Page 68 of Akarnae

Alex shook her head in exasperation, but her lips curved into a smile. Mel really was a lot of fun; it was a shame she and Connor were rarely around.

“Time to go, guys,” Bear said, hustling everyone along.

They parted ways and Alex headed towards the Arena, resigned to waste the next two hours while her classmates beat each other up.

After she took her seat on the sidelines, Alex watched as the five boys stretched and talked amongst themselves. As far as she knew, only two of them had a close friendship outside of class—Declan Stirling, the tank of a guy who had decked her on her first day, and Kaiden James. Both were in the year above Alex, while her other three classmates were older. Sebastian Gibbs and Nick Baxter were in their fifth year, and Brendan Labinsky was a first year apprentice. Despite their age differences, they all got along well, and they were indisputably the best Akarnae had to offer when it came to physical fighting and defence.

Alex still hadnoidea whose sick idea of a joke it had been to stick her in with them.

“Jennings!” Karter bellowed when he entered the Arena.

She turned to face him, surprised he’d even acknowledged her presence. Usually he ignored her completely.

“Sir?”

He glared at her until she hesitantly stood and walked over to him.

“Yes, sir?” she tried again.

“Tell me what you’ve learned since joining this class,” Karter ordered.

Alex gaped at him. Was he serious? Didn’t he remember his orders for her to sit and be silent in every class?

She looked closely at him, trying to guess his intention. His gaze was narrowed, but there was something in his eyes—a challenge. Well, she wasn’t going to back down. She might not have learned anything by her own experience, but she’d spent hours observing the others.

Alex ignored the condescending stares of her classmates and blurted out the first thing that came to mind: “Brendan is arrogant.”

Her eyes widened, but she couldn’t take the words back, so she continued quickly to cover the amused and indignant noises coming from her classmates. “His technique is solid, but he’s overconfident of his own ability and often relies on brute strength which makes his movements sloppy.”

She sneaked a peek at the oldest boy in the group and found him scowling at her. Big surprise. She really didn’t want him killing her in her sleep or anything, so she hurried to say something complimentary. “When he’s not being cocky”—she heard a hiss but continued anyway—“he has a lot going for him. When he doesn’t taunt his opponents and actually focuses on what he’s doing, very little can get past his defences.”

Alex didn’t risk looking at Brendan again, but at least he wasn’t hissing any more. She quickly moved on to her next victim. “Declan is a machine—I’ve learned that first-hand.” She smiled at him tentatively and he surprised her with a friendly wolf-grin back. “His size is intimidating enough to make anyone think twice before attacking him, but if they were stupid enough to take him on, he’s actually got some mad skills up his sleeve.”

She went on to list the rest of her observations about Declan, and then Nick and Sebastian too, until only one classmate remained.

“Kaiden is…” she searched for the best word before settling on, “creative. He’s quick on his feet and he’s a master of improvisation. His actual technique makes fighting seem effortless, but it’s his resourcefulness that makes him such a dangerous weapon. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in this class, it’s that Combat isn’t all about strength and power; it’s about creativity and out-of-the-box thinking. That’s what’ll keep you standing long after your opponent has hit the ground.”

Alex trailed off into silence, which continued to the point where she actually heard a cricket chirping in the background. The lack of noise was so uncomfortable that she made the mistake of looking around, and she immediately became trapped in Kaiden’s curious stare. She’d never been close enough before to notice that he had the most amazing blue eyes. They complimented his dark hair and tanned complexion perfectly. He was one of those naturally gorgeous guys—the kind who were automatically off-limits because they were usually too good to be true.

He raised an eyebrow questioningly and she quickly averted her eyes, embarrassed to have been caught staring back.

“Right,” Karter grunted, finally breaking the awkward silence. “At least you haven’t been twiddling your thumbs and thinking about shoes during my class.”

Alex jerked with shock. That was about as close to a ‘well done’ as she’d ever heard him give anyone.

“But since you’re such anexpert,” he continued, and she cringed at his inflection, “then you’re wasting away on the sidelines, aren’t you?”

It was clearly a statement, not a question.

“You lot, pair up and get started,” he told her classmates, all of whom were still staring at her as if they’d never seen her before. “Jennings, come with me.”

Alex scrambled to keep up with Karter as he led her through an archway in the side of the Arena and into a large, sheltered space.

“Suit up,” Karter commanded, gesturing towards some padded armour hanging on the wall.

Alex did as ordered, and after donning a helmet, protective vest, and knee and elbow guards, she looked and felt ready for some reasonably hard-core rollerblading.

Karter, however, had other ideas.

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