Mathias growled but I smirked, “Lámh fhèin.”
Everyone’s gaze snapped to mine. I held Nils’ gaze until he looked down at his plate, then turned my gaze to Mathias. He raised an eyebrow and I nodded, “Two this afternoon,” he turned to Nils, “When you lose, and you will, you are no longer allowed to call it. Especially against our allies.”
“When’s your training session, Uncle?” I asked Riku.
“In about twenty minutes. You want to join in? Teach this old man a thing or two?”
I smiled, “Yeah, and I’d also like to show Prince Dumbass what a mistake he made.” Fox, Jace, Daniel, and Riku chuckled, but Nils found it less than amusing, growling at me; Mathias smacked him on the back of the head. “Come on babe, you’re training too,” I said to Fox, getting up from the table and dragging him toward our room. “Thank you for breakfast. It was delicious.”
“Yes, it was. Thank you,” Fox said before following me.
We both changed and made our way down to the training field where Riku was already addressing his clanmates. “Today we have a visitor,” he glanced over and saw Fox and I walked up, “Ah, here she is. Amaya Wardwell and her mate Nicholas Grey.” Murmurs went through the crowd, whether it was because of me or because Fox smelled like a human still, before I could say anything about it, Riku continued. “She’s here not just to train but also to give helpful tips and tricks. Listen and implement. So do you want us to just get started?”
“Yeah, let’s do that, and I can assess as they train.”
As training got started I walked around watching everyone spar, correcting a few people. Riku gestured for me to come back to the front of the field, “Let’s show them some new drills.”
We ran through a few drills together and I helped him with correcting stances and movements. Fox and I started moving through the last drill I taught him before we left. We worked until Jace, Nils, and Sutton came down to the field. “She doesn’t look that tough to beat,” Nils said once they were in ear shot.
Jace and Sutton laughed, “She took down eight guys in one go when she saved my squad.”
“Oh yeah I remember that. She’s always in such a rush to get that shit done she hardly ever leaves anyone for the rest of us,” Jace said with a smile in his voice.
“Eavesdropping is rude,” Fox said, low enough only I could hear him.
“Then they should speak low enough that no one can hear them,” I responded, pinning him before getting up and pulling him up with me.
We walked over to the boys, “I’m not worried,” Nils said as soon as we walked up to them.
I gave him a sly smile before looking over at Jace, “You want to spar?”
“Oh come on. This dumbass challenges you, and you think you have to take it out on me. Really?” Jace blew out an exaggerated sigh, “Yeah, fine.”
I gave Fox a kiss and pulled off my tank top so I was sparring in my sports bra and work out pants. Whispers erupted again, “Just block them out, babe,” Fox linked me.
“Yeah, yeah. I just forgot,” I linked back. “Just to submission Jace.”
“Got it sis,” we went round and round, but he was never able to get the upper hand on me. “Stop holding back Amaya. You’re just playing with your food, and frankly it’s insulting.”
I laughed, “Is it insulting? Huh, I wouldn’t know,” I did as he asked though and quickly dropped him so that he had to tap out in submission. “There is that better?”
“Much. Thanks sis,” he said with a grunt as I pulled him to his feet.
He ruffled my hair once he was up, “Stop doing that you ass.” I said shoving him hard, causing him to laugh.
“I would say make me, but you would and then Fin would be very upset we couldn’t have kids.”
I laughed a loud belly laugh, “I would never do that to Fin. You, yes. Fin, no.”
“Traitor,” he grumbled. As we walked back to the others, the wind shifted, just barely and I caught a whiff of death. I tried to breathe in more of it, but just as quickly as it came, it left.
I shook off the feeling I had and let Fox kiss me hard, “Great fight, babe,” he said once we broke apart.
“Ugh. Are they always like this?” Sutton asked Jace.
“Worse, honestly. Just be glad you don’t have a super nose. You could smell it every time they did it, which is all the time,” Sutton made fake dry heaving noises. “Tell me about it. If Fox does have a dragon, they’ll go through a second mating frenzy, and goddess help us all that we will have to go through another one of those.”
“Assuming she wins,” Nils chimed in, causing Niamh to growl at the thought of losing her mate.
“Oh she’ll win,” the guys said in unison.
“What’s a mating frenzy and why is it that they’ll have to go through a second one?”
“It’s what happens when two dragons bite each other, to mate, and then they fuck for like a week straight. It’s the worst, unless you’re the dragon experiencing it. Sometimes though the bites aren’t done at the same time so the cycles are split up rather than at the same time. Goddess, I don’t think I can go through another week of that,” Jace said in an exaggerated sullen tone.
I slipped my shirt back on, and glanced at Nils who looked like he was mind linking with someone. He came to, “Dad wants us back at the house. Says it’s time to discuss why you guys are here.”
We got back inside and Nils led us to the large living room. He tried to beat Jace to the seat to my right but just missed and had to sit next to his parents instead. “Audrina has told us her story. Knowing you’re typically in charge of prisoners Amaya, we respectfully request Niklas’s killer be transferred to our custody one week from today.” My brow furrowed a bit in shock because I thought we would have less time with him, “I understand he’s a high value target in intelligence gathering, so I’m happy to give you the time you need to further your cause in shutting them down. I’ve waited this long for my revenge, a week or two won’t add to my grief.”
“A week is more than generous, Mathias, thank you. I will let you know if we need more time, but I’m hoping he will be cracked today and you can have him sooner rather than later.” I settled my hand on Fox’s leg, “As to finding out about Viola and Fox.”
“Yes. We have quite a few warriors that would benefit from learning from you guys down in Virginia. We can go over them and you can have your pick of which ones you would like to take with you. I would also like to request my son be part of the group that goes.” Nils started to object but Mathias quieted him with one look, “He has a lot to learn and spending time down there would hopefully help him grow into the Prince he should be.”
“I’ll follow your lead. Whatever you want to do, I’ll back you,” Daniel mind linked me.
“I’ll be happy to look over the warriors, but if Nils is going to come down he will have to understand the hierarchy and respect it. Disrespect it and there will be consequences. If you send him, you cannot call him home for anything but an emergency.”
Mathias nodded his understanding, “Sounds fair enough.”
“Why are you guys haggling over this?” Viola asked.
“To expose your dragon you need to be around your own kind. It wouldn’t work to have you just around storm dragons, you have to be around water dragons. So you and Nicholas will be sleeping in the same barracks as the water dragons while they’re in our territory at Storm Industries.”
Fox squeezed my hand, “What about you?”
“I’ll still sleep with you. Couldn’t or wouldn’t have it any other way,” I said, squeezing his hand back.
“I can’t just stay away from home for however long this takes,” Viola said.
“Vi, you aren’t that far from home, and you will have everything you need at the complex. Not to mention I’m sure Amaya would be happy to train you. Jack can stay with mom and dad while this is going on or he can stay at the complex. It’s not that big of a deal,” Fox said.
“That’s easy for you to say. You’ve known about this for how long? I just found out about it and it’s turned my life upside down.”
“It wasn’t easy to deal with at first. Especially when I saw first hand what hunters had done to Amaya and her clan, but I got past it. The biggest regret I’ll ever have in my life is not going to Amaya the night Jax and Daniel called asking me to come and be with her when they found her after she was abducted by hunters. I intended to stay away from her and everything in this life, but fate brought us back together. Just open up to the idea, this could be really great for you and Jack.”
“I’ll think about it, but that doesn’t mean I’ll do it,” she relented.
“Thinking about it is all we ask,” I said.
Mathias zoned out for a second, getting a mind link. His eyes snapped to me, “Hunters have entered the territory. They would like a word with The Ghost.”
Author: Kailan Counahan 