Page 7 of Kennedy

“Please don’t call him. He doesn’t even know what’s going on, so it would be useless anyway.”

“Then you need to tell me before I start freaking out.”

“Welcome to the freaking out club. I just—I got there, and there were all these people, you know, the ones who work with Seymour. Even his teachers were there, and I didn’t expect one of them to be my mate.”

Danny squealed and clapped his hands. “You met your mate?”

“It’s more that I ran away from him before he could realize I was his mate. I think he’s a shifter.”

“Why would you run away from him?” Danny narrowed his eyes. “Is it about your parents again?”

Lewis sighed. “I don’t know. I panicked.”

“Don’t you want him?”

“Yeah, I do.” At the end of the day, Lewis couldn’t say he didn’t want Kennedy. He didn’t know him, but they were mates, and that was important to him. He couldn’t allow his parents to ruin that, but that didn’t mean he was ready to deal with everything that would come with this.

Danny patted Lewis’s shoulder. “Then you know what you have to do.”

Lewis did. He just didn’t know if he was ready to do it.

Chapter Two

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KENNEDY DRAGGED HISfeet as he followed Rhonda down the hallway. “I’m just saying that we didn’t have to do this so early in the morning,” he complained.

Rhonda glanced at him, clearly amused. “I don’t get it. You’re used to getting up early every day during training. How is today any different?”

Kennedy glared out a window as they walked past it. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, dammit. “That’s work.”

“This is work, too.”

“Yeah, but it’s not work I enjoy. I didn’t become a trainer here to have meetings.”

“They’re part of the job.”

“Unfortunately.” It wasn’t like Kennedy had a choice. Besides, this meeting meant that the program was almost over. Once they talked things out and decided who would become a council assassin and who wouldn’t, itwouldbe over. They’d assign jobs to the ones who made the cut, talk to the ones who didn’t, and help those who decided to do something else to get their bearings. It would be odd not to come here every morning and see those faces, but there were already talks about a second batch of trainees, so Kennedy didn’t think he would end up jobless.

His thoughts drifted to Lewis, Seymour’s brother. Kennedy couldn’t see himself working in a flower shop or anything like that, so even if the program was shut down, he supposed he’d continue working for the council. Working in a shop and being in contact with customers all day, every day, sounded like hell to Kennedy, but it clearly was a good fit for Lewis.

Why was Kennedy thinking about Seymour’s brother, anyway? He hadn’t seen the man since the day of the party, and while he was curious, he also knew when to act and when to stay away. It was clear that Lewis wanted nothing to do with him, so he’d resisted the urge to go into town to find the flower shop and had stayed at the facility instead.

He was pretty sure that the people around him had noticed something was off. It was weird because even he didn’t know what that something was, but he’d been getting stares and glances from his friends over the past few days. He could admit he’d been particularly irritable, but he didn’t think it had anything to do with Lewis. He didn’t know the guy.

Yet he couldn’t stop thinking about him, dammit. Kennedy was going to have to do something about it, but for now, it was easier to go with the flow.

He and Rhonda reached the office. The door was open, and they could hear voices inside. After quickly knocking, Rhonda walked in. Kennedy followed her, relieved to see that both Hawthorne and Jamison were already there, sitting at the conference table in Bennett’s office, sipping on coffee and, in Jamison’s case, eating a pastry that was as big as his face.

“How can you stomach that so early in the morning?” Rhonda asked as she wrinkled her nose and sat next to Jamison.

The man’s mouth was full, so he shrugged and offered his pastry to Rhonda, who looked horrified by the suggestion and leaned back. Jamison continued happily munching on the thing, not bothering to offer Kennedy a bite.

Kennedy was almost offended.

“Good morning,” Bennett said from his seat at the head of the table. He had coffee, too, and looked more awake than Kennedy felt.

He knew Bennett pretty well. He, Bennett, and Hawthorne had worked together many times, which was why Kennedy wasn’t surprised when Bennett called to offer him the job. He’d been looking for a change, and working for the council looked and sounded good, especially with this kind of job. He didn’t like paperwork and having to obey orders, and here, he was the one giving orders. He also liked the aspect of molding future council assassins and ensuring they were good people who would do what was asked of them but would be smart enough to question it if there was a need to.

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