I could tell that she hadn’t expected me to move so quickly; however her recovery was admirable. Her footsteps were swift, short brown hair bouncing on her shoulders.
I tried to slow my rapid pulse so I could focus on what was coming at me. Her movements were smoother than the males. She’d had training. I brought both of my hands up to guard my face. This was going to get interesting.
Two steps in and she swung a left-right-left-cross combo at my face. I ducked the first and blocked the second, before countering with my own combo. Which she managed to block. She had fast hands, really fast. I decided to change strategies. Just because she was good with her hands didn’t mean she could grapple. I needed to get her to the ground.
When she came at me again, I waited until the last second and let her punch graze me before dropping to the floor and smashing her in the stomach. She wheezed as the air left her lungs, then I wrapped myself around her legs and took her down. Her head smashed into the stone floor, and I swear I heard that dull echoing hit of skull on cement all the way into my bones. I hated that wet, bouncing sound. It turned my stomach.
She got her elbows under herself, trying to arch up and flip me off her. It wasn’t happening today. I smashed both knees into her chest and she hit the deck again. Her eyes rolled back in her head. I waited for her to react, but she looked to be out. Guess I needed to downgrade her skills from mad to mediocre. I pulled myself wearily to my feet. Now that my adrenalin and anger had been worked off, I was feeling every inch of the exhaustion which was about to level me.
“You about done, Jess?”
I spun and shrank into a crouch. How the hell had Louis crept up on me?
The sorcerer was leaning casually against the wall at the entrance of the alley. He had that smile on his face which he wore when he thought I was amusing. I didn’t ask him why he hadn’t helped me. He knew I wouldn’t have appreciated his interference. I strolled across to his side, and as he straightened his expression sobered.
“So besides that…” he said, waving toward the carnage I’d left behind, “are you doing okay?”
I swallowed, all the events of the past few days crashing in on me. “The Four are here, outside of the mountains.”
He nodded. “Yes, they have been seen on multiple occasions, but they are not welcome in the sanctuary. You’ll be safe here until we figure out a plan.”
My voice cracked on my next words: “I don’t know what to feel about Max.” My pain could no longer be pushed aside, and it seemed Louis was the one I’d bare my soul to. Despite everything I trusted the sorcerer. Well, trusted with some reservations.
He examined me, as if trying to burrow into the deepest of my emotions. “You don’t lose anything by this, Jess, you gain another sister into your pack. Maximus will not abandon you … I can’t imagine a supernatural who could willingly walk away from you.”
Well, that was uncomfortably intimate.
Since exhaustion and heartache had negated my already faulty brain-to-mouth filter, it was time to get this shit out in the open. “What do you want from me, Louis? Why are you helping me so much?”
His expression closed down, more unreadable than it had been before. I was sure he wouldn’t answer. Then he said, “I had a mate … a long time ago. She was killed by another witch. One who wanted her power.” His voice broke. I strained to hear every soft word. “I went crazy for a long time. I was unstable, no one could touch the bubble of pain and anger I had wrapped around myself. Eventually, I was able to control myself again, but no amount of time could heal the pain. Up until the day I touched a tiny twin with a dragon mark.”
My heart dropped, I really didn’t want to hurt Louis, but I wasn’t sure I could give him what he needed.
“It was as if your power wrapped around me and soothed some of the ragged edges of my soul.”
He reached out and grasped my hand, pulling me closer into his side. “I thought maybe you would be a mate-of-sorts for me, that the tie I felt toward you had to mean something. I watched you grow up, kept an eye on you, protected you when I could and waited for the chance to be in your life.”
Okay, a tad creepy, but on some level I understood.
“Louis–” I started, but he cut me off with a chuckle.
“Stop panicking. It didn’t take me long to realize that the emotions you created in me were not romantic, but … family. You feel like my kin and I consider you to be mine … in a purely platonic way.”
It was strange, but I felt something similar when Louis was around. I’d always thought it was to do with his power being the one to spell my mark, but maybe there was something more there.
“Do you think we share a common ancestor?” I squeezed his hand tighter, wanting to erase that agony which flashed across his eyes. Talking about his mate had cost him something, brought him back to a dark time in his life.