A wave passed from me—into Darius. His eyes widened and then flared bronze as he staggered.
Running on the other side of me, Talakai rumbled a warning. The big Dragonshifter leaped toward the alpha. But I was in the way, and with a flash of white, snapping teeth, Darius lunged at me.
As I did my best to evade the oncoming beast, I stumbled back, directly into Talakai’s path as he made another grab for the alpha.
The Dragonshifter’s powerful fingers closed on my shoulders to wrench me out of the way, just as a blur of steel-gray motion swirled past us.
A strong hand wound itself into the alpha’s shirt and tossed him without effort into the tall grasses along the path. Like he was a paper ball, and not a two-hundred-pound Dire.
There was only one word for Sebastian at that moment—terrifying. Power radiated from him, and his hair lifted off his back as though animated all on its own. Gone was any trace of the cold statue—he sizzled with fury.
The entire panting group ground to a halt as the Bellati loomed over the sprawled alpha, took a deep breath, and thundered, “Here, you benotalpha. You will succeed, or fail, on your own merit.”
Darius’s shock rippled through the alpha energy as the Bellati glowered at him. For just an instant, an answering rage shone from the alpha’s eyes. Then, to my surprise, although his expression remained sullen, the energy switched off, and the alpha nodded once. “Yes, sir.”
Sebastian continued to glower at him, and I don’t think a single student dared breathe. Then he turned away. The moment he did so, the Dire’s face altered. And I shivered. In fact, it was more than a shiver—I shook all over. Like that burst from me had come at a cost.
“You okay Angel?” Matt breathed. His expression betrayed him—his humiliation at submitting to the alpha ran deep.
I wanted to reassure him, but in reality, I wasn’t okay. I felt as though I’d been scorched from the inside out, and I trembled all over, but I hurried to pant, “I’m fine. He won’t pull his alpha crap again…not with Sebastian around.”
Matt glanced at our instructor as we left Darius lying in the grass and resumed running. “That Bellati bloke…is bloody scary.”
“Think he surprised Darius,” I huffed. “But yeah…make a mental note not to cross Sebastian.”
Talakai fell into step again with us. My shoulders tingled as though his powerful hands still rested upon them. I glanced ahead to where Sebastian wasn’t even breathing hard. A quick look back showed that Aaron had stopped to help his alpha.
The entire incident left me uneasy, and it had little to do with the actual attack. In fact, the only thing genuine about what had happened was Darius’s reaction to my challenge. I figured that had been pure, honest alpha beast. But why had he submitted so quickly to Sebastian? I’d seen the rage. Then he’d bottled it, and even added a “sir.”
Did Darius want to become a Shade so badly he’d kowtow to an instructor? That he would submit so quickly—it didn’t resonate with me. But then, maybe I read more into it than I should have.
The finish was only half a mile away now. We ran just ahead of the group. The atmosphere had dramatically altered. The other Dires held back, staying well behind us. They no longer met my gaze, but ran with their heads down and eyes averted.
My heart thundered in my ears. The way Sebastian had thrown Darius was a casual display of strength that had been lost on none of us.
But as I ran between my teammates, and behind the Bellati, a subtle kind of peace insinuated itself into my soul. My trembling stopped, and my legs grew strong beneath me.
My strides settled into a rhythm, and I sensed a current of warmth that stretched ahead—to Sebastian. But that wasn’t all. It extended from Matt and Talakai as well, and all of it came back, full circle, to me.
It feltright. As though this was the way things were supposed to be. Us four. Together.
The sensation held as we crossed the finish line and slowed to a walk. Until Sebastian met my eyes.
The world spun to a stop.Again.
A sizzling gleam from that pale gaze, and then the frozen statue mask fell back into place, and then he turned away and said something to Kitani. What I had imagined fractured, leaving me hollow. Empty.
But not alone.
Talakai watched me, too. His eyes glowed indigo, and a moment of pure, unadulterated lust swept through me. Just a breathtaking pulse, and then he walked away.
I blinked. What in the world was going on? My emotions, and likely hormones, too, were all over the map.
“You okay?” Matt asked again. He was breathing hard, but not panting. The guy really was as fit as he looked. He was sporting a livid bruise along one cheekbone—his scuffle with Aaron hadn’t left him unmarked. At least they hadn’t sprouted claws.
I met eyes that had returned to a normal, human hazel, and then reached my hand to his face. He flinched away.
“Leave off, Angel.”
