Page 5 of Great Falls Protector
4
Lera
Ireturn to my room to find Coal sulking against a wall and Shade’s wolf sprawled on my bed with his belly and four giant paws up in the air.
“If this is a send-off gathering for my Prowess tryouts tomorrow, I hope one of you brought cake.” I toss my books onto my bed, making Shade sneeze with indignation, and conjure a relaxed posture for my males’ benefit. In truth, my stomach has been tight ever since I announced my intention to Katita and Tye. The ire in the male’s emerald eyes still sends shivers through me.
Shade whines, sensing the tension in the room, but stops abruptly at a look from me.
Coal remains silent.
“It is our one chance to have someone on the inside with the royals. Keep an eye on the high-value targets,” I say to my tight dress stays, making a poor attempt at undoing them elegantly. The dress slumps to the ground at my feet in a sad blue heap. “It’s our best positioning option, and it would be folly not to take it.” I finally turn to Coal, his blue eyes hooded in a fair imitation of a rain cloud. “You think I can’t hold up through a week of Han’s training?”
Coal’s gaze skitters to Shade, who—damn him—slinks out through the open door instead of staying to defend me. Before I can say anything, the warrior snags me around the waist, pins my back to the wall, and looms over me, one bare, corded arm braced on either side of my face. The heat of his body simmers the air between us, his masculine scent filling the space. “You know exactly what I’m worried about, mortal.” His voice is low. Dangerous. “And it isn’t Han’s training. Shall I demonstrate the problem?”
My heart stutters, and I lift my gaze to find my footing outside Coal’s intense scrutiny. Over the past two months, the male has insisted on replaying the scene from Zake’s stable, as if determination could make my body unfreeze on command. Returning my attention to his face, I trace its hard angles, lined with a worry that he tries to cover with authority. I square my shoulders the best I can with my heart now racing. “You have nightmares too, Coal. And I’ve not seen you sit out a battle from fear that something may trigger you.”
His eyes spark, and he leans closer. “I’ve lived with my demons for several hundred years, Leralynn. Let’s not confuse the issue. More importantly, my flashbacks spur me to fight for my life. Yours leave you paralyzed like a rabbit for slaughter. That’s the difference. Until you have it under control—”
I put my hand on Coal’s chest, feeling his heart pound beneath the hard muscle. “If I wait until everything is perfect, there may not be a mortal world to save.” I slide both hands down his abdomen, watching his pupils dilate as I hook his shirt hem and slide my hands right back up. Muscle by perfect muscle, his stomach reveals itself, then his chest, his nipples hardening in the cool air. He pulls off his shirt automatically, before he even has a chance to realize he’s being distracted. “As to my demons,” I continue in a low voice, “I think it’s safe to predict that when the Night Guard attacks, they’ll be trying to kill me, not whip me. So if you’d like to actually be helpful tonight—”
Coal growls softly and spins me around, pushing me back onto the bed hard enough that it rattles against the wall. The bastard has caught on.
He prowls over me, sniffing my neck like an animal scenting his mate. “This isn’t over,” he says into my ear.
“Whatever you say,Lieutenant,” I say impishly, pulling my slip up to my waist. I won this round, and he knows it. He’s already too far gone to turn back now.
He bares his teeth and grinds his hips into mine so hard, I can’t help but moan—then he disappears.
I look up with a furious protest on my lips only to find him standing in the middle of the room, unbuttoning his fly so carefully, I want to howl in frustration. He looks up, a wicked gleam in his eyes. “You’re not the only one with methods of persuasion, mortal.”
“I’m going to kill you,” I say breathlessly.
“You can try,” he says.
Then he’s back on top of me, thrusting so deep and true that I have to bite his shoulder to keep from screaming.
The dozen cadetson Han’s Prowess team are running up and down the gleaming arena steps when I stride onto the sands, my palms slightly sweaty against my thighs.
Inside, it’s even hotter than I imagined—and even more intimidating. The high sun reflects blindingly off the long oval of sand and metal competition equipment, the bleachers reaching dizzyingly high into the air. I see a tall horizontal bar somewhat like the one Tye used to practice on in Lunos, and my heart squeezes painfully. It smells like dried sweat in here, with a coppery undertone of blood that makes my stomach turn.
I was obviously insane to think this was a good idea.
And I also see no other option.
Unlike the Prowess cadets, who now exclusively wear Academy colors even for physical training, my training grays are drab against the flapping flags and bright paint of the arena.
Han’s darkly handsome face is unreadable as he marks me, crooking a finger to order me closer. His hair and brows shine like onyx under the oppressive sun, making his blue-gray eyes even more striking.
As I come up, swallowing hard against the stench of wrongness that leaches from the male like a body odor, he points to a spot in the sand, then turns his back to me to watch his athletes. They’re fast and leanly muscled, hardened after weeks of training. Still no match for fae—but possibly the closest humans can get. “Puckler, you are running stairs, not crawling them. Start over. Tyelor, another stone.”
Following Han’s gaze, I see Tye with a pack of stone weights strapped to his back. At Han’s order, the male trots to a pile of additional pieces, adding a mix of stones and sand to his pack. The male’s red hair is soaked with sweat, dark splotches saturating his uniform shirt.His face is hard, eyes eerily emotionless. It hits me all over again how strange it is to see Tye as a stranger, behind such a high wall that I can barely see my friend, let alone my playful, passionate mate. Even worse, my bodydoesrecognize him, yearning toward his like a dog toward a treat, betraying me every time I lay eyes on his messy red hair and feline movements.
“Tyelor will need to put in extra effort to make up for the time your idiocy cost him,” Han says quietly, almost casually, still watching his charges. “Is there a reason you are violating my sands this morning?”
I clear my throat. Han knows why I’m here. Everyone does. The very air in the arena is humming in protest at my appearance. Putting my hands behind my back, I give the male a partial bow. “I would like to try out for the swordsmanship slot, sir.”
Han makes a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat, then walks a circle around me as if examining a filly for purchase. “I was under the distinct impression that you were not a supporter of our team or sport,” he says, coming to rest before me again. “Your attempt to get my top athlete banned from the competition was rather clear evidence of your intentions.”
