Chapter 48

Kairos

Kairos watched as Thorne stayed back after Basics, lingering close enough to the girl that it raised his attention. He continued to watch after everyone had gone off into the locker room, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

He didn’t understand what the appeal was to the girl. She was pathetic. A nobody who somehow managed to get into the most prestigious Alpha Academy. He wondered how she got into this Academy. The Academy. There were dozens of other schools for Alphas around the world that she could’ve at least managed at. Who decided this school was for her?

Kairos felt a scowl work it’s way onto his lips as he continued to watch the girl and Thorne. His friend was shifting back and forth on his feet, a nervous tick that Kairos had picked up on. He couldn’t fathom why Thorne would be nervous around her. Other than their broken bond.

The girl snapped at Thorne a few times before storming off towards the women’s locker room. Thorne sighed and yanked at the small ponytail on his head. He turned and walked towards the men’s locker room but stopped short when he spotted Kairos.

“What’s up?” he said. Kairos raised an eyebrow.

“What’s up with you?” he said back. He gestured towards the woman’s locker room. “Fraternizing with the enemy?”

Thorne shrugged and continued to walk towards the locker room. “Just keeping tabs on her,”

“Don’t pretend I didn’t hear your entire conversation,” Kairos snarled. “I thought we agreed on the day of the hunt: kick her off campus or kill her in the process.”

Thorne gnawed on his bottom lip before looking at Kairos. “Do you really think she deserves that?”

“Doesn’t matter if she does or doesn’t!” Kairos snapped. “She’s weak. We don’t need weakness within our ranks.”

“The Queen’s appointed me her knight,” Thorne hissed. “You think I want to watch her get herself killed? Do you know what the Queen will do with me if that happens?”

Kairos huffed. “You and your fucking Queen,” he snapped.

“She’s our ruler,” Thorne grit out. “We follow her orders. Did you forget she is the reason we’re no longer enslaved?”

Kairos growled and turned on his heel. He couldn’t argue with that. He remembered very little from the war, but he remembered the shift he’d felt when the vampires fell. He remembered the power coursing through him as the cheers erupted outside of his home.

Thorne caught up with him and the two walked in tandem into the locker room. The air was thick with hot steam. Most of the students from Basics had left. Kairos chucked his shirt in the laundry and stomped off towards the showers. Thorne followed and darted to catch up.

“I think there’s something up with her,” Thorne said under his breath. “I mean she’s got this weird aura to her. Plus, Lunerly’s been up her ass since she got here. You know he’s got an in with the Queen.”

Kairos grunted in response as he reached the showers. He shed his shorts and shoes and stepped into the steam. Thorne followed behind. They took showers next to each other.

“I figure if I can win her over, maybe I can snuff her out,” Thorne continued, voice still low. “Figure out what her secret is.”

“Do we really care about her secret?” Kairos said before closing his eyes and dipping his face in the shower spray. The hot water cascaded down his shoulders, ironing out the soreness he’d felt from the training he’d done that morning.

“We do if we can use it to our advantage,” Thorne said from besides Kairos. “Whether that’s in getting her out of here or getting a better in with the Queen.”

Kairos shoved his wet hair off of his face and turned to look at Thorne. His hair was also wet, unbound by elastic and falling in front of his eyes. Kairos narrowed his gaze at his friend.

“You sure this isn’t some stupid fucking excuse to try and win her back after you rejected her?”

Thorne shook his head, solemn suddenly. “I made my choice,” he said, a slight uncertainty in his tone. “I’m waiting for the Princess.”

“Right,” Kairos mumbled.

He didn’t trust that Thorne was being truthful with him. He turned so his back was getting hit by the shower. He grabbed soap and lathered his body with it before passing it to Thorne. Then he turned back and scrubbed the suds off his body under the hot water.

“The last thing I need is more people on their knees for that stupid girl,” he snapped. “It’s already bad enough we lost Max to her. I don’t need to lose you.”

“Talking shit about me?”

Thorne and Kairos turned to look at the entrance to the showers. Maximus was bare and entering the area. His broad shoulders were swallowed by the increasing amounts of steam. His lips were set in a thin line, yellow eyes piercing Kairos and Thorne.

Thorne immediately looked down but Kairos kept his eyes locked with Maximus in a challenge. Maximus ignored it and stepped up to a shower and turned it on. Its sputtered to life and Kairos looked at Thorne. His head was still turned down.

Pussy-ass bitch, Kairos thought to himself before rolling his eyes. He continued to wash himself off in the shower.

“We were discussing your obsession with the little wolfless bitch,” he said, boldly.

“She’s not wolfless anymore,” Maximus retorted. “You know that.”

Kairos turned to glare at Maximus. The two locked eyes. Kairos could read the unspoken words in Maximus’s gaze.

I know how you got her to turn.

It was a knowing threat that Kairos chose to ignore. He huffed out of his nose before scrubbing the rest of his body clean and slamming his shower off. He stormed over to the towels and ran it all over his body.

“You know,” Maximus called over his shoulder. “If you’d give her a chance, I think you’d find Zora’s a lot stronger than you’d expect her to be.”

Kairos wrapped the towel around his waist and turned to look Maximus in the eyes. He darted his gaze back and forth between Max and Thorne. He couldn’t help but think he missed something. How was he the only one who wasn’t entranced by the little girl? Sure, there were weird draws about her and then the way his mouth felt against her skin could only be described as orgasmic—

But she still was weak and deserved to get what came to her.

He glared back at Maximus before wrapping the towel in his hands around his waist. He glanced back up at Maximus with a fire in his eyes. The fire of a High Alpha.

“I don’t tolerate weakness in my school,” he snapped. “From the moment she came in, Zora Smith has reeked of weakness. I don’t think I’ll ever look past that to find her anything other than a nuisance.” He turned and made sure to look at Thorne as well.

“Not recognizing that will be your downfall,” he bit out. Then he turned back to glare at Maximus. “And will get you killed.”