Before she could see it coming, he swept a leg out, knocking her feet out from under her. Air exploded from her lungs as she hit the mat harder than she ever had before, the pain radiating outward. She didn’t even have the chance to recover before he was on top of her, capturing both of her wrists with his hands and pinning them to the ground above her head.
“Is this the best you can do?” he asked again, a strange inflection in his tone that hadn’t been present before. “I thought more of you.”
His words were punctuated with a slight squeeze of his hands, his words low and harsh as though he was disappointed in her.
His hips were wedged between her legs, his body rock hard and brimming with tension. Even as she struggled beneath him attempting to free herself, he remained firmly in place.
“You’re not even trying, Luna.”
“I am,” she snapped back, annoyed with him for being stronger than her, and annoyed with herself for getting captured in the first place.
“Lie to yourself, but don’t lie to me.”
The more he spoke, the more agitated she became to the point that she was over whatever lesson this was and just wanted him to let her go.
A now familiar blankness seemed to fall over him as he asked, “How far do I have to go?”
Whatever response she’d thought to muster was stuck in her throat, and without meaning to, she had frozen beneath him, fearing the implication of his words.
He wouldn’t hurt her, not like that.
But as his he shifted her wrists to one hand, using the other to fist her shirt, whatever spell had frozen her in place broke.
“Let me go.”
“The objective is to make me release you, not because you asked nicely.”
The challenge was clear in his voice, and even in his actions because despite the way she trembled with rage, he was still pushing her shirt up, the cool air of the room kissing the bare flesh of her stomach.
All too soon, she felt panic engulfing her, her heartbeat echoing in her ears, but she shoved it down, refusing to break.
She was not going to be a victim again.
Drawing her legs back, she attempted to get some leverage under her, roll them until she was on top and could more easily break the hold he had on her, but the move only made him press closer.
She was trapped.
“Get off!” she forced out between gritted teeth, her movements gone erratic.
“Take a breath.”
A distant part of her heard his words, but she was too focused on being captured and the feel of his weight on top of her. The rational part of her knew that it was Kit, but the panicked part could only grasp that it was a man laying over her, ignoring her pleas to move.
God, that weight was such a sickening reminder, and worse it was how familiar it all was, and she hated that.
How helpless she had been …
Luna was suddenly free as Kit shot to his feet, her skin cold where his hands had been.
“Get out of your head,” he said, his disappointment clear, even as he extended a hand to help her up.
But she didn’t accept it as she struggled to her feet on shaky legs, just walked past him out of the gym, even as he called her name.
Because in the end, nothing was greater than the disappointment she felt in herself.
Luna wasn’t upset that Kit had bested her—that outcome was inevitable. She was upset because she instead of finding a way out of the hold he had her in, she had panicked, and he’d let her go. Worse, she hadn’t been able to remain near him after, too afraid to see more of that disappointment reflected in his gaze.
Leaving him, she was able to escape to her room, barely paying attention to anyone she passed. Even as she paced the floor, she knew she needed to go back down, face him, and try again.
She owed it to herself.
If she could survive three years with Lawrence, she could survive a round with Kit.
But the panic …
The second she had felt trapped, she’d become powerless, too afraid to even think of a way to save herself.
A knock at the door had her looking up, only to find Aidra standing there in the mouth of the doorway, her expression neutral. Unbidden, she looked past her, expecting to see someone else come in behind her.
Aidra noticed where Luna’s gaze had drawn with a slight smile. “I’m afraid it’s just me this time.”
Clearing her throat, trying to keep her face clear of any emotion, Luna asked, “Is he looking for me? Do I need to go back to the gym?”
“I’m sure he knows where you are, and in regard to your last question … well, that’s entirely up to you, isn’t it? It is your choice, after all.”
“Right.”
But it didn’t feel like a choice, not really.
It felt inevitable.
She wouldn’t be able to avoid him forever, especially not when he was in charge of her training. Besides, this was his home, not to mention that he lived a floor above her.
Aidra was quiet a moment before she said, “It’s never easy the first time—or any time after, really. The fear is always there, ready to drown you should the slightest touch evoke memories that are better left forgotten.”
Since she had arrived at the château, Luna didn’t think Aidra had ever said something quite so personal. At first, she had thought it was because the other woman didn’t care to get to know her, but she soon realized that was just who she was.
“But don’t let it defeat you,” Aidra continued. “Someone once told me that the war isn’t over until it’s over—don’t throw in the towel.”
“Thank you,” Luna said, meaning it.
Aidra stood. “Don’t thank me just yet. Kit won’t go easy on you because you’re afraid. Trust me, I know.”
Luna figured it was safe to assume that Aidra had studied under Kit once.
Aidra didn’t stay much longer, drifting back out of the room and leaving Luna to her thoughts—which ultimately turned to Kit.
Or Nix, since it felt like he had been a different person down in that gym.
For a long while she sat there, thinking of the past, of the girl that had always wanted to fight back against her captors though she knew her efforts would be futile.
Before that place, she had never been in a fight, and that coupled with her lacking strength, there was no way she could have gone up against Lawrence and won.
Kit was giving her a chance to change that.
She wouldn’t fuck that up.
Taking a breath, Luna exited the room once more, following the same route they had taken earlier to get back to the gym. Before she got close, she heard someone’s fists hitting hard against the heavy sand bag.
She hesitated in the doorway, watching Kit as he sent his fists flying into the bag. There was power behind his hits, so much that she wondered how he was able to look so unassuming in a suit.
Kit looked distinguished when he was fully dressed—nothing like any killer she had ever seen.
But he was.
“Come to try again?” he asked, looking back at her, his hands going out to steady the swinging bag.
She toed her shoes off before stepping back on the mat.
A curious expression crossed his face as he watched her draw near. Maybe, in the short time she had been gone, he had thought she wasn’t capable—that she was quitting well before she started.
Was he already regretting his choice?
“Don’t go easy on me,” she said once she was in front of him, then held her hands out for him to tape.
She was ready to fight.
Chapter Ten
“If I recall, you were the one telling the Kingmaker not to start a war with Lawrence Kendall. I’m eager to know when you changed your mind since you decided to execute his closest associates.”
There were days when Kit questioned whether it was he working for her as opposed to the other way around considering the way she lectured him.
Aidra, in most instances, wa
s like his own personal checks and balances—though he usually didn’t need one.
Whereas his brother was known for reckless decisions, Kit was always careful about the moves he made, ensuring that before he ever raised a hand, everything was in place and there would be no potential blowback.
With Lawrence’s associates, as Aidra had put it, he hadn’t considered the ramification of his actions, merely sent Fang and his crew to round the men up and bring them back to the château.
If he were to be honest, he had known for some time now that he was going to find the men that had raped Luna of her innocence—it felt right.
Though she wasn’t supposed to matter—she was merely there as a favor to a brother who often exasperated him—talking to her had caused a familiar itch to settle beneath the surface of his skin.
When she spoke of them, everything about her changed. He didn’t think she was aware of it, else she would have masked it, but as soon as she was made to mention them, her gaze would sink to the floor, her hands twisting in her lap.
Luna tried to hide it, but they still had a hold over her, though Kit didn’t doubt why. They were still out there, free to come after her again if they so chose.
Kit didn’t begin to think he could heal whatever memories she had of the place, but he thought he could offer a helping hand in leading her toward recovery.
“Lawrence wouldn’t have gone to my brother if he wanted a war,” Kit said as he dragged on a shirt. “He would have killed Emmett himself and shown everyone what he was capable of—instead, he contracted it out and made it look like it was one of his girls that had done it.”
Cheap, but effective.
“Besides,” Kit went on, “he’ll go to my brother again once he realizes his associates are missing.”
One by one he had had the men picked off and brought here, leaving only just enough evidence to show that the men hadn’t just disappeared, but they had disappeared violently.
“And if he does go to your brother?” Aidra asked, trailing after him as he started out of his room and downstairs.
“As you’re aware, my brother likes his games. Undoubtedly, Luna’s first assignment will involve Lawrence.”
And following his timeline, by the time he was finished training her, she would be more than ready.
Aidra was silent a moment. “That still doesn’t explain why you went through the trouble of bringing them here. They weren’t a part of her training, or you would have had her do it. This was … personal.”
Kit barely spared her a glance though he could feel her gaze boring into the back of his head. “You’re reading too much into this.”
“How long have we known each other now, Nix?” she asked, grabbing his arm to stop him from continuing on. “The most invested I’ve ever seen you in someone’s training was Tăcut, and that was only because he’d been empty in the beginning.”
Back when he was an integral part of the Lotus Society, Kit had overseen a number of subjects for training, making sure their skills were up to par before they ever left the ‘school.’ For those that failed—and there had been many—some were allowed a second round to try and prove themselves, the others were taken out.
Each member of the Wild Bunch had their own faults, and Kit couldn’t recall a single easy training session with any of them, but Tăcut had been different. From the very moment he was brought in, he had been difficult.
Not in the sense that he lashed out at anyone that came near him, but rather he had remained huddled in a darkened corner, refusing to do anything but stare at nothing.
Ever so often, however, he could be seen over video feed rubbing the brand that was burned into the flesh of his arm.
Only one word: tăcut.
Romanian for silent—the name had stuck because there was nothing else to call him.
It wasn’t until much later that Kit even realized his vocal cords had been removed, leaving him without a voice.
Even if he had wanted to speak, he couldn’t.
Two more months of searching had provided him with an answer to the man responsible.
As he had for Luna, Kit delivered the man to Tăcut, but with him, he had allowed him the privilege of killing his tormentor himself.
No, with Luna, he had wanted to do it for her.
Avenge her.
“It was incentive,” Kit said to Aidra, though he knew that was a lie. “And besides, I wanted to see how she would fare in the face of carnage.”
And face it, she had.
A part of him had worried what her reaction would be. There were times she reminded him of a broken little thing that was afraid of her own shadow, others she had a backbone of steel.
She had shown him that Uilleam was right in giving her the opportunity at something more. Not only had she watched him work, but she hadn’t looked away either—not once during the thousand cuts that he delivered to Benjamin’s body.
“Did she pass your test?”
“We’re training today, aren’t we?” he asked in lieu of an answer. “Not to mention, I don’t remember me asking this line of questioning when you invited Fang into your bed.”
They had tried to hide the affair since it started nearly a year ago, back when he first started bringing the Wild Bunch around more often.
As long as their work wasn’t affected and he didn’t have to suffer through tedious fights between them, he didn’t care what they chose to do with their time.
“And is that what this is?” Aidra asked, surprise lighting up her eyes. “You’re interested in the girl?”
“That’s not what I said.”
They were nearly to the stairway leading into the lower level of the house when Luna came around the corner, her gaze behind her so she didn’t notice them straight away, giving Kit a chance to study her.
It was amazing the difference time could make for one’s health. Already, she had gained weight, though she was still a touch too thin, and the sallow pallor to her skin was nearly gone.
She almost looked like an entirely different person.
Kit couldn’t for the life of him remember a time when he had noticed women’s athletic wear—he hadn’t cared for it one way or the other—but his gaze was drawn to the way the skin-tight pants hugged her legs and the barest hint of the strap of her bra peeked out beneath the shirt she wore.
“Right,” Aidra said in Welsh, the barest trace of a smile on her lips as she spun on her heel. “You definitely didn’t say that.”
“This is your doing,” he said right back, though he never took his eyes off of Luna who was now looking at him with interest—probably wondering what they were saying.
“Don’t blame me when the mind and apparently, the body, are weak.”
She disappeared before he could respond, Luna looking after her as she folded her arms across her chest, self-conscious. Kit knew it was rude to keep her in the dark, especially since their conversation was essentially about her, but he thought it best to keep it to himself.
“Are you ready?” he asked her, taking her down the stairs, around the pool and across the way from the room they had been in the night before.
This one, too, had a heavy metal door, the inside padded to keep the sound from echoing. There was a table that spanned the width of the room, and on the other end were five paper targets hanging against the wall.
On the table spread out before them was a dismantled handgun, along with an M16 on the other side.
“I was going to ask what the first lesson of the day would be,” Luna murmured as her gaze darted around the table.
“Practice, remember,” he said, “you’re still learning how they work. Sit”
At the table, her eyes roamed over all the parts waiting, almost eagerly, for what came next.
First, he showed her the recoil spring and its guide, then where it was placed on the barrel, and where the slide was positioned on that. Once those pieces were together, he attached it to the bottom half of the gun with a firm click and inser
ted the magazine.
Once he had it together, he dismantled it once more, thoroughly explaining each step before he placed the last piece on the table.
“Your turn,” he said with a gesture of his hand down at the table.
Stumbling through her first attempt, there were very few errors, and by the time she was on her fifth, she had it assembled with very little help from him.
She showed progress yet. “Very good.”
“What’s next?”
Kit slipped a blindfold from his pocket, holding it up for her to see. “Put this on and repeat what you just did.”
He expected apprehension, but instead he got determination as she held her hand out for the cloth.
There was promise for her yet.
Fang was, by far, the easiest to like, not that he really seemed to give people much of a choice. He had a rather sunny, albeit morbid, disposition that took a bit of getting used to, but Luna liked him all the same.
Thanatos and Invictus were both friendly—in their own way. The two were often together, and seemed the closest of the four, but Luna hadn’t understood why until she spent an afternoon with the two of them. They were ying and yang,
Tăcut on the other hand … he only seemed to be tolerating her existence.
At first, Luna had thought that it was because of their lack of communication. She knew he could understand her just fine, but because he couldn’t speak, she could only go off of his body language, which might have been easier had he not always had his arms folded across his chest and a permanent scowl on his face.
It had only been made worse when she had stumbled into the lot of them one evening and found that Tăcut knew sign language. The other three understood what he was saying well enough—Thanatos even laughing at something that he gestured.
It wasn’t until then that Luna thought maybe he wasn’t interested in talking to her at all.
She wondered if she had done something to inadvertently offend him, but after drawing a blank—there were very few interactions between them to even review—she just chalked it up to him just not being interested in her.
Now, she made it a point to give him his space.
It was also for that reason that Luna had disappeared down into the training room, giving the Wild Bunch their freedom upstairs.
Nix. (Den of Mercenaries Book 3) Page 11