“Alexandra—”
“I’m back!” Amber called as my bedroom door flew open. Six pairs of eyes fell on her.
Goddammit, could I not even have a discussion in peace? I had to figure out how to break it to them and ask for help, but I couldn’t even clear a room.
“Amber—”
“What’s going on here?” she asked, gaze darting around the room at an impossible speed.
“Nothing. Can we have the room please?” I asked, trying my damndest to be polite. We’d come a long way in the last year, and she knew more about me than a lot of the people in this room.
“You’re evading,” she said simply, walking around the small space. Her gaze landed on Tori. “What happened to her?”
Ah hell.
“She was bitten by a Vampire. The transition should be phasing out soon. You can ask her more when she wakes up,” I said.
She stilled, staring down at her best friend with a wistful look. Her expression went blank before I could read any more into it.
“Can we get back to the matter at hand?” Blair said unceremoniously.
Alexandra rolled her eyes, keeping herself between Aaron and the rest of us.
“Matter at hand?” Amber asked. She moved to Tori’s side, brushing her hair back from her face.
“Do I need to take this somewhere else, Amber?”
“On the contrary, don’t stop on my behalf,” she purred, but her heart wasn’t in it.
I rolled my eyes and returned my attention to the two girls locked in a stare-down. “Blair, put the knife away.” She stared warily at my sister and her boyfriend, but sheathed the knife.
Alexandra’s gaze flipped between us, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing, and a cackle escaped her. “I leave for one summer, and she becomes your guard dog?” She turned to me, and met my gaze with a challenge.
“Leave it, sister,” I murmured. As I paced the room to collect my thoughts, the knife in my boot flew to my hand, and I spun it over and over. Its blade danced across my palm, too fast for anyone to keep track of.
“Selena.” A deep voice brought me to a halt as he grazed my forearm with his fingers. My gaze flew to his, and the blade stilled. I turned my back on him and focused on the people before me.
“You’re going to tell him what I say, regardless of whether he’s here or not. Aren’t you?”
Alexandra nodded, still standing protectively in front of him. The funny thing was that he didn’t need protecting, and the look he gave me said so.
I walked to the window and stared out into the wide expanse of the sunset. I couldn’t even say it was my last moment of freedom. That had already gone the moment Lucas tried to help me.
“Anastasia Fortescue met with me to inform me that I’ve been chosen for the honor of serving the Council, to try to end the war before it begins.” The word honor tasted vile in my mouth, but I told them of my task and what I was being asked to do, and what they would do if they chose to join me. I told them of the coming war, and what the Council intended. I never told them what she’d promised in return, though, or that I’d been blackmailed to begin with. I didn’t mention how I’d bargained for them, because my pride wasn’t ready to admit that I needed their help, despite the great disservice I’d done to them as my friends.
I was a coward, and I deserved the sentence given to me, but they didn’t.
The silence stretched on for what felt like an endless moment.
“What did they promise you?”
I turned to my wisp of sister, the first to speak, and the first to ask something I couldn’t answer. Not yet. Not until the war was over, Anastasia had said, so I did the only thing I could do. “I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“What did they promise you, Selena?” she repeated. Her eyes were terrified. Lost.
“Something precious.” I ran a shaky hand through my hair and pulled the ponytail loose. I turned to walk out, unable to handle the weight of their eyes, but a burning hand wrapped around my bicep, catching me.
“I know that look, Selena. What did you do?” Alexandra said, her eyes burning with rage, but not at me. I couldn’t tell her the truth, but maybe I could tell her something else. A half-truth.
I swallowed the bile and averted my eyes. “It was asked to serve because I have a particular skill set the Council wants. I said yes, because when Anastasia Fortescue goes out of her way to ask you for something, you don’t exactly say no. It was the right thing to do. Please just trust that.”
Lily’s sob broke the silence, and Alexandra wrapped her arms around me. I didn’t want the comfort, though—I didn’t deserve it for lying.
“I volunteer.”
My head whipped around.
“I volunteer,” Aaron repeated. There was a certain huskiness in his voice, and something in the way he stared at me that had Alexandra’s arms tensing.
“Me too,” Alexandra said.
“No.” It was out of my mouth before I even had time to think.
“What?” She pulled away to glare at me.
“Selena, you should consider it.” His voice hit me, quiet but firm.
I stared at him, and raised an eyebrow. Accepting the intrusion for the sake of brevity. “I don’t want to put her in danger,” I said.
“Selena, that’s so fucking typical—” she continued to rant, but I was no longer watching or listening.
“You need six people, Selena, and she’s not going to sit by while you leave again. She still feels guilty about the last time. You’re better off protecting her, and bringing him with.”
“Can he be trusted?” I asked.
Lucas glanced at the other man, whose gaze had never left me, and nodded once.
I grimaced, but accepted the truth. If anyone could save me when the time came, it was her. She knew what to do, the words to say—and I would make sure nothing touched her.
“Fine,” I said.
“Fine?” she asked, mid-rant.
I simply nodded, refusing to look at the man behind her. I could keep her safe, I had to believe that, but I had someone else who could help me. Someone I wanted by my side every step of the way.
“Blair?”
“You didn’t even have to ask.” My cousin grinned viciously.
“I’m going too,” Amber chimed in.
“What?”
“I hate school, Selena.” Amber said, her eyes locking on Lucas like a cat with a mouse. “Don’t look so shocked. Besides…if there’s eye candy coming with, it’s a win-win.” She smirked.
That was terrible reasoning, and I almost said as much until I caught her face when she glanced down at Tori. Not quite lost in thought, but there was more to this than she was saying, and I could accept that.
That was four down.
“Five.”
I looked up at him and bit my lip. He deserved to serve at my side for putting me here to begin with, but that didn’t lessen my gut reaction: to tell him no as I’d told Alexandra. But he’d brought this down on me, and like her, he would be there to bring me back when the time came. It’s only fair, my inner demons whispered. I nodded once then turned to my crying sister. Her tears were silent now, apart from her breath hitching. I ran a steady hand down her spine, trying to ease the pain.
“You promised me,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“You promised me you would teach me how to control it!” she snapped, rocking herself back and forth. Shadows danced in her eyes.
I grabbed her chin, pulling her face up. “Yes, and do I break my promises?”
“But you’re leaving—”
“Do I break my promises?” I demanded, knowing that my control would soothe her.
“No,” she whispered meekly, lowering her eyes as if she couldn’t take the weight of my gaze.
“Then trust me,” I said. Kissing the crown of her head, I wrapped my arms around her. I was just happy she wasn’t trying to come. I could protect Alexandra, but Lily…she was too far-gone to be t
hat close to anything that bit. I couldn’t risk it, and I think she knew that. Sadness swallowed me whole, like hitting a nerve so vital that death would’ve been kinder.
This is his fault. I couldn’t stop the biting thought, and knew that I needed to keep him out for good, because Anastasia wouldn’t be kind if he meddled a second time.
“Selena!” he called as I slammed the bricks down and resurrected the walls in my mind. Piling them higher and higher, I enclosed myself in a prison of my own making. His body shifted backward and shuddered, but I only held Lily harder.
He’d said I’d let him into my mind, and if I’d let him in, I could keep him out.
“What’s wrong with him?” Alexandra asked, looking back and forth between the two of us.
“I’m fine,” he growled.
He’d recovered from being mentally chopped out of my mind faster than I’d expected. He was angry again, and I didn’t—couldn’t—even entertain the thought that he knew where my mind had been going. Anastasia had made her demands clear.
His presence stalked toward me, and I released my sister to turn on the giant of a man standing over me.
“What the hell was that?” he nearly snarled. His rage was unacceptable, and I glared back to tell him so. He gripped my upper arms and shook me, and I didn’t know if it was rage or desperation—maybe both—but I didn’t care.
Blair backed away, cleaning her nails with a knife I’d already told her to put away once.
“Hey!” Alexandra yelled, stepping up with fiery fists.
A growl ripped through the room as someone punched him in the face, and knocked him out cold on the floor below me.
I turned on the person who’d intervened.
Aaron’s eyes were boiling with contempt as he stared down at Lucas. His chest heaved as he tried to rein himself in. “He doesn’t touch you,” he said, his words hardly more than whisper.
“You don’t get to decide who does or doesn’t touch me, asshole,” I spat at him, working to contain my own rage at seeing Lucas knocked out, and not by me. I turned on Alexandra. “Leash your dog. I’m not dealing with this bullshit again.”
“He was only trying to help—”
“With all due respect, Alexandra, we both know she didn’t need anyone’s help,” Blair cut in, throwing her an icy look.
Alexandra’s mouth snapped shut as she looked away.
I sighed, dragging a hand through my hair. This hadn’t gone at all as planned. I had five people who couldn’t stand to be in the same room, an unconscious body, and a broken sister.
“So…what do we do with the body?” Amber asked, a wicked glint in her eye. Given her delight at seeing him like this, I had to wonder about her pointed man candy comments.
“He’s unconscious, not dead, and judging by the bruise on his jaw, he should heal just fine.” I rolled my eyes at her sigh of disappointment.
“Do we want to focus on the topic at hand now? We still need a sixth person, preferably someone who’s good at getting out of situations. We already have enough…” Blair trailed off at the sound of Tori’s yawn. “Muscle,” she finished, looking at the other girl peculiarly.
“How are you feeling?” I asked the fragile girl, stepping over her unconscious brother.
She gave me a knowing look and glanced at her brother. “Better,” she said tentatively, her gaze sweeping over the room. “So, is anyone goin’ to tell me why my brother is passed out on the floor?”
Both Blair and Amber chuckled, and I rolled my eyes.
“You know him, always sticking his head where it doesn’t belong,” I said nonchalantly, leaning down to turn his face from side to side. Aaron had given him quite the shiner, but Lucas must’ve been really pissed off not to see it coming.
“You sure you didn’t mean hands?” Amber said under her breath.
“Amber,” I warned.
“What? She’s going to find out anyway,” she huffed.
“Find out what?”
“Oh, just how rough he—”
“Amber!” I yelled, but I wasn’t the only one who responded. A soft growl rumbled behind me, distinctly male—and since the other one was knocked out, that left only one person to blame. I turned, ready to snap at the audacity of this boy.
“What about her?” Blair said.
“What?” I asked, swinging my glare away from him to focus on my cousin.
“What about Tori? We need a sixth person, and she can teleport.” Blair thrust her hand in the girl’s direction and raised her eyebrows at me.
“Lucas won’t be happy. Neither will Alec.”
“It’s not their choice,” Blair said.
“I agree, and she’ll be good for keeping the eye candy in line too.” Amber smirked, but her words were serious.
“What are y’all talkin’ about?” Tori asked, throwing her covers aside and sitting up with less effort than I’d expected.
I looked at one of my best friends and weighed my options. There were few I trusted more than Tori, and they were all in this room. If the whole point of choosing my own team was to have those I trusted with me, then why was I hesitating?
Shaking the remaining guilt out of my head, I made my choice.
“How would you like to get revenge on the bastard who bit you?”
Chapter 70
I stared at the names of the six people I’d lied to and then condemned. Bringing them on was little more than saving my own skin. Last night, after Tori had agreed, I’d sent Aaron and Alexandra away, and had Blair carry Lucas back to his dorm before he woke. Supernatural strengths had its perks sometimes, like getting rid of domineering asshats who’d gotten themselves knocked out for being idiotic. As pissed as I was at Aaron for pulling that, I was even more upset with Lucas. He should’ve known better.
The body next to mine moved. I glanced over at my sister, squished into my twin bed with me like we were still children, her long blond hair scattered across my pillow. I would’ve thought she was still sleeping had her breathing not changed.
“Good morning,” I said slowly. Throwing my legs off the bed, I yawned. Then walked to the bathroom and prepared for the day.
“Thank you,” she whispered. My roommates were still asleep, but nothing short of Tori’s foghorn alarm would’ve woken them.
“What for?” I asked, brushing my hair out. It was even longer than before, falling past my butt. I really needed to cut it, but somehow could never bring myself to do it.
“Letting me stay. Our time is limited now.” Her heart picked up again. She was still so tied to her emotions. I needed to fix that. There was peace in ambivalence; her pain came from feeling.
“I thought we would spend the day together,” I said. Her eyes went wide. “If you’d like,” I quickly amended, trying to leave the choice to her. She was big on that now—choice—and Alec’s little stunt had only exacerbated the need.
“I would like that,” she said softly.
I pulled my hair into a tight ponytail, and shed yesterday’s clothes. Pulling on a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra was second nature to me. Just going through the motions. I went to strap on the knives.
“What are you doing?” Lily asked.
My hand stilled. “Forgetting myself,” I said. “You should get dressed. I have a long day planned for us.”
“Really?” She looked up brightly, no sign of the darkness. Yet.
“Really.”
She dressed quickly in clothes similar to mine, but opted for the more modest route with a t-shirt. I smirked, holding the door open for her as we left. Campus was still quiet, but not quite dead. People scurried by on the sidewalk. I heard every word as they stared at the scars lining my body. I’d chosen my clothing to make a statement, and a statement I made.
“Where would you feel most comfortable training?” I asked, and Lily shot me a curious look.
“Away from prying eyes,” she said eventually.
Good choice.
I veered left and off the path, breaki
ng into an easy run. She was slow, and her surprise made her slower, but eventually she started catching up. I kept my pace moderate, remembering how long it’d been since she’d done anything aside from cry or mope, with the occasional thrown kitchen knife. She hadn’t trained with Blair and me over the summer, but I couldn’t cut her too much slack now. Not with how powerful she was. I couldn’t let her continue to go unchecked and untrained—not when I wasn’t going to be here to clean up after her anymore.
Miles passed, and when we reached the farthest point from campus, I stopped. The woods were wild and untamed in this part of the grounds. I led her deeper into them and away from the path we’d taken to get here. Her panting was an assault on my ears in the morning silence. We were far enough out that no other soul would hear us.
“We’ll train here every morning until I leave.” Her head shot up, and hope blossomed in her eyes.
“You’re keeping your promise.” It wasn’t a question, so I only nodded.
“You have a lot to learn, and I don’t have very long to teach you,” I said.
The wind swept through the woods, lifting her damp hair away from her eyes. “I’ll train harder than anyone you’ve ever taught before, even Blair,” she insisted.
A smirk touched my lips. That was a high bar she was setting for herself. Blair was my protégée. Even more than Lucas, the girl had enough ice in her to keep those emotions locked down. To stay in control. She found solace in neutrality, and it made her the perfect soldier. In three months, she’d mastered something a year hadn’t taught Lucas, and a lifetime hadn’t taught my sisters.
“We’ll see.”
I swept my foot underneath her. She moved quickly, though, and jumped to recover.
“Good. Your reflexes aren’t bad. It’s a start,” I said, moving in to grapple.
She dodged my hands and ducked to go under my arm. I spun and locked my arm around her throat, pulling her into a chokehold.
“Stop,” she gasped.
I didn’t, instead applying more and more pressure as I pushed her to her limits. She had them, but they were farther than she believed. I needed her to see that she was in control of what happened to her, and her emotions, her powers.
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