Page 138 of Stargazer

I didn’t know how she could be so calm, but I was going to try my best to let some of it rub off on me.

So we continued to stroll through the gardens, Kitana putting on a faux British accent as she rambled on about random things, pretending she was the pretentious Lady of the manor.

“These hydrangeas are in severe need of a good watering. Don’t you agree, my darling?”

“I’ll have to get the gardeners to pick some of these flowers for the tea party we’ll have on the lawn later.”

“The horse and carriage will be waiting to take us into town tonight. I do hope you’ll join me.”

“My dear Carter has spent far too much time playing in his herb garden but when he finally deigns to leave that wretched Glass House, I do plan to snog the shit out of him.”

We were a giggling mess as we pranced around arm in arm. And I loved her dearly for it.

But this was the calm before the storm. I could feel it.

Call it my intuition finally kicking in.

Call it common fucking sense.

I just had this devastating feeling.

No more than a few hours later, we were in the Armoury.

The eclipse would begin around 8:30pm and we needed to be well and truly in place before then. Ready to go and on our A-game.

Setting up like this and preparing to venture out with this many Knights around us felt so surreal. Felt like something out of a movie as we all entered the space stacked with weapons upon weapons and suited up.

The team here moved like one solid unit—like one mind. I could tell that the New York compound would probably do the same in a similar situation, but in the time I’d been there, the need hadn’t arrived. Perhaps it was normal for all titled Knights to be this efficient and hardcore.

This was my first real taste of being a Knight in this context. Fear was definitely lingering at the surface, but I swallowed it down. Put on a mask of casual indifference that I’d seen Griffin wear too many times.

There could be no distractions, no room for emotions. Just skill, strategy and intellect so we didn’t get ourselves killed.

Amelia hadn’t texted again since, so we had no idea of the number of wolves we’d be facing. But if they were brave enough attack Aconite Hall, there would have to be a lot of them. If they were sure they could take us.

I mean, this was the headquarters for crying out loud. The Carrington compound wouldn’t be an easy opponent to beat, so the wolves had to be sure they could stand a chance if they were even bothering. Which truly was a terrifying thought.

I grabbed my weapons of choice, sticking to my twin sai, but also holstering a black shotgun to my thigh in case of emergencies.

As I was filling my utility belt with ammo, Griffin slid his hand down my back and then gestured for me and the other New York hunters to follow him to the side of the training room and down the steps into the basement gym.

We trailed after him without a word as he led us through the underground training area.

This room was so similar to our own compound with its concrete walls, darker colour-palette and modern black gym equipment.

The stairs from the training room led to an upper platform of cardio machines before leading deeper down into the main gym. We’d been shown all of this by Louis on our first day here, and had used the gym daily, but Griff led us behind all the equipment to a concealed door that he pushed open with casual ease.

This next room—that we had not seen before—was unlike anything I’d personally witnessed in New York.

Aconite Hall had a whole room full of what I could also describe as armour suitable for Knights.

We were already decked out in our usual black attire. But this was some intense shit before us.

“Welcome to the Wardrobe,” Griffin scoffed. “For larger battles, this is optional for Knights,” he explained, gesturing to the array of various chainmail pieces scattered around the long room. The space seemed to go on forever, the shining metal material gleaming in the dim spotlights. “It’ll keep wolf fangs from penetrating your skin.”

My jaw dropped and I found myself saying, “So we’re like proper Knights.”

Griffin gave me an adoring smile at the expression on my face, but Kitana replied enthusiastically as she ran around from piece to piece, assessing each one.

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