Bloodline Secrecy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 2), Lan Chan [readict TXT] 📗

“You made it!” Charles said. He raced around in a circle.

“Did they spike your drink or something?” I said. His excitement was catching. Another thing about shifters was that they tended to feed off the energy of those around them. Pack mentality and all that. As the focus of the evening, all of that energy must have been funnelling through him.

He caught sight of the present in Sophie’s hands. He stared blatantly at it. She smiled at him and handed it over. The colour was back in her cheeks. We would definitely talk about this later.

Charles tore through the wrapping paper. “Awesome!” he cried, jumping up and hugging Sophie. Diana gave him money in a wizard’s purse that he stashed away quickly into his pocket. I was suddenly feeling really self-conscious about my present. I’d always gotten by with no money before but standing there amongst all that wealth had me feeling slightly pauperish.

I pulled the Arcana fruit out of my bag and dropped my gift into Charles’s hand. His face became motionless even before the package touched his palm. The area around us turned quiet.

Charles stared at the ball-shaped gift. “Is this...?”

Max whistled. Other shifters, including his friends, came over to sneak a peek. Their noses were all twitching. Charles very carefully unwrapped the package. His mouth dropped open when he saw the shiny, golden flesh of the Arcana fruit.

“Sorry it’s not something cooler,” I said. My face felt hot. Now that I looked at it, it seemed so small and...plain.

“Are you freaking kidding me?” Charles screamed. Luther reached out his hand. Charles snatched the fruit away.

“Touch it and I’ll kill you!” Charles said. He turned tail suddenly and ran off.

I glanced around, bewildered. “What just happened?”

Max started laughing. “You have no idea about how Arcana fruit affects shifters, do you?”

I shook my head. “It’s like the most potent strength booster known to magic. Human alcohol does nothing for us but one lick of Arcana and we’re off our heads. I bet right now he’s trying to get my dad to fight him.”

“How did you even get the nymphs to give you one?” Kai said. I could tell by the frown that he suspected I had stolen it.

“I sold them my blood.”

There was a moment of pure silence when everyone glanced at each other to ascertain whether I was kidding. In the lull, Charles returned in the wake of a red-haired woman with pale grey eyes that were currently mottled yellow. She held the Arcana fruit rewrapped in her grip. She scanned the group. Her attention landed on me.

“You’re Alessia?” she asked.

I could only nod. She was standing next to Max. Though he was taller, I noticed they had similar features. Big eyes and a straight nose.

“Lovely to meet you,” she said. “I’m Shayla. Charles’s mother.”

“Hi.”

“I have to ask, did you steal this?”

My cheeks flamed. Max pinched his lips together to stop from smiling. “No, ma’am.”

She searched my face for a second. I could see her keen eyes inspecting me for any signs of deception. Finally, she smiled. Turning to Charles, she lifted the Arcana fruit.

“You’ll get this back when you turn seventeen.”

“Aw, come on, Mum!”

“You heard what I said. You’re rambunctious enough. The last thing I need is for you to go around challenging every alpha in the Reserve.”

She left with the fruit firmly in her grip. There would be no taking it back now.

“Dammit,” Charles said.

“Better luck next time, Chuck,” Max said.

Charles growled. “Get lost. At least I have an Arcana fruit! No shifter has had one for a decade!”

My eyes popped out. “A decade?”

He grinned and jumped on me. His arms constricted me to the point where I wasn’t breathing. “Get off her,” Kai said, his hand on Charles’s shoulder.

Charles let me go. “Technically, shifters are banned from taking the fruit. It makes us a bit weird.”

“Kind of like a drug?”

He contemplated the question. “A little.”

Oh dear God. I had given him drugs for a birthday present. “The tree in the Academy is one of only five in our world,” Kai said.

I peered at him. The look on my face must have been bewildered because something in him seemed to soften. “So when I ate the fruit....”

“Yeah,” he said. “You got off really lightly. The last time someone broke into the Grove to steal fruit, the nymphs were halfway through ripping their fingernails out before we could stop them.”

Disturbingly, Charles started laughing. He grabbed Cassie’s hand. “Let’s go get something to eat. I want to be prepared when the Shadow Ball game starts.”

And just like that the dark, broody film of irritation was back on Kai’s face. “How long has that been going on?”

He directed the question at me.

“I don’t know? Since the demon attack?” His eyes turned forest green. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not their babysitter. If anything, it’s yours and Max’s problem.”

“Don’t bring me into this,” Max said. “I have enough problems trying to wrangle him when we’re home.”

“They’re just kids,” Sophie said.

Max snorted. “You have no idea what a thirteen-year-old lion shifter is like.”

“As opposed to a twenty-year-old one,” I muttered.

“You know,” Max said, stepping closer to me, “it was much better when you were this unassuming kid with no idea what was happening.”

“I keep telling everybody I catch on quick.”

My stomach rumbled. I grabbed Sophie’s arm. “I’m hungry too.”

She sighed. “You’re always hungry.”

We waved to the guys and their friends and made our way towards the food. I could tell from the way Max’s eyes shifted over her when we left that he wanted her to stay. But his friends were vying for his attention.

Diana thumped Sophie on the back. “What the hell was that?” Diana said. “He was totally coming on to you and you just stood there like a stunned fish.”

“I...” Her cheeks turned red.

I slung my arm over her shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. If he really likes you then he’ll just have to wait until you’re ready.”

Diana made a face.