Truths Collide (WolfGirl 2)

Chapter 17: Graduation

Six Months Later

(Scarlet James)

On our last day of the Academy, we receive black envelopes with our mission on it. I sit on my bed and look over at Sarah who's standing by her desk, reading her letter. All of our belongings are packed and ready to be shipped back home once we're on the road. The past six months was a rollercoaster ride. Some days were excruciatingly slow while other days flew by. I haven't heard from Tristan for the last four months.

"So where did they assign you?" I ask, eager to hear her orders.

"Atlanta," she replies, meeting my gaze, "what about you?"

"San Francisco," I answer quietly.

"I guess this is goodbye," she sighs and comes over to sit next to me.

"Not until we get to the cars," I smile at her just as some of our classmates appear at our doorway, which Sarah left open after she got our envelopes.

Ben Larsen, one of the best fighters among us, waves his envelope. We always joked that it doesn't matter how good of a fighter he is if he can't camouflage his red hair. He never found it funny.

"Where you two headed?" he asks, "I got Orlando."

"Atlanta," Sarah says at the same time I say, "San Francisco."

"I got Denver," Kehlani Matthews shrugs. She was the slick one out of all of us. She made moving like a cat seem like a piece of cake. I guess it helps that she's a feline shifter.

"Same," Justine Johnson replies. So I guess this last day for us won't be a last day together for them.

"We should probably head out. Warrior Claws said he wanted us by the cars at ten. It's nine-thirty," Ben reminds us. We all nod and they leave to get their things while Sarah and I get ready to head out.

"You have all my information. Hit me up some time," Sarah tells me as she pulls on her black jacket.

I tie my shoelace and glance up at her, "Of course. If you find yourself in Portland anytime, call me and if I'm in town we can definitely meet up."

"I'm so excited, but nervous to be out there," she admits as she checks her backpack to make sure she has everything.

I do the same. We don't know the team we'll be put with yet, but Warrior Claws said it'll be at least three to four more people. Of course they're already trained Knighthunters. I make sure my two duffle bags are good to go and my backpack has all my necessities, before I follow Sarah out. The rest of our classmates fall in line and we make our way down to the garage entrance. We were told early on that's where the teams take off for missions.

We follow one another and hand in our badges to Nitasha, in exchange for a packet full of information. We're told to drop our bags at the tables with our destination sign and that they'll be loaded onto the cars for us. There are about nine SUVs parked in orderly fashion. There's so much going on, it reminds me of a busy airport. The cars are being loaded while we figure out where we belong.

"Scarlet!" I hear a distant voice call my name.

Sarah glances at me with a questioning look before I turn to see who's calling for me. I grin before running halfway across the area to the fifth SUV where Tristan greets me with open arms.

"Oh my God, what are you doing here?!" I exclaim, not believing that he's really here. I don't even care that I haven't heard from him for four months, I'm just so glad he's here.