The Sons of Satrina: A Sons of Satrina Novel (10 page)

Kayleigh didn’t have an official role within the school and was only here because Bartholomew had granted her the position of being Kelton’s mate.  In any other circumstance, she wouldn’t have been there at all.  In actual fact, she would probably have been dead.  So, apart from stepping in when and where she was needed and floating around helping out the other professors, she was officially unemployed and ready to jump in when it was necessary.

“Well, what can I do for you?”

Kelton paused for a moment, luxuriating in her embrace for he knew that the peace wouldn’t last for long, her breath gently caressing his cheek.   Looking down at her again, his eyes got serious again.

“I need you to help me with a new warrior that’s coming in.”

Kayleigh looked confused for a minute.  That was usually the sort of job for the warriors, and Kelton in particular.  Plus, she didn’t really understand why she was needed.  Seeing as the term had only just started, it made sense just to throw them in with the rest of the new recruits who had only come in just days ago.

“But-”

Kelton held up a hand to cut her off.  The expression on his face had changed and he stepped back away from her arms.  Their moment of closeness was over and it was back to being all about the business.  Back to warrior.  Great.
              “This is a very special situation that you might be able to understand better than anyone else.”

Kayleigh was always willing to help out, but Kelton being all cryptic wasn’t helping anyone.  Plus, she’d hope
d for a moment alone with him. A bit of time to help relieve his anguish and her own tension, but that opportunity was clearly out the window now.  She narrowed her eyes as she looked at him, frustrated.

“Kelton, can you just tell me what is going on here and I will be able to tell you if I am the right person for the job, or not.”

Hearing footsteps a way down the corridor, Kelton gently guided her back into his office and shut the door firmly.  For a moment, Kayleigh hoped that he had done this for a little ‘privacy’ but no such luck.  Whatever he had to say to her wasn’t for other people’s ears just yet.  He was being cautious.

“Leigh,” he shook his head in disbelief, “The new warrior coming in is…. Female.”

Chapter Eleven. 

“A what?”

Kelton could totally understand her surprise.  After all, when he had gotten off of the phone from Mr Kellerman, it had taken him some time to process the idea as well.  This was a whole new thing for him to spring on her and he could totally understand Kayleigh’s response.  They were getting a lot of surprises lately. Some more unpleasant than others.  At least this one could be workable.  He hoped.

“What?  A Female? What-” she spluttered with unconcealed shock.

This all had to stem from the assassination of Bartholomew.  Last time a leader was killed, there had been an influx of warriors.  Fully matured Matris males that were of direct descendants of the leader, were out of the blue marked as warriors.  Most of them had taken up the role and their responsibilities and lived up to them, but some of them fought to return to their old lives.  That just wasn’t possible though.  Once you were marked, you had to train and fulfil your destiny.  The mark was just the start of it.  Once fully trained, the star shaped mark was tattooed on permanently in prominent red ink and stood out for all the world to see for life.  It was a mark of pride.  Respected.  No one could run away and hide from that life.  And this included their surprise that was due to land on them any minute. 

But this was unheard of.
She wasn’t a descendent of their leader. A female warrior?  It wasn’t as if Kelton was sexist or anything like that.  It was just that since the beginning of time the warriors that protected their race had always been male.  They had no facilities here for female fighters here at the academy.  Hell, they didn’t even have anywhere for a female student to sleep. And, if he thought things were confusing before with a school full of hormonal young men….  Kelton shook his head at the thought.

There were so many things for them to think about.  Kelton guessed that she would have to room over in the staff quarters for the time being until they worked out a permanent solution.  But, he would leave those details up to Kayleigh, if she cared to take them on.  Who knew, maybe they would have to construct a female wing before they were done - they had only had one report of the new mark as of yet but no one had any idea where or when it would end.

“Yes, Kayleigh, you heard me right.  A female has been marked with a warrior mark.” there was a pregnant pause.  “A female.”

Kayleigh was quiet and stared down at the flo
or. Too many thoughts running through her mind for her to be able to think straight.  She knew the full history of the Lamia Matris and this was unprecedented.  What the hell were they going to do?

“And you’re perfect for it.  Look, I know that you don’t like to speak of the past, but you’ve overcome worse than this.  You know how to fight through.  You’ve climbed those mountains.  You might be able to help her shed some light as to how to get through this.”

Kayleigh tried to absorb all this, and yes, the hint at her past stabbed her straight in the heart.  But, she could see where he was coming from.  Really, though? How much could she help a female warrior to adjust here?  The only thing that they had in common was that they were female.  After all, she was no warrior.  She didn’t know that life first hand.  She only saw the horrors that Kelton went through on a daily basis.  How much could she help really?

“You really think that I can help?” her voice was so quiet and she sounded so unsure in her own abilities. 

Kelton brushed his thumb gently across her cheek. “Leigh, trust me, I know you.  I know you can help.”  His love for her was evident in his voice.  She was just glad that one of them had faith in her.

How would she train?  Where would she stay?  What would she be like?  How would the other guys take to her?  What if they didn’t get on?  It could make helping the girl adjust all the more difficult.

Kelton could almost hear her brain ticking over time as she thought all the possibilities through, he knew her that well.  Unfortunately, they didn’t have the time for her to think about it at length, this was the time to act.

“Come on, she’ll be here any minute.”

Kayleigh looked up at him in alarm and took a step away from him, yanking her hand away from his in surprise.

“What do you mean?  She’ll be here in a minute?”  Kayleigh clearly looked panicked. “You didn’t tell me she was coming now.”

“Her family is having their driver drop her off here any minute now.” he replied slowly, making sure that she fully understood.  “It’s all a bit of a rush as you can imagine.”

Straightening her spine, she snapped back at him, “Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid.  It was just a bit of a shock that I have no time at all to prepare for this.” and she stormed off in the direction of the reception and away from him.

Kelton jogged to catch up with her, although he had to admit he was enjoying the back view, but this was no time to get side tracked with thoughts of sex. Kayleigh was thinking on the task ahead, as should he.  Her skirt flailed out behind her as she moved swiftly.  The girl sure had some speed when she wanted to, “I’m sorry.” he said.

“Whatever.” was her terse reply.

Kelton could feel a grin threatening to explode on his face at her childish response, but the seriousness of the situation took him over again.  He could really understand her reaction. It was natural.  After all, they had both been dropped in the deep end with this. 

They had no choice.  She was on her way.

They marched on in silence until they reached the front reception area and took a quick look at the security monitors to see if there was anybody about yet.  Security cameras were stationed all over the school, but the ones that they were concentrating on covered the front door and the adjoining car park

There was no one in sight.  The night was clear and cool and still. 

Kelton quickly dismissed the warrior that had been standing on security duty, advising him that he would call him back via the radio when he was needed.  They didn’t need the rumour mill starting up just yet.  This new warrior would be for their eyes only, until she was ready to be introduced to the rest of the rabble.  Kelton wanted to keep the situation under wraps until he was entirely sure of what was happening here.  They had much to discuss and a lot of the decisions would be in the hands of the girl and what she was prepared to do.  A female warrior?  Holy crap.  He needed to see the mark for himself.  This was unprecedented.

They stood in silence.  Kayleigh was busy wracking her brains, trying to think of everything and anything that would be us
eful to tell this new girl. Kelton was thinking about how he could help to keep her from the front line.  A girl fighting the Mortuorum?  He didn’t think so.  He wasn’t being sexist, he was being practical.  Having her out there on the field would put the rest of the warriors in danger. 

“Sorry for snapping at you.”

“Nothing to apologise for, Leigh.”

Suddenly they were interrupted as movement flashed on the screens.  A large Audi S8, the metallic silver body paint glinting under the street lamps, pulled up outside the main front doors, not even bothering to park in the adjacent car park.  Whomever was in that car obviously wasn’t planning on sticking around.

The back door opened up.

A young girl of about seven
teen (her father had supplied the necessary information - but only the very bare essentials) stepped out of the car and walked around the back, opening it up wide and lugging out a couple of heavy, lumpy looking sports bags.  Slamming the boot shut, the car immediately sped away from the curb, wheel spinning in its haste and kicking up dust and pebbles on the road, leaving the young girl standing there all alone.

That said it all.  In gaining the warriors mark, she had lost her family.  There was no way that a family of their social standing willing to stand by their child would have instructed their driver to leave her to fend for herself that way.  Hell, the sort of family that she had come from, it was a total insult and an outright snub that the chauffeur hadn’t gotten out to open the door for her.  Kelton could feel the anger raising in him on her behalf. 

The poor girl just stood there with her bags at her feet, staring up at the ordinary façade of the academy that would become her new home, with a look of pure dread and fear.  Kelton couldn’t blame her in the least.  It was an awful big upheaval for anyone, let alone someone in her unique situation.

He couldn’t help sizing her up, as he did with all the new students.  That long rich chocolate, blonde hair would be a huge problem in combat, at least that wasn’t a problem that they had with the boys.  Each and every one of them got a buzz cut like in the army within a week of their arrival.  Their new recruits would be going for the chop within the next few days, but he wasn’t so sure what he could do with this girl.  It would almost be criminal to cut all that hair off.  Perhaps one of the females would be able to work out a way to tie it up out of the way so that it didn’t interfere with training or combat?

What was he thinking?  He wanted to do all that he could to keep her out of combat so her hair would be the least of their problems, and here he was working out what he could do with her in combat.  Oh well, plenty of time to figure it all out later. That was the least of his worries right now.

S
he was tall, which was always an advantage for a warrior. At least 5’9”.  Which was still a great deal shorter than the average male warrior, but at least she wasn’t some little pip-squeak.

Even in her despondent state, her stance was straight and firm.  Her family was one of aristocracy and her formal training would be an asset to her. 

Damn it, he couldn’t help but check her out as a potential future warrior.  The mark drew her to him, like a moth to a flame.

One other thing that he couldn’t fail to notice was that she was incredibly beautiful.  With long flowing hair, a stunning figure, almond shaped eyes and full lips.  She was stand-out-from-the-crowd beautiful.  This was not something that would help the rest of the warriors with their concentration, he thought ruefully.

But, as Kelton assessed her physical strengths and weaknesses, all Kayleigh could think was what this poor girl must be going through.  Having her life ripped away from her like that. Being thrust into another life that she hadn’t ever asked for or imagined. Losing her family, her old life. Moving head long into a new life that she knew nothing about and probably didn’t even want.

Kayleigh knew all about that.

Now it finally sunk in as to why Kelton thought that she would be able to help this girl. She had a lot of experience in dealing with sudden changes, and overcoming adversity.

Aisline tried to pluck up the courage to ring the bell on the door of the school, but her feet were firmly rooted to the spot on the sidewalk.  She was frozen.

She didn’t have a clue what was waiting for her at all.  She’d never actually personally known any warriors or trainees.  They’d never had one in her fam
ily. This was all new to her and she had no idea what to expect.  Plus, this was the academy.  The Academy.  She didn’t relish the idea of going back into a school type environment. 

This was a whole new world to her and she was flying blind.

For a moment, her mother’s words were tossed around her mind; ‘No longer my daughter’, ‘an abomination.’, ‘How could you do this to me? How could you?’, ‘You are never to darken my door again.’  Blah, blah, blah….

Those were the words that her mother had said to her, word for word.  Every poisonous, venomous word.  And this was from her fragile, quiet, and wouldn’t say boo to a goose mother who never raised her voice.  How could she?  Really? Like s
he’d planned it or she’d had any choice in the matter?  This was totally unheard of and it wasn’t until she had looked in the mirror and had seen the mark on her temple for herself that she had actually started to believe that it could be for real.

Obviously, it had taken her mother a lot less time for her to process it and start freaking out like a mad woman.  She had been ranting and raving, saying that it was Aisline’s own fault for not being more feminine, that she had brought this all on herself.  How on earth could any of that be right?  There was no
female warriors in their history and it was not something she would have thought of for herself in a bazillion years.  How could her mother blame her for any of this?  It was totally unfair.

A
lthough he didn’t blame her outright and say the words, her father was no better.  All he did was get straight on the phone to the Sons of Satrina and pass his problem child on to them, sending her off without another moments thought.   She had thought better of him.  Ash had always had a much easier going and less formal relationship with her father than she had her mother, but clearly, this situation had pushed him further away. 

But, it was her mother who had banished her from the family.  Banished.  Apparently, she didn’t think that they would ever be able to recover from the shame of having a warrior for a daughter.  It wasn’t dignified. She thought that they all would be far better off if she were never to return home.  She was now the official black sheep of the family. 

So, here she was on her own.

Great.

Looking up at the building, Aisline briefly wished for a moment that she had taken a little more notice of their history and what exactly it was that they did.  She didn’t have the first clue about the Sons of Satrina Warriors, or much about what they did, apart from going out and kicking Mortuorum ass.  She was going into this situation totally unprepared.  Really, though, she was just a typical teenager with a busy social life to lead. What was it that she had really wanted to know about the warriors other than if they were hot?  Nothing, that’s what.