A knock at the door made him freeze, and he slowly lowered the pillow to peek over it. “Yeah?”
The door opened enough for Caius to poke his head in. “You okay?”
Max sighed and sat up. “’M fine.”
Caius raised an eyebrow, glancing at the cage, though he didn’t comment on it. “If you’re sure.”
He tightened his arms around the pillow and nodded. He’d be fine, so long as they kept their word. The moment they tried to tell him he couldn’t go somewhere or do something, then they’d have a problem. Of the house burning to ash variety.
“Are you sleeping here?”
“Probably,” Max said after a moment. “I need to study more.” And he needed a shower and some quiet time to himself.
“All right. Good night.”
“Night.” He waited for the door to close before flopping onto the bed again. He felt like a dick, but he refused to wallow.
He showered, put on some music, and pored over his notes for a few hours. His studying had gone well enough the past week that he wasconfident he could pass the finals. Amazing what a change in environment could do. Even if he was bound to shifters, at least they weren’t telling him how disappointing his entire existence was.
Only time would tell if they would keep their word. By the time they showed their true colors, he was determined to have learned enough magic to break the bindings and make it on his own if he had to.
Chapter 14
MAX FINISHEDhis last test and sat back with a groan. Fuck finals. And fuck his brilliant idea of keeping them all scheduled on the same day so he only had to make one trip to campus. He eyed the clock and saw he had about half an hour of his allotted time left, but he couldn’t bring himself to care enough to double-check his answers. He was done.
He gathered everything up, hooking Aradia’s pouch around his neck again and peeking inside. She was still asleep, so he settled it against his chest and took the tests up to the monitor to hand over, then made his escape.
Quinn had his legs stretched out on one of the benches down the hall, absorbed in his phone. When Max peeked over his shoulder, he saw Quinn type outon our way backin a text to Caius before hitting Send.
“Stupid shifter hearing,” Max muttered, ignoring Quinn’s laugh as he headed for the exit.
“Hungry? Why don’t we order food from that steak place and grab some ice cream to celebrate you finishing the semester?”
Max slipped his sunglasses over his eyes as they stepped outside. “You mean the steak place Lukas has an orgasm over whenever it’s mentioned?” He glanced over when Quinn growled, snickering at his glare. “Gods, when are you gonna make a move?”
Quinn groaned, his head falling back as he muttered the same curse Rían had favored under his breath.
Whatever else he said was lost in the sudden burst of white noise in Max’s ears as he saw a forest green Firebird driving across the parking lot towards them. He knew that car. It belonged to one of his father’s men.
He reached for Quinn, a dozen different warnings fighting over his tongue as fear squeezed his chest. He didn’t get a chance to do more than latch on to Quinn’s arm before the car’s window rolled down as if in slow motion, the muzzle of a semiautomatic gun sticking out.
Quinn’s curse was loud and broke the strange stretching of time. The sharp, echoing retort of gunfire cracked through the air at the same time the trees spun around him and his back hit the ground.
The gunfire continued for an endless second. Max’s amulet flared bright, creating a force field around them that stopped the bullets. Then car doors squeaked open and footsteps pounded on the pavement. Coming for them. Coming for him.
No, no, no.
Max tried to get up, but Quinn was a heavy weight on top of him. “Quinn,” he said, pushing at the shifter’s chest. His fingers met wet fabric, and his thoughts stuttered to a halt. No. He refused to look and redoubled his effort, finally managing to push Quinn off, where he slumped with a groan, weakly pressing a hand against his side.
His shirt was soaked through with blood.
“Quinn!”
The shield faded with the stop of gunfire and hands grabbed his arms, dragging him back. He screamed, and the pouch around his neck wiggled. Aradia poked her head out with a sharp bark before launching herself into the air as her wind magic circled, coaxing her higher. Then she dove at the man dragging Max towards the car.
The man swore, slapping at her like a fly. When he clipped her side and sent her spiraling, the anger finally broke through Max’s shock.
His flames surged inside him so fast he was sure he’d burn to ash, the amulet at his throat flaring bright again as it kept his magic in check. For a moment, panic froze him, but Quinn’s life depended on him controlling his magic. He couldn’t let his father’s men get hold of him.
