Page 38 of Forging Bonds: Part One

My eyebrows rise. Considering that he is the second in command of Trieneliea’s armies, which from my understanding, are pretty fucking vast, then the fact that he isn’t experienced enough to train the Warrior Teams is pretty insane. It also makes me incredibly intrigued by Kyrous and who he was.

“That’s not what I expected you to say,” River admits.

Ty smiles before becoming serious again, “The Choosing is brutal, and I really need you guys to understand that. Going into this thinking that it’s going to be easy is a mistake.”

Evander nods, “We understand that, and we will be training hard over the next couple of weeks. We aren’t going to lose against Draconian, and we will keep Neith safe. No matter what, we will keep Neith safe.”

Raiden carries on, “We are aware of some of the basic rules of the Choosing, we have seen one. We know that the contestants aren’t allowed to attack or kill each other in order to make sure that they win. One because there is still no guarantee that you will win, the other team could still get named even if they’re dead, and two because it pisses off the Choosing itself if you do, but I think you should know that if Neith comes to any harm from them, then we’ll take the consequences of a pissed off supernatural entity as well.”

My smile is wide, and my heart is beating fast, not fully recovered from all of their threats and the violence that took place against the Draconian Team for me, and that I probably liked far more than I should have.

Ty nods, “Understood. I just wanted to caution you about what would happen if you did. As I’ve said, the Choosing is designed to test you mentally and physically, so don’t just train in combat and weapons.”

I nod, “If I’m being honest, it’s the mental side of it that’s making me worry. I have been physically defending myself for as long as I can remember.”

“You’ll do fine,” Evander replies to me confidently. “You love solving shit and researching. You’ve got the mental side of it down. Besides, you have us too.”

I nod, “Yeah, there is that.”

The fact is we have no idea what we’re going to face. I only have vague memories of the Choosing that happened while I was alive, and there’s no way for me to be able to go and watch it again. It’s not stored anywhere, so I can’t retrieve it. Besides, even if I could, it wouldn’t make any difference because I’ve already been told that the Choosing changes to suit the teams and no two Choosings are the same. The only thing that remains vaguely the same is that it isn’t just physical things that the teams have to go through, but also mental and emotional things as well.

We’re pretty much going in blind, and I don’t like that. I always make sure that I have as much information as possible unless it is really unavoidable. Even when I worked with HID, it was something that I dug my heels in about. They tried to give me as little information as they possibly could, but I outright refused to do any kind of work until they gave me the proper case files, and they folded.

I’m pretty sure that they only gave in because the case was pretty high profile, and they were getting shit from higher-ups. They tried it again every now and then but usually changed their minds pretty quickly. After all, I was always bought in as a last resort when they had exhausted all of their other options and still couldn’t get results.

We start to head down the hallway so that we can head toward the doors and our lovely big van so that we can go home. I must admit that I’m looking forward to getting back to the guy’s place. It doesn’t feel as much like my home as House does, but then again, even my tiny house that Pete helped me buy back in town didn’t feel as much of a home as House does. I think it’s probably because House has a personality, and Ethel. House has also saved my life and sheltered me when I was at my lowest, so that immediately endears me to him.

Oh, and HID doesn’t know about House, whereas they do know about my little house on the edge of the town, that has always made House infinitely safer. But the guy’s place is getting closer to how I feel about my tiny house, and I really do love that place. It’s like I told Raiden; I won’t get rid of it any time soon. One, it’s got all of my stuff in it still, and it’s mine, I get possessive over the things that are mine. My tiny house is the first thing, real thing that I bought for myself and that I could call mine. I will keep it forever and make the repairs to it that it desperately needs and that I have never had the funds to fix before. I made do with quick and cheap fixes that weren’t likely to lastvery long because I had no other choice. I’m pulled out of my thoughts when Ty starts to speak again.

“Just to clarify,” Ty starts, and we pause again, “I meant what I said. If you end up killing the Draconian Team because they’ve done something to Neith, I’ll give you as big of a head start as I fucking can, and I will pretend that I know absolutely nothing about the number of people that will be helping you evade capture.”

Raiden’s eyebrows raise, “So what you’re saying is that we could kill them and get away with it?”

Ty sighs and pinches his nose, “Technically, that’s what I’m saying, but please avoid it if you can. You would be on the run and in hiding for a very long time. Not to mention the other complications that will happen because of it.”

Evander chuckles, “Don’t worry, man. We won’t kill them.”

“Thank . . .” Ty starts.

“Unless they hurt Neith,” River adds, deadly serious, from beside me. He moved from holding my waist to holding my hand tightly.

Ty sighs, “Thanks for clarifying.”

“No problem,” River grins, and I can’t help the laugh that escapes me.

“Bye guys,” Ty says as he shakes his head and heads in the opposite direction to us.

Chapter Thirteen

Neith

Once he’s gone and we’ve continued back through the hallways to our van, River sighs dramatically, “We’re definitely too late to eat in the dining hall now.”

Griff chuckles, “Oh yeah, we absolutely are. But we can order food on the way home, and if we time it right, then it should be there when we are.”

“Sounds good to me,” I reply. “I’m starving.”

“Me too,” River says unnecessarily since we all know that he’s hungry. It’s pretty much a constant state for him, but he is a shifter, and shifters are known to have massive appetites.

---