Girl Gone Rogue (The Shadow Hunters #2)

36. It's Time To Duel

"You're joking." Tatiana sighed.

"No. I am not joking." Alexei informed his sister as we followed the Pack members gathering on the fields.

"Seems like everyone wants to see." Alexei muttered, taking in the increasing gaggle of people.

Kian and Aella were set to duel against the Bennett twins. Nevertheless, their matches were set to occur at the same time. There were more people ready to observe Aella's fight against Ace, compared to the humble crowd surrounding Kian's section.

"This is my first time seeing a duel play out." Sascha admitted as we approached the reserved areas for the duels. "I don't know what to do. Who should we watch?"

I glanced over the crowd gathered near Aella's side. Tatum and Allison were already there, holding hands as Aella spoke to them. She was dressed in her fighting skins, with her hair tightly braided down her back in a detailed fishtail.

She caught my gaze and instantly made a run for me, startling both Tatum and Allison in the process. "Pen!"

I caught her before she rolled us into the grass.

Before she could speak, I grabbed her cheeks, squishing them. "You're going to kick ass today Aella Spades."

"Of course, I am." She grinned, wide. Aella quickly glanced behind her, hearing the whispers grow. Jude had just made an appearance amongst the group that gathered to observe Aella's fight. There was a quiet but knowing look on his face as he shared a look with his mate before he broke off into the direction of Allison and Tatum.

"Wow, that was intense." Sascha whispered beside me.

Aella's attention swept to Alexei's younger sister, "Hey, I'm Aella."

Sascha gaped, blinking. "H-hello. I'm Sascha. Alexei's sister."

"Nice to meet you." Aella introduced herself. "You have gorgeous hair."

"Oh, thank you." Sascha patted her head, smiling self-consciously. I wanted to grab her cheeks and squish them too since she was just adorable.

"I'm Tatiana." The older Vasiliev woman held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you too. You look like Alexei."

"She gets that a lot." Alexei chuckled when Tatiana couldn't hide her scowl fast enough.

"I didn't realise a lot of people would come today." Aella piped up. I followed her gaze, nodding.

"I think Kian is nervous." Aella whispered. "I saw him earlier. He looked like a mess. I tried to lift his mood, but he can't quite hide away his feelings, or at least, the pretending."

"I'll talk to him." I assured her.

Aella took my hand, glancing at the Vasiliev siblings. She gave them all an apologetic look, "I'm just going to steal away my friend away for a few minutes, is that alright?" She asked.

"Ask Alex." Sascha replied.

"Pen can make her own decisions." Alexei flicked his sister's forehead, "You on the other hand still need to come to me for permission, particularly if it involves this Rayne boy I've heard so much about." He muttered.

"How do you know about Rayne?!" Sascha gasped, horrified.

"Ah, it may have slipped." Tatiana winced, rubbing the length of her elbow.

As the siblings ventured off elsewhere, arguing back and forth, Aella dragged me away until we were a fair distance away from the accumulating crowd.