Deity (Covenant #3)(34)

I threw my hands up. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

The Guards and Leon shot forward, grabbing for the two guys. It took several tries to get Aiden off Seth. A cut marred his right cheek. Blood beaded. There was a split in Seth’s lip.


“Are you done?” demanded Leon, shouldering Aiden back a few steps. “Aiden, you need to stop.”

Aiden wiped the back of his hand over his cheek as he shrugged Leon’s hand off. “Yeah, I’m done.”

The Guards were saying the same thing to Seth, but when they let go of him, Seth shot around them. “You think I’m scared that you’ll turn me in for fighting? Any of you? They can’t touch me! I’m the fu—”

“Stop it!” I screamed. “Just stop!” Seth froze, and several sets of eyes centered on me. “Gods! We were training. There’s no reason to kill each other over this.” I glanced at Aiden. “No reason to do any of this. Just freaking stop.”

Tension still ripened the air, but Seth pulled back and spat out a mouthful of blood. As he straightened his shirt, the marks started to fade. “Like I’d been saying, but apparently all of you are too stupid to understand, we were—”

“Shut up, Seth.” I clenched my hands.

His brows rose.

Aiden still looked furious. His eyes were like pools of silver, consuming his entire face.

“It’s done and over, okay?” I said, mostly to him. “I’m fine. No one is dead. And if you three can manage not to try to kill each other, I’m going to go and take a shower, because now I smell like ten-day-old butt.”

Leon’s lips twitched as if he wished to smile, but after the glare I cut his way, his expression returned to the stoic one I was familiar with.

I headed around them, shivering. Icicles were forming on my jeans.

Seth wheeled around. “Alex—”

“No.” I stopped. There was no way he was coming back with me. I needed to be away from him, putting some distance between his anger and me before I started throwing punches. I needed to figure out what’d happened back there, why I’d felt what Seth wanted so strongly.

“Alex!” Seth called out. “Come on.”

“Leave me alone right now.” I started walking again. “I’m done with this for today. I mean it. I’m done”

Chapter 10

SETH KNEW BETTER THAN TO SEEK OUT MY COMPANY Saturday night. I was grateful for that, because I didn’t want to see his face. I did, however, answer the door Sunday evening when he actually knocked. That’s how I knew he was feeling apologetic. Seth never knocked.

His hands were shoved into the pockets of his dark cargos. The right side of his lip was swollen. “Hey,” he said, staring over my head.

“Hey.”

He shifted from one foot to the next. “Alex, I’m… sorry about yesterday. I didn’t—”

“Stop,” I cut him off. “I know you were just trying to get me to use akasha and you didn’t mean to knock me over, but you guys were insane. Not in a good way, Seth.”

A sheepish look crept across his face. “I know, but Aiden pissed me—”

“Seth.”

“Okay. You’re right. It’s over and done. And I don’t want to argue with you. I’m getting ready to leave.” He looked at me then. “I thought it would be nice if you walked with me to the bridge.”

“Just let me grab something to put on.” I needed to talk with him, anyway. After I grabbed a hoodie, we walked out of the dorm in silence. The campus was dark; only the shadows of the patrolling Guards moved. When I let out my breath, it formed small puffs in the air. “I felt your anger yesterday.”

“I’m sure anyone within a ten-mile radius felt my anger yesterday.”

“That’s not what I meant.” We followed the marbled pathway around the dorms, heading toward the bridge by the main Covenant building. “I really felt it. I wanted to knock the crap out of Leon. It was like… like it was my anger.”

Seth didn’t respond as he stared ahead, eyes narrowed.

“It went away as soon as I wasn’t touching you, but it was pretty weird.” I stopped walking as the bridge came into view. A black Hummer was being loaded with luggage. Exhaust filled the air, and several Council Guards stood post. “You don’t have anything to say about that?”

He glanced down at me. “You were so close to tapping into akasha, Alex. If Leon hadn’t interfered, it would’ve happened.”

As if that was the most important thing that’d happened. “Seth, did you hear a word I said?”

“I did, and I don’t know why you felt my anger so clearly.” He took his hands out of his pockets and folded his arms. “Maybe it was because you were tapping into akasha. It made you more in tune with what I was feeling.”

What I had felt didn’t seem to bother or really surprise Seth. But to me, it was a pretty big deal. “When I Awaken, I’ll feel and want what you want. Don’t you get what I’m saying? I wanted what you wanted already.”

“Alex.” He dropped his hands on my shoulders and pulled me against his chest. “You’re not Awakening. Stop worrying.”

I frowned and pushed off. He let me go. “But it’s really starting to happen, isn’t it? With the marks and now this? And I’m only like a month away.”