We arrived in the foyer just as Sebastian strode through from the administrative hallway. He didn’t even glance my way. The crowd near the door parted as he descended the steps and spun to address us.
He did kinda move like he had a stick up his ass. But it was a really great ass... My eyes slid to the big form standing at the edge of the group. The Dragon didn’t meet my eyes, either.
My heart twisted. I was being ridiculous. I glanced at the tall form beside me—Matt tweaked a brow, and his lips twitched up into the familiar lopsided smile. My breath hitched.
I didn’t deserve him, frankly. Here I was, ogling two other guys, and hesmilesat me.
What was wrong with me? This perfect guy showed his interest, and I’m panting after two that won’t give me the time of day? I was a complete louse.
Sebastian’s deep voice rescued me from my tumultuous thoughts, carrying easily across the large group. “The pace today will be set by myself and Anna of Team Phoenix. Again, we be pushing each student to improve with every run, but you are racing only against yourself.” His pale eyes flicked toward us and away. “With the exception of Anna, we will launch in teams as before.”
That put Phoenix third in the order—Matt’s jaw jutted ever so slightly.
“I’m with Sebastian. No one is going to try anything,” I said.
“Yeah.” The word wavered as though he agreed, but it didn’t make him feel any better.
We picked up our backpacks—Mari’s had new straps attached that enabled it to fasten. I noticed that Matt adjusted his properly—the man knew how to listen.
Talakai remained a little apart from us, with his pack strapped into place. The Dragon seemed even more aloof than usual, and he refused to meet my eyes.
Sebastian gestured to me, and I hurried over.
As I passed the alpha, he whispered, “I’ll be watching that tight ass of yours, Babydoll.”
I shot him a glare over my shoulder, and instead of meeting Darius’s gaze, caught Aaron’s instead. And the hatred in it shocked me.
Shaking it off, I jogged up to the Bellati. His long, braided hair was bound in a simple knot behind his head. Seen close up, his eyes were quite beautiful—the pale irises were lined by darker-gray edges. They glimmered at me, but I couldn’t read them. His face remained as cold and remote as Talakai’s.
No, I thought. At least the Dragon’s metallic eyes were vibrant. Today, along with his expression, Sebastian’s had been carved from ice.
“If you have problems keeping up, let me know,” he said. Even his tone was frosty.
I nodded, a bit nervous. Could I keep up with the Bellati? I was about to find out.
Today, it was Ryan who started us off. Any thought that Sebastian was going to ease me into this vanished in an instant. I struggled for the first hundred yards until I managed a rhythm—two of my strides to one of his. The pace was more than what I was accustomed to, but I felt I could do it.
Sebastian ran like one born to it—each stride fluid and effortless. And the energy of this run was very different from the first—I found myself relaxing into it. Although his strides were longer than my own, I kept up with him easily.
Running with him was a heady experience, but I longed for the same completion we had at the end of the last run—that sensation of syncing strides and breathing and heartbeats between Sebastian, Matt, and Talakai. But as much as I reached for it, I got nothing from Sebastian. In fact, every time I synced our strides, he seemed to change rhythm. As though he didn’t want even that much rapport.
When I glanced back at about the halfway mark, I saw that Matt had closed the distance between us. But Darius and Aaron hung back, and Talakai ran just behind them.
I grinned at Matt as he trailed us, but experienced a pang about Talakai. Had I imagined what I’d sensed yesterday? Frustrated with myself, I focused on what I had rather than what my stupid heart seemed to want. And that was Matt, who now strode along with me, his buoyant energy soothing my spirit. We crossed the finish line with him right alongside us.
“You ran well,” Sebastian said to him as we walked in circles, catching our breath.
I was a bit miffed. “Whereas I run like a drunken wombat,” I commented, faking Matt’s accent.
Matt snorted a laugh. “If you want to sound like me, you’d better throw in the odddodgyorbonza.”
“What is a wombat?” Sebastian asked. Then he frowned, as though he regretted the question.
“A plump Australian marsupial,” I answered.
“They are bleedin’ cute, but grumpy,” Matt added. “Where’ve ya been, mate?”
“Confined to Elandriel for over a thousand years,” Sebastian replied coldly, “limits your world view.”
