13

Dove

The next day, Mr. Varma pushed us harder than before, my muscles protesting every movement. Brynn and I paired up to practice hand to hand combat. Vince leered at me from across the field and my skin crawled. But something told me he wouldn't try anything with Enko and Kairos nearby. Bruises lined my arm from the night before, hidden by a thin black pullover.

Brynn took the seat next to me in Elements class. I snagged a spot close to Caleb, who still sported a black eye. I guess it was a rite of passage for new recruits.

I leaned over, whispering, "Hey, I'm sorry about that black eye."

Caleb's head snapped in my direction, his eyes going wide, moving away from me. "What? Are you trying to get your mate to beat me up again?"

"I talked to Kairos about it. He got a little defensive."

"Kairos was trying to pull that fucking beast off me. Went completely fucking feral because he couldn't find you," Caleb said, shaking his head as he haphazardly shuffled all his belongings from the desk into his bag.

"Enko?" I said.

Caleb hurried away, taking the furthest seat possible away from me before directing his attention to the front of the room.

The professor walked in, tossing a stack of papers onto his desk.

"Good morning," Mr. Fuller wore a gray suit that was the same color as his hair except for the stripe of red running through the center. I daresay it looked a bit skunky. "We are going to expand your magic. Now, there's always late-bloomers. Please raise your hand if you still haven't shifted into fox form yet."

Everyone's heads twisted like owls, but nobody raised their hand.

Mr. Fuller continued, "Come now, if I don't know who you are, how am I supposed to help you?"

A few students raised their hands and I timidly raised mine halfway.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," the professor said. "We're going to start off today with a little guided meditation. Close your eyes, find the source of your magic. It's often driven by emotion. Look deep within yourself, feel the power. Love, passion, rage…If you have a Fated, lean into that. Fated mates and our magical abilities come from the same place."

I did as he said, but found darkness within, darkness that reminded me of my shadow mate who despised me from the moment he met me.

After class, I walked with Brynn until she suddenly asked, "Will you come with me to a party this weekend?"

She didn't seem like the type to party, but the excitement in her eyes told me she wanted to go.

"Yes, we'll be there," came Kairos' voice from behind me. "Hey, Brynn."

Brynn fidgeted, as though shocked he knew her name. "Hi, Kairos." She was a little more intimidated by Enko—who could blame her? He was a freaking giant—but she gave him a small wave. Enko smiled, a gentle giant, and I couldn't imagine him doing any damage despite his huge fists. Caleb must have been lying. His brother was Vince, after all. And I knew all I ever wanted to know about Vince.

Enko pulled me into a quick embrace and I melted into him. His fire element pulsed out heat. "Ready for training?"

I groaned, "But I already trained all morning."

"Have fun!" Brynn said with a little too much enthusiasm, waving and going into the cafeteria.

Enko's arm hung around my waist as we walked to an open area of the field, passing me a sandwich wrapped in plastic.

"We need to talk about last night," Kairos said, crossing his arms as he faced down the two of us. "Where did you go, Dove?"

I'd dodged their questions that morning, so I stuffed a bite of the Italian sub into my mouth.

When I finished chewing, I put up my fists. "How about that training?"

Kairos raised up his hands, frowning skeptically. "I saw you out there getting your ass kicked today. Let's practice some moves."

"I almost beat Brynn, for your information," I said defensively, thankful he had let the topic go. If Kairos found out what Vince had done, he'd definitely kill him. A bubble of comfort formed around that murderous thought.

Kairos walked me through several different attacks and defenses and what to look for when someone is about to attack.

Enko yawned, lying on the grass as he watched the two of us go through the motions of each move. "That's the third time you've told her to watch her weak points."

"Fine, are you ready?" Kairos asked, giving an exaggerated sigh at Enko. We nodded to each other as we began a practice fight.

He swung his arm forward at an embarrassingly slow pace, and I quickly whacked him away from hitting me.

"Good!"

"Good? You were going at a tenth of normal speed."

Kairos smiled and punched again, faster this time, but I dodged skillfully. My back twinged at the backwards lean as I drove a palm towards Kairos' chest. He deflected easily.

Attack-mode ensued, throwing punch after punch at the golden-haired man. He matched every move I made, his speed unreal—that was his magic kicking in.

It became a dance of dodges and strikes, and the more he held back, the more I pushed myself. My fist connected with his chest. He pushed the fight to the next level.

After nearly half an hour of sparring, I was out of breath and he hadn't even broken a sweat. He threaded his fingers through his hair, pushing it out of his eyes.

"No good habits, but you can learn those. Not many bad ones either. You're weak. Enko will get you on a weight-lifting schedule."

Kairos continued talking over moves with me as we moved into the gym and Enko got close to me, pushing a weight into my hand. In his hand, the dumbbell looked miniature.

"Start with that, do fifteen reps with each arm, four sets," he said in some kind of foreign language. We hadn't begun weights for physical training yet.

"Huh?"

He smiled and picked up his own weights. "Copy what I do."

And what Enko did wasn't very fun. But it did allow me to watch his muscles flex and have some entertainment while I worked.

Enko positioned himself behind me, his chest pressing against my back as he guided my movements. His shirt grazed my back and excitement rushed into me, his hands on mine causing heat to sprout all over my body.

Until one of his hands wrapped around my forearm. I flinched in pain and he loosened his hold instantly.

"What's wrong?" Enko's eyes filled with concern.

I pressed my arm against my chest, shaking my head. His stare intensified, reaching forward and pulling back the sleeve to reveal the bruises in this distinct shape of fingers. He drew in a breath, holding it in for too long. When he released the air, his growl reverberated through me.

" Who did that ? Who dared to hurt you?"

Kairos jumped up from his bench across the room, striding over to me to inspect my arm, gingerly holding my wrist and turning it over to get a full examination. He narrowed his eyes, frowning at me.

"Who?" Kairos stroked at the marks, clenching his teeth together. "I didn't hit you hard enough to leave any bruises."

"It was Vince. Last night," I whispered.

"What happened?" Kairos demanded. Enko's hands clenched into fists at his sides.

"He cornered me in the city and said that I must be a slut because I had three mates." Kairos' eyes were locked on the bruises on my arm as I spoke. Repeating Vince's words made my voice waver, and I hated that his words had any power over me or my emotions.

"He said what? " Kairos' wrath bubbled up to full intensity.

I waved my arms in front of his face before he could go on a rampage. "It was nothing, he grabbed my arm and I kicked him in the balls and took off."

"It's not nothing , Dove." Kairos' eyes softened, his frown going lopsided as he glanced at Enko. He reached for him, but Enko ducked away like Kairos had thrown a punch. In the silence of the empty gym, all I could hear was the heavy breath of my giant mate, his muscles rippling and bulging from everywhere as his body tensed.

Enko strode to the door, flinging it open hard. It slammed against the wall, and then smacked against the frame before entirely falling off its hinges.

I gawked at Kairos as I recovered from the surprise. "What's going on?"

Kairos' mouth opened and closed several times as his eyes ping-ponged between me and the hole where the door used to be. Somehow, his voice remained calm through the situation. "Get to the dorm, Dove. You're not going to want to see this. We will meet you back there as soon as we can."