He bowed his head briefly, and with that respectful gesture, a flare of warmth hit my chest. After we said our goodbyes, I headed for Slade, who was in deep conversation with his squad.
There were eighteen males and two females in Flight Squad, all of them hanging on the dragon’s every word. I hovered a few feet away, and was surprised when Slade addressed me directly. “I’m organizing them into sparring groups. You can wait over there.”
He pointed toward a bench under one of the few trees out here, and I didn’t argue, striding off to wait. By the time I’d seated myself, Flight Squad had separated into pairs, getting right into their sparring.
For the next twenty minutes, I forgot everything else as I watched the most mesmerizing fighting I’d ever seen. They moved in a fast, deadly dance—if I’d gone up against any of them, I’d be dead in seconds.
At first Slade wandered between them, giving instructions and correcting stances, before he eventually moved to spar with a dark-skinned alpha. From this distance I couldn’t tell what the other shifter’s animal was, but he moved super-fast, striking with lethal force.
Or it would be lethal against anyone who wasn’t Slade Riverson.
Slade batted those strikes away like they were wisps of cloud, and when he struck back I winced at the loud snap of connection. The other shifter cursed, stumbling a few steps before righting himself and shaking off the blow.
The pair exchanged more hits, but from this angle none looked to land directly on Slade. He was unparalleled as a fighter, flowing between moves like he was made of liquid. He leapt from one style to another, dodging, blocking, and striking until the other shifter sprawled on the ground, hands up in surrender.
Slade relaxed his stance as his squad applauded, and when I managed to remove my gaze from the dragon, I found all the other squads were also watching the fight. I observed the awed faces, and it was the first time I understood that the respect Slade commanded was about more than him being a dragon. He commanded it because he was a trained and deadly weapon, without ever needing to change forms.
The hit of pride I felt at his accomplishment upset me, even more so because I’d been enthralled during that fight. I hadn’t been able to look away from Slade. His body was a finely honed weapon, and the play of his muscles with each rapid strike had felt very close to foreplay. It was bad enough that I’d been a simpering, needy bitch with Hunter and Kellan, but now I had a mini-crush on a freaking dragon.
A dragon who probably wanted to eat me in thevery not fun way.
It was almost like I,or my traitorous body, had a death wish.
I honestly couldn’t even blame my wolf for half of my feelings and actions lately.
This lusting after alphas was all on me.
Slade wrapped up his training, and by the time he strode over to me I’d gotten myself together. He didn’t say a word, and I found the silence comforting.
Silent and deadly worked for me because he was never going to push the mate bond.
If anything, being around Slade might be the safest of all.
Chapter
Thirty
HUNTER
Idialed his number, and it rang twice before he answered. I didn’t bother with the usual pause for a greeting, because with Slade it would never come. “Did she make it into the club okay?”
A burst of music in the background caught my attention…He was still there.
“Yes. She’s already working. No training necessary apparently.”
“You stayed?” I knew better than to push him, but this was highly unusual behavior. I needed to monitor where his head was at after spending the afternoon with her.
“She knew every car in our garage.” He sounded mildly perturbed. A tone I’d only heard during times he wrestled with a particularly difficult puzzle, whether that be online or within our pack.
“Lots of shifters know car brands,” I pointed out.
His rumble was more confused than menacing. “Not just the brands, brother. She knew the make and model. I’d hazard a guess that she could have named the year on most of them ifpushed. Of all the omegas, we find one who grew up above a garage and has a genuine love for bikes and cars.”
I filed that away with the limited information we knew about Emmeline Anders. “Did you learn anything else about her during your afternoon?”
Like whichdeadmotherfucker put that scar on her back. When I’d seen that raised and ropey scar across her tanned skin, I’d been on the verge of losing control of my wolf. It wasn’t that it made me look at her differently, or want her less, but the knowledge that someone hurt her had me devolving toward my base instincts.Protect, hunt, destroy, kill.
“I’ve learned very little that’s new,” Slade grumbled, “but I know enough that with a few more pieces of her puzzle, I’ll be able to solve the mystery.”
