by Amber Lynn
“So, since I missed the big reveal, does that mean I get a private showing?” Jake asks with a little smirk.
“Really not the best time to ask something like that in front of me,” Alex growls at him.
“Come on. It was funny,” Jake answers laughing. “I didn’t have to see it to know she was special. A gold wolf has to be an indication of someone important. I imagine only her father would know exactly what it means. With him in deep hiding, it might be a while before the rest of us are clued in.”
“I have some people doing research in general on gold wolves. They don’t know the reason why they are doing it and are smart enough to keep their mouths shut. Hopefully, they can come up with something,” Alex replies.
After a couple skewers and too many sausages, I am full. “Plans for the rest of the night?” I ask placing my plate on the table and then leaning back on the couch. “Oh and thanks for the meal, Jake. It was very good.”
“You are most welcome, Nyx,” Jake responds.
“As for the rest of the night, I would like you to focus on some training. If the Collective’s soldiers are gaining extra abilities, then you need to be prepared,” Sebastian tells me. “I am hoping not every case you take is breaking into the Collective, but I do not fool myself into believing you won’t be going up against them again in the near future.”
“Training, me like. Does this mean I finally get to see this gym I was promised when I moved in?” I ask.
“Yes. Now go strap back on your knives, at least. For this first class, let’s leave the guns in their holsters. Your bullets wouldn’t hurt me, but you never know if they will go off course and strike one of the spectators,” he replies.
I bounce up and run to collect my knives from the bathroom. Not wanting to fight with bare legs, I also run to the bedroom and switch into one of my usual outfits before returning to the living room. I have both sets of throwers on and a sword sheathed across my back. He said knives and it is really just a bigger version, so hopefully it is okay.
“You aren’t going to go easy on me, right?” I ask.
“No, love. You will probably feel it in the morning and I will be somewhat sorry for that, but you need to know what is really out there. You have only dealt with young wolves and vampires. For your previous line of work, that is somewhat acceptable based on the targets you usually went after, but to bring down the Collective our targets are going to be a lot harder to beat. Follow me,” he says standing, making his way towards the kitchen.
I follow and feel the rest of the gang following right behind me. I am smart enough to know I am going to get my brains beat in and I don’t know that I really want them all watching. From my first days in training at the Collective, I am used to being embarrassed in this manner, so I decide not to say anything.
Sebastian hits a button above and behind the fridge that causes the fridge to move out and the wall to open behind it. I really am going to have to just go around touching every surface of this place to find the fun stuff. We continue following until he stops and flips a light switch revealing a large open area with a track, many cardio and weight lifting machines and several large wrestling mats.
“Where do you keep the pool?” I ask sarcastically wondering how big this top floor really is or if we even are on the penthouse level anymore.
“Just through that door,” he responds pointing at a door to the right of us. “It is Olympic size, in case you were wondering.”
I just shake my head and trail him to one of the mats. The rest of the guys stand against one of the walls looking on. “I think you have been holding out on me all these years.”
“There are many things for you to learn about me, love. Thankfully, we have many years for you to explore my dwellings as well as my person,” he replies. I roll my eyes and take a position opposite of him. “First thing you need to learn about older vampires is they are super-fast.”
Before I know it, he is no longer in front of me and I feel my body being pushed to the mat. There is no way for me to prevent the fall. Crap. He is even faster than Tommy. He holds me down for a second and then kisses my neck before releasing and returning to his side of the playing field.
“I am slow, I know. Since I am part vampire, will I ever be able to prevent that move?” I ask.
“From me, who knows? I am a few years above you in training. I doubt even Marcus moves as fast as I do and he is the closest I know of to my own age. The key for you will be about anticipating the move. You won’t be able to see me coming, but maybe you can hear it if you really try. I think the first exercise you need to learn is to trust that hearing. For that reason, I would like to blindfold you. It will allow you to focus on my movements.”
He takes a piece of cloth out of his pocket and starts folding it to make it less see through. “You know I don’t like this idea,” I tell him.
“I know that is why I am in charge of training and you get to just stand there and do everything I tell you. If you want to be this big private detective that chases after kidnappers and killers, you are going to have to be prepared. Your Collective missions were nothing compared to what you are in for.” He moves to place the cloth around my eyes and I can feel him tying it tight above my ears, so they are not covered. “Can you see anything?”
“Just the little squiggles I sometimes see when I shut my eyes.”
“Good. I will start off somewhat gentle. I don’t want you bruised too early.”
I hear nothing else as he starts to move around me just poking me here and there, as he goes. It is quite annoying and I am thinking about breaking his fingers when this is done. I feel that playtime is over when I get my knee kicked out from behind. It still isn’t as strong a hit as I know he can do, but it hurts and I drop to my knees.
“I guess I should be glad I am here and not over in Emerald Town,” I hear Alex say. “I can handle the pain a little better when I know the cause.”
I tune him out and try to concentrate harder. There has to be a way to hear Sebastian moving. I stand back up and am met with a punch to my left arm causing me to grimace. I get over the pain and listen. I finally start to hear this really quiet whistle. It is coming from my right, so I swing around to face it pulling out a knife.
The whistle changes directions before it gets to me, so I start turning as I hear it coming from other places. A couple times, as I thought I heard it getting nearer, I lash out and make contact with something. No other noises were made, so we continued our little dance. Every once in a while I get a punch or a kick, but I feel a lot better that he doesn’t seem to be able to get through as much as he did at first. There is no way that I could move after him and try to mount an offensive, so I stay in my spot and try to be as defensive as possible.
After probably hours, okay maybe an hour, the whistling stops. I wait a second to confirm he isn’t moving and then sit down. It is a lot of work concentrating that hard on something and I feel exhausted.
“Not bad. You picked up the movements pretty quickly. You couldn’t really fight back, though, and a couple of those baby jabs seemed to ring your bell,” Sebastian says from right behind me. I feel his hands as he removes the blindfold and kneels down on the ground in front of me.
“Baby jabs? Some of those felt like I was running into a wall. No wonder you don’t carry weapons. You have hands made of steel,” I say still catching my breath.
“I was only using a quarter of my strength, love, if that. Most paranorms have to spend a good month recovering if they take a full blow from me. I know you have excellent fighting skills, so hand to hand isn’t something we need to focus on, neither is your use of weapons.
“We need to work on speed, strength and endurance. Your improved eyesight doesn’t seem to be available yet, so we will work to improve your sense of hearing and smell, as well. It is going to be hard and grueling work. I know you have your new business and you should spend a few hours a day dealing with that, but any free time you have, I would like you to spend i
t here preparing.
“Also, I prefer you didn’t take any more Collective based cases until you are at least able to hold your own against Smitty. He is the youngest of us three, but still quite old and will give you a brutal fight. His full strength punches are harder than the ones I gave you today and he only moves slightly slower than I do.”
“You expect me to turn people away if someone else is taken by the Collective, just for supporting you?” I ask.
“No, I ask that you come to me and let me make plans to rescue them. Your plan tonight was good and I knew you would not be seriously hurt with me close by, so I did not protest. Finding out they have been doing experiments on their wolves, does make a difference, though. If you had met with more than an altered wolf enamored by you, there could have been trouble. I am not going to shackle you to my bed, but I do want you to use your head about these things,” he replies.
“Fine,” I say remembering how quickly Tommy got the gun from me. “I will run any cases that I think are Collective oriented by you to ensure I don’t get my ass handed to me when I pursue them. Do you have a specific schedule in mind for my training or do I get to go at my own pace as long as I make progress?”
“Good question, young grasshopper. You can do what you want, but I will be around watching and if I think you need pushed, I will gladly do the pushing,” he responds.
“Great. Can I go shower again and head back to the office? I need to work on putting a contract together for future cases. I don’t want to have to resort to threatening to kill someone if they don’t pay every time I take a case.”
“Do you need anyone to scrub your back?” he replies with a wink.
“No, my hands still reach,” I say standing, feeling more like myself.
“Speaking of backs,” Alex says. “Can you show me now?”
“I know you well enough to know it is just going to make you mad, but if you insist,” I say lifting the back of my shirt up to my neck.
“Son of a bitch. He is dead. That is all there is to it. I may just go back there tonight to finish the job,” Alex says as he takes quick steps to reach me. When he does, he carefully runs his fingers along the scars.
“I appreciate your concern, but if Tommy ever dies it will be by my hand. I have put up with him enough over the years that it is my right to kill him. No one will take that privilege away from me.” I put my shirt down and exit the room quickly leaving them to consider my vow.
Chapter 22
The night that just won't end
“So, who is coming with?” I ask after taking my second shower of the night and redressing slash arming myself in the bathroom.
“Marcus and Jonas. Alex is going to head back to Emerald Town now that he knows you are okay and I am going to head to work. Smitty has some errands he wanted to run and Jake needs to sleep. If you need any of us, I have programmed all of our numbers in your phone,” Sebastian relays.
“Sounds good,” I say making my way over to Alex. “Hey thanks again for dropping everything for this visit. I will attempt to not cause you grief again, but it is me we are talking about, so I make no promises. Maybe next time you visit I will make you a cake. Since neither of us are probably big on starch or sugar, it may have to be a couple steaks wrapped in bacon, but it will look like a cake.”
“Keep safe, okay pumpkin. I need at least two more weeks before I can join you here on a more permanent basis. I have gotten a lot of things done, but there is still much to organize. I trust you to keep alive in the meantime. You up to the challenge?” he asks taking my hand and placing it on his chest.
“I will see what I can do. I kind of like breathing, so it is high on my priority list,” I say smiling.
“Glad to hear it. Would you mind walking me out to my car?” he asks.
“I am going that way already, so I might as well,” I respond.
“Give us five minutes,” he tells the others and then leads me out. He doesn’t speak again until we reach the parking area. “You know I am really sorry, right?”
“About what?” I ask.
“Treating you the way I did when we first met. It really wasn’t cool. I was always told when you meet your mate you are instantly in love with them. The world only begins to make sense when they are near, that kind of stuff. I have seen it happen, so that is what I expected when you finally saw me, but it didn’t happen did it?” he asks.
“Sorry, no.”
“It didn’t happen for me either. I don’t understand it. I know we are mates because I feel connected to you, but I am not feeling the emotion I expected. Maybe it is better this way. Even though you were raised by wolves, they didn’t really teach you our lifestyle. This way you can learn about it as we learn more about each other.
“I am hoping I can find a way to make your heart expand past Sebastian. I know he will always be there in our lives and I am coming to terms with it. For a vampire, I know he is a good person to have on your side. To have as big of a mouth as he does and live as long as he has, probably took a lot of head bashing along the way. I don’t know how old he is, but he has to be pushing the millennium mark,” he states leaning against his car.
“He has told me a number, but I don’t think it is my place to divulge it. We have a long time to figure out this love triangle we have fallen into. I know you said January is going to bring a required mating between us, but since our bond isn’t normal, who’s to say it will actually happen for us? I am totally good with spending more time together to prepare just in case, but right now I am hoping it isn’t thrown at us. It’s not you,” I say putting my hands on his chest. “I am not rushing into things with Sebastian either and I have had pretty strong feelings about him for a while now.”
“I hope that isn’t totally my fault. When you are with him, I don’t feel pain just the same feelings you guys are experiencing. It’s a little weird, but I don’t want you abstaining if you don’t want to,” he replies pulling me in close to him for a hug. I am not sure we are really at the hugging stage, but for now, I let it pass.
“I will admit that finding out you would share the encounter with us is a little creepy, but that isn’t the main reason. I like to be my own woman. Sebastian has always been important to me, but I didn’t used to see him more than once a month. Now I have two guys connected to me and I am feeling a little smothered. Not that you guys are actually doing anything wrong, it’s just my life has totally changed and it is going to take some time to settle into the new routine,” I explain.
“I am sure it doesn’t help that both men in this situation have had more time to come to terms with what could happen,” he says with a laugh.
“That is a little unfair, but I learned long ago my life was never going to be fair. So far, the cards I have been dealt aren’t insurmountable,” I reply.
“No, from what I have heard you have come out pretty good in the scheme of things. The others are coming, do you think I could maybe sneak a good-bye kiss before they get here?” he asks and looks down hopefully.
“Sebastian will feel it, right?” I ask. He nods and I smile. “Good, my knee still hurts.”
I reach up and wrap my arms around his shoulders and on tiptoe, I press my lips to his. We don’t go full on tongue, but it is really sweet and a couple times I feel him licking my lips. It is not the same as when me and Sebastian have kissed recently, but it is really nice.
He lifts his head and smiles down at me. “Just so you know, in the future you don’t get to punish Sebastian by kissing me. That is just mean and I don’t want you to reverse the players and you to use him against me.”
I separate from him and lean against the car next to him. “I won’t. Next time I will just attack him while he is sleeping. Have a safe trip back and I will try to stay out of trouble long enough for you to finish your business.”
“Thanks, I may call in a couple days to just check in,” he says with a grin before he gets in the car. He waves and then drives away while I make my way over to the Su
burban.
“Knee still giving you some grief?” Sebastian whispers as I take inventory and switch out the sword I was carrying on my back for a machete.
“Now why would you think that?” I ask trying to answer without being stopped by a lie.
“We both know why. It is nice to see, or should I say feel, you guys getting along,” he responds laughing.
“He asked for a good-bye kiss and I was feeling nice enough to oblige him. We both admitted we didn't feel anything towards each other, so for now, you are currently the only love of my life,” I say.
“I know that won't always be the case, but I get the honor of being the first, so I will be happy. Try not to get into too much trouble the rest of the night,” he says kissing my forehead and then disappearing.