After a pause, Alex squeezed my hand and released it. His voice as he addressed the team was steady. “Look, guys, we’re coming up to crunch time on the Council – if they’re sticking to the same plan they’re only going to be here a few weeks. So we don’t have time for this. Seb’s here – that’s it. Either you trust my judgement on this one, or you don’t. You decide.”

“We trust you,” said Kara quietly. “Don’t we, everyone?”

Mumbled yeses, nods. Sam’s face was stormy, but he didn’t say anything. Trish glanced at him, her gentle eyes anxious.

“Sam?” said Alex, watching him too.

The Texan let out a long breath. “Yeah, okay,” he muttered, pushing his blond hair back.

“Good.” To my surprise, Alex stretched across me, offering his hand to Seb. “There, they’ve accepted you. Lucky you.”

Seb’s smile was wry as he reached across me too. “Yes, I’m very honoured.”

And as he shook Alex’s hand, I knew two things. One, the team still wasn’t happy about this, despite their trust of Alex. And two, somewhere deep down where I didn’t want to think about it...was the terrible feeling that being caught between these two boys might be my fate for a long time to come.

Chapter Fourteen

THE EXRCISE ROOM WAS SMALL – just a corner of the basement really, with a couple of treadmills, a weight machine and some dumb-bells. It smelled of must and sweat. When some of the guys got going on the treadmills – Alex and Sam, especially – the sweat would be literally flying. I saw Seb glance at the floor; it was cement, and not all that clean, I guess. It was also the only place where we could sit. “We could go to my room,” he suggested.

Seb’s “room” was tiny; it would be both of us on his camp bed. The thought was way too intimate, especially after the aura-mingling of the night before. I felt my cheeks warm.

“No, in here is better,” I said. “We’ve got more space. Wait, though.” I ran up the stairs, grabbed the cushions from the sofa in the TV room and carried them back down.

“Here,” I said as we spread them out. “This’ll be fine.”

Above us, I could hear target practice going on with a vengeance. Kara was at the cathedral like she and Alex had discussed, seeing what she could find out. And meanwhile, everyone was comforting themselves by getting as good with their weapons as they possibly could.