Page 64 of The Stone Initiation
But this is my mate.
Mine.
Focus.
You can’t have her.
She won’t make it here. Her body isn’t as strong as ours, and death during training is a very real possibility. I press my knuckles to my chest and massage to get rid of the sudden burning sensation, while craving the numb detachment that filled me before she arrived. The ability to step back, to assess a situation before acting is my strength, at least it always was before.
My role here. My purpose, means everything. How can I lead my team when my mind and body are in such turmoil?
Cameron cannot be a distraction but the fated mate bond has other plans. Plans that I’ll need to fight.
“I’ll work with her,” Selas says softly. “I’ll help her.”
I glance up sharply and she smiles.
“That is what you’re thinking about, right?” she asks. “About Cameron and how she might get killed.”
“That wouldn’t be a bad thing,” Orix mutters from his favorite seat, cat on his lap.
My body reacts instinctively to attack him. The cat hisses at me as if sensing my intention and Selas steps in front of me, placing her palm on my chest. “We can’t let this come between us. We’re a team.” She shoots Orix a glare. “Have some fucking sensitivity. None of us know how difficult this is for Serath or Cameron. They’re fighting nature right now and nature is a powerful force.”
“Hush,” Orix soothes the cat, stroking between its ears, before meeting my gaze with an exasperated sigh. “Fine. I’ll help train her too.”
“You?” I can’t keep the growl out of my voice. “After you tried to kill her?”
Orix rolls his eyes. “I thought we were over that. Look. I promised you I wouldn’t hurt her, didn’t I?”
He did. He made a vow. He doesn’t make vows lightly. “I’m sorry. I trust you. Believe you.”
He studies me for a long beat then sighs. “I heard about this fated mate thing but seeing it…I’m sorry this is happening to you. I’m sorry it isn’t the blessing it should be.”
A wave of weariness washes over me. “You can train her too. After you apologize for trying to kill her.” I give him a wry smile. “I think she’ll need that.”
“And how will that look to the other cadets?” Willowman points out. “Preferential treatment for the halfblood, especially from the elites, will bring up questions.”
“Then we’ll be discreet,” Selas says. “We’ll meet in secret somewhere secluded. I think I can give her some useful pointers. Two or three sessions should suffice.”
“I agree,” Prasan says. “We should help her.” He looks at me. “Because it will help you.”
The knots in my chest ease a little. I hate that I need them to do this. I hate that I’ve become this unbalanced male who can’t focus.
Ineedto focus. “Have the Stone Council gotten back to us about the hybrid Graynite?”
“Nothing yet,” Prasan says from the computer. “Although outpost four and six have both reported grotesque attacks.”
My heart sinks. “Did they neutralize them?”
“Yes.”
Neutralizing grotesques always hurts. They’re a breed of gargoyle. Watchers that fought with us against the gray, but the gray claimed them and turned them against us. The taking of our grotesques almost turned the tide in the grays’ favor, but we pushed on and won the war, forcing the gray back into the hole it came from.
At least that’s how history tells it.
Now that the gray is gone, we’re left with rabid grotesques that constantly test the sanctity of our outposts, desperate to get into the major settlements and feed on humans. And then we have the graynites—powerful sentient creatures that surged out of the gray at the last moment before it was vanquished.
A final fuck you, from the entity from another world that hoped to turn our world to nothing.
