Wunderhein Academy: Book 1- Awakening

“He's so dumb.” Boris commented, in a voice of pure exhaustion. “I don’t know why they don’t leave him out in the valley.”

Kitten halted mixing the items Ivan had given her for the next batch of dough to look at her young friend. Boris was partly banging his head on the kitchen’s industrial counter. For a moment she wondered if she should stop him in case he hurt himself but glancing at Ivan, who was continuing to roll out some dough as if he hadn’t heard the youngster, told her not to worry.

She shook her head slightly before returning to her task, attempting to stir the mixture as vigorously as possible. At least her mama had taught her how to do that.

“Oh, and Pasha lost against the captain again.” Boris bounced up, hitting the table and catching her attention once more. “ It was so bad the Big Gorilla had to step in…”

Ivan nodded, clearly listening to the flood of words spewing from her friend's mouth even though he was paying more attention to finishing off the tray of treats he was busy with.

Kitten blinked for a moment.

“Big Gorilla?” She interrupted. “Who’s he?”

“Huh? You met him.” Boris broke into a huge grin as he pointed to his face. “He’s that kid with the glasses that sits in front of me in maths.”

“You mean that the skinny guy about our Captains’ height with the funny voice.” Kitten’s jaw dropped.

“That’s right.” Boris grinned. “That captain that hangs out with Dmitri sometimes.”

“That’s the Big Gorilla!” Kitten gasped, before glancing at Ivan. She would have expected someone around his size to walk around with that name. Not someone the size of their captain. “But then whose Little Gorilla? I mean he must be tiny.”

Ivan looked up from his task as Boris looked at her in confusion.

“Pasha.” Ivan began. “Did you not know this?”

“What? No way!” She exclaimed, turning from Ivan to Boris and back again, waiting for one of them to say it was a joke. “How’s it possible? Pasha’s huge!”

Boris looked at Ivan and began giggling. Ivan smiled as he leaned over to pat her head, moving slowly so she wouldn’t flinch from him. Ever since her freak out the first time, he had begun doing it like that. She appreciated his consideration.

It also felt funny.

Like now.

She bit her lip and tilted her head slightly, closing her eyes as his giant hands ended up brushing along her head, behind her ears. For a moment she was tempted to ask him to do it again.

“He has a reason for his name.” Ivan’s words wear like a dose of reality, making her open her eyes in disappointment when he returned to his previous task. “Do not worry yourself about it.”

“You guys are keeping secrets from me again.” She pouted before pushing aside her mixing bowl and climbing on the spare seat Boris had brought her earlier.

“Not secrets. This is just un-important.” Ivan replied before Boris could respond.

“Secrets.” She repeated stubbornly, watching Ivan take the bowel she had been busy with earlier to give it one last quick stir before slipping the contents neatly on the baking tray.

“Kitten.” She felt a nudge next to her from Boris. “Your drooling.”

“What? Hey?” She quickly wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “So are you, idiot.”

“Enough.” Ivan placed a cookie in front of them from one of his earlier batches. “Here.”

Kitten picked up the treat and bit into it. It was still warm, almost melting on her tongue. She licked her lips in delight when a quick movement outside the kitchen door caught her eye.

She frowned, leaning forward to try and make out what it was when a bright pair of eyes flashed at her in the darkness.

Familiar looking Medic eyes.

She sighed before stuffing the rest of the cookie in her mouth.

“I’ll be right back.” She slipped to the ground and began walking towards the kitchen door, ignoring her friends' eyes that were on her. “I forgot something.”

“Medic.” She hissed softly once she had taken a few steps outside. “Medic where are you?”

Kitten rolled her eyes before turning around, jumping back as she almost walked into Tom.

“I have a name.” He told her in a teasing tone. “You can say it.”

“You’re a medic. You’re the enemy.” She frowned, raising her hand to push his shoulder. “And you’re bugging me. You should quit it and leave me alone.”

“Am I now?” Without warning, she felt his warm fingers clasp around her wrist.

The action took her by surprise. His fingers had the same padded feeling Aleksei’s hand only softer.

“Let me go.” She gasped, trying to pull back her arm.

“You’re still not wearing the bracelet.” He shook his head as if slightly disappointed.

“I told you, no one owns me.”

“But you are mine, little cat-ling. I just need to look at your face and I can see it.”

“You see what you want to see.”

“Do I?” A slight smile hit his features as he turned her hand around and ran his fingers along the lines of her palm, tickling her. For a moment Kitten wondered if he was going to tell her fortune. She had heard about people like that. Mama had never liked them.

She watched as he ran his fingers down her lines, all the way to the tips of her longest finger. The feeling was ticklish and weird. Kitten peered at her hand but didn’t see anything special about it.

“Do you see anything?” She asked, despite herself.

“Yes.” Tom replied. “A charming Kitty.”

Kitten looked up in puzzlement to ask what he was talking about but lost her words as he raised her hand to kiss the inside of her wrist.

“Don’t.” She protested trying to pull her hand back as she cursed herself silently for falling into the Medics trap.

“I have work to do.” He whispered before letting her hand go. “Be a good girl. Wear the bracelet.”

“No.” Kitten tried straightening but wished she had never left the kitchen. “I don’t have to.”

“Come now Cat, you wouldn’t have slipped out to talk to me if you hated me as much as you say.”

“I came to tell you to quit following me.”

“Did you now?” He seemed to think her words over for a moment. “Tell you what, wear the bracelet and I’ll think about it.”

Kitten swallowed before taking a few steps back, keeping her eye on him. When he didn’t move, she turned around and ran back to the safety of the Kitchen.

She banged the door behind her, wishing she could lock it. She stared at her wrist for a moment where he had kissed her, his words coming back to her.

She was his.

She shook her head and turned around, finding Boris and Ivan watching her. She felt the blood drain from her face.

“Everything okay?” Boris asked with a worried look on his face.

Ivan didn’t comment, although it was obvious he was concerned too.

Of course they would be. She had just run off into the night without a reason. She couldn’t tell them it was to meet a med. That was an excuse enough to be marked insane.

“Perfect.” She lied, giving them the brightest smile she could as she returned to her seat. Her fingers slipped into her pocket and fiddled with the bracelet hidden there. “Just perfect.”