Blood Pledged (Arcane Arts Academy #3) - Elena Lawson Page 0,2

girl they love?”

My body tensed at the uttering of the word. She was wrong, of course, as mothers sometimes were.

They didn’t love me. They were bonded to me.

There was a difference, though I understood how it would be hard to tell the two apart. From the outside looking in, I’d bet they looked similar.

“Thank you,” I said, relaxing as her warmth soaked into me, forcing my taut muscles to relax.

“Hush now, dear,” she whispered and released me back to the cool evening air. “Come, let’s go or we’ll miss the whole thing. They won’t wait forever.”

Stella led me to the eastern edge of the shifter camp, and then into the trees on the other side. Their voices rose to meet us after only a few minutes of stumbling through the dark. Stella bit back laughter at my complete inability to remain on two feet.

We approached a small meadow and within two steps, my feet went from dry earth to long grass, the swishing sound of it swaying in the breeze crackling in my ears.

There they were. Cal and Adrian stood with the other Endurans in the pack, exchanging hushed words, waiting.

At the sound of our approach, they turned, and twin smiles lit up two of the most handsome faces I’d ever known. I tried to match their enthusiasm, feeling the tugging of the bond and the release of tension. The surge of power as their energy shifted to support me. It was difficult when it felt like someone was cleaving my skull open, but I managed a smile.

I resisted the urge to shiver at the rush of power. Since I’d done the dark magic locator spell with Stella’s blood, I’d been overly cautious with my power. Working double-time to keep it in check and within my control. Not allowing it to take me over like it almost did that night.

Blood magic left a stain on the witch who wielded it, and even though it’d been weeks, the stain on my soul remained. Like a tiny little part of me that was just bad now. Rotted. Decayed.

I didn’t ever want to do it again.

Cal came to me first, seeming to completely abandon the conversation he was having with a man I knew to be Blake—Atlas’ beta.

“Hey—”

Before I got more than the single word from my lips, he’d smothered me in an embrace that would put a boa constrictor to shame. The breath whooshed from my lungs, and since he had my arms wrapped up with the rest of me, I couldn’t even hug him back. Despite the fact I couldn’t breathe, power surged again at his touch, a minor balm for the migraine.

“Can’t… breathe…” I sputtered.

He dropped me instantly, and I landed on my tailbone in the grass. “Shit,” he cursed, and hauled me back up, giving me a bit of whiplash in the process. I winced at the pounding behind my eyes.

“Man. What the fuck? You’re going to break her,” Adrian said, stepping between Cal and me.

Cal grimaced. “Guess I don’t know my own strength,” he said by way of apology, and cleared his throat.

Once I got my breath back, I couldn’t help but smile at the pair of them. Was it guilty to think that after today—without their pack holding sway over them, without Atlas holding sway over them—that they could be mine? Truly mine. They could do as they pleased.

And I hoped I was one of the things they wanted to do. I mean, well, not do, but you know, like, be around.

I shook my head.

“I missed you,” I told them both, and Adrian spun to tug me into an overly tender hug of his own. Pulling back too soon, but not before he got a good handful of my rear and brushed a tiny kiss against the shallow dip in my neck, sending shockwaves coursing over my body—making my thighs squeeze and my stomach flutter.

Reeling, I regained my footing, blinking rapidly to clear the haze of desire.

I hadn’t expected this.

I expected a horrid evening of stress and other ugly emotions, but they seemed almost excited. Maybe Stella was right—maybe they’d just been waiting for this to happen all along. Maybe on some deeper level, they knew it would come and yearned for it.

I couldn’t be certain. It was just as likely they were putting on brave faces for me, but the thought made me feel a little better.

“Save the hellos for after the ceremony,” Stella chastised. “And for Pete’s sake, have a little decency.” She swatted Adrian