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He peered intently at her and then chuckled quietly, but she wasn’t sure what was so funny. “You’re different, Alex, you know that?”

Her tone was wry when she replied, “You have no idea.”

He grinned in response and thankfully didn’t ask any more questions.

“What are you in here for?” she asked conversationally, shifting her position and barely hiding a wince. “You don’t look hurt. Or sick.”

“Healthy as a horse,” Kaiden confirmed.

“So…?”

“I came to report to Fletcher that everyone is accounted for,” he said.

“Accounted for?”

“Hunter had all the current SAS students out on patrol to keep an eye on the potential initiates,” Kaiden explained, waving his hand towards the students still left in the Medical Ward. “We weren’t allowed to interfere with the exercise, only to report our observations. He asked me to come and tell Fletcher that everyone is now out of the forest.”

“You’re in SAS?” Alex was curious despite herself. “What’s it like?”

His eyes lit up but all he said was, “It’s something you definitely have to experience for yourself.”

“Vague, much?” Alex said with a teasing grin. Then she asked, “What was the exercise?”

“I can’t tell you that,” he said, with an apologetic shake of his head. “Even your classmates weren’t told beforehand.”

Alex frowned. “How were they supposed to complete the exercise if they didn’t know what they had to do?”

“They were given brief instructions that were meant to be interpreted as clues.”

Alex looked at him. “Exactly how ‘brief’ were those instructions?”

Kaiden held his hands up. “Easy, now. Remember, I’m not Hunter. And besides, I had to do the same thing last year. Or something similar, anyway.”

“Did you end up in the Med Ward afterwards?”

“Broken collarbone,” he admitted, almost proudly. “But it was worth it, since I got a place in the class.”

“You’re insane,” she said. “I honestly don’t understand the appeal.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll figure it out soon enough.”

That wasn’t going to happen, not unless one of her friends made it into the class and regaled her with stories of their stealthy and subterfuge-y adventures. But if they did, then they’d probably be too cool to use words like ‘subterfuge-y’.

Alex chuckled at the thought and then grimaced from pain. This time, she failed to hide her reaction.

Kaiden stiffened and Alex thought she caught a flash of concern in his eyes as he looked her over. “Are you hurt?”

“It’s nothing,” she told him quickly.

“I don’t believe you,” he said, his gaze probing her face. “I told you why I’m here, what’s your reason?”

“Really, it’s nothing,” she repeated, looking away and hoping he would let it drop. “You should give Fletcher your message and go. It’s probably dinner time by now.”

“Hey,” he said, reaching out to gently grasp her shoulder and turn her back to him.

The movement surprised her and she hissed when her torn flesh spasmed painfully.

Kaiden dropped his hand at her reaction, but then his face hardened with determination and, before she could stop him, he leaned around to look behind her.