by Reese Rivers
“Pick your weapon.” He motions to Finn. “You as well. I feel the need to go two on one today. While Luca learns her dance-like moves, we can spar.”
Both Finn and I glance back over to where Eden’s punishing the leather bag but another snarl from Bas has us turning away to pick out our own blunted training swords.
The effect Eden has on Bas is never clearer than when we begin to fight. He’s a fierce opponent at the best of times but today he’s more savage than usual. It’s as if he’s trying to fight a demon inside of himself instead of us. As Finn and I whirl, block and counter almost as one, I almost lose my head to Bas’s sword slash when I catch sight of her standing next to Luca on one perfectly balanced leg. Her other leg is extended up above her head with one of her hands lightly holding it. I’ve seen dancers in such a pose before but seeing Eden in the pose has me thinking about spreading her wide in such a way while my cock pounds into what I’m sure will be a tight hot channel between her legs. I stumble back to avoid Bas’s next slash and he follows up with a punch to my face barking out, “Focus!”
The strike has my head rocking back and my wolf surging forward to meet the challenge. While I have no fear of my Alpha killing me, he’s not above inflicting injuries to make his point and it takes time and energy to heal even at the rapid pace we shifters heal at. I push the temptress from my mind and fully commit to the fight while a new song screams out from the device about doing whatever it takes. I lose myself to the music and movement as Finn and me, with eyes glowing gold, fight Bas to a draw. His own eyes have flared red and I catch sight of his elongated fangs when we finally separate to end the sparring match.
Panting from the exertion, I swipe the sweat from my eyes and spot Eden and Luca standing on the edge of the rug where they’ve been watching us. The excitement I see in the lass’s eyes tells me we were eejits to think her sensibilities would be bothered at all by the violence conducted in this room. She claps her hands when she sees we are finished and steps onto the rug.
“I’m up for some of that action! Who wants to fight me next?” She asks with a big grin.
I wince when Bas scoffs from behind me. There’s something about Eden that rides his arse and makes him say the dumbest things to get her back up.
“Little girls should not play with knives. Leave it for the men to handle such dangerous weapons.”
I watch the grin slide off of her face and she just stares at him with a blank expression before she turns, walks a few feet to the next area that has a table with sets of perfectly balanced throwing knives. Ten feet away are four wooden effigies hanging from chains that have been carved into the shapes of men’s bodies. She picks up a set of four knives, fans them out, and studies them with an intense expression on her face for a moment before looking up at Sebastian with big confused eyes. She blinks a few times and gives a tiny adorable shrug.
“You’re supposed to stick the pointy end into the bad guys, right?”
She waits for a few beats so that a condescending look begins to form on Bas’s face and then tosses one of the knives into the air, catches it, and snaps it towards the first wooden dummy where it lodges deeply into where a man’s heart would be. She follows it with two more knives, each hitting the same spot on the next two wooden effigies. My mouth has dropped open in shock at her skill as I wait for her to throw the final knife but she pauses and hits Bas with a dark glare. Without ever taking her eyes from him she throws the final knife but this one lodges between the effigy’s legs right where its manhood would be. She doesn’t even look to see where it landed when a sweet satisfied smile crosses her face.
“Oops, I guess I missed that one’s heart. My bad!”
I try not to howl with laughter when I see Sebastian pull his hips back away from her when he glances over and sees the knife lodged where a man’s most tender spot would be. Luca doesn’t hold back and lets out a large bellow of laughter. Finn and I spin towards him in shocked disbelief. It is the first truly joyful laugh we’ve ever heard from him since we joined him and Bas well over a hundred years ago. I send a quick look Finn’s way and we both end up with matching grins. Aye, the lass is exactly what we all need.
I turn back to see Eden and Bas glaring at each other. If he was a mere mortal he would shatter his teeth at how hard he’s clenching them.
“No swords, no knives. If you want to spare with a weapon it will only be a blunt staff.” He tells her in a tone that lets me know he’s seconds away from throttling her. I’ll have to remember to get a bet going with Finn on when Bas will finally crack and bend the lass over the nearest hard surface. I have no fear that he will harm Eden with anything other than his sharp tongue and cold words but even those will end when he finally accepts that he’s met his match. I’ve seen the way he looks at her when he thinks no one’s watching. Aye, I’ll place my money on no later than ten days from now.
I’m ready to intervene and break their stare down when Eden blinks, smiles and nods.
“I can work with that.”
She turns her back on the vampire and shoots me a taunting look.
“What do you say, wolf boy? Wanna hit me with your staff?”
I bite my tongue to stop myself from telling her exactly what I want to do to her with my staff and instead guide her over to the wall where we pick out our weapons and then take them to the center of the fighting area. Eden sets herself a few feet away from me and gives me a small bow before launching into me. I block everything she throws at me but am unable to bring myself to strike at her. I can see she’s getting frustrated that I won’t fight back and I swear I hear a growl come from her mouth. I should have taken it as the warning it was because the next moment she drops down and sweeps my legs out from under me and I crash to the floor.
She glares down at me and shakes her head in disappointment but is distracted when Finn starts laughing at me. The lass stalks over to him and points her staff at him.
“What about you? Are you too afraid to fight a girl as well?” When he throws his hands up and backs away shaking his head, she spins away with a small frustrated screech and zeros in on Sebastian. “And you? I know you don’t like me very much so you’d probably be happy to take a shot at me, right?” When he only raises an eyebrow in amusement, Eden throws her staff down. “What the hell is wrong with you all? Clearly, I know how to fight and it’s not like I haven’t taken many, many hits in the ring before. I promise not to cry if you somehow manage to get past my guard!”
Sebastian loses the amused expression and stalks over to her bending to pick up the staff at her feet. “We’ve all seen the picture on your device that shows just how many hits you’ve taken before. If you think any one of us would do such a thing to you, then you are a fool.”
Her face pales at the reminder but she quickly recovers and spits back, “I train to fight so that will never happen to me again! I will never be defenseless ever again.” She slides one hand over her hair and gives the gathered tail a hard pull before looking up at him with eyes that plead for him to understand. “Don’t you get it? I need partners to spar with so that I can learn and practice how to stop the hits from getting through.”
I see the moment his eyes soften towards her and curse under my breath when he holds out the staff for her to take.
“Alright,” Bas tells her in a low voice causing Luca to step forward.
“Sebastian,” he says in a warning tone but the Alpha merely holds up a hand to silence him without taking his eyes from Eden.
“I will spar with you and I will strike but it won’t be at my full strength. If that’s not enough for you, then this is over.” He warns her.
Eden bites her lower lip but nods her agreement and goes back to the center to wait for him. Bas walks past me and snatches the staff from my hands and then sets himself a few feet away. She does that strange bow again but doesn’t launch herself at him the way she had done with me. She hesitates long enough for the stiffness to leave Bas’s stance and only then goes on the attack
. He keeps his word and strikes as much as he blocks and I have to admire the lass for she doesn’t react at all when a hit makes it through and lands on her body. I want to cheer her on when Bas tries to sweep her legs out from under her with his staff and she jumps in the air to avoid it and delivers a solid kick to his shoulder that causes him to stumble back a few feet. The more they fight the faster they both move and it’s a kind of beautiful thing to watch them dance in such a violent way. Things change abruptly when Bas scores a hit to Eden’s ribs and her movements become jerky. She hacks and slashes with the staff and presses him hard in attack. He calls her name twice but she acts like she can’t hear him. When I see his eyes flash red I’m one step away from pulling her away but he intercepts a hard slash with his palm instead of his staff and rips it from her hands, throwing it behind him. When she makes to hit him with her fists he pins her arms in place against her sides and holds tight with a furious expression as she thrashes in his arms.
Luca, Finn, and I have moved to encircle them, ready to take the lass away from him but he commands us with one look and we stay in place.
“She’s not even here. The damn witch is lost in a berserker’s rage.”
The tension leaves my body as I remember seeing her get like this at the end of the fight with the assassins but I didn’t think about it then. Now, that I know her better, I can see that this rage is the result of the trauma she went through. Lashing out blindly when lost to the hurt and pain is something both Finn and I can relate to and it’s also something Sebastian broke us of.
Eden’s thrashing comes to a stop as she freezes for a moment. She tilts her head back to look up at Bas’s face and just asks, “What are you doing?”
He immediately lets her go and uses the motion to force her back away from him. His face and voice are cold when he tells her, “You are undisciplined. Letting the rage take over, control you like that will only work on the weakest of threats. You will be left blind to all attacks coming at you that are not right in front of your face. In short, witch, you will die.” He pauses when she flinches back but then finishes with, “Focus, control, those are what you must master or all your skills and practice won’t protect you from the next attack.”
Her green eyes are huge and her mouth opens to speak but then she snaps it closed. I see the pain and desperation in them as well as a shine of tears before she spins away and runs from the room. I clench my fists. The lass promised she wouldn’t cry from taking a physical hit but the hit she just took was to her heart.
We all stand and watch her go and then Bas uses his foot to toss the staff he dropped into the air. With reflexes almost too fast to see, he snatches it and launches it like a javelin at the closest wall where it buries itself halfway into the wood and plaster. None of us make a move until he tosses an angry hand through his hair and turns to face us focusing on Finn and me.
“Go. Go and soothe her, for I cannot.”
Eden
It only takes me a few strides down the hall away from the training room to regret running out. Embarrassment and a little bit of stubborn pride keep me from going back and apologizing. Now I’m wandering around the gardens with no shoes on in just my tank top and leggings, probably scandalizing the groundskeepers. I feel like an immature twit for reacting the way I did but even though every word Sebastian said was true, hearing it from him in his cold uppity accent was so much more devastating than when Diesel had basically said the same thing.
The guy just gets under my skin so bad and even though he drives me crazy with his Mr. Freeze thing, I can’t help but want his approval for some reason. A sharp stone jabs into the tender arch of my foot breaking me out of my pity party of one. I need to pull up my big girl panties and go make it right no matter how much crow the Iceman makes me eat.
Thinking of Diesel makes me realize that I haven’t thought about home or how I’m getting back since yesterday morning. What does that mean? Am I really just going to accept that I’m stuck here? Do I want to stay stuck here? It’s not like there’s a long list of reasons for me to go back to my life in the future. Shaking my head in exasperation at how fucked up I am, I start looking around to find my way back.
It takes me a while and three wrong turns but I finally make it out of the maze-like gardens and back to the house finding a set of French doors to get into it. The doors open to the formal dining room we had eaten in the night before. I don’t know how to get to the training hall from here and of course, none of the army of servants are around to give me directions so I just head back to my room, remembering the way from the night before.
By the time I reach my door I’m feeling pretty despondent about the way I reacted, how I can’t seem to control my rage, and not having one fucking clue on how to deal with the situation I’ve found myself in.
When I push open the door I’m not remotely surprised to see Cade and Finn waiting for me. Finn is lounging on my bed with his arms crossed behind his head and Cade’s sitting on the small dressing table stool, staring intently at my phone. He jumps to his feet when I step into the room and quickly whips the hand holding my phone behind his back with an expression that screams naughty child guilt.
Without saying a word, I hold my hand out and wait. He shoots a nervous look toward Finn like he is looking for a rescue but all he gets from his friend is a shrug. With a deep sigh, he slowly pulls the phone from behind his back and places it in my hand.
“I’m truly sorry, lass! I think I’ve mashed it somehow. It just stopped in the middle of the music and I canna get it to light back up.”
I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing at how devastated he looks but it’s a really cute look on him so I give it a few beats before shaking my head.
“It’s fine. You didn’t do anything to it. The battery probably died. It just needs a recharge.”
The look of relief and the gush of air that comes from him is so exaggerated, you’d think I just told him he wasn’t going to die. He tucks his hands behind his back and leans over at the waist to look at the black screen before cocking an eyebrow at me. “Aye, and how do we do that then? Recharge it as you said. The music it makes is just grand and I’d like to hear more of it if I can.”
I shoot him a tight smile. “You’re lucky then, two years ago big tech finally pulled their head out of their asses and came up with a better option to charge these things.” I flip the phone over and press down on the top of the case to unlatch it so that I can slide the back cover off and tap on the glass. “This part of the phone is a small, built-in solar panel. It captures the energy of the sun and turns it into power to recharge the battery. All you need to do is set it in a sunny spot like a window sill and leave it for a few hours. Takes longer than the rapid charger plug but there you go, no more being stranded with a dead battery if you don’t have your charger.”
I turn away from him and place the phone backside up in the sunniest window sill in the room and then just stand there staring out at the gardens. I wait for one of them to call me out on how I acted earlier, knowing I deserve it but not wanting to face the disappointments I’m sure I’ll see on their faces. My shoulders tense when I hear Cade clear his throat.
“Lass - Eden, I’m sorry Bas was so harsh. He shouldn’t have taken such a tone with you and I know he regrets it.”
Huh? I turn slowly around with an incredulous look on my face.
“What? Why are you apologizing to me? I’m the one who acted like a child by running away. Everything he said was a hundred percent true! And he’s not the first one to tell me that. Although he’s the first one to say I would end up dead instead of me being the one to kill someone.”
Finn sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed closest to me with a cautious expression.
“Aye, what he said was true but he shouldn’t have said it like that. We know he hurt your feelings and that’s not right.”
I look back and forth between them and see how seriously they feel about my hurt feelings and can’t help the
frustrated laugh that bubbles out. I throw my hands up into my hair and ruthlessly yank the band from my hair to ease the pull on my scalp.
“I have a trainer back home named Diesel. He’s a beast of a man in size, easily a foot taller than you two and probably close to the size of you two combined. He’s scary looking with tattoos covering his chest, arms, neck, and some of his shaved head. He once told me to quit being a little bitch and get off my ass when an opponent I was sparring with knocked me down. You know what I did? I got off my ass and won the match. Diesel patted me on the head after and told me to do better so I did. Sebastian didn’t hurt my feelings and if you think his tone was harsh, well, I hope you never piss me off so you won’t have to see what harsh really is!”
Finn barks out a laugh and points at Cade. “Remember when Bas beat you down and called you a mangy mutt that couldn’t fetch a bone if it was between your paws? Ha! This Diesel fellow sounds like a direct descendant of Bas’s. They have the same training style.”
Cade sends Finn a sharp, pointed look that promises retribution for the reminder then turns back to me and takes my hands in his.
“Eden, I saw the tears in your eyes, love. I know he hurt you.”
I snatch my hands back from him. “That wasn’t hurt, it was frustration and embarrassment! I’m well aware that I can’t control the rage that overtakes me. You have no idea what I’ve been through, what I’ve survived!” I spit at him but then I see what I think is a condescending look come into his eyes and it infuriates me.
“My whole family was wiped out in a blink of an eye. Everyone I loved just died and my husband, the person I thought I loved, he…arrgh! It doesn’t matter what he did! I was alone in the world and just when I thought I was getting through it, getting back on my feet, Fate stepped in and decided I hadn’t suffered enough so the bitch sent a gang of animals to attack me and kill not only my partner but my only friend. They beat me, broke me so bad I could barely function even after the bones, bruises, and scars healed. So don’t fucking pretend you know what I’m going through!”
