Chapter 25

Twenty-Five

My afternoon classes are a complete waste of my time because my mind isn't on Elemental Chemistry or Classic Mythology. Instead of being where it should be, it keeps bouncing to Becks, and then getting dragged over to Talon. His warning to me about Chaos is front and center, but there's something nagging me. Something stuck in the back of my mind that I spend most of the afternoon trying to pry free. When I finally figure it out, it's like getting hit by a bolt of lightning, but I have to wait until I see Becks after class for confirmation.

I'm searching for him when I run into Ensley in the parking lot. She looks properly repentant, and an apology is the first thing out of her mouth.

"I shouldn't have done that at lunch. It was thoughtless and really immature. I'm so sorry."

I look back at her with an arched brow. "Did Becks tell you to say that?"

"What? No. I haven't even apologized to him. He's my brother. It's basically my job to razz him."

I cross my arms over my chest. "I'm only accepting your apology if you apologize to him too."

She grimaces. "What? No. You aren't serious?"

I don't say anything and just stare at Ensley with a straight face, and she groans. What she doesn't know is that I forgave her before she even apologized—it's what besties do—but she should still say sorry to her brother as well. And little does she know she's about to get the opportunity to do so, because I spot Becks coming up behind her.

"Fine," she pouts. "You drive a hard bargain, but I'll say something to him next time I see him."

"Say something to who?" Becks asks, and she spins toward him, a sour look on her face.

"Ensley has something she'd like to tell you," I answer with a grin.

"She does, does she?" Becks asks, a smile curving his mouth as he already suspects what's coming.

Ensley plays with her purple-streaked hair, stalling.

"You wanted to say something, sis?" Becks taunts.

Sighing, she rolls her eyes. "Oh, fine. Listen, I'm sorry for giving you and Locklyn a hard time at lunch today. Your business is your own and none of my business. But let's be honest, this is also kinda my business as well, and I'm sure I'll get all the deets from my pal Locklyn anyway, but in the future I promise to only grill you individually and privately."

"That was supposed to be an apology?" Becks asks with raised eyebrows.

Ensley smiles and shrugs. "Take it or leave it, but don't expect to hear it again."

Becks shakes his head.

That's about what I expected from Ensley. Now that's settled, I have another matter to discuss with them. Before diving into it, I do a quick look around the parking lot. No one appears to be listening, but some creatures, especially certain shifters and vampires, have very good hearing, so I let Becks and Ensley chat until more students clear out.

"Hey, Becks," I finally say, ignoring the little zing that goes through me when he looks directly at me.

Calm down, girl.

"What's up?"

"Talon's uncle . . . he's on the council, right?" I hold my breath, hoping against all hopes I remembered that right.

Becks' face darkens at just the mention of Talon, but he nods. "Yeah, why?"

Finally, something is going our way. Excitement that I wouldn't let surface earlier bubbles up, and a smile stretches my mouth as I look back at Ensley's and Becks' questioning faces.

"I know exactly how to get one of the council members on our side."

"How?" Becks asks.

"Talon owes me a favor." Or at least he will once I agree to tank the next trial like he asked me to. With Becks free of the arranged life-mating, I won't need Shadow Striker anymore. Yes, it would be nice to have magic, but if the last couple of weeks has taught me anything, it's that I'm powerful even without magic. Besides, the only confirmation I've been able to find that Shadow Striker wouldn't turn me evil or psychotic is from Mr. Brone. I've been trying to ignore it, but the unknowns about Shadow Striker make me a little uneasy.

Becks' face sours at the same time Ensley's lights up.

"Locklyn, that's genius," Ensley says, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement. "He lives with his uncle."

"That's what he said. And if anyone can dig up dirt on him, it will be Talon." I truly believe that. Right now, I'm holding him back, at least according to him. I have no doubt he'll go to extreme lengths to get me out of the equation.

"Why would he go against his uncle and help us?" Becks asks with a frown.

"He'll help us, I'm sure of it."

"No." Becks shakes his head. "I don't like the idea of owing that guy anything."

My smile starts to fade. "You wouldn't owe him anything. Like I said, he owes me a favor."

"What kind of favor?" Becks asks, his mood darkening even more.

"A big one," I answer vaguely, crossing my arms over my chest. The last thing Becks needs to know now is that Talon thinks my life is in danger. "And I don't need your permission to cash it in."

At a standstill, Becks and I glare at each other. I won't let any sort of petty jealousy or possessive instincts get in the way. This is the breakthrough we've been hoping for, he's just too stubborn to see it. I want Becks on my side right now, but I'll move forward without him. It's for his own good.

"Becks." Ensley grabs her brother's arm and shakes it. "This is huge. We haven't gotten anywhere with Operation Bring Down the Council."

Glancing at her, he arches an eyebrow. "Operation Bring Down the Council?"

"It has a nice ring to it," she says with a shrug. "But never mind that. This is worth a try. You know it is."

Becks' nostrils flare. "I don't trust him. He's hiding something."

Part of me agrees with Becks, but at the end of the day, who cares? "He might be hiding something, but what does it matter if he can help us?"

Becks' green gaze swivels to me. "If he's hiding something, how can we trust him?"

It's another solid point, but in this case I'm willing to risk it.

"Talon could go to his uncle and tell him what we are doing rather than help us," Becks goes on. "If that happens, then this whole plan goes up in smoke."

"That won't happen," I assure him. "He's going to want to help us."

Becks looks skeptical, and for good reason. He doesn't know everything.

"You have to trust me," I add.

I swallow as Becks steps closer and looks down at me with burning green eyes. "You're really willing to trust Talon with my future. With our future?"

My stomach drops. I hear what Becks is saying, and it's not necessarily that I trust Talon, but I trust in how badly he wants me out of his way so that he can win Chaos. I saw the desperation in his eyes earlier today when he practically begged me to fail out of the game. So yes, if there's anything I trust in, it's that.

I nod.

Becks huffs. "I don't want to be indebted to someone like him."

"Locklyn already said you wouldn't, but so what if you are? Being indebted to Talon has to be the better alternative to being life-mated to a stranger. Surely you can swallow your pride in exchange for your freedom?" Ensley says, putting everything into perspective.

I watch Becks' face as he struggles through accepting the inevitable. A bevy of emotions flick over his features: denial, anger, frustration, until finally resignation sets in. He swipes his hand down his face. "Okay, fine. When should we talk to him?"

Oh no . That won't do. "I've got it. I can talk to Talon myself."

Becks frowns, and I know where this conversation is headed. "I don't know if that's?—"

"If she says she's got it, she's got it. Let our girl handle it," Ensley says before Becks can get too huffy.

"You need to trust me. I've got this," I say.

"It's not that I don't trust you, it's that I don't trust him ," Becks replies.

"Well, then you need to trust that I can handle Talon."

Becks presses his lips into a hard line, and I hold my breath, hoping he lets this go. Finally, he nods. "Okay. As long as you promise not to offer him anything in return."

I lift my eyebrows at that, wondering what type of deal Becks thinks I'm going to be striking with Talon.

"Like I said, he owes me a favor, that's all."

"It must be a pretty big favor," Becks grumbles.

He has no idea.

I have to wait until the next day at school to talk to Talon, because besides being under house arrest for the next two weeks, my parents have my phone and are monitoring my computer, so I don't have a way to reach out to him. Despite what I told Becks, Talon and I don't actually have any classes together—hopefully that's a little tidbit Becks doesn't figure out on his own—so I'm stuck stalking his locker the next morning, hoping to catch him before classes start. Much to my annoyance, Talon doesn't come swaggering up to his locker until moments before the final bell, so by then there's hardly any time to talk to him.

"Freckles. To what do I owe the pleasure?" he says, a flirtatious smile on his face that I recognize now for what it is. A mask.

"Lunch, meet me in the tower," I say, not bothering with the pleasantries. "I have a proposition for you."

His brows shoot up and his smile turns lazy. "A proposition? Call me intrigued."

I internally groan. Wrong use of words. "Not like that."

"Not like what?" he says with false innocence.

"I've thought about what we talked about yesterday," I say quickly, knowing we're running out of time, and this isn't the place to speak freely.

Talon sobers immediately and he steps closer, his eyes devoid of any lighthearted flirtation from before. "And . . ." he prompts.

"And meet me in the tower later so we can talk about it," I say, not letting him intimidate me. Then I turn on a heel, and just as I reach the end of the hall the final bell rings, signaling the start of the period and I groan. Another tardy.

Add it to the list.