With Kain, it was al new. By the end of practice, I felt a little better about the changeup in our training, but there was stil a nagging worry Kain’s reappearance had something to do with the kiss.

Kain wasn’t the only one who kept popping back up.

Over the fol owing week, Seth lingered around campus, showing up in the rec room, the cafeteria, and the training room. It made avoiding him—which had been my plan—

impossible. Trying to hold my own against Kain with just Aiden watching was bad enough, but having the Apol yon in the mix total y sucked.

Thankful y, today was Kain’s off day. He’d accompanied some group of pures on a weekend getaway. I felt bad for him. Yesterday, he’d spent the majority of practice bitching about it. He was a born hunter, not a babysitter. I’d be pissed too if I’d gotten saddled with that assignment.

In practice, we’d final y moved beyond blocking techniques and were working on different types of takedowns. Even though I’d face-planted Aiden several times throughout the day, he was super-patient with me.

Besides lying to me about my mom, the guy had to be a saint of some sort.

“You’ve done real y wel this week.” He gave me a hesitant smile as we headed out.

I shook my head. “Kain kicked my ass in practice yesterday.”

Aiden pushed the door open and held it for me. Normal y, he left the doors wide open, but lately he’d taken to closing them. “Kain has field experience on you, but you were holding your own against him.”

My lips curved upwards. As sad as it was, I lived for those moments when he complimented my improvement.

“Thanks.”

He nodded. “Do you think it helps to work with Kain?”

We stopped at the doors leading outside. I was kind of stunned he would even ask for my opinion. “Yeah… he has different tactics than you. I think it helps that you can see what I’m doing wrong and walk me through it.”

“Good. It’s what I hoped for.”

“Real y?” I blurted out. “I thought it was because—never mind.”

Aiden’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. Why else would I want Kain to help?”

Horrified and embarrassed that I had unwittingly gone there, I turned away. “Uh… forget I said anything.”

“Alex.” He said my name in that soft, infinitely patient way.

Against my wil , I turned back to him. “Bringing Kain in had nothing to do with that night.”

I wanted to run and hide. I also wanted to find a muzzle for myself. “It doesn’t?”

“No.”

“About that night… ” I took a deep breath. “I’m sorry about hitting you and… the other thing.”

His eyes deepened, turning more silver than gray. “I accept your apology for hitting me.”

I hadn’t realized it until then, but we were standing close enough that our shoes touched. I don’t know if he had moved, or if I had. “What about the other thing?”

Aiden smiled then, flashing those deep dimples. His arm brushed mine as he reached around and opened the door.

“You don’t have to apologize for the other thing.”

I stumbled into the bright sunlight. “I don’t?”

He shook his head, stil smiling, and then simply left.

Confused and a bit obsessed over what that could mean, I joined my friends for dinner and found our newest addition was once again at our table. My smile faded as I saw the open wonder splattered across Caleb’s face—the look he got whenever he talked to Seth.

They didn’t even look as I sat down at the table with them.

Everyone appeared consumed by whatever Seth was tel ing them. I seemed to be the only one not impressed by him.

“How many kil s have you made?” Caleb leaned forward.

Hadn’t they already had this conversation? Oh, yes.

Yesterday. I bit back a sigh of annoyance.

Seth reclined in the plastic chair, one leg propped against the edge of the table. “Over twenty.”

“Wow.” Elena sighed, a look of pure admiration glossing over her eyes.

I rol ed my eyes and took a bite of the dry pot roast.

“You don’t know the exact number?” Caleb’s brows rose.

“I’d keep a list with dates and times.”

I found that morbid, but Seth grinned. “Twenty-five. Would have been twenty-six but the last bastard got away from me.”

“Got away from the Apol yon?” I took a sip of my water.

“Embarrassing.”

Caleb’s eyes grew to the size of saucers, and honestly, I don’t know what’d provoked me to say it—probably that little piece of advice he’d given me the last time we’d talked privately. Seth seemed to take it in stride. He tipped his bottle of water toward me. “How many have you kil ed?”

“Two.” I shoved a forkful of meat into my mouth.

“Not bad for an untrained girl.”

I smiled brightly. “Nope.”

Caleb shot me a warning look before turning back to Seth. “So… how does it feel to use the elements?”

“Amazing.” Seth’s eyes stayed on me. “I’ve never been tagged.”

I stiffened, hand halfway to my mouth. Ouch.

“What does that feel like, Alex?”

I forced myself to chew the food slowly. “Oh… it felt wonderful.”

He moved, leaning close enough I could feel his breath on my neck. My entire body locked up. “Nasty little scar you got there.”

The fork fel from my fingers, splattering mashed potatoes across the table. I mustered my best “ice princess” look and met his gaze. “You’re in my personal space, buddy.”

A playful smile graced his lips. “So? What are you going to do about it? Throw your mashed potatoes at me? I’m consumed by terror.”

Punch you in the face. That’s what I wanted to say and do, but even I wasn’t that stupid. Instead, I returned the smile. “Why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be doing important things, like guarding Lucian?”

Caleb and the rest of the kids didn’t catch my dig, but he did. The smile slipped from his face and he stood. Turning to them, he nodded. “It was nice talking with you al .” On his way out he brushed past Olivia. The poor girl looked like she wanted to spaz out.

“Oh, my gods, Alex. He’s the Apol yon,” hissed Elena.

I cleaned up my mess of mashed potatoes. “Yeah. So?”

She dropped a napkin over the bulk of the potatoes.

“Uh… you could be a little more respectful towards him.”

“I was being respectful. I just wasn’t kissing his ass.” I raised my brows as I looked at her.

“We weren’t kissing his ass.” She frowned, scooping up the mess.

I pursed my lips. “Not what it looked like to me.”

“Whatever.” Caleb exhaled with a whistle. “I mean, wow.

He’s kil ed twenty-five daimons. He can wield al four elements plus the fifth—the fifth, Alex. Yeah, I’l kiss his ass al day long.”

I stifled my groan. “You should start a fan club. Elena can be your vice president.”

He smirked. “Maybe I wil .”

Thankful y, we moved past talking about Seth once Olivia sat down at our table. Caleb was al too happy to see her, and my gaze bounced between the two of them.

“Have you guys heard?” Olivia’s coffee-colored eyes widened.

I was half afraid to ask. “What?”

She cast a nervous glance at me. “There was a daimon attack in Lake Lure late last night. The Council just found out. They couldn’t get ahold of the group of pures and their Guards.”

The information wiped everything else from my thoughts. I wasn’t thinking about my rude behavior toward Seth or what Aiden could’ve meant earlier. I wasn’t even thinking about Mom.

Elena gasped. “What? Lake Lure is only four hours from here.”

Lake Lure was a smal community where several of the pures liked to get away. Just like the place in Gatlinburg where my mom used to take me, it should’ve been wel -

guarded. Safe. At least, that was what we’d been told.

“How’s it possible?” I hated the way my voice squeaked out.

Olivia shook her head. “I don’t know, but several of the Council Guards left with the group this weekend. They had at least two trained Sentinels.”

My mouth went dry. No. It couldn’t have been the same group—the group Kain had been bitching about babysitting.

“Anyone we know?” Caleb leaned in.

She glanced around, lowering her voice. “Mom couldn’t say much more. She was leaving to go investigate… the scene, but she did say Kain and Herc were the two Sentinels. I haven’t heard anything about what’s happened to them, but… ”

Daimons didn’t leave halfs alive.

Silence fel across the table as we processed the news. I swal owed against the sudden tightness in my throat. Kain had been kicking my butt and joking around with me just yesterday. He’s good and fast, but if he was missing, it meant he’d been taken for a later snack. Kain was a half, so he couldn’t be turned into a daimon.

No. I shook my head. He got away. They just haven’t found him yet.

Caleb pushed his plate away. Now I wished I hadn’t eaten so much. The news was doing gross stuff to the food in my stomach, but al of us pretended we weren’t that affected. We were in training. In a year or so, we’d be facing this stuff in person.

“What about the pures? Who were they?” Elena’s voice trembled.

The look crossing her face fil ed me with unease.

Suddenly, I understood it wasn’t just Kain we’d lost.

“There were two families.” Olivia swal owed hard. “Liza and Zeke Dikti, and their daughter Letha. The other family was… Lea’s father and stepmother.”

Silence.

None of us moved. I don’t even think we breathed. Gods, I hated Lea. Real y, I did, but I knew what this felt like. Or, at least, I used to. Final y, Caleb found the ability to speak.

“Were Lea or her half sister with them?”

Olivia shook her head. “Dawn stayed at home and Lea is here— was here. On the way over, I saw Dawn. She’d come to get her.”

“This is so terrible.” Elena’s face paled. “How old is Dawn?”

“She’s around twenty-two.” Caleb bit his lip.

“She’s old enough to take her parent’s seat, but who… ”

Olivia trailed off.

We al knew what she was thinking. Who would want to take a Council seat that way?

***

Back in my dorm, I found two letters stuck to my door.

One was a folded piece of paper and the other was an envelope. The paper contained a scribbled message from Aiden cal ing off practice tomorrow due to unforeseen events. Obviously, he’d been cal ed to investigate the attack.

I folded up the note and placed it on the table. The envelope was something else entirely; it was from my bipolar stepfather. I didn’t read the card. However, there were several hundred dol ar bil s folded inside it. Those I kept. The card went in the trash bin.