The Brotherhood

10

It had been two and half months of training with Kane and Finley had begun to feel slightly invincible. She'd gotten so strong that she could lift twice as much as Miles could and ten pounds more than Sloan was able to. She was so good at sparring now that she could beat Xander in the ring, which she'd done approximately four times already. Not that she was keeping count or anything. 

Finley had forgotten about her brief insanity the day that she'd seen Kane take off his shirt and she'd practically drooled all over him. She'd also blocked out the memory of his wet, shining, naked body glistening in the candlelight of the bathing chamber. She hardly ever thought about the way that the water droplets had rolled over the dips and curves of his abdominal muscles. She rarely remembered the way his arms had looked as they flexed against the lip of the pool. She certainly never fantasized about what it would've felt like to run her hands through his damp black locks, pushing the water out of the silken strands. And she had definitely forgotten the way that her stomach had flipped when he'd studied her with those dark, dark eyes like he was completely and utterly mesmerized by her. Finley was completely over the entire ordeal. 

They were gathered once again in the courtyard for their daily morning announcements. Finley had been on time this morning, but that hadn't stopped her from bouncing on her toes since they'd arrived. Xander kept shooting her pointed looks that she completely ignored. Every time they were gathered together all like this all she could think about was leaving as soon as she possibly could. Finley needed movement. She needed to be free, able to move around. Here, she was trapped standing next to Xander who was always grouchy in the mornings. 

The Supreme walked up onto the platform, Coyle by his side. Finley had always liked Coyle. She thought that he was a rather professional looking dog. He was definitely much more professional than Titan who kept growling at anyone who came near him. Titan wasn't much of a morning person either. 

The Supreme cleared his throat and began speaking. Finley went about her usual morning routine of ignoring every single word that he said. 

She bobbed up and down on her feet, once twice, three times before she realized that everyone was staring at their pack. Literally every single eye in the courtyard was pointed toward them. She looked around for some sort of clue that might tell her why everyone was staring at them. Finley looked over to Xander to ask him what was going on, but he wasn't looking at her. Instead, he was gaping, his mouth hanging open, at Kane. Finley whipped her head toward Kane to see if he'd said something he shouldn't have or if maybe his pants were down or something, but everything seemed normal. 

Then she started to hear the whispers as they swirled around her. 

Kane is going to be the next Supreme. 

I can't believe that the Mother chose him. He'll ruin us. 

What was the Mother thinking?

  Him? Really? 

This is exactly what we didn't need, another boost to his ego. 

Watch, the next thing that'll happen is Finley getting his second position. 

Finley barely heard any of them. She just kept staring at Kane. She could tell from the tight set of his jaw that he wasn't happy. In fact, he looked like he was about ten seconds away from spontaneously combusting with fury. Every muscle in his body looked like it was locked tight. Baela didn't look much better off, her tail draped behind her and no longer swishing happily. 

The entire pack seemed tense. Xander had snapped his mouth shut and seemed to be aggressively grinding his teeth together. Warren was shifting back and forth on his feet and Raynar's hands were clenched tightly into fists. Sloan's eyes were wide open and his eyebrows were almost touching his sky high hairline. Miles was wringing his hands like if he just had a moment to think, maybe he could figure out a way to get out of this. Finley didn't know what to think. She was also sure that she didn't look any better than the others did.