Read Online Between Shadows by Chanel Cleeton - Free Book Online

you felt like someone was following you lately?”
    “Yeah. Last night. And today.”
    “Me too. For weeks now. It’s why I came back. At first, it was just little things. Footsteps I would hear behind me, cars that seemed to be following me. But two gunmen chased me in Venice.”
    “Who do you think it is?” I swallow, my fear a boulder in my throat. There’s one thing scarier than men with guns. “Do you think it’s the Academy?”
    We’re so tethered to the Academy; it’s unlikely they would need to spy on us even more. And yet—
    I can believe the Director capable of just about anything.
    “I thought it could be.”
    Fuck.
    “I came back to figure out if they were following me. At first I thought they were Academy grunts, checking up on me. But then after Venice…” He pauses. “Those guys tried to kill me. Why would the Academy want me dead after they spent so much time and money training me?”
    “So you came back here?”
    “I didn’t tell them I was back right away. I just watched the school. I started seeing suspicious activity around the Academy. People lurking outside the gates, that sort of thing.”
    If Luke is right there’s a huge security breach, one that endangers all of us. But why haven’t we heard anything about it? Why haven’t they put out a security alert? They have a school full of trained assets. Why aren’t we utilizing our skills if the Academy is under attack?
    I lean back on the couch, tucking my legs underneath me. “Who do you think those men were?”
    “I don’t know.”
    I don’t buy that. The Luke I know— knew —considered every angle. Sure he’s more impulsive than me, but not enough that he would go into this blind.
    “I’ve never heard of anyone at the Academy almost getting caught like that. They pride themselves on the fact that no one knows of our existence.”
    Without the protection our secrecy affords us, anyone could come after us. The thought of Grace paying for the weight of my sins sends tendrils of fear licking through me. I’ve killed some bad people with some very bad friends.
    “Unless it’s the Academy,” Luke counters.
    “Yeah, but why? Why would they bother? They don’t have to follow us. They own us. Our lives are already theirs.”
    Luke pushes off the couch, the move sudden. He sways for a moment, unsteady on his feet.
    I reach out to brace him. “Do you really think it’s smart for you to walk around? You’re going to make it worse.”
    “I need a drink.” He stumbles over to the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of dark liquid from the counter. He pours some into a glass, pulling ice from the freezer and dropping it into the crystal with a loud clink. “Want one?”
    I shake my head. As he walks closer, the smell of alcohol assails my nostrils. I freeze, a distant memory poking through the periphery. I know that smell.
    “What is that?” My voice is calm, betraying nothing of my inner turmoil.
    Show no weakness.
    “Scotch. You sure you don’t want some?”
    “No.” Something about that smell—I can’t put my finger on it—but something makes me nauseous and afraid. I remember the smell…from before.
    “You okay?”
    I am definitely not okay. “I’m fine.”
    “You don’t look fine.”
    “I’m fine.” I stare at the leather couch, shifting my body toward the end opposite Luke. I struggle for calm, to steady the panic building within me. What is it about that smell?
    “X?”
    I shake off the memory, fighting to bring my mind back to the present before my past drags me down.
    “You never answered my question,” I say instead. “What would the Academy want with you? There’s more. Something you’re not telling me.”
    Luke hesitates; he’s weighing the pros and cons of trusting me. Unlike me, Luke doesn’t have anyone else. As far as I know, there are no siblings; he came to the Academy alone. He gets along with everyone, but I’ve never seen him be particularly close with anyone either. Besides