by Scott, Helen
I knew, for a fact, that the instant he was in his own space, he shucked them off, too. I’d caught sight of his bare ass too many times to fail noticing that.
We were spiritual creatures, beings who hated the trappings of humanity, the beasts in us needing to connect to the Earth.
“He’s right. We are,” Keiran tried to sooth, but there was no soothing me. I knew we were, but that didn’t put me at ease.
“Just a little peek?” I murmured the question. Gideon had permitted it, but still, I needed to be coaxed into breaking yet another law of the Academy.
Cade rolled his eyes. “Do you want Gid to roll out the red carpet? Raven, you want to go mind-walking, so do it. It’s not like we don’t want news, too. I’m surprised it’s taken you this long to do it. Unless . . .” he cocked a brow, “you’ve done it without telling us.”
That had me jerking to my feet. “Fuck. You. As if I’d do that.”
Gideon snorted. “He was fidgeting far too much to have done as he wanted. You and I both know that.”
Cade just chuckled. “True.”
I narrowed my eyes at him as I splayed my hands and pressed them against the table. I sucked in a deep breath while closing my eyes and allowed my mind to wander.
As I avoided my brothers, my intent not to read theirs but to find Marcella, I jerked in surprise at the proximity of someone close by.
They were outside our quarters.
My brow puckered as I slipped into the confines of their psyche, and when I identified who it was exactly, my top lip curled in a sneer.
The bitch was eavesdropping, trying to use her meagre talents to figure out what we were discussing, and it irritated me more than I could say, mostly because this went beyond irritation. I was fucking furious. So beyond outraged that I wanted to hurt Lily, I wanted to truly injure her in a way that went against the creed all mind-walkers swore once they graduated and became eligible for becoming a part of a brotherhood.
My throat closed as I swam around her mind, trying to figure out what her purpose was. Even as I wished Keiran had frozen her subconscious with terror of stepping through doors for an eternity, she’d made an appearance in trials a few days later. It was still funny to watch her hold the side of the door whenever she left a room, though.
She was after something; there was no other reason for her to be there. But this was different.
Unfortunately for me, as I looked through the filing system of her memories, I found one that was too interesting to pass up.
Diving deeply into it, I allowed myself to be swallowed whole by her thoughts.
* * *
“Brother.”
The man was one I knew. Her Enforcer, and her brother. He narrowed his gaze at her as he tilted his head back, his focus shifting from the papers on his desk to her presence in the doorway. “What are you doing here?”
She flinched, and I felt her fear as though it were my own. She was frightened of her kin, but that came as no surprise. Enforcers weren’t exactly warm and cuddly. Well, if they were grizzlies they were, I guess. “I needed to speak with you.”
“About what? Your place is at the Academy. Your meagre skills are in need of the classes they offer if you’re to do us any good as part of that brotherhood.”
Lily gnawed on her bottom lip. “I have news.”
“News of what? The fact you’re slipping? Do you think I haven’t heard tales of your current losses on the challenge field? I’m disgusted by the notion you were caught cheating.”
It went unsaid that it was okay to cheat, it just wasn’t okay to be caught doing it.
Everything inside me rebelled at the prospect of being tied to this fucking family. Maker mine, if things weren’t bad enough as a brother, being linked to someone dishonorable only made it a thousand times worse.
Yes, we’d broken rules—fuck, we’d broken the biggest one by accidentally making Marcella our Sixth—but we weren’t corrupt.
Lily seemed shore herself at her brother’s sneering. “What I wish to speak to you about is important. Marcella, the student who keeps besting me, is more apt for the brotherhood. It’s causing issues.”
Her brother narrowed his eyes. “What kind of issues?”
“They’re leaning toward her.”
“How do you know?”
She growled under her breath. “I’m a woman. I know how these things work.”
That made him snort. “You mean their cocks react to the other, but not to you? How that must prick your pride, darling sister.” He waved a hand. “Do what you must to attract them. Those salsangs think more with their dicks, anyway. It can’t be hard to grab their attention.”
Lily considered his words, which made me want to prompt her to scratch her own eyes out. “It’s more than that, though,” she said, tone hesitant. “They’re not shifters, brother. You and I both know my talents work best with them.”
“You will adapt. You must. This combination of brothers is a powerful one. Utterly unique. You must find a way to make it work.”
“What if I can’t? Marcella is stronger than me!” she cried out. “There’s no way I can best her.”
I sensed how deeply that wounded the woman’s pride, and it gave me a sense of satisfaction to know she was fully aware of the fact she could only best my Sixth if she cheated. It irritated me to no end to know that salsangs were the breed considered to be devious and untrustworthy, when, in truth, the pursangs were the lying, deceptive cunts.
“You’ll have to figure out a way to—”
“No,” she half-screamed. “No, brother. You’re not listening to me. I’ve tried, but she is stronger. Even with a broken focus, she can do far more than I can.” She sucked in a shaky breath. “If I could do this alone, I wouldn’t bother you. You know that. I’m aware of my place, fully cognizant of the fact I’m only useful if I can make Sixth in an advantageous brotherhood, but this is me telling you that I won’t be able to do that without inside help.”
“I already engage far too much with the Academy,” he countered, seeming surprised at his sister’s outburst. “If I involve myself anymore, then it might leak to certain people.”
“It’s either involve yourself or lose out. Marcella is the best Sixth for the brotherhood. If we’re to put a halt to that, we must do so before the quarterfinals. She must be stopped.”
The older man narrowed his eyes. “Are you asking for a sanction?”
Lily seemed to shake herself as she firmed her chin, raising it slightly as though she wished to impress upon her brother that she was strong enough for the role he wanted her in.
“Yes. I want to take Marcella out of the competition.”
“At any cost?”
Lily nodded. “At any cost.”
He cocked a brow. “This will be your first kill, will it not?”
And even as my stomach soured with the memory, Lily’s sudden avariciousness startled me. I could feel her salivate at the prospect. “It will.”
“Make it look like an accident,” was all the other man said. “Now, be gone.”
The words dismissed both of us, and even as I settled back in my seat at the table, shaken to my core, I whispered, “We’re fucked.”
11
Gideon
Before Raven had even finished explaining what was going on, I was up out of my chair and standing in front of the door. Not because I was going to leave, but because I needed to stop them from running out of there in this state.
I watched as Cade strode purposefully toward me, his face contorted with fury. Barclay, Raven, and even Keiran were behind him. They all looked ready to spill blood.
“Move, Gid, or I’ll move you,” Cade growled.
“Think for a second. The moment we cross that threshold the Headmaster will know. We all spilled our blood and bound ourselves to remain in the room until they came and got us for the final announcement.
“If we break the blood seal then everything that Marcella has gone through will be for nothing be
cause our opportunity to become an Alpha team will be revoked. If you leave right now, we lose Marcella either way.” I crossed my arms over my chest and knew they wouldn’t move me even though they wanted to.
When they didn’t immediately stop, I had a moment of doubt, but I knew if I moved then nothing I could say would stop them. It was one thing for them to lay hands on one of the Masters in anger but another for them to lay hands on me.
Cade came nose to nose with me and I saw the wild anger whip through his baby blues. I knew he was feeling the need to protect Marcella more than the rest of us because the idiot had consummated the bond with her.
I could practically watch my words sink into his brain. Slowly, the seething anger subsided and was replaced by a cold fury. He knew that leaving now would only hurt the woman he was bound to protect in the long run, but there was still an internal battle raging on.
Once all four of them had backed away and returned to the more open spaces of the living area, I relaxed my stance. I wasn’t stupid enough to move away from the door, though. We all had beasts and magic writhing through us and I, more than anyone, knew it could make us do stupid things.
“So, what do we do?” Barclay asked, his hands clenching and unclenching at his side as though he could barely stop himself from punching something.
As I opened my mouth to respond, a fist pounded on the door behind me, literally shaking the wood against my back. I glared at each of them before I turned around, took a deep breath, and opened the door.
Master Lee stood there, the sneer on his face barely contained as he looked me up and down. His reaction was nothing unusual, most people, especially humans, didn’t dig my extensive tattoos, especially when they were on display as they were in that moment. When he didn’t say anything, I asked, “Can we help you?”
“Headmaster Winterborn wants to see you in his office. I’m here to escort you,” Master Lee said.
I knew from the way he said escort that he would rather be doing pretty much anything else.
“Very well.” I inclined my head. “Please allow us a few moments to make ourselves presentable for the Headmaster.” I smiled cordially even though I wanted to tear his head off.
“Don’t take all day making yourselves pretty. I’ve got places to be.”
“Understood,” I said, before closing the door in his face.
“What the fuck is this about?” Cade growled, his temper flaring once more.
“We just need to get through whatever is going on, then we can figure out a plan of our own. Agreed?” I asked.
The others nodded, and we all disappeared into our own rooms. I stripped out of my sweats and pulled on a pair of pants that looked like dress pants, but were uniquely designed to be as battle ready as possible. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I had a bad feeling about whatever was happening. I tugged the matching dress shirt over my head and tucked it in, adding a belt that had a blade hidden in the buckle and my steel-toed boots, before running my hands through my hair and heading out.
We all emerged from our rooms relatively quickly, but I knew as soon as I opened the door and saw the look on Lee’s face that it wasn’t quick enough.
Before we could cross the blood-sealed threshold of the rooms, Master Lee said, “I hereby release you from your confinement for the express purpose of a meeting with the Headmaster.” Lee pricked his thumb with a blade and squeezed a droplet onto the enchanted strip of wood, which ran around the opening for the door.
The frame was a record keeper in a way. Whoever was the Headmaster at the time was able to key the enchantment to react and alert them if it was crossed, and by Lee dropping his blood onto it, he was letting the Headmaster know he had successfully picked us up. If we didn’t show up within a reasonable amount of time then the grounds could be put on lock down before we would even get to the edge of the property.
The security measures were so hardcore, it made me wonder if we weren’t the only brotherhood to have royally fucked up.
We followed Lee to Winterborn’s office, although we could have made our own way just as easily. I suspected Lee wasn’t there to act as a guide, but to make sure we didn’t make any detours.
Lee rapped on the thick wood door and waited a moment before opening it.
“Sir, the Maximus brotherhood for you,” he said, stepping wide so that he gave us enough room to enter, but was easily able to get out and shut the door behind himself before Winterborn had even turned around.
“Ah, yes. Thank you for coming so quickly,” he said, his silver-rimmed glasses winked in the dim light as he peered up at us from the book he was holding. His steel-gray mustache was extra bushy, as though he had been futzing with it when he was reading. The white and gray comb-over that usually concealed the bald top of his head was mussed, and the man seemed to be somewhat agitated, now that I was paying attention.
Part of me wished we could get a look at whatever was going on inside Winterborn’s polished head, but Raven would be hell to deal with after reading Lily’s mind and then sharply dismissing her. Whatever he’d done, she’d yelped. None of us had felt in anyway apologetic about that. Not considering her intention toward Marcella.
All five of us approached the old oak desk and bowed out of respect, not rank. The feeling of unease inside me seemed to be growing exponentially as I waited for the old man to open his mouth. When he motioned for us to sit I knew that whatever it was he wanted to talk to us about wasn’t good, especially because there was no way this guy had five chairs in front of his desk on a regular basis.
“Gentlemen, I’ve called you here today to talk to you about your Sixth.”
When Winterborn paused strategically, I prayed to the Maker that none of my brothers jumped in to fill the void. No one should know about our bond to Marcella except for us, and I wasn’t convinced that she even knew what she’d done. Not after Cade had admitted to messing up the timeline.
With a sigh, Winterborn continued, “We’ve come to a decision in regard to the semifinal and final. The semifinal is taking place between Marcella and Lily later today. Lily will win and she will become your Sixth after the bonding ceremony.
Congratulations on landing such a prestigious Sixth! Lily’s family, Addams, is part of the LaFauvre line, so I am sure you will get nothing but the best from here on out.” A shit-eating grin decorated Winterborn’s face, and he seemed practically giddy at the news.
My stomach sank, and my heart began beating a samba in my chest. This couldn’t be happening. I mean, I knew I wasn’t having a daydream or would that be day nightmare? What we had all expected to go on when we first arrived was transpiring, so it shouldn’t be a surprise, and yet, with everything that had taken place with Marcella, that’s exactly what I was, surprised.
The biggest question that popped into my mind, swimming through the sea of denial and the gulf of outrage, was whether or not the bonding ceremony would even work? We had bonded to Marcella in the woods, I knew that much, and we were always told back at Eastbrook that one bond was all we got, so theoretically this shouldn’t work, but what would that mean? For us? For Marcella? For all our futures?
Thankfully, before my thoughts spun out of control, Keiran jumped in. “We don’t get to choose?” His voice was soft, almost delicate. Only those of us who knew him well that could tell that this was the most dangerous version of Keiran.
When he joked and chatted, he was always somewhat softly spoken, but the softer, more fragile sounding his voice became, the more dangerous the waters we were swimming in became.
He could turn on a dime, and most people would never know. I knew that if my dream-walking brother had anything to say about it, then Winterborn and Lee would be suffering nightmares for years to come. All while the Headmaster suspected nothing.
Winterborn’s grin wilted slightly before he rallied and continued, “Generally, the brotherhoods do get some say in their choice, that’s correct, but we felt as though we had to step in, in this instance.” Wood creaked, i
nterrupting Winterborn’s little speech.
I wasn’t sure who was struggling to hold themselves back, but I’d bet money on Barclay or Cade. As though sensing the mood in the room wasn’t what he had hoped for, Winterborn rushed on, “You see, Marcella is good, very talented, in fact, but her background, her upbringing, leaves a lot to be desired. With a brotherhood such as yours we want to make sure that your Sixth can handle the social obligations as well as the professional. Marcella’s mother . . . she was a thrall. We’ve raised the girl as one of our own since she was about eight years old. She has no idea what the world is like outside the confines of Westbrook, and that makes her an unsuitable match for your group.”
“What if we disagree?” Raven said, biting each word out as though it would slap Winterborn across the face.
The Headmaster looked aghast at the mere thought, and that was when his true colors started showing. “Why would you? Do you want a highly-regarded pursang or the daughter of a whore, one whose own mother tried to kill her?”
“Lily cheated. We don’t want a cheater. We don’t want someone who will take those kinds of risks,” Barclay stated, remaining remarkably calm.
“That is simply an accusation. It wasn’t proven,” the Headmaster blustered.
“Are you calling me a liar?” Raven countered, his voice like gravel.
“No, I just—look, the decision has been made. I’m sorry that you’re not happy with the choice, but it is what has been decided by people with more information than the five of you.
“Now, I suggest you go and ready yourselves for the binding ceremony. You don’t want to leave your new Sixth vulnerable, do you?”
