Awakening Book One of the Trust Series(37)

Caitlyn nuzzled closer at those words. He wanted desperately to know what she was thinking at the moment. Despite that, he shielded his thoughts from her as he thought to himself. “I think I am coming dangerously close to falling in love with you.”





Chapter 11



“Declan, for the tenth time, I said no.” Jonathan McPherson rubbed his eyes wearily. “We don’t have new Actuals change mentors midway through training.”

Declan glared at his father. “But an exception must be made in this case. It’s not like it has never happened before.”

His father rolled his eyes, clasping his hands together before placing them down on the desk in front of him. “Declan, you were the exception. Lionel was the only one who had the proper capacity to train you.”

Declan returned his father’s exasperated expression. “I can tell now, Father, that she is just like me. An exception needs to be made. You know as well as I that the Trust is weakening significantly. We are not the power that we used to be. Actuals are defecting all of the time and the Cine Tofa is not adhering to the recruiting treaty that we had established. They are locating Potentials on our land and taking them for their own. That alone should be enough for us to break the treaty and fight; yet, here we sit and renegotiate and renegotiate.”

“There is still hope that we can come to some sort of peaceful conclusion, Declan. You sound like you are ready for a war.”

He shook his head. “No, I am not saying that I want to resort to war. But with each passing day, the hope for peace between our two groups appears slimmer and slimmer. Those that have the ability need to be trained to my level. There is a war brewing, and I’ll be damned if we all perish because we are going to stick to a few antiquated training methods that the Trust has established over the decades. I will not stand by and watch my people get destroyed.”

Declan had been surprised when he looked up during the party and saw Caitlyn Young staring at him. All the rumors about her were quite amazing. From what he had heard from his father and other random Council members, she learned exceptionally fast and the potential for her abilities were impressive. He had also heard that she was unparalleled in her ambition to learn and was quite stubborn. Declan’s father had laughed when he heard Declan mention that in passing at the party. Jonathan stated that brilliant Actuals must all have that stubborn streak in them, arching his eyebrows very highly at Declan. Declan had then huffed back that he was not stubborn, just determined. He had not been able to prevent his scowl from deepening when his dad laughed even harder.

For a week since the Gala, Declan had been mulling over the idea of taking over Caitlyn Young’s training. He had weighed the pros and cons, but decided there was too much at risk for him not to pursue this.

Jonathan shook his head and grinned. “Declan, I knew the moment you laid eyes on Caitlyn, you would want to take her on as a project.”

Declan crossed his arms. “And what is wrong with that?”

The Councilman smirked at him. “Nothing. Nothing. But only you could take a beautiful woman like her and think only about training and what she would mean to the Trust. I sometimes think I really should have encouraged Lionel to train you differently.”

“So are you saying yes or no?”

His father stood up. “I am not saying either at the moment. I am asking you to humor me and give me the reasons that you want to take over the training. Garrett has been a wonderful mentor and it is a grave insult to take the mentoring away from him. She will easily pass the Threshold already from what I’ve gathered.”

Declan couldn’t help but glower at his father slightly. He did not want to admit it, but his father was right for wanting more information, better reasons.

“Caitlyn’s capacity to learn from Garrett is limited. While Garrett is obviously an asset to the Trust with his capacity to perform Projectile Telepathy, and he is above average with his other skills, her potential is far greater than that. From what I know of Garrett Stevens, he is very laid back when it comes to methods of learning.”

“What is wrong with that Declan?”

He paced by the door. “Nothing in most cases. But with someone of her drive, it is only holding her back. She needs to be challenged; she needs to have someone who is at the level she strives to be at.”

“But she is only one Actual. I do not think that she would make a significant impact if things were to go badly between our two organizations.”