by Kaitlyn Hoyt
“Really? He was the one who gave me the note?” I ask Larkin. When he nods, I turn toward Kyril. “Thank you.” If they had gotten to the compound any later, it may have been too late for me to heal Colton. I don’t know all the rules about healing someone after they die, but I’m sure you don’t have much time.
“You’re welcome. I don’t agree with what Dravin’s doing any more than you do, but I don’t have an easy way out at the moment. Dravin hasn’t tried to kill me yet,” he looks over at Larkin, “so I’m just doing little things that may be of help.”
“We really appreciate it. Just don’t do anything that will get you in trouble. Saving one Gadramick is enough for me.” I glare over at Larkin who gives me his arrogant smile.
“I’ll do what I can,” Kyril laughs at our interaction. Larkin and I bicker like siblings. He is annoying, arrogant, and possibly more stubborn than I am, but I trust him completely. He won’t do anything that will hurt me intentionally. “But the reason I wanted to talk to you is to warn you.”
“I already know that Dravin is looking for me,” I tell him.
“There’s more. Dravin’s incredibly pissed at what happened last time you were here. He’s no longer going to try and get information out of you. He’s going to try and take your magic. If he can’t, he’ll just kill you. Obviously, he would rather get your magic because it will make him much stronger. However, he just wants you out of the picture because you’re his only real threat.”
Stay away from Dravin. Got it.
“One more thing. He knows that you rescued Natalie and Conner. He needs Natalie because like you, she can push her magic out which means that it can be separated from her body and she’ll still survive. He wants more magic, and he’ll get it from anyone he can. Make sure to keep her safe.”
Natalie can push her magic out too? So, that’s why Natasha attacked them. I knew she wouldn’t do it just because; she had to have a reason. I’ll talk to Liam and Bragden. Maybe Bragden can protect her.
“So, Dravin will try to get Natalie too? He’s not just trying to get my magic?”
“Dravin wants magic. He’ll get it from anyone and everyone. Though, he wants yours the most. You have more magic than any of us. If this shield wasn’t around us, they’d know you were here. Those of us who are trained to sense magic can sense yours. It’s very strong. Just be safe, okay? Dravin needs to be stopped.” It is so weird hearing a Gadramick telling me to stop Dravin. He looks toward the door. “I have to go. I’ll get in contact if I find out anything important. Just stay low for a little while. They don’t know where you are, and it needs to stay that way for now.
“Drop the shield you have around Kyril, Ryanne, but keep one around us,” Larkin tells me. I pull some magic back in, visualizing the shield disappearing around Kyril. I inhale when my magic reenters my body and then nod at Kyril, silently telling him that he can leave. He stands up and casually walks to the door, entering the compound without a problem. Larkin reaches over and grabs my arm. “Drop the shield,” he tells me.
The second the shield is gone, we transport back to the house into the middle of the living room. Everyone looks shocked at our sudden appearance except for Colton and Liam. Liam has his arms crossed across his chest, annoyed and Colton…At the angered look on Colton face, I smile up at Larkin. “Told you.” He curses and moves me in front of him, firmly holding onto my upper arms.
Colton jumps up from the couch and glares at Larkin. “Where did you take her?”
“You can’t use me as a shield,” I snap at Larkin, who takes a step back and drags me with him.
Larkin takes another step back and raises his arms in surrender. My smile widens, and I answer, “Dravin’s compound.” Exaggerating my step, I move to the side away from Larkin.
“You took her to Dravin’s compound?” he yells and takes a step forward. I walk past them and sit on the couch with a smile, waiting to see what happens next.
“I needed her to meet someone…the same guy that made it possible for us to rescue you guys,” he tells him. When Larkin mentions that Kyril helped save us, Colton takes a step back, giving Larkin some space. Larkin exhales loudly, relieved that Colton isn’t threatening him anymore.
Colton walks backward until he comes to the edge of the couch. Sitting down beside me, he reaches out and pulls me to his side. Looking up at him, I pout. “That was anticlimactic.”
Larkin laughs and points to me. “I told you so.”
“I bet him that you’d hit him, but you had to go all nice guy and back down,” I tell Colton.
“Did you at least find out anything? If you didn’t, I’ll hit him,” Colton promises me.
“Well we found out that Dravin is angry about what happened and that he’s no longer going to try and get information out of me. He’s going to try and extract my magic or just kill me. And that we have to keep Natalie safe.”
“Me? What does Dravin want with me?”
“Your magic isn’t completely embedded inside you like most mage’s. Like me, you can push your magic out which is apparently the only type of magic he’s found a way to extract.”
“He wants my magic?” she asks incredulously.
“Yeah, that’s why Natasha attacked you guys. She was supposed to bring you to Dravin,” Larkin says.
“Why would Natasha do that?” Conner asks.
“Because Dravin’s got her completely wrapped around his finger, and he’s a freaking crazy psychotic lunatic who is obsessed with power and control.” I think that’s what I said in the compound during my little empowerment speech.
“Exactly,” says Colton. He tightens his grip around my shoulder. I scoot as close as I can to him because I know he is remembering what happened that night. I rest my head on his chest and silently try to comfort him. I know that the vision Dravin made him see still bothers him, even though it wasn’t real.
“Don’t think about that, Colton,” I whisper to him. Reaching my hand up, I cup his cheek and force him to look down at me.
Giving me a sad smile, he says, “How did you know what I was thinking about?”
“Because I know you.” I lean up and kiss him on the underside of his jaw.
“She’s a keeper, Colton,” Emma says while looking at Colton.
“I was thinking the same thing.”
I bite my lip to try and hide the huge smile that threatens to form. I don’t like everyone watching us, but I like being able to sit here like this with him. I like being able to act on my feelings and not trying to hide anything. The whole soulmate thing scares me. I am worried that he’ll wake up one morning and realize that there’s nothing special about me and want to leave. I am afraid that he’s going to get bored with me and want nothing to do with me. It scares me how much I feel for this guy. I haven’t known him for that long, but we’ve been through so much already.
And there’s still so much to come.
Chapter Seven
Entering the training room, I hear Natalie gasp beside me. I smile over at her. It is weird seeing the old decrepit storage barn and then walking through the doors into this large training room. Even those who have known of magic their whole lives are surprised. “Is this a spring floor?”
“Of course, she knows what a spring floor is,” Emma mutters. I bump my shoulder into Emma; she laughs and winks at me. She finds it hilarious how similar Natalie and I are. To me, Natalie definitely doesn’t look like a gymnast. She’s pretty tall to be one.
Natalie turns toward me. “Can you do a double tuck back salto?”
“I think so. I used to be able to at least.” She smiles at me, and I instantly know what she is asking. I nod and walk to the edge of the spring floor. She follows me out and stops a couple feet beside me. Out of the corner of my eye, I see everyone else take a step back. In sync, we take a deep breath and start running forward. Leaping at the same time, we both lean forward and start the back handsprings that will lead into the double tuck back salto. Gaining momentum, I finish the last ba
ck handspring and jump high. When I am high enough, I pull my knees in and tuck my body under. After spinning twice in the air, I unfold my legs and prepare for the landing. My feet hit the ground, and I bounce a little but manage to keep my balance. Natalie manages to land it as well.
Colton is smiling at me when I walk over to him. Liam keeps glancing between the two of us. “Man, I trained in the wrong sport,” Emma says.
“Quite impressive, ladies,” says Tom. “Now, we need to get serious. Natalie have you ever been trained?”
“Not to fight, no.”
“That’s fine. That’s how Ryanne was at first. Colton and Liam can start training with you today.” Tom turns toward me and continues, “Ryanne you can work with Bragden and Conner. I think you are getting too used to Colton and Liam anyway.” I giggle at the sad look on Colton’s face. What Tom said is correct. I am getting too used to how both Liam and Colton fight. I need to switch it up—challenge myself a little.
An hour later, I am lying flat on my back on the mat with Bragden standing over me.
“Hey, now!” Colton yells over to us.
“Train with Natalie!” Bragden retorts. Returning his attention to me, he says, “Your opponents are going to be stronger than you, Ryanne. They’re going to be bigger. You have to find their weaknesses and utilize that.”
“Kick them in the balls. Got it,” I say as I push myself off the ground. I nod at Colton, telling him that I’m fine before returning my attention to Bragden.
“If that works, but I mean that you have to look for weaknesses in their fighting. Do they use one side more than the other? Do they favor a certain move? Find it and use it against them.”
Conner is standing back a little, watching. Occasionally he will yell something out or help reposition me when I do something wrong. He tells me what I should have done in that situation. I get back into a defensive stance and wait for Bragden to attack again. Bragden is more aggressive than Colton and Liam. They calculate their moves and strike when you least expect it. Bragden doesn’t wait for a surprise—he just attacks. He knows that he is bigger and stronger, and he uses that to his advantage.
He comes toward me, and I jump to the side. I swing around and kick my leg up, trying to hit him in the head. He sees my move ahead of time and grabs onto my leg. With a firm grasp on the heel of my shoe, he walks toward me. I hop on my left leg, trying to keep my balance. He’s lucky I’m flexible because, otherwise this would really hurt. My leg is almost extended into a hundred and eighty degree standing split. “When someone has their back to you, aim low. Hit the back of their legs. Knock them off balance. It gives you the upper hand,” he instructs. Oh, he thinks he won this one.
I bend backward into a walkover and kick him in the chest with my left leg. He releases my right leg. Standing up, I say, “There’s multiple ways to get the upper hand, Bragden.” Conner bends over laughing. That attracts the attention of the others in the gym.
“She got you there, Bragden.”
“Colton, can we trade?” Bragden yells. While he is looking toward Colton, I swing around and kick him just below the back of his knees. He falls to his knees on the mat. I walk behind him and lean down. “Your weakness is that you underestimate a little girl,” I whisper in his ear. Conner doubles over laughing again and puts a hand out for a high-five. I hit his hand as I skip away.
I stop right next to Tom, who is watching over Colton and Liam. Natalie seems like she is getting the hang of it. Colton turns toward me. “What did you do to him?”
“Let’s just say the trainee became the trainer.”
Bragden walks over a couple seconds later. “I don’t like training with her.”
“What are you talking about? I’m a delightful person to train with. I never speak out of line. I would never do something when you weren’t paying attention, and I’m an excellent listener.” I emphasize the excellent. However, even I can’t keep a straight face when I am saying it. I start laughing. Bragden just stares at me, which makes me laugh harder. “Aww, he’s speechless.” I turn to Tom, Colton, and Liam. “I have that affect on people.”
I scream as Bragden comes running toward me. I take off but not soon enough. He grabs me around the waist and starts tickling me. My feet come off the ground as he picks me up, still ticking my stomach. I laugh so hard I start crying. He places me back on the ground. “Your weakness is that you’re very ticklish,” he whispers in my ear.
“You’re mean,” I say breathily as I take a step away from him. I don’t trust those large hands of his. He waves his fingers at me as I take a step back.
“I know.”
Stopping, I move toward him again. I call magic to my fingers and slowly walk past him, grazing my fingers across his back. He jumps and glares at me. I throw up a shield around me as he starts coming toward me again. He hits the shield and stumbles backward. I walk over to Colton and stand behind him. He laughs as I use him as a second shield.
“Well, I guess training is over for today,” Tom calls out. No one is really training anymore anyway. David, Emma, Logan, and Larkin are all sitting on the floor talking. Tom, Conner, Liam, and Natalie are all watching what is going on between Bragden and me. Bragden is still watching me while I hide behind Colton.
I slowly put down my magic shield, but I remain behind my soulmate. Bragden shakes his head but throws his hands up in surrender. I can feel Colton’s shoulders moving. I peek around him and see him silently laughing. “You have to instigate everything, don’t you?”
“Who me? I would never.”
“What am I going to do with you?”
“Hopefully not tickle me. You’ve seen how that turns out.” I motion with my eyes toward Bragden. He laughs and wraps an arm around my shoulders, walking toward the doors. When we walk past Bragden, I stick my tongue out at him. He moves toward me, and I put a shield up in front of him. Colton starts laughing at our little antics. I keep the shield up because Bragden starts following us. I know he’ll try something if I’m not paying attention.
Entering the house, Colton pulls me upstairs to our room so we can change. I didn’t do a whole lot of training today, so I’m not all sweaty like he is. As we enter the room, I pull my hair out of my ponytail and turn around as Colton closes the bedroom door. Usually, I am nervous when we are alone together, but I’m not right now. I feel really comfortable—like this is where I’m supposed to be.
I blindly try to fix my hair as I watch Colton. When he catches my eyes, he smirks and slowly walks toward me. Wow, he is attractive. I always knew that, but watching him now, I become very aware of his looks. My eyes slowly rake down his body as he moves closer. When I make it back up to his face, he is standing right in front of me. “Like what you see?” he asks me; his voice lower than usual—huskier. Sexier.
“I like it when you wear white,” I whisper to him, trying to keep my cheeks from going red. Because he is sweaty, his shirt is clinging to his skin, clearly defining the muscular physique underneath. I slowly reach my hand out and lightly trace the outlines of the muscles of his abdomen. Under my touch, his breathing starts to increase; the muscles of his stomach expanding and contracting with each breath. I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him on the cheek, the corner of my mouth touching his. Abruptly, I turn around and skip over to my suitcase to grab some clothes to change into. I smile as I hear his groan behind me.
“You’re going to drive me crazy, Ryanne.”
I wink at him as I walk into the bathroom to change. Colton is sitting on the edge of bed when I enter the room again. “Sorry, I forgot you’d probably want to shower.”
He walks over to me and places his hands on my hips. Pulling me toward him, he leans in to whisper in my ear, “I’ll always wait for you, Ry,” he says reminding me of the time in the kitchen where he told me that he’d wait until I was ready. The stubble on his chin, brushes against my cheek. The slight tickle causes goosebumps to form all over my body. As his lips brush against my earlobe, I can’t contain the shiver that sp
reads through my body. He chuckles against me and walks into the bathroom, slowly closing the door.
“You’re going to drive me crazy, Colton.”
Colton
Walking down the stairs, I can see the girls sitting in the middle of the living room floor with all the guys sitting on the couch. “We’ve already had this discussion before!” Ryanne says.
“I know, but now we have someone to be the deciding factor,” Emma says while turning to Natalie. Natalie sits straighter and waits. “Chris Evans or Chris Hemsworth?” Liam looks at me and rolls his eyes. I agree. What’s up with those actors that have these girls arguing all the time about which is better?
“Hmm, that is a good question,” she says. I can tell that she is thinking about the guys. “On one hand you have the Torch and Captain America and on the other hand you have Thor, the Norse god.”
I sit down on the couch and look at the girls. Ryanne and Emma are staring intently at Natalie, waiting for her response. “I think I’m going to have to go with the Aussie. Chris Hemsworth.”
Ryanne starts laughing and high fives Natalie. Emma starts shaking her head and stares at Ryanne. “You cheated.”
“How could I have cheated?”
“I don’t know, but you did. Ok, Hugh Jackman or Christian Bale?” Emma asks Natalie.
“Hmm, Hugh Jackman. No doubt.”
“Oh, Natalie,” Ryanne starts shaking her head while Emma begins laughing this time.
“Ha, told you!” Emma says while pointing toward Ryanne.
“You cheated,” Ryanne accuses, throwing back what Emma had just told her.
“Whatever, Wolverine is better than Batman. I win,” Emma says while standing up and walking over toward David.
“I don’t think so. Christian Bale as Batman, especially in The Dark Knight…it doesn’t get much better than that,” Ryanne says to Emma as she moves toward me.
“It does get better than that. Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.”
Ryanne sits down on the couch next to me. “That girl is delusional,” she whispers.
