My assessment is proven correct when our half-dressed leader gives him a feral grin. “You haven’t had this kind of power within these walls in a long time. Dust-ups are bound to happen; there’s no reason to pretend demons don’t solve their problems with bloodletting.”
“Good answer,” I murmur to myself. “Keep him on the defensive, Jas.”
My tails wrap more tightly around me as I look at Oriel and the bundle in his arms. He pulled Kit closer when the newcomers arrived, but the last thing we needed was for the Major to take notice of him. It’s going to be hard enough to deal with this new side of him—especially since it appeared to be a very young shifter form that hadn’t matured yet—without that fucker gunning for him.
I guess, given how much younger KK is than us, it’s not surprising that he’s manifesting that in his supernatural sides as well.
Making a note to do some research on late-emerging ‘lost ones’ and how their forms age compared to their previously humanoid bodies, I bite my lip. I hope that doesn’t make it even harder to train him; the Games will wait for no one once the officials announce the date. We need to get him in basicfighting shape by then with every bit of power he can access. I make another mental note to check into the administrative files to ensure The Keeper requested that class change. Dottie is another source of strength Kit will need, and that guy is the only one who knows how to wrangle that.
When I come out of my jaunt in my mind, I notice Lucian is still fuming as he inspects the demons on the floor. I don’t know if he berated Jasper more, but my prince looks as though he’s handling the affront of such a weak demon dressing him down better than I expected. I don’t know if that’s the influence of Kit’s request before or if it’s the Major’s presence, but I’m grateful, regardless. I can’t exactly touch him in this situation or it will set off more sparks with his father when the asshole emissary puts it in his stupid reports.
The door opens again, flying wide hard enough that I expect the damn thing to come off of the hinges. The rest of my brothers enter with grim expressions except for Slash, who looks ready to eat the entire room even if he regurgitates it all in the end. Our general stomps so hard the fixtures rattle as he joins Jasper in facing Lucian and the visitor from court.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” he demands.
Shit. Slash ispissed—like supercalifragilisticexpialidocious pissed. This is bad.
“You don’t have the right to speak to me in that tone, Scrum,” Lucian growls. His ridiculous minions come out from behind him, fanning out a little as they present a threat to the enormous shark demon. “Know your place.”
Oriel’s voice is low, but I hear it. “Some people are so stupid that it’s painful.”
I chuckle, peeking out from my tails to get a good view of what comes next. X walks over, standing to my left, while Salem takes my right, and I sense Anton behind me. No one wants to miss this, especially because Darkstar has been a thorn in our sides since we arrived.
Slash’s hand shoots out, grabbing our headmaster by the collar of his ridiculous ruffly shirt and lifts him into the air. The guy is huge, so when he extends his arm, Darkstar is easily ten feet off the ground with his legs scrambling as he makes noises of outrage. I watch as Slash allows just enough of his animal to bleed through that his teeth are sharper and more plentiful as he grins up at his prey. “My place in the food chain is well above yours. Do not test that fact.”
The Major breaks the silence by clapping slowly, his face reflecting delight as he looks at our second-in-command. “There’sthe spirit of my leader and our King! Scrum, your father would be proud.Neverlet a weaker being control you, no matter why they believe they can.”
Jasper snorts, and I feel the derision in him through our bond. He knows that both the King and the General happily smash anyone who questions them to bits. They don’t admire displays like this; they make certain the person standing up is punished to within an inch of their life. That includes the prince and the general’s son—and the Major knows it. He was part of the training those two endured for most of their lives to make them ‘strong enough’ to lead.
As if the King ever intends to allow that to happen.
“Put me down!” Darkstar yells, his voice changing from the faux haughty tone he usually affects to one that is panicked. “You will suffer the consequences of this insolence. I don’t care what this demon says; you are in my school, not at Court. Your entire caliphate will learn to respect the authority of my office.”
“Dude, no one haslesspower than someone backed into a corner that screams ‘respect my authority’ and threatens punishment like that.”
“Lilith wept, Kit,” I mutter as I slap my hand on my face in defeat. “Why?!”
Salem chuckles, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Because that dude is the biggest badass in this fuckingroom,Zav. Balls the size of boulders and not an ounce of self-preservation, but damn, he’s brave.”
“That will not help when?—”
The Major stomps through the mess at his feet and around Slash. He gives the prince a dark look as he maneuvers past him to face Oriel and the bundle of uniform that just risked his hide to zing our asshat headmaster. “And who is this clever yet hidden demon?”
Jasper whirls around, looking at O and the rest of us in an infuriated panic. His dragon flashes in his eyes, then he grits his jaw, and it disappears. “That is our newest member, Major. He does not appear to be strong, but he is fiercely intelligent and clearly has the mettle you were describing earlier. Darkstar placed him on our floor despite his newness to the realm, and I could sense his potential immediately.”
You could knock me on my ass with a feather right now, and I’m fairly certain that extends to my brothers as well.
“Interesting,” the Major practically purrs. Slash’s shoulders move at that sound, and I know it’s a very bad sign. The shark is enjoying his taunting of Lucian far too much to be affected unless it’s fucking terrible news. “I look forward to meeting this inductee, especially if he’s the one your father spoke of at the Samhain.”
“That’s even worse,” Anton says quietly. “You know what it means.”
“However, if he’s so brave and wise and has suchpotential…Tell me why he’s balled up in a discarded uniform, hiding from the world during your victory, Prince Jasper? I find it so…baffling.”
Lucian’s body hits the ground with a bang that echoes through the common room as Slash turns to the emissary. His eyes are icy, and I see the struggle in them—it’s akin to the one Jasper gets when he’s fighting one or both of his supernatural sides for control. But Slash almostneverhas to fight for control, so this situation is going downhill fast.
“I do not believe my father or the King gave you orders to doubt the Prince of Hell’s assessment.”
“Slash…” That was Kit, and I curse under my breath as he draws attention to himselfagaininstead of letting us handle this. The guy is determined to get himself killed, I fucking swear.
