Page 74 of Destined to Fight

Aye, anything ye need. Gods, I hope this works.

Likely, the second part wasn’t meant for her, so she ignored it.

“Dad, I’ve got to take care of something real quick. I’m sorry, I’ll be right back. Please make yourself at home with everyone else.”

“You okay, kiddo?”

Kelly nodded at him and managed a smile. “Yeah. I won’t be long.”

In the training room, she sat down on a mat and centered herself with slow, deep breaths. Not knowing where to start, she tried the same thing she’d done when trying to control her power.

Picturing her body and the cells running through it, she focused on Kade’s thoughts and the point where they came to her. They weren’t a part of her like her power, but she could feel them flowing into her, almost like a soft breeze through the window of her mind.

That was it, a window! She slammed it shut, closing her mind off from the world.

The fact that all of this was beyond absurd did cross her mind more than once. Slamming a window shut and guarding her mind seemed like such a silly thing to do.

Then she realized her mind was quiet. All that accompanied her were her own thoughts and emotions.

It took some self-control, but Kelly refrained from jumping for joy. There was still another test to do. She focused again on that window in her mind and let it open just a smidge.

Fuck, this guy is a piece of work.

With that, she slammed it shut again and enjoyed the silence that followed.

Holy shit, she’d figured it out! Well, half of it, anyway. But at least she could stop it when it started, and that was perhaps the bigger problem to solve. Being able to hear Kade’s thoughts could be beneficial in quite a few scenarios.

With a final deep breath to center herself, Kelly came back to the world and went to join everyone in the living room.

She couldn’t help the smile that was plastered on her face as she entered the living room.

“I’m really sorry about that. Nothing else should come up. I hope my dad didn’t tell you all embarrassing stories about me in my absence.”

Her dad chuckled. “No, no, we were just talking business.”

He could talk to anyone about anything. She’d ask Kade what he’d been going on about later.

Her dad took that invitation and ran with it. “Speaking of business, what is it that you all do? Kelly hasn’t told me much.”

Fabian took the reins, thank goodness. “That might be a better conversation to have after dinner. I can tell you that Kelly is making stellar progress in learning her craft, and she is leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.”

Points to Fabian for the creative truth.

Her dad beamed with pride, and it made her heart soar. A parent’s approval never got old, no matter where you were in life.

Kade shot her a questioning look, obviously trying to communicate with her. She didn’t open the window in her mind, but she managed an encouraging smile and nodded slightly.

The doorbell rang, and Asmund appeared out of nowhere to answer it.

“Oh good, the food is here just in time!” Asta said.

Asmund directed the delivery man to the kitchen, where he left a large amount of food.

The smell of Texas barbecue made Kelly’s mouth water.

Ginna and Connor magically appeared as Asmund tipped the man and led him back out the front door. Food could really bring a group together. Although why Connor would show up at the smell of normal food, Kelly had no idea.

Ginna, Connor, and Asmund came in to introduce themselves to her dad, and then everyone was in the kitchen preparing food.

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