“Okay. Knock it off,” she said. “You’re putting on a show and nothing’s going to be accomplished that way. Take this seriously or, the next time you want to make a deal with me, I’ll call you a liar.”
Storm blinked a couple of times, nodded at Kay, and smashed his gloves together in a, “Let’s go,” gesture.
Thirty seconds later she stopped them to give Kay some detailed instruction about redistributin’ his weight.
“No,” she said. “When I call out a direction you take a step, then come right back to base.”
“Base?” he asked.
“That’s what we’re going to call the balanced posture to which you will always return. Forward.” Kay took a step forward then back. “I know you’re a big guy, but I also know you can move faster than that. Stop the kidding around and show me. Forward.”
She put him through his paces. After three tries of every direction she called, he started to catch on. And by Paddy, I could see from ringside that he would be benefittin’ from the tips once we took to the streets again.
‘Twas makin’ me wonder who she’d been before her crazy ass arrival in the Chamber of Jefferson Unit. And I was goin’ to find out everything there was to know.
When Kay faced off against Storm again, he was takin’ the process more seriously.
Next time she stopped them, her comments were for Storm. “Take a fighting stance.” He did. She pushed down on his left hand, up on his right. “Hold that posture.” She went behind him and took hold of his trapezius muscles with her hands. “Keep your hands there and release this tension here. Send it down into your shoulders and upper arms. That’s where you need the tension for extra power. Keeping the strain up here,” she pressed into his muscles with her fingers, “is just slowing you down and decreasing your stamina.” She backed up a few steps and nodded to my teammates. “Now. Go again.”
They practiced what they’d learned for a couple of minutes.
“Okay. That’s enough for a first lesson,” she said. “Practice that twice a day for the next eight days. Then I’ll give you something else.”
I found it tantalizin’ that she could be so bossy and so sexy all at the same time. I was lost in reviewin’ the curves and planes of her body when I heard Storm tell Sol, “By the gods. She knows what she’s talking about.”
While they were busy discussin’ how amazin’ it was to learn something new, I watched Elora walk away. Sol jumped in with his plan to exploit her for whatever could be learned and used to Black Swan advantage. Understandable that the interest of The Order would be his priority. But my priority was Elora Laiken and I’d make sure she did no’ do anything she did no’ want to do.
When they turned around to talk to the newly proclaimed mistress of martial arts and saw that she was gone, they looked at me like I’d been responsible for makin’ her disappear.
“Where is she?” Sol demanded.
“Do no’ know,” I said. “But she went that way.” I pointed toward the hall that led to the elevators and then headed that way. I did no’ have to turn around to know that Storm and Kay were close behind.
I spotted her at the Hub Bistro, readin’ the daily specials on the blackboard. I walked up to her back, leaned over her shoulder and said, “Can we join you?” close to her ear.
She lifted a shoulder, but did no’ look back at me. “It’s a free country.” I noticed her body stiffen slightly before she turned and looked between the three of us, “Isn’t it?”
If my heart had no’ already melted for her, it became mush in that moment as I tried to imagine how hard it would be to get deposited in a strange world no’ knowin’ anybody or even how things work. I felt a lump in my throat, but said, “Aye. ‘Tis a free country.”
Monq had come by to check on Elora just as she asked that question. “Well, that kind of has to be qualified,” he interjected. “You can’t come or go without a passport. You can’t drive without a driver’s license, registration, auto insurance, and proof your vehicle is up to code. You can’t work or even get health care without a social security number. You have to pay taxes on everything including air and water. The closest distance between points A and B may involve paying a road toll. There are over three hundred thousand federal laws. You have to educate your children according to legal standards set by someone who’s not you. There are laws about who can marry whom. But other than a few more such trivialities, it’s a free country.”
Apparently he’d satisfied himself that Elora was okay. So, with that, he nodded and walked off.
I looked up at the board above her head and back down into her vulnerable expression. “So what will you be havin’?”
She turned around. “Deciding between cream of mushroom soup and a hamburger.”
“Get both,” I said.
“That would be wasteful.”
“No’ at all. We’ll eat whatever is left.”
With no’ another word, she stepped up to the counter and placed an order for the soup and the hamburger. But when the girl started through the list of options, Elora lost her confidence. I stepped up beside her and said, “She’ll have it rare, American cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, yellow mustard, no sesame seeds with half and half fries.” Elora looked nothin’ but grateful for my intervention. “Let’s start there. Before long you’ll know exactly how you like it.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly, lookin’ ‘round like she would no’ want others to know she was no’ yet adept at orderin’ lunch.
“You’re welcome.” I smiled. “You want juice?”
She shook her head. “Chocolate milk.”
“Excellent choice.”
That earned me a little smile.
The four of us took a solarium table right next to the window. Some undergraduates had been about to sit down there, but they saw us headin’ in that direction and decided another table would suit their needs as well. When the gadget lit up like a carnival win, Storm and Kay went to get the food. I was beginnin’ to see there were benefits to bein’ out of commission.
“What foods have you tried that you like so far?” I asked.
“Well, everything chocolate.”
“Goes without sayin’.”
“Green beans with almond slices. Blackened salmon. Pumpkin bread.”
“Where did you get pumpkin bread?”
“In the infirmary. They said it’s a seasonal ritual. Everybody must eat something pumpkin in October.”
I nodded. “Unless you’re ready to fight like hel.”
Storm and Kay returned with trays of food on the tail end of a conversation about the moves Elora had shown them. They sorted out our orders and sat down across from the two of us.
Storm took a big bite of grilled cheese sandwich and, before he was finished chewin’, said, “Sol was going to ask if you’d consider training.”
Elora stopped chewin’ her sweet potato fry. “Self-defense training?”
Storm traded a cautious look with Kay before continuing. “Well, in a sense. Maybe you could help all the knights,” he seemed to be lost in thought for a second, “and students. It might improve our fatality count.”
A look of recognition ghosted over Elora’s face. “That night in the infirmary…”
When she did no’ finish the sentence, Storm answered as if she had. “That was actually a good outcome. The guy you saw lived to tell about an up close and personal vampire encounter.” Storm’s gaze flicked around the table and lingered on me for an instant. “He was lucky.”
“Yes,” she said simply.
“You are no’ under any pressure to agree,” I said.
“No. I think I want to do it and not just because I’d like to feel useful around here. If something I know could help your, um, effort, then it would give me some direction. A sense of purpose, I guess.”
“Well said.” Kay smiled with approval.
“But do you think the others would be receptive?” she asked.
“If they know what’s good for ‘em.” I p
unctuated that by touchin’ my taped rib.
My teammates smirked at me, but Elora said, “That’s not funny.”
I dropped my chin and challenged her with a smile. “I say ‘tis. And if I can find the humor, so can you.”
With her lips still pressed together and eyebrows drawn, she said, “I wouldn’t want anybody to be forced. That’s my only condition. If they want what I have to offer, it’s freely given, but it has to be their choice. That’s the only way it works anyhow. And speaking of choice,” she pinned me with a look, “you owe me a nap.”
“What?”
I laughed on the inside at Storm’s look of alarm. Sooner or later I was goin’ to have to tell him he did no’ stand a chance with the lass. But first I’d have to make her understand that she belonged to me. And I had to find a way to do it without scarin’ her off.
“We have another meetin’ with the sovereign. He definitely ranks above promises to nap. But it’ll probably be short, just officially lettin’ us off the hook for another six weeks.”
“How are you spending the rest of your day?” Storm asked Elora.
“I have a session with Monq and some personal stuff.”
I could tell by the look on Storm’s face he wanted to ask what ‘personal stuff’, but he managed to quash the impulse. “Have dinner with us?”
She turned a completely beguilin’ shade of pink. “If it’s okay with your teammates.” She looked at Kay, then me.
I laughed. “O’ course. Goes without sayin’.”
“Don’t make us beg,” said Kay and I could have hugged him for makin’ her feel welcome, like she had friends in this place that was no’ only new to her, but strange as well.
As I’d thought, the meetin’ was short, if no’ sweet. Sol was bringin’ up a team from Brazil to fill in until we were back on patrol.
“Get your heads around the decision on your fourth before the six weeks is up,” he said. “I want you back in rotation six weeks and one hour from the moment of Hawking’s latest mishap.”
“Hey,” I protested. He was makin’ me sound like a ne’er-do-well bumbler. I was ignored, but chose no’ to make a thing of it.
As soon as I got back to my apartment, I called media and asked about Elora’s hearin’.
The kid replied, “Which one?”
“There was more than one?”
“Yeah. A short one on October 1st, long one on October 2nd.”
“Send somebody up with copies of both.”
“Now?” the kid asked.
“No time like the present.”
“Yes, sir.”
Twenty minutes later I was poppin’ the first into the player and sittin’ down to watch. There was a big no-neck bruiser of an orderly off to the side, supposedly providin’ security. I almost laughed out loud and said to myself, "Yeah. Like that would have slowed her down if she’d taken a mind to run."
I have to tell you that watchin’ her anguish was just about the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. Yeah. There was a lot of information about her life before and the circumstances that had brought her here, but the pain was palpable and sent adrenaline shooting through my body. I watched both recordin’s all the way through, replayin’ some parts even though ‘twas excruciatin’ to watch. If she’d lived through it, I could make myself watch it.
The woman was tragedy walkin’. I pledged on the spot that I would treat her like glass and never deny her anything within my power.
That night, after most of J.U. had gone to bed, we clocked her on the track of the Courtpark at a speed of almost thirty miles an hour. ‘Twas a record in our dimension. She was really something special. And, human or no’, destiny had seen fit to give her to me.
CHAPTER 11
Ram
I was no’ above playin’ on Elora’s guilt. I’d use any tool at my disposal to get her to spend time with me. I did no’ lie, but let her believe that restricted duty was hard on me and, since she happened to feel responsible for that, she acted on her pity by spendin’ late afternoons watchin’ films with me.
Within moments of the first discussion on what to watch it became obvious that we did no’ share taste in flicks. So we agreed to take turns.
I thought that films portrayin’ various shades of sexuality might cause her to warm towards me. I did no’ select hard core pornography because that would be too obvious. So I went for sex embedded in lots of humor. She frequently pretended to be shocked, which never failed to make me laugh.
She’d say things like, “Ram, this is the worst thing I’ve ever seen,” or “Ram, I wish I could erase that from my memory,” but I believed, perhaps projected as Monq would say, that she was enjoyin’ the bawdy bits as much as I.
Her turn usually meant movies from bygone eras with costumes and endless talkin’. If it was no’ for the fact that I was randy as a goat because of sittin’ next to her for two hours straight, I’d have fallen asleep every time.
I learned that she loved music and I loved when she asked me to play for her. One such day, I put the guitar down after playin’ and said, “I watched the record of your hearin’s, both of them.” It broke my heart that she just looked at her feet and said nothin’. I did no’ know if she was mad or embarrassed, so I said, “Do no’ be mad or embarrassed. I will be your someone to talk to if you need it.”
She whispered, “Thank you,” but did no’ look up.
I knew she was fascinated with the idea of elves. Hel. I knew that from that first night at dinner when she could no’ stop lookin’ at my ear and grinnin’ like she’d just found sunken treasure. So I got a copy of Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Elves, But Were Afraid To Ask and presented it to her as a gift.
“What makes you think I’m afraid to ask?” she said.
I shrugged. “Just in case.”
“In case of what?”
“In case you find yourself unable to sleep, dreamin’ about me, and want to know something more about my species. Like how to seduce an elf.”
She scoffed at the last comment, but then said, “Your species?”
I did no’ know whether to be offended or no’. “Aye.”
She quieted, but still smiled. “Okay.”
And we left it at that, but I was hopin’ that she would read the part about matin’ and put it together that my interest in her went far beyond the obvious benefits that carnal knowledge has to offer.
She did no’ want to talk about her previous life, but was curious about mine. So I told her I had two siblings, one who was a joy, one who should have been executed at birth, that I liked horses almost as much as music and that I spent a lot of time in a wildlife preserve growin’ up.
One afternoon she asked out of nowhere, “Why did you join The Order?”
I said, “Wild child, I suppose. They promised I would have adventures my brother could no’ imagine and that was exactly what I wanted to hear.” I left the movie on mute and turned toward her on the sofa. “Tell me something about your life before.”
She shrugged and looked away. “Palace life was restricting and suffocating. In some ways I had more freedom when I was a prisoner of Black Swan.”
I felt my gut tighten when she referred to her confinement in the infirmary durin’ the time I was away on leave. I wanted to protest, to say that Black Swan does no’ hold innocent parties prisoner, but it seems that sometimes we do. I was ashamed of Black Swan for reactin’ to her arrival with fear and I was ashamed of havin’ left my mate to fend for herself, broken and alone in a strange world.
The same day we had that conversation, I said my goodbye after procurin’ Elora’s agreement to let me walk her to dinner, and opened the door to leave.
Storm was standin’ there with his hand up in the air like he was about to knock.
His face fell into a disgruntled scowl and he said to me, “Do you no’ have a place of your own?”
I gave him a smile that unquestionably laid down the gauntlet. “I like it here,” I said.
&n
bsp; After years together, I knew the boy well and could tell that he was about to punch me, but his eyes went over my shoulder and, apparently, Elora’s watchful presence tempered his possessive reflex.
She welcomed him in, but I have to say that watchin’ her close the door behind him, leavin’ me, her mate, standin’ out in the hall? Well, it was hard to swallow. I wanted to plow down the door and make it plain that there would be no more closed doors between my mate and me. No’ to mention that there would be no more entertainin’ Sir Storm.
The battle lines were drawn between Storm and me, but he met my challenge blow for blow.
One night he had a cupcake with a candle in it delivered to our table for dessert. He pulled a lighter out of his pocket, lit the candle and set the plate in front of Elora.
“Happy birthday,” he said.
She looked surprised, delighted, and amazed. “How did you know?”
“I looked up your counterpart’s birthday. Figured it would be the same.”
“Brilliant!” she gushed. “Storm, I’m so moved that you went to the trouble to learn my birthday and do this for me.”
When she bent to blow out the candle, he smirked at me. Brilliant, my ass.
She did no’ always have dinner with us. She’d made friends with people who worked in the infirmary while she was there and it pleased me that she knew people outside B Team.
One night I was restless and decided to go down for a drink, maybe pick up a game of pool. When I closed my door, I saw Elora headin’ away from me, toward the elevator. I jogged toward her silently, no’ wantin’ to call out as things at J.U. get quiet after ten o’clock. When she got in the elevator and turned around, she saw me comin’ and put her hand in the door.
“Much obliged,” I said as I walked in beside her. “Where you headed so late?”
She released the door and turned to me. “There’s a guy, a knight, who was hurt while I was in the infirmary. He’s still recovering. I go read to him at night.”
“Read to him?” She nodded. “Does he no’ have a TV?”
Knights of Black Swan, Books 7-9 (Knights of Black Swan Box Set Book 3) Page 43