Second Chance Hope: a paranormal reverse harem academy adventure (Second Chance Academy Book 3)

by Ella J. Smyth

  Lance snickered. “You’re so vain, Hennessy. Pretty Irish boy like you? A scar is only going to make you more interesting.”

  The words were light-hearted, but there was concern under the teasing.

  Beth wrung her hands. “We need to go. They’ll be back, and they won’t take prisoners this time.”

  I looked at her sharply. She was right, of course. But I couldn’t help the impression my roomie knew more about the Fae than she let on. Once we’d returned, I wanted to know how a girl who’d only recently learned about her heritage was suddenly an expert on our enemies.

  Lance helped Kiernan to a sitting position.

  “Can you get up?"I asked.

  Kiernan grimaced but nodded. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

  He didn’t look fine at all, but we had run out of time. A sudden clanging noise near the dungeon urged us into action. We couldn’t see them yet, but the Fae guards had regrouped and were on their way to recapture us.

  35

  “Sorry, buddy. I know it hurts, but we need to go.”

  Irritably, Kiernan slapped Lance’s arm. “Don’t talk to me like I’m a child, you wanker. Give me a hand, and I’ll be on my way.”

  Lance laughed. “See, Amber, he’ll be just fine.”

  Lance took his shirt off and tore it into strips. He folded one and pressed it against the open wound. I wrinkled my nose at the thought of all the unclean fibers introducing bacteria, but it wasn’t like there was another option. Lance wound a shirt strip around Kiernan’s chest to hold the fabric pack in place. Then he put his jacket back on.

  He stretched out his hand and helped his groaning friend to his feet. Kiernan wouldn’t be able to run, but he could walk. Lance pulled his good arm over his shoulder, and I supported him from the other side. Then we shuffled towards the edge of the forest, with Beth walking ahead.

  It didn’t take long for us to reach the first trees. We moved through dense vegetation, and even though Beth tried her best to clear the way, Kiernan winced every time he stumbled over a root or got caught on a bramble.

  “Do you know where you’re going?” I asked Beth.

  “Yeah. Just half a mile ahead is a barrow. I think it might be a gateway.”

  “Wouldn’t the Fae know that as well?”

  Beth shrugged. “Maybe? But it’s not like we have a choice.”

  It seemed to take forever to stumble through the woods. But eventually, the trees became sparser. The barrow, covered in green grass, wasn’t far beyond the forest. A dark gash in the earth indicated the entrance to the burial mound. The closer we got, the more electric the atmosphere felt. I could taste the power in the air.

  The guards were closing in on us, but despite hearing their shouts, they were still hidden by the trees. We had maybe seconds before we were within their view, but we’d already reached the barrow.

  A packed dirt slope led into the mound. Carefully, Lance helped Kiernan into the underground structure. I was just about to follow them when Beth stopped.

  “I’m sorry. I won’t be coming with you.”

  I must have misheard. “What?”

  “I need to find out who ordered my dad killed. Plus, there’s still a contract out on me as well. I’ll never be safe if I don’t get to the bottom of this. Besides, I’m pretty sure Kenzy and Luke are somewhere in this world. I can’t leave them here.”

  I could feel the blood leave my face. “Come on. You can’t do this by yourself. You’re just one person. What are you going to do? Go up against the entire Fae Army?”

  She shook her head. “No, of course not. But I believe my grandfather is the key to this. And there’s something else. You remember catching me a few times in the woods outside the Academy?”

  I nodded. “Sure.”

  “I was searching for the gateway into the Fae world.”

  I hadn’t expected that. “How did you find out about it?”

  Beth continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Even if Luke and Kenzy weren’t here, I’d stay. I’ve been looking for the portal ever since my dad told me about my mom. I know my human side, but I know next to nothing about my Fae side. I need to figure out who I am.”

  I stretched out my hand, but Beth moved out of my reach. “I can’t come with you. But I’ll see you again someday, Amber Whitman. Wish me luck!”

  The first Fae warriors came into view. Two more steps, and they’d be on top of me. There was no more time to lose.

  At the bottom of the entrance, at the heart of the barrow, there was the familiar blue shine of the gateway to our world. Through it, I saw Kiernan and Lance waiting on the gravel path leading to the Academy. I took a big step to join them when I heard Beth’s voice in my head.

  It shocked me so much, I stopped, straddling the portal.

  You better move. I don’t know what happens if the portal closes with you in the middle. I suspect nothing good.

  The thought was enough to make me pull my leg over to the human world. As I watched, Beth pulled some kind of powder out of her pocket and threw it at the portal. Within the blink of an eye, the aperture closed, and she was gone.

  I stared in utter disbelief at the place where the gateway had been. I even circled it, trying to see if I could detect any sign of it. But there wasn’t. We were in the forest, with not a single indicator there’d ever been a gateway between the faerie and the human world.

  Kiernan and Lance had begun the short walk back to the school.

  “A hand?”

  Lance was calling to me as Kiernan’s strength was beginning to leave him. I ran over and grabbed him by the waist to help prop him up. Kiernan smiled at me, but pain and exhaustion were visible on his face.

  We had nearly made it when a familiar orange cat blocked our path.

  “Slug,” I called, my voice choked with emotion. Kiernan grew ever heavier on me. We needed to get him to the infirmary soon. Slug rubbed himself against my leg but didn’t attempt to trip me, as if he knew if Kiernan collapsed, we’d not get him up again.

  36

  To this day, I don’t know how we made it. But finally, Lance was able to lean Kiernan against the wall of the hospital wing. Kiernan’s injury was well hidden, but the ashy color of his face and the sweat on his forehead betrayed his exhaustion.

  A few minutes later, Lance came out with the healer, Mr. Odwell. He took one look at Kiernan and immediately called the nurse. The relief I felt at somebody taking over who knew what they were doing was indescribable. Between them, they to maneuvered Kiernan into the infirmary wing. Then we had to wait in the hallway while the nurse and the healer examined Kiernan.

  I put my head into my hands as I pondered what bullshit story we could come up with. Sitting next to Lance, my thoughts were jumbled. All I knew was that we could probably trust Mr. Odwell. If he were involved, he’d have welcomed us a different way. I couldn’t be sure, though. Ugh, I need a good night’s sleep to be able to think clearly.

  Mr. Odwell returned and sat on a chair facing us. Thoughtfully, he said, “Your friend is not making sense. He’s given me some crazy story about falling against a tree and puncturing his shoulder with a branch.”

  Lance’s eyes flitted towards me for a split-second before he nodded, his face completely serious. “Yes, that’s what happened. We were roughhousing in the forest, and Kiernan tripped. He fell really awkwardly on the branch. It went straight through his shoulder and came out the front. He’s got shit luck, that’s for sure. Good thing Amber was there and was able to cauterize the wound, because he bled a lot.”

  Lance’s eyes were wide open, the sincerity dripping off him in waves. If I hadn’t known better, I would have swallowed his lie hook, line, and sinker.

  Slug had followed us, never once leaving my side. Nobody at the Academy batted an eyelid anymore at the sight of a massive orange tabby following me as if he were a dog. In fact, Slug often roamed around the school grounds, getting into places that no ordinary cat would have been able to. I’d seen him break out of locked rooms wit
hout ever really quite understanding how he’d done it.

  Slug sat on the chair on my other side, listening to every word the healer said, his head tilted. He climbed onto my lap and curled up, imitating a little pussycat. I had to grip, or he would’ve fallen from my lap. The awkward position never seemed to bother him, but regularly left me with sore arms.

  By the time the healer released Kiernan, my Irish boyfriend was smiling happily.

  “I gave him a little tincture to take the edge off his discomfort,” Mr. Odwell said.

  A little tincture, my ass. As we walked Kiernan back to his room, he laughed at my cat, at my hair, at the birds, at the flowers, and at the noise his shoes made as they crunched over the gravel.

  Lance opened the door. “I think I better stay with him tonight.”

  I nodded. There was no way Kiernan was able to fly that high without crashing just as badly. But the thought of returning to my room with only two empty beds as company freaked me out.

  “I don’t mind sharing,” Lance said, as if he knew how I felt. I smiled gratefully. The last thing I wanted was to be alone tonight, thinking of Beth and Julian. My Julian. I took a deep shuddering breath. It seemed surreal. All I could think about was his pale face, and how his body had released his dying gasp.

  Lance had undressed Kiernan and put him under his cover while I’d been standing and staring into space. I moved to the free bed and sat down heavily. It hadn’t been made, and the bedsheets smelled of Julian.

  That was all it took. I couldn’t stop myself. Desperately trying to hold myself together, I rocked to and fro while Lance held me tightly. His arms were the only reason I wasn’t sinking into the ground with the weight of my sorrow.

  I had no recollection about getting ready for bed, but somehow Lance had stripped me out of my clothes and pulled the cover over me. Kiernan was out like a light. Nothing was going to wake him, which was just as well because I couldn’t stop crying.

  Julian wasn’t coming back. Not ever. Lance kept murmuring, “It’s okay. It’s okay to cry.”

  Slug sat next to me, and instead of cuddling like he usually did, his blue eyes bore into mine. There was more intelligence in them than I’d ever seen. But I couldn’t think about him right now.

  I was so glad I’d decided to stay here and not go back to my own room. I needed Lance, and even Kiernan’s light snores comforted me that night. Eventually, I fell asleep with my boyfriend spooning me, and my cat rolled up against my chest.

  The following morning, I opened my eyes and looked at the face of a man I’d never seen before. He was gorgeous, his hair dark, and his skin a rich brown with reddish undertones.

  I didn’t react for a split-second, frozen in shock. Then I screamed as loudly as I could.

  The stranger flinched and fell out of my bed. He was completely naked. Ordinarily, I would’ve appreciated his wide shoulders and firm thighs, but right now, I was too terrified. Lance shot up from behind me, and Kiernan jumped out of his bed.

  But the man did something so weird, it shut me right up. My mouth hung open as he rushed to Kiernan’s bed and tried to wedge himself underneath. He didn’t fit. His head and his shoulders were jammed in tight, and his naked butt was stuck in the air while his legs scrambled for purchase.

  Kiernan’s look of confusion as he stared down at the man trying to wedge him under the bedframe would have been hilarious at any other time.

  “Who the fuck are you?” Lance shouted.

  He’d finally managed to untangle himself from the cover and clambered out of the bed. Grabbing a lamp, he was ready to battle this new danger.

  The fight went out of the stranger, and he fell flat on his belly. Curling up into himself, he tucked his arms and legs in as much as was possible for a tall man. But when I caught sight of his face turned towards me, his eyes wide and scared, I gasped.

  I knew those eyes. They belonged to my best friend, the creature that had cuddled and consoled me innumerable times over the last year.

  I slipped out of bed, and with shaking knees, walked towards the man. Falling on my knees, I stretched out my hand, not quite daring to touch him.

  “Slug? Is that you?”

  Well, that took an unexpected turn. Ready to order the last book in the series? Second Chance Love will be available very soon.

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  Also by Ella J. Smyth

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  In the Second Chance Academy Series:

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  Second Chance Love, #4

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  Coming soon in April 2021!

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  Book Four of the Second Chance Academy series, a reverse harem, medium-burn novel with a HFN.

  Ella is also the author of the renowned Spirit Walker series.

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  This is an exciting, fast-paced love story between two reluctant spirit walkers, forced into working together to save the worlds from certain destruction.

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  Find out more on Ella’s website: https://www.ellajsmyth.com/books

  About the Author

  Ella J. Smyth is a paranormal and urban fantasy romance writer. She makes her online home at www.ellajsmyth.com.

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  You can connect with her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/EllaJSmythsReverseHaremSisterhood, and you should send her an email at ella@ellajsmyth.com if the mood strikes you.

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  You can follow her convoluted and fantastical flights of fancy on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/ellajsmyth where she casts her heroes and heroines in the most amazing places on earth.

  www.ellajsmyth.com

  ella@ellajsmyth

  To my readers who helped me get this book out in time. Thank you so much to my alpha, beta, and ARC readers, particularly CK who’s done an outstanding job. You know who you are!

  SECOND CHANCE HOPE - BOOK THREE OF THE SECOND CHANCE ACADEMY SERIES

  by Ella J. Smyth

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2021 by Ella J. Smyth

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