Until more females joined the squad, Ava wouldn’t have a partner for assignments. In the meantime, she stayed with Salem and the vampire he was paired with. She didn’t need their protection, though; not with her awesome gift of muscle memory. Ava could literally memorise and replicate any combat move she saw. The gift not only made her faster and stronger than other Sventés, but it gave her better reflexes. Anyone who underestimated little Ava quickly regretted it.

As always, tonight’s training was gruelling and brutal. We were split into two teams: an offensive one, and a defensive one. Paige and I were part of the latter. Sam created a huge mound of Earth with her gift and then ordered the defensive team to defend it from the offensive team.

After a quick lunch break, we were back in the arena for another session. Jared assigned us physical exercises that kept up our stamina and endurance. I threw every ounce of my energy into it and worked myself hard because, yeah, I wanted to forget that I’d just seen myself injured and facing a dragon.

By the time it was done, I was ready to drop—which was no doubt a lot to do with the temporary exhaustion thing, courtesy of Marla’s crony. I went straight to my apartment, intending to hit my bed early. That plan was foiled when Paige turned up with vodka-flavoured NSTs.

“Don’t think I’m not mad that your fat ass teleported out of the arena without me earlier,” said Paige, barging inside.

I shut the door, faking offense. “My ass is not fat.”

“Well it ain’t fucking skinny.”

I laughed. “At least it isn’t bony.”

She cast me a mock glare, relaxing on my rug. She liked to sit on the floor. “I’ve been told my ass is cute, thank you very much.”

I sat opposite her, lotus style. “Yeah? By who?”

“So, can I just say that Marco is a total asshole?”

“I’m with you so far.”

“I don’t like the idea of you being in the same building as him.”

She probably wanted to lock me away somewhere to stop me from going. “Wouldn’t you rather that I had back-up with me when Marco and I see each other again for the first time?”

She sniffed. “I guess.”

Wanting to change the subject, I said, “You looked confused after you had your vision.”

“I didn’t understand it at all.” She took a swig of her drink. “And I don’t have even an inkling of when it will happen.”

“Do you regret having your vision?”

“Part of me does.” Paige sipped more of her NST. “I mean, how can I treat it as a warning if I don’t fully understand what I saw? Maybe there’ll come a time when I do, and then it will help me know what to do. Or, at least, that’s what I’m hoping.”

We talked a little about inconsequential things. When I yawned for like the tenth time, she barked, “Ha, it serves you right for overworking yourself.”

I tossed her a ‘whatever’ look, not interested in a lecture.

As I walked her to the door, she gave me a hug. “Get a good day’s sleep, okay?”

“Okay.” I opened the door…and found Butch standing there, hand ready to knock.

(Butch)

Paige perched her hands on her hips and lifted her chin. “I distinctly remember us having a conversation in which I made it perfectly clear that Imani wasn’t going to be a booty call for you anymore.”

Imani squinted at her friend. “You did?”

Yes, and I’d wondered if Imani knew about it. Apparently not. It was a one-sided conversation. I’d just stared at Paige, waiting impatiently for her to stop ranting about me ‘using’ Imani. At that point, Imani had already made it clear that she was done with casual sex.

“And yet, you’re here,” added Paige.

I nodded. “This is true.”

“Well, now you’re going to leave.”

“This is Imani’s apartment, so that’s for her to decide.” I held up my hand when Paige went to speak again. “Stop. I’m not going to talk like she’s not standing right there.”

Paige blinked, looking both surprised and impressed by that comment. She turned to Imani. “Make the right decision, sweetie. You know what that is.” She shot me a narrow-eyed look as she swept past and disappeared down the hallway.

Before Imani had a chance to speak, I pushed my way inside. I liked her apartment. There was something welcoming about it. Maybe it was all the paintings and smart use of colour. Anyone who didn’t know Imani would take one look at the large space and think she was a messy, disorganised person. I’d thought the same at first.

Her coffee table was covered in magazines, drawings, pens, remote controls, and other bits and bobs. Books, DVDs, and CDs were scattered everywhere. There was little order in her kitchen. Her bedroom…well, I wasn’t sure if she made much use of her wardrobe at all because her clothes always seemed to be piled on the armchair next to it.

As I’d come to know Imani, I’d learned that she wasn’t an untidy person with no sense of organisation. It was that she found order in chaos and confusion. She had a system of order; it just differed from that of anyone I knew.

“You’re the second person to barge in here tonight,” she grumbled, unsurprisingly tired after having overexerted herself. We’d get to that soon.

“I’m not good at respecting people’s boundaries.” Especially hers, because I wanted nothing at all between us.

“Yeah, if I hadn’t already known that it would have been perfectly obvious when you barged in. So, why did you?”

“I wanted to see you.” I shrugged. “You were upset. I didn’t like it.” I reached for the object tucked into the back of my jeans. “And I brought you something.” She blinked at the object I held out to her. “Take it. I had Fletcher register it to your Amazon account.”

Accepting the brand new Kindle, she swallowed hard. “You didn’t have to do this. I would’ve bought a new one when I had the chance.”

“Now you don’t have to.”

“That’s really sweet of you.” She held the Kindle against her chest. “Thank you.”

“You going to tell me what things you didn’t say earlier about your nest?”