Academy Of Beasts XXXIII: Reverse Harem Shifter Romance

By Becca Fanning

A hand from the burning depths of hell, wrapped around my throat!
My assailant's mouth hangs open, his breath stank against my cheek.
My vision floods with tears and things start to go dark.
Breath, Fiona...breath!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gizmo Media
• Release date: Jan 7, 2023

Book preview

Chapter 1

The scream that echoed in the room was barely recognizable. I only realized it came from me when another one was wrenched from my throat. It wasn't my vision that made me scream, but the fact that I had been physically hurt in it. How was that possible? My heart pounded, sweat washed my skin, and my hand flew up to graze my neck. I whimpered when I touched the burning skin. Blinking rapidly, I wondered if maybe me sitting in bed awake was another dream, and I'd really wake up soon.

Fiona, what is it?

Ren was up and sweeping my room. His eyes were clear and sharp as if he hadn't just been sleeping. Enrique was up and on alert as well.

Are you guys real?

What? Enrique peered at me with a frown.

What's wrong? Ren asked fangs bared as he surveyed the room. There was only the moonlight filtering in, so I could barely see. They were seeing clearly, however. Ren's eyes glowed amber, showing that his wolf was right beneath the surface, ready to make an appearance at any sign of danger.

I… I pulled in a breath. I don't know…

Enrique rolled out of bed and flipped on the light. I blinked rapidly against the invasion of the sudden brightness as my pupils adjusted.

Holy shit. Enrique's eyes widened. Fiona, he hurried back to my side and tilted my chin up to survey my neck, what the hell is this?

Ren leaned closer, his eyes troubled. Is that a… burn?

I gulped. It still hurts. My eyes whipped from one concerned face to the next. I don't understand. I was dreaming and… The dream turned into reality? What the ever-loving hell was going on? Scrambling out of bed, I rushed to the mirror to look at my wound. My jaw dropped. The shape of a hand was imprinted on my skin. A huge red handprint right where the dream Dante had touched. Or maybe it was the real Dante, because why would there be a physical mark?

Gods, I breathed.

Enrique and Ren peered into the mirror, too. Enrique's brows drew together. What happened?

Shoving my fingers through my hair, I blew out a breath. You guys aren't going to believe this. I don't even believe it. The need to sit down before I keeled over had me strolling back to bed. I plopped down and heaved another heavy sigh. I had another vision. A strange one. What was I saying? They were all weird. Well, this one was a little stranger than the rest. Lightly stroking my skin that still burned, I recounted what I'd seen.

It was almost as if I was awake. Glancing at the guys, I shrugged. It felt like it. It felt as if I was standing right there in that room with Dante.

Dante? Ren growled. What―

The pounding on my door had our gazes swinging to it.

Fiona? Are you alright in there? It was Theo.

Open the door, came Jasper's frantic voice.

Fiona, open the door, or I'll kick it in. Dracus's calm order made me roll my eyes.

Of course, I had awakened the entire manor. My scream was loud enough to wake the dead. Dropping my head into my hands, I groaned. I had hoped to keep this, I gazed at Enrique and Ren, between us.

Seriously? Enrique's wide-eyed stare called me all kinds of crazy. Have you seen your wound? What on earth gave you the idea we could keep this to ourselves? Why the hell would we want to?

I don't know, maybe not to cause panic in a time when we're dealing with a shitload of other things, I hissed.

Ren rolled his eyes. He hopped into his pants as he headed to the door to swing it open. I scoffed and glared at him. Thought this was my bedroom, I grumbled.

Dracus, Jasper, and Theo practically fell inside. They all swept the room warily. Dracus was the first to take in the state of undress Ren, Enrique, and I were in. He blinked, then the slightest hint of pink highlighted his cheeks. Oh… was this… is this… did we interrupt something?

I wanted to die. Stifling a groan, I bit out, No, Dracus, you didn't.

Really, man? Enrique gave Dracus an irritated look. That sounded like a scream of pleasure to you? He snorted. I'm good but I'm not that good.

Enrique, I growled. I wanted to slap him for making things more awkward.

What happened to you? Jasper asked as he honed in on my neck. He stepped closer with a deepening frown.

Fiona, Theo gasped, barreling towards me.

I sighed. Exactly what I didn't want to be transpired. This whole thing was already turning into a huge deal. Okay, waking up from a vision with physical trauma was pretty big, but I hated being the center of attention, yet again.

Tell us what happened at once.

Gritting my teeth, I glared at Dracus. Leave it up to him to be bossy at freaking five in the morning.

She had a vision, and she was just about to tell us about what.

Taking a deep breath, I briefly shut my eyes. Okay, everyone just calm down and shut up. Opening my eyes, I took in the five concerned and impatient faces. My vision felt real. I was sleeping and the next thing I knew, I was standing in some strange, dirty room looking at a robed figure. It was Dante, and he was pissed. He had all this strange red energy, like lightning zipping around him. His eyes… I shook my head. They didn't look human.

Jasper folded his arms over his chest and shrugged. Fiona, he isn't human. His lips quirked. You know with him being a shifter and warlock and all.

I lifted a brow. Point taken. What I mean is, his eyes were glowing red. I've never seen that before. Granted, I haven't met many evil, murderous warlocks but I've never seen any of the witches look like that.

The guys