Braving the Elements (6 page)

Not as professional.

“And except Darla,” I muttered sulkily, wishing I’d just shut up for once.

“I treat you no differently than anyone else under my care.”

I glanced up, startled. His hand was out, directing me in front of him. “Please, walk with me.”

I trudged forward, my lingering sulkiness immature
, but not something I could help. Somewhere deep inside me, I knew I belonged with him. My body tried to merge with him as its other half. Being near him, next to him, touching him, sent me into an unexplainable euphoria. I’d felt it that night on the street, even having never seen his face before that moment. To now hear that that door was closed, that I couldn’t even have him as a strictly sexual situation—even though that would only satisfy part of the hunger—was like a punch to the gut. It ripped at me.

“I realize that, in your situation, it seems impossible to ever make this your home.” His footsteps were light even though his body’s size
was just shy of daunting. “But when you have more training under your belt, and can protect yourself reasonably, we can let you out of your cage.”

A glance told me that he
did, in fact, joke. I blinked at his smile, the effect pushing out an inner light within him that rendered me speechless.

His gaze drifted to mine, his smile losing focus.

I blurted, “I didn’t think you had a sense of humor.”

His gaze got more acute.
“Officially, I don’t.”

“Do you ever get to let your hair down?”

“Can’t. Too short.”

“
Ah. Now I see why you don’t joke. Lack of material.”

His lips tugged upward a little more.
Then drooped again. “I don’t have a lot of time that’s my own. My race is one of bred hunters. I maintain my position through calculating threat and violence. If I’m challenged, I must meet that challenge and disable my opponent.”

“Like a lion in charge of a pride?”

“Exactly. It doesn’t leave a lot of room for laughter.”

“People think a laughing man is a weak man?”

“Not weak, per se, but not alert. Not serious. They peg him as vulnerable.”

“Then I better get good at what I do so I can tell some jokes. I’ll be ready with a wallop so you can laugh at my sparkling wit.”

“You better get good at what you do,
and
find some sparkling wit. Uphill climb in your future.”

“Go back to official. Your jokes are the pits.”

He chuckled quietly.

We crossed the threshold of my hidden domain and he halted and turned to me. His eyes were intense
, but puffy, and it occurred to me he’d taken vigil, watching over me as I slept. He’d been up for about twenty-four hours, and if I knew him at all, he wouldn’t go to sleep now. Not with another night of duties to get through.

His large, broad shoulders squared to my body. He leaned at the waist, his face coming within inches of mine. His hand came up, fingers lightly grazing my
jaw. “Please open the link. It’s comforting knowing you’re okay.” The heat from his sweet breath ruffled my eyelashes. His smell and presence permeated my head, making me dizzy, setting my body on fire.

I tugged away that big rubber stopper, opening up to him,
feeling
him. A moan got trapped in my throat as my hand found its way to his hard pec.

He
burned with arousal. That heat was tempered with regret, however. He didn’t want to turn me into the pet everyone thought I was. He didn’t want to use, and then discard me, knowing his choice had to lie elsewhere.

What a cute sentiment. Best left for another time,
though, I needed him with a passion that took my breath away.

I reached up on tippy-toes, my lips aiming for his, my hand slipping down that mouth-watering body and cupping his huge, hard bulge. Applying pressure, I guided my other hand around him, drawing him near.

I met resistance.

“No.” He shook his head, his eyes closing, inhaling my scent of arousal. “I want you to rise on your own. I want you to excel without my influence. I want you to earn the respect you deserve.”

“Good call. I’m in. First, can we just knock this out? I’ll be quick, I promise.”

His lips quirked at the corners.
“You sound like Charles.”

“I might hurt you for that comment.”

“Hmm.” His eyes closed again, his smile growing. “If only. This is the best smell to date. Gingerbread cookies in front of a wood burning fire on Christmas Eve.”

“That’
s a scene, not a smell.”

“It’
s my favorite scene, the one before I lost my parents. I remember the smells perfectly.” His eyes met mine, somber, but soft. “I must go. Duty.”

Suddenly
, I stood in the middle of a hallway, sconces throwing next to no light into my path, alone. He’d ripped his presence away so fast, I didn’t even see him go. My groin felt so tight, it hurt.

“What a tease,
” I muttered.

“Not much of a man to leave a woman hang--”

I jumped and flung my hand out, a red jet bursting forth, flaying the wall twenty feet away. Charles rolled into the middle of the floor, on his back, hands out in surrender. “I’m just saying! I totally would’ve hit that—ten minutes of bump and grind, and you both feel better. Why am I the bad guy right now?”

“Were you eavesdropping the whole time?” I screeched. “That was a private moment!”

“What did you want me to do, plug my ears?”

“Ever thought of walking away
?”

“I thought I’d get to witness a sex scene! No
way
am I walking away from that.”

I sighed, my hands dropping to my sides and my heart still trying to
punch through my chest. “Why wouldn’t he go through with it?”

“He said—duty. Boss is a man of his word. That cat sticks to his guns. He doesn’t want to make a mockery of you, and judging by the fact that you nearly killed somebody by blasting him through a wall, he knows to tread lightly. That means keeping his dick in his pants, apparently. I’m glad I don’t have his job.”

“Like anyone would’ve known we bumped uglies. Except my peeping-tom protector.”

“Our sense of
smell is
ten
times better than humans, and the sex smell lingers. Hmm.” Charles closed his eyes and stroked himself through his jeans. “I am so damn turned on right now. Anyway, everyone knows he was with you all day. Who else would it be? Plus, you have a unique scent. It changes for each person, I think. I’ve been cataloguing. And females can’t seem to smell it.”

“You are now babbling. Go have sex. I’ll stay in my room.”

Charles’s face lit up. “Promise? Wait…sex with others, right? Or did you mean with you?” A hopeful twinkle sparked in his eyes.

“Others, you nincompoop.
Get out of here.”

“Okay, thanks.” He stopped halfway through flight and stuck his finger out. “I can trust you, right?”

I waved him away and headed for a couple hours sleep before I had to be in class. “Go! Just do a thorough job.” As I shut the door, my mind drifted back to what Stefan had said earlier, about losing his parents. I wanted to know more.

“How’d it go?” I asked as I strapped on a boot and straightened up, watching with a grin as Charles leaned with his full body against the door. I was still tired, but those couple hours of sleep were greatly needed.

“I’m
exhausted.
I found Bernise, a hot little number who can work wonders with her mouth. But then, as she got started, her friend Cheryl comes lumbering in. I’m not a huge fan of Cheryl—she’s okay, don’t get me wrong, but kind of a bitch. Anyway, Cheryl wants to join in. I’m hot, no two ways about it. So, now I gotta pleasure
two
girls. Being that I have a reputation to uphold, I have to work my ass off to get them to orgasm! Which meant I had to get hard multiple times in a short period of time. Eh!” He wiped his forehead of sweat.

Only young men could be this ridiculous. I grabbed a long sleeve tee to throw over my tank top. “But it worked out, I take it.”

“In the end, yeah. Multiple times. But there was a weird moment—“ Charles opened the door for me and waited until I walked through before continuing. “—when Jim sauntered on in. Seeing the action unfold, and the position we were in at the time, he thought he might just give me a little poke in the backside—kind of work me from both ends.”

Charles stumbled, his eyes raking around. I immediately put both hands up in a double-stop gesture as I shook my head. “I have no idea why
a strange orgy suddenly turned me on, okay? I’m sexually frustrated. Leave it be.”

Charles grinned.
“Mental note.”

“Shut up.”

We walked into Master Bert’s training room and found a bunch of gawking kids. Their mouths hung open as they stared at us with wide eyes. Master Bert bustled up immediately. “Hello, hello! Maw, I had no idea I was working with so much power. I’ve been going about it all wrong. I’ve got someone coming in especially for you today, Sasha. If you’ll just walk out the back and wait by the nearest tree, he’ll be in shortly.”

“Special
treatment, or fear that I am insane?” I muttered to Charles.

“Insanity, probably,” he replied as we found the tree. “No one has challenged the Boss like you did and lived to tell the tale.”

“What does he usually do?”

“Hurt them badly, or kill them, depending on the infraction.”

“
Kill
them?”

“We play for keeps. He hasn’t killed anyone since his first couple
of years as leader, though. Everyone got the hint.”

We weren’t waiting two minutes before an attractive man about my age, relatively speaking, approached
with a glide. His toned body was decked out in trendy clothes, his face making the spit dry up in my mouth. Attractive little bugger.

“Sasha?” His musical, midrange voice tickled my ears.

“Y-yes,” I answered, smoothing my shirt, despite the fact that it was cotton and didn’t need smoothing.

“I’m
Jessiah.” His vibrant blue eyes shifted to Charles. “And your bodyguard?”

Charles went rigid. Apparently being called a bodyguard was a sore spot. “She’s valuable. I’m doing my duty as Watch Commander and ensuring her survival.”

“Ah.” Jessiah smirked and lowered in front of me, matching my cross-legged style of sitting. His eyes attached to mine, an inherent sultry quality suggesting I remove my clothes for the occasion. “You are the Boss’ pet, did I hear that right?”

“Way wrong thing to say, bro,” Charles mumbled, shaking his head.
“Especially when she’s working with magic.”

“Hmm.
Maybe I am mistaken.”

And maybe you’ll get punched right in the throat!
Right after I cop a feel.

“Shall we begin?”
I asked sweetly.

His smile was sardonic.
“Of course.”

*****

Charles waited in relative boredom for Sasha to make her dagger turn a rainbow of colors. Unlike the others in the class, she didn’t even have to try anymore. The elements session with Mr. Smooth Talking Jackass had her able to pull the various elements, mixing and matching as she needed, and working with what she found. Whether unconsciously, or out of fear, she only pulled enough power to reach the orange level, and that was only once. Usually she stayed in her default red. He’d asked her about it, of course, and she’d replied that Mr. Women-Love-Me made her nervous.

Charles didn’t know why—that
jerk wasn’t packing much
and
he didn’t know how to use it! When Charles tried to explain this, he got an eye roll, of all things.

Plus, the Boss would not take too favorably to his
special interest taking up with Mr. I-Smooth-Out-My-Eyebrows. The guy was great at working with elements, sure, but could he do any practical magic with it? Nope. He’d tried to get into the Watch Command twice. The Boss turned him down flat both times.

Clap, clap,
clap.

“Okay, let’s learn some practical knowledge. Pair off.” James glanced at Charles. Charles stared back. He wasn’t in the mood to play babysitter to a bunch of newbies.

James backed down immediately. Yet another guy with knowledge that didn’t go beyond the classroom.

Sasha’s constant partner, Gabe, stared at her with nervous eyes and a line for a mouth. This was when things could get hairy. Sasha actually had great sword work, strangely enough, but with so much power zinging around her body, half the time her sword exploded. The amazing thing was that they used practice swords with no real edge—certainly not sharp. But they were metal, and could conduct energy—that was all Sasha seemed to need.

Gabe came at her at a snail’s pace—the kid wouldn’t go into work as a fighter, that was for sure—and slashed at her chest. She stepped out of the way like someone born for the role, and swiped at his arm plate, connecting with a scrape.