“It’s irrelevant to you, Commander,” Cord dismissed him. “However, what is not irrelevant is the fact you could use me on your mission. A Lycan and a Castor, with some Elite Guard? We could easily transport a Drakhyn back here or question it at the scene.”
Salem hated to admit that the Castor had a point. He had no Castors in his House and was loathe to ask the Great Council for one. Their plan was risky and put Sentinels in danger – especially the idea ofcapturingone of the Drakhyn. They had long suspected that the Drakhyn could communicate through some form of telepathy, capturing one and transporting it was a huge risk to those involved.
“I hate to say this out loud, especially when he stands in front of me,” Marcus glared at Cord, “but he has a point.”
Salem sighed heavily in agreement, he turned to Bryce. “How fast can you pull a scouting party together for this? I need your best of the best.”
“A couple of hours,” Bryce said. “It would be beneficial to have Michael with us.”
“He is not yet Elite,” Salem protested weakly. “I’m being an overprotective father,” his laugh was bitter. “Plus he is the only one who may stop your Sentinels from killing Cord.” Cord didn’t react, they all knew that Cord was more than capable of defending himself. “Lose the robes though, Castor, we don’t need you drawing attention to the scouting party.”
Cord dipped his head in acknowledgment, the humour in his eyes unmistakeable. Bryce said his goodbyes and left them to assemble the scouting party. When he was gone, Salem turned to the Castor. “Now why don’t you tell me why you are here for Tegan?”
“I need to ask her some questions,” Cord answered as he pulled his hood up.
“What kind of questions?” Salem asked worriedly.
“Nothing too important, where is she?” Cord asked impatiently.
“Class,” Marcus answered.
“Class?” Cord looked at them both, “She’s Elite.”
“Human Studies,” Marcus further explained, casting a quick glance to Salem.
“For the wrath of Harrian, she doesn’t need to know this,” Cord muttered angrily as he walked towards the library doors.
“She needs to know about humans, she needs to know more than just the fact she protects them from Drakhyn,” Salem bit out.
Cord turned to him in frustration. “Why? It will make no difference to her; she will never come into contact with them. Your heart bleeds too much for them, Principal.”
“It’s called compassion, Castor, you should try it,” Salem snapped back.
“You should also show the Principal Elite respect,” Marcus growled at the young Castor.
“I will, Lycan, as soon as he shows me that he deserves it,” Cord stormed out of the library in the search for Tegan, furious that the Elders had her wasting her time on classes when she should be training. The Drakhyn wanted a female and they turned up days after Tegan did, he didn’t believe in coincidences.
Stalking through the halls, pausing only briefly to ask a timid Akrhyn where the class was, Cord pressed on. When he got to the upper level he walked into the class, ignoring Michael’s surprise. Scanning the handful of students, he saw her sitting at the back, staring out the window.
“Tegan, come,” he ordered. Tegan turned to him, her face mirroring her surprise before her irritation at his command surfaced. Cord enjoyed the fact that she did not mask her feelings – she was not versed in deception – a failing he felt of Leonid’s.
“Why are you here?”
“I don’t have much time, little tiger, you can ask your questions as we walk,” Cord made a hurrying motion with his hand, flinching internally at the use of his pet name for her.
“No,” Tegan turned her head to the front of the class where Michael was watching her carefully.
Cord flicked his wrist and the chair in which Tegan had been sitting, toppled over. She leapt to her feet, her angry glare worthy of making a sane male run.
“Good, now that you’re up, let’s go,” Cord walked to the door and held it open.
“I’mlearning,” Tegan hissed at him, reaching for another chair and sitting back down.
Glancing at the wall, Cord saw they were learning about human wars, his snort of contempt was not unnoticed by Michael. “Fine, you won’t leave, then I’ll stay,” he walked into the classroom, making his way to the back where she sat.
“Tegan, for the sake of my class, can you just leave with him?” Michael asked. “I’ll discuss this with you later,” he promised as he glared at Cord.
Tegan threw an incredulous look towards Michael before she stood angrily. As she walked past Cord, she made sure to dig her shoulder into his in passing. His chuckle did nothing for her temper. Once out of the classroom, she kept on walking, having no intention of waiting or listening to the Castor.