by Gray Holborn
Ah, that sounded more like the Soren I knew and...tolerated. And also, aura vision? What the hell did he think I was? A knockoff, pervy superhero—seeing through walls, clothes, and fears?
Because I’d be fine with that.
“Okay, so when do we start?” Tension ran through my body, though whether it was because I was excited to take my training to the next level with Soren or dreading it, I wasn’t sure.
“Now.” The sunlight bounced off his wicked grin, making him look more sinister than usual. No wonder he let me finish all of my practice without interrupting. He knew I was already exhausted.
“Fine.” And exhausted I most certainly was. But I wouldn’t let him know that. “Where do we start?”
“Here. We’re just going to jump right into it. I want you to try and block my attack when I move towards you. It’ll give us a baseline.” He smirked, a teasing glint in his eyes.
“What do you mean block you when you at—”
My words were cut off and I found myself uttering the last syllable over a mouthful of water. Icy waves cut into my skin and I pushed myself up towards the bright rays of light. Coughing, I broke the surface and grabbed onto the splintered wood of the dock. After heaving myself up, a workout in and of itself, I spit water onto the surface and caught my breath. When I stood to face him, there was no doubt in my mind there was a glare on my face.
“You pushed me into the water. What the hell is wrong with you? I liked you better when you were just being your usual version of asshole.”
His eyes were glistening with amusement, but that changed as his gaze dropped lower. Inhaling hard, he turned away from me and walked towards the other side of the deck. “Yeah, well that was your first lesson.”
“What? That you’re an asshole? Trust me, I already knew that. I thought you were going to take the training thing seriously.” I was fuming as I squeezed the smelly water from the top that was clinging to me like a second skin. It especially didn’t help that it was white. Thank god I had a sports bra on. Though that was also white.
“I am.” He turned back towards me, his gaze never dropping below my face. “If someone is going to attack, they aren’t going to wait until you’re ready and they sure as hell aren’t going to fire off a warning. You won’t forget that gem of advice anytime soon, I’m sure.” He winked and spread his arms wide. “Now, again.”
This time, I was prepared. If only because I knew I wouldn’t be given the time to prepare or complain. Still, that preparation didn’t do much. One second Soren was four feet in front of me, the next second I was making an embarrassingly large splash into the lake. This time I wasn’t as angry. He was right, of course. I wouldn’t be given the luxury of a warning when someone came after me or El. And I also appreciated that he wasn’t going to go easy on me. Someone coming after El wouldn’t either.
The third time, I braced myself. I meant to block or evade his attack—I just hadn’t expected him to be so fast. I gripped the edges of the dock, ready for round four, the pain in my muscles from the morning workout long forgotten.
The fourth time Soren moved towards me, I took a long step to my left and attempted to trip him as he reached me. Didn’t go as planned. Soren, being Soren, anticipated that move and rolled his eyes while he shoved me gently into the lake. When my head broke the surface I smiled up at him. “Hey, at least I tried that time.”
“Trying and failing is still failing, Black.” His trademark smirk made itself visible as I pulled myself up. “But yes, it’s a sign of improvement I suppose. And at the very least, you’re getting a good upper body workout dragging yourself out of the lake like that every two seconds.”
The next half hour was spent with me finding various ways for Soren to throw me into the lake. On the last try, I was able to hold him off for a few seconds—long enough to try some of the sparring techniques Jax taught me but not long enough to avoid the inevitable plunge into water. My smile when I came up for air was huge. That was an improvement. It wasn’t much, but if I practiced everyday, I’d get better. If this morning, hell this week, taught me anything it was that I was capable of learning and improving. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither were kickass fighters. I’d be Buffy status by summer if I had anything to do with it. And, well, I did. What else was I going to do while I waited for Soren and Jax to mastermind some long winded comic-book plan?
Soren peered down at me from the edge of the dock, his elbows resting on his knees as he hunched down. “That was better. Each attempt has been an improvement on the one before it. You’re actually doing pretty well,” he started, amusement shining in his gray eyes. “And let’s face it, you can only do so much. It’s not your fault my fighting technique is practically faultless.”
He reached his hand down to help pull me up, his first offer of assistance. While I should have appreciated the gesture, I couldn’t stop from grabbing his hand and pulling him into the water with me.
It was a cliche and cheap shot, but Soren fell for it. Literally.
When he resurfaced, I tried to ignore the way the sun danced off his blond hair, and the way the water made trails down his face. “What the hell, Black? I was being nice.” He paused, considering. “Ish.”
True. A grin stole over my face. “Lesson the first, Soren—” I paused dramatically, my voice deepening in a poor imitation of his. “An enemy will take advantage of any sign of weakness or vulnerability.”
“Touche.” A deep, rich laugh echoed around me. I could get lost in the sound of Soren’s laughter and I tried to shove the electric tingles it inspired somewhere deep in my memory where I wouldn’t find it. When Soren laughed, he was beautiful; his smile revealed perfectly white teeth and extended all the way to his eyes. I found myself mentally tracing the way his hair fell against the glistening white of his scar. He looked so carefree in that moment, so unburdened.
Uncomfortable with the intimacy of the moment, I moved back for a quick swim, deliberately splashing him as I kicked away. When I made it back to the dock, Soren was already perched on it, watching my less than graceful attempt to join him. With adrenaline disappearing from my body, I was beginning to feel exhaustion settle deep into my bones.
After two unsuccessful tries to lift myself up, Soren clasped my hands and pulled. I flew onto the dock, not expecting the strength and power behind his tug. As soon as I landed, he unclasped our hands and dropped back down to the ground. I joined him and laid back against the blanket I used as my makeshift yoga mat earlier. My eyes began wandering over the way his soaked shirt clung to the muscles of his torso; he was strong and lean, not bulky. The water made the material almost transparent and I saw that the tattoo on his arm extended across his chest. The swirls and shapes didn’t seem to mean anything, but they were beautiful nonetheless.
When my eyes lifted towards his face, they were met with a cocky grin.
“Your tattoos,” I started, trying to cover up the fact that I was blatantly checking him out. “What do they mean?”
The gray in his eyes shifted a few shades darker, the arrogance no longer present across his features. “Nothing. They don’t mean anything, Black.”
I pretended to believe him and closed my eyes, soaking up the sun as it slowly dried the cool water on my skin. My muscles trembled and I was exhausted, but it was a good kind of exhaustion. Today’s training wasn’t a total failure and I was beginning to enjoy that ache in my body that came along with a good workout. I would never admit that to El, though. She’d have me institutionalized.
After a few minutes, I cracked open my eyes, uncomfortable with the silence. I half expected Soren had left, realizing that I’d be useless for any more training today. Instead, I found him watching me, his arms holding him up a few feet away. His eyes held a question, like he could figure out the answer, unravel my code, by staring at me long enough. When he caught me watching him back, I smirked—happy, for once, not to be the one caught gawking. He shook his head and turned around to watch the water. And I tried rea
lly hard to not stare at the muscles in his back. Really really hard.
“Soren?” My voice was softer than usual. I wasn’t completely sure how to go about having a conversation with someone like him; he was all hard edges with mood swings I couldn’t always follow or read.
“Hm?” He didn’t turn back to face me, but he acknowledged me and I was going to take that as the go ahead.
“Why do you spend so much time on this side of the Veil if you hate humans?” I bit my lip, frozen for a few moments while I waited to see if he’d ignore me or give me some non-answer.
“What makes you think I spend so much time on this side of the Veil?” He turned back towards me with a playful smirk.
“Gee, I don’t know.” I rolled my eyes. “Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you built this perfect house that, as far as I can tell, isn’t in the Veil.” I had no idea how to reach the Veil, or even where it was. Hell, maybe we were in the Veil and I just didn’t realize it. Sage did mention that Soren insisted on staying near the rift. Maybe we were closer than I realized? I wasn’t going to press my luck and ask when getting even basic answers from him could be like pulling teeth. “Unless we passed through the Veil on the way here and I just missed it?”
“Perfect, huh?” He leaned forward, ignoring my question like I knew he would. “Yeah I guess it is.” After a few more moments of silence, I was convinced he wasn’t going to say any more. I opened my mouth to ask something else, something simpler, when his gravelly tone cut me off. “I don’t hate humans, Black.”
I scrunched up my eyebrows in confusion. “But you’re always going on and on about how humans are in the way. You even make it sound like a swear word when you say it. Human.” Then again, it wasn’t just humans in general he seemed to have a problem with. He didn’t appear to have any issues with humans we encountered at The Tavern, or Inferno, or even school. Come to think of it, he only infused the term human with disdain when he was using it in reference to me. “Oh,” my voice came out in barely a whisper. “It’s not humans then, I guess. It’s me.”
He dragged his hand through his wet hair, made several shades darker from the water, and bent his head down so I could no longer see his face. “I don’t hate humans, Black. In fact, sometimes I think life would be a lot easier if I was human, simpler. The Veil is a complicated place.” He paused for a second and scratched the back of his neck. “Then again, I guess the human realm is too. And I don’t hate you. I just don’t like that you got to grow up here, with El. In many ways, you and Sam have given her a family when she needed one the most. And I don’t like that having you in the picture makes this all much more complicated than it should be.” He grabbed a small stone off the dock and threw it into the lake. We both watched as it hopped across the water, the soft plopping sound the only thing breaking the silence for several seconds. “And sometimes...well, sometimes I worry that maybe El won’t ever want to come back to the Veil. Even if I can keep her safe. Not if it means leaving you here. We were close growing up, I don’t like that you’ve taken my place.”
I blinked my eyes a few times, letting his words roll over me. Part of me was happy to hear that his indifference and aggression towards me wasn’t actually directed at me. Part of me was too busy focusing on the fact that El would one day have to go home; that no matter how much we fooled ourselves, El wouldn’t be able to be a part of my life forever. She had Dex and who knew what else. In fact, maybe the scariest thing I learned over the past week was that El’s life here was never meant to be permanent. With her father’s position it was entirely likely she’d end up ruling a group of people one day. I didn’t have all the details on her role back home, but obviously she was important if she had a stalker threatening to kill her.
When I looked back at Soren, I found him studying me again. Curiosity and vulnerability possessed his features in equal parts. “I didn’t replace you, Soren. And she’ll go back.” My voice cracked around the emotion lodging in the back of my throat. “When it’s time, she’ll go back.” And hell, maybe she could visit me often when she did. Soren clearly spent a lot of his free time away from the Veil, maybe she could too.
He nodded his head and leaned towards me like he was going to say something else, but we were interrupted before he had the chance.
Jax plopped down next to me and raised an eyebrow when his eyes lingered over our lake-soaked clothes. “I was going to ask if you wanted to work out, but looks like Soren beat me to the punch.”
“Beat and punch. Those are definitely two words that accurately describe this morning’s training session.” I nodded my head at Soren. “But don’t worry, he got a few good hits in too.”
“Oh, I’ll bet.” Jax grabbed my arms and lifted me up, not even trying to disguise the fact that he was checking me out as his eyes travelled slowly up and down my body. “I could get used to seeing you like this, Desi-girl.”
“Like what?” I asked.
Soren stood up next to us, his body more tense than it had been a moment ago.
“Wet.” He winked once at me before pinching Soren’s cheek and turning back towards the house. “Come on Rocky, let’s get some breakfast started. We’ve got a lot to figure out today,” he called back towards me.
I turned to Soren as we made our way slowly behind Jax. “Is he always this insufferable?”
“Always? No. Lately? Yes.” His jaw muscles tightened, and then Soren ran ahead to catch up to Jax, leaving me free to channel my inner sloth and drag my aching bones and muscles after them at a comfortable, snail-like pace.
Chapter Fifteen
After a long soak in the tub, I found myself exceedingly grateful that El was an overpacker. There was an entire compartment in one of her many bags reserved for bath salts and bubbles. And right now, my aching muscles had me eating my words—I wouldn’t make fun of her goo-hoarding anytime soon.
I dressed in what was quickly becoming my newest uniform: leggings and a black top. Despite how sore I was, I wasn’t naive enough to think I could afford going without training this afternoon. Ideally, I’d have all the time in the world to slowly build my athleticism; our newfound roles on the run, however, made time a luxury.
El’s sleepy form nudged me out of the bathroom, ready to claim the shower for herself. While she was more of a morning person than I was, I knew well enough to tread lightly until she was at least midway through her morning pampering ritual. With a quick smile, I left her to the bathroom and followed the enticing smells into the kitchen. Jax was lounging at the breakfast bar which separated the kitchen from the living room area, nursing a cup of coffee while he scanned through the paper. There was something so completely human and domestic about the scene that I couldn’t hold in my laugh.
“Training to be a soccer Dad? Crossword’s on page ten.” I nudged his arm while I greedily stole a sip of his coffee.
“Hey, woman. Get your own caffeine, I made a whole pot.” He gestured with his head into the kitchen, so I followed the promised trail towards coffee.
Soren was at the stove, four pans going at once. I cringed, knowing full well that if I were dealing with that much cutlery and that many burners, I’d be asking for a disaster. In true Soren fashion though, he handled it with ease. Ignoring my jealousy, I opened cabinets searching for a tall glass. After three failed attempts at locating the stash, Soren silently reached to his right and pulled a cup down for me. Without so much as looking in my direction, he handed it to me and added some chopped vegetables into a small pan already filled with yellow, eggy goodness.
I slammed an ice cube tray hard against the counter, piling my cup to the top with the blocks. As I poured the coffee over the ice, I smiled; I always loved the quiet hiss as cold met hot. A splash of milk later, and I settled against the counter for a few minutes of peace.
“Why do you have two pans of omelets going?” I leaned towards Soren, noticing a small and large pan, both filled with eggs and chopped up fillings.
He reached for a plate and
dumped the contents of the smaller pan onto it before shoving the omelet in my direction. “You don’t eat meat right?”
My mouth dropped open, shocked not only that he would remember but that he would prepare a dish especially for me. “Thanks, you didn’t have to do that.”
“Why? Would you suddenly turn omnivorous if I didn’t?” He arched his left brow and handed me a fork. “You need to eat if you plan on building any muscle.”
The dish smelled amazing—the perfect combination of spices and a perfect mixture of cheese and egg. A girl could get used to this; might even make putting up with his typical asshole-ish side worth it. Maybe. “Well, I appreciate it is all. Thank you.” Without another word, I sat next to Jax and dove in. When I came up for air, I found Jax smirking at me, the newspaper long forgotten. “Sorry, I should have waited for your food to be done. Morning workouts leave me too famished for my manners to keep up apparently.”
I lifted the fork for another bite, unable to contain the small moan of pleasure. Food was great, as a general rule. Food after a workout was ten times better. And food you didn’t have to buy or make? Well, that was downright orgasmic. When I opened my eyes, Jax and Soren were both staring at me, neither one blinking.
“What?” I asked. “Do I have something on my face.” I reached over for a napkin and scrubbed lightly against my chin.
“Damn, Desi-girl. Remind me to cook for you next time.” Jax laughed, grabbing the plate Soren extended to him. “But also, you know, breathe in between bites.”
I could feel the heat pooling in my cheeks. “Shut up.”
Jax ran his hand through my hair, shaking the wet strands everywhere. “Just teasing you, relax.”
