Only Matt and Mari were at our table.
“Hey, you not eating?” Mari asked me as I sat down sans tray.
“Ate with Kitani and her guys,” I explained, then gestured to her and Matt to come close. I managed to whisper some details to them before Darius and Aaron sat down.
The alpha smirked at me. “Enjoy your breakfast—I expect you won’t have many more. Not here, anyway. Unless—you’ve reconsidered my offer?”
The perpetual knot in my gut twisted.
“Stop bullragging her, Darius,” Matt snarled. “Not a Buckley’s chance of her being boosted. And your opinion’s not worth a brass razoo.”
I would have appreciated the defense a lot more if I could understand one iota of it. But Darius seemed to get the gist.
“Don’t be so sure.” His eyes glowed, before he shrugged. “She has options. If she’s smart, she’ll take me up on them.”
Matt glanced my way. “What is he on about?”
I was less worried about Darius’s opinions, and more about Matt. He still looked rough, with dark circles around his eyes. And if I told him that Darius wanted me to be the team whore, he’d try something. I just knew it.
So instead, I ignored Darius’s attempts to capture my gaze, before saying, “It’s nothing that I would ever consider.”
Darius snorted. “Well, you’ll change your tune, soon enough. Especially as your pretty darling here is a physical wreck.”
“I dare you to face me without your alpha crap,” Matt snarled. Then he looked from him, to me, and a muscle jumped in his jaw. “Stop gawking, Angel,” he complained. “I’m much better.”
“Yeah,” I offered, sarcasm dripping from the word. “You look great.” My gut twisted. What if he didn’t fully recover?
“Hey, it’s all good. I’ll be stoked by tomorrow.”
I sighed and looked for Talakai, but the big shifter was nowhere in sight.
Darius immersed himself in eating, and Aaron shot me a sneer from his other side. I was now so accustomed to the beta’s snide looks that I didn’t even blink.
Sebastian appeared at the front of the room and raised his hands for silence.
The recruits complied in an instant.
“You be trained to complete many types of missions,” the Bellati said. “But perhaps the most important is to stand against tyranny, in all its forms. The realms have recently faced challenges in that regard, and our teams can expect to be called away at a moment’s notice. So while our advanced class and instructors attend to a crucial issue, we are suspending most lessons for the next two days.”
While the other students began to whisper excitedly among themselves, I sensed, rather than saw, a difference in Darius. A sudden shift in intensity as he stared at the Bellati.
While I puzzled over that, Sebastian gestured to the men standing with him. “Neil and Alex will conduct auxiliary fight training sessions both days. I will be holding runs at eleven in the morning and four in the afternoon—both are mandatory. Other than that, I suggest you use your free time wisely. There will be not many such opportunities.”
He turned and strode from the room. Although his speech had been contained, I sensed the chaos within him. This Galeran thing had him wound pretty tight.
The cafeteria erupted with excited discussion. Darius shoved the last of his breakfast into his mouth and stood, striding away without a word. Aaron grabbed a sticky bun and trailed after him.
Matt’s brows lowered as he watched the alpha leave. “Blimey. He’s a stubbie short of a six-pack, that bloke.”
I raised a brow at him.
“Crazy,” he elaborated.
I sketched a smile. “Much better.”
“He is a most disagreeable individual,” Mari added. Which, for her, was quite condemning.
“So. Unanswered question of the day,” I said. “Who is Galeran?”
