10
“So, how long does it take usually?” Sabin asks as he pulls up his pants.
“Anywhere between twenty to forty minutes. Knox and Ryker seemed to have the biggest gap betweensealing our bond,” I tell him, using air quotes, “and getting their runes. Bastien’s runes showed up around the twenty-minute mark, and so did Valen’s. It’s kind of a crap shoot,” I offer with a shrug.
I pull my sports bra back on and watch the leaves still swirling around us as we both get dressed.
“I wonder why it’s different?” Sabin muses to himself, but I don’t say anything. Primarily because I have zero answers, but also because, in the grand list of questions I want answers to, this one just doesn’t rank very high. I straighten my shirt on my body and lie back down on the soft blanket that barely pads the hard earth underneath us. I know we need to get back to the others and continue to work our asses off, but I just don’t want to yet.
“What’s the sigh for?” Sabin asks me, caressing my cheek with the back of his fingers.
“I’m not looking forward to going back to the cluster fuck that is our training sessions,” I tell him as I trace the shadowed trees that make up the tattoo on his arm with my fingers. “We take five steps forward and twenty back practically every day, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
“They’re big boys, Vinna, they’ll figure it out.”
I snort humorlessly. “If by figure it out, you meantakeeach other out of the equation, then yes, I believe that’s accurate.”
Sabin chuckles and shakes his head. He watches the leaves that are still swirling all around us for a minute. “Enoch’s coven is just a sore spot for all of us for one reason or another. We’re a coven, and if you fuck with one of us, you fuck with all of us. For the twins, it started when the council made it very difficult for Lachlan or anyone else to go looking for the missing paladin. We know now that Elder Albrecht was working with Adriel all along, but we didn’t know that then. The council dragging their feet and not sanctioning searches created a lot of issues between Lachlan’s coven of paladin and the council.”
Sabin’s eyes fix on mine, and I nod with understanding.
“The twins carried the issues and frustrations that Silva and the others were experiencing and set them right at Enoch and his coven’s feet. It wasn’t fair, but the twins directed their frustrations at Enoch and Becket because of their fathers. Then there was the whole thing that went down with Ryker and his needing to be taken away from his dad. We’re two of the most powerful covens our age, which has always put us head-to-head against each other for things like mates and our place as Paladin Conscripts.
“I’m not saying Enoch and his coven mates aren’t responsible for this feud we have going on too. They’ve perpetuated this bullshit just as much as we have, but now to haveyouin the middle of it all and…well, cluster fuck. The covens have never trusted each other. Never had to work together, and the circumstances around Enoch, Nash, Kallan, and Becket being marked are suspicious as fuck.”
“I know that, and I get it, but we don’t have time for this petty shit. We could face off with Adriel any day now, and I’m worried if we do that, they’ll be looking for opportunities to eliminate each other instead of the enemy. It’s stressing me the fuck out.”
Sabin sits up and pulls me into his lap, and I soak up the comfort. “Vinna, we know what’s at stake here, but we all need time to adjust. Not only to each other, but to our bond with you and our new abilities. It’s a lot.”
“I get that, Sabin. Ireallyfucking get that, but time is the one thing we just don’t have.”
He nods and then shakes his head. “Fuck, maybe we should do some trust exercises or something. I mean, shit, it couldn’t hurt at this point,” he mumbles.
I picture the guys all trust-falling backwards into each other’s arms, and I crack up. “We’ll throw yoga and group meditation into the mix too. I mean, worst case scenario, if they all kill each other off, I can at least start a pretty sweet resort here.”
Sabin pulls me in for a laugh-filled kiss. He hisses when I pull away and nip at his bottom lip, but it’s not the sexy kind of hiss a girl wants to hear when she’s doing that. I climb out of his lap, and Sabin leans all the way forward like he’s trying to crumble in on himself. I guide him onto his side and notice in my periphery that the leaves are no longer swirling around us but floating slowly down to the ground.
Movement to my right sends my heart racing, and alarms blare through my brain.Fuck, not again, not when he’s hurting, I plea with the universe. In a blink, I have short swords gripped in each hand and am on my feet standing protectively over Sabin. He’s rocking and groaning in pain on the ground, and I let anger fuel the rising fight in me. I’m fucking pissed that I’m dealing with some other shit instead of being there for Sabin when he’s hurting.
I tap into the runes on my ring finger and signal to the guys that I need them. A naked man with long curly ash-brown hair seems as surprised to see me as I am to see him. He doesn’t try to cover himself up; he simply tilts his head to the side and inhales deeply.
Shifter.
My mind identifies that much, but I have no idea what kind. He says something to me in a language that could be Russian, Belarusian, or fucking Swedish for all I know. I watch him and call on the runes to increase my hearing. The naked shifter repeats whatever he just said to me, but I focus on the sounds around me instead of his voice. I don’t want to take my eyes off of him, but I need to make sure no one is sneaking up on Sabin and me from behind. The stranger takes a step forward, and I crouch automatically.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I warn him, and he stops.
Sabin cries out through clenched teeth, and the shifter’s eyes drop to him, confused. I want to comfort Sabin like I’ve done with all the others, but locked in this weird standoff with this guy, all I can do is lamely tell Sabin, it’s okay. I hear something moving fast toward me, and I flash a barrier over Sabin and me and prepare to have something slam up against it. Torrez’s massive charcoal-gray wolf leaps out of the trees and lands in front of me.
The second the naked shifter sees him, he also shifts into a wolf. This guy’s wolf is smaller, and his coat is primarily white and gray with touches of gold on his chest and his muzzle. They both flatten their ears, pull their lips back off their teeth, and release menacing growls at one another. They do this for what feels like a lifetime—but in reality is probably only twenty seconds—before they both stop and just stare unblinking at each other.
The tricolored shifter’s eyes move to mine for a fraction of a heartbeat, and another growl vibrates out of Torrez. The shifter’s yellow gaze snaps back to Torrez, and he lowers his head slightly like he’s apologizing. They face off like statues for another beat before the shifter turns around and trots away.
I drop my barrier, and Torrez moves in a circle around me, sniffing at the air and the ground before he comes back to me and rubs up against my side. My short swords disappear, and I shove my hands into his thick dark fur. Adrenaline pumps through me, and I try to calm myself down now that the immediate threat seems to have passed. Or at least I think it has, judging by Torrez’s sudden affectionate behavior. Bastien, Valen, Ryker, and Knox come running through the trees into the small little clearing, and Enoch, Kallan and Nash are right on their tail.
“What the fuck happened?”
“Are you okay?”
