h4Chapter 473: Unexpected Team Of Two/h4

    iWhat the hell was she doing?/i

    Adele asked herself that question for the umpteenth time, gripping the wheel a little tighter. Of all the things she imagined doing tonight, driving to Pine Ridge Lodge with Micah of all people wasn’t on the list.

    How did they even end up here?

    Well... apparently, Micah imed Alice the seer had called him out of nowhere and told him to find her. Adele would have called that bullshit but judging from her own experience with Mary, this can’t be games. The timing was just strange.

    So here they were speeding on the road, heading straight into whatever fresh problem the cardinal alphas and Violet purple hadnded themselves in.

    Two rescuers were better than one, she supposed.

    Still, the silence in the car was suffocating. It was tense and awkward. And unfortunately for Adele, she found herself ncing at Micah more often than she cared to admit.

    This was the first time they’d ever been in such close quarters, and it was messing with her.

    Demon-blooded or not, Micah was a glorified flirt with questionable morals and a disturbingly close rtionship with nearly all the student body. Yet, sitting beside her now, Adele had to admit—grudgingly—that he was unfairly handsome.

    Nope. Not going there.

    Trying to distract herself, Adele broke the silence.

    "I didn’t know you were close to Alice."

    Micah didn’t look at her, just shrugged. "I didn’t know about the woman until today. Trust me. If Violet and the alphas were in danger, why send me to find you? Why not just send me directly to them?"

    Adele snorted, eyes on the road. "Beats me."

    Silence fell again. Then, out of nowhere, he asked.

    "Still spying on the cardinal alphas for my uncle?"

    Adele’s jaw ticked. "I was asked to watch over them. Not spy on them."

    Micah arched a brow. The kind of look that said ireally, you want to argue semantics right now?/i

    Adele exhaled deeply. "I don’t do that anymore."

    "Oh? What changed?"

    She paused, then said quietly, "Your uncle’s not the man I thought he was."

    Micah let out a low whistle. "That’s a shocker. Someone who doesn’t worship the ground Elijah walks on. That’s rare."

    Adele rolled her eyes. But after a beat, she confessed. "The cardinal alphas, they’re pitiful in a way. They were dragged into a life they didn’t ask for, and given these powers that wasn’t even their choice."

    She nced at him. "I’m their healer, Micah. That’s more than physical wounds. I’m supposed to patch what I can’t even see, heal every aspect of their fragile soul. You can call me their guardian if you want."

    That actually silenced him for a while. Long enough that Adele started to fidget again.

    "What?" she finally snapped, unable to take the stillness.

    Micah shook his head with a faint smirk. "I think I might’ve misjudged you."

    Adele blinked. "Wait, you profiled me?"

    "I profile everybody," he said easily.

    "What for?"

    For a heartbeat, it looked like he might give her a real answer. But instead he just smiled.

    "I’m a counselor, remember?"

    Adele narrowed her eyes. She could tell that was a white lie. However, she let it be. They were not close enough to start confessing secrets even though she had said more words to him in a single night than she had ever done sinceing to Lunaris academy.

    "Approaching destination. Fifty meters to Pine Ridge Lodge." The robotic voice of the GPS broke the silence like a crack across ss.

    Adele’s body tensed.They were almost at the location. The road had narrowed into gravel, trees thickening on either sides.

    "Kill the engine," Micah said suddenly.

    Adele blinked, eyes darting to him. "What? Why?"

    "If the boys are in trouble," Micah replied calmly, his tone darkening, "then whoever put them there might be waiting right at the entrance."

    He made a fine point so Adele didn’t argue.

    The tires skidded slightly as she pulled the car off the path into a pocket of darkness under the trees. They stepped out, silence stretching thick between them, and began the descent on foot. The woods were eerily quiet, there was no chirping birds, no rustling leaves, just the crunch of gravel beneath their boots and the feeling of unease.

    When the trees parted and the lodge came into view, Adele’s instincts confirmed everything Micah had warned her about.

    Several unfamiliar ck cars were parked around the entrance, slick and expensive, gleaming like they didn’t belong in this wild ce. And guarding them were armed men in dark gear with guns slung at their sides, their postures too sharply to be locals.

    Micah leaned toward her and whispered, "We scale the wall."

    She gave a small nod. "Lead the way."

    They circled the perimeter silently, cloaked by the trees and the lodge’s tall stone walls. Micah moved silently, efficient, and far more agile than Adele had ever given him credit for. Then, without warning, he crouched and leapt.

    Her breath caught.

    He cleared the wall effortlessly like it was nothing and she stared, stunned. For someone who spent his days surrounded by books and hormonal teenagers, the man sure moved like a trained assassin. And that was sexy.

    What the hell? Adele cleared the thought out of her head.

    This was no time for distractions so Adele crouched, sprang andnded soundlessly beside him with the grace of a born werewolf.

    Without thinking, Micah reached out and took her hand in his. And just like that, a spark shot through her palm like lightning.

    They both gasped, freezing.

    His hand dropped instantly, and he stared at his fingers as if he had been burned. Adele clutched her chest, trying to calm the wild hammering of her heart.

    What the hell had that been?

    Micah’s brows furrowed, and for a second, something strange passed between them.

    But the moment was shattered by the sharp crack of a gunshot in the distance.

    They both jolted, their instincts kicking back into ce.

    Micah’s eyes went in the direction of the sound, and his expression hardened. "Let’s go."