“Don’t be so modest. None of this would have happened without you.”
Ash smiled and rested her head back on his shoulder. They stood in silence for a moment before she untangled herself from his arms and bent down to retrieve a wrapped gift from under the tree. “Merry Christmas, Jackson.”
“For me?” He looked surprised by the gift and Aisline laughed.
“Why are you so shocked? You know I love Christmas, and that includes getting presents.” She almost added ‘for the people I love’, but she held her tongue, fearing it was too soon to utter those words.
“Thank you.” Jackson blushed as he took the present from her hands and carefully removed the wrapping paper. As soon as he saw the gift inside, he sucked in a breath. “I can’t believe it.”
Aisline grinned. “I knew you wanted one.” She’d hunted high and low for his present, wanting to find the perfect thing. It wasn’t exactly romantic to buy your boyfriend a dagger for Christmas, but this one was special. It had been handed down in his family to his father and it had been lost in battle against the Mortuorum way before Jackson had even been born. Ash had searched high and low for it for several months, hitting dead end after dead end, but finally having a break through. She knew how much this would mean to him. Not only had it been his father’s, it had his family crest engraved on the hilt.
“I can’t believe this.” Jackson was stunned.
“Happy Christmas.” Ash kissed him gently on the cheek, pleased that he was so touched by her gift.
Smiling at her with eyes brimming with unshed tears, Jackson reached into his pocket. “Here. It might not be as awesome as your present, but I hope you like it.”
It was a small box and Aisline made quick work of the wrapping paper, laughing at Jackson as she did it. “I can’t believe you got me something.”
“Why are you so shocked? I know you love Christmas, and that includes getting presents.” Jackson smirked as he threw her words back at her.
She shook her head and paused when she dropped the wrapping paper, leaving a small square velvet jewellery box in her palm. In a way, it scared her to open it. What could it be? Wasn’t it too soon for jewellery? Taking a deep breath, she clicked open the lid of the box and gasped when she saw the beautiful necklace inside. On the slim platinum chain, there was a small dagger pendant. Aisline laughed and glanced up at him.
“Great minds think alike, eh?”
“Looks like it.” She smiled as she looked back at the gift, running her finger over the pendent. It was perfect.
“I thought of what I could get you and this seemed perfect the moment I saw it. It’s kinda girly, but kinda badass, just like you.” He laughed.
Aisline swiped at his arm, but she knew exactly what he meant. It was perfect. The whole day had been perfect.
“And, this is one tradition that you forget.”
She looked over at him, worried that she’d forgotten something important, but dissolving in a fit of laughter when he brought out a sprig of mistletoe.
“I can’t believe you forgot this.” He teased and leaned in slowly to kiss her long and deep, making it a night that she’d never forget. After all the work she’d done, all the planning and preparing, it was Jackson that had made this day for her, and it just made her appreciate him more.
Chapter Eight
The Christmas celebrations had lightened everyone’s mood and even though the decorations and the tree were long gone, the good mood continued. They needed that blow out and now each and every one of them were training harder than ever. Kelton noticed the change in them and realised just how hard he had been pushing them. But, now they were ready for it. He could throw anything at them and they’d rise to the challenge. The trainees were making him proud.
Things weren’t going quite so easily for him. The night before Christmas Eve when Marion had spotted Kayleigh in the store, he’d hoped that it would have been the breakthrough he’d been hoping for. It wasn’t to be, though. There hadn’t been another sighting of her. He’d really thought that would be the moment he’d set eyes on her again, but it wasn’t to be. She was hiding in the shadows of the city, but it did his heart good to know that she was still close. It meant that she hadn’t given up on him completely. Or that was what he hoped.
His heart felt like it was shattering. Christmas had been something he had wanted to forget. He hadn’t wanted to join in with the celebrations. He had nothing to celebrate without Kayleigh in his life and he didn’t want his black mood to bring the others down.
Kelton spent every spare second that this schedule allowed out on the streets. He’d been satisfied, if that’s the correct word, to spend his days and nights staring out of the window, waiting for her to come home. There was no way he was ever going to give up waiting for her to come back to him. Now that he knew for sure that she was still in Brandestowen, he couldn’t rest. He was out every chance he could get, trying to find her in the hope of speaking to her.
It was no use, though. He hadn’t seen her in so long that all he had now were his memories to rely on. The scent of her had faded from their rooms and he missed her as if she were a limb someone had torn from his body.
It was killing him. The more he thought about her, the worse his concentration on his warrior-ship was. Things had really come to a head when he accompanied the group out on the streets looking for Kayleigh.
His mind had been only on her. Finding her. Talking to her. Making her see. His mind wasn’t focused on the others around him, the brothers that he had vowed to protect.
They all started out at the place she had last been seen, as they had for the last couple of nights since the sighting. Kelton wasn’t about to give up now, not when they were so close.
Prowling the streets in the dead of night wasn’t a simple thing. Firstly, they always had to have their eyes open for the Lamia Mortuorum, They were their main concern. Secondly, making sure that they remained undetected by the human police. The last thing they needed was them messing in their business, and the amount of weaponry wouldn’t be easily explained away. But, for Kelton, it was Kayleigh who was first and foremost in his thoughts.
That was how the group had managed to get the drop on him. Kelton had broken one of the main rules he always drilled into the trainees – stay with the group, stay in formation. On your own, no matter how well trained you are, you can be picked off one by one. If you stay in your group, you’re a stronger force to be reckoned with.
Kelton forgot this important fact when he spotted a woman with long auburn hair down the street. Even at a glance, he knew that it wasn’t Kayleigh, but the sighting spurred him on. He ran forward, not even thinking of what he was doing. It wasn’t until he heard the grunts of a fight behind him that he even stopped to think about it.
Turning back, the group had been ambushed. The Lamia Mortuorum were stronger in number, but the brothers were holding their own. Kelton rushed back, dagger at the ready. Launching himself into the fray, it took longer than usual to get the whole situation back under their control.
Blood pooled in the street, the scene looking like the massacre it was. Sure, the Mortuorum were bigger in numbers and had taken the team by surprise, but after years of dedicated training, it was hard to take the Sons down.
Bodies of the enemy lay broken in the street, but one of their own were also wounded. Kelton stood back and watched as Master Warrior Verynai took full control of the situation, calling through for the clean-up team and arranging for transport to come and collect the injured warrior.
Bending down next to his brother, Kelton asked, “How bad is it?”
Leon moaned, pushing himself to sit back up, “Not as bad as it looks, but still hurts like a bitch.”
Kelton nodded. The guy had a serious knife wound to his upper arm, deep and nasty. The cut was going to have to be stitched, but they needed to get the loss of blood under control. The wound was pissing blood everywhere. “Here.” Kelton stripped off his jacket and tee, wadded the tee shi
rt up and holding it against the wound to staunch the flow.
Leon moaned again. Kelton knew that it had to be bad. Leon wasn’t the kind of guy that let anything get to him. In the past, he’d even been known to carry on the battle and take down the enemy with a broken arm, not letting the pain get to him until the job was done. To see him sitting on the floor, down and out, Kelton knew it must hurt worse than he was making out.
“We’ve got people on the way.”
“They’d better fucking hurry. If more of those assholes come back, we’re screwed.”
Kelton nodded solemnly.
The guilt he felt was immense. He’d let them down. That was something that had never happened in his entire career with the Sons. He’d always kept his head in the game, keeping his eye on the team and doing everything in his power to take down the enemy and make sure they all got home safely. This time, he’d screwed up royally. The guilt increased when Verynai rounded on him, shoving him hard in the chest.
“What the fuck, Kelton? What are you playing at?” He roared.
“I don’t know man. I messed up.” Kelton was trying to keep his temper. It was his fault that this had happened and he was due all the anger that was directed at him. As a warrior and a man, it was hard for him to stand there and take it.
“Get your fucking head in the game. You’re costing us.”
“I’m trying.”
Verynai burst out laughing, which Kelton really didn’t appreciate. “Well, try harder. You’re putting us all in danger here. If you can’t keep your head straight, you shouldn’t be out here.”
Kelton felt his blood starting to boil. Who the hell did he think he was speaking to? He was the goddamn head of the warrior and for all intent and purposes, his boss. “Watch your mouth, Verynai.” He growled.
Verynai laughed again, making the situation worse than it needed to be. “Why should I? If you can’t take your position seriously and do the job that you vowed to do, what good are you to us?”
“Don’t cross the line.”
“What line? You’ve got your priorities blurred, Kelton, and you’re putting the rest of the team in danger.”
“Verynai.” Kelton said his name in a menacing tone, warning him to stop speaking before this mess got out of control.
“No. I’ll say what fucking needs to be said. You’re out of line and out of control. You can’t do your shit on the streets because your heads not in it. You’re pushing the trainees too far and they’re gonna break. You need to check yourself, Kelton.”
Kelton stepped forward, his hands fisted at his sides. Never before had he wanted to pummel one of his brothers. There was a part of his brain that recognised that Verynai was the one that was speaking to him because he was probably the only one who could get through to him. It was the truth. His lack of attention on the task at hand was putting them all at risk, but to have his actions called out so publically like this? It was bang out of order and as head of the warriors, he couldn’t stand for such insubordination.
“You will keep yourself in check, brother. Remember who you are speaking to.” He growled low and strong.
Verynai shook his head, knowing that this was a lost cause. The rest of them were having to pick up the slack where Kelton was failing and he was too blind to see it. Turning away from him, Verynai walked over to where Leon was on the floor, waiting for help.
“Are you okay, man?”
“I’ll live.”
“He won’t listen to me.” Verynai muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. It was clear to everyone how much Kelton was hurting, but he was pouring out that pain in the wrong way. He was running the trainees into the ground. In his class, Verynai pushed them to the limits, but never past them. Kelton’s class looked like they were running on empty and there was nothing he could do about it.
“If he won’t listen to you, he won’t listen to anyone.”
Verynai nodded slowly. It was true. He and Kelton had a different kind of bond to the other brothers. They worked well together, but they also socialised. He knew just what Kelton was going through without Kayleigh at his side. He himself had lost his one true love in a terrible situation with the Mortuorum. He knew what it was like to feel that emptiness.
However, he also knew that you had to get over it and move on. Not that it was really possible, because the memories and the hurt was forever in the back of your mind and heavy on your heart, but you had to keep moving.
The sound of a car approaching had them all jumping to their feet, ready to guard their wounded solider if they needed to. Luckily, it was the crew that was coming to assist Leon and to drop off the clean-up crew.
Getting into the back of the car, Verynai stared out of the window. He was out of words, out of ideas as to what to do for Kelton. All any of them could do was wait for him to pull through the other side and in meantime, pick up the slack. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but one they’d have to work with for now.
Time was going slowly. The minutes dragged along like hours, dragging out the nightmare of the loneliness she was feeling.
“Why don’t you call him?” Michelle asked as she pottered around the kitchen, making a light salad for them both. She was doing a good job of playing mother hen around Kayleigh, making sure that she ate and slept and did everything she could for the baby growing within. Although Michelle was usually quite a loner, it was refreshing for her to be looking out for someone else. A solitary life was lonely by nature and it was quite novel to have Kayleigh with her. Obviously, she would have preferred it to have been under better circumstances, but it was what it was.
Kayleigh sighed. “I don’t think I could bear it.” It would be too much to hear his voice, knowing that she couldn’t see him, couldn’t touch him.
Missing Kelton was killing her slowly. The more time she spent away from him, the more she couldn’t believe what had happened. There had to be some other explanation to what went on with him and that Cassandra woman. Kelton wasn’t a love rat. He wouldn’t have wanted to cause her that kind of pain.
“You’ll never know until you try it. It could be just what you need. Talking it through with him could resolve some of your issues.”
She knew that what Michelle was saying made sense, but she feared the moment she saw him or heard his voice that she’d be putty in his hands. Of course, she trusted Kelton with her life, but he had cracked that trust now. The more time she had to think about it, the more she realised that the trust wasn’t broken and that it could possibly be repaired. But, in her mind, it was still too soon to test those waters. But, the longer she stayed away, the harder it would be to make that jump. It was a no-win situation.
Michelle had been so good to her in the time she’d been staying there with her. Bless her, she was a bit of a loner and hated having company under normal circumstances, but knew that Kayleigh was in a tight spot and offered to help out. The longer she was there, the worse Kayleigh was feeling about outstaying her welcome, but she couldn’t bring herself to leave. She felt safe at Michelle’s.
“I’ll get out of your hair soon. I promise.”
Michelle laughed, the sound reaching out from the small kitchen. “Don’t be silly. You’re not in my way. It’s been nice to have you here.”
Kayleigh looked down at her hands in her lap. As nice as Michelle was being, she knew that she had to get her act together soon. But just not yet, though. It was still too soon, too raw.
Ash walked over to her bag to grab a clean towel. Kelton was in a foul mood yet again and he was putting the training class through a punishing routine. She was sweating like a pig and carefully sipped at her water, even though she wanted to down the cool liquid, but knowing that she’d throw up if she wasn’t careful. She’d done that once before, guzzling down water in the middle of a training session and she’d ended up as sick as a dog. It wasn’t something she was going to inflict on herself any time soon. She’d learned her lesson.
Everyone in the room was red faced and sweating b
uckets. It wasn’t a pretty sight and the air was ripe. However, Kelton was already roaring at them all to get back to work and stop wasting time. He was acting like a slave driver.
Well, everyone was exhausted, all except for Rhian. She was sitting on the bench at the back of the room with an intense look of disdain on her face, studying her fingernails as if this were the most boring place on the earth. Aisline blatantly ignored her as she walked by her. If she could help it, she wouldn’t give her the time of day. Rhian had been hanging around like a bad smell every single time she and Jackson even walked near one another and it was getting frustrating.
“Why can’t she be more like her sister?” Ash said to Dylan while she glared in Rhian’s direction.
“What do you mean?”
“Cala’s nice. She’s nothing like that little witch.”
Dylan snorted. “Don’t be such a bitch.”
“I’m not. I’m just stating a fact.”
As much as she had tried to get to know the girl and get on with her, Rhian looked down her nose at everyone at the academy. Ash had given up on her a long time ago. It just wasn’t worth the hassle. As a rule, she got on with almost anyone, but Rhian? It was never going to happen. Cala was a whole different matter. She knew that they could be friends if they were given the chance, but with Rhian constantly making demands on her twins’ time, it wasn’t easy.
Rhian refused to take part in the training schedule. From everything that Ash had heard, her sister was trying her best to fit in with her class and she had to agree that Kelton made the right decision to split them up. Cala seemed not too bad and actually quite sweet when she was away from her sister. It was a shame that they didn’t switch them around and then she wouldn’t have to look at Rhian’s sullen face for so many hours each day.
Aisline had tried to spend more time with Cala, knowing that the girl needed a friend, but it was difficult when Rhian constantly got in the way. It seemed like she managed to materialise out of thin air just when Ash thought she was getting somewhere. Poor Cala always looked so torn, wanting to make friends but not wanting to anger her sister. Ash wasn’t sure what to do for the best, so she waited for Cala to make the first move. It seemed like the fair thing to do.
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