Page 81 of Whispered Warnings: Part One

Evander chuckles as he throws two battle axes in my direction and makes everyone curse, until I easily pluck them out of the air.

“Axes, really?” I grin.

Reed and I start to spar again, using the different weapons. Every now and then Evander will throw a new weapon at me, and I have to catch it and dispose of the other weapons that I am using before I fight with the new one all while still avoiding the attacks from Reed.

“They have been at it for ages, and I’m starting to think that neither one of them is going to back down,” Griff says. “Someone needs to call it. They are going to end up hurting themselves in a minute if they aren’t careful.”

“That’s enough guys!” Evander calls, adding, “Weapons down.”

Reed immediately stops and smiles at me; I return it before I decide that the floor is a much better companion and lie down. Breathing heavily.

River

Iam struggling with watching Reed and Neith fight. At first, I was okay, it was really fucking interesting watching Neith fight. There was definitely something supernatural about the way she fought. For one, she was keeping up with Reed and he wasn’t slowing down for her, he wanted to test exactly what she was capable, and while he started to move only at human pace, he increased his speed as she increased hers and as a bystander it was easy to see the surprise on his face when she started moving as quickly as he could.

My problem started when Evander started to throw different weapons at her, it was really fucking impressive to watch her so easily switch between the different ones, and there is definitely something supernatural about her affinity with weapons, I have absolutely no doubt about that. But Reed also started fighting in earnest, as he realized that she was a formidable opponent and if he didn’t then she was going to cause some serious damage to him.

Logically I know that Reed would rather get hurt himself than hurt Neith, I know that. However, she triggers something in me that I haven’t felt before and it's something that I’m not used to dealing with. It happened when she was bleeding and everyonewas taking too long to make sure that she was okay, and I can feel a similar thing happening now. The good news is that I now recognize it, and I am confident that I can control it. However, as it’s still a new feeling for me, I’m going to need to practice controlling the feeling first and that means that I need to excuse myself.

“I’m just going to step out, I will be back in a moment,” I say to Van.

He glances over at me, his smile faltering as he asks, “Is everything okay?”

I nod, and answer honestly, because what would be the point in lying, “Yeah, those new instincts I have when it comes to Neith are not coping too well now that Reed has upped his game. I am fine, and don’t feel the urge to defend but the feeling is new, so I need to make sure that I get a handle on it now so that I don’t lose control over it in another situation.”

Van nods, “I get that man, if your instincts are so strong about her though, we are probably going to need to look into why.”

“Yeah, I know,” I reply.

It's something that I have been thinking about, but I’m not entirely sure what looking into it is going to find. I don’t have the answer for why my instincts have been triggered by her and honestly, I’m okay with the fact that they have, so long as I can get control over them, and I don’t end up trying to take on one of my brothers. That would be really bad, and not something that I want to do.

“If your instincts are triggering now, when you know that she is safe with Reed, then you are going to have to be careful about when they trigger when she is under threat. It will be a good thing in some circumstances but in others it could cause a big problem and let people know that she means a lot to you and us, which could be bad.”

I scrub my hand through my hair, letting out a heavy sigh. That is also something that I am aware of. He’s not telling me anything that I haven’t thought of before.

“I know man, that’s why I’m leaving to get a handle on it now. It won’t take me too long to control it. Hopefully, I will have a handle on it before a situation like that arises.”

Evander smiles and claps me on the shoulder, “I know you will.”

I love that he has that much faith in me, I just hope he’s right. Returning his smile, I glance once more at Reed and Neith and then head for the doors. I think fresh air is probably the best thing for it. With this in mind I head straight for the front of the house.

Before I can get there, I run into Doc, “Hey man, how was work?”

“All good, are you okay?” He asks, studying me closely.

I nod, “Yeah, I just need some fresh air. The guys are in the gym watching Neith kick Reed’s ass.”

His eyes widen as he grins, “Now this I’ve got to see.”

I chuckle as he moves past me and then resume my task, and head toward the front door.

Neith

“Hey guys, River said that I would find you down here,” Doc says as he walks into the room. His tone changes from warm and friendly to concerned as he asks, “What the hell? Why the fuck would youpush her that hard? She’s in pain, and severely dehydrated. I’m not actually sure how she is conscious.”

“What!” Reed exclaims the panic in his voice prominent, and echoed by everyone else in the room.

I roll my eyes, not that they can see, so instead I raise my hand and wave to gain their attention, “I’m good, honestly. You’re being dramatic. I just need a moment.”

---