Bloodline Secrecy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 2) by Lan Chan (best e ink reader for manga TXT) 📕

was biting her lips closed. I saw her eying Max up and down. I had a feeling she was wondering how Max would stack up to his dad in ten years’ time. Like her, he’d gone for the practical outfit choice of sturdy black jeans, and a chequered shirt thrown over a black T-shirt.

It was then that a figure strolled out from a couple of paces behind Max. I forgot all about cute lion shifters. I forgot about breathing.

“Are we just going to stand around here all night?” Kai said. He pierced me with a dark look that had me suddenly thinking he might have overhead Diana and me talking about Max’s dad. Diana had become mute.

“You itching for a Shadow Ball ass-kicking, mate?” Max said.

Kai smirked. “Someone’s ass is going to get kicked alright.”

I glanced behind Kai. It was both a distraction from the heady vibes he was exuding and a genuine concern. “Where’s Cassie?”

He raised a brow at me. “Gran took her earlier. She wanted to meet Max’s mum and make sure everything was safe. Is that good enough for you, Blue?”

I didn’t know how I felt about our roles being switched. Normally, he was the overly paranoid one. “It was just a question,” I said.

“Nothing is ever just anything with you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

He ran his hand through his hair. The movement dragged the hem of his white T-shirt up. I caught a hint of the muscles in his lower torso. Gargh. “Nothing. Let’s get going before she pisses me off, Max.”

They walked off pretending to throw punches at each other. Diana exhaled. “I don’t know how you’re around him all the time without just passing out.”

I didn’t even bother clarifying which one of them she meant. A rabble of younger kids marched up to the portal. We followed them. Mr. Thompson smiled at us. Sophie and I had to prop Diana up as it appeared her legs had turned into jelly.

I’d never been to a proper birthday party before. But I’d watched enough television before things went south with Nanna’s health to get the gist of it.

I expected loud music, underage drinking, and because it was a shifter party, a ton of food. I got all of it. We landed on what appeared to be an artificially created amalgamation of a jungle that slowly transitioned into a beach. A roaring fire had been lit on the dunes. There was a rotisserie set up with what looked like a whole pig roasting on a spit.

“I hope there aren’t any boar shifters here,” I said. To the side there were a number of huts the likes of which you only saw in postcards of secluded desert islands. Under the thatched canopies were tables laden with every kind of food you could imagine.”

“This had to have cost a bundle,” I said. It never occurred to me that the Thompsons might be well-off. Sophie glanced around. Her shoulders were a little deflated. It wasn’t as though her parents didn’t have any money, but this was a bit over the top. I wrapped my arm around her and hugged her.

“Whoop!” Diana said. “This is going to be so awesome!”

It was a beach and jungle party all wrapped up into one. I pointed to the dark area farther down the coast where I kept seeing people in black clothing disappear. “What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s the Shadow Ball arena,” Diana said. She flexed her arms.

“A whole arena for just one game?”

“Did you think we were just going to turn up and shoot each other willy-nilly?”

I shrugged. “The games like this I’ve seen are normally in a big warehouse or an open field in the country.”

“You’re not in Kansas anymore, Blue.”

No truer words had been spoken. There was an undercover area that was more of the kind of thing I had in mind. It also happened to be where a bunch of slightly older female shifters had congregated.

I was just a tasty little human morsel to them, but they must have sniffed something they didn’t like about Sophie. “Let’s get out of here,” I said.

We turned but Max was suddenly in the way. “Come and meet my friends.” It sounded like an open invitation, but he was looking right at Soph. She clung to my arm.

Unable to come up with an excuse not to be social, it was a party after all, Diana and I flanked our friend and walked over.

Max introduced two males and three females to us. I didn’t catch any of their names because I was too busy fighting off the urge to tuck my tail between my legs and run. There was something menacing about the way the two males glanced at us. They both had these black eyes that were depthless. The girls were less intimidating but the skin-stripping glare they gave Sophie got my back up. She was usually quite forthright, but something had gotten her tongue.

“You’re the low witch,” one of the females – Megan? or Melissa? Something with an M – said.

I stepped on Sophie’s foot. She stared at me with eyes ringed in white. They were obviously trying to antagonise her on purpose. Shifters did that sort of thing when they sensed a romantic rival in their midst. I’d learned that little nugget from the wolves in Zambia. I wondered if one or more of these girls had their sights on Max.

The lion shifter was standing a little aloof to the side. The human in me wanted to punch him in his chiselled jaw for standing there and letting Sophie take the heat. The witch knew that if she liked him, it was up to Sophie to step up. The air grew thick with something cloying. A dangerous spark of gold ignited in Max’s eyes.

“Lex!”

Oh thank God. Charles bounded up to us with Luther. A moment later Kai appeared with Cassie glued to his side. He’d taken his black leather jacket off and she was wearing it. The sleeves dangled off her, but she