When he came back, he helped me to my feet and wiped off my back. The tall grass probably should have been uncomfortable but it had felt like a soft silk sheet, and I didn’t even notice.
Dwight helped me with the bra, and I smiled as he clipped the back for me.
“You know I can dress myself right?” I asked.
“I do.”
My smile widened when he then commenced to pull the shirt over my head. I stepped back and finished the job, trying to not laugh at how caring he was being.
When the shirt was on, he stood there, holding my torn panties. “I’m sorry. I got a little carried away.”
This time, I laughed, loving how his caring made me feel warm. “I’m not sorry. They were in the way.” He tucked them into his pant pockets and I raised an eyebrow.
He didn’t say anything as he held out my pants. When he was about to go on his knees to help me into them, I grabbed them and did it myself. Once I was dressed all the way, including my shoes, I stared at Dwight, still grinning like a big sap.
I didn’t want to be apart from him, which was also new for me. Normally, after hooking up, it didn’t take me long to walk out the door, done with them after getting what I wanted. I had no need to do that with him. In fact, I wanted to be closer. So I stepped forward and hugged him. He wrapped me in his arms and pulled me closer into his massive chest and kissed the top of my head.
“Thank you,” I said. “For dinner, and this place, and well, making me feel good.”
“I’m in this for the long haul. I’ll always take care of you, and you’ll always find me willing to make you feel good. Just don’t pull away from me because of this.”
I squeezed him tighter.
“I won’t.”
And I wasn’t lying either. If anything, I needed him closer now, and while it scared me a little bit, it excited me too.
The drive back to BMS was a quiet affair as we teased each other. I’d rest my hand on his thigh, inch my way closer to his hard member still straining against his jeans. He’d grab my hand, give it a squeeze and return it to my lap, and we’d hold hands until driving made him have to let go.
Then I’d repeat it all over again, hoping eventually, he’d cave and let me return the favor. He was stubborn though, and never did cave, even as we pulled into the parking lot. I sighed and then grinned when his headlights lit up Alijah, standing there in a black t-shirt and the green camo pants all the meatheads had. When I finally managed to talk my way into one of their homes, my first mission was to see if their closets were full of them like my theory suggested.
I jumped out and grinned at Alijah. With the headlights gone, all that was left were the parking lot lights. Alijah used the shadows to hide himself until I got closer, and then he stepped out into the light so I could see him better.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, walking over to him.
“Making sure you go to your room and not to your lab.”
I blinked innocently. “I’d never do that.”
“You would,” Dwight answered, coming around his SUV. “And you need rest. A lot of it. No work tonight. If I find you in your lab before ten tomorrow morning, I’m getting you a hotel and banishing you from the company until the middle of next week.
I scowled. “I don’t appreciate being treated like a kid.”
“Consider this us taking care of you,” Alijah said.
“Fine, I’ll sleep. I promise.” I grumbled, but there wasn’t any real emotion in it. I was exhausted, and sleep sounded wonderful. And I didn’t want a repeat of going into deep sleep. No one liked that, and I didn’t want to worry them again so soon. I had to at least give myself another two weeks before freaking them out again.
“Good. I need to get going, but I’ll be back later in the morning. Alijah, you can stay in the apartment across from her for tonight.”
Alijah nodded, and we watched as Dwight left.
“Are you really babysitting me tonight?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.
“No. I’m on standby for an assignment.”
“And that assignment isn’t me, correct.”
His expression softened as his lip twitched into a small smile. “No, it’s not.” He placed his hand on my lower back and led me inside. “Did you have a good night?”
I grinned, unable to hide the happiness radiating off of me.
“One of the best.”
“Good.”
Chapter Twelve
I somehow managed to do what I’d promised Dwight and stayed out of the lab. That meant in the morning, Davies and Venni pounded on my door until I answered and then dragged me out for a run. I did four miles and hated every second of it.
The guys had to remind me why I was doing this. Because I didn’t want to be defenseless in another battle. I wanted to be able to contribute. The two of them were the real champs, putting up with all my grumbling as my legs burned, and my lungs forgot how to work. I also never knew sweat burned eyes until mine did.
When we finished, I nearly collapsed onto the grass, but they weren’t done with me. Well, Venni and Davies were since they had something to do, but they traded off. Davies even slapped hands with Elliot when he showed up.
I groaned. “You’re my trainer today?” I asked.
He smiled. “I am. They like using me to train others since that’s all I have going for me and I understand the struggles of being a human.”
“I’m not a human.” I straightened, having finally caught my breath. I was still sweating buckets, but at least it no longer felt like a jackhammer in my chest.
“No, but if your magic is taken away, you don’t have much else going for you.” My lip curled at the thought, and he ignored it, still talking. “You don’t have heightened senses, or extra strength, or speed. You’re also female and smaller than the normal supernatural male. If you go head-to-head with another being without your magic, there is no competition; you’ll lose.”
“You make it sound hopeless. So what should I do? Should I just lie there, bare my stomach, and let them at me?”
“No, Laila, you’ll fight. But you’re not going to fight like you probably think. Even I know better than to try to attack Venni. He’ll have my head clean of my shoulders in the first swing. As weaker beings in the strength department, we have to rely on other means.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“Guerilla warfare. You don’t ever try to take a supernatural straight on. You need to learn to move around them, make them work for it. Since they are supes for a reason, we can’t tire them out, and they most likely will heal any damage we give them.”
“Then how do we win?” I asked.
“We don’t.”
I scowled at him, but he just shrugged.
“We distract them, delay them, do what we can until someone strong enough can come help us. I don’t go out in the battlefield for a reason. I wouldn’t last five minutes in it, not when there are vampires too fast to see with the naked eye, and shifters with the strength to punch through metallic walls, or mages and witches who can toss around magic. It sucks to admit it, but I’ll lose. I have to rely on outthinking them, on strategy, on finding their weakness and exploiting it. If I try throwing a punch, it’s the equivalent of a two-year-old trying to punch. They’ll see it coming before I even know I’m going to do a punch, and then they’ll catch my fist and rip my arm off.” His eyes were dark, and I had a feeling he’d seen exactly that happen before. “You’ll have your magic, so you have a chance to survive. My job is to teach you to do that without it. It’s all about the defense. Keep them guessing about what you’re going to do, how you’re going to approach them.”
Elliot put space between us, getting into a similar stance that Rhett had showed me during my first lesson.
“Rhett said you have great instincts in reading people. That’s good, that already puts you ahead. You need to understand how a person will react and how they’ll retaliate, and you need to do that while already be
ing ten steps ahead of them.”
“This sounds like chess,” I said.
He chuckled. “I guess it kind of is, just bloodier and more painful if you mess up. You have to read your opponent, find out how they think and come up with a defense against that. Now, I want you to come at me. Throw a punch, do a kick, anything.”
I eyed him as I circled him slowly. When I came to his side, I attacked, throwing a punch. He stepped back and then his leg moved, knocking mine from underneath me. I fell hard, glad the grass was there to act as a cushion.
“Your attack was too straightforward. You don’t want them knowing what you’re going to do. You need to trick them, draw them out, make them react how you want them to.”
I frowned. “I don’t get it.”
He held his hand out, and I grabbed it, letting him pull me to my feet. I went right into his chest, my hand resting over his pectoral muscle. Elliot was lean, and all of it was muscle. I was tempted to give him a squeeze, feeling him up, but there was a time and place, and I wanted him to know I was taking this seriously. I did want to learn. So I swallowed the drool and stepped back, needing the distance between us so I could focus.
“Example. React naturally to me.”
Elliot came at me, his arm lifting as if to punch me. I moved back, twisting my body, but it was too late. He got a hold of my arm, did something complicated, and I was on my back again. I coughed, not expecting that. He definitely looked like he was going to punch me, not throw me.
“Shit, I didn’t mean for you to land so hard,” Elliot said, at my side, his hand on my arm as he looked me over. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “Just a bruised ego. What did you do?” I asked.
“I threw you. But to do it, I need you to move into a certain position, so I pretended to throw a punch. When you reacted, you went exactly where I needed you to be, and it gave me the ability to do the real move I wanted.”
I mulled over his explanation for a bit, slowly understanding what he was getting at. “So you psyched me out,” I said.
He nodded. “Beings are cocky.”
His lip twitched as he stared at me, and I rolled my eyes. I knew I was cocky. He didn’t need to remind me. I wasn’t even sorry about it. I liked knowing my magic was better than others, that I could make the same exact ward as others and mine would still be better. I thrived on the feeling of triumph. It reminded me that I was strong enough and had better control over magic.
Elliot continued. “They see me, and they see a human. They look at you and struggle to get past the fact that you’re a small woman. This makes them underestimate us. The goal is to either take them down or get away before they realize that we aren’t just going to let them do as they please.”
“I think I get it,” I said.
He grinned. “Good, because we still have a long way to go.”
The next hour passed by in a blur of movements as Elliot showed me how to do some throws. Elliot wasn’t much bigger than me, not like the rest of the guys, and it made practicing so much easier when I didn’t need to throw someone who weighed the same as a small car. We continued until my muscles screamed, reminding me that they were going to pay me back later tonight.
Elliot finally stopped when he flipped me on the ground again and I moaned, my lungs burning as they tried to breathe. My clothes were soaked with sweat and clung to my skin. Even the chilly air did nothing to cool me off.
“We’ll stop,” Elliot said.
“Thank Goddess!” I stared at the blue sky, wondering when all this work was going to pay off. I knew it wasn’t going to be instant, I just needed an image in my head of when I’d start really noticing results. Then again, did I really want to be in the situation where I found out if my training helped or not?
“Go home and get ready, don’t forget there’s dinner tonight.”
I tilted my head back to look at Elliot, the grass rustling underneath me. “Is that still on?”
“Yes. And it will be every Saturday, so don’t stand us up.”
“Shouldn’t it be me who says don’t stand me up?”
He sat on the ground, his thigh only inches away from my head. He reached down and touched my soaked hair. I winced at the thought of getting my sweat all over him. It wasn’t even the right kind of sweat. If he was going to get me gross like that, I’d like it be because I was riding him and making him lose control, not because he’d beaten me up for the past hour.
“We won’t ever stand you up, Laila. You still don’t believe us, and that’s okay. Just keep showing up for dinner. Someone will always be there to meet you.”
“I will,” I said. “Just understand, to me, this is a dream still. It definitely feels like it. I mean, there’s six of you guys. That’s a lot.”
“And you’ll see tonight why it’ll work for us.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Lombardi and Davies won’t be there tonight. They have some business to take care of.”
“How long are they gone for?”
“They’ll be back in the office tomorrow morning.” He sighed and watched as a little puppy ran by us. Of course, on closer inspection, it was a baby wolf, a child shifter, as it ran after a squirrel, determined to make it its lunch. A wolf easily five times the size of the pup came by, barely sparing us a glance as it trailed after the little one.
“How would you fight a wolf?” I asked, finally pushing myself off the ground and sitting up.
“Climb a tree.” When I just stared at him, he shrugged. “Wolves can’t climb. If you’re ever attacked by a wolf, you need to be where they can’t reach. Climbing a tree does that. If they want to get to you, they’ll have to turn back into a human.”
“What if there are no trees?”
“Keep your back to something solid so they can’t get behind you and grab something that will hurt if you hit them with it. Hit their nose. It’s really sensitive.”
We kept going back and forth. Me coming up with a scenario, and him going over what to do. Afterwards, he walked me back to Biomystic and then left me there to get ready for dinner. There was a clothing bag laid on the couch with a note attached from Ami. She was kind enough to go back to my place and grab some dresses for me per instructions from Venni.
I held back a smile as warmth flooded through me. Everyone was taking care of me. What they were doing for me was something I could never pay back in my lifetime. Kindness really did go a long way.
~*~
I added a touch of makeup, enough to make my green eyes appear smoky and my cheeks fuller. Once I was done, I unclipped my brown hair so it fell around my shoulders in soft waves. I stepped back, fixed my dress, and smirked.
Going braless smoothed out the dress, allowing the dip of my dress to go in between my breasts. The black, lacy fabric might as well had been painted on it was so tight and only a little bit of magic kept it exactly how I wanted. I wanted to get their heartbeats racing while still forcing their imagination to have to work.
I turned so I could see my back, the way my tanned skin had a golden hue to it thanks to the dark fabric and some pampering while I took a bath. My entire back was on display, my dress dipping down low. One question was definitely going to be in their minds tonight when they saw my back. Was I wearing any underwear?
I wasn’t.
I only had one piece of fabric on tonight, not including my shoes. I’d have to be a shark if they decided to play strip poker.
The risqué outfit boosted my confidence as I gathered my purse and slipped on black heels with wraps that went up my calves. Tonight, I would make them cave. They didn’t know what was coming.
A soft knock came from the door and after checking the monitor, I opened it and smiled at Venni.
“So, it’s your turn tonight?” I asked.
His lips were slightly parted as his eyes trailed down my body, pausing briefly on my breasts and then taking in my legs, the hemline stopping high on my thighs. Men liked my legs too. They
said they looked long.
All the easier to straddle them with.
While Venni worked to find his words, I used the moment to look him over. He wore a dinner suit, dark gray this time rather than the black he’d worn last time. He looked really good, clean-shaven, sharp eyes, a predatory aura. That very aura sharpened as his eyes met mine and his wolf prowled inside them.
“You’re stunning,” he said, voice deep.
“Thank you. You too.” I held my arm out, and he gently grabbed it, looping it through his as he escorted me to the elevator and down to his vehicle.
Venni drove a luxurious black car with tinted windows and a sunroof. When we got inside, he opened the glass sunroof and let the cool air breeze inside as he drove us to the restaurant.
Once we got there, a woman was waiting for us with a professional smile. “Dr. Porter, your party is waiting for you.” She weaved us through the restaurant to the same room as last time.
The other three men were there, standing, and smiling as I walked in. I took a moment to watch their reactions. It was a shame Davies wasn’t here. He was always the most responsive.
Their heated stares took in my outfit, and I returned the favor, noting they all wore gray dinner suits, but with personal flair. Rhett’s was the most well put together, with everything tailored and a matching tie. Elliot had taken off his jacket and had hung it on one of the chairs. The sleeves of the dark blue button up shirt were rolled up over his forearms. Alijah didn’t bother with wearing a button up shirt, instead wearing a black tee underneath his gray dinner jacket.
Rhett smiled as his gaze met mine, and he came around the table. When he was in front of me, he leaned forward and kissed my cheek. “I know what you’re doing,” he whispered into my ear, and I shivered against the sensation of his energy caressing my skin. “You’re playing a dangerous game tonight, Laila.” He stepped away and was quickly replaced by Alijah.
We stared at each other, neither of us saying anything. His eyes dipped down to my lips briefly, and then he swore under his breath and pulled me into him, pressing his lips against my forehead.
Magical Seclusion Page 15
