Field training: Day 39, hour 23
“Bitch, I know I’m sexy, but you don’t need to eat shit.” Sadie grinned above me with my head on her lap as she aggressively slapped my cheeks.
“Ow.” I rubbed my face but smiled like a goon.
She slapped me harder. “You like it rough, huh?”
“Oh, baby.” I flipped us so I was kneeling on top of her with my forearm on her throat. “You couldn’t handle me.”
Sadie licked her lips, red eyes glowing as she smirked. “You aren’t even on my level until you’ve been intimately acquainted with a sex knife for over forty-two hours.”
What was with everyone and knives?
And they said I was crazy. Please.
Sadie chuckled, a harsh, raspy sound that was music to my ears. “Yeah, just imagine pleasure, then stab. Then pleasure. Then stab, stab. It will really do something to you. Kind of changed my life. I won’t lie.”
We both let her words sink in.
“Sadie, sweetie. I mean this in the kindest way possible. You’re a dumb fucking cunt.”
Sadie reached up, wrapped her arms around my neck, and latched onto me like a koala bear. “You’re such a cutie, Aran. Ugh, I missed your aura of morbid darkness.”
“And I missed your craziness.”
We wrestled for a little bit. Well, mostly Sadie tried to wrestle; I just easily subdued her with one hand and watched her struggle while my heart filled with warmth.
“You both are embarrassing and have the shared brain capacity of a rock.” Jinx stood above us and stared down at us like we were lunatics. Which we were.
“Rocks don’t have brains,” Sadie added unhelpfully as she tried to claw at my face as I bent her elbow behind her back.
“Exactly.” Jinx scoffed.
Sadie had walked right into that one.
“Are you done humping on our fucking floor?” Malum’s low voice was somehow even deeper with menace, and it took me a moment to take in my surroundings.
For a second, I’d forgotten I wasn’t at the manor, hanging with Sadie while Jinx taunted us.
“Am I hallucinating?” I asked as I pinched my hand. Had I lost my sanity in the desert? “Is my arm even real?”
I flailed my arm around as I broke out in a cold sweat.
It felt real.
For good measure, I poked Sadie, and she was solid and warm beneath me.
“Fuck,” I said miserably as my heart plummeted into my stomach. The drugs had messed up my brain so badly that I’d lost all grip on reality.
I clutched my head in my hands and rocked back and forth as I crawled away from the mirage.
Red eyes filled with concern as Sadie followed.
“Looks like Aran’s finally lost his fucking mind,” Scorpius said from far away.
“Stay away.” I whimpered as Sadie came closer.
“I told you he’d break,” Scorpius jeered at Malum. “He was never strong enough to be an assassin.”
I whimpered.
“Shut the fuck up. Don’t talk to him that way,” John threatened Scorpius as Orion whispered to his fellow king, “Don’t speak to Aran like that.”
I startled at his voice, but it wasn’t enough to pull me out of my breakdown.
Horace sighed heavily. “Aran, man, chill. You’re not tripping.” He flashed me a pointy smile and gave me a thumbs-up.
When did Horace become my friend?
I gripped my legs tighter and rocked faster. Terrified to look over at Sadie and Jinx because reuniting with them was the greatest desire I’d ever had. When it was all a lie, I’d break. All over again.
“Oh, please.” Scorpius flipped off Horace and chuckled. “Aran’s just being dramatic like usual.”
Clearly, Scorpius had issues with me. He’d been glaring at me more and more lately, but he hadn’t attacked me directly in a while.
Roar.
Suddenly, Sadie was gone.
A massive saber-toothed tiger with shaggy white fur and black markings jumped across the room and slammed against Scorpius.
I blinked.
Sadie shook the seven-feet-tall fae man like a rag doll with her arm-length fangs wrapped around his neck.
Scorpius punched and kicked, but Sadie just plopped down onto her butt and batted him lazily with her paw like she was playing.
“Great. We finally get permission to leave the beast realm, and you immediately act like an uncivilized barbarian.” Jinx rubbed her temples and sighed heavily. An action that was at odds with her less-than-five-feet, twelve-year-old appearance.
“And who are you?” John snapped at Jinx with uncharacteristic suspicion.
Jinx scoffed. “Your antithesis and the bane of your existence.”
“What?” John asked with confusion, and I was too distracted by Sadie tossing Scorpius’s writhing body into the air to tell him not to bother trying to understand the little girl.
Across the room, Malum burst into flames.
“Should I have brought catnip?” Jinx rubbed at her temples like she was elderly and not twelve years old as John glared at her with distrust.
Malum moved toward Sadie, and she let out an ear-splitting roar that shook the floor while she kneaded her hand-length claws in and out of Scorpius’s back.
Everyone winced.
As my body vibrated with the aftershocks of a predator’s warning, it clicked in my brain that this was really happening.
Sadie and Jinx were really here.
And from the flames spreading off Malum’s skin, across the floor, she was about to be set on fire.
“STOP!” I leaped to my feet.
Running over, I hit Sadie’s thick, fluffy skull. “Release the big rat. He’s not worth it.”
Scorpius yelled something back, probably arguing that he wasn’t a rat, but it was muffled by the paw that was smashed over his face.
“Sadie, please. He’s not worth it.”
I began to sweat as the room’s temperature increased drastically. Malum was an inferno.
The fire crept closer.
“Please!” I pulled at her floppy ears.
Blazing red tiger eyes narrowed as my bestie pushed Scorpius’s head further into the floor and placed more of her weight on top of him.
Sun god, cats were difficult.
The gods were really testing me whenever they made my best friend into a saber-toothed tiger shifter.
Just like a cat, Sadie had a puking problem and authority issues, refused to run for long periods of time, and acted first, then thought about it later.
Flames burned inches from us, and I couldn’t stop a shiver as I remembered the flesh melting off my bones.
“What is going on here?” A familiar menacing voice broke through the chaos, and everyone stopped moving.
Malum’s flames retreated to atop his shoulders.
I slumped with relief.
All hell would have broken loose if they’d kept threatening Sadie, because Cobra entered the room.
With jewels shimmering in his skin, Sadie’s mate sauntered like the alpha snake shifter he was. A predator.
He moved gracefully like a snake.
Surrounded by the recruits, I couldn’t help but notice that he was at least half a foot shorter than Malum.
I’d always thought Cobra exuded power, but now he didn’t seem as terrifying. Sure, he was impressive and not to be messed with, but he didn’t crackle with intensity like the kings.
“If you don’t turn back right now, I’ll punish you.” Cobra smiled. “Kitten, you don’t want to disobey me. Or did you already forget what happened last time?”
Just like that, Sadie stood naked in front of the room with her horrible scars on display.
The only sign that she’d transitioned was a lingering crackling noise of reshaping bones because sound traveled slower than light.
Immediately, Cobra ripped off his shirt and pulled it over her head. On her short frame, it fell to her knees, but Cobra still positioned himself in front of her to protect her modesty.
“Really? We’ve been over this. You don’t get to punish me like you own me,” Sadie said with annoyance.
Cobra looked confused. “But I do own you?”
Sadie made a choking noise and tried to push past him, but he wouldn’t let her by.
“You’re not decent,” Cobra growled at her.
Knowing how stubborn the snake bastard was, I whipped off my sweatshirt and pulled it over her head. Mine also completely dwarfed her.
My T-shirt still protected my back.
Cobra nodded toward me. “Thank you, Aran.”
I gaped at the pleasantry. Was he going to actually be nice to me?
Cobra smirked. “I see this place has been treating you well.”
Since I had dark circles under my eyes and various bruises from training, we both knew I looked like shit. The bastard was mocking me.
“I see you’re still a possessive asshole.” I smirked back.
“I see your hair is still a horrifying shade of blue.”
“Have you gained weight? You look fat.”
“Have you lost weight? You look like you’ve lost a lot of muscle definition.”
I gasped at his insult. “You’re still a bastard.”
Cobra smiled like I’d complimented him.
Sadie rubbed her hands over her face tiredly and sighed. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing you’re talking to Aran. Although, it would be nice if you could stop insulting my friend.”
She was referencing the fact that Cobra refused to talk to women because of his trauma. He’d broken his rule for Sadie and, because of our friendship, also spoke to me.
A true blessing.
Not.
I glared at him and let him know with my eyes that I was going to tear him to pieces if he hurt Sadie.
He glared back, green eyes flashing to those of a snake, as he wordlessly told me to try it.
Our silent exchange was broken by Sadie smacking Cobra on the back of the head. “You agreed to escort me to the academy and then leave so I could have alone time with Aran. Why are you still here?”
Cobra scoffed. “You thought I’d actually leave you alone?” He gestured to the room. “With all these men. Please. I don’t leave what’s mine.”
Sadie’s red eyes started to glow, and her scratchy voice was menacing. “Excuse me.”
Cobra glared down at her.
Instead of shifting into a tiger, Sadie started to drag her nails down her forearm. Blood welled.
Cobra’s eyes widened as he realized what she was doing. “Don’t you dare.”
“If you don’t leave me with Aran this minute, I’ll never wear your collar again. This is a massive betrayal of my trust.” Her glowing red eyes filled with tears. “You know what Aran means to me.”
Cobra swallowed thickly, and the alpha looked panicked at the sight of his mate’s tears. He grabbed her chin. “If I do this, you’ll wear my collar at all times.”
Sadie scowled up at him, then deflated. “Fine.”
Cobra’s expression was wicked. “If you get so much as a scratch on yourself, you’ll be punished for weeks.” He looked up and eyed all the men in the room. “Anyone so much as looks at her wrong and I’ll disembowel you.”
The recruits bristled, but no one said anything. We all knew Lothaire would lose his mind if we got hurt and couldn’t fight the ungodly.
I shuddered at the memory of my time in the tank.
Jinx rolled her eyes. “I’m here. Nothing will happen.” She snapped her fingers at Cobra to get his attention.
He nodded to her like she was a fellow soldier and not a child.
Cobra leaned down and gave Sadie a punishing kiss, then he whirled and left the room.
“I can look after myself,” Sadie snapped at Jinx in the ensuing silence.
“No, you can’t.” Jinx laughed.
I threw myself at Sadie and wrapped my arms around her. “Why don’t we ignore the small, mean, and most likely iron-deficient child and tell me how you’re here?! With me. In person.”
We hugged each other tighter.
Sadie recovered quickly from Cobra’s threats and bounced in my arms. “Lothaire sent us a dumb letter telling us he’d kidnapped you to this dumb, motherfucking ugly, gross place.”
Relief filled me that they’d known where I was.
“So of course, I was going to rescue you and bring you away from his soul-sucking vampyre ass. Because you’re my best friend.”
Classic girl code.
“After lots of research, which was just Cobra threatening and killing everyone, I bought a device on the black market to access the realm. But the High Court arrived and confiscated it as soon as I tried to use it.”
I nodded. “I’m just glad you tried.”
“I may or may not have started a small diplomatic emergency between the shifter realm and the High Court.”
“What?” I said with feigned surprise. It was exactly the type of thing my friend would do.
If I shouldn’t be in a position of leadership, then Sadie really shouldn’t be.
I had the potential to be a dictator. Sadie had the potential to be an overlord that took over the realms and enslaved everyone because she also had blood powers.
It was the red eyes.
“So basically. You know how there’s a visitors’ weekend ball thing for this fucking dumbass school?”
“Maybe?” A small part of me remembered Sari mentioning it. Or maybe it had been John? So much had happened that a dance didn’t seem important.
“Is that why you’re here?” I asked with excitement.
We had a long history of crashing dances; it was practically our thing.
“No, I got banned from attending because I accidentally”—she made finger quotes—“declared war on every member of the High Court and started to raise a standing army of shifters to fight them for control of the realms.”
My jaw dropped.
Suddenly, I understood why Jinx was sighing and rubbing her temples. “You did not?”
“Oh, I did.”
“I don’t know if I should be worried or scared.”
“What you should have is a lady boner for me because your bestie is a bad bitch.”
My stomach twisted as I became hyperaware of our audience.
I tried to chuckle deeply and punched her arm lightly. “You mean male boner. This is all for you, honey.” I leaned forward and pulled her tight like I was holding a lover as I whispered in her ear, “Don’t blow my cover, you slut.”
“Oops, sorry,” she breathed quietly. Pulling back, Sadie punched me in the abs. “Looking sexy, my dude. Your abs are amazing.”
It took everything I had not to keel over; she’d definitely been working on her punch.
“Subtle,” I mouthed.
“So you’re not here for the ball?” I tried to change the subject and hoped no one had noticed her slipup.
Sadie shook her head. “No. I got special permission to visit because I might have expressed my displeasure at being banned by refusing to perform my role as the moon goddess’s chosen general. But the men wouldn’t let me go alone, so Cobra agreed to escort me here, and I bargained with them to have Jinx accompany me for protection. This way, we can have some gir—” She covered her mouth. “Alone time without the men hovering.”
“What?” I choked on spit, still focusing on the first part. “Moon goddess? General?”
“Remember the ball where I lost this?” Sadie held up her hand and showcased her missing finger.
“Yeah?”
“Well, I have a lot to tell you. I wish I’d just spilled the revelations, but according to Dr. Palmer, I was in crippling denial.”
“Wait, you still see her?”
“Yeah, and she definitely misses you. She told me last session that she ‘misses when you came with the fucked-up blue-haired dude because he balanced you out and kept you from sinking into this weird and extremely concerning despair.’”
“Wow.” I held her tighter against me.
Sadie nodded and snuggled closer into me. “Also, apparently I’m one of the special types of people that become homicidal when I’m depressed.”
“This is a lot to unpack.”
Sadie shrugged. “The moral of the story is that Jinx and I get to spend a weekend with you in return for me appeasing a deity and not starting an inter-realm war.”
I turned to Jinx—the pale, dark-haired child was staring at us like we were roadkill.
“You don’t need to be here. I can protect her.”
She mumbled something about me being dumb and ugly under her breath.
“I agree,” Scorpius said from across the room, where his gaping wounds were being tended to by Orion and Malum.
Jinx turned to Scorpius and narrowed her eyes. “You’ve got a lot to say for a weak fucker that’s fully dependent on two grown men.”
Horace whistled, and the demons looked up from making out on their bed, like they were excited to see the child fight the assassin.
Scorpius opened and closed his mouth like he was speechless.
“Also, your neck tattoo is lame. Who gets an eye on their neck and not in the middle of their forehead?”
Scorpius’s nostrils flared, and Orion hid a laugh behind his hand. Once again, Malum erupted in flames.
For the first time in weeks, glee bubbled through me. Jinx and Sadie were really here, and they were putting the men in their place.
I grinned like a loon.
“Are you going to introduce me to your other friends, who are definitely not your best friends?” John asked with a dramatic wink.
“Excuse me?” Sadie bristled with rage and looked like she was about to shift again. “I am his best friend. Who are you?”
“I’m his new best friend.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“So we both agree,” Sadie said slowly, and John nodded.
I looked between them, confused when they had come to any sort of understanding.
John smirked down at her. “We’ll battle to the death for Aran’s friendship, and whoever wins is his bestie.”
I choked. “What is wrong with you people? A person can have two best friends; it happens all the time.”
“I don’t like him,” Jinx said randomly as she scowled at John.
John glared back. “And I don’t like you.”
Sadie talked like I hadn’t spoken. “I agree. Neither can live while the other survives.”
Why did I like having friends? Suddenly, I couldn’t remember.
Malum interrupted their dispute, “Egan, control your girlfriend and your child.”
Three mouths dropped.
Jinx pointed at us aggressively, like us being her parents was the worst fate in all the realms. “You think they sired me. Them? Those idiots? Right there? The ignorant ones that are still hugging?”
Sadie sighed and said sarcastically, “Darling, it’s almost your bedtime. Don’t be difficult for Mommy.”
I hid my laughter with a cough.
“I’m going to stab you both in your sleep.”
I made a mental note to stay awake the entire weekend. Because Jinx kept her promises.
