Page 97 of Deadly Alliances

Wait? Fear chilled within me. Why was I being called toGeneralDracul’s office?

I shouldered my bag and stepped out of my desk, gazing around at the curious looks on the faces of my classmates as I walked out of the room. They seemed to be just as in the dark as I was.

“Right this way, Miss Summers.” Major Cockburn was standing in the hall, wearing a smug expression as he tipped his head for me to follow him.

Shit. This can’t be good.

I tried not to panic as I followed him through the halls. This could be about anything. My grades, my trysts with Niko, the incident with the asshole soldier last night. Hell, I’d rather it be all of those things. I swallowed my fear and held my head up high, reminding myself that I was a Summers.

“Did you come to return my headphones?” I asked cockily.

Cockburn didn’t so much as look at me in acknowledgment; hejust maintained his brisk pace to the general’s office.

“They’re really high quality, but if you’ve used them to listen to porn, you can keep them.”

Still, no response, though I saw the corner of his lips twitch downward, and that put a skip in my step, even if I was walking to my own execution.

Don’t be so pessimistic. It could be anything. It’s probably nothing.

But I knew I was lying to myself; the icy lump hardening my insides told me as much.

When we finally reached the office, Major STD opened the door and gestured for me to go in ahead of him. My eyes fell on the faces of my partners in crime, and my world narrowed down to the frantic beating of my heart.

My legs carried me robotically inside and to the last empty chair in front of Dracul’s desk, where I sat and tucked my hands between my knees.Fuck, fuck, fuck.

“What is this about?” Jackson asked, looking more irritated than worried.

General Dracul held up a hand. “Hold on. We’re waiting for one more.” He put his hand back on his desk and began to drum his fingers against it.

I glanced cautiously up at Niko, finding some small comfort in the fact that he was standing behind the general and not sitting with the rest of us.

The door swung open, and I had to force myself to look. It was Ignaeus. He seemed just as nervous as me, his skin flushed, his posture rigid.Oh, no.

“You sent for me, General?” Ignaeus asked, now looking the partof the perfect soldier. I wondered if my poker face was as good as his.

“Yes,” the general said, looking quite pleased with himself. “I thought you might want to be here for this interrogation.”

“Interrogation?” Ignaeus asked.

“It has come to my attention that your daughter and the rest of these troublemakers have been conducting meetings in secret,” the general said.

“That’s bullshit,” Jackson barked.

“Then why were the six of you in the greenhouse unattended yesterday evening?”

Petra cut him a glare like he was the biggest idiot on the planet. “We volunteered to rebuild it.”

“That may be, but you were unattended for fifteen minutes while your chaperoning faculty fled the scene,” Dracul added.

“Yeah, because we needed more screws,” Brett argued. “You’re really going to punish us for volunteering our time to help the school?”

“If that was truly the case, of course not. But several of you were spotted in the halls after curfew the night before. Isn’t it strange that the same group of you would volunteer to be alone together after school hours?”

“Sir, if I may—” Niko began.

The general put up his hand to cut him off. “No, you may not, Private Candida. Considering you were also seen with Miss Summers the night before last, you should consider yourself lucky to be behind my desk rather than in front of it.”

Niko set his jaw and took a step back, and I was grateful. Betterhe keep his position and go on to fight another day than throw himself under the bus with the rest of us.

---