The nervous look he slid my way made it seem as if he hadn’t been so sure.
“Caleb fell and he was fine,” I added.
“Caleb’s immortal,” he said. “You’re not built like us.”
“Way to remind me of my weaknesses,” I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest as I turned my gaze from him.
“Sorry,” he muttered before he drew a deep breath. “I’m proud of you, really. What you did today is nothing short of amazing. Almost half of theimmortalrecruits didn’t complete the course, yet you, a human, managed to complete it.”
“I also completed it with the slowest time,” I muttered.
“Youcompletedit,” he said firmly, tilting his head as I rolled my eyes. “You don’t give yourself enough credit. You’ve only been training for a month now.”
“We don’t exactly have the luxury of time, though,” I said, my arms falling to my side. “The darklings. Melantha. Cole. They could strike at any time. I need to get stronger, faster. I want...”
He arched an onyx brow.
“I want to be at Damien’s side when he’s out hunting darklings. I want to hunt them myself.” I wanted to hunt Cole and drag him back to pry any secrets or knowledge he may have about Melantha and the darklings from his mind.
How delicious it would be to taste his pain, to make him bleed.
An unsettling feeling sank into my bones as the venomous words slithered through my thoughts, and I wasn’t sure if I could bring myself to disagree. Would I really find pleasure in his pain?
Zephyr let out a heavy sigh. “You’ll get there. We’re expecting this group to start shadowing in the field mid-January.”
I stiffened. “Really? Would I—”
“You would be among them,” he said, seeming to already know I’d ask. “Damien hasn’t mentioned it to you?”
I shook my head. “I know he’s not thrilled about it. He’s had a lot on his mind lately, and when we get time alone he tries not to bring up work if he can help it.”
He gave me an apologetic smile. “He’s been pulling a lot of hours.”
“I’m worried about him.”
He lifted his hand to press his finger between my furrowed brows and flashed me a teasing grin. “Stop that. You’ll be stuck with a permanent frown if you keep at it.”
I pulled away from him, unable to hide the smile he too easily pulled from me.
He laughed, and we fell back into step as we continued through the forest toward the clearing for training. Sadly, I’d failed to shift, but at the end of our last session, something had felt different, and I was eager to try again.
“Solstice is only a few days away. Are you ready for it?” he asked, tilting his head.
“I think so.” I had managed to sneak away with Kat to go shopping a few days ago. “I hope Damien likes what I got him.”
“Did you get him for the gift exchange?”
I shook my head. “No, I got Barrett. I found something I think he’ll like. It’s nothing special, though.”
“I’m sure they’ll love their gifts, whatever they are.”
He briefly pulled his phone from his pocket, his pale green eyes falling to the screen before typing a quick message and shoving it back into his pocket. It was hard to miss the awkward glance he shot my way before his gaze fell to the forest before us.
Guilt churned in my gut as I remembered listening in on his conversation a few days prior. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same person he was texting.
“I...”
Zephyr’s brows rose as he glanced at me.
