“They’re lying.”
“I know that.”
“So what now?” Shane straightened his back and glanced over his shoulder at the house when he heard Maya’s voice. She was in the kitchen with Lottie. “Are we to stay down here indefinitely?”
“No. We explained that you and Maya ran off together and that I, of course, have no idea where the two of you went. He started to give me shit and threatened to tattle to his daddy, but when I told him that the king already knew what was going on, he backed down. Big time.”
“Interesting,” Shane said quietly. “Then he is definitely acting without his father’s approval and clearly has his own motives. Why does he want Maya?”
“Are you serious?” Olivia asked incredulously. “Why does any man want Maya?”
“I’m well aware of Maya’s beauty,” Shane said with waning patience, “but there’s something else going on. His behavior is desperate and surprisingly aggressive. It doesn’t make sense to me that this is simply about possessing a woman. He wants to reignite the war between our races and he’s using Maya to do it, but why?”
“I’m not sure, but Horace and his pack of delinquents are refusing to leave the city until we relinquish Maya.”
“Then he’s going to be in Manhattan for quite a while,” Shane responded flatly.
“I relayed the events to Emperor Zhao directly, and he will be speaking with King Heinrich while they’re at the summit. If Horace is still here at the end of the week, then perhaps I can persuade the king to come to the city and deal with his kid. You and Maya should be staying with Lottie for about a week. My guess is that Horace won’t leave on his own, and from what I hear, he and his pack had to leave the Plaza after that big mess you all made. Now they’re crashing at a hotel here in the Village and spending their waking hours at The Dollhouse getting drunk and banging strippers two at a time.”
“Understood.” Shane walked over to the water’s edge and watched an alligator float by like a log, waiting for some unsuspecting animal to get too close. “We will make good use of our time down here.”
“Shane?” Olivia asked tentatively. “How are things going with Maya?”
“They’re…progressing. In fact, I’m about to start weapons training and then hand-to-hand combat.”
“Right.” Olivia laughed. “Well, good luck with that. Sit tight, and I’ll be in touch by the end of the week or sooner.”
Shane hung up the phone and slipped it in the front pocket of his jeans. A moment later, the screen door from the kitchen creaked open and Maya’s scent drifted over him on the breeze. A smile curved his lips, and when he turned around, he saw her standing at the table, inspecting the weapons he’d laid out a few minutes ago. She was clad in the sentry catsuit and once again had her hair tied back in a tight ponytail.
“I see you are ready for training.” Shane closed the distance between them and walked around to the opposite side of the table. He glanced over to the kitchen window and noticed that there were actually lights on in the house. Apparently Lottie used her electricity sparingly, but this eccentricity only made her more endearing to him. “What is our friend Lottie up to?
“She’s fixing herself something to eat, but then she said she’s going into the city for a while. I guess she works as a fortune-teller at a few bars in the French Quarter,” Maya answered, holding out a mug for him and taking a sip from the one in her other hand. “But she had something ready for us too.”
“I see.” Shane took the mug and looked at her intently. “I thought for certain you’d be trying to talk me into letting you go hunting.”
“Not really.” Maya lifted one shoulder and peered at him over the edge of her mug beneath a row of thick, long lashes. “I’m feeling rather satisfied at the moment.”
“At the moment?” Shane smirked before emptying his mug in one big gulp.
“Yes. But you never know when a girl will be hungry for more,” she murmured coyly. Maya placed her mug on the table and her smile faltered when she eyed the array of weapons. “Any word from Olivia yet?”
“Yes.” Shane put his mug down next to Maya’s and paused for a moment. He didn’t want her distracted from her training and decided on a less-is-more approach. “Things are quiet, and we’re to stay down here and train for a week. Olivia feels that we can return once the summit has finished and King Heinrich is free to deal with Horace himself.”
“That’s it?” Her brows knit together and she paused for a few seconds, studying him intently. “I didn’t cause a new war?”
“No.” Shane shook his head and folded his arms over his chest. “But things are still touchy, so until the summit is over and the king is free to be directly involved, we will stay here and you will train. The war with the wolves may not be imminent, but you should know how to defend yourself. Based on what I saw in the dreamscape, you have the makings of a great warrior, Maya.”
“Me?” Maya asked with obvious disbelief. “A warrior? Like you and Olivia?”
“Bella did call you a hunter.”
“Right.” Maya rolled her eyes. “At this point, I’d just like to stop being a liability.”
“Good.” Passing her a pair of leather gloves, Shane noticed that her necklace was no longer around her neck. “Maya, where is your necklace?”
“I took it off.” Her hand went instinctively to the spot where it usually rested. “I didn’t know what to expect, and since it’s the only item I have left from whatever family I had, I didn’t want to lose it while we practiced.”
“Fine.” He watched her pull on the gloves. “Then let’s begin.”
Over the next two hours, Shane worked with Maya on her throwing skills, and to his great surprise, she had remarkably good aim. He showed her how to use her sonar-like senses to focus on disturbances in the atmosphere so she could hit a target without even looking at it. He tossed several objects in the air, and after only three or four attempts, she’d managed to hit almost every one. Her aim with the guns was equally good, and based on the way the targets were shredded, she’d do just fine in a gun battle.
Shane did wonder what would happen once the targets were live and fighting back. It was anybody’s guess how she’d handle that.
“Would you like a break before we begin the hand-to-hand combat?” Shane asked, removing the targets from the trees. Lottie was kind enough to let them train, so he didn’t want to leave any litter in her backyard. “Take a few minutes to regroup?”
“No.” Maya’s jaw set with determination, and she stood in the middle of the yard in what could only be considered a battle-ready stance. With feet shoulder-width apart and hands curled into fists at her sides, she looked prepared to take whatever he could dish out. And sexy. The woman looked dead fucking sexy. “Let’s do it.”
“As you wish.”
Shane walked past Maya to toss what was left of the targets into a large trash can by the kitchen door. Then, without any warning, he whisked back to Maya, linked one arm around her waist, pinning her arms at her sides, and brought his other hand up beneath her chin. If he were in battle, he could easily break the neck of his opponent, and though he had no intention of harming her, he wanted to see if Maya would try to defend herself. She froze.
Shane kissed her cheek tenderly and released her from his grasp.
“Why didn’t you try to defend yourself?” he asked as she turned to face him.
“I—I wasn’t ready for it,” she said quickly. “Besides, I knew it was you and not some werewolf.”
“Do you expect there to be a formal announcement before they come after you? Because I can assure you there won’t be.”
“No.” Maya’s eyes flashed with anger. “I’m not stupid.”
“I know that.” Shane’s tone softened. “You were a quick study with the weapons, Maya, but you can’t rely on that. More often than not, we are dragged into physical
one-on-one fighting, especially with the wolves. We will begin with self-defense techniques.” He stepped back and made a motion for her to turn around. “We’ll do it again, but this time I’ll walk you through what to do.”
“If I just shoot them, then I won’t need to worry about this,” Maya murmured. She turned around and put her hands on her hips. “Okay, Mr. Miyagi.”
Shane paused and his brow furrowed, confusion washing over him. “Who is Mr. Miyagi?”
“Never mind.” Maya laughed loudly. “Let’s go, old man.”
“Fine.” Shane stilled and stood about two feet behind her. “You need to focus on and tune in to the changes in the air around you at all times, much as you did with the targets. When you sense the ripples in the air getting stronger, your opponent is getting closer. The more you focus on the changes, the quicker it will become second nature. If you concentrate, you can anticipate your attacker’s movements. To defend yourself, it’s best to be face-to-face.”
“Then why did you have me turn around?” she asked far too sweetly.
“Close your eyes.” Shane grinned. “Focus on the sound waves in the air. What do you hear?”
“Frogs.” Maya’s voice was quiet, barely above a whisper. “Something moving in the water. An owl to the right.” Eyes still closed, she lifted her arm and pointed to the right. “He’s in a tree about twenty feet away and maybe fifteen feet off the ground.”
Good. Shane’s voice touched her mind gently and he remained motionless. Now keep your eyes closed and tell me what you feel.
Maya’s head tilted to the left. An animal is moving along the edge of the water. It’s small, probably a possum or something.
Good. He took one step forward. What else.
You. Her body tensed. You moved closer.
How can you tell? Shane’s voice remained even and he tried to focus on their training, instead of how enticingly sexy her ass looked in the sentry catsuit. He took two more steps toward her. Tell me what you feel.
There it is again. Her voice was laced with excitement, but her body stayed tense and ready to spring into action. It reminds me of being in the ocean when the waves rise suddenly after being calm. Kind of like what happens when another person swims by.
Excellent. Shane held his ground. Now I’m going to come after you again, like I did a few minutes ago, and I want you to see if you can avoid getting caught.
Maya nodded but didn’t respond.
Shane held off and he could feel the tension rising in the air while she patiently waited for him to make his move. Then with no warning he exploded toward her, but to his great delight, Maya spun around, anticipating his move. He’d hoped she’d fly off, but instead she jumped up into his embrace and linked her arms and legs around him before placing a big kiss on his cheek. Grinning like she’d won the lottery, she clung to him while he gripped her leather-clad ass with both hands.
“How was that?” Maya asked playfully.
“That is not exactly what I had in mind,” Shane said, struggling to squelch the smile that played at his lips. No matter how charmed he was, he could not let her turn this training session into some kind of game. “You did manage to sense my approach.”
“Would it be safe to say that I bested my opponent?” Maya whispered, brushing his lips with hers and squeezing him tighter, seductively wiggling in his embrace. “Perhaps I distracted you?”
“No.” Shane gripped Maya around her waist and placed her on her feet before stepping back and increasing the distance between them. Hurt flickered over her features, and even though his gut instinct was to gather in his arms and protect her, he knew that would be a mistake. There was no time for childish nonsense with both of their lives hanging in the balance. “This is not a game, Maya. If you don’t learn how to defend yourself, you’ll never make it past your first century, and let’s not forget that your games landed us down here in the first place.”
“Fine.” A wounded look flickered over her features, and her mouth set in a tight line. “But I wasn’t the only one who screwed up, Shane. So don’t try and act like you’re not partially to blame for us being sent away.”
Shane leveled a stern gaze her way, but he knew that what she said was spot-on. He’d lost his fucking senses because he had let his emotions cloud his judgment, but that would not happen again. Bloodmate legend be damned.
Even as he told himself that, he knew it was utter bullshit. He was in love with Maya and had been for months. The bloodmate legend was…incidental.
“You’re correct.” He stepped back and kept his voice free of emotion. “I allowed my personal feelings to get in the way of my duty, and as you’ve pointed out, it cost us dearly. I can assure you that situation will not be repeated.”
“That makes two of us.” Maya folded her arms over her chest and glared at him with a cold, detached look that was like a kick in the gut. “So what’s next?”
As if on cue, the engine of a car starting and the sound of tires crunching along the dirt and gravel driveway rumbled through the wild quiet of the rural Louisiana night.
“Lottie must be leaving for work,” Shane said tightly. “Good. Then we can continue our training undisturbed. We have much to do.”
“So stop talking,” Maya said. She placed her hands on her hips and sent him a challenging look. “And start doing.”
***
Maya never thought she’d enjoy fighting. In fact, the idea of any physical violence used to make her sick to her stomach. But when Shane took her through yet another round of sparring, she couldn’t wipe the exhilarated grin off her face. For the first time since she could remember, Maya felt empowered—strong and unstoppable.
She was able to deflect every punch Shane threw. Each time he tried to grab her and pin her arms to her sides, she was able to spin out and throw a defensive heel thrust to the chin. However, her favorite move had to be the roundhouse kick because almost every ounce of anger and frustration could be expelled in the process.
He came at her again, flying through the night like the deadly warrior he was. Eyes wild, he whipped toward her, but instead of attempting to throw a kick or a punch, Shane rolled right into Maya’s legs and knocked her feet out from under her. Before she could counter or right herself, Shane straddled her and had her pinned to the ground with her arms held above her head.
“Not every attack will come in the way you are trained for, youngling.” Shane’s dark eyes peered down at her, and a smile played at his lips. “You have to be prepared for the unexpected.”
“Lesson learned.” Lying trapped beneath his body, Maya kept her sights on Shane and let her body relax. “I won’t make that mistake again.”
“We shall see,” Shane murmured. He released her arms and rested his hands on his thighs while he continued to stare down at her. “It’s always a different experience in the heat of a battle.”
“You know what they say?” Maya murmured seductively, trailing her fingertips up his bare arms. She traced the lines of his muscles and they flexed beneath her touch. “Don’t you, Shane?”
“No,” Shane murmured. His gaze skittered over her face and his body tensed. “What do they say?”
With every ounce of strength she had and using the leverage technique he taught her, Maya grabbed Shane’s shoulders, pushed her body up, and flipped him onto his back, totally turning the tables on him. Straddling him and pinning his wrists over his head, she didn’t miss the sly smile on his face or the look of approval in his eyes.
“All’s fair in love and war,” Maya whispered.
Shane’s grin widened as he remained held within her grasp, and she felt his body harden beneath hers. His smile faltered when her grip on his wrists relaxed and she laced her fingers in his. Still he didn’t attempt to get out from under her. Memories of their tryst from earlier came roaring to the forefront of her mind, but she also remembered what he said about
the seriousness of their situation.
Shane was right. This was not the time for games.
Maya went to pull her hands from his so they could get up and resume their training but Shane wouldn’t release her. His thumbs brushed along the underside of her wrists, sending tiny zings of lightning up her arms with each pass. Maya trembled, staring into the dark, limitless depths of his eyes.
I don’t want to be at war with you, Maya. Shane’s deep voice whispered seductively into her mind, sending flickers of desire through her blood. He sat up slowly, still holding her hands in his and keeping that intense gaze locked with hers. With their hands intertwined and pressed between their bodies, Maya sat in his lap, fitting there perfectly as though her body had been made just for his. I am equally resistant to love. For love is also a dangerous prospect that can wound or maim as deeply as any weapon. Shane placed a kiss at the corner of her mouth and trailed kisses down her throat, which added to the seductive sensations of the telepathic contact.
Maya let her head fall back, allowing him clear access to the sensitive skin of her neck. She knew that what he was saying was true and that taking the leap into love was as dangerous as going to war, but with his lips brushing her flesh and his voice touching her mind, all she could do was feel. Even when he tried to rationalize why they shouldn’t do what they were doing, his fingers were dragging down the zipper of her catsuit and peeling the fabric from her torso.
Moaning with desire and sheer anticipation, Maya sat up, grabbed Shane’s face, and kissed him. There was urgency between them, a stark, driving need to touch and be touched. Maya suckled his lower lip and grinned, then gripped the edge of his T-shirt and helped him pull it off. Shane tossed the offending garment aside, and Maya gasped, taking in the sight of his well-muscled chest covered with a dusting of dark hair. She trailed her fingers along his collarbone and down the center of his torso as he covered his mouth with hers.
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