Supernatural Academy: Year Two (Supernatural Academy, #2)

by Jaymin Eve

Calen snorted. “I wouldn’t stop worrying yet. She just lost her soul mate.”

My gasp was audible. It would have hurt less if he’d just punched me in the chest. Jesse’s growls filled the early morning air. Rone even had his fangs out as they glared at Calen. The wizard shook his head, eyes falling. “Fuck. I’m sorry, Mads. I just … I’m a screw-up.”

Meeting Asher was still the best thing that happened to me. Losing him would always be the worst thing.

“Son of a bitch,” I muttered, trying to wrap my head around what he was saying. “Then how did I get that shit under control? Because one minute

was blowing up lightbulbs and the next I was living a relatively normal life.”

I met his gaze. “What about Larissa?” I hated our best friend staying here while we were all gone. I was protective of the family I had left. Who knew what other threats were out there, waiting for us? We had the best chance by sticking together.

That sounded like my girl.

In my entire life, I’d never met a person who got me like he did. Understood my need for the ocean, the water. He embraced my joys and fought my fears with me. I’d known him such a short amount

of time, but already his impact on me was life changing. The aching hole of sadness felt like it was drowning me. I couldn’t get my head above water; it kept sucking me deeper and deeper.

I would go toe to toe with anyone who argued books weren’t life savers. They were the work of whatever god kept us functional when the world seemed too hard to handle. They were the air when we couldn’t breathe. The blood when it wouldn’t pump in our veins. The beat of our heart when we were done trying to force life to go on. Books saved lives. End of story, pun intended.

“You might have guessed I would choose to join him. I’m really fucking sorry.” Axl’s eyes were shiny; he wiped roughly at

“How in the fuck?” Calen said, rubbing a hand over his head, mussing up the brown strands. “Only Maddison James would befriend a scary old fairy.”

“Well, fuck me.” Rone looked astonished, and it was such an odd expression on his overtly masculine face that I chuckled. “I know, right?”

“You know,” Mab started conversationally. The room went quiet and everyone turned to her. “Spiderwebs are very unique in their characteristics. In truth, many of them are able to withstand gale force storms. And did you know that if you break one strand of a web, the entire web as a whole becomes stronger?”

“But when your pain is broadcast so strongly, I feel it in my soul, and occasionally our minds connect. We have bonded, somehow, and you are one of the few supernaturals in this world I give a damn about.”

“Yes. Just because you’ve had some strands destroyed does not mean you are weak. If anything, the fact that you are still standing here, trying to save the world, tells me that you’re stronger than you will ever understand. Do not underestimate a delicate, beautiful thing. It is never weak.”

And we were bonded. I had no idea what that would mean for my life, but I would take it like everything else. One day at a time.

That drew Ilia’s gaze. She stared and then spluttered. “Fuck. Me.” I lifted my head to meet Mab’s gaze. “That’s like your standard greeting now.” She shrugged, delicate shoulders and wings lifting. “I’m afraid my reputation precedes me.”

“Hell yes it does,” Ilia said, splashing wine over the edge of the open bottles. “You’re Mab, the fucking queen of the fairies. You are badass, girlfriend, and I’m not even going to ask what you’re doing here, because it’s just so freaking awesome you are.”

Queen Helene lent her body to Lotus, Goddess of Storms, to conceive the child who would save us all. Holy mother…

The babies were born today. The three of them, under the blood moon, at the strike of midnight on the day the countdown clock ceases. Three babes, two male, and the shining daughter of Lotus. The goddess that doomed us all.

My heart cracked then—I could have sworn I heard the break—and I was sobbing against his chest. “I can’t live without him,” I said, so broken that speaking hurt. “I can’t do it.” His hands never stopped stroking me. “You can and you will, Maddison James. You are important. To the world. To us.” Small pause. “To me.” Rone leaned over, his icy energy washing down my side. “Give yourself time,” he murmured, and when I lifted my face, his thumbs brushed away my tears. “It won’t fix your pain, but you’ll learn how to live with it. You’ll function again. You’ll remember everything beautiful about what you and Asher had, and you’ll think on it fondly.”

knew. If I didn’t have these guys, my friends and family around me at times like this…. They were holding me together the best they could, and hopefully one day soon I’d be able to hold myself together.

it was Asher’s scent—and fuck, I was doing it again.

No—not lost—stolen. Asher was fucking stolen from me, and when I found out the god who did that, I was going to do my best to break them.

“The main Atlantean gods are Sonaris, god of the sea,”

“Lotus, goddess of storms and weather,” Rone added, and my gut tightened.

“Draconis, the god of the underworld,” Jesse continued, holding his fingers up so they could tick them off. “He transported lost sea dwelling souls to their eternal rest.”

Jesse hurried through the rest. “There was Fallon, the god of the sky; Clune, the goddess of war; Petuni, the goddess of fertility. And the seventh is and always will be the mother, who is mother of all gods. Our first god. The one who created the fey realm and blessed the supernaturals with their abilities. It was said that she was the consort to

the all-knowing god of human worship. That he had his creation, and she had hers.”

“You could have killed him,” Calen said, and it wasn’t in a reprimand way; it was in a “why didn’t you kill him? You had the power” way.

Trust me, Asher was twenty times the supe you’ll ever be, and you probably don’t want to hear who I would have sacrificed had I been given the choice.”

Connor groaned again. “Harsh, babe.”

Babe? Did he just ...

“Call her that again and I will drain your blood and feed you to the ...

Connor eyed the huge vampire before shaking his head. “You guys are all as psycho as each other. I can see why Mad...

clothes. The ones I’d started this day in and then died in. Probably going to burn them later.

Connor chuckled sadly. “You get this look on your face when you think about him. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen pain so visible … and that’s how I know Ash is on your mind. I promise he’s alive, and I promise that if he was able to come to you,

he would have. I’ve known him a long time, and what he feels for you is beyond even a true mate bond. It’s beyond any bond I’ve ever known. Asher would never deliberately hurt you.”

Asher wasn’t dead. He was right here before me, but … nothing would ever be the same. I already knew it.

Denial, my old friend. I was back to pretending my life wasn’t a hot mess. I was back to pretending that Asher wasn’t dead but was still the love of my life.

sides. “I don’t know who the fuck you think you are,” I hissed, moving even closer, our eyes locked, “but be very careful about how far you push me. You once belonged to me, Asher Locke, and even though I wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole right now, that doesn’t mean anyone else gets to touch you either.”

“You’re still dressed like a mourning human. You say Asher has changed, and that might be so, but I’ve seen the dude around you. His feelings went beyond love. Beyond true mates. It was something extra, and that doesn’t just disappear, no matter how many times you die. You better dress to show him exactly what he’s missing.”

Time really flies when you’re losing the love of your life, raising an ancient city, and getting murdered by your parents.

“I think I’m due a few mental health days,” I said, half joking. Ilia snorted. “Bora Bora?”

“Gods, if only it was that easy. I don’t think there’s any place on Earth I can escape m...

If they thought I was just going to accept this shit from them though, they didn’t know me very well. I was going to figure it out. I would fight. But I’d also make those bastards suffer first.

This was it. It had to be part of the reason he was so cold and distant. He was trying to protect us from his mother—or just me. Or maybe he hated me now and blamed me for his death. Maybe I was grasping at straws so that I didn’t die from pain overload.

“Keep an eye on Asher. Something is not right with him. Not just the way he’s acting, but with his energy.”

Rone, of course, was a clueless fuck who didn’t seem to realize what he could have. One day soon, Larissa was going to move on, and then he’d kick himself.