I’m shocked at how well Firecracker is doing after spending several hours training with our de facto commander. She’s walking okay, doesn’t seem to lack a will to live, and isn’t wheezing. When Jasper let Slash run us through paces in the past, that isnotthe condition we came back in and none of us was in as much danger as my roomie is.
However, I suppose even the icy big dude could get beguiled by the alternating fiery spark and soft vulnerability of our Kit Kat..
My lips curveup as shebraces herself for the chaos that is currently our dorm room. I know she’d rather have time to decompress and prepare to be around so many wild personalities in a small space, but I said Jasper needs help. Like the staunch soldier Kat is, she’s stomping toward the door with her spine straightened and what can’t be more than a whisper of a plan to pull him out of the failure funk. It’s admirable, if not a bit naïve, and I’m very interested to see exactly what she does to get his attention.
“Little demon, perhaps you should?—”
“Nope.”
Slash blinks then looks over at me, his blue eyes wide with obvious concern for the small demon striding into my room like a mouse headed for… well, a dragon. Apt description, I guess. I chuckle as we follow her in, then lean in to whisper, “Everyone has to learn to stand on their own two feet, right, General?”
His eyes narrow. “Donotcall me by my father’s moniker—I have not earned it inanyconceivable fashion.”
Oops. That wasn’t supposed to hit a sore spot, but it did because of the Major, I’d bet.
“Sorry, man. Didn’t mean it that way.” I give him a sorrowful expression, and the shark huffs as he makes a beeline for his favorite seat near the prince. Slash is making certain he’s within snatching distance on purpose, I fear, in case the grumpy shadow dragon loses his temper with KK.
“Salem, where the hell are the damn—” Jasper looks up at the newcomers blearily, jerking his chin with a grunt at Slash. His second eyes him carefully as he sits down, and I imagine that’s how his animal looks when it’s tracking prey. He’s sizing the prince up even more now that he realizes how blitzed the guy’s gotten since we got back. “Oh,finally!”
Kat arches a brow at the hazy dragon demon and shrugs as she drops her bag next to her chair. “You asked Slash to train me and that’s what we did. We took it seriously, Jasper. Isn’t that a good thing?”
Hmm. A little snark, but she’s feeling him out like someone who is well-versed with testing a drunkard for meanness before they move into range.
“I don’t like that,” Oriel mutters as he comes up to me. “Not one bit. Slash is giving Jas the stink-eye, and KK is watching him like a gazelle on the Serengeti.”
“Ah, but he’snota gazelle,” I reply with a small grin. “We know he’s the hunter deep down, and I feel he’s been in this situation before—successfully, if this strategy tells us anything.”
X comes out of the kitchen, their hair braided and comfortable,notin gross clothing but in perfect order as they stop to comment. “Kit Kat knows what he’s doing without a doubt. Look at the body language, boys. Coiled but firm, calculating risk… I daresay our fishy brother has taught himsomethingduring this session.”
Suddenly, Kit whirls to face us, her expression irritated. “This is not a Nat Geo special. Stop acting like weird meanie girls gossiping in the background. He might not be sober enough to get it, but I can certainly hear you.”
I smile, batting my lashes at her playfully. “But KK, I’m enjoying your Steve Irwin-like approach to our hell-flavored version of an angry croc. It’s very amusing.”
Dottie scampers off her shoulder, across the floor and onto the counter to face the three of us. The small animal makes an impossibly disappointedface—for an animal, I mean—and shakes her tiny fist at us as she makes chittery sounds.
Shit, we made her mad—my bad.
“Hey, hey!” I say to the tiny rodent as I hold my hands. “We were just playing, Dottie. No need to fuss. How about I get you some yummy treats from the cabinet?”
Oriel snorts, elbowing X as he mutters, “Even the pet has him whipped. It’s hysterical.”
“Don’tpiss Dottie off,” Kat hisses at us as she shakes a finger in our direction. “I’m going to go change so I don’t smell like… hellspring water or whatever. She doesn’t like it, and I don’t want that to be a problem. Limit how much more booze he drinks while I do that and consider my options.”
“Or you could just let him marinate,” Anton says mildly. “He is making averyillogical choice, and he wasn’t even the one who got his ass beat for hours. That was us, and while we look better now than we did before…”
X leans in to kiss his cheek and pat his shoulder. “Yes, he’s being quite self-centered and self-pitying, but that’s not something we’re going to handle tonight. It seems Kit Kat is up at bat this time.”
I frown, caught between wanting to see her try and knowing that we usually fail at culling Jasper’s self-pitying shit, and we’ve known him forever. I don’t want KK to internalize that and fuck up her own progress.
Plus, I think Slash might actually kill him if she does.
“Okay,I’m back—what the fuck are you guys doing?”
My eyes stay on the floor because I’m not saying this was my idea, but it wasn’tnotmy idea. Hopefully, she doesn’t figure it out—or someone doesn’t rat me out. But I really think that if we’re going to make all this shit work and get through this fucking nightmare as a caliphate, we need to figure out the rest of our shit.
Zav looks up from where he’s been fiddling with the huge TV on the wall, pushing his glasses up as his tails swish. “I put together some movies. It’s been a bad day and… well, I think we deserve to wind down and destress. You know… together.”
Nice one, brave little fox.
