Page 41 of Bearing Secrets
“There’s just one thing wrong with that statement,” Kirell said with a grin.
“What’s that?”
“There are no rules in this fight.” And he kicked Klebra as hard as he could in the shin with the ball of his foot.
The knee buckled under the powerful blow, and the other shifter shrieked in pain as he went down. Kirell pivoted on the same foot as he returned it to the ground, delivering a spinning kick. He’d hoped to hit Klebra in the face, but the man ducked to the side, and instead took it square in the shoulder.
The joint popped under the blow and the arm hung uselessly. Kirell blinked in surprise at his unexpected fortune; usually, a blow to the arm like that wouldn’t have dislocated the shoulder, but he must have hit it just right.
Before he could gloat in the victory though, a trio of shifters burst through the open doorway. Soldiers of the House, they had responded to the commotion.
“Get him out of here,” he snapped, pointing at Klebra. “Take him to Kive’s office.”
Kive was the Priest of House Ursa. It’s doctor. He would set the knee and shoulder back in place, to ensure it would heal properly, and attend to any other injuries.
Too bad he doesn’t deal with idiotic brain trauma.
“Are you okay? What went on here?” one of the soldiers asked, looking around the room, his eyes coming to rest on the door, one corner of it embedded in the wall.
“Delusions of grandeur,” Kirell muttered, walking over to the door. With a grunt, he ripped it from the wall and carried the heavy piece of solid wood back to the opening. “I’m fine. Thank you for coming.”
It was a dismissal, and the soldier recognized it as such. Kirell wasn’t the official Captain of the House yet, but he had the authority of the Queen, and the soldier—his name slipped him at that moment—wasn’t about to fight it.
“Give us a call if he comes back.”
“I will.”
Then the soldier was gone, and Kirell pushed the door back into place. It fit. Mostly. Looking around he grabbed one of the couches. Cushions fell to the ground as he overturned it and used it as an angled support, bracing it against the door and the ground at a forty-five-degree angle to keep the way shut.
“There, that oughta do it,” he pronounced.
“Kirell!”
He barely got turned around before Natalia was back in his arms.
“Hey,” he said, speaking calmly while also reaching up to stroke her hair, trying to ensure her everything was okay. “It’s okay. Everything is fine.”
It wasn’t her fault. Fights like this were not rare in his House, and he was positive it wouldn’t be the last dustup he got into either. To him it wasn’t a big deal, but she couldn’t know that. Not with the way they had been going at each other’s throats, or how powerful the blows they’d been landing were.
“How can you be so calm?”
The truth was, he was anything but calm. His adrenaline was up, blood pumping furiously, and with Klebra dispatched, he only had one thing on his mind.
“Practice,” he said, stunned at how hoarse he sounded.
Get it together.
Maintaining control was key in a situation like this. Kirell couldn’t allow his baser desires to get the better of him.
“Are you sure?” Natalia placed both hands on his chest, looking up directly into his eyes, letting her concern for him show.
Not trusting his own voice, he nodded.
Why was this so hard? She was just a woman, a prop brought in to give his act legitimacy so he could help stabilize the House and return order to it. Attractive, yes, but nothing more to him than that, so why was he losing his control any time she touched him?
“Kirell?”
He looked down. Something in her voice rung differently, catching his attention. No, demanding it.
