“Fuck.” Aimee's heart skipped a beat, and she swallowed hard, watching as her handsome stranger, now picking empty sweet wrappers from his silver hair, stepped fully into the room.
“Wolf Squad, I presume?” His familiar voice addressed them. “I am Ro Kiba. You must be Iruka, Momoka, Taiga,” he looked at each of the other Tanshi before turning to her. “And our unexpected addition…Aimee.”
Chapter nineteen
Thesofttinkleofmetal clanging, followed by the brittle snap of dried palm fronds, pulled her attention away from the butterfly she’d been studying. The training yard was nestled in a small oasis, surrounded by towering date palms and clusters of hardy shrubs, their shadows casting long, wavering patterns over the sunbaked earth. Star-shaped throwing blades, also known as shuriken, glinted in the bright desert sunlight, hanging from a tie in Kiba’s hand as if they were just another part of the arid landscape.
“I almost had you that time!” Taiga, previously flat on his back, pushed himself to his feet the moment Kiba’s shadow loomed over him, eyes darting between his squad mates and their sensei as if waiting for a reprimand. Even Iruka, usually composed, straightened slightly, though he tried to mask it beneath his nonchalant demeanor.
Kiba barely glanced up from his book, the faintest twitch of his hand signaling to the group to continue. Despite his outward indifference, Aimee knew that he’d already mapped every one of their movements with precise clarity.
She wondered if it was the same book he had been reading the night they ‘met’ before they’d…Aimee shook her head.Don't go there. It was just a one-night stand. It was a mistake, and that’s all it will ever be.
Either way, the man hadn’t said a single word directly to her since then. Not when he gave them instructions for where to meet, not when he greeted them that morning, and certainly not during his vague explanation of thetestthat would, apparently, decide which of them advanced. To be fair, he hadn’t answered Taiga’s thousand questions or Momoka’s scattered yelps of dismay, either.
Idiots, Aimee thought, blowing out a puff of air that sent the butterfly flitting up from her fingers.
It hovered just out of reach, wings flickering as if to say:Don’t be an asshole just because you’re mad he’s ignoring you.
Aimee frowned watching it dance further away, leaving her to her thoughts.
Sure, Kiba’s indifference irked her, but the truth was, she was more pissed at herself for making such a boneheaded decision in the first place. What the hell had she been thinking, hooking up with some random guy like that?
Whatever. She settled back on her elbows, trying to relax.
The warmth of the sun soaked into her skin as she started counting clouds to pass the time. Somewhere behind her, a grunt or yelp would break the quiet now and then—another poor soul getting tossed across the training yard in a failed attempt to snag one of the shuriken dangling from Kiba-Sensei’s waist.
Just as she hit cloud number thirteen, a sudden shadow blocked the sunlight. The temperature changed, a coolness brushing over her skin. Her eyes narrowed in response, muscles tensing with annoyance.
“Do you think this is a joke?” A man’s voice cut through the quiet. “Do you think you’re too good for this exercise? Or that you’ll automatically pass because...because...”
Aimee scrunched her nose, her tone flat. “Because you fucked me above the Great Phoenix two nights ago?”
“Damn it, girl!” His voice was strained. “If I’d known you were a trainee or...or how old you are, that never would’ve happened.”
She cracked one eye open, raising an eyebrow.
He looks like he might throw that stupid book at me, she thought, smiling to herself.
“You’re skilled. That was clear enough,” he continued, his voice tight.
Both her eyebrows shot up higher, and her grin widened.
“At martial arts!”
“Mmm hmmm.” She couldn’t stop herself, savoring how riled up he was getting.
“Look, Aimee.” He dropped to the ground beside her, their eyes now level. His usual air of calm indifference was gone. “I wasn’t lying. This—being a Squad Leader, being responsible for a group of Tanshi—it’s important. Not just to me but to the whole Haven. Please…”
“Don’t ruin it?” she finished for him, her tone softening. As much fun as she was having watching him squirm, she didn’t want to hurt him. She remembered the sincerity in his voice that night and the way he’d questioned if he was truly ready for this responsibility.
“Yes,” he sighed. “Something like that.”
“Look.” She sat up, letting the playfulness drop from her voice. “I’m not trying to ruin it. This is obviously a team-building exercise.”
A quick blink betrayed his surprise.
“Whether or not you actually plan to fail any of us, they need to figure it out on their own.”
