Page 50 of Shifter Situations

“Anyway,” she started. “One Sunday night, this girl texted me after an argument, saying that she was going to bring a knife to school to stab Jack and me the next day.

“That weekend Dad—Charlie—was in town, staying with us at Papi’s house in Michigan. We mentioned what she said to Dad, and he asked to read the text messages. Then he said I’ll handle it.” Sloane lowered her voice, mocking the Supreme Alpha as she quoted him.

“What he meant by I’ll handle it was that he was going to go to the school and talk to the principal, or in this case, the headmaster. When Dad got to the office that Monday morning, he marched in, dragging Jack and me behind him, and growled at the receptionist.

“He asked to speak to the principal, and Jack and I giggled behind him. The receptionist looked so confused when she saw us with someone other than Papi, but we didn’t explain.

“When she walked us to the headmaster’s office, Dad came face-to-face with Papi. He was so pissed because he thought Papi wasn’t doing anything to stop the bullying.”

“But everything that Papi tried only made it worse, so we stopped telling him about it,” Jack added.

“So Papi called the girl—the main girl—to his office to talk to her with me, Jack, and Dad in there. And she denied everything, but Dad asked me to show Papi the text messages she had sent saying she was going to bring a knife to school.

“Which, of course, as with any school, is against the rules. Not that we were going to say anything because, at the time, the Devil’s Academy was only for demons. And honestly, a stab wound does not hurt that bad.”

“If she would’ve stabbed you, you would have killed her,” Jack cut in, heated like he didn’t already know the end of the story.

Sloane held her hands up in surrender. “I don’t deny that. I’m just telling them what happened, exactly like you asked.”

When the hellsteed nodded, she continued. “Papi asked her about the text messages, and she denied it again. Dad was so aggravated because he could tell that she was lying.

“So he did what any normal dad would do. He turned his back to the headmaster and pulled his wallet out, tossing a couple of hundred-dollar bills onto Papi's desk. He told Jack and me that he would pay us $100 for every tooth we knocked out of her mouth.”

“Papi was so pissed at Dad that he gave us three days of excused absences from school so that he and Father—Nate—could talk us out of fighting.”

“And that was our last day at the Devil's Academy,” Jack announced, delighted that he could finish the story.

Briggs studied her for a moment. “That’s why you homeschooled?”

Sloane nodded. “We homeschooled through high school because we couldn’t stay out of trouble in a regular school. I’ll never complain about bullies, though. We only ever had those few at the Academy, and they were intimidated by us.

“But in return, it taught us to be humble with our power. I mean, Jack’s always been a prideful bastard. He might not show out, but he does show off.”

He cackled at Sloane and began spinning another tale from their childhood. I looked around while I listened, taking stock of how many more shifters had shown up.

We’d been in our own little bubble as the party had grown busier around us. There were too many faces to keep track of, but as I scanned the crowd, a few sparked my memories.

I was just about to ask Sloane if she’d told the guys what she’d overheard when the first nuisance of the night stepped into my line of vision.

The busty, auburn-haired woman walked into our group completely unannounced and unwelcome.

She didn’t try to speak to any of us as she headed straight for Briggs. The way her eyes glazed over with lust when they landed on him made us all tense.

Her behavior bothered Lo immediately.

When the woman saw Briggs wrap his hand around Sloane’s elbow and pull her to his chest, she narrowed her eyes at my mate.

And we all went on high alert as Sloane let us hear the quiet static in her mind.

“Briggs,” she purred, running a nude-colored nail down his forearm while she ignored Lo.

“Cassie,” he acknowledged, stepping back to get out of her reach. “Have you met my mate?”

She advanced on him, placing her palms flat on his pecs. He used his thumbs and index fingers to lift her hands off of his body.

“Listen. I don’t know what this is about, but I’m gonna need you to keep your hands to yourself before my mate removes them for you.”

“Briggs, baby. Can’t we talk about this? Us?”