Page 74 of A Spark Of Revenge

“Senior Drakos? What the hell did you guys do to Victor, Creed?” I snap, making the Demon shoot Jordan an annoyed glare for ratting them out before shaking his head and holding his hands out in front of him.

“I did nothing,” he assures me, then shrugs his shoulders. “Lennox, however…” he whispers, trailing off with a guilty smile, and I glare daggers up at him.

“Are you kidding me? Elaine is the one who asked him to escort me to Christmas dinner. Hell, the man is completely in love with her,” I add, making Theo choke and look at me with wide eyes as he clambers to his feet.

“He what!?” Theo shouts, making Jordan wince and give me a ‘what the hell were you thinking?’ look. “I’ll kill him if he touches my mom. She's way too good for him,” Theo rages, and I grimace. Aww, shit! Now I’m going to have to threaten to cut my friend's balls off so he doesn't intervene with Elaine and Victor.

“This is all your fault,” I hiss under my breath at Creed, who purses his lips and nods in agreement as he stands to his feet and offers me a hand up.

“Trust me. I’m fully aware that this is not my finest hour. Threatening teenage boys is not what I enjoy doing. However, I can only stifle my instincts so much until they overwhelm me,” he adds with a sweet smile on his handsome face while shrugging his shoulders as I slap my hand in his and let him tug me to my feet.

“Right. Then maybe leave the room while I’m training because I need their help, and I refuse to cater to your silly possessiveness,” I grumble, making Creed pout as I pull my hand from his. I’m not sure how I feel about him acting this way. There is a part of me deep, deep down that thrills at his jealousy, but then there’s the part that realizes we aren't dating and he’s acting like a caveman.

“Laps!” Lennox bellows through the training center, making a choir of groans follow suit. “I want fifteen of them, and I want them done now!” he clips out, clapping hands together as the Rangers all move to the track that runs around the enormous room. “Seniors, make sure you don't have any stragglers. Then straight to the obstacle course.”

“Which bloodline?” one of the Rangers shouts as they run.

“All of them,” Lennox growls, glaring at the Ranger, who scowls, obviously not liking the new rule about the bloodlines training together.

“So… you wanna ditch and go somewhere else?” Creed asks, leaning down and whispering in my ear so no one else will hear it. My eyebrows practically hit my hairline in surprise as I turn to look up at him.

“Really?” I ask, a thread of excitement coursing through me at the prospect of not having to run laps and have my lungs explode. Creed shrugs, and I swear I see the faintest blush tinge his golden skin.

“Yeah. I would like to show you something,” he admits, then hesitantly holds a hand out for me to grab. I eye it for a moment, then shrug. Hell, anything is better than running laps while having Nox glare at me for being too slow. I place my hand in his, and his fingers immediately close around mine, holding on tight.

Creed grins, then looks over at Valen and nods, making my dream man sigh and roll his eyes as he begrudgingly walks over to Nox, slapping him on the shoulder and pointing toward the Rangers on the other side of the room from us. When Nox frowns and turns, Valen’s hand moves behind his back so that we can see him gesturing toward the door, signaling for us to move our asses while Nox is distracted.

I giggle and look up at Creed, who smirks victoriously and waves Theo and Jordan off, nodding for them to head to the track before we turn and then sprint for the doors of the training center. “You totally planned this with Valen,” I laugh as we make it out of the room undetected, our fingers linked as Creed pulls me through the halls at a quick pace.

“I did,” Creed confirms, winking at me as his hand squeezes mine gently.

“You knew I would say yes to coming with you?”

“I hoped,” Creed whispers, looking down at me with warmth in his happy green eyes.

“Are you going to get in trouble for this? Nox won't be happy,” I point out as Creed leads me up one flight of stairs, then another… and another. He laughs and nods, but doesn't look concerned.

“Yeah, probably. But if Razar can use you as bait for the Beastia and live, then I figure helping you ditch out during laps won't get me killed. How’d Raz get you off the wall in the first place? Nox was in the courtyard protecting the castle the entire time,” Creed mutters as he tugs me up yet another flight of stairs. I’m panting at this point, and sweat is running down my brow as I stomp after him and frown at the mention of Razar. I haven't seen him yet this morning, and when I asked Valen if he was okay at breakfast, he said Razar was already healed and out of the castle doing something for Nox.

“He tossed me off the wall on the south side,” I mutter between heavy breaths, then squeak in surprise when Creed comes screeching to a stop, and my nose collides with his back. “Ow! What the hell, Creed? Your back is as hard as the damn wall,” I mutter, rubbing my sore nose as Creed spins and looks at me like I’ve gone crazy.

“He… Wait. Raz threw you off the wall!?” Creed shouts, his voice going up two octaves as his hands thread into his hair, pulling at the strands as he blinks rapidly like a cartoon character.

“Uh, well yeah,” I mutter, my voice nasally as I pinch my nose and wiggle it back and forth, making sure I didn't break it or something. “But there was a pile of snow at the bottom, so I was fine,” I add, when I realize Creed's face is turning a weird shade of purple.

“I’m going to kill him,” Creed breathes, then smiles and shakes his head. “No, I'm going to tell Valen,” he mutters in excitement.

“Telling Valen is worse than dying?” I ask as Creed nods and takes my hand once more, practically running up the stairs and making me wonder why the hell I left the training room. I was trying to avoid exercise, not do a million stairs!

“Without a doubt. Razar will wish for death if Valen finds out what he did,” Creed answers, turning to walk down a long hallway I've never seen before, shouldering open a door and pulling me after him and I groan when I see a small spiral staircase in front of me.

“Why are we climbing so high? And why are we running?” I growl as Creed starts up the stairs, making me move much faster than I want to. My thighs and butt are on fire, though I do have a prime view of Creed's ass as he leads us up the stairs. I’ve got to hand it to the man. He may be a traitorous jerk at times, but damn… he has a nice ass.

“Because we’ll miss them if we're not fast enough,” Creed answers, only adding to my confusion as we finally make it to the top of the spiral stairs, and he opens a heavy wooden door.

THIRTY-SIX

Meyer

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