The man was well-formed, fit, with broad shoulders and corded muscle that was obvious even from where Kel stood at a vantage point twenty feet away. The sophomore Academy uniform—storm gray tactical pants tucked into ankle-high boots and a black t-shirt—strangely didn’t appear as bland on him as it did the rest of the flock. The muscles in the man’s back rippled as he crouched and took aim at a target.
Only to hesitate when he saw another cadet sneaking up on it.
The man let the other student take the target, then glanced back over his shoulder, taking in the rest of the room.
He was counting how many other cadets were in there with him.
The man tipped his gaze the other way, noted that there were four people ahead of him—now that he’d let that other one take the lead over him—and seemingly satisfied with those numbers, shot back into action.
“Do you—”
“Quiet,” Kel ordered Madden, not even noticing the glare he got in return.
The man turned a corner and was almost crashed into by the same cadet he’d allowed to get ahead of him.
Instead of apologizing, that cadet clearly said something rude to Kel’s man, before moving on.
A glimmer of something crossed over the man’s features, brief, a serious blink and he would have missed it type thing. Then he tilted his head, cracking his neck, and with his eyes set on the back of the rude cadet, he started forward.
Kelevra watched as his man sped through the rest of the course, leaving the two in first place alone. He kept hot on third place’s heels, however, sneakily steeling his shots before he could claim them, taking them down one by one.
Every time a hologram was hit by one of the blasters it faded, and Kel’s man was a phenomenal shot. Good enough he could have been in first place.
If he’d wanted.
Which clearly he didn’t.
“Interesting,” the word passed his lips unintentionally, his eyes still locked on his man. He grinned when his cadet sent a wink over his shoulder as he cut the rude guy off, wanting to make it obvious he was doing it on purpose.
Petty.
Kel liked that.
A lot.
“Oh no,” Madden groaned and ran a hand down his face in frustration. “Come on, man. Not here.”
“Whatever do you mean?” He straightened once his cadet made it to the door beneath his feet and vanished from sight.
“They’re younger than us,” Madden said, recognizing the gleam in Kelevra’s gaze for what it was. “We’re supposed to be looking out for them and passing on knowledge as their seniors.”
“Of course.” He turned his back on the scene below and slipped his hands into the pockets of his silk pants.
“You can’t harm any more students,” Madden’s voice dropped lower, “remember? Your sister's order. If you break it, there really will be consequences this time, Kel.”
“Who said anything about harming him?”
Madden pinched the bridge of his nose. “At least it’s a him this time. Maybe he’ll fare better than that girl you messed with last Monday.”
“Who?” Kelevra was only partially listening, too invested in replaying the image of his new interest winking at that rude bastard. It’d been tantalizing. Sexy.
“The last sheep who had the serious misfortune of momentarily amusing you,” Madden reminded. “Short, brunette, currently expelled?”
Some of Kelevra’s good mood soured. “Her.”
He hadn’t been amused by her in the least. Quite the opposite, in fact. If she’d been smarter, she would have known better than to follow him to a party she hadn’t been invited to. It wasn’t his fault she’d been arrogant enough to think her tits were Light’s gift to Vitality. In reality, she was the same as everyone else. All of them always after the same thing, slipping him the same coy look, and the same tired pickup lines.
“She was a sheep,” he stated.
