Page 90 of Phoenix Burn

“They’ll have their sticks,” Sebastian stated, his voice once again indifferent and cold. “It be an opportunity for Anna to develop her power. She requires the practice.”

Suddenly, I wanted to strangle him. To do something to break through to the human inside that cold exterior.

But we all followed when he headed briskly up the path. It climbed now, and the forest moved back in on us. In moments, we passed the gateway and took the last bit of the loop back to the field behind the academy.

I realized that we’d completed our first exercise as a true team. I should be flushed with accomplishment. So why did a part of me insist something was missing?

I tried not to think of a certain Dragon who may also be a child thief.

“If we’d had the blooody Dragon, we’d have been throough in noo time,” commented Matt.

I shot him a look. My expression told him that? Or did he feel the same way I did?

Sebastian turned to us. If he’d caught the Dragon comment, he gave no sign, merely swept his gaze over us, and said, “Job well done, Team Phoenix.”

And with that, he turned and jogged back the way we’d come.

“Kind of abrupt,” Mari noted.

“Sums that blooke up,” Matt grumbled.

I struggled with my sudden sense of loss, chiding myself for it. He was an asshole most of the time, and our instructor. He had responsibilities far beyond just our team. But I kept getting glimpses of something so much more...

Kitani approached us with a smile, before wrinkling her nose at me. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you stink. Like a bog, I mean.”

Undeterred, or—being a dog, likely encouraged—by my smell, Trix ran to meet me.

“Aunty Anna,” Caty said, reaching chubby human arms up to me.

My heart melted as I picked her up, grateful that their baby Sabre noses didn’t mind the smell of swamp. Alyssa immediately wanted to be held too, and my muscles trembled as I did so. Their solid little bodies were covered in dirt, but their faces beamed at me.

As I bounced them and they squealed, I thought of Talakai. If he’d really been involved in their kidnapping, how could I ever forgive him?

Understanding why someone might do something was not the same as condoning it.

It made me more determined than ever to find out the truth.

* * *

Only two of twelve teams successfully completed the course. A few others worked their way around and through the obstacles, but their shifters openly admitted to cheating by using partials.

I unwrapped my wrist and flexed it. It no longer twinged, even when I rotated it. Healed, now that I no longer needed it.

Matt found himself the center of Dire attention as they questioned him as to how our team had done it. Mari, Trix, and I sat on the back steps of the academy and watched him gesture excitedly as he described each move.

“What are we, chopped liver?” I groused.

Mari contemplated that for a few moments before inquiring. “Why are you comparing us to a sliced organ meat?”

My lips twitched. “It was just a comment on our lack of popularity.”

Her gaze swiveled back to Matt, who was now invisible amid the other Dires. “Well, they are likely more comfortable talking to one of their own kind.”

I regarded her more closely. “Do you miss being with your own people?”

By the look on her face, I’d hit a nerve.

“You don’t have to answer that,” I was quick to add.

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