When the last of the spectators left, Adam slowly approached with Sylee. I wasn’t sure how beat up I appeared, but judging from the look on her face, I must have looked rough. I felt beat up, but again, it wasn’t the worst day of fighting I’d had. Jeff would get me back to normal soon.
“Are you okay?” Sylee asked hesitantly.
As exhausted as I was, I could only nod to her before addressing the group. “Let’s move on a bit and then we’ll stop for the night.”
Drew and Adam led the group while Chris and Dalton tailed behind. Jeff stayed with me and the Hamilton’s. Sylee kept watching me to verify I was indeed okay. It was weird having someone around that cared so much that I was injured. My brothers cared, but not like this.
“I’m sorry you had to watch that,” I told her as we walked along. It seemed the right thing to say since we were next to each other.
“You warned me, Commander. I admit, I wasn’t completely prepared for how hard it would be to watch, but you did your best to let me know beforehand. I appreciate that you did. It would have been worse not knowing what to expect.” I was glad she was doing okay.
After she stumbled over a branch minutes later, I saw she again had tears on her cheeks. When she noticed that I glimpsed them, she apologized saying, “I’m so sorry. I never cry this much, but I’m so relieved you’re okay. I really am sorry. I know you don’t like weakness, so I’ll pull it together. I promise.”
I nodded to her. She had done well at the challenges, better than I imagined she would. I would not judge her now, and she had warned me she may fall apart afterwards.
“Sylee, do what you need to do to get your focus back. If it’s crying then let it happen.” It wasn’t much of a pep talk, but in my condition, it was the best I could do. I didn’t give pep talks on a regular basis anyway.
I wasn’t as sore as I was directly after the fights, but I was still exhausted. I couldn’t take blood from my brothers, they needed all their blood to protect the Hamilton’s, and I had already taken blood from Sylee. We needed to find a safe place to stop for the night.
She nodded back to me. “Okay, Mate.” I think my eyes about popped out of my head and my heart stopped momentarily. It was the first time she had called me her mate, and the first time she acknowledged our bond without a negative attitude. I found it warmed me a little, and I almost let a smile slide onto my lips, but when I remembered how our bond had made me weak during the challenges, I shoved my feelings back down. I could not let her influence me like this. I took calming breaths to slow my racing, excited heart before turning to Adam.
After gaining his attention, I directed, “Let’s keep going. A half hour more and then I’ll need to rest.”
Adam nodded and we continued. The further we went, the more dependent I became on Jeff’s support. Jeff was no longer just holding my hand to heal me, but was pretty much lifting me over fallen logs. I hated it. I did not want to be dependent on anyone. As Commander, I was not supposed to be weak, yet here I was announcing it to the world.
I was incredibly grateful when Adam called a halt at twenty minutes saying we wouldn’t find a nicer spot to rest in ten. I appreciated Adam helping me save face. I was exhausted and knew I did not have ten more minutes in me. Plus, there was a stream next to the campsite that I could use to clean up, but that would have to wait until I had slept. Otherwise, I would probably fall asleep while washing and drown in the water.
After glancing around the site, I went to lay down in a spot that was out of the way of my fellow travelers. I had no idea where my pack with my blanket was, and found I didn’t care. I could have slept on a bed of hot coals and not felt a thing. I lay down on the hard ground and was about to lose the fight with sleep when a blanket was draped over me. Another was then placed under my head. I forced my eyes open and looked up. The face staring back at me was the last one I expected to see.
“Thank you for saving my sister,” Archer said. Then sleep claimed me.
******
I was a little disoriented when I woke up. I hadn’t slept that hard in years. It was dark out, and Sylee lay beside me, not quite touching me. From the feel of my body, Jeff had finished my healing after I had fallen asleep. It wouldn’t normally take him this long to heal me, but we weren’t usually on the move when he was working on it. I was stiff, but the pain was gone.
I lay quietly for a while before pulling my mate to me. I hoped she wouldn’t mind, but I needed her warmth to loosen my muscles. She was so exhausted from her stressful day that she didn’t even stir when I moved her. After a few minutes of lying next to me, she rolled toward me and wrapped the arm she wasn’t lying on around my waist. Her head moved onto my chest, and one of her legs was thrown over mine. She’d done this to me once before at Bard’s the night before we left. I had spent that night reciting every piece of Light policy I knew word for word. I would have moved her, but she kept whimpering in her sleep and cuddling closer, if that had been possible. It was the most uncomfortable night of my life. I had just gotten back to myself, and the girl was going to ruin me again.
However, tonight I let myself feel, both physically and emotionally. It was a risk, but if I was never held like this by a woman again, I wanted to know what it felt like. I’d won the challenges for her, so I figured I earned the right to this experience, and her warmth. My heart sped up and my skin heated as my body registered every place our bodies touched. Since she had not moved when I pulled her closer, I took the chance and let my fingers explore her soft cheeks and arms. I couldn’t stop them when they moved into her hair and it was an even better experience than I had imagined. True to my promise to her, I kept my explorations appropriate, and eventually her warmth lulled me back to sleep.
The sun was rising when I woke up from a much lighter sleep. This time, I wasn’t disoriented. Sylee had moved to lay beside me sometime after I’d fallen asleep and I found I was again spooning her. I tried not to wake her as I stretched, but she was already waking as well.
“How are you feeling, Commander?” she asked when she was aware that I was awak. She had a slight blush, and I figured she remembered how she slept on me again. I wanted to grin at my own memories of it, but I held it back, knowing it would bother her. Since when did I care for her feelings?
“I’m better. Jeff did a good job healing me.”
“I think Bard would be proud of what you did yesterday. You were actually nice to me, Commander. I appreciate it.” She gave me a tentative smile. Wonderful. She was getting the wrong idea. My emotions immediately reacted to her praise, and it was not in the way she wanted. It took everything not to pull away from her and bury my heart again. It had been a mistake to bring it out last night, after all. Another moment of weakness I had fallen for.
“I wouldn’t go that far, Mate,” I said, humored by her thoughts. She really did have high hopes for me.
“Why not, Carmon?” My name rolling off her tongue did some crazy flip thing to my stomach that I didn’t understand, and why was she calling me by my name?
“Sylee,” I groaned and started in on the correction.
“Do not tell me I cannot call you by your first name. You are my mate, and I will not call you Commander. You call me by my name.”
I laid my head back on the ground. Defeat was becoming my middle name, and I loathed it.
“Now, why would Bard not be proud?”
“Sylee, you don’t know me yet,” I responded. “I’m not sure you’ll like what you find when you do. Let’s leave it at that for now. According to Bard and your standards, I’m not sure I’ll make the ‘proud’ level.” Thankfully my stomach rumbled, giving us something else to talk about.
Sylee smiled at me. “What’s on the menu for breakfast?”
“How about the same as we had yesterday?”
She laughed at my attempted joke that kept her from going back to the previous subject. “Ooh, sounds delicious,” she joked back.
I sighed. “Breakfast can wait until I’m clean. I
smell like blood and I’m covered in four different types of it. Do you know where my pack is?”
“Yeah, right here.” Sylee handed me my bag.
“Thanks.”
I pulled out clean clothes and made my way to the stream. I stripped out of what was left of my shirt to find the skin underneath was caked in dry blood. What had I looked like at the end of the challenges? All I could remember was exhaustion. No wonder Sylee had been such an emotional mess afterwards.
I took my time cleaning up. Water always made me feel better, more alive. Sylee’s blood had done the same for me yesterday, too. I was thankful she’d let me bite her again. It probably wasn’t easy after I had forced the bite the first time. She was strong, and she had proven that during my challenges.
When I was done washing the blood away, I couldn’t even tell I had been in a fight the day before. Jeff was an amazing healer. We never had scars after injuries, which was amazing because we should have been covered in them.
A stick snapped behind me, but I wasn’t surprised. I had used my power to locate her when I walked to the stream, and had watched her approach me in my mind. I used more of my power to also dry myself off, pushing the water droplets off my skin. Sylee looked amazed when my eyes went to her, but she didn’t ask me about what I’d done. I knew I would have to explain my extra powers to her soon, but now was not the time.
When I was finished, I reached for my shirt lying on the ground a few feet from the water. Sylee beat me to it and grabbed it up. I looked at her with raised eyebrows, hoping to communicate my confusion. What was going on?
“Spin,” Sylee ordered me sternly, motioning with her fingers as well. The order grated on a nerve.
“Why?” I bit out. I was so tired of being weakened, and thus defeated, by her, and her orders. She’d ordered me to bring her sister to her the other night and I had found myself obeying her command. Me! My jaw clenched tightly at the memory.
Sylee crossed her arms. Just great. Here comes her mouth again. I wanted to roll my eyes, but didn’t.
“I just want to make sure you’re okay.” Her words held less power behind them than I knew she wanted. She hated showing me weakness, but she sounded hurt during her explanation. She probably thought she had been right, that I had started to change. I was doing some sort of changing, but it was confusing me more and more, which angered me.
I calmed a bit once I understood what she wanted. I stood straight and did a slow, full spin so she could see that I was indeed uninjured. When I finished, I noticed her cheeks were turning bright red. I couldn’t help but notice that women found me attractive. They made it pretty obvious with the staring. I was unprepared, however, for the overwhelming feeling of pride, and not arrogant pride like I normally felt, that my young mate couldn’t take her eyes off me. I couldn’t help but smirk back at her, but she didn’t notice it as she was still staring at the rest of me.
“So,” I said, startling her, “do I pass your inspection?” I smiled bigger as her blush deepened further. Suddenly, the ground became more interesting to her.
“Yeah, you’re good,” she said as she scuffed her shoe on the ground. I couldn’t help laughing a bit.
“Can I have my shirt then?” I asked the question knowing it would embarrass her more.
Her wide-eyed expression proved she had forgotten she was holding it. Her whole face glowed red as she threw me my shirt and made a dash back the way she had come. I chuckled aloud for the first time in too long. It felt good. Then I remembered her face when she threw me my shirt and my chuckle turned into a belly laugh.
What’s so funny? Adam asked from where he kept watch.
My little mate, I responded, wiping laughter tears from my cheeks.
You know, you’re only three years older than her.
Yeah, but it feels like more. Sometimes I feel like I’m going on fifty.
I hear ya, Adam replied.
I went back to the campsite and looked for Sylee. She was folding our blankets. She glanced at me and then, just as quickly, looked away, blushing again. I walked up behind her and reached around to grab Archer’s blanket from her hands. When I did, she shivered. This time I knew it had nothing to do with fear, and everything to do with me. I’d never made a woman react like that, and yes, I let it go to my head. It took everything in me not to stick around to elicit another shiver from her.
Instead, I left her there to go find Archer, who watched cautiously as I approached. When I reached my brother-in-law, I held out my right hand. Archer accepted the handshake hesitantly.
“Thank you for your kindness yesterday and lending me your blanket.” After all our animosity for each other the words felt foreign passing over my lips. I didn’t like the feeling, but I had told myself this was what I needed to do as Commander.
“You’re welcome.” Archer took his blanket from me.
I nodded to him and walked over to Drew and Chris. “Are we ready to head out again?”
“Yes,” Drew replied.
“Commander?” I heard Ruby ask softly behind me. I turned as Jonas came up beside his quiet wife.
“Yes, Ruby?”
“Thank you for saving my daughter.” Ruby pulled me in for a hug. I was not used to so much physical affection. First, Sylee’s breakdown in the forest before the challenges, holding her last night, and now a hug from Ruby. “I don’t even want to think about what would have happened to her if you had not been there to help.”
“I echo my wife’s words.” Jonas shook my hand when Ruby released me. “But what I don’t understand is why they wanted her in the first place, and why you had to fight without your brother’s help. It seems she knows, so you will also explain it to the rest of us, which is something that should have been done before, but I still thank you for saving her.”
“You’re welcome, Governor, Mrs. Hamilton,” I acknowledged their thanks. “We need to be going soon. Can you make sure your family is ready to leave in ten minutes?”
“Of course, Commander,” Jonas replied.
******
We traveled the rest of the day without seeing magical creatures. Our resting breaks were short lived, and few and far between. Everyone was tired of walking and also having very little privacy. Our moods changed quickly and patience was a fleeting commodity. I had to stop physical altercations between multiple brothers, and once between Dalton, my nicest and most patient brother, and Archer, the ever-annoying Hamilton. That guy was going to be lucky to make it to Mount Pickett intact.
It was the forest that was causing it. The dense fog and foliage closed tightly around us. Branches seemed to come alive and reach out and grab our clothing. Just as I thought the trees would close us in for good, we reached the outside of the forest center. The trees started spreading out farther, and the fog dissipated quickly.
A half mile further, I called a halt for the night. It was just after dark and almost impossible for the Hamilton’s to see, but they had kept going without complaint once they could move more freely.
“Adam make us a fire please,” I requested. We hadn’t had one since we were at Bard’s. It was safer not to, but tonight I wanted to be warm and dry.
My mood had been cross at its best today. I had yelled at my brothers, all the Hamilton’s, and once my mate. She had been trying to get Paul unstuck from multiple tree branches. They were making so much noise, Paul yelling at her to hurry up, Sylee yelling at him to stop moving. I lost my patience and pushed her aside to forcefully remove Paul from the branches’ hold while yelling at her. Her hurt was evident and she wouldn’t look me in the eyes. When her eyes did find mine, they were full of anger. I had warned her that I hadn’t changed. She was the one who was still trying.
It took Adam no time at all to get a fire started. That was his specialty. All he needed was wood. Everyone grabbed their blankets from their packs and made a circle around the fire to get warm and dry before going to sleep for the night. I found myself next to Sylee. She appeared tired and her face was pale fro
m walking in the chilly air. She shivered slightly, trying to hide how she felt from me. She was so naïve to think she could hide anything from me, but I found myself pulling my blanket out of my bag and wrapping it around her shoulders. Why did I have to lead her on and give her hope?
“Thank you, Carmon,” Sylee whispered. She glanced up into my eyes and gave me a small smile.
Everyone sat quietly. Then Paul spoke up. “So, who else have you guys escorted places?”
“No one,” Drew said.
“Really?”
“Do we act like we’ve done this before?” Chris asked in a grumpy mood. My eyes quickly flew up from where they gazed at the fire to watch my usually humorous brother. “We’re definitely not on the top ten teams for babysitting services.”
I let out a huff of air. He was correct. It had been a mistake to take this job. We were nowhere near qualified for it. If anything, we should have brought Cooper’s team with us. They had more experience with people. What was done could not be changed, though, and we would have to live with that. Some of us more than others.
Ruby chose to ignore the bad attitudes around her. “What do you gentlemen do for the Light then?”
My back went rigid and my heart skipped a beat. I hadn’t been expecting that question yet, but here it was. The moment my mate would find out what kind of a monster she was stuck with, and why it was pointless to hope for me to change, or even love her. She would learn that she did not even want me to love her, and she would give up on me. I did not know why I found that upsetting to my stomach, but I did.
There was silence for a few minutes while I decided how to go about answering Ruby’s question. I knew this was an important conversation I needed to have with my mate, and since it was my mate who needed to know this information, I started talking.
Life and Water: The Elementals: Book One Page 9
