She could feel Lee’s attention on her face as she blinked to clear her eyes. But Kat subtly shook her head. She was just delirious.
As her gaze refocused, her stare landed instead on another, very real cadet standing over by the vending machines. Zane was again on his own today.
He still wore his all-terrain suit and sported a fresh cut, the Academy’s broken triangle prism shaved into the side of his head. The golden-brown of his neck and forehead glistened like he’d just come from a workout. One of them, it seemed, wasn’t waiting for the term to begin.
“Did Zane take off for break?” she asked, eyes slipping between Lee and Whistler before glancing back to watch Zane pull a power drink from the slotted window. Zane either hadn’t seen them standing here, or he hadn’t cared. He barely paused to crack the top of his power drink before striding back out of the Hideaway.
“I don’t think he left the ship. He’s been in a weird place since last term. I think it’s family drama,” Whistler informed them quietly.
Kat peered back over her shoulder to the doors where Zane had disappeared. Of all of them, Zane was the one she’d thought would bounce back the quickest. He had been raised on AMG loyalty. Zipping up their straight suits and submitting to the Commander’s latest tests of discipline and regulation should have been a reprieve for him. A realignment. Not this brooding, imitation they kept coming across. But it made sense now why he’d opted to stay here for break.
“I’ll find him later,” Lee said softly before she could even voice her worry.
Thank you.She held his gaze, letting his assurance ease her breaths until she could again relax into his touch.
“You guys ready for one final go of it?” Whistler asked, holding out a fist to them as they turned their attention back to him and Demi.
Even without an official squadron assignment, they were still a team. Perhaps now, more so, than ever. And as she raised her fist to bump Whistler’s, her eyes again drew back to the Hideaway doors.
They could do this.
They could do this.
They could do this…
CHAPTER 16: LEE
NEW TERM. New trainings.
Lee was surprised at how much of his brainpower was taken up between learning the new schedule, prepping lesson plans, and working with a new set of cadets. He wouldn’t tell Kat this, but walking into his 11:00 hour to find Kiara and Nikola sitting on the front row was like seeing that solar satellite pop out after strapping down for a hurricane.
He stayed after a few minutes with them listening to Kiara recount her and her twin’s term break with their dads. And he thought the Academy was drama… By the time Lee looked down at his hyperband, he had a half-dozen messages from Kat, the last of them claiming she was hungry enough to “devour azappingspace alligator.” That one made him chuckle.
Lee: save some for me?
“You coming, Teach?” Kiara asked, leaning up against the door post.
“I’ll be over later. I’ve got something I want to take care of first. Keep Kat busy for me?”
“You got it.” Kiara saluted him, looping her arm with an unprepared Nikola.
Ilan had already approved his request down in the greenhouses. So all Lee really had to do was swing by and collect his haul. And with Kiara distracting Kat, it was easy for him to slip up to his dorm unnoticed.
He was heading back down to the Canteen to catch up with Kat and the others, when he had another idea. On a whim, he took a detour, crossing over to the training levels once more.
As expected, parked inside one of the matted rooms, a single, broad form benched along the far end—Zane.
Without a spotter, the Gamma cadet played it safe, sticking to low-weight, low-risk, high-reps. But safe wasn’t always what one needed.
“Need someone to spot you?” Lee didn’t wait for a response, and he didn’t allow time for Zane to reject his offer as he set his things down on the floor before taking up a spot behind him.
Lee rolled his shoulders back, pulling an arm across his chest and holding the stretch before switching to the other. He waited for Zane to finish his reps before extending a couple hands.
Zane grunted his thanks, passing the bar to Lee.
“I’m taking off the emergency grav-inhibitor. You’re gonna feel this next set.” Lee racked it into the J-hooks, gesturing with his head to the weights at his feet, as he switched off the setting. “Increase or hold?”
“Increase.” Zane jerked his chin upwards, and Lee replaced the weights on either end, loading it into place.
