Quentin looked over, frustrated at her situation. “I don’t need you protecting me.”
“Quentin.” There was a slight warning in my tone.
“I am perfectly capable of doing this on my own.”
“I never said you weren’t.”
I would protect her because I loved her, but she needed to allow me that courtesy. Needed to place her pride aside. That was a big ask.
“I’m fine,” she told me, and I pulled my aura away.
“Try again, Scott,” Ig said, picking himself off the ground.
She stood there and after a few more tries, for the first time in two days, Quen summoned her aura without being provoked.
“Finally,” Ig exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “Now, you need to keep it under control when you get provoked.”
Erik sat up straight and pushed himself to his feet. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea.”
“And if we don’t teach her and she loses it back down there?” Ig asked. “Hunter’s going to be thorough in making sure she isn’t a threat to our security. You put me in charge, so let me do my job.”
I leaned back against a tree and put my hands behind my head, keeping my eyes on Quen. She glanced over at me and her eyes lightened as I gave her a wink.
“Oi!” Ig yelled. “If you two can’t keep it in your trousers, then you can get your ass out of here.”
Quen flushed pink. She was still getting used to people calling her out, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t smug as fuck to know that I had that effect on her.
“Scott!” Ig barked. “Focus!”
She turned back to Ignacio.
Erik shifted his weight between his feet. “I really don’t think—"
But his words were lost as Ignacio sparked his aura to life. He looked me in the eye and I narrowed mine in response. He had never given me a reason to distrust him, but I’d never handed him the most treasured possession in my existence. If Ignacio stepped one foot out of line, I wouldn’t hesitate to watch that bridge go up in flames and there would be no repairing it.
“I’m trying to help her,” Ig warned me. “So stay out of it.”
I ran my tongue over my teeth, uncomfortable with what he was planning, but I nodded, allowing him to proceed.
The bright orange aura struck out towards her. Quentin called on her own but not quick enough, taking the blow and landing on her ass in the grass. I controlled my anger, reminding myself that she needed to do this on her own. Ig was capable of more damage than what he’d just dealt.
“Rein it in, Scott,” Ig warned her.
“You just put me on my ass!” she shouted.
“It wasn’t hard, sweetheart.”
Her aura pulsed around her and she glared at him as she got back to her feet. A wall of gold rushed in Ig’s direction, but he stopped it.
“You have one hell of a temper, Scott,” he commented. “Almost as bad as your boyfriend over there.”
That caught my attention. To be referred to so openly as her boyfriend was something new. Apparently, it wasn’t just my attention that was piqued because Erik began to glow and Quen’s aura faltered.
Ig pulled a contemplative face. “But still not as bad as him. Gray… well, he’s the worst of us.”
What was he doing? This wouldn’t provoke her.
“You really know how to pick them,” Ig continued. “I’m not sure why you’re wasting your time with him.”
