by Amelia Jade
“Yes, Doc,” he said and complied with her orders. He unbalanced himself so that the left side of the board was on the ground and the right side in the air. There he waited.
Shaking her head, she smiled from beside him. “Now, balance yourself again.”
Immediately he worked to balance himself back upon the board.
“You take instructions well,” she commented, still trying to discern what it was about his methods that felt odd to her.
“Orders,” he said, his voice thick with concentration as he tried to let go of the bar and stay balanced.
“What?” she asked, momentarily distracted at the flexing of his forearm.
“Not instructions, orders.”
Then it dawned on her. “We’re not in the military Uriel,” she said with a light laugh.
“Maybe not you, but close enough for me.” He shrugged, his hand inches clear of the bar.
The shrug threw him off balance, as his one arm moved, but nothing counterbalanced him on the opposite side. He threw out his hand to grab the bar, but it was too late. Even the length of his giant frame was too far away as he toppled over, all semblance of control gone. Right toward her.
Sydney cried out, trying to get out of the way of the titanic form descending upon her. His shoulder sent her to the floor where she lay on her back, looking up as he fell upon her. A massive thud shook the ground almost on her head, accompanied by a strained grunt from Uriel.
“Move,” he gasped. “Please.”
She opened her eyes to see him hovering above her, his one hand firmly planted on the ground less than an inch from her head. His muscles strained to support him in the awkward position with only the one arm for strength.
She scrambled to the side, snatching her arm out from below him just in time as he collapsed onto the thin mats that covered most of the floor. Their faces were mere inches apart, and his eyes fixed on her as he searched for any sign that she had been hurt in the fall. Sydney became uncomfortably aware of their proximity to each other as the heat he naturally generated reached out and enveloped her, taking the chill off from the cold floor she was lying on.
Get up.
She couldn’t. Okay no. Truthfully she told herself it was that she did not want to get up. Something about Uriel made her want to get closer. She smiled shyly at him, enjoying the look he gave her in return.
“Okay,” she said from where she lay on her side next to him. “Let’s take that a little slower, shall we?” She reached out to pat his arm, which he currently had curled under his head like a little pillow.
The same electric shock that had run through her before materialized again. This time it hit Sydney like a brick wall, slamming into her. Her blood, already up and pumping after the excitement a few seconds earlier, went into overdrive as it burned through her. Heat exploded along her cheeks as she realized her body was rapidly preparing itself to be taken by him.
She wanted him. Right there.
Okay girl. Get ahold of yourself. You definitely can not have sex with him on the floor of your office. That is just a no-go. Leaving out the part where you just met him, you can’t do it here.
Sydney snatched her hand back as if she had been burned as the thoughts ran through her mind. She didn’t want to have sex with Uriel. Okay, part of her did, but not the logical part of her brain. Hell, not even her heart was sure it wanted that. The two of them could win out in a battle against the raging furnace between her legs that desired the attractive shifter lying so close to her.
She hoped that they could, at least. It wasn’t that the idea of having sex with Uriel disgusted her. In fact, he seemed like a good guy, but she had barely known him for half an hour. Sydney Hightower was not that sort of woman.
Yeah, I need at least a full hour.
A mental snort found its way into a slight smile on her face at the thought.
To her relief and dismay, Uriel took that as a cue to get up. He pushed himself easily to his knees and then managed to hop straight to his feet. Slowly he bent over and offered his arm.
“Thank you,” she said sweetly as he hauled her to her feet as if she weighed no more than a feather. At a little over six feet in height, it wasn’t something that she was used to. More often than not Sydney had felt awkward about her height, especially considering she wasn’t some lean basketball or volleyball player like everyone who met her assumed she was supposed to be.
Perhaps it was because next to Uriel, she was still tiny. The big, barrel-chested shifter likely didn’t feel small next to anyone. He was one of the biggest she’d ever seen, easily over six and a half feet, with muscular proportions to match.
“Yes?” he asked politely.
It was then that Sydney realized she had been staring at him, effectively drooling over his body while he was standing in front of her. She needed to do something. Focus! That was it. Focus on what she was supposed to be helping him with. Blinking rapidly, she shook her head slightly and then focused back on him, doing her best to maintain her concentration this time.
“Right. Let me show you some hand exercises to help increase your strength. You said you were originally right-handed, correct?”
He nodded and followed her over to the table near the storage unit.
“Place your palm on the table,” she ordered, opening the storage unit again and grabbing something from it.
“Okay, this exercise is simple. Lift your index finger while the others stay flat.”
He did as she commanded.
“Okay, hold for five seconds. Put it down. Now your middle finger.”
The next finger rose from the black surface.
“Do each finger down to the pinkie. Then do the pinkie again and go back through them to the index. Each there and back is a cycle. Do three to five cycles at a time.”
He nodded and focused on his hand, forcing it to obey. It was clear that he didn’t have as much control over it as he likely would have had with his strong hand. The index finger lifted easily, but the rest needed work.
“Okay,” she said with a nod as he followed her directions until he had repeated it three times. “This is a squeeze ball. Squeeze as hard as you can for ten seconds. Wait ten seconds, repeat. Do that for two to three minutes after you do the first drill.”
Uriel indicated his understanding, though he was still focused on the first drill. She turned back to the storage unit, grabbing one last thing before she closed it.
“And this is a bouncy ball,” she said as he grabbed the first ball and began to squeeze it, following her directions.
“A bouncy ball?” he asked sarcastically. “I’m not sure I’m in fifth grade again, Doc.”
She smiled. “In fifth grade you had two arms. Now you have one. It changes everything. You still know the basics, but now you have to rely on your mobility to help you. So you also need to change your stance.”
That got his attention, she noted.
“The game is to bounce it off a vertical wall and catch it. Instead of standing like this,” she said, adopting a straight-on approach to the wall in front of her, “you need to stand like this.” Sydney turned sideways, so that her left arm was closer to the wall.
“The entire time?” he asked.
“Only after you throw the ball, while you’re waiting for it to bounce. So with your follow-through on the ball toss, you’ll end up in this position. The point is to teach your body new reactions, on how to adapt to having only the one arm for use. It’s going to be tough because you’ve gone—what, thirty years?—without having to relearn things like this.”
“Ouch,” Uriel said, clutching at his chest as if she had shot him. “I won’t be thirty for a few more months, Doc!”
Sydney had finally slipped back into her professional demeanor, ignoring what had happened each time she touched Uriel’s skin. The giggle that slipped out of her mouth at his last comment undid everything.
Oh shit. The distance between them had evaporated without her even realizing it. All o
f a sudden he was there, right in front of her. Their eyes locked, and Sydney realized that everything about the situation screamed at her to kiss him.
“Miss Hightower?”
The call came from her adjoining office.
Oh thank God.
She gave Uriel a slight grimace, letting him hopefully know that she wasn’t completely against the idea of what might have just happened, and then fled the room. She needed more time to decide if this was what she wanted to do. She was at the point in her life where she could give in to the burn for a night and enjoy time with Uriel without feeling terrible about herself.
Two things held her back. First, she didn’t want to be labeled a shifter groupie, because that’s what usually happened to women who only slept with a shifter once. That was a minor factor since she lived in a small town densely populated with shifters. It was much more widely accepted here. Second, and more importantly, she knew that shifters had two settings: one-night stands, or mates for life. There was no in-between. No yearlong relationship and then fade apart. It was black and white with absolutely zero shades of gray.
Having seen shifter groupies and shifter mates before, the intensity of what she felt when touching Uriel told her that he likely did not see her as an object to use for the evening.
Assuming he’s getting electrocuted every time you touch him as well.
Assuming that. There had been enough awkward pauses between the two in the short period of time already that Sydney didn’t doubt that.
Walking through the door, she saw another woman wearing the ubiquitous white coat that all the medical staff at LMC wore, doctor or not.
“Hey Courtenay!” she exclaimed. Courtenay Laurel was her closest work friend and Sydney was always glad to see her stop by. Courtenay was the resident doctor/surgeon/whatever was required of her. Sydney had rarely seen a better jack-of-all-trades, especially where people’s health was concerned. Although she admired her friend greatly for what she could do, there was no way in hell Sydney wanted to wear that many hats.
“Is everything okay?” Courtenay asked with concern, peering through the door into the equipment room. “I heard a big thud.”
Sydney opened her mouth to reply, but a deep, calm voice filled the room before she could say anything.
“That would be my fault, Miss Laurel,” Uriel said, stepping through the door. “I’m a bit clumsier than I used to be,” he said wryly with a glance at where his arm used to be.
“Uriel! Good to see you in here,” Courtenay said. They all heard the unspoken “finally” she had left out.
It was true. Sydney had heard of Uriel’s injury and had wondered if she would see him in her office. She frowned, berating herself at the fact that Uriel had been injured two weeks ago and she hadn’t looked into exercises to help him. No excuses there.
She didn’t focus on that for long however, because the stab of jealousy at their familiarity caught her so off guard she didn’t know what to say. She actually caught herself baring her teeth slightly, then forcing her lips back together. There was nothing she could do to prevent them from compressing into a thin line, however. Sydney shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the distraction. It was harder than it should have been but she managed to overcome it.
Courtenay glanced over her shoulder and back out into the hallway, listening to someone else. Then she looked back inside, rolling her eyes. “I have to go, another boo-boo to patch up,” she said dramatically and then exited the office.
A large form came up to stand next to her. “I should probably be going as well,” Uriel said. “This was a rather unplanned visit, and I still have work I need to get done today.”
She wanted to protest, but he kept speaking.
“I’m going to come back tomorrow though. How long should I set aside?” he asked earnestly.
“An hour should be good,” she told him, feeling embarrassed at her initial reaction to his planned departure. “Around eleven?”
“Tomorrow at eleven sharp,” he said with a smile that set his blue eyes ablaze with delight.
The moment the frosted glass door closed behind him she exhaled heavily. Though he had only been with her for perhaps half an hour, it had been so tension-laden that she felt exhausted from the experience. Sydney had some research to do though, and she sat down to try and focus on it.
Tomorrow is going to be fun.
Chapter Three
Uriel
“How did your session go today?” Raphael asked.
“Solid,” Uriel replied, stowing his gear in the locker in front of him.
It was the end of the day for him, but Raphael’s was just beginning. With Uriel out of the lineup and a dozen Sentinel bears still in training, the two remaining shifters had been working extra hard to ensure everything got accomplished. Uriel helped where he could of course, but it was limited to teaching, and besides putting them through drills, he hadn’t been very useful there either. He was working to change that though, and hoped to be able to make a difference sooner rather than later. Being pitied was getting really old.
“Good, I’m glad to hear it.” There was the distinct sound of relief in his friend’s voice.
“Me too,” he said wryly. “Damn, you should have seen how pathetic I was yesterday. I couldn’t even balance on one damn leg!”
“Really?” Raphael turned to face him.
“Really. It was atrocious. I fell forward and slammed my head off the chair the first time I tried it. Then later I was doing an exercise and got too overconfident and almost squished the doc.” He shook his head, embarrassed with himself.
Raphael laughed, but the smile on his face dispelled any of insult from Uriel. He had to admit, if it had happened to one of the others, he would have found it hilarious.
“You’re smart and driven Uri. You’ll make big strides quickly I’m sure,” Raphael said, using the short form of his name.
“I hope so. I’m still pissed at how easily Nash’s goons overwhelmed me at the cabin. Though, now that I think back to it, I thought I tripped and fell over something. But I bet you it was me losing my balance. After that... well, I was helpless. I spent a long time trying to figure out what piece of furniture had it out for me. Turns out it was myself,” he said with a shrug.
“Where you off to now?” Raphael asked as Uriel finished stowing his gear and headed for the door.
“To make another mistake,” he said cryptically and left.
A mistake is right. What the hell are you thinking?
He was remembering the way his body had been shocked down to the soles of his feet the first time his hand had made accidental contact with Sydney. He was remembering the overwhelming desire to kiss her after he had almost fallen on her. Lying on the floor next to her, he had almost given in, almost leaned forward to press his lips against hers.
Logic told him he needed to get to know her a little better before doing that. Which is where he was going today.
No, you’re going to make a fool of yourself when she rejects your dumb ass for being creepy.
Uriel and his inner voice weren’t on the best of terms at the moment. It was going to owe him a big apology if Sydney says yes to his request.
And if she says no?
I’m going to drown your annoying voice in beer, now shut up.
Shaking his head, he concentrated on the present, following the winding halls into the underground portion of the mansion. The building was large on its own, but much of the mountain underneath it had been dug out to make space for additional rooms and offices. The tunnels extended well into the mountain as well, though many of those tunnels were off-limits to the normal employees. Deep in the mountain was where they stored the Dragon Stones. Nobody was to be allowed in there except for the Kedyns or the Stone Bears. Not even the new Sentinels were given access.
Which was probably a good thing, considering they were fairly positive there was at least one spy among them. Nash had revealed most of his men by making use of them, bu
t he was a crafty bastard, and his boss was even more cunning. They knew there would be at least one mole still planted within the organization. The three Stone Bears had been evaluating their remaining trainees, trying to figure out who it was. So far, they had had no luck.
Medical.
The sign flashed above him, letting him know he was entering the medical wing. His steps faltered briefly, but momentum kept him going until he was able to push through the sudden bout of nerves.
S. Hightower – Physiotherapist
The sign on her door loomed large in front of him. Lights were still on, which meant that she was still in the office. His nerves screamed at him, but he didn’t want a repeat of last time, so his fist rose and knocked swiftly and as confidently as he could manage it.
“Come in,” he heard through the glass.
Swallowing hard as he tried to remove the lump that had formed suddenly in his throat, he pushed open the door and stepped inside.
“Uriel,” she said with surprise. He watched with muted amusement as she scrambled quickly to clean up some of the mess of papers scattered around her desk.
“Hey,” he said lamely, then shook his head. No, if he wanted this to happen, he was going to have to do so without being a little boy about it. “Sorry to bug you again so soon,” he said, flashing her his best charming smile.
“It’s not a problem,” she said, bowing her head slightly.
Had she just batted her eyes at him? He thought so, but he wasn’t positive.
“Listen, I know this might seem crazy, but I was wondering if I could see you again.”
She froze, then frowned. “I thought we already agreed on tomorrow at the same time?”
Idiot. She thinks you mean for another appointment. Be clearer with her! Don’t be stupid again.
“I’d like to see you outside of the office,” he told her, trying to keep his voice level.
Unfortunately it came out sounding rather robotic. Either Sydney didn’t notice, or the actual words and not the tone he had spoken them in had gotten through to her. He didn’t much care which, as long as she didn’t laugh at him.