Reluctantly leaving Selena in her suite so she could take her time getting ready for the day, I headed back to my rooms to do the same.
Sitting now with my council after having grabbed a toasted bagel and cream cheese, and a rasher of bacon from Isaac in the kitchen, I was jolted by emotions flooding into me that were not my own, and I realized there was something I forgot to tell Selena about the bond. I was feeling her happiness pouring through it now.
Opening myself fully to her emotions as she thought of our passionate night together caused heat to rush through me and we were now sharing a new passion, her emotions nearly overwhelming me, and I wondered how long it would take before she noticed that she was feeling more than her own feelings.
Deciding to experiment, I returned my thoughts to her letting her experience when I touched her, tasted her. My body responding to the memory, my heart picking up its pace, I waited. I could almost see her gasp. I grinned.
Glancing quickly at Colin who, sure enough, had an eyebrow quirked, and a knowing grin on his face, I took a big sip of coffee and rolled my shoulders back.
Seemingly not able to help himself, Colin asked me now with a straight face, “Will Selena be joining us this morning, Andras?”
Making my face blank I said, “She is resting. I’m going to meet her in the gym later for some sparring.” I looked around the table, and all four of them were working their faces furiously to refrain from breaking into grins. I appreciated their efforts.
“Okay, guys, let’s focus.” And we went around the table with the updates. But what Ramsay had to say sent an icy chill through me, effectively dampening my pleasant mental interlude with Selena, and I set my jaw at the implications.
“I have discovered some information about the three Anurashin princes. Two of them are much younger than the one called Aviel Enair. He for all intents and purposes, rules all in the Anurashin kingdom, and his brothers bow to his superior power. He is the one known to have unusual glowing green eyes.”
✽✽✽
It’s now two in the afternoon, and I’ve got Selena all to myself on the mats in the training room, eager to see all her moves.
She was looking sassy with her hair in a ponytail, yoga pants hugging her bottom so that there was not much left to my imagination, and a nicely filled cropped t-shirt showing her midriff, and displaying an image of Stevie Ray Vaughan’s well-worn Stratocaster across her chest.
I was beginning to realize I might be handicapped right out of the gate. But then, I noticed her tongue darting over her lip as she looked at me in my tank and training shorts. Back to an even playing field then.
After bringing her through the frosted glass gym doors, she had looked around appreciatively. This room was next to the solarium with the lap pool, and it was large to allow for all of us to use it at the same time, where we could often engage in matches.
It contained equipment not only for endurance and strength building, but one wall was covered in an arsenal of weapons, including everything with a blade, Asian warfare, and martial arts weapons such as nunchaku, tonfa and shuriken, and multiple firearms.
Battle training was an ongoing pursuit amongst the packs and no alpha’s compound was complete without a good training facility. I faced Selena and turned my mind to the seriousness of her safety and where to focus her training to give her an edge against the supernatural world.
We both bowed to each other so we could begin. We sparred for a little bit, throwing punches, and blocking moves, followed by a series of Judo tosses where she demonstrated that she had no issue with hip throwing me to the mat, our bodies performing a series of wrestling moves so she could extricate herself and jump free.
Being small worked in her favor for wrestling. Pinning her was like trying to hold on to a little monkey, though she probably would not appreciate that comparison.
She was fast and could bend and flex fluidly, and I was amused at her sounds of frustration every time I let her think she was succeeding, only to get caught in my grip. She was not used to being caught.
Marveling at that little body being able to unbalance me using leverage and grinning appreciatively up at her from the mat where she had just slammed me on my back, I said, “Well done,” as I hopped back up. She bowed to me.
We faced each other again but this time I let a look of menace come over my face and emitted a low growl that vibrated the floor. She looked at me in alarm. I lunged and threw a punch at her face.
Quicker than lightning, my girl blocked my punch with her left arm while she used her right hand to palm-strike my face, then placed it and her other hand to my shoulder, swiftly pulling me forward and down, taking advantage of my disorientation, and rapidly kneeing me three times hard in the face, leaving me stunned at how fast she moved, with no hesitation, and impressed with the sure strength and aim of her strikes.
We leapt back to the mat to face each other and continued similar attacks and counter attacks, and I was pleased that she was panting only slightly after about an hour of that. And what a sight that was, too. I grinned.
“I’d say human to human, you are lethal. Your decision making and speed are phenomenal. You quickly assess and do not hesitate to do damage. I am impressed. Even when I let my beast show, shocking you, you did not hesitate.”
Suddenly, letting out a huge roar that rattled the windows, I moved so quickly at her that she stumbled and fell on her butt. She bounced back up immediately, looking really pissed off. “What the hell!” Good, I had her attention. I stood over her snarling.
“What do you do when a man comes at you roaring and looking like a creature that can literally tear you to pieces?”
I lunged at her before she could think about that too long and reached for her throat. Unhesitatingly, she grabbed my arm to loosen my hold, twisted and swung her left arm up high, then brought it down to break my grip, while she elbowed me rapidly in the face.
This time her quick logical moves were accompanied by a touch of anger. Well, my little dove has a temper buried in there after all. Though she thought ahead quickly, likely staying one step ahead of most of her opponents, anger would give her an extra edge, and I was pleased to see how she used it while keeping her head.
She followed with rapid kicks to my groin, continuing to pull her strikes back and I was grateful for small favors. I bent to mock clutch myself and she elbowed me to the ground, but I demonstrated to her some of the force of my supernatural abilities, and was up grabbing her around the middle, lifting her off her feet in the blink of an eye, easily restraining her.
I purred low in her ear as I gripped her in one arm, feeling her rapid heartbeat slowing at the sound of my voice, “You did exactly what you should have done with a normal human, and once again I am pleased to see you did not hesitate even after my shocking act of intimidation.
“Sorry about that by the way, but I felt it would make an important point. Because unarmed street fighting will fail against a shifter who is strong enough to slam through walls, overturn cars and run you down without even trying. Do you get where I’m going with this?” She nodded, and her heart rate picked up again.
Scenting her desire as she leaned her overheated body into me, and turned her face up to mine, I pulled her around to give her what she was seeking. She would have let me kiss her indefinitely, but I was not finished with our lesson, and set her down.
“I will be finishing that later.” I waggled my eyebrows at her.
“What I am getting at, is while you have demonstrated excellent fighting skills and quick thinking, which may work with the element of surprise as it did the day of Mad Mulligan, we will also have to arm you. The most important thing, of course, is for you to avoid encounters with shifters all together.
“If you can’t avoid it, you will need to do everything in your power to escape the situation. But if you can’t avoid an encounter or escape, you will need weapons. I know you’re a crack shot, and the Walther PPK has your name on it. Do you have a concealed carry permit?”
I was happy when she said, “I do. Thomas encouraged me to be prepared with a gun, and I took care of that same as getting my driver’s license when I moved back to California.” I smiled and was once again grateful that Thomas had been in her corner. What a great loss he must have been.
I continued, “I can assume he also had you train with knives.”
Again, she answered in the affirmative. “Of course, I use a karambit.”
I raised my eyebrows in surprise. “Deadly, I’m impressed again. So, if you find yourself not able to run from a shifter, you need to go for the most vulnerable parts, the kill zone, with a weapon.
“Gun or knife, that zone should always be your goal, whether in man or beast form, though I hope to the gods you do not have to defend yourself against a beast again as you did on the highway. The gut, the heart, a shifter can heal fast, and those areas might not keep him down long enough.
“A PPK is perfect because the 9-millimeter packs a powerful punch as you also demonstrated on the highway the other night. Your karambit, if you end up close to your attacker, will be useful for gouging out eyes or opening the jugular. Possibly, and sorry to be so gruesome, even removing the head from the body with enough momentum.
“Have you ever injured a person like this?” I was glad to see her fierce look, though she answered in the negative this time.
“No, but if someone I cared about was in danger, I know I would do what I had to do.” I smiled in satisfaction at my fierce little warrior.
“Are you up for more?”
She grinned at me, “Always.”
Another half hour and she was suitably sweaty, her breasts heaving, and that was my sign we had been thorough for now, especially when the sight of SRV’s well-worn electric guitar rising and falling rapidly, her glistening midriff, and the trickles of sweat rolling sensually down her neck, were all causing me too much distraction.
“Let’s call it quits and head for the showers, eh?”
The look in her eyes when I made that suggestion was worth the price of allowing her to punish me for the last couple of hours, but then she made me laugh when she said, “What, you’re throwing in the towel already old man?”
Thoughts of how I would be making her pay for that, caused a certain reaction, which then caused an answering lift of her lovely brows as she saw it. My girl leered at me. I was coming to love that look on her.
But before we headed in that direction, she surprised me when her expression softened and she asked, “Can I meet your bear Andras? On the highway, I really didn’t get a chance.”
My bear immediately urged me to transform before our mate. I nodded and removed my clothes, as I felt the familiar energy begin to surge through and around me.
Now towering over Selena as my bear, my deep primal feelings surged, as I marveled at the tiny human who did not shy away, but looked at me in wonder. Standing motionless on my four paws, I looked deeply into her eyes, then closed them when her small hands began stroking my face, and she said, “You are so beautiful.”
I chuffed and nuzzled her neck, rumbling low in happiness as she leaned into me wrapping her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly. Then she murmured into my ear, “I feel you Andras, the wildness of your soul. It’s speaking to me.”
When she pulled back to look at me, her eyes were luminous, “Thank you.” My bear inhaled her intoxicating scent one more time and nudged her torso gently. Then, I was a man again. A happy man.
I pulled my clothes back on, as she stared unabashedly at my form, transfixed by the changes, and we grasped hands as we left the training room.
On the way to Selena’s room, I could tell she was thinking deeply about something.
“Earlier this morning, when we were apart, I had some lusty thoughts in my head remembering our night together,” and she looked up at me in an adorably bashful grin, the bridge of her nose crinkling so charmingly that I nearly halted to kiss it but refrained.
“I felt that your emotions, your feelings were joining mine, like you were right there in my head with me, and suddenly those thoughts doubled in intensity. Does that make any sense?”
“Yes, it makes sense. In fact, you described the phenomenon well. Being mated means you are also part of my pack, which means you can now feel my emotions, especially when I project them to you as I did this morning, and eventually you will know even my thoughts.
“This is another layer of the connection between us through the bond. Alphas share a mental connection with all of their pack, but most strongly with their mates.”
In case she was becoming worried about what this might mean, I added hastily, “You can fine tune the ability with training, which means you will be able to directly communicate with me, and that can be useful when you need me.
“You will also be able to shield yourself from projecting or receiving my thoughts. Our emotions though will always be felt by the other anytime we reach out for them.”
Her hold had tightened on my arm as she said quietly, “I don’t know quite what to say about this. It’s a lot to contemplate. But I do feel a sense of being part of something bigger than myself.” She stopped now to look up at me, and I could see her working through all I had just told her.
I gathered my powerful feelings for her and directed them to flow over her mind, hoping she would understand the comfort it could bring her. She gasped and rubbed at her chest, then looked up at me in wonder. “Oh, Andras,” her beautiful eyes glistened at me, then she was quiet as we continued to her room.
It turned out I was not able to wait for our showers and as soon as we were through the door, I swept her up and launched her onto the bed where I climbed over her and ravaged all those places on her glistening body that had drawn my attention on the mat, my priority being to peel off that teasing Stratocaster.
I began to think it would be impossible to get my fill of this little human. My bear was close to the surface and urged me on. Selena responded in ways that astounded me. The shower after we were satiated was a bonus. We took our time there as well.
Chapter 33
Selena
Ryan was looking between me and Andras in excitement after having just asked what the roaring was all about earlier.
“I was in the garage cleaning my bike and the walls rattled. What were you doing to her Andras?” Ryan’s eyes were wide but held a humorous gleam.
“He was beating the crap out of me in the gym,” I exaggerated.
“Uh, I think we know who was beating the crap out of whom. If I did not heal fast, I’d still have a bloody nose.”
“I did not bloody your nose, though I can see you knew when that thought crossed my mind.” And I grinned playfully at him, then said indignantly, “I would never be that undisciplined. I got why you felt the need for the dramatic demonstration. You’re a good teacher, Andras.”
Ryan cleared his throat to keep the story coming, which also masked his choked laughter, and Colin asked, “You wanted to give Andras a bloody nose? Do tell, both of you. Sounds like quite a sparring session.” His blue eyes were sparkling.
Andras proceeded to give them a blow by blow of all my moves and finished with describing our last bit of practice, where I demonstrated my skills with a knife that Andras had pulled from the arsenal, a karambit, which was a short curved, often serrated blade with a finger ring, making it one of the deadliest of knives going back centuries in Asia, inspired by the claw of a tiger.
They were both looking at me now in unabashed admiration, which had me blushing, but I did not shy away and instead looked cheekily back. I had worked hard over the years developing my skills and would not shame Thomas’ memory by making light of my abilities.
It occurred to me then that my years of training with Thomas had been worthwhile and were proving fortuitous, which gave me pause for a moment as I considered how I was currently sharing my life with warriors who fought real battles in a world beyond the mundane human existence I had come from.
Gratitude surged again f
or Thomas and how he had stoked my drive to train and be the best fighter I could be. He had no idea what his training would mean to me one day. He had genuinely believed in the power that being a skilled fighter could give a woman, an equal playing field, and he had been dedicated to that mission.
“My friend Thomas gave this to me when I mastered knife combat.” I palmed the hilt of my own karambit over my pocket grasping the ring so that when it came free the folding blade was primed and lethal.
Ryan’s eyes widened, “That is one cool gift. Would you give me a demonstration tomorrow and show me some moves? I still have a way to go with knives.”
“I would love to. It’s been a while since I have had such a variety of training partners to hone my reflexes. I’ve missed it.”
All at once I realized these three men were treating me like family. I truly had created a community around me here. Thomas would have been happy for me. We had both been a pair of dedicated loners but appreciated the value of a good friend like we had found in each other.
Andras was looking at me quizzically and I wondered if he was sensing my emotions or searching my thoughts. I smiled at him reassuringly reaching out for him, still uncertain about a connection that would allow me to feel another’s emotions. His eyes warmed, my sign that it worked.
Ryan continued, “That would be awesome, and then I can take you for a ride on my bike around the woods a bit. Andras and Colin will be gone tomorrow, so I can take my turn showing you around my favorite trails.”
I had temporarily forgotten about that. And I looked at Andras in dismay.
He said, “I know, me too, sweetheart. But we have the meeting in Redding, which will hopefully produce some answers for us. I’m glad you will be here though. The twins, Isaac and Ryan will be here to keep you company.
“Ryan, you take care of my girl. No flying off your bike with a passenger on board.” Andras turned to me and winked.
The doorbell sounded throughout the house. Andras stood, “Come Selena. I have a surprise for you.” I smiled inquiringly as he pulled me up.
Ursus Borealis: Book One Page 18
