End of an Era: A Sons of Satrina Novel (The Sons of Satrina Book 4)

by Kristan Belle

  Bending down to secure the shifter at her feet, Ash had to restrain herself from kicking him in the nuts again as he writhed on the floor. He deserved a lot more than she had dished out for coming into their home and causing all these problems. Who did he think he was?

  Ash was mad. Really mad. She’d known that something was feeling off, but she’d never expected something like this to happen. Why the hell were the shifters there again? Where was Caleb and Rees? Were they okay? She couldn’t help but worry about them.

  Before she could think any further, shouts rose from all corners of the academy and Jackson called out, ‘Clear!’ It seemed like the threat was over. It had all happened so quickly and Ash was glad it was over and done with. As the adrenaline kicked through her body, she was fine. Now that things were calming down, the fear over what had happened started to sink in.

  Several warriors walked into their designated area, taking away the secured shifters. Ash had no idea where they were taking them, but nodded solemnly when the warriors offered the trainees congratulations on a job well done. It was true. They had executed the defensive mode perfectly and kept their own people safe. It was just a shame that they ever had to test it out.

  Finally, they were free to leave their posts and Aisline strode straight over to Jackson, laying a gentle hand on his arm. That was all she did. It was just what he’d needed. The contact soothed them both. It gave them a little taste of what they were going to face out on the streets and the thought had been very sobering. Neither of them liked to think of the other in trouble and wanted to do everything in their power to keep each other safe, but it wasn’t always going to be possible.

  It had been hard standing back and holding her post, watching as he battled and fought, but Jackson had kicked ass, just like she knew he would. It didn’t lessen her worry. She thought about how she had fought hard, not seeing anything around her, concentrating only on the enemy, and she knew that she’d done the right thing. If she’d spent every moment looking for Jackson and wondering if he was okay, she could have been badly hurt or worse.

  But, they’d done it. They had a long way to go before they were out on the streets and they would have a lot to talk about, but this was a real starting point. It was more than the training and gave them something to think about for the future.

  They could do this. They could head on into the future knowing that they were together but weren’t responsible for each other’s safety. All they could do was be for them afterwards and hope that it was enough.

  “Are you okay?” he asked her quietly.

  “I’m good. You?”

  Jackson nodded and Ash felt relieved. She’d taken quite a few knocks herself and her head felt like it was going to explode, but they’d done their jobs, they were still standing. The threat had been eliminated. They had been successful.

  “Let’s go.” Jackson took her hand and led them out of the room. They knew they had to get down to their regular training room for a roll-call. That was part of the plan and they all had to stick to it. No matter how much they wanted to be alone, they had to follow the rules. Out on the streets they wouldn’t be able to run into one another’s arms after every battle. This was a good place to start.

  Moving through the packed corridors, the worried looks on the others faces got more and more intense and the sick feeling in Aisline’s stomach clenched uncomfortably. Glancing over at Jackson, he seemed oblivious, intent only on getting to their destination.

  Rushing into the room, Ash took one look at Dylan and sucked in a breath.

  “What happened?” she whispered, already expecting to hear the worse.

  Dylan looked at her solemnly.

  “Master Warrior Dixon is dead.”

  Chapter Seven

  Kelton walked into his office with a tired expression on his face. How many things could happen in a few hours? Some wonderful, some devastating. It was hard to comprehend what was going on in his life. Everything was so up in the air at the moment, he didn’t know whether to be happy or sad.

  Verynai was sitting behind his desk, looking harassed as he spoke hurriedly on the phone. Kelton quietly closed the door behind him and sat down on the opposite side of the desk and waited patiently. He needed to be brought up to speed, but Verynai had enough on his hands without him harassing him.

  Slamming down the handset, Verynai shook his head. “I don’t know how you manage to handle all this shit.” The council had been on his back yet again, on top of the royal mess his night had turned into.

  “It’s never ending.”

  “Congratulations, by the way.” Verynai looked up and smiled briefly. The news of the birth of Kelton’s healthy baby boy had reached them soon after the shifter ambush. It was the bright light in their night of darkness.

  “Thank you.” Kelton momentarily beamed. The last thing he’d wanted to do was leave Kayleigh and his new-born son so soon after his birth, but after what happened, there was no way he could stay away.

  “How’s Kayleigh doing?”

  “She’s well. They both are.” Kelton nodded. She was doing better ever since she’d set eyes on the warrior mark on the tiny baby’s temple. That was exactly what had put her mind at rest, marking him without a doubt as part of the Matris. All that anxiety washed away from her features and Kelton had left her smiling and cradling their son.

  He was a beautiful little baby. Of course Kelton would be bias, but he was gorgeous. Mira had been overwhelmed with emotion and had been more than happy to watch over Kayleigh and the baby while he returned to the academy.

  At that time, he hadn’t known exactly what the emergency had been. He felt terrible at leaving all three of them to attend to this. He should be at the house, informing Dixon’s widow and doing all he could for them.

  Kelton sat forward in his chair, resting his elbows on his knees. “Fill me in on everything that happened while I was gone.”

  “What a goddamn clusterfuck.” Verynai rubbed a hand over his face in a weary motion. “We didn’t even see it coming. You would have thought that we would have been more prepared, especially after the last attack and with what happened to Trey, but the bastards managed to find their way in here.”

  “And how did they get in?” Kelton knew that all the details would be in the report Verynai was typing up, but he wanted to hear it for himself.

  “I’m sorry about this, Kelton.” Verynai felt terrible that this had happened when the place had been under his watch. He was responsible for this.

  “There’s nothing to be sorry for. This could have easily have happened while I was here.”

  “But it didn’t.”

  “There was nothing you did differently. I would have acted the same and the outcome would have been the same.” They’d lost a brother and that was a bitter pill for them all to swallow. “How did the shifters get in?”

  “Mainly through the back. By the time we knew what was happening and managed to get everyone to their posts, it was too late. They were coming in from all sides. The shifters got in and had the upper hand. They surprised us on our own turf.”

  “How many were there?”

  “Honestly? I’ve no idea.” Verynai shook his head sadly. “There was a hell of a lot of them and they may have managed to take us by surprise, but it didn’t take us long to over-power them.”

  “The defensive strategy worked?” Kelton asked. He’d worked tirelessly with the other Master Warriors to map out what they’d need to do if the academy came under attack again. There had been measures in place in the past, but with the shifters breaching their guard once before, it had been clear that the plan hadn’t been up to scratch.

  “It worked perfectly.”

  This kind of thing hadn’t happened to them in their entire history. This was the reason that they kept their location a secret. Even the majority of the Lamia Matris weren’t privy to that kind of information, only knowing a telephone number as to how to contact the Sons. That all changed the moment the shifters recei
ved the warrior mark. There was no way to keep their location from the pack leader and somehow the information had leaked to other pack members.

  Never in a million years did Kelton ever see an issue with allowing Patrick the knowledge of their location. Hell, he’d known it for years. Patrick had come to the academy at the mansion and at the old location on many occasions.

  The problem arose when some of the other shifters found out the exact address and the pack came in force to take Caleb and Rees. It was that moment that Kelton saw how precarious Patrick’s role as Alpha was. That was the point he should have realised that the shifter threat hadn’t been over. He’d been blind and now regretted not doing more to protect his people.

  There were many pack members who had disagreed with the decision to allow the two young shifters to live at the academy with the vampires. Patrick had been trying to keep the situation under control, but clearly, he hadn’t managed it.

  Still, even after that first attack and all the unrest, Kelton didn’t see it escalating to this degree. It was entirely possible that nothing else would have happened if Trey hadn’t stepped onto pack land without express permission, but Kelton had the feeling that the shifters had only been waiting for an excuse to hit back at them again. It went against everything they believed in, allowing members of their own kind to live away from the pack, especially in those kind of circumstances.

  Everything was messed up. Kelton didn’t know how they were going to iron this out.

  They were silent for a moment before Kelton cleared his throat. “What happened to Dixon?”

  Verynai couldn’t even look at him. He shouldered this responsibility. With Kelton being away from the academy, he and Dixon had stepped up. They were in the role of the leaders. This was his fault. Somehow, he should have prevented Dixon’s death.

  “There was a problem with some of the kids out messing about in the dining hall. Dixon offered to deal with it, but it was nothing so I said I’d sort it. I knew he wanted to get some time in at the gym.”

  “So how is that your fault?”

  “Don’t you see? If I hadn’t sent him down to the gym, he wouldn’t have been the one that was first on the scene.”

  Kelton frowned. “That’s ridiculous.”

  Verynai slammed a fist on the desk, making everything on it rattle and shake. “I sent him down there! I sent him to his death!”

  “You can’t think like that, man. There was nothing you could have done differently to prevent it.

  “How else can I think about it? If I hadn’t been so caught up in the petty little things that were going on, it wouldn’t have happened.”

  “Get a grip! It’s not your fault!” Kelton roared.

  “The council have been calling non-stop and I was sick and tired of sitting on my ass and fielding calls from them that I jumped at the chance to yell at a few kids who were messing about. Don’t you see? If I’d been focused on my job, it wouldn’t have happened. Dixon would still have been here.”

  “And if you’d been the one to respond first, you would have been dead.” Kelton pointed out. It was a no-win situation. He could entirely understand the survivor guilt that Verynai was feeling, and he knew that it would take him a long time to come to terms with it. Hell, he was feeling it, too. If he had been at the academy, maybe he would have been able to do something differently?

  It didn’t help to think like that. He’d learnt that over the years.

  “You don’t know that.”

  Kelton cocked an eyebrow at him. “You really think you could have done something different? You don’t think that Dixon did everything in his power?”

  “Dixon was one of the goddamn best warriors I’ve ever known.” Verynai glared menacingly, thinking Kelton was dissing the fallen soldier.

  “That’s my bloody point right there. There wasn’t anything anyone could have done differently. If he got over-powered, the rest of us would have been just as screwed.” Kelton knew that he could think this situation through with a clearer head because he hadn’t been there in the thick of it. Verynai was still buzzing with adrenaline and guilt was clouding his mind.

  Kelton knew that his chance to feel his own guilt would come later. He hadn’t been there with them when they needed him the most. A brother had died in his absence. But, for now, they had way too much to deal with to wallow in such emotion.

  “How many other casualties?” he asked.

  “Luckily, it seems like a whole bunch of knocks and bruises but nothing too serious. We’ve got a couple of trainees up with Marion in the medical suite with suspected broken bones, but on the whole, we were lucky. It would have been a hell of a lot worse if we hadn’t prepared the defensive strategy.”

  Kelton nodded. “And the shifters?”

  Verynai’s eyes turned hard. “They had many fatalities.”

  “How many?”

  Verynai shrugged. “They’re piling up the bodies as we speak. The injured are being held in the cells. I thought you’d probably want to speak to Patrick about them.” Personally, he would have loved to have ended them, but even he knew that was going too far.

  “How many injured shifters are we holding? And what have they got wrong with them?”

  “Just some broken bones. Nothing life threatening. Yet.” Verynai didn’t know how long he would be able to hold off. They’d destroyed something in him by coming to the academy. He felt like he’d let everyone down.

  Kelton fell silent again. There was a distinct feeling of pleasure running through him with the knowledge that his men had dished out just what they needed to, winning this battle. They’d been ordered to fight back but not to kill unless absolutely necessary. They’d done just that. It would have been easy for them to give in to their need, to kill and destroy, but they didn’t. They fought a clean fight. But Dixon’s death still weighed heavily on his mind.

  That wasn’t his only thought. “Has Patrick been contacted?” He knew that his friend wouldn’t have been involved in the attack. If he had any inkling that something was going down, Patrick would have told him when he phoned. However, this didn’t bode well for future relations between the Lamia and the shifters. They’d been friends for years, but ever since Caleb and Rees had received their warrior marks, things had been gradually heating up.

  This was one time he wouldn’t put personal before professional.

  Kelton thought it was prudent to get back to the academy as quickly as possible and find out all the information before contacting Patrick. He didn’t want to go into that conversation blind.

  “I actually spoke to him briefly a few minutes before you came in.” Verynai nodded.

  “Have the injured shifters received any medical attention?”

  “Hell no!”

  Kelton couldn’t help smirking a little. That would have been his call, too. They had to look after their own first. It was actually quite satisfying to know that they were down there in the holding cells in pain. They deserved everything they got.

  “What did Patrick say?”

  “Not a lot. He was in shock, couldn’t believe this had happened. I think he’ll contact you soon enough. He’ll want to get the story from his pack as soon as they return.”

  Kelton nodded, knowing that was what he would do. There was no point in going into battle without all the facts. That’s what the shifters had done here. They’d come to the academy to fight for two boys that didn’t want to be fought over.

  “Right. We need to check on the troops. This is going to be hard for everyone. Do they know about Dixon yet?” This was going to be difficult for everyone to deal with.

  Verynai shook his head. “Only the Master Warriors know. Even those that were with him don’t know for sure.”

  “Where is he?”

  “They took his body up to the medical suite for now. Doctor Phillippe locked up the room he’s in.”

  “That was the right thing to do.” Kelton agreed.

  “I thought that the news would probably come bet
ter from you.” Verynai didn’t want to chicken out telling the trainees and other warriors, but he knew that he had to stick to protocol, and that the news should come from the head of the academy. He’d only informed the council of what had happened because Kelton had given his express permission.

  “I want to call a meeting straight away about this. Can you get all the trainees and warriors to meet in the dining hall in thirty minutes? That should give them enough time to gather there.” Kelton frowned, working through in his head all the things he needed to get done.

  “I’ll get straight on it.”

  “I want the Master Warriors to remain posted around the academy. Now that Patrick knows what’s happened, I think he’ll have them on lockdown and I don’t think the shifters have enough man power to execute a second wave attack, but we can’t rule it out.”

  “Understood. They’re already posted.” Verynai nodded and stood up to leave.

  Kelton slapped a hand on his shoulder as he walked by. “Believe me when I say that this is not your fault.”

  Verynai frowned a little and refused to acknowledge the words as he left Kelton’s office.

  The phone started to ring as soon as he sat down in his chair. “Yes?” Kelton answered as he flicked through the piles of messages and notes on his desk. There were several from the council, which he planned on dealing with at a later date. They had more important things to worry about at the academy right now. There were also several messages from Cassandra Feelan, the mother of the twins. Pushing them aside, she was the last person he would choose to deal with at the moment.

  “Kelton?” It was Patrick.

  “Verynai’s just filled me in on what happened.” Kelton’s voice was stern. Their friendship could play no part in this. The situation was too serious for that to be a factor.

  “I don’t know what the hell’s going on here.” Patrick sounded tired and confused.

  “I think I know exactly what’s going on. Your pack came here to finish what they started with Trey. Only it wasn’t Trey they killed.”