Entangled

  “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

  About the Author

  Jessica Sorensen is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author who lives in the snowy mountains of Wyoming. When she's not writing, she spends her time reading and hanging out with her family.

  Other books by Jessica Sorensen:

  Broken City Series:

  Nameless

  Forsaken

  Oblivion (coming soon)

  Entranced Series:

  Entranced

  Entangled

  Enchanted (coming soon)

  Rebels & Misfits Series:

  Confessions of a Kleptomaniac

  Honeyton Series:

  The Illusion of Annabella

  Sunnyvale Series:

  The Year I Became Isabella Anders

  The Year of Falling in Love

  The Year of Second Chances (coming soon)

  The Coincidence Series:

  The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

  The Redemption of Callie and Kayden

  The Destiny of Violet and Luke

  The Probability of Violet and Luke

  The Certainty of Violet and Luke

  The Resolution of Callie and Kayden

  Seth & Greyson

  The Secret Series:

  The Prelude of Ella and Micha

  The Secret of Ella and Micha

  The Forever of Ella and Micha

  The Temptation of Lila and Ethan

  The Ever After of Ella and Micha

  Lila and Ethan: Forever and Always

  Ella and Micha: Infinitely and Always

  The Shattered Promises Series:

  Shattered Promises

  Fractured Souls

  Unbroken

  Broken Visions

  Scattered Ashes

  Breaking Nova Series:

  Breaking Nova

  Saving Quinton

  Delilah: The Making of Red

  Nova and Quinton: No Regrets

  Tristan: Finding Hope

  Wreck Me

  Ruin Me

  The Fallen Star Series (YA):

  The Fallen Star

  The Underworld

  The Vision

  The Promise

  The Fallen Souls Series (spin-off from The Fallen Star):

  The Lost Soul

  The Evanescence

  The Darkness Falls Series:

  Darkness Falls

  Darkness Breaks

  Darkness Fades

  The Death Collectors Series (NA and YA):

  Ember X and Ember

  Cinder X and Cinder

  Spark X and Cinder

  Unbeautiful Series:

  Unbeautiful

  Untamed

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  About the Author