I pull away from the group hug and turn to him. “How are we going to train you, mister?”
He blinks at me silently, as if he hadn’t thought about it. Then his expression grows grim, his brows draw tight.
“We need help from outside our pack.”
Nyxeris
“What do you want us to do?”
Rodrigo stands just inside the front entrance of the training ground, his muscular bronzed arms crossed over his wide chest, his expression determined as his jewel-like topaz eyes scan the interior. Beside him, Lucas looks uncomfortable, fidgeting with the collar of his shirt, pale green eyes flicking onto Rodrigo then away.
Erich and Andrew had gone back to the academy building to find help and came back with the leader of the rebellion and one of his enforcers. I should be surprised two people so esteemed decided to help, but the bar for “surprise” is set a lot higher these days.
Andrew clears his throat. “Lie.”
“This isn’t at all worrying.” Rodrigo doesn’t miss a beat.
“Convincingly.”
Rodrigo’s lips flatten before looks over at Lucas with a nod. Lucas straightens his stance, begins to pace between us and Rodrigo, hands clasped behind his back like a soldier addressing his troops.
“I was born in District Eleven of Florida, UNA. We have an insider on the Council. There has always been a rebellion.”
“True. False. True.” Andrew rattles his responses off without hesitation.
“We know the identity of the rebellion traitor. We know what they’re doing to our people in the science facility. The GBE is working on something more dangerous than we’ve ever seen.”
“False. False. True.” Andrew’s voice is a bit smaller now, and I can’t blame him.
Zeph grips my hand tight.
“We’re going to take over the global government. We have new council members already in mind. Rodrigo and I are pack brothers.”
As startling as all three of those statements are, that last one makes me freeze.
If they’re pack brothers, then Rodrigo is the third of Arlowe’s Alphas that she’d mentioned.
Andrew’s voice is just above awhooshof air. “All true.”
Lucas stops his pacing and turns his head toward Rodrigo, who nods again before Lucas turns back to us. “What else do you need?”
We spend the next hour in a mock battle, Andrew calling out Rodrigo and Lucas’ positions, where they intend to move to next, keeping them off guard. It doesn’t matter that they can hear what he tells us, it matters that they need to readjust their movements at all times, unable to trust their own thoughts.
Eventually, Andrew gets a strange look on his face as he stands beside me behind a broken stone column. That expression slowly turns to determination, then falls blank. The moment my lips part to speak, his evergreen eyes begin to glow blindingly, like traffic lights, forcing me to turn my head.
It’s then I realize everything beyond the column has gone quiet, and I peer around the column to see what’s happening, just as a low, menacing growl begins to fill the space.
Rodrigo stands in the center of the grounds, teeth bared, a feral look on his face. His canines begin to grow along with the size of his body, muscles becoming so large his shirt and pants begin to split before my eyes.
His growling grows louder, dangerously low, and he drops to all fours on the dirt below.
This must be his power.
And Andrew must be controlling it.
I whip back to my Alpha and shake him, calling his name until the glow of his eyes vanishes and he takes a deep breath, turning that fearful gaze on me.
“His emotions,” he breathes. “I… controlled them.”
