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The campus was busy. I started at the junior high campus, wanting to see how the younger students were faring.
I was pretty sure they were doing better than the older students. Their age made them more adaptable, easier to mold into what I needed. As I walked down the hallway of one of the classroom buildings, the air buzzed with excitement and anticipation as they headed to their next class.
Smiling students passed by. Nervous students glanced around warily, and the scared ones hung back, prepared to be devoured if they dared to step wrong. It was a heady concoction of our future.
Eyes landed on me as kiddies slowed down. I felt like a goddess as their gaze followed while I made my way through the halls.
“Class is about to begin,” I said in a soft voice. It didn’t matter. It was dead quiet and all of them were able to hear me. That got them nervously moving to their destination, bodies stiff and awkward. I held in my laughter. I never thought I’d affect them like this. I was so used to being a nobody, or at least a broken somebody, that this felt good.
Here, at this school, they respected me. Maybe even feared me. I needed to be careful to only use that power for good.
The hallway cleared, and I turned to Rophan with a smile. “While their respect for me comes from their respect for my family, I can’t wait for the day it’s for me as their Chairwoman.”
Rophan mulled that over before saying, “Keep up as you are, and I’m sure that day will be here sooner than you think.”
His words were a warm balm that started in my chest and reached outward until my whole body felt light and excited. To think his simple words would have such a strong effect on me.
With classes starting, I made sure to quietly peek in on them. I was impressed. The teachers looked really into what they were doing, and the students were completely engaged. Maybe it was the first-day excitement of being at a brand-new academy, being part of something different, that motivated them. I hoped I could keep that kind of momentum up. The last thing I wanted were bored students. That’d get dangerous fast.
My phone buzzed, and I pulled it out of my pocket, smirking at the screen.
“Yeah,” I asked, answering it.
“Where the hell are you?” Dany asked, her irritation practically reaching through the phone and strangling me. No doubt, if I were with her, she’d be doing it. “You were supposed to be at a meeting after you dealt with that student. But you disappeared.”
“Oh! I forgot about that. Did you go for me?”
“Of course, I did. Now you have a meeting with Zen to go over some issues.”
“Zen, huh?” I smirked. “Maybe you want to go to that one for me?”
Zen Jexton was a jaguar shifter who was in charge of all things security at the academy. I was able to nab him away from the freelancing world. The man had saved my bum a few times, and he was the only one I trusted to do the job right.
Dany was obsessed with him. They’d been a thing, knocking the nookie for about a year now. I did my best to stay away from the two of them when they were feeling it. Not something I ever wanted to see again, or walk in on.
“If this is your way of getting out of the meeting, it’s working.”
I laughed, making my way outside. “I know.”
With a huff, she said, “You’re wandering around the campus, aren’t you?”
“Yes. Just poking my nose around.”
“More like where it doesn’t need to be,” she muttered through the phone. “I thought with classes starting, that urge would go away.”
“Nope.”
“Of course not. Fine. Do what you need to do to realize everything is running as smoothly as it can be, and the academy isn’t being burnt down to the ground. I’ll trust Rophan is with you, keeping your virtue intact.”
“If anything, he’s the one to take it away,” I teased.
She laughed, knowing me too well. “If only that were the case. I’d probably give him a big hug and a kiss.”
I did my best to not look at Rophan. I had a feeling he could hear, even though as a warlock, heightened senses was not his forte.
“Bye, Dany,” I said.
“Yeah. Bye. Don’t stress too much.” She hung up.
I tucked my phone away and ignored the burning in the back of my neck as Rophan stared at me. There was so much in what Dany and I said about him taking my virtue and none of it I was ready to get into. All I knew was that I wasn’t going to be doing anything like that any time soon. I had too much going on before I could even contemplate sharing my life with someone on that level again.
The rest of the morning went like that, I poked my head into the classrooms, watched the way the teachers interacted with their students, and moved on.
By the time lunch rolled around, my stomach grumbled at all the walking. My feet agreed.
“Hungry?” I asked.
“The others are at the cafeteria now.” Rophan tucked his phone into his pocket.
“Keeping tabs on me?”
He shrugged. “They asked. And they’re sincere in making sure you’re okay. I had no reason to not tell them.”
I huffed, not sure what to make of that. “Let’s go join them then.” Since they’d arrived, it seemed Rophan, Alto, and Archon bonded over whatever manly things they shared.
Pixie lights floated through the cafeteria, providing the extra light that the massive floor-to-ceiling windows couldn’t, which was already plenty at this time of day. Off to the side was a buffet table full of heaps of warm food, ready to be devoured. The plates and bowls were magically created to keep food at the same temperature. Hot food remained hot, cold food remained cold.
The cafeteria was about half full of people, but it didn’t take me long to find Alto and Archon.
Alto was the campus main healer, and he was going to be teaching a class on it too. His background was heartbreaking, having been hidden away in a tiny village in China while they used him for their benefit. As a rare Spirit Master, and a Soulbrusher at that, everyone wanted a piece of him. I was determined to keep them all away. He deserved to live the way he wanted. For now, that was at the academy, but if a day came that he didn’t want to be there, I’d let him leave. Even if I wanted to wrap my arms around him and force him to use a crowbar to get me off.
Archon was an offensive trainer for our Natural Special Forces Training program. NSFT was something I wanted nothing to do with and trusted Gaerlan, my brother, to keep it as far away from me as possible. When I first met Archon, he challenged me and I beat him. I still felt the remnants of the bruising he gave me, but they were only phantom pains, a reminder of my weakness. It was worth it though, because for the next year, he had to call me Mistress and I loved it. The way that simple word rolled off his tongue did dirty things to my mind.
A girl could fantasize, and Archon made it so easy.
The two of them were huddled at a table in the middle of the room. None of the students around them dared to approach. I didn’t blame them. With Alto’s feminine beauty and Archon’s bulky gargoyle form, I’d stay away too. That didn’t mean the female population didn’t watch them.
I came to a halt and leaned toward Rophan, lowering my voice. “Do you think there’s going to be fanfiction going around about the two of them. I’m almost afraid to interrupt their date.”
The two of them sat close, heads together as they talked about something that had them both smiling. They were more focused on each other than on their surroundings.
The spotlight over them didn’t help any, making them glow brightly in the room. Even the fairy lights were attracted to them, and those things were fickle. They’d rather cast us into darkness than do us any kind of favor. I didn’t care what anyone said. Fairy lights were sentient, and they proved it as they gathered over Archon and Alto, shining light over them like they were in some kind of flashy Broadway show. Or more poetically, like the gods and goddesses were looking down on them.
Rophan nudged me forward. “Maybe it’s time to add to those fantasies.”
We sat across from the two of them, and I couldn’t stop grinning.
Alto’s expression lit up, stealing my breath away for a moment. “Adeelah, congratulations on the first day of school.”
“Thank you, honey,” I said. “How was your morning class?”
“They’re determined students. I’m excited to work with them.” His expression was soft and hopeful as he talked. He needed this.
“I’m glad. If any of them give you trouble, tell me. I’ll sic Rophan on them.”
“Mistress, are you ignoring me?” Archon asked in a low gravelly voice.
I finally gave him my attention. “No.”
I blinked innocently, trying not to let his black eyes draw me into their endless depths. His gaze always had an intensity that held me prisoner. It became a favorite game of mine to get his emotions high. Whenever I did, his eyes did a weird constriction, the blackness of his eyes turning catlike with the outer edges a light gray.
Smiling sweetly, I asked, “How was your class this morning? Did anyone get to beat you up?”
He smirked. “They wish. We do have one potentially good student. The kid has moves.”
“Kid? How old is he?” I asked. No kid should have been in that program. I’d fought tooth and nail to ensure that only those twenty-one and older could join on the caveat that they were seen as adults in their communities.
“Ferys is twenty-three. A smart kid with a cool head about him.” Archon didn’t notice the bite in my words as he answered. “It’s refreshing. Seems everyone in the program has an end goal that isn’t necessarily for the best of the Naturals.”
“What do you mean?” I frowned. “Like revenge?”
Archon nodded with a slight frown of his own. “Exactly that. The team has a meeting to discuss ways to rid them of the anger they seem to be bottling up.”
I leaned back and tapped at the table. A tray was pushed in front of me with a basic turkey sandwich and fries. I looked up at Rophan in surprise. I hadn’t even noticed that he’d and gotten food. There was even a side of vegetables.
“Ah, thank you,” I said.
He didn’t respond, opting to sit down and tear into his cheesesteak sub. I noted he didn’t have the side dish of vegetables.
“You didn’t expect that a bunch of twenty-something-year-olds would want to join up in order to hurt humans?” Rophan asked after swallowing his food.
Archon frowned at him. “We stressed what this training was for, and we kept it away from anything to do with humans. Naturals should police their own.”
I sighed and tried my best not to rub out the frustration building behind my eyes. “The Unveiling hit them the hardest. They were at the age to know what was going on, to see their friends turn on them, losing family, all while dealing with the crap of being an adult. I’m not surprised they’d react this way.”
“I have to agree,” a humored voice said.
My irritation slipped away as Asriel approached with his own tray full of food.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. “I’d figure the cafeteria would be beneath someone like you.”
Asriel laughed, making the sound of magical crystals as they hit each other. The sound was soft, pure, and determined to make me feel all warm and gooey inside. He settled in next to me, his thigh pressed against mine.
“I’m sure we had the same thought of being submerged into the academy as much as possible. I’ve been watching the morning classes for NSFT, getting a sense of how things really are going. I’ve made the same assessment as you, Adeelah. A majority of students are there with a sense of gaining payback.”
Asriel’s blue eyes turned glacial as he talked, ready to cut through anyone who dared to cross him. I had a lot of respect for him. He was on the Natural Council, and ever since I’d approached them and forced them to listen to me, he had been on my side. He believed in the academy almost as much as I did.
As a man who came from a Valkyrie mother and a mysterious father, Asriel wasn’t someone Naturals messed with. He had control over ice, along with the strength, speed, and deadliness of his mother. He had an intense beauty about him too, with sharp features and long silvery hair he usually kept pulled back in a braid.
“Glad you agree with me then. You’ll need to find a way to make these kids know that what they are training for is not a game. It’s not a pass for them to unleash their anger onto the humans.” I leaned forward, making sure my displeasure and resolve was in my expression. “Make them realize it, because if they don’t, it’ll be me they have to deal with, and I have no qualms about putting them in their place.”
The four men gaped at me, but I wasn’t playing. NSFT wasn’t something I’d wanted in the first place, but I understood the necessity. Only Naturals were well equipped to deal with other Naturals, and no one wanted to reveal their weaknesses to the humans to give them the power to wipe us out. The Purists wouldn’t hesitate to use our deficiencies against us and there were too many of them in the human population.
“Will you help us?” Archon asked.
I turned my gaze to him and swore he held back a smirk. I wanted to grin at that. I could fake badassery just like the best of them. It kept me alive this long. They knew one of my weaknesses, that I could be easily hurt, and healed almost as slow as a human, but they didn’t understand the full implications of that. That meant they still thought I could kick their ass.
“No,” I said. “I never wanted anything to do with the program. That is not my project and I have enough on my hands right now making sure the kiddies here remain safe. And that means dealing with their prejudices.” I glanced down at the food and frowned. Pushing the tray away, I stood up. “I’m not hungry right now. I’ll get something later.”
I left, leaving them staring after me. Rophan would catch up. At the moment, I didn’t really care because something sharp and hard settled into my stomach. There was only one way to alleviate it and that was by harassing Zen. I needed to know that everything was okay, that the world wasn’t ending and everything was running smoothly with security.
Then maybe, maybe, I wouldn’t feel like screaming and throwing things. That whole conversation was the reason I didn’t want NSFT in the academy. Knowing they were training little devil marines, intent on destroying the human world, scared the shit out of me.
If they didn’t fix those trainees’ mindsets, then this whole academy was going to fall apart.
Alto’s POV
Adeelah stalked away. I glanced around the table, noting how everyone watched her. Even Jed Rophan stared after her instead of following like he should have. I wasn’t sure how to feel about any of the men.
And I wasn’t sure what I felt about their interest in Adeelah. She was someone I treasured deeply. At night, I found myself having more time on my hands than I wished. Sleep was elusive, plagued by nightmares in that village, with people grabbing me, pulling me, making their demands to save their lives.
It was hard.
Adeelah and Niall made it easier. They made everything easier for me. Niall was a constant reminder of our freedom, that we were safe, and Adeelah was a reminder of the vast future ahead of us. We had choices, something we’d never had. I was going to do everything in my power to keep her in my life, in whatever way she’d let me.
Asriel was the first to turn around, giving him a moment to see what I saw: Rorke and Jed staring after her with an expression I didn’t understand. My limited experience made it hard to decipher the way they looked at her. All I knew was that it made my heart twist in a way I didn’t like.
Asriel’s gaze met mine and his lips turned up into what I had learned was a knowing smile. It was a similar smile I saw on Adeelah often as she teased others.
“Well, this will be fun,” Asriel said.
The others’ attention snapped to him, but before anyone could question him further, he got to his feet, picked up his still full tray, and walked away.
“What was that about?” Rorke asked.
I wish I knew. I hated that knowing look. Asriel planned to have fun at our expense, I just wish I knew why or how.
