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“Adequately prepared?” I demanded to know. “Are you insane? Do you think I could be adequately prepared for this no matter how many times I’ve had sex?”
Kazu said nothing, and I realized I didn’t want him to. He’d probably just tell me how I wouldn’t be able to handle it no matter my experience. This was just an excuse to drive his point home.
I dropped my shoulders slightly and glanced down at the floor. “So,” I said. “You think my best bet is to find someone to hook up with, to use what little power you think I have, and then I’ll be more prepared for this mission?”
Kazu looked away and slid his hands back in his pockets.
I hated the silence. I knew it wasn’t because he was sympathetic to my plight, but it annoyed me nonetheless.
“What?” I growled, taking a step forward. “You have anything to say? You couldn’t seem to stop talking before.”
“I think the best thing you can do for yourself is use what little power you have left,” he said, “with someone you trust. I think it would be much different than if you let someone take advantage of you, even if you’re aware of what’s going to happen. That first time is…you can’t ever get it back, so you might as well do what you can.” A beat. “And if you don’t believe me, I would talk to Kayleigh Barnes.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Why does that name sound so familiar?” I asked.
“Because she was an Elite, like you,” he said. “And she went on a Scarlet mission. Like you. And something happened to her.” A beat. “She’s the reason why the Scarlet missions were stopped completely. Before now, that is.”
Kent
Because Kent focused primarily on combat training, he had the day to himself. He typically used that time to work out with his lieutenant, Reedys. He had selected him as his lieutenant because he was a damn good tracker and he wasn’t much of a talker. It meant Kent didn’t have to talk either. He passed Kazu and one of the captain’s students, a pink-haired Elite before slipping into the pit he normally trained with Reedys.
“You’re late.” However, when he did choose to speak, the words were usually clipped and pointed. And, begrudgingly, they were true.
Kent stepped outside of the academy, wrapping tape around his fingers. The sun was already setting in the sky, the rays shooting down between the leaves of the tall trees. The leaves themselves were brittle, and it wouldn’t be long before they cascaded to the ground like snow.
“The Headmaster wanted to see me.”
Reedys was already in the ring. The training ground where the two fought was dirt with carved stone in a circle so the two combatants had a boundary of where their physical fight could occur. He jumped a couple of times, warming himself up, before twisting his torso to the left and then to the right. He didn’t ask Kent about what the meeting was about, nor did he ask what his thoughts were regarding the meeting. Instead, the lieutenant arched a brow, which basically said he was willing to listen if Kent was willing to talk.
Kent sighed. He didn’t really want to discuss this. It was almost…embarrassing.
But keeping it to himself wasn’t going to help the situation.
“Headmaster Grey saddled me with the new recruit,” he said. He shot his arms out once, then twice. The left first, then the right.
Reedys grunted. They had known each other for so long, it was easy for Kent to discern what his friend’s nonverbal cues meant.
“No, not like that,” Kent clarified. “She would have been assigned to our pack because of her birthday. But he instructed me to accept her as my ward.”
The eyebrow went higher, and the steel blue eyes stared for a moment.
Kent scoffed. “Yes, I’m well aware I’m the last person to ever be fatherly to anyone,” he said. He tapped both his hands together and bounced on the balls of his feet. “I never thought of having kids.”
Reedys’s scoff interrupted his tirade.
Kent punched; Reedys dodged.
“Ain’t you supposed to,Captain?”
Kent threw out left. This time, he managed to catch Reedys’s jaw.
“Well, my mating ceremony hasn’t happened yet, and this Marriage Law isn’t helping anything,” he said.
“ProposedMarriage Law,” Reedys corrected. He snapped a punch which Kent stepped back from. From where he stood, he could see the cut and nicks on Reedys’s skin, still scabbing over from his last fight.
“Grey thinks it’s already a certainty,” Kent said. “It’s only a matter of time.”
“You think you’ll be paired with a human?” Reedys asked.
