41. Adrianna

41

ADRIANNA

W hat the fuck does he mean the students are free to leave? Is this a joke?

"There's no way anyone has left." It's a statement, not a question, but the way Beau looks at me, I know there's an answer coming anyway. One I'm not going to like.

"Unfortunately, that's not the case."

I gape at him in horror before passing my gaze over everyone else in the room. Nobody else looks as shocked as I do. "People are running at the first hurdle," I blurt, tucking a loose tendril of hair behind my ear as I step out of Raiden's grasp. I need to think, and I can't have him touching me while I try to accomplish that.

"Some do, it's how we weed them out," Beau states, and I scoff at him.

"Maybe you should have started with that exercise when we all arrived here instead of putting people through trials. Loyalty outweighs strength, and if they were never loyal to the kingdom then they shouldn't have been here to begin with," I snap, my voice rising with every word.

Calm and collected, Addi. Calm and fucking collected.

This is some grade A bullshit. I can't even process where to begin. "How many?" I ask, bracing myself as I turn my attention back to Beau.

"More than half of the student body." My jaw all but hits the floor. Why were they even here to begin with? "Really, it's closer to three quarters," he adds, and a snort of laughter parts my lips.

It's ridiculous, yet hilarious.

"What do we do now?" I ask, forcing myself to cling to the things I can't control when there's still so much mess for us to cover.

Beau looks from his brother to me, back and forth again three times, before he finally settles on me. "You should stand up and lead."

I frown at him, shaking my head from side to side in confusion. "I can't just do that, and you can't just go around saying that either," I grumble, feeling the adrenaline quicken in my veins.

"Why not?" Brody asks, speaking up for the first time since I stepped inside. My gaze collides with his as he stands his ground, baiting me as I try to find a solid response, but my thoughts are interrupted by the short and snappy tone chiming from someone's cell phone.

Everyone stuffs their hands in their pockets, checking their devices. Everyone but me since mine is still at Raiden's; a fact I need to rectify, but the look on Cassian's face as he glares down at his cell phone pushes the thought to the back of my mind.

He curses under his breath, dragging a hand down his face as he looks everywhere around the room but at me.

"What's going on?" I ask, cutting the distance between us, but he turns away from me before I can gain his full attention.

"Kenner," he mutters under his breath as I reach for his arm, but his body turns still as I try to spin him back to me.

"What about him?" I push, clearly understanding there's more to the situation, and he shrugs. "Cassian," I insist, circling around to stop him in his tracks before he tries to put more distance between us.

His eyes collide with mine, a troubled expression washing over his features before he quickly shuts it down. "Fine," he grunts, stuffing his hand in his pocket and retrieving his cell phone again. He turns the screen my way and my stomach tightens in knots.

Kenner: You, me, compound. Now. What's done is done. It's time to put an end to this once and for all.

I skim over the message twice before returning my stare to his. "What does it mean?" I ask, and Cassian simply shrugs in response. "Tell me what it means. Now," I snap, aware I'm being just as demanding as his father. The only difference being that I'm doing it because I care and he's trying to put distance between us.

Fuck that.

"Cass," Brody says calmly, trying to aid and defuse the situation all at once. An attempt I'm sure is going to fail, but to my surprise, my growly wolf locks eyes with me.

"It means he's panicking. It means everything he wants he can't have anymore, and it's time to take it all out on his favorite punching bag."

My heart sinks as the pain twists in the man before me. The look on his face seems like one he's all too familiar with wearing, but that was before me. Before we all chose this.

Now, he's not only one of my Kryptos, one of my men, or even my wolf; he's one of my fated mates. All because of the decisions they made. Their persistence brought us here. Now they can face the consequences of that.

"Then we all go together," I say firmly, but it doesn't seem to stick with him because he's shaking his head before I even finish speaking. The consideration of ignoring him altogether flutters through my mind, but it's clear from the look on Cassian's face that it's completely off the table as an option.

"No."

One word. So final. So fucking Cassian.

He turns away, hands balled into fists at his sides as he starts toward the door, but I race to catch up, using my wolf speed to reach the doorway before he can.

Planting my hand on his chest, I wait until his eyes are on mine before I speak. "Yes."

He shakes his head again, irritation flooding my bones as I glare at him, but he continues unfazed. "No, I should do this alone."

Like hell he's going to do this alone. Never, ever. I refuse.

I sigh, outwardly admitting defeat as I lean into him. The tension bunching his muscles together eases as he thinks victory is heading his way, but I swiftly slip my hand in his pants pocket, grab his cell phone, and dart across the room.

"What are you doing?" he bites out, his frustration barely contained, earning a glare off Kryll, who I rush toward.

"I'm doing you a favor," I state back, but all he does is give me a pointed look like all I'm actually doing is inconveniencing him.

"You can keep the cell phone. I don't care," he states, his shoulders slumping as he waves me off and turns for the door.

"Oh, you can have it back. I'm done with it," I state, launching it through the air.

His eyes narrow to slits. "What did you do?"

It's my turn to shrug as I saunter past him, aware of the other steps following.

"I told Janie on you. Now, let's go. She'll be waiting."