Reckless Souls (Saints Academy, #1)(79)
“Keep going, I have a feeling Xander will chase after you,” he adds, and I nod lamely, my brain
completely unfocused and lost on all the craziness happening around us.
Rushing for my satchel, I toss it over my shoulder and head for the exit, mumbling my thanks to
Khaos as I go. The look in his eyes almost makes me pause. A hint of awe, a splash of pride, and the
sparkling of desire.
It’s so out of place on him, that I think I imagined it. I likely did, or my red eyes make me see
made up shit. Either way, I don’t stick around to find out for sure.
I need to hide my eyes.
Chapter 23
Adonis
I flex my hands, relishing the burn and bite from the cuts across my knuckles, and a satisfied smile
spreads across my lips. If anyone’s paying close attention to me as I take my seat in the dining
hall, they’ll likely be bewildered by the manic gleam in my eyes as the dried blood makes my
skin tight and my muscles ache. It’s a nice feeling.
Hector fucking Ariti.
I’ve been longing for a reason to beat the shit out of his face, long before his part in Rhea’s attack,
and today offered the perfect opportunity when everything went to shit in Combat between Xander
and Selene and then Rhea. I needed to get them out of there for their own protection.
Motherfucker has had it coming for far too long. I’m only sad I didn’t manage to do worse, but a
broken nose and two black eyes, along with a cracked rib or two will have to do for now.
It’s the only time I wish we were truly human, living without the ability of someone healing us
with their magic, but I have to settle for what I can get. At least he had to walk around in public to get
to the medical center so he had no choice but to wear his wounds. I’m sure the rumors will spread
like wildfire about what happened, but again, the fucker deserved it and he’s lucky that’s all the
beating he received. So far.
Relaxing back into my seat at our usual table in the dining hall, Zen sits across from me with
Khaos at his side. I wet my dry lips, feeling the slight cut Hector left behind when he managed to land
a punch to my chin, but otherwise I’m completely unscathed. Not injured enough to take a trip to the
healer anyway.
Embarrassing. For him.
The thought makes my smile grow bigger since this will tarnish his tough guy reputation, and I
was more than happy to knock his ass down a few pegs.
No one at the table addresses the mess our first class of the day caused. It wasn’t brought up in
our last class either, not even when Xander and Rhea didn’t show. I sigh, scrubbing a hand down my
face as I mindlessly select the ribeye steak and loaded baked potato for my lunch, completely starved
after the unexpected, yet cathartic, workout earlier.
I run the scene through my head once more, but it’s not really necessary. It’s clear what happened,
and as always, the drama leads straight back to Selene.
Whatever she said to instigate the situation clearly pissed Xander off, but the subject was
obvious; Rhea. The second his eyes started to flash amber, I knew shit wasn’t going to calm down, he
wasn’t going to calm down, and I assessed the situation immediately, attempting to draw attention to
Hector and me as quickly as possible. Shoving him the first time was nowhere near enough to gather a
crowd, which is why I enjoyed pummeling my fist into his face and stomach, but what caught me by
surprise the most, was the way Rhea dropped everything to race to Xander’s side without even
knowing what happened.
The sheer panic on her face for him was evident. The way she stroked at his chest soothingly,
getting him to focus his gaze on her, to get him to control his breathing, was almost poetic, until she
tilted her head and her deep red eyes flashed in my direction, causing my heart to sink with worry.
So much for attempting to keep a low profile.
I quickly upped the tempo with Hector, even dragging Professor Riva away as Selene whined
loud enough for everyone to hear just how desperate she was for some Elite dick, even though she’s
been denied multiple times. If I wasn’t so preoccupied with the asshole before me, I would have
rolled my eyes at her pathetic shit.
Once I was sure both Xander and Rhea were safely out of sight, I finally listened to Professor
Riva and relented my onslaught on Hector. I was satisfied with my quick work but disappointed I
couldn’t continue.
“Knock it the fuck off. You’re both dismissed. Get the hell out of my sight.” His growl was
exactly what I needed to hear as I stalked out of the class, not looking back as no further punishment
was offered. The sound of Hector coughing and spluttering filled my ears as I walked away with a
pleased smile, everyone giving me a wide berth, and I was more than happy with it.
Now we were all silent on the matter, because none of us had a goddamn fucking clue on how we
were going to handle the pair of eye flashing, sealed soul idiots that couldn’t seem to handle a little
taunting.
“You really don’t have to look so pleased with yourself you know,” Zen grumbles, eyeing me over