Dawn of a New Age: A Sons of Satrina Novel (17 page)

Caleb nodded, seemingly impressed. They didn’t say anything else as they walked to the stairs. Even if she hadn’t been working up a sweat with the rest of them, Ash still wanted a shower before grabbing something to eat.

Caleb nodded to her as they entered the dining hall at the same time, still seemingly impressed by her brush with death. They didn’t say anything else, but after grabbing a mountain of food, Aisline made sure that he took a seat at the table she shared with trey and the gang. The younger shifter was sat on the next table over and he grinned like a Cheshire cat when he saw Caleb.

“That’s my little brother, Rees.” Caleb said quietly and Aisline smiled over at him.

He wasn’t sure about the rest of them yet but he exchanged polite manly nods with Trey and Dylan. Rees didn’t seem to have that kind of problem and could clearly be heard laughing and joking with the guys at his table, seeming to fit in with this lot straight away.

In a way, Caleb envied him. Rees had always been such an easy going kid and always looked on the bright side of life, never letting anything get him down. This change of pace didn’t faze him at all. He didn’t see any problem with coming here and starting a whole new life. It was all one big adventure to him. Caleb was relived, in that big brotherly way, to see him still smiling. It would have killed him to see the vamps put out that bright spark in him. Luckily, Rees was loving it.

They had always been as different as night and day when they’d been growing up. Caleb had to be the responsible one and sometimes that really burned him. Their father died just after Rees was born in a horrific car accident and Caleb had become the man of the house. It was a responsibility that he didn’t want and hadn’t been ready for. As they grew up, their mother depended on him more and more. It wasn’t like he would have ever turned his back on his family and even though the pack pulled together as a whole, the main responsibility had fallen on his shoulders. His main mission in life was to make sure that Rees had the kind of childhood that he had missed out on.

That was another reason coming here had angered him. He had no choice in the matter. He had to leave. He had to leave his mother to fend for herself. Sure, he knew that she would be looked after, but it had been his responsibility for so long that it felt wrong to pass it on to someone else.

Everyone thought that Caleb was some out of control hard ass, but the truth was all he lived for was taking care of his family. He had no life of his own. They were everything to him. Here, at the academy, he was drowning. This was the first time that he had to look out for himself.

No one really understood what kind of life he had. Patrick tried to help out as much as he could, but he was the Alpha and had more duties to attend to than just his family. He had tried to send in as much help as he could when Caleb was younger, but as he got older, more and more fell to him. Now that he was at the academy, it was just the two of them, but it was like Rees didn’t need him looking out for him. Not that he would have any choice in the matter. Caleb was going to do more than keep an eye out for him. Rees was a trusting kid and there was no way that he would let any of these fangers take advantage of that fact. They’d be eating through a straw if they tried to pull any of that shit.

The rest of the guys at the table tried to pull him into conversation time and time again, but Caleb wasn’t ready for that level of bonding just yet. He knew that he seemed stand offish, but he had too much on his mind. He ate quietly and glanced over to see Rees having a good old time, picking up his plate as he followed the guys in his training class out of the dining hall.

“You’ll settle in in no time, if you let yourself.”

He glanced up to look at Aisline. She was something else altogether. The only female warrior in the Lamia history. And she was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever set eyes on. He’d thought that Kayleigh had been supremely gorgeous when he’d first walked into the vamp’s academy, but she had nothing on Aisline. That long dark blonde hair seemed to change colour in different lighting from light to dark, waving around her face and down over her shoulder enticingly, with eyes that expressed every single emotion that she was feeling and a body to die for. She was the kind of girl that you only ever saw in the movies or airbrushed in magazines.

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“You will. It’ll just take some time.”

Caleb went back to finishing off his food silently. He didn’t need pity from any of them. He’d been through worse than this before and he knew that it would take a lot longer than just one morning for him to settle into his new life, no matter how successful that morning had been. These weren’t his people and he wasn’t sure that he would ever come around to their way of thinking, or ever feel one of them. That damned mark meant that he would be bound to protect the Lamia Matris, whether he liked it or not. There was no choice. This was his life, whether he liked it or not.

This was his life now and he had to get used to it.

Life blows.

Chapter Fourteen

Jackson woke up with a blinding headache. Denver had been constantly been chewing his ear off with continuous complaints. It was back-breaking work but Jackson knew that there was little point in complaining about it. Kelton wouldn’t let them walk away from this and every time Denver opened up his whining mouth, Master Warrior Dixon piled even more pressure on them.

It wasn’t actually half as bad as Denver was making out. It was hard work, but rewarding. Plus, at least now they had some help with the construction in the form of some of the other trainees and warriors. It was incredible how fast it was getting put together and it was easy to see now that it was taking shape that it was going to be awesome when it was finished and a real challenge for the trainees. It was good to feel that they were part of something so productive.

He’d slept like the dead over the last few nights. Even Trey talking to him couldn’t keep his eyes open a second longer, no matter how bad he felt about it. Jackson had tried hard to listen, honestly he did, but exhaustion had taken him over time and time again. He’d heard Trey saying something about new recruits, but he didn’t have a clue what was going on and he couldn’t stay awake long enough to find out.

It was odd being out of the loop with the other guys. Boys could be as bad for the gossip as the girls that he’d grown up with and it was weird not to know what was going on out there. Jackson had hardly any contact with anyone who wasn’t working on the construction of the agility course, even down to not talking to his family as much as usual. There just wasn’t time for it. Plus, his mother and sisters just got concerned by how tired he sounded, so Jackson wanted to wait until things were back to normal to talk to them so as not to worry them.

Jackson wasn’t going to find anything out today, either. His bones ached nearly as bad as his head, which was saying something, but he still had to get back out in the cold and get on with it.

He couldn’t wait to get back to normal training. It would almost feel like relaxing compared to the work he was currently doing. But, the main problem right now was that he had slept in. Trey was nowhere in sight, probably already gone down to breakfast. Jackson wasn’t going to have time for that now and he wasn’t relishing working on an empty stomach. He’d have to haul ass and get outside before Kelton and Dixon noticed that he was late. The last thing he needed was another punishment on top of this one.

Throwing on some dirty clothes that he found on the floor at the end of the bed, Jackson bypassed all the normal hygiene niceties and ran out of the room, bounding down the stairs and out into the frigid night air.

Aisline put her head down and moved through the quiet stacks of books to sit at the back of the library. Or at least the room that was going to be the library when they finally got everything unpacked and put on the shelves. This place was taking forever to sort out, but at least it was liveable now.

The room was quiet. That wasn’t surprising. The library at the old place had never been well used, except when they were forced to as part of their studies. Not Aisline, though. She loved it in there and knew that this room would be even better when it was done. There was something about being surrounded by all those books that was soothing to her. There was endless knowledge wrapped up in fine leather, stories that took you to another time and place. There was everything you could ever need to feed your imagination.

Ash was quite old school like that. If she had a choice between a paperback and reading something digitally, she’d go for the physical copy every time. Not that she didn’t appreciate the technological advancements, but there was nothing like the smell of a new book, the feel of the paper coming alive in your hands.

She opened up her laptop as soon as she sat down at the empty table. The trainees may not have been allowed to have their own phones, but laptops and tablets were there to be used for their work and research. Apparently, the academy didn’t want them distracted from their duties by social media sites and meaningless text messages that seemed to go off every two seconds, interrupting their studies.  That didn’t stop them from checking out their Facebook and Twitter accounts whenever they were supposed to be researching on the internet. There was no way they were going to waste that opportunity when it arose. They were normal teenagers in every other way.

Slapping a hand over her mouth, Ash tried to stifle the bark of laughter that attempted to escape as soon as she logged in. The first thing she saw was a message from Lana, demanding pictures of the cute new shifter recruits. That was typical Lana. Ash had sent her a really quick message with the news the day before and rather than wanting to know anything else about them, all she wanted to know was on a scale of one to ten, how hot they were. That girl was always looking for a suitable husband and she was clearly broadening her horizon to cover shifters now.

Lana gave Aisline a connection to the world she used to live in. It was a little slice of reality and normality in this crazy world she’d been thrown into. Not that she didn’t love her new life, she did. It was just good to remember that there was something else in her life before this and that she still had it.

When Aisline had first received the mark of the warrior, her family had shipped her off to the Sons of Satrina combat training academy without another thought, banishing her from their lives. They’d effectively washed their hands of the embarrassing problem of having a warrior for a daughter, disowning her at the time when she needed them all the most.

Lana hadn’t been like that at all. It had taken Aisline quite a bit of courage to get the nerve up to call her old best friend as she was unsure of the reaction she’d get from her. If Aisline had been thinking rationally, she should have known that Lana wouldn’t be put off by a little thing like Ash becoming a warrior. All Lana was concerned about was the amount of hot guys that she was going to miss out on seeing.

Aisline would be forever grateful for having Lana in her life. Lana was pretty old school when it came to most things, wanting nothing more than to get married and pop out a football team of kids. She wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps, leading the life of a pampered woman of leisure. But as they say, opposites attract and Ash and Lana made a good team. Where Ash was the adventurous one, Lana kept her feet on the ground. Ash was always looking for something more, but Lana was happy with her lot in life. Plus, she had always been there for her when no one else was. That wasn’t something that Aisline was going to forget in a hurry.

Looking back over the short message, Ash was glad that Lana had refrained from asking her again how things were going with Jackson. Lana may be a bit ditzy on occasion, but she was deeper and smarter than most people gave her credit for. There were certain questions that Aisline wasn’t prepared to answer, and Lana knew that. It was a difficult conversation to get into. And, bless her little heart, Lana was the one that always tried to keep things light and happy, giving Ash a bit of light relief from everything she was going through.

Jackson was a bit of a sore point at the moment, and had been for a while. Hell, she hadn’t even seen him properly to even make an attempt to make things right between them. She thought that now the physical evidence of what had happened to her that night were fading away to nothing now, so hopefully his concern for her would also fade. But, he’d been out completing the punishment set by Kelton and she had barely seen him to say ‘hello’ to, let alone have a proper conversation with. It was infuriating. At this rate, they’d graduate before they even had another heart to heart.

Ash hated how things were with him. If only she could go back in time and stop herself from kissing him, then she would. That was the point that changed everything between them. They had been fine until their feelings had been thrown out into the open. If she could take it all back, she would.

Everyone was trying really hard around her to not talk about what had happened on the night of the field exercise. They were trying to carry on as if things were normal, all the while still treating her as if she were made of fragile glass. It wasn’t working on so many levels, but there wasn’t a whole lot she could do about it until she got back to training and proved that she wasn’t some helpless little girl. Unfortunately, people had long memories, more’s the pity.

“Hey.”

Ash looked up sharply, simultaneously switching screens from Twitter to Google. The last thing she needed was to get busted by a member of staff. Miss Reilly, who was usually in charge of the library, hated these modern notions and went completely bat shit crazy if resources were used for social media purposes as opposed to studying. It was actually quite amusing to see her going into a meltdown over things that everyone else took for granted in the modern world, but Ash just didn’t have the patience for it today.

The library had been deserted when she’d come in here. The rest of the trainees were off in the sparring rooms and it wasn’t like many people took the time to come in here to look up ancient books, especially when the place wasn’t even unpacked. And especially not when the internet was so easily accessible. Why spend hours going through dusty old books when you could find the answer in seconds at the tip of your finger?

Ash wasn’t like that. The library was her second home. If you wanted to speak to her, the first place to look would be the library.

Smiling up at Caleb, she wondered what he was doing in there. He didn’t really seem like a bookish kind of guy.

“You looked kind of lonely sat there all by yourself.” Caleb flashed her a quick, rare smile.

“I just wanted to be somewhere quiet.”

“Oh.” His smile faded. “I’ll leave you in peace then.”

He turned to leave and Ash immediately felt guilty. She hadn’t meant for it to come out as harsh as it had sounded. The poor guy was having a hard time fitting in at the academy and this was the first time that she had seen him voluntarily speak to anyone since he’d got there. He had spent the last few days with his head down, getting on with what he needed to do but staying apart from everyone else. It couldn’t be an easy situation for him, and now she was sending him packing. Ash felt like a royal bitch.

“No, wait. It’s fine. I didn’t mean that you have to leave.”

“I can go. I don’t want to interrupt you if you want to be alone.”

“No. Stay.” Ash smiled broadly, hopefully convincingly. “I’m not really in the mood for all of this anyway.” She waved a hand to indicate the laptop on the desk and the stack of unopened books next to it. “Aren’t you supposed to be training with the others?”

“Warrior Kelton gave me the morning off.”

Aisline raised her eyebrows in surprise. “He did?”

Caleb grinned suddenly, “Well, I’m actually supposed to be getting fitted for hand grips for some weapons, but I figured they could wait.”

“Oh, you’re going to be in so much trouble when he busts you.” Ash laughed.

“He’s not going to find out.” Caleb sounded so sure of himself, which simply made Aisline laugh more.

“Sure he will. Nothing happens around here without Kelton finding out about it.”

Caleb shrugged and put his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “I don’t really give a shit if he does. What’s he going to do about it? Nothing that could be any worse than all this, anyway.”

Aisline looked back down at her laptop, unsure what to say.

“What are you doing?” he asked as he edged closer, perching on the edge of the table.

“I’m supposed to be researching unsolved murders in the area. It’s an ongoing thing that we’ve got to do as part of our student studies here.”

“Why? What difference does that make?”

“I think that it’s supposed to get us angry. It’s to show us that there are more than just our own people to protect, more than the Matris that are being hunted down by the Mortuorum. Everyone is affected by their actions. I guess it’s to keep us motivated.”

“Motivated?” Caleb snorted.

“Yeah, motivated. By doing this, it’ll ensure that we want to keep their numbers down so that this kind of stuff doesn’t keep happening. It’s what we do. We’re the ones that will stop all of this madness from happening.”

Caleb didn’t look convinced.

“How are you finding it here?” Ash knew why he was finding the whole thing with the Mortuorum hard to understand. At least she had grown up in this community, hearing stories of the monsters that lurked in the shadows and legendary tales of the Sons of Satrina. She had come into this warrior business later and in much different circumstances than the others, but she still had a head start on it all over Caleb. He was coming into this more or less blind. It was hard to get riled up about an enemy that you knew nothing about.

“Finding what?”

“The academy. You know, life here, living with the rest of the guys. How is it?” she had the feeling that he was being deliberately obtuse.

Caleb didn’t say anything, simply shaking his head. He had stubborn glint in his soulful eyes, but Ash wasn’t going to let him get away with not talking about it. He had clearly come into the library looking for some kind of company and she was going to get his sexy ass talking whether he liked it or not.

“Come on. You’ve got to have some kind opinion on the place and the training.” When Caleb continued looking at her blankly, she said, “Well, how’s your brother finding things here?”