Adam (The Protectors #5)

“Left for a block then left again for another two blocks, right for maybe a mile then left for maybe a half a mile and then right before we stopped.” Steve replied with confidence.

“You drove, Damon. Is he right?” Slade asked, still looking at Steve.

It was a second before Damon nodded. “Yeah, he got it.”

“Good job, Steve.” Slade nodded his approval. “That is important, but as you get more comfortable, it will be easier. As a Warrior, you are going to have to be aware of your surroundings at all times. You are going to have enemies. A seasoned Warrior would never have been taken like you were tonight. Three seasoned Warriors would have killed double the enemies it took to get you inside the van.”

“So since we aren’t seasoned Warriors, how did we do?” Steve asked, and then his face clearly stated he wished he’d kept his damn mouth shut.

Jill glanced over at Steve as if he was crazy, but her head snapped to Slade, because she really wanted to hear what he thought.

“Well, since you all ended up hooded, tied up and almost raped,” his eyes burned into Jill’s, “I’d say it could have been better, but not bad.” Slade wore a deep scowl.

“I got a profile on each of you to study before I even got here,” Jax stated, crossing his arms. “What I’d like to know is why none of you used your powers?”

“Well, I don’t have any?” Steve replied first. “At least not that I know of.”

“Your memory is your power as of now.” Jax eyed Steve. “And sometimes that will save your ass more than anything else would, so hone that skill.”

“Yes, sir.” Steve looked pleased.

Jax looked at Adam and then Jill. “What about you, Jill? You could have had our asses scattered across the parking lot from what I hear.”

“I’m not used to being able to do something like that,” Jill sighed, feeling like an idiot. “At least not until…” Jill stopped, glancing at Slade.

“Until what?” When she didn’t answer, Jax took a step forward. “I asked you a question. Until what?”

“You pissed me off.” Jill met his stare with narrowed eyes. “Then I wanted to plaster you to the wall.”

Jax smiled. “Good. That’s what I want to hear. So next time, and there will be a next time, remember to use that power because it could be your life or the lives of your partners on the line.”

Adam looked up. “What was I supposed to do, read them to death?”

“No.” Slade’s tone turned instantly irritated. “But we all touched you, and with your ability, even with us being blocked, you should have picked up who we were and what we were about. Our fake attack could have ended before it even began by you calling us out.”

“Obviously, that didn’t work very well the last time I used it,” Adam replied, sounding just as irritated.

Jill knew he was talking about reading Angelina wrong.

“Yeah, well you don’t want to fuck any of us now, do you?” Slade responded point blank. “That could be a whole different issue with Angelina and something we will work on later.”

Jill sucked in her breath, waiting to see if she needed to jump on Adam before he went after Slade, but to her surprise, all he did was narrow his eyes at Slade without moving a muscle or saying a word.

“If women are involved, then yeah, things get fucked up.” Jax chuckled and then looked at Jill. “No offense.”

“None taken.” Jill tried not to growl the response, but didn’t quite achieve it.

“Want to plaster me to the wall again?” he challenged.

“Definitely.” Jill’s response made every Warrior smile, but Slade.

“Are you two done?” Slade glared at them both. “Because I got shit to do and would like to get the hell out of here sometime today.”

Jill looked at Slade in surprise. “Hey, don’t glare at me. He asked and I answered.”

“I like you.” Jax nodded at her; his eyes assessed her critically. “You’ve got what it takes.”

Jill didn’t know what to say to that so she decided to keep her mouth shut, but deep inside she felt pleased by his words.

“Adam, we had special bindings to bind you with. It’s what we use for half-breeds since silver doesn’t work.” Jax’s attention was back on Adam. “That is impressive since we put it on Jared and he couldn’t break out of them.”

“But don’t get a big head,” Jared warned Adam. “I can still kick your ass. I was just having an off day.”

“You are going to be put into many different situations. This morning is just an example of what could happen. We wanted to see what we needed to work on right away and I think we know your powers need to be perfected to the point you don’t even have to think about using them.” Jax turned to look at each Warrior. “Does anyone have anything to add?”

When they all declined, Steve cleared his throat. “So what are we supposed to do if something like that really happens?” He nodded down toward Jill.

“Not sure I follow you.” Jax looked at Jill then back to Steve.

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