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

“What’s wrong?” I asked before she could open her mouth.

Her lips were pressed together. I couldn’t tell if it was from frustration or anger. Maybe both. “We’ve just had a critical message from the Dominion,” she said. “Skander Rameros has escaped the prison.”

It felt like a cold hand had reached through my chest and was squeezing my heart. I didn’t even have time to take in what she’d said before she continued. “That’s the less disturbing piece of news. He’s not the only one who has escaped.”

“I don’t understand,” I said. “He was being drained of his magic daily.”

I already knew what she was going to say before the words left her mouth. “It looks as though his handler was the one who helped him to escape.”

Sophie gasped. I sank back in my chair and exhaled. I couldn’t get a moment’s peace in this place.

39

The alarms were already sounding when we arrived back through the iron gates at the perimeter of the Academy. I was so used to portals and being teleported that driving into the deserted parking lot was strange. More guards awaited us as we alighted. These ones were of the vampiric and shifter variety.

We ran to the junior campus. The whole Academy was waiting for us. Sophie and I had to squeeze into single seats a couple of rows from each other. These warning assemblies were becoming too frequent. The little girl sitting beside me whimpered when Skander’s image appeared in the mirror on the stage. I grit my teeth hard when Giselle’s face showed up next.

If I was angry, Kai’s dark expression promised retribution. Even in the midst of all the confusion and fear, my eyes located him almost immediately when I arrived. He stood guard in the far right of the assembly hall. He must have been off-duty when the alarm sounded because he was in blue jeans, a green shirt, and his motorcycle jacket. I had watched as Desi walked past him and leaned in to whisper something in his ear. Not only did he fail to respond, but the look in his eyes said that she had better make herself scarce. It took a lot to frighten a vampire, but she slipped away without further disturbance.

“As you can imagine,” Jacqueline said from her position on stage, “we will have strict protocols for the protection of the Academy. The human-engineered security has now been activated. We are as safe as we can be. I have no doubt that the prisoners will be apprehended. Until then, I ask that we all remain vigilant but try not to give in to hysteria.”

When the assembly was over, I hung back and waited for Sophie and Diana. The dwarf was at the front of the hall. I could feel the radiant heat coming off Kai’s skin when he appeared beside me. He didn’t say a thing for almost thirty seconds.

“We’ll meet you back in the dorm,” Sophie said. She grabbed Diana’s arm.

“You should have been born a shifter,” I said out of the corner of my mouth. We allowed the crowd to disperse before moving with the stragglers out into the field. Cassie and Charles were waiting for us beside the door. Kai reached out and enclosed the back of her head in his big hand. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him.

“I’m glad you’re not going,” she said. The vein in his brow jumped. Ah. Now I understood the caveman regression.

Charles punched me lightly on the shoulder. Over the past few months he’d learned the exact amount of pressure to exert to get his point across without actually hurting me. “No demon blade again?” he said. “If that lunatic comes here, you know he’s going to be after you, right?”

It was so not the right thing to say in front of Kai. He shoved both of them away. “Go back to your dorms,” he said. His voice had gone gravelly. “Make sure you observe curfew. If I catch either of you roaming about…” He let the end of his sentence just hang there. Right at this moment there was no doubt he would come down hard on them for disobeying. Cassie made a face, but she allowed Charles to drag her away.

We were alone in the field. The night sky was now a dense navy blanket overhead. Pinpricks of starlight made the vastness appear magical. “Before you say anything,” I pre-empted, “I’m fine. I have no intention of becoming serial killer bait. So be very careful what you say right now.” He was spoiling for a fight. “Go and find Max and do whatever it is you do to let off steam.”

“I should be out there helping to search.”

I turned to him, my brows raised. “Weren’t you the one telling me that even you can’t go directly against a Council mandate? Who knows what Giselle and Skander have been cooking up this whole time? If something happens to you, there goes Raphael’s bloodline. I’m actually surprised they don’t have you wrapped up in cotton wool inside Seraphina.”

Of course thinking about someone trapped inside Seraphina made me automatically think of Nanna. In the reflection of the glass in the doors to the senior dorms, I saw we were both scowling.

“This is different,” he said. “I should have seen it coming. We never should have asked for his help.” He held the door open for me. As I stepped through, I heard the sound of metal warping and snatched his hand. The door handle was completely bent out of shape.

I shook him. “Stop it. You can’t blame yourself for everything. We asked a serial killer and his handler for help. We shouldn’t be surprised that something’s gone wrong. You never could have predicted this. If anything, the mages really have something to answer for. How often do criminals break out of their prison?”

He wouldn’t let go of my hand as we ascended the staircase. “Not as often as you might think. This recent spate