“I haven’t been hiding under a rock,” Tegan exclaimed. “Iknowthe Akrhyn way of life. Father and I just chose not to be in it.”
“I don’t think you should say that at the ball,” Michael advised. “Cornelius was right in one thing, you will be judged by your peers and if you tell them that you actively avoided knowing them, you may be shunned like your mother was.”
“I’m sorry, Tegan,” Salem ran a weary hand over his face, “I failed your mother and I have failed you.”
“The past is the past,” Cord said as he stood. “Focus on the future and what you need to do in order to prepare her for her debut to the Akrhyn society.” He turned to look at Tegan, he started to say something and then turned away, walking out of the study.
“And the issue with him?” Michael asked the room.
“There is no issue,” Tegan said quickly. “We do not believe it to be true, but he is going to work on it, just in case.”
Sloane snorted as he stretched his legs out in front of him. “Trust me, it’s true. Even in here with our father, who Cordhatesto be in the same room as, he was at your side, supporting you.”
“Well then, Cord will find a way to break it.” Tegan shrugged, “he wants this no more than I do.”
“You believe him?” Sloane asked, he knew he was voicing the room’s concern.
“He has reason to lie?” Tegan asked curiously. “He told me not to mention anything to your father, though I was tempted when they started discussing mybetrothal.”
“He advised you correctly,” Salem ran his hand through his hair, “the less Cornelius knows the better.”
“You will need to attend the ball though,” Michael grinned at his sister. She shot him a disbelieving look and his grin widened.
“I could be on patrol that night,” Tegan suggested. “I should go talk to the Commander now,” she edged towards the door.
“Or… you could start looking for dresses.”
Tegan glared at Sloane. “You seem to be enjoying this too much,” she grumbled, ignoring the rest of the room’s smiles.
The week had passed quickly, Tegan had received a brief fire message from her father to say he had reached the border of Siberia and would be in contact again soon. With nothing left to do but await his return and carry out her duties as an Elite Guard, Tegan was slowly settling into her new life at the Canadian Headquarters. She knew that Michael and Sloane were the ones she had to thank for that. Her cousin was relentless in his pursuit of getting to know her, to the point he was even getting up when she did, in order for them to train together.
The other Sentinels, especially the Elite Guard, were receptive to her. Bryce, the Commander of the Elite, had been prickly at first. However, once she had detailed her report of the perimeter fencing and her suggestions, Tegan had not pressed for changes, rather waiting for him to discuss them. When he had done so they slowly began to adapt the changes into the working order of the Elite. The Commander and the other Elite had made her feel welcome into their ranks. Tegan already knew some of them, as some had been present for her Trials over the years and most recently, Jasper had been her opponent in her final Trial. He had been hard to defeat, but she had defeated him and had been trepidatious when she learned he was stationed here. However, after their bumpy start the day of the Drakhyn threat at Headquarters, they got on well and he was one of the louder voices advocating for her suggested changes. The Guard were active in strengthening the defences, every Akrhyn aware of the Drakhyn threat from the fence the week before. No one knew who the female was that they sought. Tove had left to check with other Houses for any word on similar activity or to ask the older Akrhyn if they were aware of any such story. As Tove was also a Lycan, she could ask through the Lycan community and the few remaining packs – those that did not conform to the Houses and Sentinels but chose to live wild and as they termed it – free.
Cord had left when his mother and Cornelius had and Tegan had heard nothing from him since. He hadn’t asked of anything of hers in order to test Sloane’s theory. Tegan had assumed he would want her hair or her blood, but he had been derisive in his remarks when she had suggested it to him. Instead of staying and punching him for the superior way in which he spoke to her, she had left and not seen him again. Sloane had laughed when she had merely walked away from his brother and said that she was already settling into the mate bond – he hadn’t been laughing when Tegan struck him with a kali stick in response. Still, she found herself thinking of Cord at odd times and immediately cursed herself for doing so, trying to convince herself that she was merely curious about the so called mate bond and not the way his cool grey eyes would rest on her as if he knew a secret and had yet to share.
Or the way my skin prickled when he stood behind me, his lips brushing my ear, she thought to herself.
Despite Tegan’s protestations that she was not interested in a betrothal, Tegan found herself very much the centre of the male Akrhyns attention. Kai, whom she had seen several times now, was particularly amorous towards her and once she got used to his gentle teasing, she quite enjoyed their interactions. It was new to her, she hadn’t had these encounters when she lived at Silver Lake and even though she accepted it was distracting, it was… fun. Michael had an uncanny knack of turning up whenever she was alone with Kai though, he even sat through one of her training lessons to deter, what he called, any advances from Kai. Kai had been frustrated, but despite the newness of it to her, Tegan had been quietly appreciative of her brother’s interference. She didn’t know what she was doing and although flattered with the attention, her words in the study were true; she wasn’t here to be betrothed or distracted. She had a job to do and that wasmostlywhat she was interested in. Once again, Tegan found herself pushing away the image of dark red robes and taunting grey eyes.
“Tegan?”
She turned and saw Salem standing uncertainly at the door to the training room. “Salem,” she greeted him with a little more warmth than she had initially. He had been very patient with her and not pushed for a relationship, merely asking her to attend dinners with him and the family so they could learn more about each other. The family was Michael, Sloane and Marcus, and Tegan found she enjoyed their company very much. They had not heard from Zahra since she left the other night, Michael had tried to contact his sister, but she would not return his calls.
“We thought that perhaps you may want to sit in on a human studies class?” he said as he walked into the training room. “Marcus is convinced there is no more wars for you to learn the history of. You’ve already started your one-on-one training with him, human studies are an area where you may wish to learn?” Tegan frowned, her father had always dissuaded her of learning about humans, seeing her hesitation, Salem pushed on. “Michael teaches the class, today they are learning about one of the human world wars that impacted Akrhyns life too.”
Tegan hesitated but she couldn’t deny her interest was piqued. “First or second?”
“Second I believe,” Salem smiled at her budding interest. “I did not appreciate how much you love warfare,” he teased gently and was gratified when a faint blush coloured her cheeks.
“I am not as bloodthirsty as I seem,” Tegan defended herself. “But I am keen to learn from past mistakes.” She picked up her towel as she dried her face, “The best way to learn is from war.”
“Did Leonid teach these human wars?” Salem enquired as Tegan walked towards him.
“Very little. There were few Akrhyn killed, even the Drakhyn didn’t capitalise on the human suffering. For it to be abhorrent to even the Drakhyn, father felt that I needed to know little. Humans kill themselves with such ease and contempt, it is hard to feel sorry for them.” Tegan shrugged.
“He told you nothing of the concentration camps?”
“Camps?” Tegan queried.