Page 18 of The Stone Initiation
He’d mentioned Serath, the team leader once, and someone called Prasan who he’d said was super intelligent. He’d dropped the name Orix too and talked about the kick-ass female on the team whose name I couldn’t recall. Which of the three males were these two?
The moon was high and bright, allowing me to get a good look at them. One had golden hair streaked with silver, and the other’s long locks were such a deep brown they looked black in the moonlight.
The dark-haired one was slightly taller than his companion, and for some reason I couldn’t take my eyes off his commanding frame. He stepped forward and lifted his strong chin to survey us. Moonlight caressed the hard, flat planes of his brutal face, lighting up the scar that ran from his temple over his eyelid and down his cheek. What could have done that? What could have scarred a gargoyle?
My gaze dropped to the gold chain around his neck and the heart-shaped pendant that hung from it. I couldn’t see the design, but I knew what it was. It was the elite symbol. Romi had owned one too. The silver-haired gargoyle also sported one. I had no clue why the elites wore the chains, Romi had always changed the subject when I’d asked.
The dark-haired elite’s gaze skimmed over each entrant but stopped when it landed on me. A fission of awareness shot through me, and my breath locked in my lungs. His eyes were beautiful, light blue, ringed in black. Husky eyes. They bored into me, pinning me to the spot for achingly long seconds before dismissing me to move on.
I exhaled. My whole body thrumming so hard my head felt light.
What the heck was that about?
“You’re all here because you chose to be,” he said.
My pulse kicked up at the sound of his voice—a gritty, abrasive vibration that seemed to rub against my senses.
“You’re here because you think you’re worthy of a place at Stonehaven,” he continued. “Worthy to serve. To be a guardian, maybe even an initiate.”
Initiate units answered to the elite team. The only way to make it into one of those high-level units was to rank high enough during basic training to get into the initiation program.
My stomach fluttered with nerves because when I laid it out like that in my head, it seemed impossible.
No. No doubt. Not now. Not here.
“But before you can be allowed through the hallowed gates of Stonehaven you will need to prove yourself worthy,” he said. “You will be tested. A minor test of skill and endurance.” His lip curled around the word minor. “Although it might be too much for some of you?” His gaze flicked to me and settled there. “Some of you will fail before you start.” His gaze lingered and heat filled my chest—annoyance and something else I couldn’t define. “So, I’ll make an exception on thisoneoccasion and offer you the chance to leave.” He was looking at me, and now everyone was staring.
My cheeks heated, shame and anger making my breath come fast.
The silver-haired gargoyle growled softly. “Serath?”
Serath? The leader. Romi’s leader.
This was him.
Serath ignored his companion and continued. “Walk away now. Get on a bus and stay there and you will be taken back to your lives. There is no need to die today.”
There was no doubt that he was speaking directly to me, even though he was sweeping the crowd again.
Murmurs skimmed across the gathered, and sharp smiles were thrown my way.
“Shit,” Touron said. “Maybe youshouldgo, Cameron.”
He was right. This was my chance to walk away. Go back to my life and forget about the truth. About Romi. I could go back to Levi and tell him how I truly felt.
I closed my eyes and fought the panic, the human survival instinct, my mortal weakness that screamed at me that I couldn’t do this. That I was making a mistake. Instead, I focused on my gargoyle nature, on the part of me that killed monsters for a living. The part of me that could run faster and hold my breath for longer than any of these fuckers. The part of me that was a Basque.
Then I opened them and stared Serath straight in the eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.” I spoke under my breath, for Touron to hear, but the flare of Serath’s nostrils and the narrowing of his husky eyes told me that he’d heard me too.
He grunted, turned on his heel and shot up into the night sky as if he couldn’t wait to get away from us.
The silver-haired one’s smooth, rumbling voice replaced the gritty growl of his leaders. “Follow me and keep up.”
His powerful thighs bunched and then he launched himself into the sky after Serath, wings flaring, snapping, and catching to sweep him high.
It never failed to amaze me how these powerful beings managed to stay airborne. I’d asked Romi once, and he’d explained it with aerodynamics and magic. But it had all gone over my head.
Gargoyles shot into the sky all around me, and my stomach dropped.
