"Take it easy," he puts his hand on my shoulder and holds me down. I push back and try to move, only to have the world tilt around me.
"Easy," he says again and I draw in a shaky breath, letting him ease me back to the floor.
I shut my eyes and will my muscles to relax. When the bout of sickness has passed, I ask without opening my eyes, "So what’s with Jai’s sword, Niko?"
I’d have preferred to not think about Jai’s sword ever again, but now that I’m going back to where it all started, to where the General had threatened to kill Lily if he didn’t get the sword, and I want to know more. Want to find out what kind of power the sword can give Vishal.
He hesitates and I sense he wants to speak, but something, loyalty perhaps, holds him back.
I almost feel bad doing this. Almost. Opening my eyes, I place my hand on Niko’s and he flushes.
"Tell me, Niko," I say, my voice soft.
‘The tetrad," he finally says, his voice reluctant. "Now that the tetrad is around the corner, the first since…’
He hesitates and I complete the sentence, "The first blood red moon since 2014 when Jai’s mother used the sword and set off the tsunami that destroyed Bombay."
His eyebrows draw down but he stays silent.
"And only Jai can use the sword to harness the power of nature. And that too, only during the upcoming tetrad," I add.
He nods, "The eclipse takes place in three days. We should reach Bombay just in time to see it."
"And is Jai going to call on the power of the sword during this blood red moon?" I ask the question which has been worrying me since I overheard the conversation with Jai and Gilbert at Jai’s bungalow.
Yet, even as I say it aloud, I don’t believe it. In just the short few days I’d spent with him, I’d realized that Jai hated the sword, hated being tied to his promise to his mother.
And yet here he is, taking me back with him, back into danger, for his first loyalty is still to the city.
Without waiting for Niko’s answer I shrug off his hands and jump back to my feet. Only to have my knees buckle under me.
He clutches my waist, propping me up. "Are you sure you’re OK?" He asks, worried. I nod, still too winded to speak.
He looks at me closely, eyes narrowed. Getting to his feet, he pulls me up with him. He doesn’t let go of me, though, and holds me steady with one arm to my shoulder.
"You need to toughen up," he goes on.
"No kidding," I laugh, the sound bitter. You’d have thought the last five years of living rough had made me strong enough. Apparently not.
"You're resilient, I’ll give you that," he says.
I fllush, the various aches and pains in my body forgotten for a second. Weeks of training and I still barely manage to stay on my feet in my hand-to-hand combat bouts with him. So, yeah, I hadn’t quite expected to hear any praise.
Seeing the look on my face, one side of his lips lifts in a half-smile. "You must train your mind," He says. "Train it to stay with the more rational part of yourself. So you don’t let the situation get the better of you. Don’t get into the drama of the moment. Know what I mean?"
"No." I shake my head.
"He means you need to take yourself out of the fight. So you don’t react so quickly and emotionally to situations." Jai’s voice flows over me and I stiffen. "Depersonalize, soldier. That’s the key."
Soldier. He calls me that in the hope of negating any emotional connection between us.
‘That’s what you do best, isn’t it? Depersonalize?" I say, knowing that will hurt.
And sure enough, my words find their mark,
His jaw hardens.
But I don’t feel like I’ve won. Perhaps it’s because his face looks gaunt, the hollows more prominent under his cheekbones. And he’s unshaven, a dark brown stubble covering hair hanging down to his shoulder, knotted. He’s lost weight over the last few days and is pale under his tan. Like a strip of healthy brown has been stripped off him in the last few weeks. He wears the sword in a scabbard slung across his back. The gun in a holster around his waist.
He looks rumpled.
On edge.
Sexy.
I have yet to see him without his weapons since we came aboard the ship.
Another change from seeing him in his house, surrounded by his things. His books. His bed. His sheets.
Another shift in perception I need to make.
That he’s grown up, tougher.
And I realize a part of me finds him even more attractive. The aloofness is a challenge, making me want to tear at the facade to get to the heat lurking just below.
For I was wrong about one thing. His eyes. They haven’t changed. Now they stare at me, even more intense, glowing as if from an internal hunger, something that’s eating him up inside. And that makes him even more attractive.
"Yes," he nods. "It’s what I’m trained to be."
There’s no judgement in his voice, no resentment. He accepts that this is what he is. Except I know better.
Underneath that veneer of studied aloofness is a man who cares deeply about his family, who would give up his life to save a friend, who’d forsake love for duty.
Love?
Yeah, he had loved me then with a schoolboy crush.
Facing me now is a man.
He’d been attracted to me then. He desires me now.
No, he hasn’t changed that much. Those flames in his eyes are still there, waiting to consume me. Just like the last time. And yet even then he’d held off, held himself back. I’d stood there naked, vulnerable, and he hadn’t taken advantage of me. He’d given me back my dignity.
Turning away, I grip Niko’s upper hand, my nails digging into his iron-like biceps. I sense Jai shift restlessly and put him out of my mind.
For now, though, I’m going to follow his instructions like a good soldier. Depersonalize indeed. He has no idea how good I too can be at that.
31
Seven days later "I’m ready to go again," I tell Niko.
Seeing the protest in his eyes, I deliberately take a step back so his arm drops away.
A second, a third step back.
I move till there’s enough space between us, then, bending my legs at the knee, I take guard just as Niko’s taught me. Just as Mikhail had coached me. He’d been insistent I learn how to increase the vibration of my body in those early months after I’d joined the rebels.
I had gone along for the training sessions with him more out of a sense of obligation, not paying much attention to what he’d said. I had just followed his instructions, too numb to care. Still, I must have absorbed something from his sessions for now his instructions come flooding back.
These past few weeks with Niko have certainly helped. My body is obeying my mind more and more. And if I focus enough, keep at it enough, I can tune everything else out, tune out the team taking bets on how soon I’m going to go down.
Tune out the sun burning my skin to a crisp.
Tune out Jai…No, that’s a lie. After he told me to depersonalize he hadn’t offered any more advice. But every day when I train with Niko he’s there.
Watching.
Watching from the sidelines.
Eating me up with those eyes.
Calling out to me to come to him.
As if he can’t bear to see me being hit.
As if it turns him on to watch me fight.
He’s making love to me across that space in full sight of everyone. Taunting me.
Torturing himself too. It’s not easy on him, I know that. I know he’s aroused when I leap through the air to avoid being hit. When sweat drips down my breasts, molding my T-shirt to my chest. Jai flicks his eyes over my curves, down the slope of my waist. Further below.
Reclaim your body soldier.
Shaking my head to clear it, I force myself to put the glowering man on the side out of my head. He’s jealous of Niko. Jealous that Niko gets to touch me and he doesn’t.
And I’m making
the most of it.
I hold up my arm, wiggling my fingers at Niko, beckoning him forward, making sure I make the gesture half-seductive, half-serious. He takes guard, his features tighten, but he doesn’t respond.
Control your limbs, your core; the space around you.
Taking a deep breath, I let the worry, the tension, the stress of the past month drain away, leaving me curiously light. The energy flows through me uninterrupted, crackling at my nerve endings and when I open my eyes, I see only my target.
Discard any doubts about yourself.
My body is no longer the enemy, no longer a constant source of disappointment.
I rush him, and springing into the air, ram into Niko’s chest. Take him right in the middle of that broad expanse of muscles.
It’s still like hitting a concrete wall.
My body shudders from the impact, vibrations running through me, jarring through my bone.
He. Doesn’t. Even. Give.
As I fall to the ground this time Niko grabs me around my waist, and for a second I cling to him, arms grasped around his neck.
He plucks me off him, my body still shuddering from the impact, and holds me suspended by my collar.
I sway there, my heartbeat thundering in my ears, the adrenaline pumping through my blood.
Then he lowers me to the ground gently till my feet touch the floor.
When he lets go, my knees buckle, and red-violet pain cuts through me, so I almost black out. I drop to my knees, bend my head and place my palms flat against the floor like a runner at the start of the race.
Except it feels like I’ve reached the end of this one.
My head drops between my knees and I take a deep breath. Then another. Let the sickness pass.
Niko drops down; he doesn’t touch me, though. Respect. This time, he’s treating me like a fighter. Like him. An equal.
"You did well," he says and I hear a smile in his voice.
I look up then, aware for the first time that there’s a small group watching us. All of them part of Jai’s team. My eyes scan their faces, searching for his. I curse myself and look away.
Then I’m thrown to the ground. Niko loses his balance too and I manage to roll aside at the last minute to prevent being crushed by his falling body.
A heavy metallic-sounding blow reverberates through the deck and the ship shakes with a strange back-forth-back movement. The ship blares its horn, the sound as alien as that of silence in a crowded Bombay street.
Someone yells. I turn to find Jai running towards me.
32
It galvanizes the team, who scatter, in what I learn later is a pre-planned move. Niko springs to his feet and grabs hold of a massive gun that one of the team throws at him.
Jai throws my sword at me, and before I have caught it he’s already pulling me to my feet.
"What," I gasp. "What’s happening?"
"Shifters," he says, his voice grim. "They’re attacking us." He swears aloud. "Breaking the treaty. I should have known better than to believe them, take them at their word. I let them lull me into a false sense of security and then this. Fuck! Aria, if something happens to you now…I…’
For once he’s lost for words. His face twists as if he’s trying to say something…trying to tell me what? That he still cares for me?
I know that already.
Before I can say anything more, he turns, grabbing a gun flung at him by someone. Thrusting it at me, he takes a bigger automatic type weapon.
On his back, the scabbard with his sword.
Around me, the team takes positions. All armed with guns and weapons of their choice, ranging from swords, to Neela’s bow and quiver full of arrows.
The entire team is still, focused.
Next to me, Jai tenses. The muscles on his arms flex as he takes aim with the gun. His jaw hardens, his features wiped of emotion, and he draws in a deep breath.
His chest muscles rise-fall-rise rhythmically. At that moment, it’s as if he has forgotten where he is or who I am.
All he sees are the shifters – in human form – who smoothly vault over the side of the warship, dropping to the deck to crouch down before springing towards us.
They have human features and yet it’s clear they are not. They are much too large. Each one as tall as Jai, and broad. And with muscles which bunch and move. They range in skin color from pale to almost coal black, but what’s consistent is that they are all male. Well-built. Ferocious. And unarmed.
Jai’s right, they prefer hand-to-hand combat, and it’s as if they’re unafraid of our guns. Like they know they can move fast enough to avoid bullets. Evade our sword.
All I see is Jai watching them. He takes aim and fires.
And I do the same.
Fast. Once, twice, thrice. We fire in tandem. But already I know the bullets are wasted. And as always they ramp up speed, moving so swiftly their body shimmers, vibrates. As if they’re tapping into that otherworldly part of themselves. One which spurs them on to a speed that’s too fast for the naked eye to follow. Then they are right in front of us, and without a second thought I pull out my sword and leap at them.
I’m in my element. The weeks of training have made me faster too, and with my muscles bunching together, I bring my sword down on the first shifter. I’m sure I’ll miss but don’t.
The blade goes clean down the side of his neck, almost loping it off, blood spurting out.
I’m faster than I’d thought.
Adrenaline pounding thorough me, I pull out the sword, step to the side, sliding on the blood. Sliding down feet first. As fast as the shifter in front is coming at me. When I slam into him, the vibrations go straight through me, almost stunning me. But the shifter male loses his balance too, and with a high-pitched growl that’s not quite human, he topples towards me. Quickly. I roll aside, spring to my feet and bring my sword down on him. Hack at him again and again, getting him the second time. He howls and I see the stunned surprise on his face before he goes down too.
The breath whooshes out of me and then I’m raising my sword yet again, for the next shifter is almost on me.
But this one is faster. And stronger.
He raises his massive hands and grips my sword, not caring that the blade is sharp enough to bite through his skin to the bone. Blood pours down his hands.
It’s like I’ve plunged my sword into quicksand which is closing around me, sucking me down. Down. Pulling me down.
And then he lets go so quickly I almost fall on my back.
I recover my grip on my sword in time to see Jai pull his own sword out from where he’s stabbed the male in his back, pushing his body to the side.
Blood pounding in my ears, I gasp out a "thanks’.
But he’s already turned around and so have I. We stand there back to back, panting, swords raised in defense. And for the first time I see the horror of what we’re facing.
A lot of Jai’s team has not been as lucky. I identify that at least Neela and Kabir are down. The rest are missing, either covered under bodies of fallen shifters or else…thrown overboard…a part of me realizes with horror.
And they still keep coming. At least another five shifters vault over from my side. And I take guard, bend my knees; raise my sword…
Just then there’s a whooshing sound from the side – an explosion, the impact of which slams into me and knocks the sword out of my hands before making me fall to the ground.
Before Jai hurls himself over me.
Just in time. For the next second, yellow flames bloom over us, recede.
Heat sears us, surrounding us. A thick blanket weighs us down.
Sweat breaks out over my forehead and before I can even struggle, there’s another boom. Then silence.
33
Above me, Jai is still. So still my heart stops for a second then starts with a rush, slamming against my ribs.
His face slumps against my neck, his weight pushing me down into the floor. I push at him, trying to shake him, trying
to roll him off me but I can’t even move him. Behind us the heat is intense, the flames leaping into the sky. The sweat breaks out on my forehead, and I know it’s bad.
Very bad.
Adrenaline pours through my blood and a rush of energy makes me heave against him again. This time I press my palms against his shoulders, and putting all my strength into it, grit my teeth and heave. And then he’s being lifted off me and flung aside.
I scream again as his head bangs against the floor painfully and he lies there unmoving.
Then there’s the sound of thudding feet and Mikhail rushing towards the shifter, who has flung Jai away. In his hand is a gun. Mikhail’s face is pale, resolute, his hand moves so fast he’s a blur of motion. I don’t even realize that he’s fired till the shifter swears aloud. Clutching his arm where the bullet has scraped him. He’s been hurt but not enough to stop him.
A part of me registers that Mikhail is fast enough to get the shifter. And then that too is forgotten as another shot rings out. Mikhail looks at me, his features twisted in pain. He’s been shot from behind. He stands there, a light trickle of blood emerging from his nose.
But his eyes are clear, they lock onto mine and in them I see everything that he’s wanted to tell me. That he’s tried to convey to me and never managed to say out loud.
But I know.
Have known he cares for me.
Shaking my head to clear it, I look from him to where Jai lies. Silent. Unmoving.
When I turn back to look at Mikhail, he nods. He knows now how I feel about Jai, that I won’t, can’t let him die.
The pulse thuds in my ears, my throat gone dry. I turn to crawl over to Jai’s still body when I’m hauled to my feet.
This shifter male is taller than Niko and bigger, with shoulders like a tank and forearms as thick as my— It’s Gabriel. The shifter who’d hauled me up the last time I’d met Vishal. The one I’d insulted and laughed at. His face is etched in my mind and by the look on his face, he hasn’t forgotten me either.
He wears a human form but there’s no mistaking the beast lurking under his skin.
Taken (Many Lives Book 2) Page 14
