Page 8 of Shadowed Bond

Six o’clock comes too fast.

Or maybe I’m just still pissed off that I’m going at all.

By the time I reach the Academy’s side exit, the sky has already begun to darken. The clouds are stretched thin and grey above the grounds as if the weather can’t decide whether it wants to rain or not. British weather, what else can I expect?

I spot the car before I see her.

A dark grey car is parked beneath the trees, old enough not to turn heads, clean enough not to look abandoned, and dull enough that no one will remember it five minutes after it passes them. Just a normal car.

Boring as fuck.

Which is probably the point.

I pull open the driver’s door just as Charlotte appears from the path leading out of the Academy. Her blonde hair is pulled back from her face, still styled with enough care that it looks deliberate rather than practical, and she’s wearing a dark grey coat which is buttoned neatly over dark jeans and boots that actually look suitable for walking over ruined land.

I’m almost disappointed. I was half hoping she’d show up in heels so I’d have something to complain about.

Her grey eyes flick over the car. “Discreet.”

“Yeah, shit car.”

“Not what I meant,” she says, opening the passenger side door.

“So, I’ll take that as I’m driving?” I ask, not that I would have let her drive.

She pauses. “Oh, I’m sorry. Do you want to be the passenger princess? I can drive.”

“Get in,” I growl, glaring at her across the roof of the car.

I kind of walked into that one.

I slide into the driver’s seat, shut the door behind me and start the engine. Charlotte fastens her seatbelt before immediately opening the files Leo sent through to her Schattensicht and transferring them to her tablet.

For a while, neither of us says anything, and that suits me.

Once we are through the wards and protections of the Academy grounds, I sense the magic on the car, protection spells and probably something to stop the Indomitable from attacking.

Charlotte swipes two fingers through the projection, shifting one map over another. “Leo sent archive records, Council files, and modern land scans. None of them completely match.”

“They won’t. That land’s been abandoned for years,” I reply, keeping my eyes on the road.

The Desert Storm Pack was left alone because people didn’t want to go near it. Because too much blood had soaked into those grounds. Because its name was attached to things most families preferred not to discuss in front of their children.

And lucky for me, I have the honour of having a monster for a great-grandfather.

Charlotte is quiet for a moment before she speaks again. “Are you all right with going there?” Her voice is neutral, her grey eyes composed when I glance her way.

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You know why.” She gives me an infuriating look.

I take a bend in the road, and it’s already getting dark.

“My great-grandfather’s dead,” I say eventually. “Whatever he did on that land doesn’t bother me.”

“That isn’t what I asked,” she replies calmly.

“You always this determined to irritate people?”