“He can’t be, that’s suicide.”
“Tiger, where are you?” the mocking call rang out in the night.
“Don’t you dare,” Jasper’s hand stopped Tegan from moving forward.
“Tiger, tiger, where art thou?” His words causing many Sentinels to look at each other in alarm – was he… educated?
Salem advanced towards the Drakhyn, flanked on either side of him were Marcus and Commander Bryce. The Drakhyn watched, a smile on its face as they approached him.
“Why is the light not affecting it?” Tegan asked Jasper, he shook his head, as bewildered as she.
“What do you want?” Salem asked the Drakhyn.
“Tiger.”
“I am Principal Salem Holt, you will speak to me or no one.”
“Tiger.” The Drakhyn’s eyes narrowed as it looked past Salem into the grounds, its black eyes searching. His eyes landed on Tegan and his grin widened. “Tiger,” it hissed with pleasure.
Tegan stood firm, Jasper’s hand still on her arm, she couldn’t deny the dread she felt at seeing the Drakhyn again. Here.Askingfor her.
“You will speak to me, and me alone. Or you will die.” Salem brought the Drakhyn’s attention back to him.
“Tiger.”
“Very well,Cord!”
Cord materialised behind the Drakhyn and slit its throat, its head tumbling at Salem’s feet. Cord’s eyes met Tegan’s, fury and something else in them. What, she didn’t know. She did know it caused her heart to race. He turned quickly to face the fence line. Nothing moved. No other Drakhyn came forward.
“Send out the Elite Guard.” Salem called, he turned to his Commander. “Males only.”
Bryce nodded and a small party of Elite Guard and other Sentinels ran into the woods. Again, Tegan made to move forward, but Jasper held her firm.
“Not you, no females, we aren’t finished with this yet.”
Tegan nodded, watching anxiously as Cord disappeared into the trees.
“How many do you think they’ll find?” Tegan asked Jasper, the cold long forgotten. The answer came soon thereafter. No Drakhyn were found.
The woods were empty.
Tegan sat in Salem’s study waiting for him, he had asked her to meet him in the study and then had left to ‘see to something.’ What – she didn’t know, but she did know she was fed up waiting. Tegan hoped that it was to discuss the ridiculous order that she was to remain in the monitoring station and not patrol. It had been three days since Cord killed the Drakhyn on the grounds. Not one Drakhyn had been seen near the Canadian Headquarters since. Salem and Marcus where liaising with other Elite’s but the answers were the same, no Drakhyn approached any Headquarters or Territories on that night and all had been quiet since with only one or two sightings.
Cornelius was holding his ball tonight, he had been dismissive of the orders to prepare for an organised Drakhyn attack and Salem was barely holding his temper at the Elite. Tegan was not looking forward to the ball, it was supposed to be inherhonour, reunited with her family, but she really did wish she didn’t have to go. Leonid had always kept her away from Court, away from others, she was terrible at socialising. Sloane and Michael had tried to teach her how to dance, it had been disastrous. Sloane had been delighted he could finally do something better than she could, she had thrown her dagger at him, ripping his favourite shirt. Michael had asked Sloane not to attend dance lessons again, asking Kai to help instead.
The door opened and Salem entered carrying a large box, Martha following him. Tegan jumped to her feet in delight, she had been so busy, she had only seen Martha at mealtimes. The older Akrhyn was kept busy too, taking over Blythe’s kitchens had been more than she expected, but Salem had given her free reign over the kitchen and the house Sentinels. Martha was busy but happy, it had been a long time since she had run a full household.
“Sweet child, I thought you had today off from patrol?” Martha asked taking in Tegan’s fatigues, white t-shirt and combat boots.
“I do, I’m relaxing,” Tegan protested.
“What did you do today?” Salem asked curiously as he set the box on the floor.
“Trained, helped train the Sentinels from Zahra’s guard, sparred with Michael and ran laps with Jasper.”
“That’s not a day off,” Salem chided.
“That’s how I relax,” Tegan answered looking to Martha for help.