I stopped abruptly in my tracks, my glowing gaze stuck on Elder Farrar’s face, and a fury boiled inside me, hotter and faster than I could imagine, and Elder Farrar, still grinning slightly, muttered, “Tick, tick…boom.”
I whirled on my heel, fury fueling my veins unlike any I had ever known before as potent jealousy erupted like a scalding geyser…and my feet were moving at a sprint straight at him before I even realized what I was doing. My fist slammed into his jaw in a beautiful upper cut, and I watched his head fly back for only a moment before I twirled, kicking out my leg, smashing it into the back of his knees, a diamond blade already materializing in my hand before I pounced, flying on top of his chest as he fell predictably backward. Hitting the ground, it seemed like the whole earth shook from our combined fury, my teeth and bones jarring with the motion, but I held the now glowing knife to his throat, the tiger inside me growling furiously, and I hissed down into silver eyes, “You bring her here and I will gut her, and you, so fucking fast you won’t even see it before your entrails are hanging from your bodies, then I will slice off your fucking heads and mount them on my goddamn postered bed, so I can sleep soundly every night knowing you’re both dead.” I growled again. “Got me?”
Then, I inhaled, reality returning for a heartbeat.
My eyes widened enormously.
And…his lips actually lifted, and with my blade still to his throat, he stated calmly, “Understand now?”
“Fuck,” I muttered breathlessly, quickly stashing my knife back in my treasure trove as I sat up on him, my eyes just as huge on my face as I was freaked the fuck out. My voice was shrill as I started beating on his chest. “You said I had a damn choice!” More pounding, the room shaking with each furious blow. “This doesn’t feel like a goddamn choice, Leric!”
“Caro…” He tried grabbing at my hands. “Kitten, calm down.” More attempted grabbing, and hurried words, “It is a choice. It is. Just with slight ramifications, and adjustments, if we choose not to be together.”
I slammed my fist on his chest forcefully with each word. “I. Want. A. Choice!” I shook my head. “Shit!” I rolled off him, running a hand through my hair before jumping to my feet, pointing an accusing finger down to him where he didn’t bother to rise from. “Choice, my ass, Leric. I would kill anyone you’re with just as I’m sure you’d do the same.” I slashed a hand through the air. “That is not a choice.”
He placed his glowing hands behind his head, once again appearing lazy as hell in front of everyone. “It can happen since I’ve managed not to kill the other individual you’re attracted to…so far.” His brows lifted as I froze, my mouth slamming shut. “I let my wall down for a little while.” One brow arched. “Without the wall up…”
I didn’t know what to say. I had thought he couldn’t feel or sense me with my wall up, but apparently, he had felt and heard my thoughts without me having to push them, probably because of that damn tether between us. In other words, he had spied in my damn head. And…being the caring individual I was…my boot swiftly connected with his thigh. “That was cheap.”
He didn’t have the grace to wince. “I never said I play fair,” he drawled, but his gaze narrowed. “Stay out of that individual’s bed, too, please.” Nicely put, if he didn’t have a merciless gleam in his gaze.
Lord. Elder Merrick had two threats on him. Sin and Leric. If I were him, I would be fucking running. Yanking on my hair, I only grunted, pivoting to move back through the Elders, staying far away from Elder Merrick on the right hand side. “No worries there.”
“Let’s hope not,” Leric purred.
“Whatever,” I muttered, rubbing my forehead.
“And, Caro, remember…separate bedrooms.”
Elder Farrar held his hands up in front of me, blocking the doorway, smile broad on his face. “Happy mating…or connecting…or whatever it is!” My teeth bared, but he only leaned down whispering merrily as I passed him, “And I’ll be happy to be your Lajak.”
Lord…help…me.
Separate bedrooms, my ass.
Inventive thinking, a must.
Especially when Leric came by my room that night, peeking his head inside with barely contained fury, nodded once, let me knock him back—I was sure he let me—outside the room where I firmly locked the door, went back into my bedroom, shut and locked that door from my guards, then opened a window, having Sin sneak inside like a damn teenager, which pissed both Sin and myself off, but neither of us were up for the fight against Leric that evening, so we crawled into bed next to each other, snuggled into our normal places against one another, and fell asleep.
Although, it didn’t help a damn lot when I had bad dreams that night…and woke up the next morning beside Leric…apparently, having called out to him in my dream state. Growling furiously, I had marched out of the bedroom, bared my teeth at King Zeller where he stood in the morning shadows when he had snickered in my ear, giving me a jaunty wave, then slipped back into bed with Sin before he even knew I had been gone. And the ironic part was I was betting my bad dreams were about my damn One in the first place, stressed as I was.
So…it was safe to assume I wasn’t in the best of moods when I had to get up not five minutes later for the pre-dawn-damn-training-bullshit…fuck.
And today, after the matches of yesterday to determine our strengths and weaknesses, we were put in groups to work on those. My jaw almost dropped when they said I needed to work on my hand-to-hand combat skills. “Are you joking?” I was damn deadly with my hands.
King Collins shrugged a shoulder. “Now that you and the One are connected, your power level shouldn’t be an issue. And since we’ve seen you use swords, we know you’re proficient. But every time we’ve seen you fight hand-to-hand,” blue eyebrows wiggled, “it could use some refining.”
My power level was still an issue, and I said as much. “My Core can only handle so much power, even if I can continue to draw from Leric. I knocked myself out yesterday using my own bit of power from inexperience. I need to work on that, not learning how to bash someone’s head in differently.”
Queen Cooper had stared pointedly. “There’s no one here to teach you that. We don’t know your skills. Your powers. So, we’ve set up a time slot after breakfast for you to work with Frost and Farley to hone those spirit powers in private.”
Ah. Dammit. “This sucks.” But they were right. I couldn’t tell them what I could do, so it meant even more time spent training. “Who am I being paired with?” Since all three of my counterparts didn’t have to do this bullshit, even London getting a passing grade on his hand-to-hand combat.
King Collin’s lips pinched. “Our best fighters.” His brows came together as he rubbed his forehead. “Elder Zeller and Elder Merrick.”
I blinked awfully slowly. “No.”
My King sighed heavily, hopefully rethinking the stupidity of this action.
“Yes.” King Zeller quickly placed a hand on my shoulder, shoving me in the direction where Elder Zeller and Elder Merrick stood in the corner speaking quietly. “Don’t worry, Bindi’s on her way.”
I glared over my shoulder. “Not funny.”
Black arched brows lifted. “Not a joke.”