So far, none of them had any information. All the books with information from long ago had been removed from the library, preventing students from finding information that might confuse them. Sadly, that included information on Calms and their magic.

The only way I had learned that there was someone else who had been like me was thanks to the book I had gotten from Priscilla. And even in that book, it hadn’t explained anything about Calm magic. Only about the relationships that a Calm could have, the ways in which a Calm could love.

At the time, the book had been perfect. It had had the information I had needed. It had offered me an insight into what was possible. Thanks to that book and Priscilla, I was willing to accept the fact that I was in love with more than one man and that I could be with all of them as long as they were okay with this.

I hadn’t needed any information on the magic, then.

I needed it, now, though. And I had no idea where to find it.

After flipping through the book and still not having any information, I threw the book down and tipped my