He slammed the door in my face.
Mortification heated up my cheeks. The smug bastard. Why did he just assume I hadn’t had any experience in that area? So what if I’d kissed all of one boy before I’d fallen quietly in love with Max when I was fifteen? I had lived with shifters. For all he knew, I could have gotten up to all kinds of mischief like they did from the time they were in double digits.
The mating link stroked a hot tendril over my soul. This was going to be a problem. If it was just going to offer up all my secrets to him, then what was the point in having my own thoughts? I needed to get some advice, but there was no way I was going to do anything right now while I was so weak.
My stomach grumbled. Scowling, I jumped out of bed. Poking my head out the door, I scanned the place. “What the hell is this?” The bedroom led into a short hallway. There was a bathroom on my left with an enormous shower and bath that replicated the one at the Thompsons’. The decor was light and bright. Whites and light grey with accents of green. I followed the light and froze. The end of the corridor opened up into a kitchen the size of the industrial one at the Academy. On one side was a hearth that I could comfortably stand in with my arms raised in the air and turn around without touching the sides. The world’s biggest cauldron sat inside it. Next to it was a similar set-up but smaller for everyday use.
On the other side next to the huge bay windows was a long bench set up the same way as the Potions lab at the Academy.
Ignoring the fine smoky-quartz tabletop that would absorb bad energy if a spell went wrong, I approached the double doors set into the side wall. A gold plaque was bolted to the top of the door. My breath caught when I read the inscription: Sophie’s Ingredients Closet: Keep out at your own risk.
I reached out gingerly and opened the door. My legs almost collapsed. This wasn’t a closet. It was a walk-in room bigger than our dorm room. Shelves and shelves lined the walls. All the ones on the left were filled with glass and metal jars that held all manner of potions ingredients. Below the shelf on the back wall, Max had slotted my ingredients chest into the spot under the first shelf. And on the right were empty spaces on the shelves. There was a white card sitting on the bench in front of it. My fingers trembled as I picked it up.
For all the things you find when I take you wherever you want to go~Max.
It was lucky the doorbell rang at that moment because I was in very real danger of breaking down in tears. And then, when I opened and door and my parents stood there beaming, the floodgates opened.
43
A week later, I still hadn’t heard a thing from Max. But the Reserve was now awash with new guards from other factions of the supernatural world. Mages and sorceresses from Ravenhall worked tirelessly to reset the blood barriers. And I had it on good authority that the guards were training day and night.
“Dorian is a slavedriver,” Charles grumbled one evening in the conference field.
“You’re telling me!” Luther whined. “The First Order isn’t any better.”
He did an impression of Basil’s accent that was frighteningly accurate. “Are you fighting demons or having high-tea with the queen?” he mimicked. “What the hell is high-tea? What queen? I don’t know what he’s talking about half the time!”
I saw Basil had spent his exile productively.
In the sentiments of the civilians, I was back to neutral territory again. On the one hand, I had fought with them when it mattered. On the other, I was holding out on a mating link.
When I went to visit Laila at Yolanda’s request, I found myself at the business end of an interrogation from Gwen and Noah.
“What are you doing here?” Gwen asked when I pulled up short in front of her.
“Visiting a friend.”
“What’s in the bag?” Noah wanted to know.
I frowned. “Did you hit your head too hard in the fight? Can’t you smell what’s in here?” I pointed to the satchel slung over my torso which was full of cookies, madeleines, and health elixir.
“It could be anything.” He said it to my chin. Everybody was talking to any spot on my face except my eyes.
“Cut it out!” I stomped my foot. “You can make eye contact!”
“Until you decide your place, we don’t know where you fit in the hierarchy.”
“I fit where I’ve always fit!”
“Okay,” Gwen said, with no conviction in her voice.
I tried to take a step forward. They barred my way. I breathed through my nose and slipped into my meditation once more. “Yolanda asked me to come,” I said. “So unless you want to take it up with her, get out of my way.”
They exchanged a glance. “You’re not staying,” Noah said. “This isn’t your house.”
I channelled Diana and elbowed him in the gut. “I’m not running away, so stop following me!” I turned my back on them. As if I would leave that ingredients closet. I’d kick Max out on his butt if it came to it.
The pressure did not stop there. It came at me from all sides. The civilians took every opportunity to remind me that the Reserve was tensely waiting for me to make up my mind. I pushed it all aside as I stepped into Laila’s house. She hugged me close, her smile softened with grief. I passed the satchel to her and tiptoed to the living room where the pups and cubs were being watched while Betty was getting Basil’s mansion in order so she could open up shop again.
The play was sedate. As was the atmosphere. I could hardly take
