Academy Of Beasts XXI: Shifter Romance

By Becca Fanning

Oh Theo. Dear Theo.
Why did this happen?
How did this happen?
So many questions that need answering, and the only thing I can be sure of is that this is something we've never faced before.
And I'll stop at nothing to get Theo back!
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

"F iona?" Theo asked.

Theo? I cried out, running in the direction his voice came from. Where are you?

I saw him standing on the far side of a large hall. He was enveloped by shadows, falling over his face so that I couldn't see his expression. I could only just make out his form, but there was no doubting that it was Theo.

I don't know, Fiona, I said. Something is wrong.

Yeah, I said. Something was very wrong. It was hard to put my finger on it. I looked around at the room where Theo stood. The room was familiar as if I'd been here before. But I didn't recognize anything about it. I couldn't figure out what I was seeing.

The furniture wasn't anything I'd seen before. An oak desk stood in the one corner, with full-length bookshelves in the corner, and a large, leather office chair on the side, two armchairs on the other. It was very formal, very business-like.

On the other side, a comfortable looking sofa stood against the wall, with a fur rug on the floor and a hearth, fire crackling, warm and welcoming.

Despite the comfortable furniture and the warm fire, the room was cold and unwelcoming.

I'm sorry, Theo, I said.

There's nothing to be sorry about, Fiona, he said. Why are you sorry?

I wanted to answer him, but I couldn't remember.

Let's go home, Theo, I said.

Theo shook his head, his profile the only thing I could see. I can't leave just yet.

Why not?

I don't know, Fiona, he said.

I opened my eyes, staring at the ceiling, and I felt numb. I moved my fingers and my toes, tightening every muscle in my body before relaxing it again, but some part of me felt distant. Like I was watching it all from somewhere else.

I didn't know what I was feeling.

It took me a moment to remember why I felt this way. To remember what had happened.

Theo was gone.

We had raced back in the middle of the night, knowing that something was wrong. But we'd been too late.

I blamed myself for that. I'd had that dream about Theo being in danger. About the Slayers coming for us. I hadn't done anything about it. I'd let Ren talk me out of it. If we'd left right away when I'd had that dream, we might have been in time to stop it from happening. If I'd listened to whatever had warned me, none of this would have happened.

I had been dreaming about him. Hadn't I? I suddenly wasn't sure. It was difficult to remember dreams, sometimes. At the tip of my brain, the images were there, but when I tried to reach for them, it was like trying to catch raindrops.

And just like that, they were gone.

I pushed up in bed, forcing myself to get up. I wanted to stay in bed all day. I wanted to stay in bed for the rest of eternity. I didn't want to face what had happened.

But lying down and feeling sorry for myself wasn't going to change anything. It sure as hell wasn't going to bring Theo back.

If we wanted something to change, we had to take action. It's been like that from the start, right? I've always had to do something, or I would never have gone anywhere.

I wasn't a stranger to guilt, either. How many times had something bad happened because of what I'd done? In this case, it was because of what I hadn't done.

But it didn't change anything. Guilt was guilt.

I splashed cold water on my face in the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and then my hair. I'd hoped that getting dressed, freshening up would help.

It didn't.

I left my room. When I walked past the corridor, where Theo's room was, I turned my head away. I didn't want to think about it. I didn't want to know what was real. But my feet seemed to have a life of their own. I walked to his room, pushed open his door.

The music he played so loudly whenever he was in his room was missing. The silence was so deafening; it throbbed to my core. I hated it. I wanted to talk to his stereo and put on the awful music he sometimes listened to, just to make things seem normal again.

I looked around the room. His bed was sloppily made, a pile of clothes on a chair in the corner, and a textbook open on the desk with notes that he'd been making. I walked through his room, running my fingers over his shelves, tracing the trinkets and knickknacks that defined him. It was like he'd just stepped out, like he was somewhere in the Manor, and he was going to catch me in his room any second.

I felt like I was sleepwalking through his room. A fog surrounded me, visible from my peripherals, but there was nothing when I turned my head to look. I rubbed my eyes. Maybe I was still half asleep. Maybe I just had to wake up a little more.

The fact that I usually woke up much earlier and could just get out of bed without being tired or dragged down by sleep at all bothered me.

What was going on?

Fiona, someone said behind me. I whirled around to find Jasper standing in the doorway. We're going to find him.

I nodded, swallowing hard. My eyes that I'd been rubbing pricked and burned with sudden tears. I felt like crying; I hadn't realized how close I was to the edge until Jasper started speaking to me. I know. My