“Or someone else’s bed,” one of the Nons shouted.
Everyone laughed as the guy wagged his eyebrows.
Paul laughed. “Whatever. I really don’t want to know the details on where or who you’ll be sleeping with. I called you guys here to find out what we’ve learned. What you’ve learned. How was the exercise? Did it teach us anything? What were the takeaways? And I want to say congratulations to Remy, Troy, Jace, Noah, Drake, Jaxson, and Blake for successfully returning first without getting caught.”
“They were caught.” I recognized the original team lead of the other group as he stood. “We just couldn’t subdue them,” he said in a disgruntled tone.
Terrance stood up. “So, you’re like the team that went to the super bowl but didn’t win. It doesn’t matter if you got there if you’re not wearing the ring by the end of the game.”
His statement was met with a lot of laughter as he sat back down.
“They won by cheating,” the team lead hissed. “And don’t think I didn’t know you were helping them the whole time.”
“Bull shit!” I heard someone yell on the other side of the room.
The team lead visibly got red in the face as he balled up his fist in anger.
“If you call that cheating, bro, I’d hate to see what you’ll call the gifted individuals that we may have to go against one day,” Marcel snorted loudly.
Adams stood up next. “Some of the gifted only proved that they can’t be trusted on any teams. How are we expected to go out in the field with them if we can’t trust them? They hurled fire balls at us, rocks, they made us play a game for at least half an hour.” She gave me a pointed look. “Which was so juvenile, by the way. No one will want to work with them.”
Stunned silence followed her statement.
“You forgot my dragon,” Jaxson called out in mock outrage. He winked at me as a pink velociraptor appeared in the middle of the room. It ran around in circles stopping ever now and then to reach out towards people with its scaly arms.
A few people yelled, startled.
“Jaxson,” Will said firmly.
Jaxson gave him an unrepentant smile as the velociraptor disappeared.
“The fire balls never touched anyone.” Spencer stood up. “The rocks never even hit any of us. Today I watched Yaris laugh for a solid twenty, thirty minutes, and that man never smiles, let alone laughs. Personally, I love duck, duck, goose. Next time, though, I’d prefer to play hide and go seek. It’s a tad more challenging.” He grinned. Most of the room erupted in laughter. “Most of all, I want to thank Noah, Gavin, Sierra, and Blake for the use of my leg. This morning I woke up without any pain in my knee for the first time in years, too. I for one would be honored to work alongside them on any and all missions.”
I almost smiled at the sincerity in the words, and I was touched that he had stood up for us.
“In my opinion.” Ford stood up. “I would never want to work with Adams. She didn’t show integrity in the ring the other day when she sucker punched her opponent. She showed her character when she allowed her friend to try and cheat for her to get the upper hand in the match. She disobeyed her team lead when she was told she couldn’t go with Micah to go get Noah and Blake. She ignored a direct order. Once again, she tried to cheat to get their location. She proved she’ll do pretty much anything for her own agenda. She snuck out early this morning with another group to try and get them, despite the fact our team lead told us we were leaving at dawn. I would never want her watching my Six, but I know who I would want to watch my Six. Give me the gifted any day.”
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I knew there was a reason I liked that guy, I spoke telepathically to Dawn as I leaned over to look at her. I hope you haven’t left him off your hook yet, I joked.
She looked over at me with a beaming smile, shook her head, and mouthed Nope to me. I had to stifle my laughter.
“I was the team lead,” the first man snorted. “It was ya’ll that disobeyed a direct order to listen to me. And your brother is gifted, so of course you are a gifted lover. You forget you’re a …what do you guys call us? …Oh yeah, a Non. Ford, you’re a non, like the rest of us.”
“Your brother-in-law’s gifted,” Sierra stated as she crossed her arms. “I wonder if your sister knows how much you hate her husband. Being gifted isn’t a stigma. It’s not something we chose to be. We were born with it. Just like we were born with the color of our skin. Your ignorance is reminiscent of all those other bigots in history that chose to hate because of differences and the fear of the unknown. Little do you know, our history is as long as yours, except we were forced into hiding because of people like you.”
Get him girl, I pushed to her and Drake. I used to think Drake was the smartest person I knew, but you’re becoming a close second. Where do you fit all that knowledge?
Sierra looked at me and smiled. I could see she was shaking. I knew it took a lot for her to speak in a room full of people.
Drake gave me a smile as he reached over to squeeze my hand.
“You lost the right to call yourself a team lead when you ignored the team. You wouldn’t seek better shelter for us, you ignored your team when we asked you to, you put one of your subordinates in danger and abandoned the rest of the team,” another man added as he yelled across the room.
“This is getting good,” Noah said dryly. “All we need is popcorn.”
“As you wish,” Jaxson grinned as he did a dramatic flair of his hands and bowls of popcorn appeared around the room.