Blood Pledged (Arcane Arts Academy #3) - Elena Lawson Page 0,4
to find them first.”
Draven grinned, eyeing me up and down. Appraising me. “Good. Then by order of my queen, you will have my help to do it.”
2
Harper
Armed with the knowledge I was far from alone—with not only my familiars, Elias, and Bianca to help me, but also Draven—I felt like there was nothing we couldn’t conquer.
But right now, we had to start with this. The severing of the bond. The rest would have to wait. I took a deep breath to focus.
“You all know why we’re here,” Atlas roared over the group as Draven and I took our places at the edge of the crescent formation.
Atlas met my gaze with a fiery one of his own before he turned his attention to the Endurans to his right. Cal and Adrian stood, hands clasped behind their backs. Sometime in the few minutes of conversation with Draven, Adrian had managed to dress himself again, and I sighed, more than a little disappointed.
Sensing my mood and the thoughts that led it there, Adrian winked at me and gave his hips a little thrust in my direction.
I shook my head at him, wondering what the hell had gotten into him while staring pointedly at Atlas, the man who was still their alpha and would act as such if they didn’t stay in line.
Cal elbowed Adrian and he coughed to cover up the sound of the air leaving his lungs. Always the tough guy. But his reddened face and Cal’s quirked brow elicited a string of laughter from the group.
“Quiet!” Atlas commanded, and I felt the tantalizing force of the word. Like a great hand pressing down against my skull.
It took me a moment to realize it wasn’t a feeling of my own, but of my familiars. I watched them bow to the will of their alpha, their legs buckling, and heads bent.
I didn’t like it one bit, seeing them that way.
They should bow to no one.
Atlas’ words from the morning I left Cal and Adrian in their cabin repeated in my head, his gruff voice grating in my ears. You don’t understand our ways.
No, I didn’t. But looking at the wolves all forced to kneel before Atlas, whether they liked it or not, I didn’t really need to know everything to know that I didn’t like what I saw.
Once everyone quieted, Atlas rolled his shoulders back and some of the glow left his eyes. He brushed his hair back and breathed deeply. That was when I saw the defeat in his expression. The pain.
He wasn’t being a prick—or, at least he wasn’t just being a prick. He was using anger and control to hide regret and shame. His failure.
Leo did that sometimes. How I wished he were here now, though—him and Lara. Things would be so much easier with them at my side.
“I can’t have rogue wolves in my pack,” Atlas said quietly, his voice so low I almost didn’t hear him. “You all understand why.”
Except me. I wanted to raise my hand, get his attention.
Hey, hello! Yeah, over here. Me—I don’t get it. Mind explaining?
But I stayed silent, heeding Stella’s warnings that at any moment Atlas could decide he didn’t want me here after all and throw me out.
“Today, we say goodbye to two wolves from our pack. Cal and Adrian have been invaluable members of our family since they were born, but now…” Atlas faltered, and I wondered what he would say.
I braced for the lashing. For him to say that I’d stolen them from him, and it was witches who were to blame for this severing.
But he didn’t do that.
“I don’t understand the magic that binds you together,” he said, and I realized with a start that he was speaking to me directly. I was having a hard time meeting his stare and clenched my hands together at my waist to stop the shaking.
Draven stepped in a little tighter to my side, and the closeness brought me an unusual measure of comfort. The small gesture said he was with me and gave me the strength to finally look up.
“But I don’t have to understand it to accept it. Just like you don’t have to understand our customs to accept them.”
Gritting my teeth, I nodded, and Atlas turned back to the others. “Cal and Adrian have accepted this decision. They will leave the pack peacefully.”
The group sighed collectively, and I wondered for a moment what would have happened if they didn’t leave willingly. How would they have been severed, then?