Aaron glanced at me, then followed my gaze to Ezra. He swallowed back his protest. “Yes, sir.”
“I’ll keep you posted,” Darius added.
With a nod, Aaron drew Ezra into motion, leading him behind the bar and into the kitchen. Kai followed on their heels, but as I stepped after him, Darius caught my eye.
“Be careful, Tori,” he murmured.
Before I could ask what he meant, he strode off to join Girard. I stared after him. Be careful of … what? What was with mythics and cryptic warnings? Annoyed, I grabbed my laptop, purse, and phone, then stalked after the guys. I had enough to worry about already.
* * *
The moment we piled through the front door of Aaron’s house, Ezra made a beeline for the stairs. He cleared two steps before Kai and Aaron hauled him back down and dragged him into the living room.
I followed with my mouth hanging open, no idea what to do or say or … anything.
Aaron pushed his friend onto the sofa. “No, Ezra.”
“Don’t panic yet,” Kai told him.
Ezra glared up at them, then his shoulders hunched in defeat. “But if they know, I have to—”
“One,” Aaron interrupted, “they don’t know anything. They’re fishing. They think you’re suspicious, but that’s all they’ve got. And two, whether they know or not, you aren’t running.”
“Don’t even try to pack a bag,” Kai warned.
Ezra hunched further. “I don’t need a bag to leave.”
My back snapped straight. Leave? That was his plan?
“Good point.” Kai dropped onto the sofa beside Ezra. “Now that you’ve reminded us, we’ll make sure to keep you under constant surveillance so you can’t sneak off.”
Jaw flexing, Ezra growled, “What else am I supposed to do?”
“They don’t know anything,” Aaron repeated sternly. “They were trying to spook you into revealing something, and if you skip town, you’ll just confirm their suspicions. Their whole guild will hunt you.”
Ezra braced his elbows on his knees, fingers entwined and pressed against his mouth. “What, then? What do I do? This has never happened before.”
Kai and Aaron exchanged a look. I stayed in the doorway, unwilling to enter the conversation.
“We have three options,” Kai said. “One, you run for it, which we’ve already vetoed. Two, we wait them out. When they can’t confirm you’re anything but an aeromage, they’ll go back to hunting the demon. Or three, we kill them.”
My stomach dropped through the floor and landed somewhere in the basement.
After a moment’s thought, he added, “It’s a bit premature for option three.”
Aaron sighed. “Kai, this isn’t the family business.”
Kai leaned back into the sofa. “Killing them would be the safest option for Ezra, and no one will miss them. People have died because those selfish fools are sabotaging everyone’s search efforts to get the demon kill for themselves.”
“We aren’t a mythic mafia,” Aaron retorted dryly. “We can’t off inconvenient people on a whim.”
“We’d need to plan it carefully. Disposing of bodies is a hassle.” He shrugged. “But like I said, it’s too soon. The Keys are looking for proof. All we need to do is make sure we don’t give them any.”
Disposing of bodies was a hassle, Kai had said. He’d supposedly broken all ties with his crime-syndicate family seven years ago, so he must’ve learned that skill before then. Great one to add to his résumé. Black belt martial artist, master swordsman, and body disposal expert.
My gaze drifted to Ezra, who was watching the blank TV with a thousand-yard stare. Speaking of young, he hadn’t registered as a mythic until he was eighteen. But hadn’t he told me he’d always known he was an aeromage? How did that work?
Sensing my attention, his gaze turned my way, then dipped down to my chest. He sprang up so fast I started.
Aaron and Kai grabbed for him like he was about to throw himself through the window, action-movie style, but he dodged their hands with unnerving speed. My eyes widened as he strode toward me.
“Tori, you’re hurt.” Concern softened his voice as he gently took my arm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t notice.”
I looked down, surprised to see the torn front of my jacket and a bloody splotch above its collar. Oh. Huh. I’d forgotten about that. I pulled the front of my jacket open and was pleasantly surprised that my Kevlar-esque shirt hadn’t torn. One demonic claw had nicked my collarbone just above the neckline.
“No biggie, guys.”
“We should still clean it,” Kai said. “Come with me, Tori.”
Leaving the other two in the living room, Kai led me into the kitchen. I leaned against a counter while he retrieved the kit from the bathroom.
As he set it beside me and flipped it open, I lowered my voice and asked, “Kai, how bad is it?”
He tore open an alcohol swab. “The scratch isn’t deep.”
“Not that. I meant—oww.” I winced as he swabbed the cut. “I meant with the Keys harassing Ezra.”
Kai’s dark eyes darted toward the living room. “It’s bad. The Keys have no proof, but they don’t always care. This wouldn’t be the first time they’ve attacked first and condemned the mythic later.”
My jaw tightened, and I scarcely noticed him sorting through bandage options.
“If we keep Ezra out of sight,” Kai murmured, “they should give up and refocus on the demon hunt. That’s Darius’s intent, I think.”
I studied him. “And if they don’t give up?”
“Then we’ll deal with it.” He peeled a bandage open. “If you want out, now is the time. I’ll take you home as soon as I’m done.”
“Funny.”
“I’m serious.” He pressed the bandage over my cut. “I don’t think you’re ready to face the reality that comes with staying.”
I squinted in confusion. “What reality?”
His eyes met mine, dark as night and deadly serious. “The point of no return is approaching, Tori. If you pass it, you can’t go back.”
A shiver ran down my spine, his words strangely echoing Sabrina’s reading. No going back. An irreversible choice. My life changing forever.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I told him.
He gazed at me as though waiting for something, his expression inscrutable. When I said nothing, he eventually nodded. The gesture felt like he was giving me his permission to stay … a permission he could revoke at any time.
Chapter Thirteen
“Tori? Tooorriiiii.”
Aaron’s persistent voice rattled around in my sleep-riddled skull.
“Wake up, Tori.”
A hand squeezed my shoulder and gently shook me. Groaning, I lifted my face off the pillow and squinched my eyes open. Pale sunlight leaked through the bedroom curtains.
“Ehhhh?” I slurred.
Aaron’s grinning face appeared above mine. “Morning, sleeping beauty. Time to get up!”
I blinked a few times, then laboriously rolled onto my back. A hard, round object pressed against my side, then with a shimmer, Hoshi uncoiled from her small orb form, her long tail spilling across the blankets. She buried her head under the pillow.
Aaron stared at the fae. “Where’d she come from?”
“She likes to sleep beside me.” A yawn cracked my jaw and I nestled into the bed. “What are you doing in here? Don’t you know how to knock?”
“I did knock. Several times.” He waved at me. “Up. Come on. Time to go.”
I frowned sleepily, scanning him from head to toe. He wore a loose black and gray tank top and gym shorts, his hair tousled and cheeks flushed. I allowed myself a moment to drool over his amazingly toned arms, which I’d seen far less of since the fall weather had dropped the temperatures, then asked, “Time to go where?”
Aaron crouched at my eye level, a smirk pulling at his mouth. “You know how we keep bringing up that you need training and you keep dodging it?”
Deny
ing that I’d avoided all forms of training for the past six weeks would only make him laugh. I hadn’t been particularly subtle about it.
“Yeah, so?”
His smirk sharpened. “You can’t dodge it if you’re sleeping in our house. Today is day one.”
Oh hell no. “Pass.”
“You don’t have a choice.”
“Is this really an appropriate time?” I demanded, changing tactics. “With a demon on the loose and the Keys after Ezra—”
“Which means we’re stuck at home anyway, so we should make the best of it. Up!”
I yanked the covers over my chin. “You can’t make me.”
“I’m so glad you said that.”
He grabbed the blankets and yanked them right off the mattress. Hoshi shot up above the bed, hissing softly, then faded out of sight. Damn it. She should’ve stayed to defend me!
Drawing my legs up against the rush of cold air, I curled into a defensive ball—but it was no use. Ignoring the fact I was wearing an oversized t-shirt from Ezra’s dresser and no pants, Aaron dragged me to the edge of the bed, got a good hold of my waist, and tossed me over his shoulder.
“Aaron!” I shrieked, flailing. “Put me down!”
“Hold on tight.” Laughing, he strode out of the room. I desperately clutched the back of his shirt and cursed him with every bad word I knew. He laughed again as he trotted down the stairs. “Look on the bright side, Tori. We were nice enough to let you sleep in an extra two hours.”
“I haven’t agreed to this! You can’t manhandle me like a child!”
He went down the basement stairs with terrifying speed. “If you’d done any training before this, maybe you’d know how to stop me.”
I snarled as he tilted me off his shoulder. My bare feet hit the mats that covered the floor, and I shoved angrily away from him. My borrowed t-shirt was caught around my hips, displaying my purple undies to the whole room, and I jerked the hem down.
Their basement was one big fitness gym, with three treadmills, more cardio machines, and weight equipment on one side. Exercise mats covered the other side. Kai’s footsteps thudded against a humming treadmill at a fast jog, his face shining with perspiration. Ezra hung from the pull-up bar, slowly drawing himself up with one arm until his opposite shoulder touched the bar, then lowering himself just as slowly.
My eyes popped at the sight of his bare arms, taut muscles flexing with each one-handed pull-up. He switched hands and pulled himself up with the other arm.
Aaron waved a hand in front of my face, startling me out of my daze. “Get changed. We’ll take it easy today, promise.”
“Change into what?”
He jerked his thumb at the bathroom door.
I folded my arms. “What if I refuse?”
“Do you really want to find out?”
I considered that. Snarling under my breath, I stomped into the bathroom and slammed the door. It featured the most modern décor in the entire house—a granite counter, double sinks, built-in shelves for towels and spare clothes, and a massive shower with more jets than a car wash.
Stacked on the counter were some of my clothes from the assortment I never took home, including a sports bra. When had I left that here? My running shoes sat on the floor, and I noted that someone had given them a cursory cleaning for indoor use. I used the toilet first, drank some water from the tap, then got dressed in a summer tank top and yoga shorts.
My hair was sagging out of the ponytail I’d worn to bed, and I reused my hair tie to tame it into a bun. I loitered for another two minutes, then abandoned my refuge. Last thing I needed was Aaron bursting in here too.
When I came out, Ezra was off the pull-up bar and drying his face with a towel. Spotting me, he grinned. “You look like all the puppies in the world just died. It won’t be that bad.”
“I think it’ll be exactly that bad.”
Kai, walking on the treadmill now instead of running, switched it off and unclipped the safety line from his shirt. “Over here, Tori. Warm up first.”
I groaned and stepped onto the wide belt. As he clipped the safety stop majiggy onto the hem of my tank top, I peeked at the display blinking with stats from his run. Distance: 5.5 km.
He made sure I was ready, then hit a preset button. The track started moving and I broke into a slow amble that accelerated to a fast walk, then a sluggish jog. My calves were burning within a minute.
“How long do I have to do this?” I panted.
“Long enough to warm up.” With a brief smile, he joined the other two, who were doing stretches on the mats.
Lungs on fire and legs hurting, I settled into what should’ve been an easy jog but felt more like death in motion. Luckily, I had plenty to keep me occupied—like the sinfully hot mages going through a routine of stretches and flexibility exercises. All three of them could do the splits. Who knew?
Watching them was fascinating, and I found myself running a detailed mental comparison. Aaron and Ezra were similar in build and almost the same height. Aaron was slightly taller, while Ezra was a shade broader in the shoulders. Kai was a couple of inches shorter and slimmer, but all three packed a comparable amount of muscle. Not body-builder bulges, but lean, hard, athletic figures.
By the time the treadmill slowed back to a walk, I was wheezing and sweating and trying not to throw up. Someone shoot me now, please.
“Good job, Tori!” Aaron called, bent backward in a weird thigh stretch. “You made it!”
“Yeah,” I panted. “I’m … in … great … shape. Can’t you … tell?”
They allowed me three minutes to catch my breath, then Aaron reached into a bin and pulled out padded rectangles. He tossed two to Ezra, who slipped them onto his hands, and carried the other two to the mats’ center.
“Shoes off, then over here, Tori.” He pointed to the spot in front of him.
Toeing off my runners, I minced onto the squashy mats but was immediately distracted by Kai taking on a fighting stance, facing Ezra. The aeromage held up the two pads, which shielded his hands and forearms.
“Ready.”
“Ready.” Kai breathed once, then unleashed two rapid punches and a kick into the blockers. The strikes smacked loudly, pushing Ezra’s arms back. I could hear the power in each blow.
I stopped in front of Aaron. “I can’t do that.”
Reassuring steadiness had replaced his mischievous smirk. “We’ll start from scratch. I know you took a year of taekwondo as a teenager, but I’d rather cover everything.”
“All right.”
“Let’s see your fighting stance.”
Feeling self-conscious, I slid my right foot backward and put my hands up by my chin.
“Good.” He walked around me, pushing lightly against my shoulder to make sure I was balanced.
At the other end of the mats, Kai was pummeling Ezra’s pads at top speed.
“Tuck in your elbows more. There you go.” Aaron returned to face me. “Now, fists.”
I curled my fingers down, thumbs tucked outside them.
“Excellent.” He slid on one blocker pad and held it up. “Okay. Left jab. Give it all you’ve got.”
Bouncing on the balls of my feet, I threw a mean punch into the pad.
“Perfect. Now, right cross.”
I flung my right fist across my body and into the pad.
“Not bad, but you aren’t moving your hips.”
Adopting the same stance, he demonstrated how the cross traveled from his back heel to his hip to his shoulder, adding more power to the strike. We practiced that a few dozen times. Several paces away, Ezra and Kai had switched, with Ezra hammering the pads that Kai held.
“All right,” Aaron said. “You’ll be smaller and lighter than most of your opponents, so you need to generate as much power as possible. Standing in one spot and punching them isn’t ideal. You need to move.”
He glanced at the other two as Ezra slammed a roundhouse kick into both pads. Kai slid backward from the force.
<
br /> “Ezra,” Aaron called. “Demonstrate a pounce.”
Ezra stepped backward, putting Kai out of his reach. He fell into his fighting stance, then jumped forward and delivered a seamless one-two strike on the pads before bouncing back to his starting spot.
“In and out.” Aaron turned back to me. “You stay out of range and only get in close when you’re ready to strike.”
“Okay,” I agreed uncertainly.
Aaron walked me through the steps, making sure I was pushing off my back foot. It took about ten minutes for me to coordinate the various movements into something that resembled what Ezra had done.
“Great!” Aaron complimented. “Now repeat that until you collapse.”
My eyes widened.
“Go!”
Gulping, I sprang at him and struck the pads, then sprang back. And again. And again.
Yes, he made me repeat it until my legs were trembling and on the verge of ruin. Finally, he slid the pads off and sent me to the treadmill for a cool-down walk. Breathing heavily, I watched the guys pull more gear from the bins. They donned padded sleeves that covered their arms from knuckles to elbows, leg protectors that covered their feet, shins, and knees, and padded vests.
When they pulled on open-faced headgear like boxers wore, I got nervous.
Aaron and Kai faced off, Ezra refereeing with a stopwatch in hand. He called the start—and the two guys charged each other. They slammed together, grappling, then Kai broke free and jammed three lightning-fast punches into Aaron’s padded chest. Aaron blocked the last one, caught Kai’s arm, and threw him over his shoulder.
Kai landed on his feet, dropped into a crouch, and swept his leg into Aaron’s ankles. Aaron hit the mats and rolled away from Kai’s swift kick.
They sparred with sober intensity, landing punches and kicks that sounded horrific despite the padded gear protecting them. Twice they went down grappling but Kai couldn’t lock Aaron into a hold.
“Time!” Ezra called.
The two mages broke apart, breathing hard. They took a short break, then Ezra passed the stopwatch to Kai and faced off against Aaron. Kai called the start.
Demon Magic and a Martini: The Guild Codex: Spellbound / Four Page 12
