Page 38 of His Greatest Treasure

He mumbled, “I don’t think it’s that. I think it was a mistake.”

I nearly fell off his lap in shock. I’d never heard Alfie question his elder before. Never heard himsay something like that and not slam his hand over his mouth and look around as though he expected his Father to appear out of the walls and shout at him.

“A mistake? You don’t think he should have been banished?”

“He can’t have done anythingthatbad! Our bond is still too bright and that means he loves me just as much as ever. And if he didn’t do anything that bad, he should be here, where he’s safe. It’s not right to send him out when he’s so weak. Anything could happen to him.”

“Maybe he lovesyoubut not your elder,” I suggested.

Alfie squirmed and it jostled me on his lap.

“Yeah, he doesn’t really like my father that much. Their bond was a really nasty colour. I think Seren was afraid of him but he still obeyed.”

“You said you still have your bond with him?”

“Yes, that’s right. Just like I still have my bond with Morgan. That’s why I don’t think it’s right. If they were meant to be banished, surely their bonds would all break. That makessense, doesn’t it?”

I nodded but I wasn’t sure. I couldn’t see bonds the way Alfie could. I thought it was something only he could do.

“Can you tell anything else about your bond?”

“The one with Seren? It’s still bright. He’s weak, though. It went a different colour when he got sick. It used to be silver, like his eyes, but now it’s got a green tint to it. At least I know he’s alive, right?”

I grasped at that cheery thought. Or the thought that might be cheery if it didn’t imply that Seren might die out there because he didn’t have a clan to protect him.

“Yes! Yes, that’s a good sign. At least you know he’s alright.”

“Blaze? Can we stay here like this for a bit longer please? My arms don’t want to let you go.”

“Yes, I’d like that.”

He lowered his head until his nose was pressed into the crook of my neck and inhaled deeply. I knew that I smelled of smoke and ash because I’d been told that before. Normally, the shifters who could smell me wrinkled their nose and said ‘ash’ as though it was a bad smell. I couldn’t really tell if it was good or bad because it was just normal for me.

The way Alfie breathed me in, though, was something else. He made me feel like I was the best thing on the planet.

I was just glad I could be here for him. He made me feel so safe, tucked up here in his arms, and I treasured that fleeting feeling. It felt good to be able to give him something back.

Chapter 16

Alfie

Just when I thought everything was settling down again, something else bad happened.

I didn’t think it was anything too bad at first because it was only Rhod, coming into my school room and staying there when I wanted him to leave so I could sneak outside and see Blaze.

When he sat down and began to work in my schoolroom, though, I found myself getting annoyed.

He wouldn’t tell me what was going on and I was fed up with being treated like a child. I was a man now and I didn’t see why I should even be stuck sitting at my school desk all day, especially since I didn’t have a tutor any longer.

I wanted to go out and see Blaze but, with Rhod watching me closely, there was no way I’d manage to sneak out.

What made it worse was that my stomach knotted inside me. I had worked out a pattern about that. It happened when I was worried about Blaze, and that was mostly when I wasn’t with him. I wanted to always be by his side and have his scent in my lungs and his hand in mine and then I’d know he was perfectly safe.

The only problem was that kissing Blaze made me feel like I was swelling and I’d burst. I wondered if it was just what happened when you did sexy things with another person but that didn’t seem right.

It wasn’t as though I could ask anybody.

The only person I’d even consider talking to about something like that was Morgan and he wasn’t here. I couldn’t contact him.

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