Page 44 of Broken Fate
But despite the muscles, pheromones, and slow maturing of my best friend, I was unsure of what to make of it all.
I drove a fist into his thigh, giving him a muscle cramp, and used the resulting lack of mobility to dump him on his ass with a sweeping kick. He returned the favor by grabbing my foot and heaving upward, literally somersaulting me backward, bashing my head off the ground as I landed in an uncoordinated heap.
Our relationship had healed thanks to the close confines of working together. The hurt I’d felt at his deception, at being kept out of this part of his life, had faded. I’d come to terms with it, as I was slowly coming to terms with the death of both my parents. I still woke up crying in the night and broke down unexpectedly when it hit me hard, but I could see the light ahead, a path to where the grief was no longer a crippling black hole inside me but rather a dull, constant ache instead.
“Focus!” Clive shouted, his fist driving through my guard and smashing into my temple. I staggered, and he followed it up with a swift jab that closed my left eye.
Yes, our relationship had healed … but it was changing, as well. I saw him as a man now. An admittedly attractive man. There was still that undercurrent of tension, and when our training sessions turned to wrestling, the proximity, the closeness could sometimes be distracting.
“I’m fine,” I growled, grounding myself before going on the attack, lashing out with a barrage of kicks and punches that kept Clive off balance and retreating across the pit.
Distracting, yes, but never, neverexhilarating. Nothing like the river with Kiel. Nothing that made my body comealivein that way. Even now, simply thinking of Kiel’s scarred torso wet with water, the swell of his cock as it rose to meet me, and how his hand had touched me for that briefest of moments was enough to take me out of any moment and back to him.
Clive’s fist cracked right against my jaw, and my legs stopped working. I crashed into the peat moss, still dreaming of running my hands over Kiel’s body, of wrapping my fingers around his—
“Jada? Jada, are you okay?” Clive asked, crouching next to me.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I said, shaking my head, clearing the cobwebs from his blow. “I’m fine. Done for today, though, I think. Sorry to cut it short.”
“Don’t be,” Clive said. “I was surprised you were still here. You’ve been taking to this well, but you’re still logging a lot of hours.”
“I have to catch up,” I said with a laugh. “I’m a little behind. You’ve had two years on me. I still don’t really know how to wield a sword.”
“In time,” Clive replied with a smile, hauling me to my feet and holding me steady for a moment while I ensured my legs worked again. “You’ll be just as much a danger to yourself as anyone else at first. It takes time.”
“Yeah. I guess. I’ll get there.”
Clive nodded.
“Thanks for the extra practice,” I said, patting his sweaty shoulder before hauling myself out of the pit.
Another shifter hopped down to take my place, and Clive turned to face him.
“Not a problem. Drinks after?”
I opened my mouth to reply, but from outside the room, someone shouted in alarm. It was a call for help. Ice forming in my veins at the fearful cry, I locked eyes with Clive.
It was happening again.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Let’s go!” Clive cried, vaulting his way out of the pit in a single bound, his sparring partner a half-second behind him.
Shaken out of my momentary fright, I ran after them, bare feet pounding against the rocky floor as we made for the main cave.
“He couldn’t have tracked us here,” I said, catching up to Clive. “Could he?”
“I don’t know,” Clive said sharply. “But if he did, then we have to prepare to fight. We have to buy time for the others to escape. There are women here. Children. They must get out.”
A fresh lump of horror formed in my throat. It wasn’t the same as the manor. Not at all. There were families. Non-combatants. For a heartbeat, I doubted that Andracis would bother to make a distinction. He would order his troops to kill us all. Cut out all traces of the rebellion.
Hot anger banished the lingering traces of fear, burning the ice from my system as it raced through me, a shockwave of fresh energy.
We scrambled out of the side entrance and leaped down to the floor of the mighty cavern at the center of the complex. Rolling as we hit the ground to absorb the impact of jumping three stories, we came to our feet and ran toward the main entrance, where others were headed, a trickle of shifters that would soon be a stream as the defense cry went up in earnest.
As we rounded the corner, teeth bared, ready to fight, we skidded to a halt at the scene before us.
“My god,” I whispered. Were we too late?
