Academy Of Beasts XIX: Shifter Romance

By Becca Fanning

The Starry Nights Ball has arrived!
Five men.
One dress.
A night none of us will forget.
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

The Manor was abuzz with activity. Everyone got ready for the Academy Ball this Friday. It had been almost a decade since the last time there had been any social event, or so I’d learned. Everyone was excited as hell to have something so normal happen again.

After everything had been so unsure lately, the change of pace was refreshing. And I was looking forward to doing something that felt normal to me, too. How long had it been since I’d attended any sort of social event like this? Years. In high school, there had been a prom, and that had been a big thing.

But since then, I hadn’t done anything special like this.

Now, it was time to fuss about dresses and hair and shoes, makeup, dates. All of it. It was a girl’s dream.

From what I could tell, the boys were enjoying the whole thing, too. Almost more than Priscilla and I were.

Enrique would be dressed to the nines, as per usual. There was no doubt that the guy had enough dramatic suits in his wardrobe to dress up the entire school and half the villages nearby. I didn’t know what he was fussing about.

Dracus was usually pretty well-dressed, too. He knew how to dress up if he wanted to, and he had a few different outfits he usually wore when he met with the Officials. Not that he would want to wear any of these work clothes to the Ball. Of course, that would only feel stiff and out of place to him, I was sure.

And there was the theme to consider, too—a Starry Night.

Having a theme to work with was so much fun! I liked to imagine Priscilla was the one to suggest adding that nice touch. She added small surprises to her personality that way. Priscilla was all hard work and deadlines, but every now and then, something beautiful and unexpected popped out beneath the studious façade. The more I got to know her, the more I got to see a side of her that I had a feeling she didn’t show anyone else.

That was the point of friendship, though, wasn’t it? Being comfortable enough around each other that we could be ourselves.

I felt that way with Priscilla, too. Lately, we had become so much closer.

My thoughts traveled to when we had broken into the Vault to steal a scroll that would tell me more about my power. There just wasn’t enough information out there about what it meant to be a Calm.

We had found something there. Priscilla had been the one to suggest that we go to steal the scroll in the first place. Something very out of character for her.

And we had been punished for it, too. We had been told we couldn’t go to the Ball.

Only for it to be given back to us for no reason at all.

That bothered me. Why would Dean Demetrius punish us for something he had caught us doing, only to give it back like it didn’t make a difference? Like it had never happened at all? It seemed suspicious to me. But Priscilla didn’t think it was a big deal. She was just ecstatic; she was allowed to attend the Ball she had worked on for months with the Student Body.

I turned back to my wardrobe, focusing on my clothes again. I had to decide on something to wear, but I had no idea what I was going to do. My closet was kitted out with a number of different dresses and gowns that Enrique had chosen for me himself. When I had first arrived, I had thought it was a little invasive – creepy, even – that he had chosen the clothes I could wear, including my underwear, which was really more like lingerie.

Since then, I had gotten used to what Enrique was like, and it didn’t bother me all that much anymore. You can get used to anything if you really give yourself over to it. And Enrique was a wonderful person, once you got past his perverted jokes.

None of the dresses that hung in my closet caught my eye, though. I didn’t feel like any of them suited the theme. I wanted something special, something different.

I closed the closet doors again and walked to my bed, dropping myself on the mattress.

We had all been through so much lately, and this Ball was going to be frivolous and fun. It was good we were going to do something to take our mind off things, something that would allow us just to forget all our responsibilities and enjoy ourselves like real students for a change. Everyone had so much to worry about; it wasn’t easy to just kick back and be.

Especially Dracus, who, despite the fact that he was a student and a young adult just like us, had to act like the Father of the house. And carry all the responsibility and accusations the Officials might decide to lay on his shoulder.

For this weekend, I wanted us all just to be able to relax.

I left my room, irritated with trying to prepare for the Ball, and not being able to, and walked to Priscilla’s room. I knocked on her door and pushed it open, the music she was playing flooding the room.

Priscilla had moved to the Manor after a Slayer had broken into her room. It had been for her safety, and she had been put in a guest room.

Since then, she had really made the place her own. Her room started showing her personality more and more, with personalized items everywhere, posters on the wall, and she had music on most of