“I swear, I have no idea what you’re talking about. Who did you talk to? Who told you not to come to the hospital?”
“Celia.”
Alex’s body pulses with anger. “What did she tell you?”
“The truth.” Ella sniffs. “The same thing she told you, I’m guessing. She said that, for the duration of your recovery, you’ll be officially working for the Academy. You’ll be my teacher, and any intimate contact between us could result in your dismissal from the Division.”
“She told me you were seeing Luka.”
“What?”
Alex rolls onto his back and pinches the bridge of his nose. “I sent you messages and you never replied. I tried to call you and I thought you’d changed your number.”
Ella shakes her head. “I messaged you so many times …”
“It makes complete sense now.”
“Does it?”
“The restraining order blocks all contact between the two parties.”
“So now you admit there was a restraining order.”
“I guess there was, but I didn’t sign for it.”
“Then who?”
“I was hospitalized. Only my next of kin would’ve been able to make legal decisions like that on my behalf.”
“Who’s your next of kin?”
Alex flashes her a ‘who do you think?’ look.
“Celia,” Ella guesses, perching herself on the edge of the bed. “She orchestrated all of this. Why?”
“I haven’t been able to shake her the last few months.”
“She wants you back.”
“No, I think she just wants me to be miserable.”
“Have you and she … ?”
“Hell, no.” Alex seems repulsed by the mere thought of it. “Aside from anything else, do you really think I could take another woman to my bed after …”
“After what?”
“Everything that happened between you and I. Even as I was lying there in hospital, thinking of you with Luka, my feelings toward you didn’t change. I wished that they would. I wished that I could resent you—hate you, even—but it never happened.”
“She was lying about Luka.”
Alex squeezes her hand. “I believe you.”
Silence.
Ella moves closer and rests her hand against his chest. “She still has access to your apartment, you know. This is where she cornered me when I came to pick up your stuff.”
Alex shakes his head. “I revoked her access weeks ago. She kept coming in here uninvited and catching me in the buff.”
Ella laughs. “Like I just did?”
“That’s different. No matter what, you’ll always be welcome here.”
He can tell that something else is troubling her, and he urges her to spit it out.
“Celia said I was a fascination fuck.” She fidgets with her hands. “She said as soon as the novelty wore off you’d—”
“Don’t ever think that.” He clasps his hand over hers. “She tried to tell me the same thing about you once. Remember?”
“Why is she being like this?” Ella begins to get upset again. “Why can’t she just leave us alone?”
“I don’t know.” Alex pulls her toward him and holds her against his chest, kissing the top of her head. “But I’m really glad you just used the word ‘us’, because that implies there might still be such a thing.”
She pulls back so that she can look at him. His lips are so inviting, and she hasn’t gone a single day in the last three months without thinking about what it would feel like to be back here in this room with him.
“Is that what you want?” She dries her eyes with her sleeve. “Still?”
“More than ever.”
Ella’s body begins to tingle.
She doesn’t know what to do.
She wants to do something.
Throwing caution to the wind, she kisses him.
The kiss is deep and loving, and they both want more. When their lips finally part, Alex pulls her hand down below the sheets, puts himself in her palm, and encloses her fingers around him. He wraps his hand around hers and starts to move her up and down over his limp cock, applying just the right amount of pressure.
In a matter of seconds, she can feel the blood pumping into him. He gets thicker, longer and harder. Eventually, he moves his hand away and lets her continue alone.
“Do … do you want … me to …” she stutters.
“I want you.” Alex hooks a finger under her chin and makes her look at him. “I want as much of you as you want to give me.”
Quite abruptly, Ella stops and withdraws her hand. She gets up off the edge of the bed and Alex fears that she might walk away. Instead, she strips off her clothes. First, her weapons and boots. Then, her Kevlar vest … her shirt … her pants … everything else.
Watching her, Alex begins gently stroking himself.
When she’s ready, she lets down her hair, flings back the covers, and exposes him, his eager cock in his hand. Battling nerves that she needn’t have, she straddles him. She presses his length against her, hoping that he can feel how aroused she is.
“Are you sure I won’t hurt you?” she asks.
“No, but I’m damn sure I don’t give a fuck.”
Satisfied with his answer, Ella lowers herself down on him. It’s been months since the last time she had him inside her, and it feels like the first time all over again. Nevertheless, despite the initial discomfort, she grinds her hips against him and takes him in all the way, gasping at the pleasurable sensation of fullness between her legs.
She’s about to start moving, but Alex stops her.
“Wait.”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“I want you so much.” Alex pulls her into a kiss. “Too much, in fact. Just … give me a second.” More kisses.
As soon as he’s able to regain control of himself, he coaxes her into an embrace. With her breasts pushed up against his chest, he reaches for her rump and begins to rock her gently back and forth. He can feel her breath against his neck, and he can hear every sensual whisper and whine.
His ego needs to know: “Am I still—”
“Yes,” she anticipates him, burying her face into the pillow beside him and smothering her moans. “You’re still the only one.”
That declaration heightens his arousal even more. He can feel himself ready to burst, and at the first wave of her orgasm, he stops holding back. He grabs her and pulls her down hard on top of him. It’s been weeks since his last release, and the fantasy of her doesn’t even begin to compare to the reality: he floods her.
She enjoys receiving him, and remains impaled upon him until he’s given her everything and she feels him begin to wilt inside her. Then, she flops down onto the bed beside him.
Relaxing into the warmth of the sheets, she murmurs contentedly. “This is definitely not how I planned on spending my day.”
He rolls over and holds her in his gaze. “What am I keeping you from?”
“Oh, this and that. I’d set aside at least three hours in the afternoon for moping, and I was probably going to follow that up with the over-consumption of alcohol in the Fringe.” She wriggles closer to him. “How much trouble would we be in if someone from the Academy saw us right now?”
“I’m not sure.” Alex rolls onto his back. “To be honest, this is kind of a gray area.”
“How so?”
“I haven’t actually started teaching yet.”
Ella snuggles into his chest. “When’s your first day?”
“Tomorrow.”
Silence.
“And then what?” Ella sighs. “What’re we going to do?”
“You don’t have to do anything. I’m the one who needs to make this right.”
“How?”
“As soon as I’m released back into the Hunter Division, I’ll apply for a transfer into the Police Division, just as I originally promised you I would.”
“And until then?”
; “It’s only six months. We can wait that long, right?”
“Can we?” She tickles her fingers over his bare chest, admiring his form. “How much self-control do you have?”
“Don’t tease. I want to be with you, and there’s no other way.”
“What if you transfer immediately?”
Alex shakes his head. “It wouldn’t help. I’d still have to teach as part of my back-to-work program, and they wouldn’t let a Hunter teach Police Division Academy classes—I’m not trained for that. There’s no way out of it. As of tomorrow, I’ll be your teacher.”
“Then let’s make the most of today.” Ella leaps out of bed.
“Where’re you going?”
“I’m starving. I’m going to get us something to eat.”
As she pulls on her pants, the Superman action figure falls out of her pocket.
Alex frowns at it. “Am I contagious?”
She scoops it up off the floor. She’d forgotten that she’d brought it.
“I found it in the Second Reclamation Territory. I was going to give it to you when you were in the hospital—I thought it might cheer you up—but when I got there … well, you know what happened next.” She hands it to him. “Here, take it.”
He stands it up on the bedside table, then reaches out, grabs her, and pulls her closer. “I love you, Ella. I should’ve told you before.”
Upon hearing him say those words—sober—for the first time, she gets teary-eyed.
“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to hear you say that.” She almost chokes on her own happiness. “Say it again.”
He holds her hand tightly over his heart. “I’m in love with you, you reckless, fearless, brazen, beautiful thing. Nothing’s ever going to come in the way of that again. I promise.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
The Rink
Ella is the first one to arrive at class. She peeks her head through the doorway into a room called the rink, and looks around for Alex to make sure that she’s in the right place.
She is.
Alex is sitting in the middle row of some bleachers, waiting for his class to arrive, his crutch leaned up beside him and his healing leg outstretched. His face lifts when he sees her.
“Someone’s eager.”
“Someone’s confused. I thought you were going to be teaching theory, not practicum?”
“I’m doing both.”
Ella pockets her cell phone. Just minutes before, she’d received a text message memo from the Academy about the last minute room change, but she’d thought it was probably a mistake.
The rink is a converted Old World ice hockey rink that’s been completely restored and revamped—redesigned for a different purpose. There’s no ice in it anymore, and the tunnel from which the players once entered the rink is now a remotely controlled gate that releases Chimera one at a time at the press of a button.
Ella hasn’t been in here since the early days of her Academy training.
“You do know that my class a senior year class, right?” She peaks an eyebrow at Alex. “We’ve progressed a little bit beyond the basic combat skills that are normally taught in here.”
“Don’t underestimate me.” He gets up and uses his crutch to help him limp down and meet her at the edge of the rink. “I’m sure you’ll find what I have planned to be very … stimulating.”
“I’ll show you something stimulating.”
Just in the nick of time, the door swings open and the rest of Ella’s class begins to pour in. Maintaining a respectful distance from Alex, Ella takes a seat in the bleachers, gets out her notebook and pencil, and awaits further instruction.
Luka slides in beside her. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She smiles awkwardly.
“I haven’t seen you around much lately. Outside of class, I mean.”
“Well, I’ve had a lot going on.”
“Is everything okay?”
She shrugs one shoulder. “The Hunter Division’s been keeping me busy.”
“You’ve been spending a lot of time in the Fringe.”
“You’ve been keeping tabs on me?”
“People talk.”
“And?” Ella dares him to accuse her of something.
“Who’re you seeing?”
She feels a momentary flash of panic. “What?”
“You’ve been avoiding me.”
“You’re delusional.”
“We used to hang out with each other all the time.”
“And I used to suck you off at least three times a week. Things change.”
From his vantage point at the edge of the rink, Alex watches their entire exchange. Without context, though, it looks like flirting. Eager to put an end to their fraternization, and eager to begin his class, he claps his hands together and gets everyone’s attention.
“Good morning. My name’s—”
“Mr. Handsome.” A female Cadet in the front row swoons at him.
Her Kevlar vest is unzipped halfway, revealing an ample—but obviously padding-enhanced—cleavage. She leans forward and rests her elbows on her knees, making sure that Alex gets an eyeful.
“That’s Commander Handsome, to you.”
“What line?” another girl asks.
Alex is about to answer that when he suddenly realizes why they’re taking an interest in him: they’re looking for a status fuck.
He rolls his eyes. “Never gonna happen. Now, how many of you killed your first Chimera in this room?”
A lot of hands go up.
Not Ella’s.
Another question: “How many of you learned hand-to-hand combat in this room?”
All hands go up, including Ella’s.
One more question: “How many of you have ever bragged that you could kill a Chimera with one hand tied behind your back?”
Ella’s is the only hand to go up.
Alex smirks at her. “You’re going to love this class.” Addressing the whole class again: “Who can tell me why learning weapons-free combat is important?”
Luka puts up his hand. “In case you lose your weapon in the field, or run out of ammo. You have to be able to protect yourself.”
“Exactly.” Alex praises him without making eye contact. “But what happens if you can’t throw a punch?” He pauses for effect. “Has anyone here ever had their brachial nerve severed?”
No hands go up.
“Does anyone know where in your body the brachial nerve is?”
Ella punches Luka in his upper arm. “Right there.”
“Ow!” Luka almost falls off the bench.
Murmured laughter.
“It’s nice to see that someone was actually paying attention in biology class.” Alex acknowledges her, but is careful not to let the attention linger.
“Do I get a gold star?” She taunts him by taking her pencil and running it slowly between her lips, then putting the end of it in her mouth and closing her lips around it.
He tries to ignore her.
“When I was a rookie, a Chimera sliced through the brachial nerve in my right arm with one of its talons. I had plenty of weapons, but I couldn’t fire any of them. My right arm was completely useless. And before you ask, I can barely hit a stationary target with my left arm, never mind a moving creature in the midst of an attack.” He pauses to redistribute his weight away from his bad hip. “So if that were to happen to you, what would you do?”
“I’m ambidextrous,” Ella offers up matter-of-factly.
One of the boys in the back row laughs. “Does that mean you can wank off two guys at the same time?”
“Yeah,” she answers without hesitating. “And neither one of them would be you.” She flips him off.
“Anyway”—Alex sighs—“for those of us who aren’t equally gifted with both hands, we have to be a little more inventive.”
“How did you kill it?” the cleavage girl asks. “The Chimera that tore off your arm.”
“What? It didn’t …” Alex shakes his head, deciding that
it’s not worth the trouble to explain. “Whatever. I used my feet.”
“Are you serious?” Ella perks up, suddenly very intrigued.
“Yes. Why? Are you impressed? Did I just impress the Hunter General’s daughter?”
Ella makes an eensy weensy gesture with her thumb and forefinger. “Little bit.”
“So who wants to try it?” Alex addresses the class. “Who wants to try and kill a Chimera without using your hands?”
The class remains silent.
Alex pins his eyes on Rachel Jenkins, who looks the least impressed by his story.
“How about you, Little Red?”
Rachel says nothing.
Ella nudges her. “He’s talking to you.”
“Oh, is he? That’s strange. I would’ve thought that if he were talking to me, he might’ve used my name.”
A smattering of laughter rumbles throughout the class.
“You want me to use your name, Jenkins?” Alex challenges her. “You want me remind everyone else in your class that you’re only here because of it?”
Rachel says nothing to that.
“I thought not.” Alex leans up against the side of the rink, taking even more pressure off his aching hip. “I’m going to give you a fresh start in this class. A chance to forge your own identity in the Hunter Division. Now do you want to fight, or not?”
She does.
She gets up off her bench and approaches him, hardly using her cane. Alex takes it from her, and ties her hands behind her back with an old silk tie. He leads her to a doorway in the rink, swings it open, and pats her on the back.
“Off you go, Little Red.”
“Lose the ‘little’,” she snarls over her shoulder.
Alex pushes her into the rink, then pulls a remote control out of his pocket. With the push of a button, the gate opens up and a Chimera is released into the rink. It’s an adolescent, and there’s a red dot painted on its shoulder.
Until now, Ella had thought Alex’s curriculum could be considered a tad risky, but the red dot means there’s a cyanide capsule sewn into its stomach lining. Looking more closely at Alex, Ella realizes he’s holding a second remote in his other hand.
The failsafe.
Not that Rachel needs a safety net.
She kills the beast in under three minutes.
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