With his guidance, I was getting used to the demands of training and the tol they took on my body. I even put some weight on. The dweeb part was stil up in the air. Aiden still wouldn’t let me get within ten feet of any of the cool-looking weapons.
On the day of the Summer Solstice, I tried approaching the wal of destruction toward the end of practice.
“Don’t even think about it. You’d cut your hand off… or mine.”
I froze, one hand inches from the wicked dagger.
Dammit.
“Alex.” Aiden sounded a bit amused. “We only have a little bit of time left. We need to work on your blocking.”
Groaning, I pul ed myself away from what I real y wanted to learn. “Blocking again? That’s al we’ve done for weeks.”
Aiden folded his arms across his chest. Today he wore a plain white tee. He made it look good, very good. “That’s not al we’ve done.”
“Okay. I’m ready to move onto something else, like practicing with knives or defense against the dark arts.
Cool things.”
“Did you just quote Harry Potter? ”
I grinned. “Maybe I did.”
He shook his head. “We’ve been practicing kicks and jabs, Alex. And your blocking stil needs work. How many of my kicks have you been able to block today?”
“Wel … ” I grimaced. He already knew the answer. I’d only managed to block a handful. “A couple, but you’re fast.”
“And daimons are faster than I am.”
“I don’t know about that.” Nothing was as fast as Aiden.
Half the time he moved like a blur. But I stepped into position and waited.
Aiden walked me through the maneuvers once more, and I could’ve sworn he slowed down his kicks just a bit, because I blocked more than I ever had before. We separated, about to start another round of kicks when a whistle sounded from the hal way. The culprit—bronze-haired Luke—stood at the door to the training room. I grinned and waved.
“You’re not paying attention,” Aiden snapped.
My grin slipped from my face as Luke and a couple of other halfs disappeared from view. “Sorry.”
He exhaled slowly and motioned me forward. I complied without argument. “Is he another boy of yours? You’re always with that other one.”
My hands dropped to my sides. “What?”
Aiden brought his leg around fast. I barely had time to block it. “Is he another guy of yours?”
I didn’t know if I should laugh, be pissed off, or be ecstatic that he’d noticed I was always with the other boy.
Flipping my ponytail over my shoulder, I caught his forearm before it connected with my stomach. “Not that it’s any of your business, but he wasn’t whistling at me.”
He jerked his hand back, frowning. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
I raised my brows at him and waited for him to get it. The moment he did, his eyes widened and his mouth formed a perfect circle. Instead of fal ing on my ass laughing like I wanted to, I struck out with a vicious kick. Aiming for the vulnerable spot under his ribcage, I almost squealed at how perfect my kick was going to be.
I never made contact.
In one nifty swipe of his arm, he knocked me to the mat.
Standing above me, he actual y smiled. “Nice try.”
I propped myself onto my elbows, scowling. “How come you smile when you knock me down?”
He offered his hand. “It’s the little things that make me happy.”
I accepted, and he hauled me to my feet. “Good to know.”
Shrugging, I brushed past him and grabbed my bottle of water. “So… um, are you going to the celebrations tonight?”
The Solstice was a big deal for the pures. It kicked off more than a month of social events leading up the Council session in August. Tonight would be the biggest celebration, and if the gods were going to bless them with their presence, tonight would be the night. I doubted any would, but the pures got al dressed in their colorful sheaths just in case.
There would also be a ton of parties held on the main island—none of which us halfs were invited to—and I mean none. And since al the pures’ parents would be home, there would be no festivities at Zarak’s house. However, rumor had it there would be a beach party hosted by the one and only Jackson. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make an appearance or not.
“Probably.” Aiden stretched, flashing a strip of taut skin along the band of his pants. “I’m not real y big on that stuff, but I need to show up at some of them.”
I made myself focus on his face, which was harder than I realized. “Why do you need to?”
He flashed a grin. “It’s what we adults have to do, Alex.”
I rol ed my eyes and took a drink. “You can go and hang out with your friends. It wil be fun.”
Aiden looked at me strangely.
I lowered the bottle of water. “You do know how to have fun, right?”
“Of course.”
Out of nowhere it kind of hit me. I don’t think Aiden could have fun. Just like I couldn’t bear to real y, real y think about what’d happened to Mom. Survivor’s guilt—or at least that’s what I thought they cal ed it.
Aiden reached over, tapping my arm. “What are you thinking?”
I glanced up, finding his steady gaze on me. “I was just…
thinking.”
He backed off, slouched against the wal , and eyed me curiously. “Thinking about what?”
“It’s hard for you to… have fun, isn’t it? I mean, I never real y see you doing anything. I’ve only ever seen you with Kain or Leon and never a girl. I did see you once in jeans…
” I trailed off, flushing. What did seeing him in pants have to do with anything? But that had been an amazing sight.
“Anyway, I guess it’s hard after what happened to your parents.”
Aiden pushed off the wal , eyes suddenly a steely gray. “I have friends, Alex, and I know how to have fun.”
My cheeks grew even hotter. Obviously, I’d hit a sore spot. Whoops. Feeling very lame, I finished up training and hurried back to my dorm. Sometimes I wondered what I was thinking when I opened my mouth.
Disgusted, I took a quick shower and changed into a pair of shorts. Soon afterwards, I headed back to the hub of the campus to meet up with Caleb in the cafeteria, determined to forget my awkwardness.
Caleb was already there, in deep conversation with another half about who’d gotten better scores in their field exercises at the end of last semester. Since I had yet to take part in any field exercise, I was pretty much left out of the conversation. I felt like a loser.
“You going to the party tonight?” Caleb asked.
I glanced up. “I guess so. Not like I have anything better to do.”
“Just don’t have a repeat of last time.”
I shot him an evil look. “Don’t leave me hanging while you run off to Myrtle, you douche.”
Caleb chuckled. “You should’ve come. Lea was bitching up until the moment she saw Jackson without you. She practical y ruined everyone’s night. Wel , Cody actual y ruined everyone’s night.”
I pul ed my legs up and leaned back in my seat. This was the first I had heard of that. “What happened?”
He made a face. “Someone brought up the Breed Order crap again, and Cody was real y out of it. He started talking smack about it. He was saying stuff about us halfs not belonging on the Council.”
“I’m sure that went over wel .”
He smirked. “Yeah, then he said something about how the two breeds shouldn’t mix and al the crap about the purity of their blood.” He paused, eyeing someone behind me with great interest.
I twisted around, but I only caught a glimpse of caramel-colored skin and long, curly hair. I turned back to him with a raised brow. “So, what happened?”
“Um… a couple of the halfs got pissed. The next thing we know, Cody and Jackson were brawling. Man, they were going at it.”
My eyes widened. “Wha
t? Did Cody report him?”
“No,” said Caleb, grinning. “Zarak talked Cody out of it, but he beat Cody down. It was pretty awesome. Of course, the two idiots made up afterward. They’re fine now.”
Relieved, I settled back in my seat. Striking a pure—even in self-defense—was a fast way to get kicked out the Covenant. Kil ing a pure in any situation would get you executed, even if he was trying to cut your head off. As unfair as it was, we had to be careful navigating the politics of the pure-blood world. We could knock the crap out of one another, but when it came to the pures, they were untouchable in more ways than one. And if we happened to break one of the rules… wel , we were only one step away from a lifetime of servitude—or death.
Shuddering, I thought about my precarious position. If I didn’t get accepted in the fal , servitude was what I had to look forward to. There was no way I could al ow that. I’d have to leave, but where would I go? What would I do? Live on the streets? Manage to find a job and pretend to be a mortal again?
Pushing those troubling thoughts away, I focused on Jackson’s party, which I final y agreed to attend, and a couple of hours later, I found myself there. The little party real y wasn’t little; it looked like al the halfs who were stuck at the Covenant during the summer had spil ed across the beach. Some sprawled across blankets; others reclined in chairs. No one was in the water.
I opted for a comfy-looking blanket beside Luke. Ritter, a younger half with the brightest red hair I’d ever seen, offered me a yel ow plastic cup, but I turned it down. Rit hung out with us for a little while, talking about how he was getting ready to travel to California for the rest of the summer. I was only slightly envious.
“You aren’t drinking?” asked Luke.
Even I was surprised by my decision, but I shrugged. “I’m not feeling it tonight.”
He flicked a long strand of bronze-colored hair out of his eyes. “Did I get you in trouble today during practice?”
“No. I’m usual y easily distracted. So it was nothing new.”
Luke nudged me, grinning. “I can see why you are distracted. Too bad he’s a pure. I’d give my left butt cheek for a piece of that.”
“He likes girls.”
“So?” Luke laughed at my expression. “What’s he like?
He seems so quiet. Like you know he’d be good in—”
“Stop right there!” I giggled, throwing up my hand. The movement pul ed my sore back muscles.
Luke tipped back his head and laughed. “You can’t say you never thought about it.”
“He’s… he’s a pure,” I said again, like it didn’t make him sexy.
Luke shot me a knowing look.
“Okay.” I sighed. “He’s actual y… very nice and patient.
Most of the time… and I just feel weird talking about him.
Can we talk about some other hot guy?”
“Oh, yes. Please. Can we talk about another hot guy?”
Caleb snorted. “Exactly the thing I want to talk about.”
Luke ignored him, his gaze flickering across the beach and settling near a couple of coolers. “How about Jackson?”
I eased onto my back. “Don’t say his name.”
He chuckled at my pathetic attempt to make myself invisible. “He just showed up without Lea. Come to think of it, where in hel is that little ho?”
I refused to look up and draw Jackson’s attention. “I have no idea. I haven’t seen her.”
“Is that a bad thing?” asked Caleb.
“Oh, Alex, here comes your man,” Luke announced.
There was nowhere for me to go and I looked helplessly between Caleb and Luke. Neither of them did anything to hide their amusement.
“Alex, where have you’ve been?” slurred Jackson. “I haven’t seen you around.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and muttered a dozen curses.
“I’ve been busy with training.”
Jackson swayed to the right, toward a distracted Caleb.
“Aiden should know you need to get out and have a little fun.”
Luke turned and gave me a sly wink before standing. I sat up, but that was as far as I made it. Jackson dropped into the empty space and threw his arm around me, nearly knocking me over.
His breath was too warm and smel ed of beer. “You know you’re more than welcome to hang out here after the party.”
“Oh… I don’t know about that.”
Jackson smiled and moved in closer. Normal y I’d find Jackson attractive, but he just grossed me out now.
Something was wrong with me. Had to be. “You can’t be practicing tomorrow. Not after the celebrations. Even Aiden wil be sleeping in.”
I doubted that and I found myself wondering if Aiden was having a good time. Did he go to the celebrations and stay? Or did he show up, make an appearance, and bail? I kind of hoped he stayed and had fun. He could use it after spending an entire day holed up with me.
“Alex?”
“Huh?”
Jackson chuckled and slipped his hand over my shoulder. I grabbed it and dropped it in his lap. Undaunted, he reached for me again. “I was asking if you wanted something to drink. Zarak went on a compulsion frenzy and stocked us up for the rest of the summer.”
That was good to know. “No. I’m fine. Not thirsty.”
Eventual y, Jackson grew bored with my lack of interest and roamed off. Grateful, I turned to Caleb. “Smack me next time I even think about talking to a guy. Seriously.”
He stared down into his cup, frowning. “What happened with him? Did he come on too strong?” A fierce look came over his face as his eyes narrowed on Jackson’s back. “Do I need to hurt him?”
“No!” I laughed. “It’s just… I don’t know.” I turned and saw him standing with the female half I’d caught a glimpse of earlier. She was a pretty brunette, ridiculously curvy, and she had a smooth, caramel-colored complexion. “Jackson doesn’t do it for me.”
“Who does?” His own gaze settled on Jackson’s companion.
“Who’s that girl?” I asked.
He turned and sighed. “That’s Olivia. Her last name is one of those unpronounceable Greek ones. Her father is a mortal; her mom’s a pure.”
I continued watching the girl. She wore a pair of designer jeans I would’ve kil ed for. She also kept avoiding Jackson’s wondering hands. “How come this is the first time I’m seeing her?”
“She’s been with her dad. I think.” He cleared her throat.
“She’s actual y… kinda nice.”
I looked at him sharply. “You like her, don’t you?”
“No! No, of course not.” His voice sounded sort of strangled.
My curiosity increased as Caleb’s eyes seemed drawn back to Olivia. A red hue colored his cheeks. “Sure. You aren’t interested in her at al .”
Caleb took a long gulp of his drink. “Shut up, Alex.”
I opened my mouth, but whatever I was about to say was cut off when Deacon St. Delphi strol ed up out of nowhere.
“What the hel ?”
Caleb fol owed my gaze. “Now, that’s interesting.”
Seeing Deacon on the beach wasn’t at al surprising, but seeing him on the night of the solstice when al the pures hovered together was shocking.
It was so very… impure of him.
Deacon swept the halfs with his cool gaze and a sardonic grin broke across his face when he saw us.
Sauntering over, he pul ed a shiny silver flask from the pocket of his jeans. “Happy Summer Solstice!”
Caleb choked on his drink. “Same to you.”
He took Jackson’s empty spot, seemingly unaware of the shocked stares. I cleared my throat. “What… are you doing here?”
“What? I got bored over on the main island. Al the pomp and circumstance is enough to drive a man sober.”
“We can’t have that.” I took in the red rims around his eyes. “Are you ever sober?”
He seemed to think about that. “Not if I can help it. Things are… easi
er this way.”
I knew he was talking about his parents. Unsure of how to respond, I waited for him to continue.
“Aiden hates that I drink so much.” He glanced down at his flask. “He’s right, you know.”
I played with my hair, twisting into a thick rope. “Right about what?”
Deacon tipped his head back, staring at the stars blanketing the night sky. “Everything, but especial y the path he chose.” He stopped and laughed. “If only he knew that, huh?”
“Aren’t they going to know you’re gone?” Caleb cut off my words.
“And come over here and ruin al your fun?” Deacon’s serious look vanished. “Absolutely. In about an hour, when they start their ritual chanting and crap, someone—most likely my brother—wil realize I’m missing and come looking for me.”
My mouth dropped open. “Aiden’s stil there?”
“You came here knowing they would fol ow you?” Caleb frowned.
Deacon appeared entertained by both statements. “Yes answers al .” He brushed a sunny curl off his forehead.
“Crap!” Caleb started to stand while I mul ed over the knowledge that Aiden was stil partying it up. “Alex, we should go.”
“Sit down.” Deacon put up a hand. “You have at least an hour. I’l give the party boys enough time to clear out. Trust me.”
Caleb didn’t seem to hear him. He stared back down the seashore, where Olivia and another half stood close, real y close together. Seconds passed while his face hardened.
Leaning over, I tugged the hem of his shirt.
He gave me a broad smile. “You know what? I’m pretty tired. I think I’m going to head back to the dorm.”
“Boo.” Deacon stuck out his lower lip.
I stood. “Sorry.”
“Double boo.” He shook his head. “And the fun was just starting.”
Tossing a quick goodbye to Deacon, I fol owed Caleb up the beach. We passed Lea coming down the wooden boardwalk.
“Like going after my sloppy seconds?” Lea wrinkled her nose. “How cute.”
A second later, I wrapped my hand around her forearm.
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