Page 37 of Creatures of Chaos

The bell rings and I give my lunch a forlorn glance. I never even touched any of it, and my stomach grumbles to show its displeasure. After saying goodbye to Ensley, I drop the tracker in my bag and shove half a peanut butter and jelly in my mouth on the way to the garbage. After I dump the rest of my meal, I look up and catch the back of Becks as he slips out of the courtyard through a side door.

He was here?

My class is in the other direction, but I know the longer I put off talking with my best friend the harder it will be. This isn’t going to be an easy conversation between the two of us, but it’s necessary.

Going against the flow of traffic, I dodge bodies all the way to the other side of the courtyard and slip through the same door I saw Becks take. It dumps me into a stairwell that goes all the way up to the turreted top floor of the academy. It takes me a couple of minutes to scale the winding staircase, but when I reach the landing Becks is there, looking over the quad.

He doesn’t turn when I walk up behind him, but his shoulders tense, letting me know he’s aware I’m here.

“Don’t you have class right now?” Becks asks, his voice weary.

“Don’t you?”

He turns his head when I rest my forearms on the stone ledge beside him. His eyes are a dull green today and there are dark smudges underneath them. He regards me warily, and it makes my heart twist. Becks has never looked at me like this before. He’s guarded, and I don’t know how to fix that.

“How did you know it was me?” I ask, and he shrugs.

“I always know when you’re around,” he says by way of an explanation, and something about that makes me warm.

“So . . .” I say, not sure how to start the conversation.

Becks, picking up on the tone in my voice, tenses up again, and I frown. Becks and I have always been a refuge for each other, but that’s changed. I don’t know if that’s because of Chaos, or because we brushed up against a line this weekend that best friends aren’t supposed to cross.

At a loss for words, I finally settle on, “Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” he says, his eyebrows raising. “Isn’t that what I should be asking you?”

“I’m fine. You saw me after the trial. A few bumps and bruises never slowed me down before. I’m pretty tough.”

Becks frowns and his eyes darken as his gaze sweeps over me, almost as if he’s seeing injuries that aren’t there, but when he reaches my face the green hue brightens and my stomach bottoms out. What happened between us in that cavern wasn’t my imagination. There’s something brewing between us, I know it.

“I’ve been hurt worse in the ring,” I say, my voice soft to soothe his roughness.

“This is different,” he says, and takes a half step closer.

His hand twitches and he fists it, making the muscles in his forearm jump. I can’t help but wonder if he’s stopping himself from reaching for me. I wouldn’t have to stretch more than a foot to place my hand on his chest, but I hold back as well. Even if our years of friendship weren’t deterring us, his arranged mating hangs like an impenetrable barrier in the air between us.

“Why haven’t you told Ensley about the life-mating?” I ask, breaking the spell that’s enthralled us both.

Becks twists away from me to survey the school grounds once again. His jaw clenches as his hands grip the stone ledge, his knuckles white with the amount of pressure he’s exerting. I half expect the weathered rock to crumble beneath his grip.

Conversation between us suddenly feels like a minefield, and I hate it.

“She’s going to find out sooner or later,” I say gently, thinking of how I found out about it in the hallway from another student. It’s actually amazing she hasn’t caught wind of it already.

Becks sighs and hangs his head. “I know, it’s just if she doesn’t know, then it won’t . . .”

“Be real?”

He nods.

“Ensley might be able to help you with your parents. And if not, she can still help look for a loophole.”

Another sigh. “There is no loophole, Lock.”

I refuse to believe that. I’m already working on one, but I’m not about to tell him about my Chaos contingency plan.

“We’ll get you out of this,” I say, my voice filled with conviction, and when Becks looks at me his gaze is a mix of hope and despair that rips a hole in my chest.

---