“Really? It doesn’t seem like it.” He makes a point of looking at the door and my hand still on the locked knob.
I face him fully, but before I can tell him to leave or I’ll make him wish he did, he blurts, “Are you still fucking her?”
Instinct takes over. It doesn’t matter that I once considered him an ally. What matters is how his words will affect Briar. The blow I deliver to the side of his head causes his eyes to widen briefly before his gaze goes utterly flat. He falls to the floor, out cold from the single strike. He’s lucky I didn’t kill him.
The door behind me creaks open, and that’s when his actual words dawn on me. There’s no way Briar didn’t hear him, since he wasn’t trying to be quiet. Now I have a lot more to explain. Her eyes go directly down to my feet where Jeh is lying.
“You were that worried about what else he might say?” she asks, sounding deceptively calm.
“No, the damage was done, but he knew better.”
“Clearly, he didn’t.” She arches an eyebrow, looking at me with suspicion. I can’t even blame her.
“She approached me today and told me there was something she needed to tell me. I used Starla for?—”
“Sex,” Briar interrupts.
I take a deep breath, wishing I could deny her accusation, but I can’t, so I just finish my original statement. “Information.”
“Isn’t that convenient? What a multitasker!” Her tone is flippant, but her body language is far from it. Her shoulders are high and stiff, while her arms are wrapped around her middle.
“Let’s go back to the room so we can talk,” I suggest, wanting to give her a much better explanation.
Briar looks around me, and the hardness in her gaze fades a little. “I’m pretty sure you have someone else you need to speak to.”
I turn to see a group of elites in the hall with various expressions of interest on their faces. Damn it! I’m not worried about the consequences because trainees fight, but this will mean my explanation to Briar is going to have to wait.
Mick rounds the corner and comes to an abrupt halt. It’s clear he was already informed there was an issue, because he was nearly in a run before that. Of course it would be this dick.
“What happened here?” He looks directly at me for answers.
“He challenged me,” I reply, which is partly the truth. While his words weren’t a true challenge, the fact that he thought he could speak to me in such a way was.
“Did anyone else witness this?” He looks at Briar then averts his gaze, quickly realizing he won’t find much help there, even pissed at me, because she is my mate. She would protect me, or at least he thinks she would. I find a little comfort in his assumption, because I’m not as confident at the moment.
“We were alone in the hall.”
“I heard raised voices,” someone chimes in. “By the time we got here, Jeh was like that.” He points to the ground.
“He used to be your friend,” Mick says. I never thought of Jeh as such. You don’t make friends in a place like this, you make allegiances and enemies. He was the former, but that was before he tried to come between me and my mate.
“I could have killed him just as easily.” He should realize I did him a favor.
“His pack would expect compensation if you had.”
I laugh at Mick’s warning. “His pack would be welcome to seek it.”
The tutor tilts his head and reassesses me. “Foley may not be happy either. Jeh has potential.”
“I thought so too, but clearly I was wrong.” Admitting I was mistaken isn’t easy, but it brings my point home. We were both misguided to put faith in the other shifter.
“All of you go to your rooms.” Mick makes a point of looking in Briar’s direction again. I glance over my shoulder to see her eyes trained on me. There’s a question in her gaze meant for me.Should I?
“Lock the door. I’ll be there as soon as I’m done.”No matter what it takes to get back to you.
She gives me a slight nod then closes the door without a word to anyone else. When I face Mick again, his expression is wary, as it should be.
Once the hall clears out, he drops the bravado and kicks Jeh in the side. “What did he really do to piss you off?”
