Bloodline Alchemy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 6) by Lan Chan (tohfa e dulha read online .txt) 📕

to stop from tearing up. Who was I? Someone who chose the easy way out over her best friend. I was a failure.

Ari and Harris tried to lead me towards the Thompsons’ place. I veered off towards the living quarters. “It’s this way,” Ari snapped.

Ignoring him, I kept walking, with Cassie mute beside me. “Sophie!”

With my voice full of blades, I echoed something he’d said to me when this all started. “I don’t take orders from you.” His eyes widened. “Cassie’s here. You don’t need to watch me.”

They still trailed behind us, but I reached Trey’s parents’ place and knocked on the door. It was the middle of the day, but Laila opened it after a minute or two. The welcoming smile on her face slowly drained as she caught sight of the two inner-circle shifters standing in the distance.

“Sophie,” she said. “What’s the matter, honey?”

“Would it be okay for me to stay here for a couple of days?”

She scratched the side of her nose in confusion. “You’re always welcome here but…” And then she put two and two together. “Are you sure?”

Ari was suddenly right beside me. “Wait a second–”

“I’ve made my decision,” I said with as much calm as I could muster. “Are you going to start listening to me or will you force me against my will?”

I locked my gaze with his and refused to back down even when the pain in my head became a screaming siren that wanted me to look at the ground.

It felt like an eternity but must have been seconds before Ari could no longer stand it and broke away. “Shit,” he bit out.

“Where’s Noah?” I asked, moving away from Laila and back out onto the open walkway.

“He’s on recovery, but–”

I started power-walking towards Noah’s place.

“Wait,” Harris pleaded. There was genuine unease in his eyes.

“If he has a problem,” I said as smoothly as I could, “he knows where to find me.”

The two shifters gave each other nervous glances. “You can run away and tell him if you’d like. In fact, it would probably be best that you leave in case he finds out you knew and didn’t say anything right away.”

“Holy crap, Soph,” Cassie said, when they literally jogged away. “Max is going to lose his shit.”

“He’s already lost his shit.” And it was my fault. I might have understood it had he been able to feel the mating link, but he couldn’t. There was no way he did and hadn’t brought it up. Which meant that this thing between us had turned toxic. I’d been so selfish holding onto him when I knew I couldn’t have him. I should have done this from the beginning. Should have pushed harder to be separated instead of being weak and giving into my need to be close to him. If that was how Max reacted when I was in danger, he wouldn’t be able to survive it if something happened to me when I tried to transmute Lex’s blood again.

Cassie picked at her nails. “Are you going away too?”

I paused mid-step. “Cassie.”

She straightened her spine. At this angle I could see only the tips of her eyes that were beginning to moisten. “It’s okay. I get it.”

What I heard was the disappointment and fear. “It might be better for everyone if I’m not around.”

“No, it won’t,” she said. “It’ll only be better for you.”

I would have been less painful if she just backhanded me. Swallowing down all of my emotions, I pushed them aside to be dealt with later.

“Can you please pack up my things? I just need to talk to Noah and then I’ll come back to Laila’s.”

She agreed, but something in her eyes said that she doubted she would see me ever again.

Noah was not at home. I waited outside his place for a few minutes, thinking that he might return. I should have known that I wouldn’t be alone for long. Gwen appeared as per the shifter custom. Even if she wasn’t beta, I suspected they would have sent her anyway. She was all fluid grace hiding the efficient soldier within.

“Is Noah with you?” I asked before she could say anything.

“Yep.”

“Okay. Then lead the way.”

She didn’t try and make small talk, and I didn’t nudge like I would have before. A clean break was just that, a break. I couldn’t allow myself to get swept up in their emotions because I would have enough trouble controlling my own.

When I stepped into the conference room, I found myself locked in the stalking gaze of the inner circle. This time, I didn’t have Max to protect me.

31

It was customary in the presence of the circle to take your place in the very centre. But I wasn’t going to bend today. So I planted myself just inside the door. Avoiding Noah’s pointed look, I said, “The answer is no. As it has always been.”

Anastasia snorted. Unlike Noah whose complexion was still peaky and whose bandages I could see in the bulge at his side, she was physically unscathed. Was I imagining, though, that there was less bite in her aggression? “You’ve said a lot of things,” she argued. “But we don’t see any evidence of it.”

Truth. I had said I didn’t want to mate with Max and then I’d acted like I had rights over him. That wasn’t fair on anybody.

“You’re right.” I wasn’t sure which of us was more surprised. “It won’t happen again.”

Gwen had taken a seat on my left. Now she crossed one leg over the other and leaned forward. “Are you sure? You’ve just come out of the infirmary. Maybe you should take some time to think about it.”

“Agreed,” Amy added. “I know that happened might seem fright–”

I stared at her pointedly. “That wasn’t frightening. It was insane.”

Her gaze flicked sideways to Jeremiah. “We’re shifters. We lose our heads a little when we’ve emotional.”

“Are you really going to sit here and tell me that what happened was normal? I’ve lived with wolves. I’ve seen it when one goes