Despite the aches, I couldn’t help but nibble on my bottom lip as I thought of what tonight would bring now that we’d opened the door to having joint sessions.
Heat blossomed on my cheeks as Lincoln taunted me.
Wanting a round two, Princess?
Before I could respond, Lo focused her attention on him as she stretched to touch her toes over her straight legs. “Hey, Lincoln, did Drake happen to talk to you about the change in Alina’s training?”
He paused mid-stretch, an arm across his chest with his hand on the elbow, forcing it further. His eyes narrowed, voice dropping as he answered, “No? What did hishighnessdecide?”
While all three of my mates had been getting along surprisingly well, considering Lincoln and Drake’s staunch opposition to sharing me at all initially, the condescension dripping from Lincoln’s tone made me wince.
Trying to lighten the blow, I murmured, “Lo calls himliegein that same tone. You guys should be friends.”
When silence stretched between us, showing that my joke had clearly flopped without the intended effect, I sighed heavily.
Fuck you for leaving this to us to tell Lincoln.
Comoara, talk to me in that tone of voice one more time and I’ll bend you over my knee and smack your ass cherry red.
The threat should not have had me snapping my legs together and my core aching, but here we were.
You owe me for this, Drake.
It really shouldn’t be that big of a deal. The decision was based purely on logic, not emotion. Lo makes more sense to be your trainer in all aspects.
He still wasn’t getting it.
Deciding it would be best to just rip off the bandage and not shove this onto poor Lo, I announced, “Drake thinks it would be beneficial to have Lo take over my training completely. He’s ordered her to work with me every day now.”
To my shock, Lincoln showed no external outburst, but if he was a dragon shifter, there would be smoke billowing from his mouth and ears right now with the way he was vibrating with rage.
His jaw was so tightly clenched I wasn’t even sure how he got his next words out while staring a hole into the mat beneath him. “Am I not good enough after proving myself as a capable trainer for Dark Imaginarium Academy, churning out countless skilled fighters that are employed all over Praeditus?”
I knew his ego would take a huge blow from this, seeing as he’d literally dedicated his life to training the best of the best.
Crawling over to him on my hands and knees, I sat back on my thighs and grabbed his hand. “Hey, you are amazing at your job, but Drake has a point about Lo being closer to my size and similar in fighting techniques because of that. Maybe you can still join us for her to demonstrate things for someone our size fighting you?”
I swung my head to Lo, eyes pleading for her to give me this to soften the blow on him.
She was immediately nodding way too enthusiastically as she pushed to her feet. “Yes! Of course, what a great idea, Alina.”
A growl came from Lincoln as he dropped my hand and ambled to his feet, muttering, “I don’t need the pity. What I need is to show Drake just how capable I am.”
He flashed out of the room, leaving me to straighten to my feet and face Lo. Tossing my hands in the air, I groaned.
Seeing as he was without a doubt on his way to try to get a few hits in on Drake, I tried to quickly explain to him what was coming his way.
After finishing school in Sanguis, he had nothing, Drake. He was offered the position by Estrid and has built his entire life around his job. He has a lot of pride in it, so to be brushed to the side is going to hurt not only his ego but will make him feel worthless if he feels like he isn’t good enough for the one thing he has to his name.
Guilt flowed from him through our bond.
That wasn’t my intention.
Just because it wasn’t your intention doesn’t mean it won’t still hurt someone. Telling someone you didn’t mean it that way doesn’t take the sting away. I understand why you made the decision, but you need to own up to your decision to him yourself and understand why he feels the way he does because of it.
He’s here. I’ll apologize.
Good boy.
