Hard Boiled

by T L Christianson

  "Yeah, I'd like that," I said, thinking about Baldy, Evgeni's goon who had grabbed me and choked me until I was unconscious—the bastard.

  "Okay, come here. That's easy to learn. Here, put your arm around my neck," Taya instructed. I followed her directions and grunted as she quickly broke out of my grasp. "Now, you try. Just grab my arm and pull!"

  I struggled even in her clasp, which was probably purposefully loose. "Agh! I can't."

  Taya turned toward me, "Just tug as hard as you can."

  She circled me on her tiptoes to wrap her arm around my neck again. I yanked and broke out of her grip, smiling.

  "Good! Let's try again."

  I nodded, but as we were about to move into position, a familiar voice called out, "Hey there, stranger!"

  Logan jogged over from the dining hall, flashing those dimples and that Captain America smile.

  Taya loosened her grip and gave Logan an irritated smirk.

  The Drake Prime pulled me into a bear hug, lifting my feet off the ground and spinning me around. "I didn't think I'd see you here at Briony!” he exclaimed, rubbing my arms with his palms.

  "Yeah, it's a custody thing. How are you?" I asked.

  "Better now that you're here. What are you doing? Hand to hand?” he asked, ignoring Taya.

  I lifted a shoulder. "Yeah, trying to at least. Taya's showing me how to escape a chokehold."

  "Oh? Why are you starting with this?” He asked, furrowing his brow and eyeing my guard before turning back to me. "Show me what you learned."

  We got into position, and she put her arm around my neck, which was difficult because I was taller.

  He watched us, then said, "Sydney, put your chin down. You feel someone coming up on you, jam your head down to give them less leverage."

  When Logan began giving me suggestions, I knew Taya would have words about it later.

  I used his technique and easily broke Taya's grip.

  "That was better, yeah?" I asked my guard, wiping my sweaty hands on my shorts.

  Logan lifted his chin. "All right, but Taya's like what? 5'4", ninety pounds?"

  "Seriously? I could still take you down," she said.

  He laughed before turning to me. "Sydney, come here. Use me."

  I closed the space, and he stood behind me. His chest brushed against my back and his breath fluttered over my neck.

  "Tell me when you're ready," he whispered.

  "Okay, I'm ready," I told him.

  Logan's arm came around me quickly, too quickly. He lifted me off the ground, my body pressed to his.

  "Come on, Sydney! Pull harder," he said into my hair.

  I yanked until finally jerking free.

  Turning, I looked at him with eyes wide. "What happened to taking it easy?"

  "That was easy, but I'm not pulling punches. I thought you wanted to really know how to do it," he said, standing uncomfortably close.

  "Fine…" I was about to tell Logan to try again when I spotted Ashe heading straight for us.

  His eyes burned into mine as his long stride closed the space. Taya and Logan both turned to look over at the soldier who was quickly approaching.

  "Sydney, Taya… Logan," Ashe said, nearly growling the third name. "Teaching some maneuvers?" His eyes speared the younger Prime, and he raised one eyebrow, "Don't you have someplace to be Logan?"

  "Nope, I'm uh… free today," the younger guy trailed off.

  My would-be bondmate turned to me, "All right, if you want to know the best way to get out of a chokehold, then let's stop messing around." He unbuttoned and then rolled up his sleeves before motioning to Logan, "Okay, try to put me in a chokehold—go."

  Logan hesitated, a brief flash of fear in his eyes before stepping up behind Ashe.

  I cringed.

  Ashe had been training for years, and while he wasn't some muscle bound brute, he was bigger even with his slim athletic build than seventeen-year-old Captain America.

  Logan was quick and snaked his arm around Ashe's neck with a smile.

  But the Harrow Prime wasn't new to this.

  Turning to me, he instructed, "First, grab your attacker's nuts and yank hard."

  Logan jerked his hips away, but Ashe only mimicked the action without touching Logan.

  He continued, "Pull down on their arm, but make sure to keep a strong grip, so you can take the upper hand." Ashe performed the motion slowly for me to follow, twisting Logan's arm up and behind his back. The young Drake fought, his face flushed and teeth gritted, but he couldn't escape the Harrow's grip.

  "Ugh!" Logan yelled out and Ashe released him.

  "You okay, buddy?" Ashe asked condescendingly with a not so gentle slap on the back.

  Logan coughed and then nodded, his face still red.

  Turning back to me, my soldier raised his eyebrows. "Grab your attacker’s arm, yank it down, and twist it up and behind their back. If they can just grab you again, then what use was getting out of the hold to begin with?"

  "That's some dirty fighting," Logan finally said.

  "Not really, it's smart," Taya interrupted before turning to Ashe, "I'll have to try that move. Where'd you learn that anyway?"

  Ashe shrugged and smiled at me. "Okay, Syd. Try it on me, just don't really…"

  "Grab your junk?" Taya suggested.

  He nodded. "Just do the movement with your arm."

  My heart thundered in my chest.

  I should tell him to leave… but I couldn't.

  I was weak.

  I wanted his arms around me. I wanted him to touch me. I wanted to train with him because I knew he'd never hurt me. He'd always…

  Ugh! Stupid, sticky thoughts!

  Had I just gone dumb in his presence or lost my damn mind?

  I swallowed hard when I felt him behind me, his presence making my insides pool like lava.

  "Okay," I said softly, my whole body vibrating like a plucked string.

  My stomach twisted in anticipation, and when Ashe's arm came around my neck, my heart squeezed.

  I can do this.

  Focusing, I yanked on his arm and pulled it around. I knew he relaxed for me when he broke free to straighten.

  "That was good," he said, giving me his crooked smile.

  My breath came out in short pants as we gazed into each other's eyes. Unconsciously, I licked my lips and arched my back. Ashe shifted closer to me, his eyes dilated with some primal drive.

  Logan cleared his throat, breaking our connection when he said, "I've got to go. I'll see you around Sydney."

  It took a moment for his words to break through my haze. When they did, I swung around to see the Drake Prime walking away.

  Turning back to Ashe, I folded my arms across my chest. "You didn't need to embarrass him like that."

  He held his hands wide. "How did I embarrass him? I wanted to teach you the best way."

  I shook my head and sucked in a breath through my nose before squinting up at the sun.

  "I need some water," I said marching back toward the open doors of the dining hall.

  "I'll come with you," Ashe said, leaving Taya looking between us.

  "I'll…” she trailed off.

  "We'll be right back, Tay," he told her.

  I watched as she stood in place, feet planted apart, watching us.

  Before Taya had become my guard, she had been in the same unit with Ashe. They went way back—not like they dated, but they'd known each other a long time. It made me wonder whose side she was really on, mine or Ashe's.

  9

  Ashe

  Sydney wore the tightest, smallest shorts I'd ever seen—it made me want to throw a blanket around her. No wonder Logan, the little toad, came crawling out of the woodwork. I was sure half the base had been ogling her ass all morning.

  Once inside, I reached out and snagged her arm pointing across the room. “The drinking fountain is over there.”

  Syd made a beeline across the room. When she neared it, instead of drinking, she stood in place
watching the water as it poured from a pipe in the wall to the rectangular basin on the floor.

  "You can drink it. It's safe," I told her, giving her a smile, but her face remained stony. When she didn't make a move, I leaned over, still making eye contact, and drank from the stream. "It's good and cold."

  Saying nothing, she held her hair back with one hand while leaning over to drink. Her shirt gapped, giving me a full view of her strappy black sports bra.

  I ran my hands over my face and blew out a breath.

  I wanted to turn away, but I couldn't. I stared at the graceful curve of her back, slightly damp with perspiration, then the shell of her ear and the soft peach fuzz of her neck.

  She was killing me.

  "Are you doing this on purpose?" I asked.

  She snapped up, giving me the evil eye. "What happened to giving me my space?” she spat. "And what are you talking about? Why are you making that face?"

  "What face?" I asked, shaking my head.

  She motioned to me. "That one. And your hair is all messy. You only run your hands through your hair like that when you're agitated."

  Did I? I frowned. "I am agitated because I'm wondering how many other guys have seen down your shirt like I just did."

  Her mouth dropped open, and she huffed, "Maybe you shouldn't have looked!" Then she pulled her shirt off over her head, "There! Get a good look! It doesn't matter! I'm wearing a sports bra!"

  I groaned and glanced around to make sure we were alone.

  Either she loved teasing me, or she had no idea how a guy's mind worked.

  "Put it back on! We aren't in California!" I hissed.

  "Really? Well, this morning, I had a surprise bath—naked—with dozens of other people!"

  She shook the gray fabric of her shirt before righting it and tugging it back over her head.

  "It's just different here…" I stammered my lame excuse.

  "Really?" She shifted her weight to her other foot, hands-on-hips. "Seriously, why are you here? I mean, not here at Briony, but here with me? I thought we were supposed to be broken up or whatever!"

  "We're not," I said solemnly. "But, we do need to talk. I was about to ask you—why you are here at Briony. I thought you'd be safer with Garin," I said, opening my mind, using the connection to push my emotions of concern at her.

  She pursed her lips. "I'm here because I wasn't Little Miss Sunshine, and Katie is a mega-bitch. What did you think would happen when you left? That I'd just dance off into the sunset after getting dumped?"

  Her eyes shimmered with emotion as her lips curved into an angry smirk.

  "I didn't dump you," I told her.

  "So, you say. Does anyone else know about our… separation?"

  "No…never," I told her.

  She sucked in a breath and let it out, her chest heaving with the motion. "So? You said we need to talk. Fine. What do you want?"

  I checked my watch and groaned, "Shit. I need to get back to the lab. Will you meet me later?"

  Sydney mulled my request over in her mind, then, shaking her head, said, "Fine. When?"

  "How about during second meal."

  She considered my words. "You mean at lunch?"

  I shrugged, "Lunch is a mundane thing. Second meal is something different. It's around 15 hundred—three o'clock."

  She let out a sigh, giving me a weary glance. "Fine. Where?"

  I ran a hand through my hair, "Meet me at the hot spring. No one goes there in the summer, and we can be alone."

  "Okay, where is it?"

  "By the baths, up to the left," I told her.

  "I'll be there," she replied, looking down at her hands.

  She fought our bond, but I could still feel her through it, trying to resist me.

  I stepped forward and reached out to smooth a tendril of her silken hair behind her ear. "I really am sorry I hurt you."

  She jerked away, giving me a cynical smile. "Yeah? Well, that's great."

  Her words were like a punch to the gut.

  She shook her head and started to walk away toward the doors.

  "Sydney…" I called out.

  Turning but still walking, she gazed back at me, "What? I thought you had to go?"

  But I couldn't move. I just stood there watching her because it was all I could do to not close the space, wrap her into my arms and take back everything I said a month ago.

  The thought of her walking back outside in full view of the newbie soldiers on the field did not sit well with me.

  By the time I made it back to the lab, anger had pooled inside me, like fire waiting to pour out on the first poor soul.

  That soul happened to be Corbin.

  He straightened from his crouched position next to Luke, probably helping the kid with something. When he neared me, he wore a lascivious grin across his face.

  "Why didn't you tell me how hot Sydney is?” he whispered in the quiet room as I passed him.

  Most of my fellow soldiers knew better than to say things like this, but apparently not Corbin. I clenched my jaw as I stared the Eton Prime down.

  "I thought we were over all this childish crap?" I asked him, stone-faced.

  Apparently not, because he continued, "Oh, my bad… I forgot you guys can't fu…"

  My fist shot out, striking him hard enough in the diaphragm to shut him up, but not hard enough to really hurt him.

  Shielding him from view of the rest of the room with my body, I wrapped an arm around his slumped shoulders as he struggled to regain his breath.

  "I swear on the ancestors that if you ever talk about my bondmate like that again, it will be more than a little tap," I threatened.

  Corbin straightened and shrugged out of my arm. "Come on, Ashe! Take the stick outta your ass!"

  I felt the cords stand out on my neck with tension as I spoke, "No, Corbin. Not only is Sydney the PL's granddaughter, but she is my bondmate."

  I aimed another punch, just to wipe that stupid smirk off his face, but Corbin blocked my fist and pushed me away.

  "What was that for?” he spat loudly, holding his arms wide and looking around the room. Several of our group gave us annoyed looks at our whispered argument.

  I tilted my head to the side, assessing the situation.

  Ever since my bond began with Syd, we both found ourselves with extra powers. Not only could we already talk to all dragons—both wyverns and dragons were referred to as dragons—but we could now control other people and their dragons as well.

  All Dragonborn knew that Arthur Lambert, the current PL could do this, but it was assumed that it was just a perk of being Prime Leader, like some kind of extra power bestowed on the Primes' choice.

  But using these powers was an easy way out, and I knew that.

  My strength even before the bond was in using my Dragonborn powers subtly. And with this strength and the ability to push on people's minds, controlling those around me was second nature…

  Turning toward the room, I brushed a gentle breeze over the team with a suggestion: Nothing is going on here. Ignore the Primes…

  Corbin, who stood next to me, felt the suggestion. He put his hands on his hips, his mouth pursed in anger.

  "Don't you dare try that shit on me!” he whispered harshly.

  I narrowed my eyes and replied in my own whisper, "Then you need to stop crossing the line."

  "Stop being so sensitive about your teenage girlfriend. It is what it is… It's just too bad I hadn't been the one in the cave that night,” he whispered with a smile.

  I stepped closer to the Eton Prime, almost nose to nose. "We have work to do, or have you forgotten?" Turning my back, I strode over to Corbin's laptop and pulled it from its dock before I began to gather the cords. "Maybe you'll be able to focus better in your quarters."

  "Oh really? So, you're the boss now?" Corbin gave me an angry expression that sadly reminded me of the way Sydney had looked at me. "It's part of your code. Maybe if you were more careful, we wouldn't be in this mess."

&nbs
p; I dumped the laptop into his arms and stood in the doorway, waiting for him to leave.

  "You're acting like an asshole, I hope you realize that," Corbin said as he strode down the carved stone hall, the orange glows making his blond hair look red.

  Once he was gone, I stepped fully into the hallway and leaned against the wall. Sighing, I ran my hands through my hair as I fell into a crouch.

  What was I doing?

  Eondian made a rumble in my mind before speaking. It's the bond. Just as Evgeni Nammos warned, you are losing control.

  "I'm not losing control!" I spat out, then realized the irony.

  Was it the bond? The longer we left it unfinished, the more I seemed to deteriorate into something or someone I loathed.

  Hearing a clatter down the hall, I pulled myself back to a standing position.

  Corbin came sauntering back, giving me a wary look as I met his eyes.

  "I'm only getting my notes," he grumbled.

  "Cor," I shook my head. "This is stupid. Just come back."

  "Dude, you've turned into a huge prick," he told me before sighing heavily, his computer resting against his hip. The cord hung down almost to the ground.

  "I know… I know," I murmured, running my hands over my face. "I… Is it this job? Has this job always been this tedious? I don't remember it being this bad. These fucking Orthodox! Fucking Arthur. He's going to get us all killed or worse... Now Sydney's here… I'm not proud of what I'm doing anymore. I'm disgusted." I sucked in a big breath before blowing it out.

  Corbin frowned, "You forget that I'm Orthodox, but I agree. You know I'm on the same page as you, and I'm the one designing their programs. Ashe, the Council will come around. Did you give the results of your mundane project to Durand?"

  His charger box fell to the floor, and he bent to pick it up.

  "Yeah," I told him, and we stood there for a moment.

  "About Sydney. I'm just messing with you. And… yeah, I'll admit it, I am jealous—the other Primes… we all are." The corner of his mouth quirked up. "We have to make ourselves feel better somehow, right?"

  I shook my head. "The thing is that I know you're not serious. I'm just so wound up lately. I know I'm being an ass, and I can't seem to pull myself out of it. I'm second-guessing everything. Wondering if Syd is or isn't too young for all this. Should we just go headfirst without looking… because it's too late to change our minds. I'm struggling. I feel like I'm trying to justify doing the wrong thing. And usually I have a plan, but…" I shook my head.