WUNDERHEIN ACADEMY: BOOK 1- AWAKENING

Chapter 25

"Maybe even kiss ya better." Dmitri suggested with a slight leer before changing the pitch in his voice. "Oh Lexie, ya hurt ya arm, let me make it all better for ya."

"Please don't impersonate her. It sounds creepy." Aleksei began rubbing his wrists trying to loosen the joints. "Besides it's not like she volunteered to nurse me after the first five fights."

"Cause we never told her." Dmitri turned serious. "And she don't know about the ones I was in. I'm telling ya if she did she would be a sympathy gold-mine. The nurses lap up this chivalry rubbish." The Shark added with a grin. "When I end up there to be patched up after a fight, they all wanna help me."

"I'll take your word for it. It's still not Kitten's problem. She doesn't need to know about the fights. We agreed." Aleksei cricked his neck as he continued walking. "When did you learn the word 'chivalry' by the way? It's not something that normally comes up in that stuff you read."

It hardly even came up in the things Aleksei read. The only place he had ever come across that word was in the dictionary he found two weeks ago in the library. The school didn't issue you with one to work with so it had been strange coming across a book about words only. Aleksei had been busy going through it bit by bit each day, fascinated with the new words in there. Dmitri probably spotted the word over his shoulder while they were doing homework.

"Meh, think I heard it in a movie or something." Dmitri shrugged. "Still works."

"Apparently it does." Aleksei halted and took a deep breath before surveying the spot around him. It was the usual type of spot for a quick fight. Secluded, empty and small.

Aleksei checked the time on his watch before handing the item over to Dmitri.

"My favourite part, watching you undress." Dmitri sniggered as Aleksei began to unbutton his shirt.

"Only your favorite because you can hear your bets rolling in." Aleksei replied. "What do you have anyway?"

"Ya win this, we got drinking money."

"We always have drinking money." Aleksei snorted.

"Fine." Dmitri sighed, scratching his chest before starting. "Money, a couple of weapons, offer to swap out on a room on the third floor, a free night at 'The Nest', tickets to a midnight hunt, a pair of Pretty Boys that I refused, a spare uniform for Ivan, chocolate for the kids, a bottle vodka ..."

"You managed to get tickets to a midnight hunt?" Aleksei halted part-way to un-doing his shirt and looked at Dmitri in confusion. "We can't get those even with my next rank. Only Ivan can get those and that's if he's with another team. We drag his rank down."

"I know a guy." Dmitri touched the side of his nose. "He was happy to throw them in the betting pool just to see ya beaten up. They all were."

"No pressure huh." Aleksei's eyes narrowed. "To think I was just worried about keeping Kitten with us.

"Nope." Dmitri shook his head. "No pressure at all."

"What did we throw in?"

"Bottle Vodka, two pens and a bar of soap."

Aleksei winced. "I wished you wouldn't use the stationary and toiletries."

"Had to. One of the guys was desperate for the stuff." Dmitri grinned. "He had the uniform I wanted."

A bell rang in the distance, catching Aleksei's attention.

"My fight should be starting." Aleksei frowned, his hand falling from his shirt. "Where is my opponent?"