Warrior

by Karen Lynch

  “That went better than I’d hoped,” Desmund said.

  I let out a short laugh as I went to put away the weights Sara had been using. “You should count yourself lucky she likes you. I’m surprised she didn’t send you through the wall.”

  After I’d stacked the weights, I looked at Eldeorin. “Why would you need to apologize for your training? What’s that about?”

  He shrugged. “Sara didn’t have faith in her abilities, and she needed to be pushed beyond what she thought she was capable of. Once she started to believe in herself though…” He smiled proudly. “I believe she is the finest protégé I’ve ever had. Our time together has become the highlight of my week.”

  I ignored his last comment because he’d only made it to annoy me. “Did you know she’d be able to use her power while joined with her Mori?”

  “No, that was a shock to me as well. But then, my little cousin never fails to surprise me.”

  “At least we have that in common.”

  He straightened his clothes, which had been ruffled when Sara threw him. “I know you think she is not ready to be a warrior, and by Mohiri standards, you are right. But Sara is also Fae, and she has powers and abilities you’ll never be able to comprehend. Don’t underestimate her, warrior.”

  I frowned. “What do you –?”

  He vanished before I could finish my question. It was another annoying habit of his.

  I looked at Desmund. “What was that about?”

  “I couldn’t say.”

  Something told me he knew more than he was letting on, but pushing him would be as fruitful as banging my head against the wall. Desmund gave a whole new meaning to the word obstinate.

  “Are you two planning to train her together again?”

  “Yes.”

  I remembered the fury on Sara’s face right before she’d sent him flying. “Good luck. If you’re going to piss her off like that again, you might want to have a peace offering ready.”

  He gave me a puzzled look. “What kind of peace offering?”

  I set down the last weight and headed for the door. “The kind I’m going to get for her now.”

  “What’s that?” he called after me.

  I didn’t answer. He’d have to figure this one out on his own, while I went to a certain Italian place and got the biggest piece of tiramisu they had.

  Chapter 38

  “Nikolas?”

  I pulled my gaze from the rain running down the coffee shop window and looked at Chris. “Sorry, what were you saying?”

  “I said I’m going to take a few guys and check out that lead in San Francisco tomorrow. Unless you already put someone else on it.”

  “No, it’s all yours.”

  We’d gotten a tip yesterday that Adele might be using a third party in San Francisco to communicate with Madeline. I’d planned to send Raoul, but if Chris wanted to go, I had no problem with that.

  He sipped his coffee. “This should be an easy recon job. I was thinking it might be a good one for Jordan.”

  “Jordan? She’s still a trainee.”

  Chris laughed. “Don’t let her hear you say that. She’ll probably kick your ass just to prove you wrong.”

  I smiled. “You’re probably right.”

  Jordan had already seen more action than most first-year warriors. She was also one of the best young swordsmen I’d seen, better than I’d been at her age. And just as driven to prove herself. She’d been asking me for weeks to let her go on a job.

  “Is that a yes?”

  I picked up my coffee. “Yes. She’s ready.”

  I stared at the rain again. Jordan was going to be ecstatic, but I wasn’t sure how Sara would take the news. She’d be happy for her friend, but she’d also question why she was the only one not allowed to go on a job. And none of the answers I gave her were going to go over well.

  Since our talk the morning after the Vancouver attack, I was more understanding of her need for independence and her struggle to keep her own identity. I couldn’t turn off my protectiveness for her, but I could give her room to grow.

  I accepted the fact that she would someday be a warrior, as much as that scared the hell out of me, and I was doing everything I could to prepare her for that day. For the last three weeks, I had trained her hard, and I’d watched her work tirelessly with Desmund until he’d left yesterday to go back to Westhorne. She worked with Eldeorin every day now as well, although I still had no idea what went on in their training.

  I wished I could say our relationship was progressing as well as her training, but we seemed to be at a standstill. After the morning I’d almost taken things too far, I’d avoided nighttime visits to her room. I wanted her too much, and my willpower was weak when it came to her. Every touch and kiss from her made it harder to keep my resolve to wait.

  “You’re not listening to a word I’m saying, are you?”

  I rubbed my jaw and apologized again. “I’m sorry, Chris. I have a lot on my mind these days.”

  “I know. May I offer some advice?”

  I nodded.

  “I don’t know what it’s like to be bonded, but I can tell when two people are crazy about each other. I can also tell when my best friend is miserable. Go to her and tell her how you feel.”

  I scowled at my coffee mug. “You think I haven’t thought about doing that. She’s not ready. She’s –”

  “She’s eighteen.”

  “I know how old she is.”

  “No. I mean that despite everything she’s been through, Sara’s an eighteen-year-old who’s probably never been in love before. I guarantee she’s a hell of a lot more confused about all of this than you are. And scared.”

  “Scared?” I knew she was shy about intimacy, but scared?

  He gave me a grave smile. “Her mother abandoned her when she was a child. I don’t care what Sara says about Madeline, something like that leaves a mark on a person. And then her father was taken from her. I’d be afraid to love someone if that happened to me.”

  “That’s even more reason not to push her and to let her come to me when she’s sure.”

  He sighed. “Did you ever think she might be afraid to say it first, that she’s waiting for you?”

  I had no answer because the thought hadn’t ever occurred to me. I’d been so focused on giving her time and letting her set the pace of our relationship that I hadn’t considered she might be waiting for me. Was it possible? Had I been reading her wrong this whole time?

  My mind immediately went back over the last month, trying to remember every conversation, every look from her. There had been a few times when it felt like she wanted to tell me something, but I’d thought I’d imagined it. Could she have been trying to open up to me?

  Chris shook his head. “Listen, if there’s one thing I know about you two, it’s that you care deeply for each other. And that you’re both stubborn as hell. Okay, maybe I know two things.”

  “Is there a point in there somewhere?”

  “What I’m trying to say is you both want each other, and neither of you is going to say it first. You need to stop holding back and tell that girl how you feel – for everyone’s sake. I can’t stand to see you two like this.”

  * * *

  Work kept me at the command center that night, as it had for most of the week. In the last month, vampires had been attacking Mohiri warriors across the country at an alarming rate. Strongholds had beefed up security, fearful of an attack like the one on Westhorne in early December. Family compounds were the most vulnerable, and some were sending their younger children to strongholds oversees.

  I was never so glad to live in a house with faerie protections. I couldn’t have done my job properly if I was worried about Sara’s safety all day long.

  The next morning, Chris and Jordan left just after dawn for San Francisco, and I spent the better part of the day working. I’d planned to have dinner alone with Sara at the house since Chris and Jordan weren’t expected back until tomorrow. But w
e had three teams out on jobs, which meant fewer of us to monitor them.

  When Raoul offered to do a food run, I knew my dinner plans would have to be put on hold. But there was no reason why Sara couldn’t join us at the command center like she’d been doing almost every day.

  I knocked on her bedroom door, and she called for me to come in. Opening the door, I smiled at the sight of her sitting cross-legged on the bed, surrounded by books and papers. I wondered what she was up to. She hated being idle and didn’t seem to care much for TV, something we had in common.

  “Do you want to come next door with me instead of spending the evening here alone? Raoul is ordering from that Italian place you like.”

  Her face lit up. “That sounds awesome.”

  She moved to get up, and a cat meowed. I walked to the bed, looking at the black and gray tabby I hadn’t noticed on her lap. Something about the animal looked familiar –

  “Is that the cat you had back in Maine?”

  She touched the cat’s head. “Yes, his name is Oscar.”

  “How did your cat get here?” I’d been so busy the last week she’d probably told me someone was sending her cat and I’d forgotten.

  “Eldeorin took me to the apartment today and I brought Oscar back with me.”

  “He did what?”

  A chill went through me. I had to have heard her wrong. There was no way Eldeorin would take her to Maine where she’d almost died at the hands of vampires.

  “It was safe, Nikolas,” she said in a rush. “Eldeorin was with me and I didn’t go outside.”

  Safe? Nate had been turned in that apartment, which meant the Master knew about it and was probably watching it somehow. She’d been taken from there once and I’d almost lost her.

  My Mori growled furiously at the thought of our mate in danger, and my voice rose along with my anger. “What the hell is wrong with him? He knows New Hastings is not safe for you.”

  She laid the cat aside and stood on the other side of the bed.

  “Is any place safe for me? Other than here where I’m surrounded by Faerie wards, is there any place I can go and be safe? It’s a dangerous world for everyone now, not just me.”

  “Everyone else’s safety is not my concern.”

  “And everyone else doesn’t have built-in vampire radar or power like mine. I’m not defenseless, Nikolas, far from it. I’ve killed more vampires than most trainees do before they become warriors. I’m not saying I’m invincible, just that I’m a lot stronger than you think I am.”

  “I know you’re strong, Sara. Khristu!” I raked a hand through my hair, not wanting to think about all the vampires she’d had to kill since I met her. “But we’re not talking about a few vampires looking for you. A Master wants you dead. Every time I think about that, it makes me want to forget my promise and take you far away from here.”

  Her anger faded, and she came around the bed to stand in front of me. She laid her hands on my chest as if she knew her touch was exactly what I needed.

  “There is always going to be some vampire or demon that wants us dead because of what we are. They’ve been trying for a while now, but we’re still here. I have no plans to go anywhere. Do you?”

  “God, I wish it was that easy.” I took her shoulders in my hands, wishing there was a way to make her understand what I was trying to protect her from. “Even with all the things you’ve seen, you still have no idea how much evil is out there and how bad it can get. And I don’t want you to ever have to see that.”

  She opened her mouth, closed it, and opened it again. “About that. There’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about.”

  The second the words were out of her mouth, my phone rang. I didn’t want to answer it because her expression said she was about to share something important with me. A glance at the screen told me it was Raoul, and he wouldn’t call unless it was important.

  I gave her an apologetic look as I put the phone to my ear. “Nikolas here.”

  “Nikolas, we’ve got trouble in San Francisco. Chris’s team got hit by a bunch of gulaks at the wrakk.”

  I swore silently and kept my expression neutral, not wanting to alarm Sara. “When?”

  “Just a few minutes ago. They’re in some kind of standoff now. You want me to take some guys and head up there?”

  “No, I’ll be there in five minutes. Tell Elijah to assemble his team.” I wasn’t worried about Chris. He could handle himself. But I’d sent Jordan out today. If anything happened to her on her first job, I didn’t think Sara or I would forgive me.

  “What’s wrong?” Sara asked when I hung up.

  “One of our teams called in and said they ran into some trouble,” I said calmly. “I’m going to take another team to back them up. It’s nothing you have to worry about.”

  “What team?”

  I shook my head. “Sara, you don’t have to worry about it.”

  Panic filled her eyes, and she clutched my arm tightly. “What team, Nikolas?”

  “Chris’s team.”

  Her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh God. We have to help them.”

  “We will,” I said confidently. I lifted her chin so her eyes met mine. “Chris knows what he’s doing and he’ll keep Jordan safe. Raoul said they are pinned down, but no one is hurt. They’ll be okay.”

  She was quiet for a moment, and her normally expressive face was impossible to read. “Go,” she burst out. “Do what you need to do.”

  I kissed her forehead. “I’ll call you when I find them.”

  She and I would resume our talk when I got back, and this time I’d make sure there were no interruptions.

  Five minutes later, I was on the Ducati, heading north to San Francisco with Elijah’s team following in an SUV. My mind wanted to go in two separate directions. I forced myself to focus on the most important thing now, which was the team’s situation and the best way to handle it when I got there.

  The San Francisco wrakk – or demon marketplace – was located near the waterfront in a nondescript, two-story brick building. I parked my bike out of sight and walked toward the building, ignoring the wind and rain that lashed at me. Elijah’s team was ten minutes behind me, having gotten stuck in a traffic jam that I’d maneuvered around. I couldn’t wait for them. Gulaks were impatient and violent, and they weren’t going to wait around in a standoff for long.

  I’d been to a lot of wrakks over the years, and they were all laid out pretty much the same – rows of stalls selling everything from food to clothes to medicines and glamours. They were one of the few places demonkind could assemble in public and socialize, and they were heavily warded to keep humans away. They didn’t like the Mohiri hanging around either, but they tolerated us. For the most part. Apparently, this wasn’t one of those times.

  I rounded the corner, and my first indication that something was going down inside was a small vrell demon family huddled by the side of the building. The male, female, and two children wore hats to cover their horns, but I knew what they were right away.

  When they saw me, they shied away, moving to the other end of the building, making me think of Sara’s comment about the Mohiri being like boogeymen to demons. Funny how I never realized that before, yet she had seen it after only a week of exposure to them. And then she’d scolded me for it.

  Thinking about Sara, I smiled and raised my hand in a nonthreatening manner as I approached the demons. It was better to find out exactly what the situation was inside the building before I went in.

  I stopped in my tracks as my Mori began to flutter. What the –?

  Backing up a step, I looked at the main door to the building. The fluttering grew stronger.

  “That’s not possible.”

  Solmi, my demon whispered.

  Confusion and a mounting sense of foreboding had me yanking the door open with more force than necessary. The door slammed against the wall, loudly announcing my arrival as I entered the building.

  I sucked in a sharp breath when her pr
esence surrounded me. My heart sped up and my throat felt dry as I strode through the mass of demons that scurried out of my way. I scanned the large room, even as my mind argued there was no way Sara could be here, no matter what my Mori was telling me.

  The crowd parted and I spotted Chris standing in the middle of the room, wearing an uneasy expression that created a sinking feeling deep in my gut. Behind him, dead gulaks littered the floor, too many to count in a single glance.

  “Chris, what the hell is going on here? And why do I feel –?”

  Someone moved behind Chris, and I watched in stunned silence as Sara stepped into view.

  Dressed in black, she had her hair in a ponytail, but a few strands hung around her face as if they’d been pulled free in a fight.

  Blood roared in my ears as the weight of what I was seeing punched me square in the gut.

  Chris raised an arm protectively in front of Sara. “Take it easy, Nikolas. She’s unharmed.”

  In the back of my mind, I knew my best friend was trying to protect his cousin. All my Mori saw was a male trying to keep us from our mate. Red spots floated before my eyes.

  “Move, Chris.”

  “Shit,” he muttered, standing his ground.

  Sara pushed his arm out of the way. She stepped around him to stand several feet away from me, just out of my reach.

  Defiant eyes met mine. “Nikolas.”

  Her lack of fear and the fact that she looked unharmed were the only things keeping my demon in check. But if I didn’t touch her soon, I was going to lose control.

  I held out my hand. “Come here.”

  “Listen, I know you’re upset, but you don’t get to order me around,” she said.

  I breathed through my nostrils, fighting to calm myself. “Sara, I’m trying very hard not to lose it. I need to…”

  Understanding lit her eyes. Without another word, she came to me, and I wrapped my arms tightly around her. The moment her soft body pressed against mine, my Mori quieted and the rage flowed out of me.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I asked harshly when I could speak again.

  She inhaled deeply. “I came to help Chris and Jordan.”