Bloodline Alchemy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 6) Lan Chan (uplifting novels .TXT) 📖

Jacqueline took my hand in both of hers. “He forced you, Sophie,” she said. “This surely isn’t the way you want to learn. If you should be doing this at all.”

I set the ambrosia glass down and picked at the sheet. “I know. But it’s the most progress I’ve made so far.”

She brushed my hair behind my ear. “You’ve made more progress than you can imagine. You just can’t see it right now. Power for the sake of it isn’t worth having. Especially if it comes from an abhorrent source.”

I was still contemplating her words when Noah returned. Jacqueline was right. At the same time, all I could think about was that I’d gathered enough power to take down a mage. An approving voice piped up in my head. Good, it said. You’re learning. Maybe one day soon you’ll be worthy of the power you’ve been given.

The power I’d been given. My great-grandfather’s power. I glanced up into Noah’s eyes and the fog that had blanketed my mind cleared.

“Let them stay,” I said.

“I don’t know if I can have that on my conscience after what happened,” Jacqueline said.

“I’ll put up safeguards.”

“Are you sure?”

I only nodded. The certainty wavered when Noah took me back to the Reserve. It was obvious that news had spread about what happened because the shifters were out in force again. They watched me as I walked from the portal field until I cleared the residential area. I blew out a breath. And then it died in my throat as we approached the Thompsons’ house and Max was waiting for me on the steps.

24

The look of death on his face said he knew everything. How that was even possible when Noah hadn’t given him a briefing yet was beyond me. Worried, I looked inside me at the mating link and sighed in relief when I saw that it was intact. Max’s burnished-gold eyes flicked once, and Noah melted away from me.

“I’m fine.” I came to a stop two metres from where he stood. “Please don’t make a fuss.” I glanced up into the second floor. “Where’s Charles?”

Max didn’t say a word. Nor did he move from his position. Great. He’d lost his mind and sent his brother away. I was tired. My feet hurt and I really needed another shower. The one I’d had in the infirmary was perfunctory. I was still in too much shock to have done a proper job of cleaning myself. There was still soap behind my ears. Saying any of that to him right now would equal being treated like an invalid while he hovered around me.

The memory of his razor-sharp words continued to lash at me a week later. The thing was, he’d been right. I wasn’t mated to him. I wasn’t pack in any way. So I had no right to suggest to them how they should run things.

Trying to stay out of his way hadn’t seemed to work, though. When I took a step forward, he moved with me, and I knew he was just waiting to get me inside before he pounced.

“Maximus,” I said. “You’re dreaming if you think I’m going to go in there with you right now. Can you think about this for a minute? I haven’t given you any indication that I want to be with you. In fact, your cooler is full of food from dozens of other women.”

He was still non-verbal, but the cording of muscles in his arms told me he was on the edge. I started to take steps back. His head turned, eyes narrowing to slits that radiated a quiet menace.

With strength that I hardly had, I drew a protection circle around myself. “Max! If you move an inch, I’m going to scream so loudly it’ll wake the dead.”

In the near distance, I heard soft voices. The Reserve had come out to watch. Bloody great. Max’s jaw clenched. Confusion had me pausing. This was bad. Whatever control he had managed to construct around his beast was eroded. I didn’t understand why he hadn’t just charged into the Academy if things had gotten to this point. My gaze swept the length of him, taking in everything about him, using the detached practicality that Sandra had taught me in the infirmary. A month ago, I would have dry-retched at the sight of an open wound. But practice and exposure meant that I was able to catalogue the horror for a later time. Crying in the bathroom had become a regular fixture. But it was better than breaking down in front of the patients who were the ones really hurting.

It was the only thing that saved both of us right now. Everything about him called to me at a level I couldn’t even describe. He was insanely possessive, completely overprotective, and autocratic to a fault. He was alpha, and submission was a given. But he was also sweet, fiercely loyal, and once upon a time, his laughter was a bright burst that made heads turn more readily than his looks.

Right now, if he caught even the slightest hint of the burning arousal he woke within me, he would do something stupid and I would let him. Shame and fear from what Hugh did to me was still coursing through my veins. I wanted to draw Max’s strength into me and forget for a second that evil stalked me.

Taking in a deep breath, my crap human nose finally picked up a hint of something bitter in the air around him.

I crept slightly closer and sniffed again. Goodness. Now that I was aware, it was a wonder I hadn’t picked up on the scent earlier. Wolfsbane. It clung to him on an intrinsic level. He’d drunk poison to stop himself from coming after me.

This was really messed up. At the same time, something inside me ached for him, because despite all the dominance and aggression that must have been pumping through his veins, he was trying. For me.

There were no