Page 68 of The Pretty Savage

"But why?" I batted my eyelashes, feigning innocence. "This is what you guys wanted to know. I mean, I could try out all three of you and then you could compare notes?" Dante blanched, while Jax paled and took a step away from a fuming Adrian who kept clenching and unclenching his fists, obviously furious at the way I dismissed what just happened. "It's just sex, cupcake." I laughed, loving the flush on Adrian's cheeks. "I don't mind. Jax and Dante look like the type that would know what to?—"

"Vega," Jax was the one to warn me. "Stop it. No more. We get it and we're sorry for talking about it in the first place. Besides," he took a deep breath, "if I don't have to see that infirmary for at least a couple of days it would be great."

"Duly noted." I nodded. "Don't ever think that just because I'm a girl I'm gonna get embarrassed because I had sex when I wanted it. That chauvinistic shit won't work with me, so don't try it again. And you can stop looking like a bull ready to attack," I said, looking directly at Adrian. "We got what we needed from each other, and that's that. You can save that growly, possessive shit for your fiancée, because I don't want it."

Dante's eyes widened, volleying between Adrian and me, but I was done tiptoeing around because I wanted to hide who I truly was. Alena warned me I should keep my tongue locked behind my teeth and shouldn't step on any toes while here, but fuck that entire plan.

It was obvious they failed to inform me of all the things that were going on at this place, so I wasn't going to follow the instructions set out by people I couldn't really trust.

"Now, are you going to tell me why you're creating an army, or should I just keep guessing?"

Jax's breath hitched, the sound almost too loud even with the wind blowing around us. Adrian narrowed his eyes at me, and Dante looked like he would rather be anywhere else but here.

"I won't be beating around the bush and pretending I didn't at least try cracking the question of why you would hold those meetings at The Pit. I mean, at first…" I chuckled, walking toward one of the graves and sitting down on the hard surface. Forgive me, Father, and all that shit, but the dead wouldn't mind me resting here. "At first I thought this whole 'secret society' thing," I added air quotes, "was just some rich people having nothing better to do but intimidate the younger ones and have some fun while at it. But then I saw all those people that weren't even part of the Academy, and while the masks were a great touch to make people feel like The Brotherhood was some super-secret thing, they were just props, hiding what is truly happening there." None of them jumped to correct me or stop me from talking.

They listened promptly as I kept on babbling all my theories.

"Then the call for offerings came up," I continued, gauging their reactions. "I mean, you called out Yolanda, for fuck's sake." Jax smirked at that. "Had you really done your homework you would've known that Yolanda wouldn't even be able to fight a cat, not to mention someone that was already trained to be a professional killer."

"So you stepped in," Jax added.

"So I stepped in."

"Why?" he asked, obviously trying to understand my reasoning. "You must have known it would be brutal."

"I did." I nodded. "I gotta say, at first it was for selfish reasons, because I wanted to see what was truly happening. But I also didn't want Yolanda to get embarrassed, or even worse—killed." I didn't add that I didn't want to see that light of hers diminished. She was everything I would never be, and while she had demons of her own, she was still as pure as you could get in this fucked-up world of ours. And I would do everything in my power to protect that. "It was obvious, of course, that the people I fought against were the ones attending the Academy. I'm pretty sure if it were one of the others who were already part of your little crew, I wouldn't have been able to fight against so many of them. So…" I stood up, closing the distance between the four of us.

They looked imposing, standing right next to each other, looking down at me as if they had no idea what to make of me. Truth to be told, if they really wanted to, they could kill me right here and right now, but the interest in their eyes told me they weren't going to do that.

If they were really creating an army, then they needed as many people as possible, and I knew I was good at what I did.

"Wanna tell me why three guys with powerful enough families would need to create an army, or should I keep guessing?"

The squawk of an eagle tore through the air, and I looked up to see the pair I noticed earlier hovering above us, playing with the wind as if it wasn't trying to blow them away.

Adrian tilted his head as I looked back at them, studying me as if he was really only now seeing me. They already knew I could fight, but what they didn't know was that I weighed pros and cons in every single situation, and somewhere between my arrival to the Academy until now, I realized that if The Schatten failed in their promises to me, then I would need to turn elsewhere.

There was no way in hell I was going back to that life, and it was glaringly obvious there were things The Schatten failed to tell me, and whether or not that was intentional was left to be seen. But I was no damsel in distress and I took charge of my own destiny.

If that meant having a backup plan of a backup plan, then so be it.

Maybe my mom wouldn't have been proud of all my actions, but she would be proud of me fighting for myself. Working for a crime syndicate was all cool and dandy until that same work threatened your life, and something told me Heinrich wouldn't let me go even after I finished this mission.

"So?" I repeated again, hating the silence slowly enveloping us. The three of them kept glancing at each other, then at me, then back at each other, making me huff in frustration. "Is this one of those situations where you guys can read each other's minds because you've been friends for quite some time, or something else I should know about?" Dante started laughing, bending in half, making me grin as well. The side of Jax's lips pulled up, telling me he found it at least a little bit funny, but Adrian still had that unreadable expression on his face, and I had a feeling he would be the toughest cookie to break.

"I really, really like her," Dante announced, straightening up, still smiling from ear to ear. "Can we keep her?" he asked his friends who just kept staring and staring and fucking staring. It was starting to get really annoying.

"How do you know all this?" Adrian asked, absolutely ignoring Dante's question.

"I'm observant." I answered. "I pay attention to things, to the way people talk, the way they behave. The patterns, you know? I like being in control, one way or another."

Jesus, his stare only became heavier and if I thought that being on the receiving side of that heavy-lidded stare would ever become easy, I was wrong. He looked at me with both desire and a hefty dose of distrust, and I guess I couldn't really blame him.

I wouldn't trust me either, but I wanted in. I wanted more options if I planned on surviving and reaching an old age. And I had a feeling these three actually took care of their people.

We were all monsters, that much I knew, but there were those monsters that cared for those in their close circle and those other monsters that didn't give a flying fuck about anyone but themselves.

I wanted to be in that first group.

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