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

“Is that Durin?” I asked.

“Go!” Yolanda hissed. She began to cough.

Blood is family. I found myself pulling the Ley sight around me. My suspicions were confirmed. A line of the deepest red wound around Yolanda and stretched all the way into the cage where the beast, where Durin, was now scraping at the silver in an effort to stand. Though both of them were damaged, the thread of their mating link, their ties of blood, remained intact.

The longer I looked, the more the Ley sight showed me. Beneath the tie of unbreakable love, there was another, paler thread. One of absolute loyalty and trust. The pack link. It stretched out like the threads of an interconnected web between Yolanda, Alastair, and Shayla. What made my breath catch was that it was eroded on this side to the point where it was no thicker than gossamer.

When I turned to where Max and Charles stood, I found that the links were there, but they were greyed out before they touched the boys. The ends of the links were frayed and floating as though buffeted by an ethereal wind.

Turning, I followed the link to the cell. The closer the link to Durin, the sturdier it became, until it lodged in his chest in a glowing ball of pink-tinged light. The alpha of the Reserve was the source of their strength. His bond to the heart of their home was an anchor to which every shifter was tethered. What I saw before me was wrong on so many levels. Durin was sucking the life force out of the link. And in doing so, he was hampering the strength of his people.

I felt a hand on my shoulder again. This time it was Charles. He opened his mouth, his eyes night-glow and filled with despair. When I turned and saw the same defeat in Max’s eyes, a switch went off in my head.

“He hasn’t gone rogue, has he?” I said aloud, my third eye still firmly entrenched in the Ley sight. “He’s sick.”

In a desperate attempt to save their beloved alpha, the shifters were killing themselves. Now poor little Lizzie would die too.

For some reason, I took a step forward. Charles’s hand gripped tighter. Drawing a circle around him, I shoved and threw him off. Walking slowly towards the cage, I felt the throb of necromantic magic calling to me. Claws scraped against metal. Durin’s black hair was a mess of knots and clotted wounds. His skin was lacerated all over and scarred from the continued contact with the silver. When I pulled up short outside his cell, the thing that looked out at me from behind Durin’s black eyes was ancient. It sat on the bear’s haunches, breathing steamy breath and watching me with beady eyes. That was when I knew I was wrong. This wasn’t illness. This was some kind of unholy possession.

The thing inside Durin was a parasite sucking at their pack link.

“Why haven’t you tried to exorcise him?” I said, my voice razor sharp and carrying through the open room.

“We can’t,” came Yolanda’s rasp. “All the Nephilim have failed. The mages too. Maybe if Lex were still here...”

The implied notion was clear. Maybe if we had access to someone with real power. The words of light I tried to speak did absolutely nothing.

“Come away, Sophie,” Shayla said. “It does no good to linger.”

It did no good to give in, either. Whatever that thing was inside Durin, it had no right to monopolise the pack link.

“Max,” I said, “give her to me.”

Maybe it was the steel in my voice, or maybe it was that I hadn’t moved an inch from where I was standing, but he came towards me without argument. When our eyes met, I saw the blazing fury in his. Finally, I understood why nobody was allowed in here. The knowledge that their alpha was compromised would destroy the pack. For six months Max had led them, knowing that at any moment, all hell would break loose. It was no wonder he felt so trapped.

Holding out a hand, I placed it on Lizzie’s cheek. Her skin was icy. My top lip curled. When I wrapped myself in the Ley sight once more, there was no room for mercy. Honing the blood alchemy that was my heritage, I funnelled the blood still smeared on my wrist into a fine blade.

The sound of anguish that clawed in Durin’s throat when I sank the metaphysical blade into his hide brought a wail from the crowd of alphas. If they weren’t so frail, I would be dead in a matter of seconds. What happened instead was the thing inside Durin sat up to attention. It wasn’t a demon that looked out of his eyes but something old and mournful. Something that was injured beyond recognition.

I had seen that same look in the reflection of the eyes of the malachim that had tried to communicate with me. He was possessed by a twisted angel.

My resolve faltered. A warm hand suddenly cupped the side of my face, the gentle caress in it pulling me from the brink. Max trailed his thumb across my cheek, the physical contact grounding me. Inside, the mating link purred, wanting to revel in his touch. When it couldn’t break through the blood barrier, it threw up thorns and cut into the blood magic, making it agitated. The rage boosted the power of the alchemy, my own cage a hate-filled motivator.

Taking a deep breath, I reclaimed my hold on the alchemy and yanked.

A shrill cry came from the crowd. I knew from the connection that Yolanda had passed out. Pushing aside everything else, I rifled through the floating pack link threads in the room until I found the one that should have been connected to Lizzie.

Pressing the alchemic blood blade deeper into Durin, I felt the throb of power seep into me. His blood