The room exploded into questions and Kelton held up a hand to quieten them. “I only found her earlier tonight. That’s why I’m bringing you in here now.”
“Where is she?”
“How did you find her?”
“How did she look?”
“Did you speak to her?”
Kelton shook his head and perched on the edge of his desk. “I can only answer one question at a time. My head’s already banging and I don’t need you all shouting at me.” The stress was settling heavily on his shoulders and a headache of monstrous proportions that had come on from the moment he’d heard the news.
Marion sat forward. “How did she look? Did she appear well?” Obviously, her first thought was how her friend was coping with the pregnancy.
“She did look well.” Kelton smiled, looking down at the ground, getting lost in the memory of her sitting alone in that house. She indeed did look well, but so alone. All Kelton had wanted to do was gather her up in his arms and make everything better, but he couldn’t do that.
“Why the hell are you here? Why aren’t you there? Talking to her and getting her to come home?” Verynai demanded. He saw life in black and whites. The right thing was for Kelton to get Kayleigh and make their relationship right. He didn’t see anything else. “Get off your ass and go and get your woman.” He knew he sounded like a caveman, but they were meant to be together and he couldn’t understand why Kelton was here and not with Kayleigh.
“I can’t. It’s not as easy as that.”
“Sure it is. Talk to her.”
“Verynai, don’t push this.”
“Well, someone needs to push you.”
“Verynai! Give me a break. It’s not that simple. She’s pregnant.”
The room fell quiet once more.
“Shit, man. When you fuck up, you do a proper job of it, don’t you?”
Kelton shook his head. “I told you it isn’t simple. You know me. You know that there’s nothing more that I want than to have her back here where she’s safe and cared for, but I can’t go barrelling in there. I don’t want to scare her away. I’ve only just found her. I don’t want to chase her off again.”
Verynai nodded reluctantly. It was a delicate situation, but he still thought he should be out there, getting her back.
“I’ve had Patrick watching over her place for the daylight hours, but I do plan on going back there tonight. The reason I’ve called you all in here tonight is to let you know that I’m going to be out of commission for a few days.”
“What are you planning on doing?”
“I’m not sure. I’m going to wing it. Going in with a plan isn’t going to work. This is Kayleigh. It’s not something I can plan for.”
“You’re going to get her back?”
“I hope so.” Kelton felt sick at the thought of her rejecting him, but he had to try. It was killing him to be away from her and he would do anything he could to get her back. “I’m going to try at least. So, either way, I’m not going to be around to oversee the trainees or pick up my shifts on the streets. I’ve gotta do this.”
The four of them nodded.
“We’ve got your back. Call us if you need us.” Verynai offered.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Jainey Fieldman asked, desperate to do anything to take the look of pain from Kelton’s face. Marion nodded in agreement. She couldn’t believe the news that Kayleigh had been found. All she wanted was for her friend to come back and make sure she was alright.
Kelton shook his head sadly. “This is something I need to do myself. Only I can mend the mess I’ve made.”
“We’re all here to help, if and when you need it. Remember that.”
“I know. I appreciate that and I’m sure Kayleigh knows that as well.”
“But you’re not on your own with this. You both have friends that want to be there for you.” Jainey said.
“I know and I really appreciate that. I do. But, first I need to sort us out as a couple. Obviously, Kayleigh will know that she can turn to you all, but at the moment, she’s all turned in on herself, building a protective shell. I’m the only one who can break through that.”
“Do you think you can?”
“I can only hope.”
“So, what’s the plan? You going back over there now? Or tonight?”
“Tonight. I need to let her try and get some rest. She’s pregnant with my child. The last thing she needs is to lose sleep at a time like this. Patrick’s going to watch over her today and I’m going back tonight. I just hope that I can talk some sense into her and make her believe me.”
“If anyone can do it, you can, Kelton.” Marion said firmly. “You belong together.”
Kelton felt a sudden lump of emotion in his throat and nodded stiffly. He didn’t want to break in front of them. It was bad enough that he had to share this private information with them, they didn’t need to see that, too.
“We’ll leave you to it, Kelton. You need to get your rest as well.” Marion said, nodding to the others to move out.
“Thank you all.” He knew that he wouldn’t be able to get any rest, but he needed some time to himself to get his head together before he came face to face with Kayleigh.
“You’ll get her back. I know you will.” Verynai said quietly, punching Kelton lightly on the shoulder before he swiftly left the room, waiting outside the door for Dixon.
“What do you want us to do about the girls?” Dixon asked.
“Rhian and Cala?”
“Who else?”
“I’m not sure yet. It’s all a bit of a shock.”
“You need to do something about them.”
Kelton sighed. “What do you mean?”
“Well, they don’t exactly seem set for this kind of life. I don’t mean to get into your personal business, so what you do with them is your business, but from a teacher’s point of view, we’re struggling. You’ve seen for yourself that Rhian flatly refuses to join in with training and as Verynai had reported to you on numerous occasions that Cala is trying but struggling. What are we supposed to do with them?” Warrior Dixon hated to throw this at Kelton at this time, but they did need to know what to do with the twins. They couldn’t just leave it. Cala was running herself ragged trying to keep up with the rest of them and he knew that the only thing would be to set their own training plan, but did they had the man power for one-on-one training? It was a problem.
Shaking his head, Kelton said, “I’ve no idea what’s happening with them to be honest with you. The warrior mark is present but it doesn’t seem to hold the same kind of urge that it does for everyone else. They don’t have the ability or the need to train like the others. Thinking purely from a warrior point of view, I wouldn’t push them any further than they can physically go. I don’t see the point.”
“Yeah, I was thinking the same. I’ll talk to Verynai and we’ll try and work out an alternative training programme for Cala. As I said, she does want to try to do her best so I don’t think we should take this away from her.”
“I think that’s the best idea.”
“We may need to arrange for some personal training. Would you be alright with that?” He had to ask Master Warrior Kelton’s permission before taking up this training scheme and taking one of the other warriors off their training schedule to do this.
“But, Rhian? I’m sorry but we’re going to have to leave that one with you.” Dixon slapped Kelton on the back in a friendly man-gesture before leaving the room, the doctor and professor trailing after him, leaving Kelton alone to his thoughts.
How was he going to talk to Kayleigh? What was he going to do? Just go steaming in there, throw her over his shoulder and drag her home like a caveman? That wasn’t going to work. Kayleigh didn’t respond to actions like that very well. He had to tread carefully.
This was going to be the most important night of his life and it would decide his entire future. Kayleigh held his heart in her hands. Their future was in her hands.
<
br /> The thought of that scared the life out of him.
Chapter Sixteen
Aisline was thoroughly looking forward to seeing what Jackson had planned for them on their day off. She had no idea. It was like they could actually go somewhere and doing something, like a real date. Although that would be pretty difficult. On their day off, they didn’t actually have to stay on the property, but she knew that there was no way that the warriors would allow them to go into the city unsupervised, especially after the abduction. Plus, the snow wouldn’t make it easy to travel anywhere, so whatever he had planned would have to be on the mansions ground.
She’d woken up slightly later than usual. It was blissful not to have to wake up with the screeching alarm, lazing in bed and not being in a rush to get the day started. Last night, it had felt like a real luxury to not have to set it, determined to enjoy every second of this unexpected time off from the moment Kelton had granted it. Ash couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a lie-in. It was way before she’d started at the academy, that’s for sure.
Obviously, she hadn’t been the only one to have the idea of making the most of the rare day off. The boys had fun enjoying their gaming time, staying up late. She knew that they were all planning on having a lazy morning, relishing the extra sleep to recharge their batteries.
The trainees ate at specific times, which was designed to make it easier on the kitchen staff to keep up with food preparation. The academy had to cater for so many people that it was a wonder that they had all pulled off eating together at Christmas. Funnily enough, Ray the head chef, told Ash in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t do that kind of thing more than once a year. He’d gotten so stressed out but he had to admit that it was worth it to see so many happy faces. By the time Aisline had gotten dressed and made herself look somewhat presentable and got down to the dining hall for breakfast, the place was bustling with some of the older students who were grabbing mountains of food before heading out to training.
Sitting down with her tray of food, some of the other guys in her class walked in wearing their casual clothes, waving over to her. When some of the older students asked her why she wasn’t in training yet, she explained about Kelton giving them the day off. She’d half expected them to be annoyed, but funnily enough, that wasn’t the case.
“It’s about time, too.” Kyron said, laughing.
“What do you mean?” Ash looked up puzzled as she poked at her food, unsure where to start with the mountain of deliciousness she’d piled up.
“Well, we’re not blind. Kelton’s been running you all into the ground. It’s pretty obvious to anyone that if he didn’t let up on you lot soon, it was going to end ugly. Even we’d struggle with that level of training and we’ve been doing it a lot longer than you lot.”
“It’s not been that bad.”
Kyron laughed again. “Don’t be daft. You all look exhausted.” He reached over to grab a glass of milk. “You know that every single guy that comes into this place hopes that they’ll have Kelton, the master of his trade, training them and guiding us through the years. I can honestly say that I for one am grateful that I’m not in your class. What he’s been putting you through has been brutal.”
Ash grinned over at him. It was totally true what he was saying, she just didn’t realise that everyone else could see it too. In a way, it made her feel proud. The other guys at the academy had seen what Kelton had been throwing at them and they’d see the group battling their way through it. She saw a new found respect in the faces of those trainees she was sitting with and it was hard to keep the smile off her face.
Now that she was back up in her room, waiting for Jackson, she couldn’t wait for the day to start. There was a restlessness in her bones, her body used to being active by this time of day, but she was enjoying the unexpected relaxation. Even just sitting there on her bed and waiting for Jackson gave her body time to get over the abuse she’d been giving it for months since she’d started her training.
She and Jackson had both been so consumed by their training schedule and their desire to be the best they could be that it was easy for them to forget that they had something else to work on. Being a relationship meant building foundations, looking to the future, but sometimes they were so blinded by their training that they didn’t give each other enough time to build those things. Relationships didn’t come easily, especially in that kind of environment, but they both really wanted to make it work for them. Today was going to go a long way to helping that.
She couldn’t wait to be alone with him. They needed that down time to just relax and be together. Hell, she was just looking forward to a day of not feeling so exhausted that she fell into bed at the end of the day, feeling like a zombie.
The shock of the warrior mark had thrown her for a loop, turning her entire life on its ass. She’d left her old life behind her and had embraced everything the Sons of Satrina had to offer her. The training came easier to her than she thought it would, or at least it had until Kelton had upped the pace to a nearly impossible level. But even then, she’d managed to hold her own most of the time.
But, even though she had thrown herself whole-heartedly into this new life, she wasn’t blind or stupid. She was a girl, after all, and she was now living with hundreds of fit and sexy male trainees and warriors, but it was Jackson who had caught her eye from the very beginning. She still wasn’t sure what it was that had called to her, but from that moment, it was all about Jackson for her.
It hadn’t been an easy ride for them. There had been mutual attraction, but reservations on both sides. They were worried about how a relationship would work in that kind of place, how it would affect their training and vice versa. But, more importantly, it had been Jackson that had sensibly pulled away from her in the beginning. The thought of her going out into the real world, putting herself into dangerous situations and facing the enemy had almost been too much for Jackson to bear, making him pull away from her.
He’d been right, of course. When the field exercise that they’d gone out on had gone drastically wrong, his worst fears had played out before his very eyes. Aisline had ended up in the hands of the Lamia Mortuorum, at the mercy of those vile creatures that they tried to protect the world from. However, as bad as that whole experience had been for both of them, they’d gotten through it and it was what had finally brought them together.
Aisline had done well to recover from everything that had happened to her during the abduction, forcing herself to move forward and try to forget what they’d done to her. She’d spoken about what had happened to her, but the problem was now was that she wanted to forget and get past it. She didn’t want to let what happened to her define her. She was more than that. She was stronger than that.
Luckily, her vampire physiology helped to heal the physical wounds quickly, but it was the psychological scars that still haunted her. She did well to hide it from most people, but Jackson could see when she was struggling. He never pushed her to talk about it, knowing that by being there for her, he was doing everything she needed. Talking and going over and over what happened wouldn’t do her any good. Getting on with her life and making a success of herself would heal the wounds they’d inflicted on her.
Even training was a battle she had to fight to overcome. Back when she’d been healing from the physical wounds of the attack, they had pulled her from the training programme. It had been so hard for her to sit out and watch as the other guys advanced in their training. The warrior mark called to her, urging her to fight and protect. Sitting out was its own kind of torture for her. That’s why she couldn’t understand how Rhian was finding it so easy to dodge the training. The warrior mark held some kind of magic that made you want to train and prepare for the future, even when you felt like you were going to fall dead on your feet from exhaustion, you kept on going. It’s just how it was.
However, when they’d allowed her to start training with the others again, it had been just as bad, if not worse. Even though she
knew the guys she was working with, it didn’t stop the chill of terror that threated to grip her when she was put in a defensive situation. All she could see in her mind’s eye were the faces of those vile creatures that had taken her, beaten, abused and violated her.
It was irrational. She knew that now and she knew that at the time, but as Doctor Phillippe and Kayleigh had explained to her, it was understandable. She’d been through a traumatic experience and anyone would have struggled with it. Not that it made it any easier for her to cope with, but Aisline appreciated them being there for her and explaining that what she was feeling wasn’t unusual.
It was getting better over time. She fought hard to get through it, to get past it. It had been a horrific time in her life, but she didn’t want it to affect the rest of her life. She didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of having that kind of hold over her future. That had taken something from her and she had to build on getting that back. She would not let them destroy her.
In a strange way, what they had done to her had made her a stronger person. She’d been through all the shit that they’d thrown at her and come out of it on the other side. Aisline would never go as far to say that she was grateful that it had happened, but it had made her into a better trainee. She was now a fighter. She was ready to protect everyone from those creatures, especially after seeing first-hand what they could do. It made all the training and the pain that she went through at the academy all worth it. If she could go out there and stop at least one person from going through what she had, then her job would be done.
But, it wasn’t only her position as a trainee warrior that had been affected by the whole attack. It was her personal life, too. There was no way you could go through something like that and come out of it unaffected. Every part of her body and mind would always remember what had been done to her, there was no taking that away. Every so often, someone would say something or do something that reminded her of that night and the shock of her froze her to the spot. That was one of the things she was working at overcoming. She didn’t want it to affect her like that. She wanted to get past that kind of thing and use only the memory to spur her on to protect those that she loved.
Changing Fates: A Sons of Satrina Novel (The Sons of Satrina Book 3) Page 19