Bloodline Alchemy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 6), Lan Chan [free ebook reader for android TXT] 📗

“Maybe as a guard, you should have a better idea of what your charge is allowed to do.”

“I guard you at the Academy while Charles is indisposed. Nothing else is my concern.”

He proved exactly that by turning on his heel and marching away. Right. “Do you at least know where Gwen is?” I screamed after him.

He pointed in the direction of the living quarters which probably meant she was off duty. “Nuts,” I said. If I did the polite thing and went to a subordinate, there was every chance I would end up being in the same room as Anastasia. With that alternative, choosing to be an imposing jerk was surprisingly easy.

Guards who chose to live with the civilians usually housed themselves around the perimeter. Even the location of their homes was driven by a need to protect. Gwen lived in a two-bedroom studio around the back quarter. It meant I had to walk through the suburban areas. My concern about drawing unwanted hostility was offset by my confusion at how quiet the streets were. Besides the odd lone animal, shifters were social creatures.

It was almost eerily quiet standing on Gwen’s front porch with not another soul in sight. She came to the door a minute or two after I knocked. Still in her usual skin-tight get-up, the only thing that said she was off duty was that she wasn’t wearing shoes.

“Hey,” she said, opening the door and coming outside rather than inviting me in. Though they were social, their homes were private places, and we were friendly but not that friendly. “What’s up?”

“Sorry to bug you when you’re not working. I just need to run some stuff by you.”

She leaned against her front door. “Why did you come to see me?”

I turned my head to the side wondering if she meant in a general sense or in particular. “Umm…you’re Max’s beta, aren’t you?”

Her cheek puckered like she was holding back a smile. “Why would you think that? Don’t you think Jeremiah or Harris or even Amy would be a better fit?”

“Who’s Amy?”

“I think you got pretty well acquainted with Amy yesterday.”

“Oh, you mean…” I made a hand gesture by raising my arm above my head as a reminder of Military Woman’s height. Gwen laughed outright.

“That’s the one.”

“Well then no, there’s no way Max would pick Amy to watch his back.”

Both her brows rose. “Why not?”

“One, he doesn’t know her as well as he knows you. Two, she’s a bear from what I could tell. He wouldn’t choose another slow fighter…I mean, slow is the wrong word…you know what I mean.”

She grinned at me, showing all her teeth. “Keep talking. I’m storing all of this up.”

I scowled at her. “Pack Law states that if there’s an alpha challenge he’ll have to fight with his beta. He’d pick someone fast because he’s already got power. That rules out both Jeremiah and Harris. Max would want someone who can think straight because, especially now, he’d be hamstrung by his own aggression. From what I can tell, that’s Ari out of the question. Noah hasn’t been around long enough for Max to get a sense of how he fights.” I swallowed, finding it hard to get the next bit out. “Leadership challenges are only a small part of what’s going on right now, though. Of the remaining females, I would hope he would be smart enough not to pick someone interested in mating with him. Last I heard you have that massive crush on Evan so…I guess the rules of elimination have brought me to your door.”

She gave me a once-over that on a man would have had me prickling. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that last bit about Evan,” she said. “But as to the rest, are you sure you don’t want to mate with him? You know an awful lot about pack politics.”

“Yes, I’m sure.”

She pushed herself up. Face-to-face she was a hand span taller. Her limbs were honed muscles whereas mine were slightly too rounded. In a nutshell, she could flatten me in an instant. But when she regarded me, it was with blatant worry. “He’s my friend before he’s my alpha,” she said. “Whatever you think should keep you apart, is it worth losing him?”

Yes. But I couldn’t tell her the truth. Or maybe I should. If she knew, maybe she wouldn’t be so quick down this trail. Then again, her loyalty was to Max. If I told her, she’d be in his ear quicker than a leopard on Arcana juice.

Her shoulders sagged. “Under any other circumstances, you’d have come to the right place. But nothing happens with your schedule that doesn’t go through Max. So you might as well speak to him yourself.”

Err, that was what I was trying to avoid. She knew it too because she slipped back through the door and closed it in my face. That was just perfect.

As I made my way back to the Thompsons’, I kept telling myself that at least I didn’t have to have that useless conversation with Anastasia. That didn’t make it any better when I arrived to a figure in a skin-tight mini-skirt bent over the front porch. It was very obvious Charles was home because the light in his room was on.

“Can I help you with something?” I asked, stepping up to the door. Calm. I was a frozen lake. A smooth stone with cool water running over it. I did not want to smash the casserole dish over her head.

“Sure! I was just leaving this for Ma–” Her perky smile dipped when she saw it was me. “Oh.”

“Oh,” I mimicked. She stood there like a statue for a second. Then she reached up to tuck her hair behind her ears. They were ever so slightly pointed at the tips. “I’ll make sure he gets this.” Yanking the dish from her grasp, I swiped the back of my palm over the ward and slid into the tiny crack I