Both Aerin and Theoden groan, covering their eyes.
“What the fuck, dude?” The Mer groans, snuggling in tighter to Aerin’s body.
Malice grits his teeth.
“We leave for the gym in twenty minutes. Princess, if you’re not ready I will carry you there myself. No negotiations.”
Emrys jumps off the bed, shifting to his Fae-like form and striding out of the room past Malice with a small smile on his face. Aerin sits up halfway and opens her eyes blearily at him.
“We’re going to the gym?” She almost sounds hopeful.
Malice nods before leaving the room. Khortland and Reyna’s door is not locked either. He shoves inside and flips on the light. This time he manages not to crack it.
Reyna is alert immediately, eyes wide. The duvet is kicked to the floor at the foot of the bed. Reyna clutches the sheet to her chest.
“Malice!” Reyna all but shrieks. Malice ignores her, instead moving to the closet. They didn’t bring much with them, but he easily finds work-out acceptable clothing, chucking the clothes at them on the bed.
“Get dressed. We leave in fifteen minutes. No exceptions,” Malice says gruffly.
“What for?” Reyna asks.
At the same time, Khortland says, “Absolutely not.”
Malice points at the Human. “You, need to learn how to defend yourself in Fae form. And you,” he points at the white-haired Fae currently glaring at him, “need to stop being a lazy prick. No. Exceptions.” He shuts their door a little harder than necessary upon leaving.
Going to his own room Malice finds Emrys brushing his teeth. Malice wants to grumble at the Wolf for being in his space. Instead, he narrows his eyes before changing into his own gym clothes and joining him at the sink.
When Emrys finishes he leans back against the countertop, watching Malice. His raven hair is mused from sleep, despite not sleeping in his Fae form. Shirtless, his torso stretches on in one long expanse of pale skin. His bones a little too close to the surface, his veins a little too blue, as if he’s rebelling against the idea of being Fae, off just enough that if you know what to look for, you’d realize he isn’t Fae at all.
The Wolf’s brown eyes assess Malice with humor.
“Wha—” Malice grumbles around his toothpaste.
Emrys gives him a smile that makes Malice want to both smack him and pin him underneath him. He looks away, back to his own reflection, to the creature he doesn’t even recognize anymore.
“Is this your way of asserting dominance?” Emrys asks, quirking an eyebrow at him.
Malice spits a bit too forcefully.
“Shut up,” he says, rinsing his mouth. Emrys laughs outright, a deep chuckle Malice has never heard from him before.
“It’s much easier to know your place as a Wolf,” Emrys muses, his teasing smile lighting up his severe features.
“Put a shirt on,” Malice orders as he passes by him. “And fix your hair, for fuck’s sake.”
Emrys’s responding laugh echoes after him as Malice leaves his room. He finds Aerin in the living room, warming up her muscles for the jog to the gym. Unfortunately for Malice she looks radiant. She wears a deep red color today. The clothes hug her tightly in all the places that are bound to linger in Malice’s head.
Aerin looks over to him as she swings her leg back and forth in front of her to warm up her hips. She seems like she might say something, but her mouth closes when Reyna emerges from the hallway.
“Where are we going? And why do we have to go so early?” Reyna yawns, stretching her arms over her head. Still in her Human form, her size is almost laughable compared to Malice.
“We’re going to the gym. We’re running there, so get warmed up. I’ll put you through a workout and then we’ll spar,” Malice explains to the Human, stretching his own legs.
“Run?” Reyna asks, eyes wide in horror. “I can’t run more than a couple blocks.”
“You will, in your Fae form, it will feel easier,” Aerin explains. Reyna looks at them dubiously before sighing.
“I’m not getting out of this, am I?” she asks.
