Canis Falls Academy- Year One Read online

  Canis Falls: Year One

  by Imani L Hawkins

  Copyright

  ©2019 Imani L. Hawkins, Canis Falls Academy: Year One

  Published by Pyramese Publishing Group

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. Copyright law. For permission, contact:

  [email protected]

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Cover Art by: Covers by Christian

  Prologue

  The sound of objects crashing against the walls in the house had Brinley sitting up her bed, her back ramrod straight as fear gripped her. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes before allowing her gaze to dart about her room. Everything looked normal, at first. Her dark curtains were drawn, keeping the moon’s light from seeping into her room, but she could still see the colorful displays of princesses and wolves that danced across the pink walls of her bedroom.

  She focused her ears on the sounds coming from elsewhere in the home. Silence greeted her for a moment before another loud crash had her yanking her covers over her head. Whatever had caused the sound was coming from her aunt’s room but at five years old, there wasn’t anything she could do about it. Instead, she silently hoped her aunt could handle whatever it was while she found safety beneath her covers. If there was an intruder, she thought it best to remain where she was. After all, if she couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see her, right?

  She waited for a moment, trying desperately to control her breathing, until she heard her door creak open. Light from the hallway flooded the entrance of her room and it took every ounce of concentration to quell the shivers that shook her body.

  In that moment she wished she were old enough to shift. She wished she were strong enough to take on her wolf form, if only to give her the advantage of speed as she ran from the intruder. As it were, the moon was full. She could feel the power of it radiating from just outside her window, a power that often made her crawl to the window in the middle of the night and fall asleep beneath its silvery rays. If she could tap into that power, she could run until she found safety and no one would be able to track her. At least that’s what she thought as a shadow filled the entrance of her room.

  She clung to her covers so hard she could feel her nails biting through the fabric and into the tender flesh of her palms. Trepidation slid through her as the figure loomed there, possibly trying to figure out what move he’d make next. She knew it was a man by the large build of him and the harsh breathes that ripped from his chest. She could hear a masculine whisper, speaking words she couldn’t hear with the covers muffling the sound. She heard it when he let out a frustrated breath just before pushing himself into the room.

  His shadow grew as he descended on her, his arms stretched out before him. Within seconds, he was at her side, tugging at the covers she’d been using as a shield. She held on as long as she could before the covers were ripped away from her.

  She opened her mouth to scream, but a strange hand pressed against her lips muffled the sound.

  “Brinley, I need you to be quiet.”

  The strong base of his voice had her forcing her lips shut. It was her father and he meant business. She glanced up at him, her emerald eyes meeting his blue eyes. He was a large man who’d never shown even an ounce of fear, but at that moment, there was nothing but fear in those blue depths.

  He dragged her from the bed, cradling her in his arms. “Listen carefully. We need to leave. When I put you down, only grab what you can carry and leave out the back door. Head straight for the woods to our secret place. Don’t stop. Don’t look back. We’ll be there to collect you soon, I promise.” Brinley heard the desperation of his words as he spoke. But rather than think about that, she did as she was told. Once her feet hit the ground, she grabbed a pendant that had belonged to her mother from her dresser and shoved it into the pocket of her jeans. From a younger age, she’d been taught to sleep fully clothed, incase she needed to run and she was grateful for the training that night. She slipped into her running shoes, not bothering to grab a pair of socks and snatched up her jacket before exiting the room. She didn’t look back to see if her father had been following her. Instead, she raced down the hall, through the kitchen, and out into the dark night.

  The air whipped her dark hair about as she rushed for the line of trees directly behind her home. With a speed no normal human child could match, she rushed past trees, narrowly avoiding colliding with them as she made her way to a place her father and aunt had showed her multiple times. It was deep within the woods, past a small stream she’d have to jump over, but far enough they felt no one would follow her. She leapt over the stream effortlessly before taking a right at a fork in the path. Once she’d gone down that path a ways, she retraced her steps back to the fork as she’d been taught to do, rubbing her body against each tree that lined the path. They’d told her it would throw anyone off her trail, and though she wasn’t certain she knew what they meant, she followed the instructions anyway. Avoiding the other path, she made a sharp let to a den that was covered with broken branches and brush. Shoving them aside, she pushed herself into the den that had been reinforced with wood and brick and pulled the brush and branches back into their rightful place. If she were followed, no one would find her.

  Her heart raced and her legs burned from the run, but she kept her breathing light. To keep herself calm, she allowed her mind to go to her happy place as she curled up against a wooden slab.

  She was with her mother. Though she couldn’t exactly visualize the woman who’d given birth to her, she had been able to use photographs to piece together what she’d look like in that space. Her long chestnut hair swept across her back as she danced around a clearing, surrounded by trees and shrubbery, with Brinley dancing beside her. Sunlight sliced through the trees, lighting the area up enough her mother’s deep emerald eyes shone.

  It was her happy place, safe with a mother she’d never seen outside of photos. Her mother had died in childbirth, leaving Brinley to be raised by her father and aunt, but that didn’t stop her from being able to connect with the woman who’d given birth to her. She’d seen her in her dreams, had spoken to her when no one else could, and, though it should have frightened her, it made her feel like she’d always be connected to her mother.

  She fell asleep in the warmth of those thoughts that night.

  Chapter One

  Brinley

  Darkness surrounded me as I sat up in bed, my heart pounding loud enough to drown out the sounds of a struggle going on downstairs. It was those sounds that had awakened me. The crash of something against a wall, the thud of something heavy hitting the wooden floor of our living room, situated just beneath my room. The familiar whine of pain and the screech of nails scraping against a hard surface.

  I’d witnessed this before when I was a young pup living with my father and aunt. At first, I thought I was having another flash back, another episode where I’d sworn someone else was in the house. I’d even waited for my father to come to the door and tell me to run into the woods alone. But that never came. Instead, the struggle continued until a sickening crunch of bone touched my ears and silence filled the air.

  I perked my ears, trepidation sliding through me as I listened for signs of danger. With my exceptional hearing, I could hear the gentle breaths of someone downstairs, the light footsteps shuffling along the wooden floor to the base of the staircase that led to my room. S
omeone was there, creeping around, trying their best to be silent. I could hear the soft whispers that escaped the person as they made their way upstairs. Nails scraping against the steps as they ascended told me they had to be in wolf form, except it didn’t feel right. The steps were coming too far apart, meaning they were walking on two legs instead of four, something that would have been impossible to an ordinary shifter.

  I slid from my bed as quietly as possible, pushing my sight beyond the darkness to glance around for something I could use as a weapon. The scent of cedarwood touched my nose as the person approached the door and icy fingers of fear slid down my back. Whoever it was, they were right outside of my room and I couldn’t imagine their intentions had been anything good.

  I reached beneath my bed, hoping my grandmother hadn’t gotten rid of the bat I’d kept there. Not that it mattered. If I was right and the person beyond the door was a shifter, they could quickly disarm me before I’d manage more than a few swings, but I’d hoped to at least give myself time to slip past them and exit the home. My fingers touched upon the hard, slick surface of the bat and I wrapped my fingers around it, pulling it up to my shoulders just as the doorknob began to twist.

  “She’s awake,” a faint whisper came to me but it felt odd. It was if the words were spoken directly into my mind instead of my ears.

  I shook the thoughts from my head, concentrating on the door, waiting for it to slide open before another voice hit me, the same as the first. “Be careful. She’s much more dangerous than the woman downstairs.”

  A small gasp escaped my lips and my heart raced. My grandmother had been downstairs, perhaps working on another gown for Ms. Hargrave. I wondered briefly if she were alright and concentrated on the sounds coming from beneath me. I could hear faint moans and breath escaping whoever was down there and I hoped it was her. If it was, she was still alive but wounded.

  I wanted to go to her, to help her in any way I could but I knew what she’d say. She’d tell me to leave her, that my life was more important than hers and I needed to do everything I could to save myself. Her training sessions came to me as the door cracked open. Within seconds, a head pushed through the door, one covered in fur with a long snout that pertruded from where his nose should have been. Red beady eyes pierced me with a look of surprise, then malice as he pushed the door open. And paused. And there was my chance.

  My eyes darted about the room, looking for a means to escape when it landed on the window. The window was open. If I could distract this thing long enough to…

  He moved his entire body into the room, naked except for a pair of rugged jeans that hung low on his hips. His entire body was covered in patches of dark fur from the tips of his canine ears that stood up on both sides of his head, to the large feet with nails that clicked against the floor beneath him. He was like something I’d never seen before in the pictures my father had shown me of other shifters and I felt a lump growing in my throat. I tried to swallow it down and dragged in a deep breath.

  “What are you?” I asked, trying to understand what I was seeing while simultaneously trying to distract him as I stepped toward the window.

  She’s alert. Do I engage? I heard him say though his mouth made no movement.

  “Who are you talking to? What do you want?” I said, sliding another inch toward the window.

  His eyes lit up in surprise and his head tipped to the side. He studied me for a moment after taking a step back.

  She can hear us?

  Engage, now! Another voice pushed into my mind before the man knelt low, ready to pounce on me.

  He flashed a set of sharp teeth, his lips curling up to show elongated canines. My time was up. A snarl ripped from his chest as he threw himself at me, his body taking flight midair. I tightened my grip on the bat before aiming it at his head and swinging. It cracked against his skull, splintering into small splinters and shards before I dropped it. Turning toward the window, I jumped through it, allowing my momentum to carry me over the awning to the soft dirt beyond where I twisted my body just enough to land on my feet. My ankles nearly buckled beneath me as a sharp pain traveled up my leg. I ignored the feelings, hoping I hadn’t sprained anything so bad I wouldn’t be able to get away. Then, pointing my feet in the direction of the row of cedars that lined the edge of our property, I ran.

  The sound of shattering glass reached me and I looked back to see the creature had leapt through the window as well and was rushing toward me, the muscles of his legs bunching and propelling him forward at a pace I knew would have him catching up to me if I didn’t think of something soon. I rushed past the tree line, taking a route my grandmother had shown me a million times over the past few years. I dipped beneath low hanging branches as I pushed my legs to run faster. I could hear his steps behind me. Getting closer, no matter the obstacles that stood in his way. I needed to get away.

  I jumped over a large fallen branch, clearing it though my legs burned the more I pushed them. I heard him stumble behind me as I shoved to the left, racing toward another obstacle I hoped would put distance between us. The silvery light of the moon slipped through the branches, guiding my way. I saw my goal up ahead. A dark shadow that crept along the ground, deep and dark. Unless you knew what it was, you’d run right into it, falling a few hundred feet to the water below. I’d nearly made that mistake before but tonight, I’d clear that trench. I had to.

  I picked up speed, as the crunch of leaves and branches behind me grew closer. And right before they reached me, I jumped. It was a jump I’d made countless times, a jump I knew well enough. And when my feet hit the other side, I continued to run as I heard the collision of a body against dirt. I glanced back to see the creature scraping the dirt, trying to gain purchase of something to pull himself up. He’d barely made it to the other side.

  When I looked forward again, a figure, a man stood before me. But it was too late for me to stop. I barreled into him, my head hitting his hard chest before I blanked out. I was caught.

  ~*~

  I awakened to the sound of tires rolling over gravel. I pried my eyes open only for them to be assaulted by the bright light of the sun as it pushed through the window and slammed them closed. But not before I saw I was in the backseat of a large vehicle surrounded by people I’d never seen before. Unlike the creature at my home, these people looked normal, with the exception of being freakishly tall and muscular.

  I thought back on my grandma, hoping she’d been okay. Last I remembered, I’d heard her breathing downstairs while the creature was upstairs with me. Still, I had no way of knowing what had become of her. My chest clenched at the thought of her hurt with no one there to help her. She’d been there for me since my father’s death and was the only family I’d had for years. My mother had died in childbirth, at least that’s the story I was told but I knew better now. I knew there was something more sinister to her disappearance, having stumbled upon a picture of her holding me when I was two years old. I’d found the picture a month ago, amongst my father’s belongings. Belongings my grandma had tucked away in the corner of the basement, hoping I’d never be prompted to go through them. She was wrong. And when I asked about the photographs, she’d done all she could to avoid that question.

  Regardless of the secrecy surrounding my mother’s death, my grandma had taken care of me and it killed me leaving her behind. What if they’d killed her? What if? I could feel the anxiety making my breaths heavy and my heart thud violently against my ribs. I fought to control it. Whoever was in the car with me thought I was asleep and I wanted it to stay that way. At least until I was able to come up with a plan to escape them. I rolled a bit, trying to mimic the patterns of normal sleep. When my heart slowed and I was able to control my breathing, I relaxed again.

  “She’s still asleep,” someone near me said with a rich Hispanic accent flowing through his deep baritone. He, or someone else, placed a hand on my head, stroking their fingers through my dark waves. “Thank the heavens we were able to get to her before they
got her. Who knows what would have happened to her?”

  “I don’t even want to think about that right now,” a female voice replied from in front of me. “Let’s just get her back to the academy. Her grandmother is already there waiting for her.”

  So, my grandmother was alive. A feeling of relief washed over me at the news. And if these people had anything to do with it, they couldn’t be all that bad. I shifted in my seat, prying my eyes open again, only this time the sun didn’t assault them like it did before. Letting out a huff of breath, I tried to sit up but a sharp pain in my head dizzied me, forcing me to lay back down.

  “I take that back. She’s awake.” A rumbling laughter fell from the man next to me as his fingers glided to my forehead.

  Muscles tensed beneath my head and I realized my head must’ve been resting in the stranger’s lap. I moved to get up again but his hand on my head stilled me. “Don’t worry about getting up. You hit Colton pretty hard back there. You may have a concussion.”

  “I could help her with that if one of you wants to take over the wheel.”

  My eyes flitted over to the driver who adjusted the rearview mirror to get a good look at me. She smiled, her purple eyes crinkling as she did.

  “She’ll be fine,” another male voice rang from the passenger seat, this one much deeper than the first. The man shifted in his seat with a dismissive wave of his hand.

  Amber readjusted the mirror. “She ran into the equivalent of a brick wall, Colton. I’m sure she’s in pain.”

  Colton grumbled something I couldn’t quite hear before his head tipped back against the seat.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it as soon as we’re at the academy.”

  The academy? I allowed my mind to flit back to a conversation I’d had with my father shortly before he’d passed. He’d spoken of an academy he’d wanted me to attend after high school, one that would teach me everything I needed to know about the shifter world, though my grandma had wanted nothing to do with the school.