Dragon Fire Academy 3: Third Term Read online

  Dragon Fire Academy 3:

  THIRD TERM

  a series written by Rachel Jonas

  Dragon Fire Academy: Third Term

  Copyright © 2020, Rachel Jonas

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No part of this e-book may be reproduced or shared by any electronic or mechanical means, including, but not limited to printing, file sharing, and email, without prior written permission from Rachel Jonas (R.C. Jonas).

  This e-book is licensed for personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author’s work.

  Table of Contents

  Dragon Fire Academy 3

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Bonus Content & More

  THE COMPLETE LOST ROYALS SAGA

  Dragon Fire Academy 3

  Synopsis

  Now a complete series!

  Love conquers all … but can it conquer the Darkness?

  My mates have laid it all on the line, including their hearts. The four dragons of the Omega Hive have been my fierce protectors, but I’m not sure that’s enough anymore. I’m starting to wonder if life on this island might just be the death of me.

  Or … the death of everyone.

  My limits were tested during the academy’s first two terms. Now, as I enter the third, it’s clear I’ve only scratched the surface before now. For starters, I’m spiraling, and thanks to a few bad decisions, I’ve lost nearly everyone’s trust.

  I should have given up by now, but I can’t seem to do that.

  It isn’t lost on me that my days are numbered, but that won’t stop me from saving as many as I can from what I sense on the horizon.

  Even if the terror that awaits is … me.

  There’s no way to tell whether good will triumph over evil in the end. Let’s just hope that, as the darkness continues to grow within me, I’m still able to tell the difference.

  ***

  Note: DRAGON FIRE ACADEMY is an upper YA/NA reverse harem romance. This series will take you on a brand-new journey with a descendant of the beloved Seaton Falls shifters, featured in THE LOST ROYALS SAGA. So, keep an eye out for cameos from some of your favorite characters! New readers, rest assured; it’s completely unnecessary to read the first five books before embarking on this fresh chapter set in a world filled with fierce wolves, hotheaded dragons, and powerful witches you don’t want to cross.

  Thank you for your purchase!

  Come hang out in “The Shifter Lounge” on Facebook! We chat, recommend YA Paranormal Romances, and engage in other random acts of nerdiness. Stay tuned for tons of giveaways, exclusive ARC offers from me, and guest appearances by some of your favorite YA authors!

  For all feedback or inquiries:

  [email protected]

  Chapter One

  Ori

  First, we spotted a pair of white gym shoes with three pink stripes down both sides. Without a doubt, they were Noelle’s.

  From the looks of it, they’d been hastily kicked from her feet before removing the rest of her clothes. She’d likely taken off naked after that, shifting into her wolf because it was much easier to hunt in that form.

  Much easier to kill in that form.

  Glancing down at the stone that hung around my neck, it made sense that it had been returned to me for safekeeping.

  Kai crossed both arms over his chest, moving forward to stand beside me. “Odds of us finding her?”

  I stared straight ahead of us, in one of the many directions in which Noelle could have taken off, feeling the limits of my frustration reach an all-time high.

  “Not great,” I answered with a sigh, “but we have to try anyway.”

  He nodded once, agreeing. “Should we split up?”

  “We’ll cover more ground if we fan out in different directions.”

  “I’ll let you know if I see anything suspicious,” he concluded, taking flight the next second.

  I did the same, staying low enough that the treetops wouldn’t block my view. All I needed was one piece of evidence to prove I was on the right track, and not searching for a needle in a haystack. With each square mile I covered and turned up with nothing, reality hit a little harder.

  Noelle had come to mean more to me than I realized, because the idea of something happening to her terrified me.

  It wasn’t that I thought she’d been hurt—I’d seen enough to know she could handle herself. However, after what she’d just done for Rayen today, I had no idea how much deeper the Darkness’ hold had gone. Now, with Noelle in pursuit of Rayen’s would-be-killer, if she got to them before we got to her … she would undoubtedly tip the scale even further.

  And the thought of losing her to the evil that had plagued our island for millennia left me with the sinking feeling I’d failed.

  Left me with the sinking feeling she was beyond our help.

  ‘I think I have something.’ Kai’s voice echoed inside my head. ‘It’s dark fabric. Might be from the cloak of whoever the guards let in to see Rayen.’

  ‘Where are you?’ Anxious, I’d barely let him finish speaking before I asked.

  ‘Near Ha’anoka Ridge.’

  ‘I’m on my way.’

  Without a second thought, I changed paths and headed west. Spotting Kai from afar, I made a quick landing. The dark-green swatch he held was unremarkable at first, until I took a closer look. Along one edge where the fabric fringed, there was blood.

  Kai’s gaze rose to meet mine. “Think we’re too late?”

  Desperation filled me, and as badly as I wanted to reassure my brother that our queen hadn’t gone further off the rails, I couldn’t bring myself to lie to him. Instead, I said nothing as my eyes stayed fixed on the only evidence we’d come across.

  “We’ll keep looking,” I said gravely, avoiding the question.

  There wasn’t much hope in the statement, and that pretty much reflected what I felt on the inside.

  No hope for whoever her latest victim may have been.

  None for Noelle, herself.

  None for anyone involved, including my brothers and I.

  Chapter Two

  Noelle

  I paced from wall to wall, hearing the roar of a waterfall at my back. The grotto was the only place I could think to hide out. The only place I didn’t think anyone would hear the screams.

  A deep rumble vibrated at the center of my chest when I turned towar
d the sound of another’s heavy panting. My wolf wanted out again, and her intentions were clear. She wanted to rip the one responsible for Rayen’s death limb from limb. Once the rage kicked in, it mattered very little that I’d been able to bring him back.

  Every part of me was out for blood.

  Hunting had been a far more efficient task in lycan form. The reward of tracking the vague scent I picked up in the forest was this—being able to stare into the eyes of the one who’d nearly taken my mate.

  … Tristan.

  He stared with the eye I hadn’t blackened and swollen shut, watching as I paced. His expression exuded hatred. Probably only pissed him off more that I slipped into the t-shirt I’d wrestled off him when I first brought him here, seeing as how I’d shed my clothes to transition. His cloak hadn’t survived the ordeal either, but not because he’d willingly removed it, but rather because of the fight it took to subdue him. Shreds of it now lie scattered all over the forest.

  The shirt that now covered me had been rinsed clean of his blood, but was soaked and practically see-through from our passage through the falls. Still, not even the hint of skin showing beneath the material stole his attention. It was the medallion I’d also managed to get from around his neck he had his eyes on. Well … eye, singular. My guess was that the piece was a beacon of sorts—his lifeline to whoever he worked with.

  When I first spotted him, of all people, out in the wilderness, the shock of it all nearly stopped me in my tracks, thinking I’d somehow gotten it wrong. He’d been a friend. I mean, hadn’t he? Yeah, we had our differences lately, but he couldn’t have been behind this, couldn’t have been capable of such a deep betrayal.

  Only, as we stared one another down now—his arms outstretched while hanging suspended in the air by my magic—the slow emergence of a devious grin told me everything I needed to know.

  I hadn’t gotten anything wrong.

  He was guilty.

  Pushing my damp hair from my shoulder, a single phrase flew from my mouth. It was the first word I’d spoken since crossing his path.

  “Why?”

  An incredulous laugh slipped from his lips. “That’s a stupid question,” he taunted. “And, correct me if I’m wrong, but you’re not a stupid girl, Noelle.”

  Anger overcame me quickly, and I reacted just as fast, with speed that even took me by surprise. A loud thud echoed through the space when my fist slammed Tristan’s torso, just below his ribs. Then, a millisecond later, came the agonized grunt that burst from his lungs.

  Expressionless, I stepped back, observing as he writhed and gasped for air. A powerful surge of adrenaline rushed through me like a flood.

  “Straight answers only,” I informed him. “So, tell me what you know and, who knows, maybe there’s a chance I’ll spare you,” I lied.

  There was no alternate ending for him.

  Only agony, and eventually regret.

  Purple light began to radiate from my skin—not turquoise like usual—brightening the space as it shimmered against the damp stones protruding from the walls. My gaze flickered down toward the sigils, acknowledging how they were starting to feel like a part of me.

  Or perhaps they were a part of who I was becoming. Whatever the case, I had somehow found it within me to embrace it.

  Tristan’s bare chest rose and fell quickly, and the rapid movement of his shoulders only increased as my steps carried me in his direction. It crossed my mind that … maybe he read my thoughts.

  “Are you giving me answers, or am I going to have to … dig them out of you?” I lifted my gaze to meet his, unashamed how much the idea of coaxing answers from him, via torture, pleased me.

  The hint of fear that flashed in his eyes was gone in an instant, hidden by a façade of bravery.

  “You and I both know you’ve already healed your mate,” he stated so casually, as if he’d been right there, a fly on the wall as I disobeyed my alpha to resurrect Rayen.

  My lack of an answer left Tristan an opening to continue.

  “I did as I was ordered, but only because I knew you could fix it,” he explained, exuding zero remorse.

  It was all a lie. He couldn’t have cared less what happened to Rayen. He’d followed orders because he didn’t care how the outcome would affect me or anyone else. He’d done it because he had some hidden agenda I had yet to be made aware of.

  And I intended to walk away from him this afternoon with a full understanding.

  “Did Chief Makana give this order?” I asked, already knowing the answer. In fact, it was so obvious, Tristan first answered with an incredulous look.

  “Was there ever really any question about that?”

  “Yes or no?” My voice was hard and unfeeling. All I needed was to know beyond the shadow of the doubt who’d given Tristan this command.

  His eyes fell away from mine when he scoffed. “Yes, Noelle. I was sent by Chief Makana.”

  I didn’t appreciate the smart-alecky tone he took with me, so I responded by tightening the invisible restraints on his arms with nothing more than a glance. His limbs were taut at the joints, revealing the strained tendons connecting his arms to his shoulders. I was more than aware of how easy it would have been to rip him apart with so little effort.

  He groaned in pain, but the sound was laced with laughter.

  “It’s incredible to me that you still haven’t figured it out,” he taunted. “At least in part.”

  I stared a moment, finally deciding to take the bait. “Haven’t figured what out?”

  He shook his head as if to imply how simple I was. “Several things,” he began. “For starters, you’ve seemed to miss how much more powerful you are when you’re tapping into the Darkness. How you never miscalculate or misfire when you’re doing what it wants.” His stare bore into mine. “Everyone but you seems to know it’s because you’re not cut out to be one of the good guys.”

  A hint of amusement in his tone nearly sent me over the edge, but I held it in, curious what else he might add.

  “You’re … like me,” he reasoned, the very thought of it sickening me. “You and I are destined to do the hard things in life, the dirty work no one else is willing to do, regardless of how unanimously necessary those things may be. We’re courageous to a fault.” That penetrating stare of his held me in place. “Perhaps to the point of it making us ruthless.”

  I let him finish his spiel before taking another step, somehow managing to avoid following him down the rabbit hole. I knew for a fact it would lead no place good.

  “What’s Chief’s agenda?”

  An eye roll accompanied a sigh. “Which brings us to yet another detail I can’t believe is still such a mystery to you,” Tristan pointed out. “He … wants … you to go dark, Noelle. In fact, there might not be anything he’d love more than to see you completely forget who you were before the Darkness marked you, before you bought into this ridiculous notion of having been mated to members of the tribe.”

  I winced at his words. It would have been easy to pass his spiel off as nothing more than the vicious ramblings of a jealous and jilted boy, but … this wasn’t that.

  In fact, the way his eyes emptied of all emotion whatsoever when they locked with mine was confirmation. I was certain Tristan was little more than a great actor, and that he’d never felt anything for me at all.

  “You’ve been on assignment this whole time, haven’t you?” The question left my mouth quietly, as I pieced so many details and incidents together.

  He took his time answering, so I applied more tension to his arms, until they quivered.

  “Okay, chill!” he yelled.

  “Then speak!”

  His nostrils flared with anger, as rapid breaths puffed from them. “Yes,” he admitted. “I was ordered to keep watch on you, by getting … close.”

  I knew what that meant—part of his mission had been to seduce me. Luckily, he failed. Had I fallen for his games, had feelings emerged and clouded my judgement, news of this double-crossing wo
uld have packed ten times the punch.

  “Nice,” I scoffed, shaking my head.

  “Relax. It’s not like it worked. The guys saw to it that we never even got past friendship,” he grumbled. “Hell, not even getting you to the Firelight Celebration was enough to change your mind about them.”

  My brow tensed. “That was you?”

  He nodded. “Paid a kid twenty bucks to make sure Marcela got that flyer. Chief thought having you see the guys in a new light, seeing more of what went on here, would turn you away. Clearly, it did not.”

  His disappointment in this fact was apparent.

  “What’d he promise you?” I asked. “Money? Status here on the island?”

  “There wasn’t a promise,” he answered, surprising me. “I didn’t have to be convinced to do this.”

  I was pretty sure nothing Tristan could say would surprise me, but that did.

  “Explain.” Being bossed around by me didn’t sit well with him, but dangling in the air like a fly caught in a web meant he didn’t have much choice.

  “You might say I owed the man a favor.”

  My brow pulled together when a blend of impatience and curiosity hit me at once. “For what?”

  Tristan’s gaze met mine. “There are some things about this place that you will never understand.”

  I crossed both arms over my chest. “Try me.”

  We reached a stalemate, but I refused to back down.

  “I was imprisoned here,” he sighed. “Years ago.”

  My frown deepened. “I haven’t seen or heard of any prison.” Although, now that I said it out loud, I guessed there had to be, but …

  “You wouldn’t have heard of it because, technically, the one I’m speaking of no longer exists. Or, I don’t know, maybe it does.”

  Now I was even more confused. “I swear, if you don’t start making sense—”

  “When the Darkness spread to new territory, some of the preexisting structures were consumed along with the land—homes, schools, businesses,” he shared. “And among those facilities, was a prison. A prison I’d been locked away in for … quite a while.”