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He glanced up from what he was doing and grinned at me, flashing his elongated canines. I tore my eyes away from the perfectly cut v-shape that plunged into the waistband of his sweats and wondered for the second time that morning what the fuck was wrong with me.
To my horror, I felt myself flush and I knew he noticed by the way his grin widened.
“Morning, cranky,” he said, refraining from commenting on the fact that I had essentially been staring at his crotch. I hadn’t meant to. It wasn’t my fault he was basically parading about with his dick out.
Indecent asshole.
I scowled at him and turned to the table to find Rhyalla pouring me a mimosa from a pitcher full of OJ and berries. There was an old-fashioned crank powered record player in the living room playing Sunday morning jams, and for a minute, I felt like my life was normal and I was just enjoying a lazy morning with my friends.
“How did you sleep?” Rhyalla asked, and I glanced nervously at Rycon before answering. He was diligently pretending he wasn’t listening to our conversation, which I knew was impossible, consideringing how good his hearing was.
“Fine.” I said blandly, curling up into one of the chairs set around the table. I drew my knees up to my chest and rested my chin on them.
“That’s good,” Rhyalla passed me a mimosa, not deterred at all by my lack of enthusiasm. I took in the giant spread of food on the table and pursed my lips. This was a lot for just the three of us.
There was a plate piled high with bacon and sausage, a huge platter of fruit and yogurt, and several bowls of nuts. There was also a plate full of pancakes and a boat of syrup. Rycon tossed a tea towel on one of the empty place settings and dropped the skillet he had been using to cook the eggs on top, before dropping into one of the chairs and snatching up a mimosa for himself.
“Don’t drink too much, the K’aalpa-kah has already been waiting for you for an hour.” Rhyalla said, snapping a tea towel at him with a crack. She made her way over to sit in the seat next to her brother.
“It’s good for them to wait. It builds character.” He said, giving his sister a cocky grin before tossing his mimosa back in one shot. “Plus, I’m going to need at least a little bit of a buzz if I’m going to have to listen to them whine all day.”
Rhyalla’s lip twitched as she started piling her plate full of food. Rycon turned his attention to me, and I felt my scalp tingle as his eyes met mine.
“Eat,” he ordered, which made me want to do the opposite. He met my glare and narrowed his eyes. I thought for a moment he was going to say something rude when Rhyalla cleared her throat. His gaze flicked to her briefly before finding mine again.
He softened. “Please, Kasha. You need to get your strength back.”
Please? Since when did he say please?
“You have to try the guava, I just picked them this morning, they’re so fresh.” Rhyalla urged with a smile. Considering she had given me a mimosa and wasn’t a panther-shaped asshole I decided I could try a guava for her.
I grabbed a little green fruit and bit into it. Rhyalla was right, it was so fresh that one bite was an explosion of flavor in my mouth. My eyes widened in surprise at just how delicious it was, and the corner of Rycon’s mouth tilted up in approval.
I managed to finish the guava and a half of a banana before I ran out of steam. Rycon and Rhyalla both convinced me to push myself to eat a slice of bacon before they finally let me put down my fork.
Each of them, on the other hand, had piled their plates high and helped themselves to seconds, in Rycon’s case, thirds. When he was done, he stood up and threw his hands over his head to stretch. His sweats slid down lower on his waist, and I suddenly found the syrup boat to be the most interesting piece of plateware I had ever seen in my life.
“Alright, I’m out.” He said.
Rhyalla scoffed. “Took you long enough, they’ve been out there for almost two hours now. Why did you say first light if you were going to take so damn long?”
He smirked at her and shrugged. “Separates the cubs from the cats. If I go out there and find someone sitting or screwing around, who do you think is going to be my favorite asshole to pick on all day?”
Rhyalla looked surprised. “So, it’s a test?”
Rycon nodded as he made his way to his room… hopefully to put on some damn clothes.
“When I first joined the Ironclad Company, Korrick made me stand at attention for two days straight before I was even allowed in the training room,” he said lightly. “If these assholes can’t handle two hours, they don’t deserve to be called K’aalpa-kah.”
He disappeared into his room and Rhyalla rolled her eyes, getting up to clear the table. I moved to help her, but she smiled at me kindly and held up a hand.
“Why don’t you have another mimosa? I’ve got this.” She said, brushing me off. I had barely touched the first one she had poured for me, but I nodded, not having the energy to argue. Rycon re-emerged several moments later in his restructium suit, looking ready to raise some hell.
He strolled up to me, and I blinked at him in surprise. He put one hand on the edge of the table and the other on the back of my chair, getting uncomfortably close to my face, and I grit my teeth. I forced myself not to flinch away. He wasn’t going to hurt me. I was Kasha, Spymaster of The Court of Pride. I wasn’t afraid.
“Do you want to come?” He asked quietly. My eyebrows shot up at the question. It hadn’t even occurred to me to go. I stared at him, stunned.
“You want me… to come help you train the K’aalpa-kah?” I asked dubiously. He was staring so deep into my eyes I felt like he was looking into my soul. He nodded.
