Entangled (Guardian Academy Book 2) (16 page)

“She never said,” Thad replies. “But I’m guessing she probably had us do it so she could make sure nothing was lurking around when she had that secret meeting in the forest with the empress of the Water Fey—” Thad suddenly soars through the air like a leaf blowing in the wind and lands near a thick tree with a thud. He blinks, stunned, as he staggers to his feet. “What the heck just happened?”

I open my mouth, but the words die on my tongue as I realize Nadene is no longer on Thad’s shoulder.

“Um, Jax—”

He cuts me off, rushing in front of me and placing a hand over my mouth. “Shhh …” He tilts his head to the side, listening, but the forest is eerily quiet except for the sound of my ragged breathing.

Jax lowers his hand from my mouth and walks a circle around me. “Whatever you do, don’t leave my side.”

I nod, bending over and grabbing a broken tree branch from off the ground to use for a stake. Thad follows my lead and does the same before edging toward us.

When he reaches us, he rubs his shoulder and winces. “She’s absurdly strong for a vamp. She’s probably the strongest I’ve ever seen.”

“Look at you. Three scared, little cowards.” Nadene’s shrill cackle echoes through the forest as a blur zips through the trees and zooms out in front of us.

I shuffle back as fingernails clip my cheek and draw blood.

“Dammit, she cut me.”

She laughs, zipping through the trees, moving so swiftly my eyes can barely track her. Leaves fly through the air, the trees begin to tremble, and birds flee from the trees.

“Think you could take me down.” The blur darts back and forth in front of us, and Jax stalks the movement like prey. “You have no idea who you’re messing with.”

“You want to bet?” Jax starts to run forward, but an instant later, he drops to the ground, landing on his back hard.

Thad runs toward him but gets knocked down from behind and slams to the ground on his front.

Neither of them budge, and I start to fear they’re dead. But the trail of moonlight sneaking through the branches above offers just the right amount of light that I can tell they’re still breathing.

“You want to know why I haven’t taken you down yet?” Nadene asks, her laughter hitting me from every angle.

I turn in a slow circle with the tree branch positioned to strike. “Because you’re a coward.”

Her laughter dies, and a roar vibrates through the ground. “How dare you insult me like that! I may be a lot of things, but I’m definitely not a coward.”

“Prove it, then.” My gaze sweeps the trees. “Stop messing around and come out and fight fair.”

I don’t expect her to take the bait, so when she appears in front of me, I startle back in shock and nearly trip over a rock. I manage to get my footing before I fall flat on my ass, though.

Regaining my balance, I stand upright with the stake raised.

Her lip twitches with delight as she stands in the center of the trees, her hair dancing in the wind. “It’s like watching a child play dress up, pretending to be a warrior when really you’re just a scared, little girl.”

“I’m not scared.” My voice comes out smooth and even. “Not even a little bit.”

“You lie.” Her grin challenges me. “I can smell it all over you. You’re scared. Scared for yourself. Scared for your little friend over there.” She glances at Jax before her emotionless eyes land back on me. “That I’ll kill him, which I will. I’ll kill him and the ogre, slaughter them just like my clan and I did to the North Kingdom fey.” A sickeningly pleased smile possesses her face.

“You make me sick,” I say, kneeing her in the belly.

She flinches, her nails piercing deep into my skin. “I’m
sick
? Just wait until you see what you can do when your powers truly come out.” She leans in, putting her lips beside my ear. “Just wait until you meet the evil living inside you.”

“I’m not evil.” This time, my voice trembles with fear. “I could never be as evil as you.”

“You think so?” She steps toward me, the leaves crunching beneath her heels. “You really have no idea what you are, do you?”

“No, but what I do know is that dress you’re wearing is so unflattering on you.” I use the tactic my mom taught me once as a way to throw off an opponent.

Her brows dip in confusion, and seizing the distraction, I barrel into her with the tree branch pointed at her chest. Our bodies collide, and we hit the ground hard in a tangled mess of limbs. I grapple to get on top of her, kicking her in the gut with a shocking amount of power.

She rolls to the side but flips around and comes back at me, trying to climb on top of me. Her fingers are in my hair, yanking at the roots, and her fangs glint in the moonlight.

I wiggle my arms, trying to push her off, and the tree branch clips her flesh right above her heart. Surprised I even made it that far, I feel confidence build inside me, and I move the tree branch in for the kill shot. But she snatches the branch from me and chucks it aside. Then she pins my arms down to the ground above my head, no longer laughing, but fuming mad.

“You want to know why you’re going to turn out evil?” she seethes, her fingernails stabbing into my wrists. “Because you’re from evil, Alana. You were raised by it.”

“Liar!” I whip my head forward and knock my forehead against hers. Our skulls make a sickening cracking sound, and my head instantly begins to pulsate as the world spins around me.

Nadene barely blinks, though, gripping me as she forces my hands down into the dirt.

“You think I’m lying!” she growls, her eyes shining against the darkness. “Ask me who created me, who created all the rogues. You know him, the leader of the Electi. And really, he’s your—”

Her body suddenly combusts into flames.

I scurry backward as scalding hot ash scatters through the air. I gape at the spot where the leaves and twigs sizzle with Nadene’s ashes.

“What the heck just happened?”

“I think she self-destructed because she was about to tell you stuff she wasn’t supposed to.”

My head whips to the right and find Jax standing upright, his hair ruffled, his cheek scratched. Other than that, he looks unscathed.

Relief starts to wash through me until I realize what this means. He might have been awake and heard Nadene accuse me of knowing the leader of the Electi.

“How much did you hear?” I ask as I stumble to my feet, brushing dirt and leaves off my pants.

He plucks a few leaves from his hair, his gaze never leaving me. “All of it.”

I smash my lips together, unsure what to say. While Nadene never flat-out told me who the leader was, doubt creeps into my mind that somehow it’s connected to my grandpa.

Grandpa, please say something,
I think.
Tell me I’m wrong.

Silence is my only response.

“Alana, I think we need to talk,” Jax starts, stepping toward me.

Then he freezes as Thad begins to stirs, his eyelids opening as he sits up and blinks. Just like that, our conversation comes to a halt, but I know this isn’t over.

It’s not even close.

Chapter 18

By the time Jax and I make it back to my dorm room, the sun is starting to rise over the hills. Fortunately, the school hasn’t woken up; otherwise, our appearance might set off some red flags.

Twigs and leaves stick out of my hair, dirt and grime cover my clothes, and I have bruises and cuts all over my arms. Jax doesn’t look that great, either. Dark circles reside under his silver eyes, his shirt and pants are torn, and his blond hair is matted to the side.

I can barely keep my eyes open, too, and almost every part of my body aches. I want to take a shower, but the need to go to sleep is much more desirable at the moment.

“So, you’re really not going to file a report on Nadene’s death?” I ask, unlocking the door to my dorm room.

He shakes his head, leaning against the doorframe, watching me unlock the door. “There’d be no point. She wasn’t murdered, at least not technically.”

I push the door open and trudge inside the room, not the least bit surprised to see my roommate is MIA. “But what about all those fey deaths? Someone’s got to pay for them.”

He kicks the door shut and slips off his boots. “The territory clan will pay for what they did. My supervisor’s making the arrests now.”

I sink onto the bed and begin to untie my mud-caked boots. “That’s good and everything, but what if none of them confess, and they go free? I’m sure the North Kingdom fey will try to kill them, but I doubt that’ll happen.” I grip my wrists, bruised from Nadene’s grip. “Those vampires are too strong for the fey to take down.”

“They don’t need to confess.” Jax tugs off his belt, sets it on the dresser, and walks toward my bed. “I already got a confession and turned it in.”

I wiggle my feet out of my boots and scoot back on the bed. “How? We never even got to interrogate Nadene.”

He stops in front of my bed. “I always record every single investigation I’m a part of.” He reaches for the collar of his torn T-shirt and tugs it over his head. “I have everything on recording from the second we stepped foot into that club.”

I chew on my bottom lip, trying not to stare at his ripped abs or the curving patterns of the ink tattoo up the side of his ribcage. For the briefest moment, my mind wanders back to the club when we danced together, how amazing it felt.

If only the night would’ve ended on that note…

Swallowing hard, I steady my nerves and address the problem Jax and I have been tiptoeing around since we left the woods with Thad.

“About what Nadene said … about me knowing the leader of the Electi …” I pick at my fingernails, unable to look at him. “I’m guessing you got that on recording, too.”

“Actually, I didn’t.” He pauses, only continuing when I look up at him. “Funny, but the recording stopped working for about thirty seconds, right about the time she said that.”

I know that’s not the real reason—that Jax probably did something to the recording—but …

“Why?” I draw my knees against my chest and recline against the headboard. “Why would you do that? You’re so play-everything-by-the rules, and I’m pretty sure that’s breaking a rule big time.”

The mattress squeaks beneath his weight as he climbs onto the bed beside me. “I did it for a few reasons. One being I know what Vivianne will do if she heard that recording. She’ll make assumptions about it being your grandfather, and then you’ll get kicked out of the program.” His lips pull to a lopsided smile. “And I can’t lose my best partner, not when we broke the record for solving a case.”

I smile at him, but the movement aches. “What’re the other reasons?”

He shrugs, reaching for a pillow. “I’d rather keep those to myself.”

I watch him warily as he lies down. “What about the other thing …? About Nadene saying that I’m evil?”

“No one will know about that, either.” He pats the spot beside him. “Now stop worrying and get some sleep. Classes start in about an hour.”

I don’t make a move to lie down. “You’re really going to make me go to class?”

He nods, fluffing the pillow and getting situated. “The most important thing right now is for you to act normal, which means going to class. You won’t be alone, though. Like I said, you’ll have someone with you at all times.” He pats the spot beside him again, indicating for me to lie down.

I still don’t budge, eyeballing the limited space beside him and then his half-naked body.

“You’re really going to sleep in my bed again? And without a shirt on?”

Amusement dances in his eyes. “You could always take your shirt off and even up the playing field.”

I roll my eyes but lie down and rest my head on the pillow. Less than a minute later, Jax’s eyes are shut, and his chest rises and falls with each relaxed breath he takes. I watch him sink into a deep sleep with gratitude swelling in my chest.

He may drive me nuts, but what he did for me by deleting the recording … Words can’t even express how grateful I am.

“Thanks, Jax, for everything,” I whisper softly then nuzzle deep into my pillow.

But even after the crazy night we had, my mind is too wired to go to sleep as Nadene’s words replay in my mind. While I want to believe she was lying about me knowing the leader of the Electi, I can’t help thinking about the cracked crystal ball tucked away in my dresser drawer, the one I’m pretty sure is my grandpa Lucas’s. Jax and I found it at a crime scene where a zombie had been murdered by the Electi. I hate to think it, but I can’t stop the thought from creeping into my mind. What if that’s why his crystal ball was there? What if he is part of this? What if my grandpa is the leader of the Electi?

“Grandpa,” I whisper. “Please answer me and tell me I’m wrong.”

He doesn’t answer. In fact, he hasn’t uttered a word to me since Jax and I found Nadene. Whether that means something or not, I’m unsure.

I’m unsure about everything now.

All I can do is keep moving forward and try to put the pieces together before someone else does.

Coming Soon in the Guardian Academy Series:

Deadly Beauty (Ollie’s Story)

Enchanted