Chapter 229

The woman raises her chin at me and jerks it towards the door, placing her hands solidly on her hips. “Let’s go, kiddo.”

“Excuse me,” Rafe says, his shoulders lowered in aggression as he slowly gets to his feet. “Would you like to explain who the hell you are?”

“Oh,” the woman says, giving a slow and pleased smile as her eyes move to Rafe. “I wasn’t aware that crown princes responded to the moniker ‘kiddo.’” Her smile deepens as Rafe rankles. “But unfortunately, I wasn’t talking to you.”

She moves her eyes back to me as I just…stare at her.

“Up,” she says, her foot lashing out and giving my chair a kick. “Time for your lessons, Clark.”

“But,” I say, fumbling for my schedule. “I’ve got…espionage scheduled? Until chemistry this afternoon?”

“Yah,” she says, her face spreading into a bright grin. “That’s what I’m here for.”

“But –“

“Enough questions,” she sighs, reaching out and wrapping a hand around my upper arm, giving me a tug that pulls me stumbling to my feet. But the moment she touches me the room splits with the sound of four vicious Alpha snarls. The woman goes quite still and just stares around at the table.

I do too, a little shocked to see Rafe, Jesse, Luca, and Jackson on their feet, each of their teeth bared. Ben just stays in his seat, staring around at the group, shocked.

“Well well,” the woman says, breathy and confident even if she remains perfectly still. “Don’t you have your boys trained up well.”

“Hands. Off.” Rafe snaps, moving around the table to glare at the woman.

She releases my arm, holding her hands up where he can see them, laughing a little and shocking me by seeming almost delighted. “Yes sir, big scary Alpha,” she says, looking up at my brother through her lashes. “Although I’m kind of tempted to see what would happen if I didn’t. Seems like you and I could have a great deal of fun.”

“Who the hell are you?” Rafe snarls, ignoring her taunts and looming over her, clearly attempting to use his sheer physical size to scare her. A glance at the table shows that Jackson has his eyes on me, his gripping his chair so hard I’m afraid he’ll snap it. Luca leans hard on his palms, so tense he looks almost ready to leap across the table.

“I’m Faiza,” the woman replies, totally calm, shooting an amused glance my way as she takes a slip of paper out of her pocket.

Rafe makes a snatch for the paper and I gasp as, lightening fast, the woman moves. Honestly, I can’t see her precise actions – I have no idea what she does – but suddenly she’s behind Rafe, kicking out his leg so that he barks in pain as he falls to his knees –

I shout in protest as one hand suddenly fists in his hair, the piece of paper still crumpled in it, and then there’s a knife at his throat –

“Stop!” I shriek, my hands going forward as I stumble desperately for my brother.

The woman ignores me as Rafe goes totally still – his hands poised out in front of him – the knife pressed tight against his Adam’s apple.

The boys at the table lunge forward but I put a hand up towards them with another shriek to stop. They freeze and the woman looks up at me again with a smile.

“Tell your cousin to never, ever try again to snatch a paper from my hand,” she says, slow and pleased. “It’s rude.”

“He can hear you,” I snarl.

She laughs, grinning at me. “I suppose he can.” She looks down at Rafe, turning her head consideringly. “I’m Cadet Clark’s teacher, you overprotective ass. Now are you going to attack me if I let you go?”

“No,” Rafe snarls through his teeth, though I can see that he hates that he’s been bested.

“Good!” the woman says, standing straight and slipping her knife back to wherever she took it from, again moving so fast that I don’t see it. Then she takes a step towards me as Rafe gets to his own feet, holding the paper out to me.

I raise an eyebrow at her. “Am I allowed to take this?”

She smirks. “As long as you don’t get snatchy.” Her voice is light, playful and I admit…I can’t help but be impressed.

I narrow my eyes a little and then take the paper from her. I quickly skim it and see that it is indeed paperwork hiring her for the professional tutoring of one student – Cadet Ari Clark – and signed by Professor Neumann.

“It’s legit,” I say to my brother, turning so that I address the rest of the table too. “It’s his signature and handwriting – I recognize it from his book and all the damning things he writes on my tests and essays.”

Rafe’s shoulders slump a little as he turns back to the woman, as the focus of all five Alphas move towards her. “Fine. I’m coming with you.”

“Oh, no you’re not, you big brute,” the woman says, laughing a little and boldly grabbing me again by the arm – an act that makes everyone at the table flinch in protest. She laughs and tugs me away. “This is a private lesson.”

“But –“ Luca says, stumbling towards us.

“It’s fine!” I call over my shoulder, anxious and a little embarrassed in front of my new professor that I’m so clearly being babysat by my mates, my brother, and my cousin. Jesse, Rafe, and Luca move to follow me, only held back by a vehement shake of my head. Jackson is the only one who stands stoically, though I can see it’s kind of killing him to do so. But he listens to me, giving me a single nod, letting me know that he trusts me and thinks it’s all right.

I’m suddenly filled with a rush of gratitude for him, my sweet vicious mate who has utter faith in me and supports my decisions.

I shoot them all a wave over my shoulder and then turn back to the woman – to Faiza.

And I’m not surprised at all to find her smirking, her eyes already on me even as we move through a room full of people who are kind of staring at us as we go. After all, she just held a knife to the crown prince’s throat. Kind of in public.

“Well guarded, aren’t you?” she says, her voice a satisfied purr.

“You should be careful with them,” I say, hesitant, not knowing how far to push it with this woman. “They are…not kidding when it comes to making sure that I’m safe.”

“A stance which has assuredly made you weak,” she says, dropping my arm immediately as we step out into the darkness of the hall. I pause a little in my steps, surprised by her words, but then I hurry to keep up.

“What? How on earth would that make me weak?” I ask, tossing a hand back towards the door to the hall. “I’ve got four of the most powerful Alphas in the nation ready to tear you to shreds at a single word from me!”

“Which I love for you, by the way,” she says, laughing and giving me another smile as she pushes through a door that leads to a staircase that spirals downwards, towards the smaller gyms like the one where I practiced archery and sharp shooting with the Captain. “But, what happens in a situation like this? When you’re all alone? Because, I mean, I could absolutely kill you right now.”

I pause, going still as a streak of fear runs through me, wondering if…

“Oh, come on,” she says, rolling her eyes and moving swiftly down the steps, making me trot to keep up. “If I was going to do it, it would have happened by now, and you wouldn’t have seen it coming. We’ve got work to do.”

I scowl a little, but I take her point – in the absence of all of my big defenders, I really am vulnerable.

“Is that why Neumann sent you?” I ask, following her a little more eagerly into the hall at the bottom of the stairs. “To teach me how to defend yourself?”

“Neumann sent me,” Faiza says slowly, turning to me as we reach a white door and she pushes it open to reveal a tiny gym with a small man waiting inside, seated on the floor. “To transform you into the spy you’re capable of being. Which,” she steps closer here, peering at me and then raising a hand to pat me fondly on the cheek, “if you can command a pack of Alphas like that, even though you’re barely over five feet and weaker than a kitten? I think is going to be a very interesting spy indeed.”

With a dark little laugh, Faiza slips her hand from my cheek to my back and gives me a small push into the room.