“She can stay down here,” Abbott offered.
Time for me to speak. “I won’t let some asshole make me lock myself up in fear. This is another weapon in my arsenal, that’s all, and making the knife is easy. The comparison to the knife and the laser is the comparison between simple addition and calculus. I haven’t actually cut anything with the knife yet, and that may change things, but making it is almost too easy. Also,” I said as I looked at Mordecai, “I still want to see if I can make a metaphysical quarterstaff.” I looked back at Aaron. “Now that I can have a lot of fun with on a bad guy.”
Aaron jerked as he took in my words. “Could you make a metaphysical quarterstaff? Would it work the same way? You’re right, you’d be super deadly with one. The thought scares even me.”
“One way to find out.”
I stood and walked behind the sofa and outside the seating area, looked around to be sure I had enough room, held my hands up, imagined a quarterstaff in my hands, and it just appeared.
I tried to think of what one would do to set wood, because a kiln or forge would burn it up. I imagined curing it, and grinned as I felt it solidify.
Cautious at first, I twirled it around while the men suddenly seemed… not scared so much as... alarmed.
“What? You all look as if you’ve just been given terrifying news? This is a good thing. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. I’ve been screwing around with the laser when I could’ve just made a quarterstaff and kicked ass without depleting my reserves.”
Aaron was the first to answer. “You look pretty fucking scary holding a nángùn made of light. Is it my imagination, or was it much easier for you to make the staff than the knife?”
“Not your imagination, but I feel really comfortable holding one of these, so probably not surprising.”
Mordecai spoke up. “What would it take for you to put a blade on the end of your staff?”
I thought about it, and it was there. And then I just intended for it to solidify, and it did. No need to think of a forge or kiln anymore. I looked at Mordecai and said, “Not much thought needed. It appears I’m much faster at putting a blade on something already in my hand than I am at creating blade and handle all together.”
“Absorb that and let’s try something else, please.”
I did, trying not to gasp in pain as the energy hit some pretty raw nerves on the way back in. Mordecai either didn’t notice I was in pain or ignored it. I assumed the latter but didn’t complain. He told me to create a five inch long stick and then create the blade. I opened my hand and imagined closing it around the stick, then imagined the blade on it, and then solidified the whole thing. Six seconds, tops.
Aaron looked like all of the blood had drained from his head. I would say he was white as a ghost, but the ghosts I’ve seen didn’t seem all that white, to me.
“Aaron, you look like you’re about to pass out. What are you not telling me?”
“Not my secrets to tell, even though it’s information you really need.” He shook his head and stared at the floor. “If I were to tell you then we’d both have to die, along with anyone else in the room.” He looked at Mordecai. “They bound you with the information too, didn’t they?”
“Yes. If either of us tells, they’ll know as soon as we mean to — even before the words leave our mouths or our fingers write or type it. My binding won’t even allow me to leave clues. I can think of no way to get the information to her.”
Aaron looked at me again. “I feel a lot better with you holding a quarterstaff than a knife. I understand why Mordecai wants to train you with a knife and eventually a sword, as it may be important at some point for you to be seen confidently wielding a sword, but for now, if you need to defend yourself, pull on your skills with the quarterstaff.” He shook his head and said, “I’d still like to squirrel you away to a deserted island in the middle of the ocean, but I’ll have to make do with bodyguards.”
Aaron left at dark, and Mordecai and I levitated down to the shelf on the side of the cliff. I made a knife and cut some rocks and branches with ease. He had me stab the cliff and withdraw the blade, and as he investigated the hole I asked, “Hey I don’t suppose Excalibur was—”
I stopped myself, feeling silly for even asking, but he said, “You tell me, could you put it into a rock and make it stay a knife for decades without you around to keep it that way, and so that only someone else who could wield such a weapon could pull it out?”
“Well, not right now. But if I were to live another couple hundred years and gain experience as quickly as I’ve been gaining it tonight, who knows?”
This obviously wasn’t the answer he was looking for, and I got a “harumph” out of him. We’d been on the ledge for at least thirty minutes at that point and I told him I was tired and wanted to call it a night.
He leaned against the cliff and said, “We need to talk about something, first.”
I sat on a small boulder and then wished I hadn’t, as I didn’t like looking up at him even more than usual. He was a good twenty inches taller when we were standing, and this was too much. I couldn’t figure out how to stand back up without looking undetermined, though, so I looked out at the water as I waited for him to speak.
“Aaron tells me he’s been working to increase your capacity, and has explained he thinks it might be easier on you if—”
I held my hand up and said, “No!” a lot louder and more vehemently than I meant. “Please don’t finish your sentence. I know what he thinks and…” I shook my head, still staring at the river below us, through the trees. “Forget he said anything, okay? I can’t believe he told you.”
He squatted beside me, bent his head down to my level, and touched my cheek to turn it towards him. “Don’t be embarrassed, mon petite trésor. Aaron was right to talk to me.”
“Little treasure?” I asked, and then realized there was more, and corrected with, “Your little treasure?”
He nodded and I said, “I’m your student, and I hope I can be considered your ally, and eventually a friend, but treasure makes no sense.”
“A human who can do the things you can? You’re either a treasure or something to be terrified of, and I’m choosing treasure.”
“You can’t be killed though, right?”
He looked at me through a dozen of my very rapid heartbeats before he said, “It isn’t common knowledge, but it’s assumed I can be killed by a few of my kind, as they’ve killed a few others of our kind. The only ones who’ve successfully killed one of us wield a weapon such as yours, so it’s unknown whether you could hurt me or not. The blue light injures us but doesn’t kill, while the red and white can kill. The assumption is they can kill us because their weapon is made from an aura much like our own, which means a weapon made from your human aura won’t be enough to do it, but I’m not willing to take the chance.”
“You took a risk by telling me this.”
“Yes and no. I don’t want you to think you can be careless around me because I’m supposedly immortal.”
I smiled. “So, not a risk, but covering your ass.”
He returned my smile and said, “We will discuss my helping you increase your capacity another time. Have you had any luck producing a flame?”
I’d only practiced a few times, with no positive results, so I shook my head and told him, “No, and to be honest I’m thinking I should spend more time practicing with the knife than the flame in the coming days.”
“Five minutes a day towards the flame.” He nodded towards the top of the cliff. “Go on up and I’ll be right behind you.”
As I reached the top I realized I wasn’t anywhere near as drained as I’d been the first night. I was physically tired, but my energy wasn’t depleted. It made sense because using the knife was so much easier. The laser was great if someone was farther away, but a sword or quarterstaff would work better for close fighting. Also, I could use it as a deterrent, a great big ‘Are you sure you want to fuck with me?’ image to bur
n into their brain.
Mordecai followed me home, saying he had instructions from Aaron to hand me over to Cora, who was waiting down the street from the house and fell in behind us, so she and I pulled into my driveway together while Mordecai kept going.
Cora and I hugged in the driveway when we got out of our cars. She’s six feet tall with beautiful brown hair and green eyes, and is built like a sexy bodybuilder. I rarely see her in jeans — she does casual chic as well as a model, and with her height she pulls the look off even if she isn’t skin and bones. Tonight she was wearing black leggings with a charcoal skirt and a skintight hot pink knit shirt with a short charcoal jacket over the top. Oh, and her incredibly sexy black boots, even if they didn’t have a heel. She had several pairs of them all in different colors, and she apparently had them handmade so she could look good while she kicked ass. I planned to talk to her about having some made for me while she was here this time. It wouldn’t hurt for me to have something to wear when I wanted to look nice but still be able to run if I needed.
Cora had a suitcase, a duffel, and a backpack.
“Your options,” I told her, “are to sleep in Lauren’s bed, and Lauren can bunk with me. Or, if it isn’t too weird, you can sleep with me.”
“I can protect you better if I’m in your room, and I hate sleeping alone, anyway.”
I knew she lived with several other werewolves and they all slept together in a (usually) nonsexual way, so I said, “Sure, why not. It’ll be like a slumber party.”
Lauren was in the shower when we went in, and Xiaolan was in the family room.
I introduced Xiaolan to Cora and told her, “Cora will be staying with us for a while. She’s sensitive to carbohydrates and will bring meat into the house. She’s stayed with us before and we’ve managed to make it work. I’m sure we will this time, too.”
Xiaolan raised her eyebrows, but didn’t question me. She’d lived with us for months and there’d never been meat in the house. But, Cora is a werewolf and needed a lot of meat, though I couldn’t give Xiaolan that explanation. We had a grill out back and Cora used it to cook as often as possible to keep from making the house smell, and I did my best not to complain of the place smelling like roasting pieces of dead animals
Cora and I went upstairs to get her settled in, and I was cleaning out a few drawers when Lauren heard us talking and came running out of the bathroom with her robe on to give Cora a giant hug.
Smokey was never terribly sure about Cora. He realized she wasn’t a threat so he didn’t treat her like one, but he also followed her around and never took his eyes off her. I wondered how he’d feel about her sleeping in my bed.
I’d forgotten to ask Aaron how to handle the bodyguard situation while I was with Master James tomorrow. No way in hell was Nathan going to be close enough to bodyguard — not with his hearing. I called Aaron and told him, “I need Tyler or Ranger to guard me while I’m with James tomorrow.”
“Sorry Bug, as good as Tyler and Ranger are, they aren’t good enough for this threat.”
It seemed anytime someone mentioned the fact I’m submissive, Nathan treated me as less than, and since he’s supposedly a Dom, it made me respect him less. I only submit to people I’ve agreed to a power exchange with, and I had the feeling he expected me to submit to him just because he’s a Dom. It pissed me off, which in turn ticked him off, and it was pretty much impossible for us to get along. In recent weeks we’d at least found a way to work together without taking constant pot-shots at each other.
I didn’t go through all that with Aaron, though, I merely said, “Anyone besides Nathan. He’s a misogynistic asshole and the last thing I need is for him to hear me having a scene with James. Like you said earlier, Nathan and I are at a nice truce and I don’t want to screw it up.”
Aaron sighed. “He’s only a misogynistic asshole to you, Bug. Patrick is out of town on assignment and won’t return until Thursday. I’ll put him onto your rotation once he’s back, and he’ll be able to go with you next week if you still need guards by then. I’m sorry, but it’s either me, Nathan, or Cora tomorrow.”
I sighed. I’d really been looking forward to being beaten to multiple orgasms. My best chance at keeping things slow with Abbott was making sure I was as sexually fulfilled as possible. However, no way would I force Aaron to listen, and Nathan was out, and if Cora was going to be sleeping with me then she didn’t need to hear, either. “Okay, I’ll tell James I won’t be able to see him tomorrow, then.”
“What will you tell him?”
“The truth, I can’t lie to him. I’ll let him know my life is in danger, I have bodyguards on me, and I don’t want to endanger him. Plus it would be awkward to scene in front of a bodyguard who’s supposed to be protecting me.”
“Okay. Sleep well.”
I texted James with a Y and he called back a few minutes later.
“I’m sorry, Sir, but I have to cancel our plans tomorrow. My life is apparently in danger, and I have a bodyguard with me, which would make things a little awkward for a scene.”
I could hear the concern in his voice as he asked, “Has there been an actual attempt on you, or is this a precaution? You know you’re more than welcome to one of the cabins, if you need to hide out a while.”
“Thanks for the offer, but you know my feelings about running and hiding.”
“I also know this is the third time your patients have put you in a tight spot. If it’s the same patient then it’s time to get rid of him or her, and if not, maybe you can screen better? The patient confidentiality laws should go out the window if one of them puts your life in danger.”
He sounded genuinely upset, but I didn’t correct his assumptions. I tried to never lie to him, as I considered the trust between us to be sacrosanct, but I also needed to protect him from all things supernatural.
“I’ll be fine, Sir, though I could’ve really used the stress relief of a good beating tomorrow. I’ll miss you.”
“And I, you, dear one. I’m always a phone call away, let me know if you need to talk, or need moral support. I’m here as a mentor however I can help, and you know if things get serious with someone it won’t hurt my feelings for the two of us to back off, if you need time with just him. The end game is for you to find a relationship and walk away from me, and if I ever find out you’re avoiding other men because I’m in your life, our arrangement will end.”
“I know, Master James. This has nothing to do with the new guy. You know I’m always upfront with you about my love life when there’s someone in it, and I’m still not sure I want to pursue things with Abbott. He’s nice, and seems to know what he’s doing as a Dom, but something about him sets me on edge. I mean, flying to Chicago for a play on our first real date? Isn’t that a bit much?”
“Perhaps, but maybe not. Some men go all out on the first date to be sure they get a second one. Did he go overboard because he’s too cocky, or because he isn’t?”
“With Abbott, I’d say it’s the former, but you might have a point. He said he did it to show me I was special, not to impress me.”
“Then give him a chance, Dear One.”
When I finally disconnected with Master James, Cora was already in my bed, in shorts and a t-shirt, lying on the side closest to the window. She must’ve remembered I liked to sleep on the side nearest the door. Or, maybe she just looked at the nightstands and saw which held my tablet, Kindle, alarm clock, and jar of cashews.
I put my flannel pajamas on, remembering as a werewolf she got hot easier. “Do you need me to turn the heat down? Is it too hot for you?”
She shook her head, but I knew as a bodyguard she wasn’t supposed to disrupt our routine unless it was necessary for safety, and I made a mental note to turn it back a few degrees before we went to sleep.
I have a king sized bed so I crawled in and there was still plenty of room between us. I reached for the remote, turned the TV on, and flipped to the weather to see what to expect tomorrow.
When
we’d gone through the forecast I asked if she wanted to watch anything, and turned it to a music station when she shook her head.
She brought up the current threat, and we talked everything over for a while, bouncing around ideas about how we might find the murderer. We didn’t come up with anything.
Chapter Nineteen
The next morning Cora walked outside with me as I left the house. Apparently, it wasn’t good enough for her to know Nathan was outside waiting to take over, she and Nathan had to actually see each other in order for me to be properly handed from one to the other.
I thought Nathan would follow me as I drove my car, but he informed me I’d be riding with him. He was in one of the Drake Security tricked out Renault Sherpas, and he took Lauren’s backpack from her and put it in the back seat — his way of letting me know nonverbally it wasn’t open for discussion.
He might be an ass to me, but he was always a perfect gentleman to Lauren and Xiaolan, and I watched as he helped the two of them into the back seat. I opened the hatch and motioned Smokey in before silently taking my place in the passenger seat. Nathan didn’t offer to help me into the vehicle, which was fine by me.
We dropped Lauren off and then made our way to my office. Xiaolan got her bike and left, and Nathan gave me a small remote barely an inch around with a big button on it to push if I needed him, and then parked himself in the lobby with his laptop. I have no idea what he told my assistant, but she didn’t mention him to me, so I didn’t comment, either.
By the time I was waiting for my last patient to arrive, I was thankful it’d been a short day with only a few appointments, and that none of my clients had a problem with Smokey. The security guard had questioned me that morning, but I’d pulled out the folder with all of Smokey’s certifications. The security guard hadn’t really known what to do, so he let us get on the elevator.
My last patient walked in and Smokey stood. My patient took a seat without closing the door, and Smokey moved to sit at my feet in front of me, gave me that look, and then turned back to face my patient. Something wasn’t right, but I wasn’t going to go off on this patient. I’d been his therapist for years and had no cause to sound an alarm.
Only Human (Kirsten O'Shea Book 1) Page 23