Chapter 283
I looked around and saw Dax hanging out in the back of a group of boys, behind Antonio and another guy named Kip. Maybe he thought he could just blend in, but Aurora hadn’t even finished with her greeting when she said, “Oh, yeah, and some of you may have noticed we have a new member.” Her smile was friendly, but when I looked at him, I could tell he was intimidated. He ran his hand across his cheek and then down his chin, like he was searching for something that wasn’t there. “You guys, this is Dax. He’s a Guardian. Please welcome him, help him out, and don’t be a bunch of punks. It’s hard melting into a group that’s already established.”
Everyone smiled in his direction, and I’m pretty sure I saw Addy actually lick her lips. Poor Dax. He was the best looking guy here since Brandon… wasn’t. He was going to have even more attention because of that than the fact that he was new.
Aurora sent us off to some stations to warm up, and I was glad Tara was with me. “Man, that guy’s kinda cute,” she mumbled, and I couldn’t help but genuinely smile at her. It was the first time my face had done that in a while, and I was glad it remembered how. She blushed a little bit, and we got to work stretching.
Aurora wasn’t particularly kind to us. She worked us out like she wanted to pack what she usually does in two or three hours into one. By the time she sent us off to the shooting range, I was dripping sweat and guzzling water, but it felt good. I was glad for the distraction, glad to have my thoughts somewhere other than Mina and Bonnie. And Brandon.
Shane had a cocky smirk on his face, and I could tell from the very start this was going to be rough. There was nothing difficult about the shooting range or the simulator. I mastered both of them long ago, but Shane was in a foul mood, which meant he’d be yelling at everyone the entire time. I imagined it had to do with the fact that there was an important meeting going on right now, and he wasn’t invited, whereas Aurora was on her way over right now to congregate with the bosses.
Addy ended up being his first victim when she accidentally pointed her gun at Guardian for a half second. It was something Shane normally would’ve overlooked, but he laid into her so hard, she almost started crying. Part of me wanted to laugh because she is usually so rude to me, but I didn’t think it was funny that night. I was starting to get a little perturbed at Coach Talberson myself, and when I made one slightly off center shot, he said, “Findley!” and I turned and looked at him, my eyes narrow. It was enough to shut him up. I’m sure I don’t intimidate him in the least, but I know he is afraid of Aaron. My sister maybe not so much, but he’s terrified his boss is going to split him and Meagan up, and since there are lots of reasons to do that already, he tries to keep the big man on his side. It doesn’t hurt that I have connections….
After we’d all run through the simulator, we went to put our weapons away. I saw Dax hanging back a bit and went over to show him exactly how to make sure it was put away correctly so that Shane didn’t yell at him. I didn’t even say anything, but I could tell he was appreciative. This had probably been the longest two hours of his life. He had no idea what he was in for during a regular three or four hour workout.
“All right, get in a line,” Shane shouted at us, and I walked over to where Tara was standing, Dax next to me. “We’ve got about five minutes, and we need to go over a few more things before we’re done for the night.” He had his arms crossed, blocking the exit like he thought we might stampede and attempt to escape. I tried not to roll my eyes as he took that stance that said he was the boss, and we were all peons.
At least Shane had taken it easy on Dax. The new guy was the only one as everyone else had been yelled at more times than I could count. Except for me, of course. I noticed Dax hunting around on his face again and thought perhaps he had yet to realize Transformation serum clears up acne like you wouldn’t believe. He had done really well tonight, and I wondered if there was a chance we could keep him and get rid of one of the other male Guardians I couldn’t stand. A couple came to mind.
Shane was talking about weapon safety like none of us had ever heard it before. None of the weapons we used were live—which meant we couldn’t actually kill each other in the simulator no matter how clumsy or careless we were. Still, Shane liked to hear the sound of his own voice, so he went on for far too long, past our hour cut-off.
Then he changed the subject and started talking about killing Vampires. Perhaps he was energized from our hunt the night before, but the more he said words like, “decapitate the dirty bloodsuckers,” and “slice right through their worthless necks,” the more upset I became. I had struggled a little in the simulator earlier; killing Vampires just didn’t seem like the right thing to do at the moment, and hearing him drone on made me think of Bonnie. What if she were the filthy villain he was beheading?
Thinking about Bonnie got me emotional, and before I realized what was happening, my eyes were starting to mist up. I didn’t want Shane to see me that way, so I put my hand over my eyes, trying to think about something else, like maybe ripping Shane’s head off. I wondered if I was Hunter enough to do it….
“Are you okay?” Dax’s hand was on my shoulder, and when I looked up, I could see I hadn’t hidden my emotions from him. I didn’t know what to say, and since we weren’t supposed to be talking, I just nodded. I was back to myself now, or so I thought. Shane’s voice was no longer filling my ears with unimportant information, and when I looked back at him, he was staring directly at me, his eyes narrow, like he was about to call us out.
It happened before I realized what I was doing, but the next thing I knew, I was hissing at him. Not some little sound like one might make at a soccer game if they disagree with the refs’ call but an actual hiss, like a cat. My tongue immediately went to my teeth, and I realized my fangs had dropped. Not only did Shane look at me like he couldn’t believe his eyes, Dax withdrew his hand and took at least two steps back.
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