Central

by Raine Thomas

  She simply looked at James and allowed herself to enjoy the experience of being in his arms.

  They danced for hours. By the end of the evening, as the Lekwuesti circulated with water and a stronger beverage that Gabriel informed them was off-limits, they had participated in dozens of different kinds of dances. Skye had even taken it upon herself to demonstrate what humans called line dancing. It was something the Estilorians enjoyed tremendously.

  James, however, preferred the waltz. He was sure there was no better feeling in the world than holding Olivia so close.

  He was relieved that the guests became more cordial as the event wore on. He, Caleb and Gabriel had all grown extremely concerned during the dinner about the strange behavior of their peers. At one point, Gabriel had even begun conveying plans to them about how to get the sisters away without causing an uproar. But things leveled out and opened up when the dancing began.

  Of all the classes, the Gloresti, Corgloresti and Lekwuesti were the friendliest and most accepting of the sisters. He supposed that was logical seeing that each of the sisters was in some way attached to a Gloresti, had a Corgloresti father and the Lekwuesti were the Estilorian equivalent of hospitality ambassadors. Still, none of them treated the girls poorly. He suspected they all had a multitude of questions, but no one broached them. It would have been rude and unacceptable by the elders. He didn’t even perceive any attempts by Orculesti to access his thoughts.

  Gabriel dictated when it was time to leave. Well, James thought, perhaps it was more accurate to say that Amber dictated it. She fell asleep in her chair.

  They all departed in the early hours of the morning, Amber having been roused enough to walk out on her own. As soon as they were out of the room and away from public view, Gabriel lifted her into his arms so she could go back to sleep.

  “That was so much more fun that I thought it would be!” Skye declared. Her eyes were bright with excitement.

  “It certainly ended better than it started,” Olivia allowed, yawning behind her hand.

  “Now that you’ve all been introduced to the classes, we can start a more normal routine tomorrow,” Gabriel said in a quiet voice out of deference for Amber. “We need to get back to training. Sebastian has an area reserved for us.”

  “Yay,” Skye and Olivia said in the same unenthused tone.

  The males all smiled at them.

  When they reached their rooms, it was to find the same Lekwuesti who had assisted the girls in dressing once again standing outside their doors.

  “I hope you had a nice time tonight,” said the female who had stayed with Olivia until she left for the dinner.

  “We did, Brenna, thank you so much for everything,” Olivia said with a smile.

  James stepped forward and opened the door to Olivia’s room as Gabriel and Caleb did the same on their ends of the hall. He tossed a couple of balls of light into the room and opened his senses. Seeing nothing of concern, he allowed Olivia and Brenna to enter.

  Leaving their adjoining door open enough to hear inside her room and making sure of the same regarding Skye’s door, he sent a mental nudge to Caleb to go ahead and get himself changed. He offered to wait until Caleb was done to keep an eye and ear on the girls. Caleb gratefully accepted.

  The sounds of female voices rose and ebbed from both sides of his bedroom. James simply stood between the rooms, not willing to lie down and possibly grow less than alert. Now that nearly everyone knew where their rooms were, there was no saying that someone might not take it upon themselves to venture over here. Even if they didn’t intend harm to the sisters, it was inappropriate for them to make contact near their personal quarters without an express invitation.

  I’m out, Caleb thought.

  Okay. Going to shower.

  After receiving Caleb’s acknowledgement, James went into the bathroom and disrobed, intensely relieved to be out of the constrictive clothing. Although Olivia had complimented him several times on his attire that evening, he would be perfectly happy if he never had to don such a thing again in all of his existence.

  The shower was hot and welcome. He let the water beat on his shoulders for as long as he dared remain removed from Olivia’s general vicinity. Then he dried off and pulled on the sleep tank and shorts he had brought into the bathroom. After completing the rest of his nighttime regimen, he left the bathroom and sent a mental thanks and good night to Caleb.

  He quietly closed the door to Skye’s room. The silence issuing from both rooms was blissful after the busy day. James grabbed his pillow and blanket and then went to work hauling his mattress off the bed.

  He was tossing his pillow and blanket onto the mattress on Olivia’s floor when she emerged from her bathroom with a freshly scrubbed face and damp hair. Without speaking, she walked up to him and grabbed his hands, quickly positioning him and pulling him into a waltz. Grinning at her happy expression, he indulged her and did a couple of rotations with her around the room. He took her hand and allowed her to twirl away the full extension of her arm before pulling her back in against him.

  It was only when he felt her pressed against him without all of their layers of formal clothing that he realized just what an intimate dance the waltz really was.

  As if coming to a joint decision, they both suddenly stopped dancing. His arms remained around her, holding her close enough that her body heat warmed him through their pajamas. Her hands were on his shoulders. He was held captive by her bewitching gaze. It was all he could do to keep his hands planted where they were rather than caressing her soft skin. As he had when they stood in the olive grove, he sensed they were on the verge of something beyond anything he had ever experienced.

  And he was very, very eager to learn.

  Because she had leaned toward him in the olive grove, he now leaned toward her. She reached up with equal enthusiasm, bringing her lips straight to his.

  He realized almost immediately that he had been waiting for this moment since her brief kiss earlier that day. But he had been wholly unprepared for the more passionate version of this particular human expression.

  He couldn’t explain the power of sensation that flashed over him when their mouths connected. Nothing in his entire existence compared to it. It was as though all of the energy on the Estilorian plane had centered itself in that connection. His entire body was a sudden wash of heady sensation, from his lips straight down to his feet.

  She slowly moved her lips against his, teaching him without words what he needed to know. Ever the ardent student, he moved his hands up to cradle her face, slowly moving his mouth against hers. Once. Twice. Then again, and yet again, varying the positions and the amount of pressure exerted.

  When she opened her mouth beneath his, he followed her lead without a thought. Somehow, although he probably should have found it at least mildly shocking, he was unsurprised when she gently touched her tongue to his. It just seemed to him as though that was a perfectly logical transition for this amazing experience, and he responded in kind.

  He savored the taste of her. It absolutely defied description. She made soft sounds indicating her pleasure as her hands caressed his back and shoulders. His body felt as though it was going to erupt in a rapturous flare of pleasure.

  Abruptly realizing the effect the kiss was having on him, he jerked away from her. Holding her at a distance so he could catch his breath and try to regain some control of himself, he said hoarsely, “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be,” she said, equally breathlessly. When he caught her gaze, she gave him a smile filled with feminine delight. She flicked a wrist and extinguished the lights as she stepped toward her bed.

  “Good night, James.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The private courtyard that Sebastian had arranged for them to train in was rather similar to Gabriel’s own. It helped them get back into the standard training routine without too much difficulty. Of course, by the time they were all up and moving the day after the welcome dinner, it was much, much
later in the day than they were used to.

  Still, without a word of complaint, the sisters completed their weightlifting routines under Uriel’s supervision and then moved into their body sculpting exercises. They worked on those for thirty minutes and then transitioned to their cardio workout.

  Inspired by last night’s event, today that would be dance. James enjoyed watching them develop workout dance routines to some of their songs from the human plane. The style of dance they knew was vastly different from anything on this plane. He found it invariably energetic and provocative. Skye was always the choreographer, as she had the most experience and talent when it came to dancing. Because she could convey the intent of her movements to her sisters with her thoughts now, they didn’t even have to rehearse much before a new routine anymore.

  “What should we start with?” Amber asked as they lined up beside each other in the middle of the courtyard.

  “How about Hey Soul Sister?” Olivia suggested.

  “Sounds good to me,” Skye agreed. “Slow and controlled, then build.”

  Amber and Olivia opened up with the chorus, their voices blending harmoniously as they danced. The sisters moved with near-perfect synchronization now. James wondered if they realized how far they had come in the past couple of months. Something that probably seemed so simple to them now had been hours of effort to achieve when they first started learning. Amber and Olivia hadn’t even had an interest in dancing back then. Now it appeared to be their most preferred exercise.

  He watched Olivia move, read the happiness in her expression. His mind returned time and again to the kisses they had shared. Despite his exhaustion, sleep had eluded him. He had lain awake staring mindlessly at the ceiling, thinking of how amazing kissing her had been and how much he would enjoy doing it again. The intoxicating flavor of her had lingered on his lips long after she had fallen asleep. He couldn’t help but wonder whether his reaction to the entire experience had been normal. He certainly wasn’t about to ask his leader, the only male who might be able to tell him.

  It was during the course of the sisters’ fourth dance routine, this one to a song called “So What?” by someone Caleb identified as Pink, that the courtyard began to draw an audience.

  First to arrive was the Gloresti commander, Hitoshi. James greatly respected his commander, and from what he had learned since Olivia’s transition, Hitoshi had done a very good job of filling in during his elder’s absence. Gabriel and Hitoshi had developed a very synchronous relationship before Gabriel transitioned to the human plane, so it was nice to see his leader smiling at the commander and slapping him on the back in welcome. That, at least, didn’t appear to have changed.

  During the fifth and final song in the girls’ routine, another handful of Gloresti along with the Waresti commander Harold and around twenty other Waresti appeared, lining the edges of the courtyard. James found their presence odd and glanced at Caleb, who shrugged.

  As the sisters completed their dancing and walked over to get a drink of water and towel off their perspiration, Harold came forward.

  Amber paused with a towel pressed to her throat and gave him a smile. “Hi, Harold,” she said. Then she glanced behind him. “Hi, guys.” She turned to Olivia and Skye. “These Waresti were with me when I transitioned. Come and meet them.”

  She rattled off each of the names of the twenty Waresti who had helped protect her Estilorian form as though they were good friends. James noticed Gabriel’s surprised expression.

  “What are you guys doing here?” Amber asked curiously before she drank some water.

  Harold looked mildly uncomfortable with everyone’s attention on them. But he responded, “I understand you have been practicing with your sword. We wanted to see you wield it. Perhaps even practice with you.”

  “Oh.” She blinked, then glanced at Gabriel. “Well, we’ll be practicing hand-to-hand combat first,” she said.

  “That is fine. We will wait.”

  Olivia sent James a look under her lashes while the conversation was going on. Something about the heat in that look combined with the flush of exertion in her cheeks made his heart pound mercilessly.

  “As to that,” Hitoshi said, stepping forward, “I was hoping to engage you in hand-to-hand combat this afternoon.”

  “Ah,” Amber looked at Gabriel again. “Wow. I’m rather popular, aren’t I?”

  “My warrior,” Gabriel said with a smile.

  But James sensed his leader’s underlying worry. Anyone sparring with Amber who was unaware of her condition could cause her and the unborn child considerable harm. He watched Gabriel weigh his choices and make his decision. His leader caught and held Hitoshi’s gaze for a long moment. Whatever he conveyed didn’t cause a flicker of a reaction on the impassive Gloresti’s face. Hitoshi simply nodded.

  So before long, Amber and Hitoshi faced off in the center of the courtyard. Olivia moved over to stand in front of James, so he placed his hands on her shoulders.

  It was a magnificent expression of movement. The two of them were very evenly matched, which James thought surprised his commander. Indeed, the first time Amber landed a blow to Hitoshi’s upper body that knocked him back a full foot, he paused to glance at Gabriel as if he hadn’t been properly prepared. Her natural Estilorian abilities as well as her modern human knowledge of karate and kickboxing gave her the edge she needed to match Hitoshi’s centuries of Estilorian experience in hand-to-hand combat.

  They advanced and feinted, kicked and blocked. Each gave and received considerable blows, though James noted that Hitoshi completely avoided Amber’s midsection. She, apparently, was doing the same, trying to keep things even between them. The first time Hitoshi connected with Amber’s face, James saw Gabriel clench his jaw. She recovered quickly, however.

  Gabriel had to call a draw when he saw his wife was tiring. Hitoshi didn’t argue and instead spent several minutes praising Amber and asking if they could exchange lessons. She readily agreed.

  The sword match with Harold had to be postponed. Gabriel argued that Olivia and Skye needed their training, as well, and wouldn’t get that if every practice session was dedicated to Amber’s skill sets. The Waresti commander willingly respected Gabriel’s wishes on the matter, but offered to assist in the sisters’ training.

  There turned out to be many such offers, all of them by males. James and Caleb muttered to each other that it was getting damned crowded in the “private” courtyard. They both missed Gabriel’s quiet home more and more as the days passed.

  True, the girls were definitely expanding their knowledge base. Amber avidly absorbed Hitoshi’s tips. He even taught her specific defense moves to guard her midsection more effectively and worked with her on special exercises meant to teach her better balance as her weight and shape changed. And under Harold’s tutelage, she added to her swordplay skill set enough to defeat him by their third match, something that astounded every Waresti including Uriel.

  Skye made tremendous strides in throwing weapons, developing a strong penchant for the star-shaped disks created for her by Uriel. Within the space of a few days, she hardly ever missed her target. She worked closely with Raphael, the Corgloresti commander, in her training, something that seemed to bother Caleb to no end.

  James completely understood. Olivia was even now receiving another lesson on bo fighting from Alexius, Uriel’s second commander and the Waresti who had led the contingent working with James to guard Olivia’s Estilorian form while she was on the human plane. Alexius had created a practice weapon shaped like Olivia’s bow so that she could learn how to use her blessed weapon like a staff if she became engaged in face-to-face combat with an opponent. While James’ Gloresti self was greatly pleased with her progress and easily identified the increase in her self-confidence with the weapon, he couldn’t deny that another part of him deeply resented Alexius. Watching him stand behind Olivia and put his hands on her during their lessons made James’ fists clench.

  He initially didn’t understand
this part of his reaction. She had received training from Ini-herit, Knorbis and Uriel for weeks without it making him think twice. It wasn’t until their third lesson that James figured it out. Alexius looked at Olivia in a different manner than the elders did. His gaze showed an interest in more than just her skill with a bow.

  Once James made this connection, he quickly realized that Alexius wasn’t the only one. He caught many of the males studying each of the sisters—even the avowed Amber—with a deeper interest than was normal or even appropriate.

  It was driving him insane…but for the life of him, he couldn’t imagine what he could do about it.

  A week after their arrival, Olivia was in her bathroom brushing her teeth after another long day. She had again spent most of the day working with Alexius on her bo training. She was quite excited about how much progress she had made in just a matter of days. Because the Waresti second commander had a particular talent with the staff weapon, he was able to effectively teach her how to correct the consistent errors she had been making. It was like having a different math teacher explain a complicated formula in a slightly different way than a previous teacher. It just clicked for her.

  She was particularly happy to know that she wouldn’t be the only one of her sisters without the ability to defend herself one-on-one. True, her hand-to-hand was still abysmal, but now she felt that if she could get her hands on any staff-like weapon—even a thick tree branch—she could effectively protect herself against an opponent.

  Still, she missed her more consistent contact with James. While he did work with her on her strengthening exercises and occasionally some of her other weapons training, Alexius had certainly taken over a large part of her daily activity.

  And by the time they got to their rooms at the conclusion of the day, there wasn’t much time for interacting before they went to sleep. Gabriel wanted them training as much as possible over the next few weeks before Amber’s pregnancy started to show, which meant they were going strong all day from the early hours of the morning.