Page 118 of Vicious Luna
Madd flicks his head toward Cam. “Hunter boy just hacked into that new dark web message board we found yesterday and took the whole thing down.”
“Hey,” Cam growls, cutting my brother a glare. “Thought I told you to stop calling me that.”
Madd just shrugs, eyes glinting with amusement and the corner of his mouth lifting.
Yeah, they’re totally becoming besties.
“Already?” I ask, sliding my wide-eyed gaze to the man in question.
Cam grins proudly as he pushes up from his chair. “Told you I was good at this stuff, babe. When are you gonna start believing me?”
“You know I believe in you,” I scoff, rolling my eyes. “You’re a man of many talents.”
“Damn right I am,” he drawls, beckoning me closer with a flick of his head. “Get over here, I’ll show you a few of them.”
Madd grimaces, shaking his head. “And on that note, I’m out,” he grumbles.
“Actually, we’d all better get going,” I say. “The buses just pulled in; we need to get down to the practice field.”
“Shit,” Madd hisses.
I swing my gaze on him, arching a brow. “Don’t tell me you forgot that training camp is starting today.”
He heaves a sigh that says he totally did, shouldering past me and stalking toward the door.
After putting plans for summer training camp on pause to deal with the hunter situation, we’re finally reinstating it. Though I’m not sure we can still call itsummertraining camp now that fall’s right around the corner. The new recruits are rolling in, bright-eyed and eager to fight for a spot on the security squad, and us squad leaders will be rotating in to train them for the next six weeks. My cousin River is among the new recruits, and she’s absolutely thrilled that we’re getting the program up and running again.
“You ready to go down?” I ask Cam, tilting my head and crooking a finger.
He licks his lips as he prowls toward me, gaze dropping to the apex of my thighs.
“Oh my god, that’s not what I meant!” I laugh, giving him a playful shove when he draws closer.
Cam stumbles back a step before lunging forward,scooping an arm around my waist and yanking me in. “Later?” he asks, sparks igniting between our lips as they brush.
“Later,” I promise, smacking a kiss on his mouth and wriggling out of his grip. He catches my hand before I can pull away, lacing his fingers through mine. “Where’s Matty at today?” I ask absently as the two of us start for the door.
“Don’t know,” Cam replies. “He was here earlier, but then he got a call from Blair and took off.”
“Poor guy doesn’t stand a chance against that girl,” I snicker, glancing toward their desks. It’s unusual to see them vacant- Matty and Blair have been putting in countless hours working IT for the new division. It’s nice to have a team that’s so dedicated, but they should really take breaks once in a while.
“So this is just like a meet and greet type thing, no actual training today?” Cam asks as the two of us exit the command center and start down the hall.
“Pretty much,” I chirp, swinging our joined hands between us. “Madd’ll probably torture them a little by having them run laps or something, but the real training doesn’t start until tomorrow.”
Even though Cam isn’t officially a squad leader, Madd invited him to help out with training up the new recruits, saying he wanted more hands on deck to lighten his load with the squad so he can devote more time to his Alpha duties with our pack. He’s never had trouble balancing both roles before, but far be it for me to call out the big ol’ softie. He knows as well as I do that training the new recruits is a perfect fit for Cam, given his experience with The Guild. It’s a way for him to maintain some connection to his old life while moving forward with his new one.
“My parents are probably here, too,” I add as we navigate through the halls. “The old guard of squad leadership always comes out for the first day of training camp.”
“Cool,” he replies.
We take the stairs down to the first floor, then push through the large set of double doors to exit the squad complex, walking out onto the practice field to find the last of the new recruits disembarking from the busses that brought them in from the six-pack’s territories. The whole field is a flurry of activity, some of the kids still hauling their luggage over to the side of the building while others huddle up in groups, chatting amongst themselves. I throw up a wave to my parents as I spot them in the far corner, circled up with their friends and watching the action unfold. My Uncle Theo is glaring across the field, and I only need to follow his line of sight to find my cousin River.
She’s chatting with a couple of friends, but as soon as she looks up to see me and Cam striding across the field, she comes jogging over to us with a bright smile.
“I can’t believe this is actually happening,” she squeals, practically bursting at the seams with excitement.
“From the look on your dad’s face, he can’t either,” I joke, slowing to a stop and folding my arms across my chest.