Page 19 of Veiled

“Deal, I look forward to someone peeling my dress off for someone tonight, love em’ and leave em.” I winked at him. He advanced with no warning and swung with one of his swords toward my neck and arched the other to stab towards my stomach, expecting me to do a backbend to avoid the first sword; savage… smart too. I bent low and pivoted to the side, avoiding both hits, before standing and taking a step back. I smiled evilly and said, “okay, since you want it that way, fine. First blood. Oh and,” with barely a thought, I infused my weapons with magic and set them alight, “magic counts too.” I threw myself in his direction, doing a full body turn and with my back facing his, I used my hand scythe to play with him and tear his shirt off his back before I laughed and stepped back before he could pivot and attack. I loved this, I’ve always loved these parts of my lessons. It was when I was able to get my frustrations out and I was damn good at it.

If I came home with a scratch, Father would book extra lessons at 5 am, before school. I would be so tired that I had to learn to never be injured. I didn’t mind the extra lessons, I loved Kalen, and they got me out of the house, but I didn’t like feeling like a zombie throughout the rest of the day.

I focused on Zane, who had to remove the remains of his shirt. He observed me a bit more closely, realizing that he needed to slow down and consider his next move. I took that time to look for a weakness and an opening, but pretty much just took in the perfection that was his body. It should be illegal to be that perfect. I mean, truly, he was carved from warm stone. I had a tough time convincing myself that this attraction was wrong, but realistically, other than him being an asshole, the only thing that pissed me off was that night.It could be worse. We could actually be related and be somewhere in the Midwest, fucking each other and our own cousins and shit.

I saw him decide to move a split second before he moved and I sent an extra boost of magic down my scythe as he spun and made contact with my sword, I parried before quickly swinging it back around, breathing through the motions and I repeatedly blocked, hit, and spun. Expertly, he backed his swings with his upper body strength and his hips. Most people thought that power was only from their arms, however, in order to truly land a strong hit, you needed to activate your hips slightly in order to really pack a hit. Zane was good, I'll give him that, but Kalen would use brutal hits too, so I learned to really focus on my full body workouts to get stronger. I could take the hits longer than most people but eventually everyone tired, Kalen and I just never actually got to a point where I was tired, and we trained for hours. He never tired either, I thought suddenly. Regardless, to avoid my arms being battered down, I used a trick I learned back at home and quickly turned out my scythe and wrapped it around his blade and quickly jerked my arm to the side and he lost his grip on the sword and it went flying toward the men. I heard one of them curse and Zane’s eyes flew open in shock. Then his eyes narrowed. Well, fuck. Guess he was determined to win now, so let's see how this plays out. This would be an appropriate time for a cackle. Where the fuck are the Sanderson sisters when you needed them?

I needed to get the other sword out of his hand, but I knew he wouldn’t fall for the trick twice. He spun the sword between his hands trying to confuse me and I smiled as he advanced, spinning the blade behind his back to his front but l parried as he attacked. This time, I swept low and brought my leg around to knock him on his ass, but he expected that and, with a smirk, he jumped, but with a similar smirk, I quickly stood up, dropped my scythe and uppercut him on his way back down. He stumbled back and I kicked the other sword out of his other hand. I threw my sword to the side and crooked my finger as we stepped further into the center of the sparring circle. He looked a little bewildered and put his hands up. He punched forward, slightly grazing my ear and then followed up and got a good punch to my stomach, I grunted and laughed. I spun on the balls of my feet and danced away. That hurt like a fucking bitch, but I wouldn’t let him see that. At home, if I showed weakness after a hit, I had extra drills, so I showed none. To Zane and everyone else in that room, my ribs and side didn’t hurt at all. I took a deep breath and took a risk.

I ran toward him, my intention was to wrap my legs around his neck with a running leap, but I had a weird feeling that he was expecting that, don’t ask me how. Instead, I ran and slid between his legs instead, before jumping up back-to-back, reaching up, and wrapping my arms around his neck from the back. I used that momentum to kick up and then slide my leg back, using the leverage of my body to flip him onto the floor. Except on his way down, he grabbed me and spun me, effectively pinning me underneath him. This was typically a bad position to be in, and with a man Zane’s size and me five feet and five inches, it most definitely was. My legs were pinned, and he reached over to pin my arms down by my wrist.

I would be pulling my magic at this point with anyone else but the look in his eyes had me stuck. We both were breathing hard, our chest rising and falling, sweat slicking down his abs and likewise between my breasts. He looked at me intensely, and I licked my lips, suddenly thirsty as fuck and needing a shit ton of water. He followed my tongue and then without pause, leaned down and crushed his lips to mine. He teased his tongue across my lips, begging for entrance and against my better judgement, I opened my lips and his tongue clashed with mine, for the first time in years. He groaned and pulled back. He took a shuddering breath and whispered, “I win.” I smiled.

“Not quite,” I whispered back. I pushed my magic to use air energy, just enough to dislodge his hold then I drove my elbows into his neck, and I kicked my leg out and had him pinned on the floor with my magic. “We can go ahead and call this a tie. I will listen to you, even though you broke my heart and I,” I punctuated my next words by grinding my ass onto his hard dick and he groaned, and his eyes became hooded and he gripped my waist to stop me. I smiled, “I get to get fucked tonight.” I jumped off him before he could respond and walked out the gym. A chorus of, like hell’s and the fuck she will, sounded behind me. I laughed.

* * *

Zane

Holy shit,I haven’t been bested in a long ass time. I don’t know who the fuck was training her back in Colorado, but they were bad ass. The way she showed no pain, even though I punched her in the ribs and side pretty damn hard, then laughed was seriously the sexiest shit ever. I was already half-mast throughout the entire session. I could ignore her amazing body, her ass that was just like two floating beach balls rubbing together on her perfectly matched thighs, her perfect breasts and the way her body curved like an hourglass. I could even ignore the way sweat ran down her abs and sheened over the rest of her body, but fuck, when she ripped the sword out of my hand with that sleight of hand? It was like someone punched me in the fucking heart. It was all I could do to keep going at full strength and when I lost my other sword and she tossed hers and crooked her finger to follow her to switch to sparring hand to hand, I lost my mind. I felt like I was drowning in sensations: possessiveness, lust, love, obsession and pride. She wasn’t just amazing, she was everything. When I gave in and kissed her, I could see myself drowning in her passion. Watching her walk away and not grabbing her to bury myself inside of her, wrapping my hands around her ponytail and fucking her until she screamed my name, was the hardest thing I have ever done. I groaned; I’m so fucked.

“Dude, you are so fucked,” Grayson chuckled. “She handed you your ass and your manhood in twenty minutes. How does it feel?”

“You laugh, but I’m the one who just had her grind on my dick with her perfect ass and kissed her.” Grayson stopped laughing then and put his calm face in place.

“Yeah, but I’m the one who will have to teach her how to suck my Jacob’s ladder,” he teased. I went to punch him, and he danced away, laughing. Dick.

“Yeah, but I’m the one who actually got his dick sucked last night. Those videos did pay off,” Hunter laughed.

I threw a fireball at his ass and he cursed while he ripped off his shirt. Point.

“Well, it was a tie, so how are we running interference tonight?” Ryder asked, shaking his head.

“We could always have someone else watch out for her. I mean, technically it wouldn’t be us cockblocking, which is Hudson code for making us jealous, it seems. Her eyes light up and she has that little smile on her face. I really think she is just fucking with us. Besides, I made a deal with her last night,” Hunter mused.

“I’ll ignore that. But yes, I don’t think interference in that regard is needed. More like someone to make sure no one gets handsy or approaches her. So we don’t smack everyone tonight.” I sighed. “But who? We clearly can't ask any of the guys we know, they will fall in love with her faster than they can catch their next breath.” We thought for a few minutes. “What girls do we know? There has to be someone we can have keep an eye on her.”

“Wasn't there another girl who was doing the accelerated program and starting this year too? We just got an email this morning, I have to check my roster,” Grayson mumbled and made his way upstairs with us following close behind. We walked into his room, decorated in cool green tones and dark furniture and a huge bed in the center of the room, and I walked across the room and leaned against the opposite wall, while he pulled up his roster on his computer. “Her name is Remi, and looked like she had a pretty good transcript, so she and Hudson should get along pretty well.”

“Hudson has always been antisocial. Well technically, that was our fault, still, she may not be too receptive to a friend.” I rubbed my head in consternation. Fuck. Stupid ass bet.

“I wouldn’t count on that. She looks like she threw away her old life and is trying to start off on fresh footing. I think if we introduce them casually, they’ll be fine. The real problem is who the fuck this girl is, what she looks like, and how do we invite her to a party that mostly has upperclassmen and instructors. The only new kid we know until Monday is Hudson.” Ryder started pacing back and forth trying to get his point across. Fuck, she had us in here, plotting protection plans to keep her away from a bunch of guys without looking like dicks ourselves. In all honesty, she valued confidence, strength, and skill. Most of the people wouldn’t be up to her level anyway, and we would be quick to let them know that I thought with a smile.

“Nah, that’s easy. Look, it says here,” Hunter grabbed Gray's computer, “she’s dorming over in Blythe. Reed is the RA there this year, isn’t he?” Hunter pulled his phone out and his hands flew over the keys before we could respond. Reed was a senior we met. Technically, if the boys and I hadn't done the accelerated path, we would have graduated last year. So, we were pretty close, and hung out often. After a few moments, Hunter smiled. “Yeah, he is, and it looks like he spent the day helping people moving in and has already met her. Says she's a knockout, and he was thinking of asking her out, but will invite her over to the party tonight. Says he will go ask her now to give her time to get ready.” Reed had apparently sent him a picture from her social media account, and he whistled. “He isn’t wrong, she is pretty.” And passed his phone around.

I scoffed; I didn’t care about anyone other than Hudson. No one would ever compare. He rolled his eyes at me. “Dude, we all know there is only one end game, doesn’t mean I’m blind.”

I took the phone, the naturally tanned girl in the photo with bright eyes was indeed pretty. She had a nice shape too, although, nowhere near Hudson. Hudson was a fucking scientific anomaly with those curves. The girl had long hair, although it was dyed bright blue. So, she was a bit of a rebel too. I had a feeling her and Hudson would have gravitated toward each other anyway. I figured this was just us speeding up the process. Hunter’s phone beeped and a message flashed saying that she agreed as long as there was alcohol. I laughed. Oh yeah, they would get along just fine.

Hudson

I skipped straightto my room to shower and chill and yup, watch Lucifer. I checked my phone and saw Father had sent me delivery tracking information for arrival tomorrow and another thumbs up. I replied with a quick thanks and opened the group chat Hunter had added me too. I ignored the pings from earlier, a bunch of useless information about party preparation and I smiled remembering my promise. Before jumping in the shower, I stripped off my clothes and stood in front of a full-length mirror and snapped a few pictures before sending them all in the group chat. They all started to reply at the same time.

Hunter- Yeah, I’m about to make good on my promise. ??

Ryder- Fucking shit! I dropped my phone and cracked my screen. ??

Grayson- Fuck your screen, bro. Look through the cracks. ??

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