He nods and refocuses on the task and Knox’s adamant bellow ofhell nosteals my attention back to him.
“I’m not giving up any time with Vinna, and we haven’t even sorted if we’re even doing a schedule,” Knox argues with Bastien. “I still think you should have to shave your head when I win.”
I picture Bastien with a buzzed head. He’s gorgeous, and I’m sure he could pull it off. But the thought of no more long waves to run my fingers through, or the loss of my fantasy about his dark silky strands caressing my skin as he kisses his way up from between my thighs to claim my mouth, is not a world I want to live in.
“That’s not fucking happening,” I chime in, trying to rein in the desire and panic ringing out in my voice.
They turn to me. “I like his hair just the way that it is, he’s not cutting it!”
Bastien and Valen exchange grins.
“I mean, cut it if you really want to, who am I to stop you, but if it’s all the same to you, I like it long,” I offer more casually, hoping it covers up the desperate way I just announced that I don’t want them to have bodily autonomy when it comes to their hair.
“Just have the loser concede to the winner’s greatness every time they call a weapon or something,” Sabin announces, setting the tablet the readers gave me on the outdoor coffee table he has a foot resting against. “You’re right Vinna; nothing in here about the transference or even how Chosen are really selected. There’s some small mention of Chosen bonds, but it’s in relation to injury or death. The rest is genealogy, information on investments, and a lot of stuff about possible origins for Sentinels, casters, and some other supernaturals.”
“Right! I don’t know why I was expecting more of ahow-to, but most of what’s in there seems irrelevant. Yay, Sentinels used to have holdings in Kazakhstan and Russia, but how does that help me figure out anything about what I am and what I can do?”
Sabin nods as he stares at the tablet, as if just the weight of his demanding gaze can will more information to magically appear in the text that the readers left.
“I’m going to track down the number they left you. See if they have any information they can send that might be more useful.”
“Follow your gut, but if they had anything, you’d think they would have included it in there,” I tell him, gesturing to the tablet. “They knew I had no idea what I was, maybe this is just all that they have.”
“That’s a good point. It didn’t exactly sound like they were in the Sentinel loop anymore,” Sabin adds, thoughtful.
Bastien picks up the tablet and starts to scroll through it.
“What do you mean concedes to the winner’s greatness?” Knox asks Sabin, bringing us back to the undecided terms of the bet.
Sabin shrugs his shoulders. “I don’t know, maybe whoever loses has to shout outHere ye, here ye, the great and formidable winner has called on his weapon, let us bathe in his glory and cower in fear.Or some other equally asinine thing.”
I laugh at Sabin’s suggestion and how ridiculous it is, but when I turn to Knox the smile on his face tells me he likes it. I look at Bastien, and he’s wearing a similar grin.
“Fuck yes!” Ryker shouts, and all eyes snap to him.
His smile is electric, and the pride in his eyes shines like the sun as he holds up the staff in his hand. We all whoop our support and encouragement, and Ryker in his excitement gives the staff a twirl. It makes half a revolution before smacking his forearm and slipping from his hand. Ryker tries to catch it before it falls too far away and disappears, but that only gets him hit in the face somehow, before the staff evaporates into nothing and his runes reabsorb the magic. A small laugh escapes me before I slam my palm over my mouth. Maybe I was lucky there wasn’t anyone around to see me try and figure these runes out.
“You are not allowed to laugh,” Ryker scolds me, as he rubs at the red spot in his cheek where the staff just bitch-slapped him.
Of course, that only makes me laugh even harder. He steps toward me, and his gaze is playful and filled with naughty promises. A flash of the same look on Ryker’s face as he slid deep inside of me makes me wet, but another flash of his pain-filled features and clenched muscles as he laid on the shower floor, punches my lust in the face and replaces it with panic. I call on my staff as Ryker stalks forward and twirl it in the same way that Ryker just attempted.
“Show off,” he lobs at me, coming to a stop when I point the end of the staff at his throat.
I bite down on the smile teasing my lips.
“Whatever you have in mind for punishment, table it. We have to train. That means no distractions. You guys have to know how to use your new magic. You’re Sentinels now, which means you’re targets. If you can’t defend yourself when the time comes, we’re all screwed. The day you can get this staff out of my hands is the day we can relax a little, but until then, we’re going to go hard every day.”
Knox snickers, but it stops when I give him a stern look.
“And there will be nogoing hard with meuntil you two can do everything that I can...as well as I can,” I tell him.
That should buy me some time to sort through whatever sex-related PTSD I seem to be suffering from after watching Ryker and Knox get their runes. Sabin already wants to take it slow, and I’ll just figure out something out for Bastien and Valen. My eyes land on the twins of their own accord and they’re both watching me in a way that makes me think they can read my thoughts like they’re written in the air around my head. I look away before I get too sucked into their over-observant hazel orbs.
Knox’s cheeky smile drops. “Whoa, that’s not cool, Killer. I’ve been working at this all day. Who knows how long it could take to get to the level you’re at; like you said, you’ve got six years on us.”
“Then work harder, or come at me bro, maybe you’re like me, and you perform better under pressure?”
“I’m not going to fight you. You’d kick my ass, and even if I could do everything that you can, I would always pull my hits. And you can just forget about me coming at you with weapons, that’s never going to happen,” Knox announces.
