Souls Divided [Souls Series 1]

Chapter 8

Malik cleared his throat from somewhere behind them, entirely too pleased with himself. "For the record — that speech? I'm counting that as the part where you were supposed to lead the training; I think we all needed a bit of a reminder of our blind spots, before they become our weak spots."

Anya turned, eyebrow raised, and laughed. "That's a stretch, are you sure?"

"Is it, though? You got the whole field listening to you and I know for certain that many of us here now know more about beast-less and non-shifter capabilities than they did an hour ago. Educational content has been delivered."

He spread his hands, entirely too satisfied with his own logic. "I formally move that we relocate the rest of this education to the bar. Same lesson, better lighting, considerably more alcohol. And food! Time for lunch."

"That's not how lessons work, Malik," Rohan responded, seemingly trying to rub away a frown on his forehead with his fingers. It wasn’t working.

"It's exactly how lessons work. Ask anyone who's ever actually learned something useful." Malik grinned.

She considered him for a moment, something dry creeping into her own voice to match his. "Careful. One could also think that you are trying to avoid losing again… If we were really doing lessons, I could always also give you a proper one about modern techniques — specifically designed so you don't lose to a girl again next time."

That got a bark of laughter out of him, loud enough that a few heads on the far side of the yard turned. "Oh, I like her," he said, to nobody in particular. "Fine. Drinks first. Humiliation later, on a full stomach."

Freya, closing her logbook at last, didn't even look up. "I'll hold you to that, Anya. Both parts."

“Lead the way,” Anya said to no one in particular. "Oh, and save the bottles," Anya added, already turning toward the barracks. "We're doing shooting exercises after. Let's see how big a handicap I can actually give myself and still win. I aim to take full advantage of our big Alpha buying the drinks."

Malik's grin widened, delighted. "That's either extremely confident or extremely stupid."

"Bit of both, historically." She shrugged, unbothered. "Works out for me more often than it doesn't."

“Definitely confident…” Rohan muttered a bit under his breath and to no one in particular. “The day isn’t over yet and the convoy hasn’t arrived, are you that sure you made the unit already, calling me your Alpha?”

Anya considered him for a moment, unbothered. "Consider it a compliment. You said I had the right to choose too, right? Seems like my lips decided before my head consciously did. Guess you passed the test.” She winked at Rohan. "Also, I'm pretty sure I've beaten you and your Delta both today. If that's not a successful job interview, I don't know what is."

"That's not even remotely how things normally work. This whole day has, in fact, not really been normal." He sighed, but there was no malice in it, just surprise, it seemed.

"No," she agreed cheerfully. "But it is how confidence works, and I find it gets results more often than waiting politely for permission."

Rohan didn't have a response for that, which she decided to count as a win too. He probably acted the same, at times, when it suited him, she guessed.

They started toward the barracks in a loose, uneven cluster, and Anya found herself falling into step beside Freya, who'd finally tucked the logbook away under one arm.

"You didn't say much back there," Anya said, not quite a question.

"Didn't need to." Freya's voice was as even as it had been all day, but there was something warmer underneath it now. "Your speech; you said it better than I would have, which made an impact. And for the rest, I already knew most of it."

"Right. Your research. I would not expect anything less from a good Beta." Anya glanced sideways at her. "You knew about the beast-less thing before I ever got here, didn't you. Actually knew, not just guessed."

"I read files properly. It's the entire point of my job." A beat, dry. "Rohan reads the highlights and assumes he's read the file. I've stopped correcting him about it. Mostly."

"Mostly?"

"He's better than he used to be." Something almost fond crossed Freya's face, gone quickly. "Give him a few more days. You rattled something loose in him today that's been stuck for a while."

Anya didn't quite know what to do with that, so she filed it away instead, the way she'd been filing away most of the day's stranger observations.

"For what it's worth," Freya added, glancing at her properly now, "I don't think you were wrong about the eight people on this field, either. I counted the same number. Wonder if we are counting the same ones."

That earned her a real, surprised laugh from Anya. "Now that," she said, "I'd like to compare notes on, there are some pretty interesting ones out there. Perhaps over those drinks."

"Maybe." Freya's mouth curved, just slightly. "But like you, I respect people's privacy. Don't much care for gossip, even the well-meant kind."