Page 3 of Shadow Weaver
Brady looked to Aidan and then Carlo. “What spray?”
Aidan winced. “Yeah, new tech came in a couple of weeks ago when you were manning barracks four.”
“And you didn’t think to tell me?” Brady’s lip curled. “You two need to grow the hell up.”
Aidan pushed back his chair and stood. “Whoa, chill the fuck out. It was just a prank. We play pranks all the time.”
Brady’s eyes narrowed, and his huge shoulders rippled with tension. “We used to play pranks all the time. But that was before the mist started getting attacked every other day. That was before we lost three cadets in a cave-in. That was before the shadow master decided to fast-track the first years.” He stepped up to Aidan, looking down his nose at the dark-haired moonkissed. “No more fucking pranks. Got it.”
Yeah, you knew Brady meant business when he started spewing sentences.
Aidan’s throat bobbed, and then he nodded. “Got it.”
“Justice, go put some clothes on,” Brady said softly, his back to me.
My anger melted. Brady had my back. I gave Aidan and Carlo the finger, then headed to my room to change and compose myself. To look as if I didn’t give a shit about … About anything but the job, because Hyde was on his way, and he couldn’t know how much it meant to me to see him.
* * *
The guys had setup a screened area for me to change behind in the dorms. I pulled on slacks, a cream tee, and slipped on gray slippers—courtesy of Carlo—before stepping out from behind the screen to find Harmon waiting for me.
“You okay?” he asked in that gruff voice of his.
“I’m fine. But Carlo and Aidan are asking for trouble.”
“I wasn’t talking about them.”
My shoulders sagged. “I know.”
“You got this.”
“I’m over it.”
“Riiight.”
I grimaced. “Fine, I’m not over it. But I want to be.”
“I know.”
Harmon and Thomas knew about the Hyde thing. About the relationship-can’t-go-anywhere issue. Over the past few weeks, being able to confide in them had kept me sane. It had also pulled us closer together. Harmon and Thomas were fast filling that Minnie-shaped hole in my life.
“It’ll get easier,” Harmon said.
There were days when I believed that, and days when I didn’t want to move on. When I wanted to understand why we couldn’t make it work between us. Hyde hadn’t made it easy by hiding from me. If he’d just carried on, business as usual, then maybe I could have worked at getting over him, but the whole dodge-and-peek routine was making everything worse—raising questions and possibilities—and I was not one of those clingy, swoony types that built castles in her head.
Thomas popped his head around the door. “Hyde’s here.” His expression was grim.
Ice filled my veins. “Oh, God.”
“You got this, Indigo,” Harmon said.
* * *
Hyde’scitrus scent permeated the air like a lethal toxin aimed for the heart. He’d been away for five days. Working with second years in sector two. Dealing with admin issues, anything else but managing his first years. It was obvious he was avoiding me. Avoiding thisthingbetween us. He’d made it clear he wanted a tutor and student relationship, but I’d had time to think it through, and it didn’t have to be that way indefinitely. Based on the fast-track program, I’d be graduating with the second years at the end of next term. Fourteen weeks. That was all that lay between us being student and master, and knight and master. Then there was nothing stopping us from being together, so why not just wait?
Why try and suppress these feelings?
Ah, there I was, building castles.
