Slade

by Simpson, Serena

  “Am I too late for dinner?” Dante popped into the room.

  “I swear that created is a menace to society,” Slade sighed.

  “You don’t know the half of it brother.” Aran slapped him on his back before pushing him towards a chair. “Sit little brother.”

  “You know were the same exact age, right?”

  “You keep thinking that, I'm sure my side opened seconds before yours.”

  *~*~*~*

  “What do you mean we can’t fight in this war? I am his brother, his twin. All of us are his brothers.” Aran pointed to Sergey before he included the other males in the room.

  “What happens if you both go down in the battle?” Dante asked him.

  “Why would that happen,” Aran demanded.

  “Because when you tempt fate stupid shit happens,” Dante spat out.

  Aran rocked back on his heels. It was rare to see Dante lose his cool even when he lost it deliberately.

  “Do you think I rescued Mila and had her trained in secrecy because the created were going to be able to ride in on their huge steads and save the day?”

  “You can’t expect my mate to fight the twin eater on her own,” Slade didn’t raise his voice. There was no way he would ever send a warrior to battle by himself. He spent too many centuries paying the price of going up against an enemy alone.

  “What I expect is Aran, Rena, and his brothers to stay out of it. Yes, I know that Slade is your brother. Sometimes you have to allow your family to fight their own battles.”

  “Dante has a point, even if I hate it. You can’t fight this battle for me. You haven’t seen Mila fight, but she’s incredible, and she won’t be alone any more than your Rena would be alone.”

  Aran stood to pace in front of the windows. Slade began to pace in front of the fireplace.

  “That’s how I know we’re twins,” Aran told him. “We both think better when we’re moving.”

  “I know you got it from me.” They both laughed.

  “Sitting at home knowing your fighting without me is going to be hell.”

  “It won’t be the first time.”

  “I intend to make sure it’s the last time,” Aran growled.

  With those words, Slade realized that his family was much bigger than just the brothers in his home.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Mila walked to the balcony and began to climb to Slade’s sanctuary. Meeting the sister who you consigned to the grave to keep yourself from going crazy, hadn’t been easy. Rena was alive. Why was she so shocked? She knew she was alive, but the thought or even the idea of meeting her after all these years was foreign.

  She talked to her sister. The emotions inside of her ranged from happiness and elation to rage and despair. Everything in between came to visit as well. There was a violent storm being raged inside of her. She was afraid when it passed by, she’d be nothing but an empty shell of who she used to be.

  “Mila.”

  She swirled around. “You! You made my life miserable.” Without thought she launched herself at him, kicking and screaming. “I hate you!” She yelled until every emotion tore its way from her heart and her skin leaving her empty and drained.

  When the storm was over, she collapsed in his arms nothing but tears and little hiccups remained of the bitterness and hope that fled her.

  “I hate you.”

  “I know. My hands were tied, there was little I could do. No one is all powerful, there is always someone else trying to pull the strings.”

  “What do you mean your hands were tied?” She rubbed her face and came back with a handful of makeup. That’s why she hated the stuff, but she wanted to look nice when she met Slade’s brother.

  She gave Dante a defiant look then used the bottom of his shirt to wipe her face. When she looked up, he had a face towel in his hand and a chuckle on his lips. His shirt changed, and he led her to a seat.

  “It was felt that your death would stop Trogon from coming closer to the Earth. I didn’t agree with that theory. Resurrecting you meant war. To stop something that would destroy the earth, I agreed to conditions. You already know them because you lived through them.”

  “You’re the reason I have Me’akal.” She remembered once when she was a teen, he told her that they—the powers that be—wanted to dump her on some planet and forget about her until she was called to fight.

  “Yes. He did the best he could. He was fighting a battle of his own and wasn’t prepared to raise a preteen and a teen.”

  “He rose to the challenge.”

  “He did especially when you chose to be bitter.”

  “It’s becoming easier for me to look back and say I shouldn’t have been bitter, but when you’re living something day in and day out.” She stopped speaking and shrugged her shoulders. There was no excuse for her behavior as a child. If she was honest, she didn’t think she should have to defend herself.

  “It’s a lot harder to rationalize. No one has the right to ask a child to think or act like an adult. You should know that Me’akal loves you. You’re the daughter of his heart and always will be. Look at me Mila.” He waited until she dried her eyes again and then met his eyes.

  Dante’s eyes were the brightest blue taking in the world around him along with her every thought and emotion. He blinked, and they became such an unremarkable blue that she wondered which one was truly him.

  Dante leaned in close. His nose was inches away from hers. His voice dropped giving her no choice but to concentrate on every word.

  “Me’akal taught you an ancient fighting form that most of the galaxy has forgotten. He taught it until you can do it in your sleep. This was not so you could defeat Trogon, it was so you could walk away after. If you live or die, it will be up to you. You know all that you need to defeat Trogon. Tell Slade he’ll see me around.”

  Dante disappeared as Slade stepped onto the rooftop deck calling her name.

  “Was that Dante?”

  “Yeah, he said he’ll be seeing you around.”

  “I hate that guy.”

  “Funny, I did too, but I think he might be growing on me.”

  “Like a fungus.”

  “Ugh, Slade!” She had to laugh. Rena hugged her the way they did when they were kids, and she cried with her. Dante explained something, not in words, but in images, that meant more than words. Now Slade was here making her laugh. True, her life wasn’t gravy, but it had the potential to get better. Mmm gravy.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  “Gravy.”

  “That’s because you didn’t eat.”

  “I wasn’t really hungry.”

  “I know, but you’re in luck. I should get the mate of the year award.” He walked over to the silver contraption and pulled out a plate. “One steak medium well, mashed potatoes and gravy, along with baby Brussel sprouts.”

  “You are amazing.” He handed her the plate. Once she sat it down; she went for a kiss. “I am so hungry. I feel like I walked through a war zone.”

  Slade pulled a plate out for himself. He sat by Mila and ate while watching her.

  “I get that I’m gorgeous, but I think you have something on your mind.”

  “I know that you have agreed to marry me, but would you agree to become my mate?”

  She stopped a bite of mashed potatoes hanging on her fork. Taking a deep breath, she ate the bite and carefully sat down the fork. She wiped her mouth then took a drink before she finally lifted her eyes to look at him.

  “Marriage is negotiable, something that can be done away with by the stroke of a pen. Mating is different. I may not know all the ins and outs, but I know there’s no goodbye after it’s done.”

  “It’s for life.” Slade pushed his plate back before he scooted to the end of the chair he was on. His back stiffened as he reached out and took her hands. His eyes were on her lasered focus.

  “What if… what if we win? What if I live and then you're tired of me? It’s easy to ask someone to be your mate
when you know they are dying. Like some young girl marrying a rich guy in his nineties. Not trying to be morbid, but yeah, she’s probably doing it for the money.”

  “You’re my mate Mila, whether you live or die. I’ll never have another. Personally, I’d prefer you to live. I don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but we have right now.”

  “You do know what tomorrow will bring and so do I.” She jumped up to pace around stopping to stare at the moon in the sky. It seemed so much larger, maybe she was just closer to it than normal.

  “Trogon will come. I feel like some creepy monster on a commercial when I say that, but he will come. When he does, he’s coming with the thought to eradicate us from the face of the earth. Most likely I will die, but I will not let you perish with me.”

  “Let me? Because you can stop me?” Slade’s eyes blazed, but he held himself back.

  “Yes! Isn’t that what loving me means? You listen to what I have to say and do the reasonable thing.”

  “If the reasonable thing is to let you face a killer by yourself, then hell no.” Slade got up to pace back and forth.

  “I’m the one that trained all her life for this fight,” she shouted at him. Her head was throbbing. She pressed the palm of her hand against it as she mirrored him in her pacing.

  “Little warrior I am centuries old, not decades. Do you really think I’ll let you go to war by yourself while I sit in the house and wait for the outcome? What kind of sense does that make?”

  “I don’t know; I don’t know anything anymore. You want to fight; Rena wants to fight. All my life I thought I was in this alone. Now I have family coming out of the woodwork. I need… time.”

  She pushed past him and climbed down. She stopped for a moment in the penthouse and then left it. No one stopped her when she stalked through the kitchen and out the door. She got into her car and took off.

  “Where are we going?”

  She knew Me’akal was in the car with her, but his voice still startled her.

  “Not sure.”

  “Alright drive on and I’ll listen to some music.” He turned on a station that was playing all of today's hits or future hits. She sang along enjoying the music while letting her muscles unwind.

  “He wants to bite me,” she finally said.

  “So, you started an argument and ran like a bat out of hell.”

  “You know me too well. He thinks he should fight by my side when Trogon reveals himself.”

  “Tell me where else you would be if your mate was going to war?”

  “That's not fair. You taught me to fight that I had a job to do. You can’t act like that never happened.”

  “When did I teach you to fight alone?”

  He had taught her what to do if she was ever alone, but he had also taught her how to fight with a partner. ‘Coordination Mila. Pay attention to your partner's signals, he can’t come out and say faint left.’ Me’akal taught her for hours. When she wanted to give up, he had drilled her. They critiqued fight scenes and even choreographed dances. (Which is why she should have been a better dancer.)

  “You taught me how to fight in any situation.” There was a bit of awe in her voice. She hadn’t realized what he was doing. Dante was right Me’akal was teaching her to win and live.

  “What if he doesn’t want me after the fight?” She hated to voice her real reason, but it beat in her chest like tainted blood trying to infest her.

  “You mean now that he’s had a little insight to the bitter and stubborn teen you were?”

  “We can’t all be perfect.”

  “But some of us come close. If he loves you, he’s not going anywhere. I believe since he asked you to mate with him that he loves you.”

  “What if he only wants it because I’m all he gets?”

  “Do you remember our first meeting?”

  “Yeah.” Dante brought her to a broken-down house. She liked to call it a shack, but it only looked that way on the outside. Me’akal was sitting on the couch one leg over the other. She was screaming bloody murder and fighting Dante.

  She knew she had to do this. There was no way she was going to let Rena die, but she was scared and wanted to go home.

  “I thought your eyes were going to pop out of your head when you saw me. Dante tossed me in and said she’s your problem now. You cussed and said you were leaving the next day.”

  “Do you know why I stayed?”

  “No.”

  “You sat across the room from me on the floor. You snarled and snapped, then screamed and cried. Then you threw every curse word you knew at me, even accused me of being a pedophile waiting for you to fall asleep.”

  Her cheeks heated up. It had been a long time ago, but it was the truth.

  “When you had nothing else in you and the spit and determination to be free waned you fell asleep. I waited until I was sure you wouldn’t wake before I picked you up. Then you curled into my arms. I carried you to your room and sat on the edge of the bed holding you for a while. When I finally laid you down and took off your shoes and socks, I had come to a conclusion.”

  “What was it?”

  “I pulled the cover over you and watched as you made little cozy movements then fell deeper asleep. I realized that the preteen was as soft as a flower and as strong as a young tree. I decided right then to teach you Ky Zo Mol. It’s an ancient fighting method that very few people study and fewer master. You set the galaxy to shame with what you have accomplished.”

  “I need to know more.”

  “You need to teach. You have mastered the technique the only thing holding you back is yourself.”

  She pulled the car over. “Wait for me here?” He nodded, and she walked over a field strewn with flowers and gravestones.

  “Great minds think alike,” Rena told her when she stopped at their parent’s grave.

  “I should have known you would be here. We always did think alike. Where’s Aran?”

  Rena pointed over her shoulder. Mila had to squint to see him, not because he was far away, but because he was blending with the shadows.

  Mila reached out, and Rena took her hand reminding her of how her parents loved her.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Slade was sitting on a chair in the living room when she got back. The lights were out; he was in the dark. She took her shoes off and curled up on his lap.

  “When I was young, I knew what love was. Rena and I would talk about how we would grow up and find the perfect man for us. We would get houses next door to each other, and our children would be the best of friends. I guess when your parents tell you they’re soul mates and preach about love, at first sight. You expect a fairytale.

  “Then the river incident changed my life for good. As time went on, I grew bitter, I stopped believing in soulmates. I consigned my life to the grave long before I ever lived. When I walked into this house, I had no intentions of walking out. I wanted to free the women here. I gave Me’akal strict instructions to get them to safety then come back and blow this place to high heaven. I might as well go up in one glorious ball of fire. Then I saw you. The hell if I knew what I was doing after I laid eyes on you.” She laid her head on his chest to breathe in his scent.

  “I was committed to living my life alone. I already knew it was time for me to give up my last tie to Brie. I had my brothers and my sisters as well as my nieces and nephews, but I was making plans to leave. They didn’t need me around. Then this whirlwind walked in the door. I couldn’t take my eyes off of you. That’s where it got sticky. My mind said Brie, and my heart said Brie who.”

  “All I could think was there was no way I could kill you.”

  “That’s a relief,” He chuckled before his hand went to her cheek.

  “Everything after that has felt like a whirlwind. I was never sure if I was coming or going. The more I got to know you, the better I liked you. I warned my heart that you weren’t for me, even after you asked me to marry you. I was supposed to do lots of things Slade but falling in love w
ith you wasn’t one of them.”

  “I love you Mila. I thought it was possible when I asked you to marry me. I knew it was more than a whim when I couldn’t make love to you with Brie standing between us.”

  “We’re a pair. I could die; you could die.”

  “I know the answer to this one. Not because I’m all knowing, but I pay attention to my brothers. Phoenix told Rylee if we don’t mate now and win the war what happens when the next one comes, and we’re mated. You’ve seen my body. I was never guaranteed to get out of those situations. If I had waited to live life, I might be dead.”

  “It’s a beautiful body.” She kissed him on the side of his neck. “Tell me about being mated.”

  He stood with her in his arms and crossed to the elevator. Once they were in their slice of heaven, he sat with her cradled on the couch.

  “For us, it happens with a bite. The exchanging of a small portion of DNA just enough to synch us together. Your life span will increase to match mine. If I die, there is a good chance you will too. I don’t know for sure because I don’t know of a case of a mated created dying. I won’t be volunteering to be the first.”

  “Yes, no more volunteering.” She smiled his tribute comments running through her mind. “I’m not sweet and charming like your sisters. Yes dear is not my default.”

  “Seriously? Have you met them? They are sweet and charming. It hides their tyrannical side.”

  She laughed, “I think you went overboard, but okay. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “Mila, I don’t want them. They make the perfect sisters and the perfect mates to my brothers, but I want and I need you.” His hand went down the side of her face before it stopped to caress at the pulse point in her neck. “I love how you’re not disgusted that I need a little more oomph when I make love. You never cry out that my touch is too hard. Or that the swing of my hips is too much.”

  “You keep that up and we’ll be tabling this conversation for other things.” She bit her lip thinking of how good he felt in her.

  “I could taste you,” his deep voice rumbled in her ear.