Page 35 of Frost and Fate
“Right. I’ll catch you ladies later.” Peyton gave a mock salute and headed down the hall.
“Bye, Peyton!” Nova smiled. On the surface Peyton looked extremely unapproachable. He was covered in intimidating piercings and tattoos. Now that Nova knew him though, she could tell he was a big sweetheart underneath. They arrived at the training rooms and headed inside. Lucas was already warming up. The blond lycan was surrounded by an arsenal of weapons. Some of which Nova recognized, with many others that were foreign to her.
“Hello again, Ice Queen.” Lucas gave her a warm smile. He was awfully dreamy with his blond hair and Aussie accent. It was a stark contrast to Darren’s jet-black locks, which Nova preferred. “I hope you’re ready for today’s lesson.” He gestured toward the vast collection of swords, knives, crossbows, and other weaponry.
“Honestly this is not my area of expertise.” Nova laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever used anything in this room. You really think I’ll have access to all these types of weapons in the middle of a real fight?”
He cocked a blond eyebrow in Nova’s direction. “You don’t need access to them. All you need is to know a little bit about their make-up, and how to use them.” Lucas continued, “Nova, I think we can channel your powers. If you could learn to give shape to your ice, like you do with the shards, you could be capable of making any type of weapon at will.”
Nova felt a rush of nervous energy. “You want me to make weapons out of ice? What if I can’t do it? What if it doesn’t work that way?” Her heart was pounding at the thought of creating intricate ice swords and whatever else he had in mind.
Lucas walked over to Nova and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. His lycan senses had clearly picked up her discomfort and apprehension. “You don’t need to worry about anything. I know you will be able to do this.” Nova stared up at him, unsure. “We at least have to try. You’re getting stronger. I know you would never hurt any of us intentionally, but last time, things got out of hand.”
Ashamed, Nova put her face in her hands. She could still see it in her mind’s eye. When they had last faced the Collectors, she had thrown a cloud of icy shards out in hopes of saving the group, but in her panic she had been unable to control the direction of the sharp pieces. Several had impaled her lycan companions. Even though none of them were seriously hurt, Nova still felt a terrible pang of guilt in her gut.
“Hey now.” Lucas tipped her face up to meet his gaze. “I know you can learn to channel it, control it. You are stronger than you think. Let’s work on this now so that we don’t have to worry next time. Wouldn’t it feel great to be in control of your abilities? Not the other way around?” His words made sense. Fully controlling her powers felt impossible, but maybe channeling them into something specific would help.
“What first?” She looked around at the large collection.
“This is the fun part.” Lucas grinned. “You get to figure out what you like and which weapons are your favorite.” He walked over to one of the walls and picked up several small items. “These are throwing stars.” He handed three small metal objects to Nova. “I don’t know about you, but I think some icy throwing stars would be pretty cool.” He turned Nova toward a wooden board nailed to the wall. She lifted her hand and threw the first star. It clattered to the floor and was quickly followed by the second and third stars. Lucas looked apologetically at Nova. “Or maybe not.” He chuckled. “How about these?” He handed Nova a sheath with several small daggers in it.
“I doubt I’ll ever be close enough to stab someone with these.”
“You don’t use them to stab up close, you throw them.” He picked up one of the daggers, and in one swift movement, sent it plunging into the wooden plank.Impressive.“You try.” Lucas wrapped Nova’s fingertips gently around the blade. “Visualize where you want it to land, pull back, and release.” To Nova’s great surprise it stuck in the wood. It was a good deal below the bullseye, but still it was encouraging. “Look at that!” Lucas said. “A natural. These are great because they have more weight to them than the stars. Plus you can throw them pretty much any direction.” He made a quick show of tossing the knives from overhead, underneath, and mid turn to the side. He then let Nova continue to practice her throws. She was actually having fun. Leah stood quietly in the corner throughout the training session.
After the knives, they practiced with a hatchet, axe, and then moved on to the swords. Lucas placed one of the shining blades in her hand. The weight of the sword surprised Nova. A dummy in the middle of the room served as her target. She took several swings at the wooden figure. Instead of feeling like a powerful, sword-wielding badass, Nova felt more like a kid beating a piñata with a stick.
Lucas let out a chortle. “Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s your first time with all of these. You’ll get the hang of it.”
They continued training and testing a variety of weapons for several more hours. Nova was completely exhausted by the end of their session. Her limbs ached from throwing around the weight of the various swords and spears.
Lucas held his hand up for a high-five. “You did great. We will keep training and you’ll be a pro in no time.”
As Nova chugged down a bottle of water, the training room doors opened. In walked Darren, in all his handsome glory. Her heart sped up just seeing him. He smiled at her and headed over.
Lucas intercepted him. “Woah, mate. Sorry, we can’t allow any distractions in the training room.” He leaned in close to Darren and whispered, “And based on the way you both smell and look today, I’d say you’ve been doing plenty ofdistractingon your off time.” He put Darren in a headlock and the two began to laugh and wrestle it out. “You’ve been busy, haven’t you, mate?”
Darren flipped Lucas to the ground and they continued their match.
Leah heaved a sigh from across the room. “Boys.”
When the two finally finished their roughhousing, Darren made his way to Nova’s side. She had an eyebrow raised. “What did he say to you?”
Darren grinned. “Ah, nothing for you to worry about.” Before Nova could protest, he planted a warm, deep kiss on her lips. She gasped in surprise. Honestly she hadn’t expected him to show her affection in public yet. He smiled down at her. “Miss me?”
Nova’s face flushed as she thought about the last time they had been together. His lips on her body, the way he had felt inside her.
Darren’s eyes began to glow, obviously scenting her arousal. Leaning down he whispered in her ear, “You better get that dirty mind under control. If you don’t, I might have to take you right here, right now, no matter who’s watching.”
Nova shivered as his warm breath tickled her ear. His words had done nothing to quench her arousal. If anything, it had made her desire for him far stronger. He glared down at her with honey-fire eyes.
“We’ll be right back,” he announced to Lucas and Leah as he dragged Nova out of the room by her wrist. They turned right out of the training room and stopped two doors down. Darren flung the door open and pulled Nova quickly inside. It was dark in the room, and all Nova could see was Darren’s luminous honey-fire eyes. As her own eyes adjusted, she could see they were in a utility closet of some sort. Darren’s mouth came down on hers in a heated frenzy. It was like he couldn’t get enough of her lips, kissing her harder and deeper each time. Nova’s legs went boneless as Darren snaked an arm around her waist. He spun her around so that her hands and chest were up against the back wall. Darren pulled down on Nova’s leggings, and slipped a finger inside her. The sudden unexpected action had Nova crying out in pleasure. Darren placed a warm hand around her mouth. “If you’re not careful, the whole floor will hear us.”
Nova did not care. As he loosened his grip on her face she panted, “Darren, please.” Then came the sound of a belt and zipper coming undone. He removed his fingers from her and pressed the tip of his swollen cock against her lips. Nova moaned and pushed her hips back to meet his hardness.
“Is this what you want?” he purred in her ear before pressing his smooth length inside of her. Nova cried out in ecstasy. He pressed her chest and hands even closer to the wall as he took her from behind. Darren’s large hands gripped her ass as he continued to thrust into her. Everything about Darren felt perfect, and the way he felt inside her, Nova never wanted him to stop. He began to pick up his pace, moving more quickly in and out of her. She could feel her orgasm coming fast. Darren slapped a hand hard across Nova’s ass. That was all it took to send her spiraling into a mind-blowing climax. A few seconds later she heard Darren grunt as he thrust hard into her one last time. They both stood there, pressed against the closet wall, lost in euphoric dizziness. Darren slowly pulled out of Nova, and turned her to face him. He planted a soft kiss on her swollen lips. “Damn did I get lucky in the mate department.”
Nova laughed and kissed him back. “I love you,” she whispered.
