Warrior Hearts Academy: Centaur Soar (A Fated Mates Reverse Harem Romance), page 1
CENTAUR SOAR
WARRIOR HEARTS ACADEMY
ELLIE HORN
COPYRIGHT © 2023 ELLIE HORN
All Art Copyright © 2023 Ellie Horn
2023 Sherrington Publishing
Canada ISBN: E-book 978-1-988431-60-4
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication, reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher—or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a license from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency—is an infringement of the copyright law. All characters and character likenesses are the property of Ellie Horn and cannot be reproduced without the written consent of the author.
Disclaimer: This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people or places are used fictitiously. The persons, places, things, and otherwise animate or inanimate objects mentioned in this novel are figments of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to anything or anyone living or dead is unintentional.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Pending
INTRODUCTION
SOAR is not a standalone book. It is the final book in the second Warrior Hears Academy trilogy. If you have not read the first two books, RIFT and BOLT, you must do so before reading this.
The Warrior Hearts Academy trilogies are dark (but sometimes humorous), slow-burn, paranormal/fantasy romance where the strong female main character has many love interests that she doesn’t have to choose between.
Within the pages of this book, expect graphic sex, violence, abuse, and other scenarios that some may find triggering. To prevent spoilers—if you have specific sensitivities, contact us at abducted@lehorn.ca and together we can figure out if this is the right book for you. Providing you with a positive reading experience is important to us.
Ellie and Ellie Sue
❤️❤️
1
Marcus
I gently held her limp body in my arms, but it was the demon inside me that tilted my head back and shrieked.
A rumble of thunder answered, but my focus was on what I cradled. My human body wasn’t strong enough to do more than hold my mother’s torso off the floor.
Whatever had been in those darts had taken her down so fast. Isobel had also used poison on my father. My heart constricted, and the thing inside me clawed to be set free.
Iskar’s frantic voice echoed through my head. You can’t let it break loose here—Marcus, you have to breathe. Just breathe.
Our would-be rescuers shot around the corner and skidded to a halt as they saw me. Two male teachers, and the elderly groundskeeper who had been a warrior in his own right, once upon a time. He held a rake, while the other two were unarmed.
Triss was barely breathing. And I was seriously losing it. My arms were rippling with new size and muscle, and they were covered in dark scales. The crystals around my neck glowed as Iskar desperately pulled power from them.
By the expressions on the Centaur’s faces, my features were no longer recognizable. I didn’t care. My mother could be dying. Rafael and his cursed Sorceress had taken the children.
We need Cara, Iskar insisted.
“Get the Watcher,” I rasped to the Centaurs.
“What happened?” a teacher asked.
I focused on him through the rage that clouded everything in black. “Someone kidnapped the children by creating a gate, but it is gone now. I need the Watcher. Go to the academy and fetch her. Now, or my mother may die.” I could only hope Cara or Bess were there, because they could be involved with assessing Isobel’s hideout. But the Bellati at the academy gate would know how to find them.
When the teacher stared at me in growing horror, the elderly warrior snapped at him. “Go! Now!”
The barked command in his voice snapped the other Centaur into action. He vanished up the hall.
“But the children—” the other teacher began.
“We can’t go after them, we don’t know where they were taken.” Coherent thought was dissolving fast, and Iskar’s lack of running commentary was proof of how hard he was working to stop the monster from emerging. I needed it—my arms had grown huge. And they weren’t lengthening to form wings—they were doing something else.
Maybe they would be strong enough to carry my mother to the Watcher—even the thought of it elicited a panicked warning from my inner gatekeeper.
Dammit, Marcus. If it emerges, it’ll be more focused on shredding than saving. Your mother’s life depends upon you remaining human. So fight it.
I closed my eyes, and a shudder ran through me as I tried to shove it back.
It didn’t want to go back. It wanted to roar.
The other teacher had vanished, but the caretaker gently arranged Triss’s legs to lie in a more comfortable position. His calm gaze assessed me as I trembled with the effort of holding it together while supporting my mother.
“Anything I can do to help?” he finally asked.
I shook my head, just as the floor quaked and a group of Centaurs, the teacher among them, appeared around the corner.
These ones were armed. The monster in me reacted, and as the wind drove rain through the shattered window, I gritted teeth growing sharp.
“I sent him for a blanket,” the caretaker growled. Then he straightened, and barked, “Check the building, confirm who is missing. Send word to the governor, she will need to know the details and notify parents.” He gestured to the teacher, who did, indeed, hold blankets in his arms. “Give me those.”
The armed Centaurs trotted off to inspect the building, and the caretaker bustled to tuck blankets around Triss. She was shivering now, her breathing terrifyingly shallow. The teacher stood a distance away, his fingers tangling and untangling themselves as he stared at me.
I was likely worth the view. My human skin streamed sweat as Iskar and I forced the scales back, one by one.
But if what I held in my arms succumbed to whatever Isobel had shot into her—all bets would be off.
And I wasn’t sure I would care, then, what happened, one way or the other.
2
Riley
Carrying my food tray, I walked among the council’s chosen warriors as their blood dripped onto the grass at my feet.
What the hell was I doing here? I felt out of place.
Whether they be Dragon or Sabre or Dire, these warriors had all thrown themselves into the fight without regard for personal safety. Whereas I’d spent most of my life looking after me, myself, and I.
What was it like to care so much for a cause that you were willing to die for it? Was this what it meant to be a Shade operative? It made me feel—inadequate. Not up to the task.
Sacrificing for others was so commonplace for this crew that not only did they stand around in the meadow as they bled, but they were also chatting. Discussing life as though they hadn’t just risked losing it.
Bess and Cara had been joined by three other Watchers that spread out to heal those patiently waiting for their turn. Most students were at breakfast, but a few had come down to assist—although there wasn’t much to do, other than feed those coming through the gate or help them limp to the healers.
Fang vibrated from her spot. She was well hidden, but she kept activating those stiffer hairs on the nape of my neck, sending little unhelpful zings through me.
“I’m heading back for a reload,” Vali said, brandishing her empty tray.
“I’ll be a bit yet,” I answered. I’d spent so much time gawking that mine was still over half full.
I watched her pick her way through the scattered warriors toward the building. Male eyes followed her. She seemed totally unconscious of her natural way of moving that was seductive as hell.
Somehow, I thought Vali would step up if asked. She had that quality to her.
Lost in my thoughts, I continued to stump around with my tray of dumplings. I offered it to two muscley guys I was pretty sure were Sabres. The shoulder of one had been torn open—four distinctive, parallel lines. The wound was deep and still bleeding. But he broke off his blow-by-blow description of how he bested the Dire who’d done it, and grinned at me.
Or rather, at Kiko, who was trailing me with another tray.
“What do we have here?” he drawled, as his nostrils flared.
Kiko did her usual assessment from crotch to hairline—fortunately, the shifters had redressed in pants, at least, when they’d returned—and smiled back. “Just a selection of delectables,” she purred.
I rolled my eyes and offered my tray to his friend, who took a dumpling and inhaled it in one bite. The shifter ability to pack away food had sent us to the kitchen multiple times. A scattering of other students had been pressed into service. We were all getting an up-close-and-personal look at what it might mean to be a Shade.
These warriors—I wasn’t this kind of fighter. Fang tickled again. Was she trying to communicate? Too bad I didn’t speak Webspinner.
The Sabre leaned closer to Kiko. “Delectable is about right.” His voice was a seductive growl.
“Students are off limits.” The deep voice came from over my shoulder, and Cody hove into view. The tall Sabre was clad in sweats, but his naked torso was covered in blood. He’d forgone his own healing to let his men go first.
“Damn,” muttered Kiko.
The reprimanded Sabre appeared disappointed, but his friend just shrugged and snagged another dumpling. I rather gratefully offered one to Cody.
He grabbed three. “Killing is hungry work.” He twitched me a smile and crammed one in his mouth before turning and striding away.
My own smile froze on my face. I didn’t think I could ever view killing in such a cavalier fashion, but what did I know? Maybe if you did enough of it, it altered your perspective.
At the edges of the group, I saw Tareal and Lora. They weren’t helping, just standing there, staring.
It was a bit unsettling. But a lot of other students were doing the same thing as they glimpsed the grim realities of what they might face someday.
Off to one side, Cara was bent over a Dragon. Kiko sidled up to me. “Heard that some got shot with those parasites.”
I stared at her. “What parasites?”
The Satyr wrinkled her nose. “They are really nasty. Dragons shot by darts are eaten so fast from the inside out that they drop from the sky.”
That would certainly explain why the Dragon being treated was bleeding from every orifice. “Can they save him?” I asked.
Kiko grimaced. “I think so. The healer has to get to them fast. The blasted things were bred to decimate the Dragon Legion. And they almost wiped them out.”
My stomach churned. Where was Havoc?
Kiko interpreted my expression and almost looked contrite. “If he’d been hit, he’d be here. There were just a few that got it, from what I heard.” She leaned close to me. “These guys are delish.”
No. They were covered in blood and had spent the early morning hours risking their lives for—what? We still didn’t have Isobel. Those kids were still just as gone as they’d been hours ago.
Was Havoc okay? He must be. Kiko was right—he’d be here already if he needed a healer.
Or would he? The Dragon was fiercely independent and accustomed to doing his own healing. My worry intensified as I glanced over to the cluster of captured and battered mercenaries. Had all this been worth it? Maybe Isobel’s lackeys had the information we needed. But maybe not.
The gate lit up. I’d been watching for Havoc all morning, but so far, there was no sign of him. According to Cara, his Deranger had kept the superior numbers of the mercenaries from overwhelming our smaller forces. Had he decided to leave Fang with me, and take off after the battle ended?
It wasn’t Havoc coming through. A rather frantic-looking Centaur burst into the meadow, and a chill traveled through my core.
Kiko balanced her tray on one arm and wrapped her free hand around mine. “Something’s wrong.”
Not far from me, Cara was working on a Dragon, and the Centaur headed over there. I handed my tray to a Sabre yakking with three of his buddies, and went there, too.
When I arrived, he’d already finished talking, and Cara’s expression stopped me cold. She locked it down in a hurry, but there was no mistaking what I’d seen.
Rage.
She paced the Centaur as they headed for the gate, but I grabbed Cara’s arm.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“I have to go, Riley. Isobel has attacked the school at the Richin colony. She kidnapped Centaur children and some older students. In the process, she’s darted Triss with something that might kill her.”
Children? Marcus’s mother. My heart twisted, and when Cara went to turn away, I grabbed her arm.
I’d been there once already, after all.
As I pumped emotion into that secret inner place, another set of hands attached themselves to my arm. As the white noise took us, I heard a startled squeak.
Snap.
We arrived in a blaze of golden light.
My butt hit something much harder than meadow grasses. By the multitude of little sure-to-leave-bruises protrusions, cobblestone was likely.
And wet, too. It wasn’t raining now, but the clouds overhead swirled as though they were thinking of causing further trouble. Or maybe it was just my head that was spinning. I couldn’t be sure.
“Awesome!” Kiko let me go and picked herself up from her faceplant, looking a bit disheveled but with her eyes gleaming with excitement. “That was incredible!”
I managed to focus enough to determine that we were outside the Centaur school. Unfairly, Cara had landed crouched on her feet.
When I released her, she straightened and scolded me. “Riley, I thank you for the quick trip, but you have to stop acting on a whim.” She touched my arm—sending a pulse of pure energy that cleared my head—before she turned away and jogged to the front doors.
I wanted to follow, but my legs weren’t cooperating. I managed to turn toward Kiko, who now examined a scrape on her elbow. She did, however, grin at me.
“Serves you right for hitching a ride.” My legs shook as I rose. I needed more crystal dust if I was going to be doing all this Jumping. I felt a bit more off than usual for my post-Jump malaise—more achy and chilled, like I was developing a fever.
At least my hands were still human. Fang spun a little circle beneath my hair, drawing attention to the fact my head itched. When I reached up to rub it, I touched something rough and hard as bone above my ear. Startled, I raised my other hand—it was above the other one, too. Horns—only about an inch of them, but definitely there.
“You feeling okay?” Kiko finished brushing herself off and raised a brow at me.
I snatched my hands away before she could comment.
“I’m fine,” I lied.
She tilted her head to regard me. “Is Havoc’s little friend okay?”
“She’s fine, too.” I headed after Cara. I had horns. Fuck. How had that happened? Did Jumping scramble my cells? It seems Kiko’s unexpected partnership had brought us closer than was healthy.
We entered the school, hurrying down a few halls until we bumped into someone and could ask where Cara had gone.
The older Centaur opened his mouth to answer, but when he inhaled prior to speaking, his head lifted and his eyes glowed. But it wasn’t Kiko he stared at. It was me.
Dammit. I seem to have acquired more than just her horns.
“Please,” I repeated. “We need to find Cara.”
He straightened, and directed us down another hall.
Our view of what lay on the floor was obscured by a group of Centaurs. Wind gusted through a large broken window at one end, carrying a strong scent redolent with their panic and rage. A few wept openly. Others were demanding, angrily, to know what had happened.
A deep voice carried above the general hubbub, one I recognized immediately.
“Please,” Emmanuel said. “I know we all need answers and want to know where our children have been taken. We will look for those answers, and find those who took them. But we must pull together. I suggest we set up a crisis center in the cafeteria for family support and information, as well as a headquarters for a strategic team that will reclaim our children.”
The Centaurs fell silent. My gut twisted—I knew how difficult reclaiming them was going to be. Then an older Centaur stepped forward.
“He is right. Let’s put our efforts into getting everything together to make this possible.”
The voices rose again, but the hysteria level had dropped. As the group broke up, I eased past them.
Just beyond Emmanuel, Cara was leaning over a Centaurina with the distinctive red hair of Marcus’s mother. She lay disturbingly still.
Then I looked through the shattered window, and saw Marcus.
He stood in the large courtyard beyond. I knew it was him, but it was hard to tell. His face and body were changing back and forth, dark scales erupting along his arms as they swelled with new muscle, and then falling off as they shrank again.
I hugged the wall to get past the crowd to where his mother lay in a heap. All I wanted was to reassure him. To hold him and tell him it was going to be okay.
As I went to step through the window, he uttered a strangled sound.
