After somewhat calming one male, my favorite one, who was utterly torn in two between wanting to kill Leric just for being what he was to me and, I was pretty sure, half thankful I still had a choice—as I was, I had to go and deal with another male, the one I was bonded to…my One. A few things were learned in that discussion. Being the Chosen was just the feminine form of the One. And, also, the staid, and lazy demeanor Leric normally exuded…was a complete façade which disappeared when upset. The man had a pair of lungs on him that literally shook the whole damn manor, all of the Elders and Rulers running into the spelled privacy room we were in, holding on to walls or furniture to stay upright. His crown had been showing at that particular moment in time, those who hadn’t seen it before stared avidly, but after damn near pushing them back out of the room, explaining to them we were having a discussion about “boundaries”, they had eventually left us to shout and holler at one another, my own calm façade diminishing when he demanded I—at least—start sleeping in a room of my own, instead of sleeping with Sin every night…so then, the room and surrounding areas of the manor started shaking even more with my heated argument, the Rulers and Elders, all rushing back inside the room—Elder Farrar had appeared particularly amused from the back of the group—and glowing and pissed as hell, I had turned on my heel, pushing through the half hostile/half worried Royals, shouting to Leric, “You can suck my fucking cock, my One.”
“Real fucking mature, my Chosen,” he yelled, the room continuing to shake, then there was a lengthy pause as I shoved through King Zeller and Elder Jacobs. “And if you suck anyone’s fucking cock but my own, I will fucking annihilate him in a damn heartbeat.”
“I’m bi, if you’ve already forgotten. I suck clits, not just cocks.”
Elder Fergus choked in front of me, putting a fist in front of his mouth, and quickly made room for me when I glowered.
“Goddammit, Caro!” Leric shouted, the chandelier of the room rattling with the shaking. “I’m about to lose my fucking patience with you.”
“Already there, buddy,” Elder Kincaid muttered under his breath, also quickly moving out of my way, his gaze apt over my head, probably staring at Leric’s damn crown.
Leric bellowed, “Separate bedrooms, Caro! Make. It. Happen.” A pause. “Or I swear I will bring fucking Lissa here to stay in my room with me.”
I stopped abruptly in my tracks, my glowing gaze stuck on Elder Farrar’s face, and a fury boiled inside me, hotter and faster than I could imagine, and Elder Farrar, still grinning slightly, muttered, “Tick, tick…boom.”
I whirled on my heel, fury fueling my veins unlike any I had ever known before as potent jealousy erupted like a scalding geyser…and my feet were moving at a sprint straight at him before I even realized what I was doing. My fist slammed into his jaw in a beautiful upper cut, and I watched his head fly back for only a moment before I twirled, kicking out my leg, smashing it into the back of his knees, a diamond blade already materializing in my hand before I pounced, flying on top of his chest as he fell predictably backward. Hitting the ground, it seemed like the whole earth shook from our combined fury, my teeth and bones jarring with the motion, but I held the now glowing knife to his throat, the tiger inside me growling furiously, and I hissed down into silver eyes, “You bring her here and I will gut her, and you, so fucking fast you won’t even see it before your entrails are hanging from your bodies, then I will slice off your fucking heads and mount them on my goddamn postered bed, so I can sleep soundly every night knowing you’re both dead.” I growled again. “Got me?”
Then, I inhaled, reality returning for a heartbeat.
My eyes widened enormously.
And…his lips actually lifted, and with my blade still to his throat, he stated calmly, “Understand now?”
“Fuck,” I muttered breathlessly, quickly stashing my knife back in my treasure trove as I sat up on him, my eyes just as huge on my face as I was freaked the fuck out. My voice was shrill as I started beating on his chest. “You said I had a damn choice!” More pounding, the room shaking with each furious blow. “This doesn’t feel like a goddamn choice, Leric!”
“Caro…” He tried grabbing at my hands. “Kitten, calm down.” More attempted grabbing, and hurried words, “It is a choice. It is. Just with slight ramifications, and adjustments, if we choose not to be together.”
I slammed my fist on his chest forcefully with each word. “I. Want. A. Choice!” I shook my head. “Shit!” I rolled off him, running a hand through my hair before jumping to my feet, pointing an accusing finger down to him where he didn’t bother to rise from. “Choice, my ass, Leric. I would kill anyone you’re with just as I’m sure you’d do the same.” I slashed a hand through the air. “That is not a choice.”
He placed his glowing hands behind his head, once again appearing lazy as hell in front of everyone. “It can happen since I’ve managed not to kill the other individual you’re attracted to…so far.” His brows lifted as I froze, my mouth slamming shut. “I let my wall down for a little while.” One brow arched. “Without the wall up…”
I didn’t know what to say. I had thought he couldn’t feel or sense me with my wall up, but apparently, he had felt and heard my thoughts without me having to push them, probably because of that damn tether between us. In other words, he had spied in my damn head. And…being the caring individual I was…my boot swiftly connected with his thigh. “That was cheap.”
He didn’t have the grace to wince. “I never said I play fair,” he drawled, but his gaze narrowed. “Stay out of that individual’s bed, too, please.” Nicely put, if he didn’t have a merciless gleam in his gaze.
Lord. Elder Merrick had two threats on him. Sin and Leric. If I were him, I would be fucking running. Yanking on my hair, I only grunted, pivoting to move back through the Elders, staying far away from Elder Merrick on the right hand side. “No worries there.”
“Let’s hope not,” Leric purred.
“Whatever,” I muttered, rubbing my forehead.
“And, Caro, remember…separate bedrooms.”
Elder Farrar held his hands up in front of me, blocking the doorway, smile broad on his face. “Happy mating…or connecting…or whatever it is!” My teeth bared, but he only leaned down whispering merrily as I passed him, “And I’ll be happy to be your Lajak.”
Lord…help…me.
Separate bedrooms, my ass.
Inventive thinking, a must.
Especially when Leric came by my room that night, peeking his head inside with barely contained fury, nodded once, let me knock him back—I was sure he let me—outside the room where I firmly locked the door, went back into my bedroom, shut and locked that door from my guards, then opened a window, having Sin sneak inside like a damn teenager, which pissed both Sin and myself off, but neither of us were up for the fight against Leric that evening, so we crawled into bed next to each other, snuggled into our normal places against one another, and fell asleep.
Although, it didn’t help a damn lot when I had bad dreams that night…and woke up the next morning beside Leric…apparently, having called out to him in my dream state. Growling furiously, I had marched out of the bedroom, bared my teeth at King Zeller where he stood in the morning shadows when he had snickered in my ear, giving me a jaunty wave, then slipped back into bed with Sin before he even knew I had been gone. And the ironic part was I was betting my bad dreams were about my damn One in the first place, stressed as I was.
So…it was safe to assume I wasn’t in the best of moods when I had to get up not five minutes later for the pre-dawn-damn-training-bullshit…fuck.
And today, after the matches of yesterday to determine our strengths and weaknesses, we were put in groups to work on those. My jaw almost dropped when they said I needed to work on my hand-to-hand combat skills. “Are you joking?” I was damn deadly with my hands.
King Collins shrugged a shoulder. “Now that you and the One are connected, your power level shouldn’t be an issue. And since we’ve seen you use swords, we know you’re proficient. But every time we’ve seen you fight hand-to-hand,” blue eyebrows wiggled, “it could use some refining.”
My power level was still an issue, and I said as much. “My Core can only handle so much power, even if I can continue to draw from Leric. I knocked myself out yesterday using my own bit of power from inexperience. I need to work on that, not learning how to bash someone’s head in differently.”
Queen Cooper had stared pointedly. “There’s no one here to teach you that. We don’t know your skills. Your powers. So, we’ve set up a time slot after breakfast for you to work with Frost and Farley to hone those spirit powers in private.”
Ah. Dammit. “This sucks.” But they were right. I couldn’t tell them what I could do, so it meant even more time spent training. “Who am I being paired with?” Since all three of my counterparts didn’t have to do this bullshit, even London getting a passing grade on his hand-to-hand combat.
King Collin’s lips pinched. “Our best fighters.” His brows came together as he rubbed his forehead. “Elder Zeller and Elder Merrick.”
I blinked awfully slowly. “No.”
My King sighed heavily, hopefully rethinking the stupidity of this action.
“Yes.” King Zeller quickly placed a hand on my shoulder, shoving me in the direction where Elder Zeller and Elder Merrick stood in the corner speaking quietly. “Don’t worry, Bindi’s on her way.”
I glared over my shoulder. “Not funny.”
Black arched brows lifted. “Not a joke.”
“Christ,” I muttered under my breath and sighed heavily before lifting my hair up into a tiny ponytail when my King didn’t relent, trudging toward two individuals I sure as hell didn’t want to be near. Elder Zeller…was just scary. And Elder Merrick…I had managed to avoid yesterday. One frightened me; the other pissed me the hell off. Even if I wanted to kick Elder Merrick’s ass, I wasn’t quite ready for it yet mentally.
I stood in front of them while they ignored me, still speaking quietly to one another. I crossed my arms over the freaking black sports bra I was wearing, and waited. Waited longer. Then, waited even more as calculating dark orbs and frigid navy blue eyes turned toward me. Not to look me in the eyes, but both scanning my person slowly, professional assessments before they started circling me slowly. One went one way, the other in the opposite direction, making me feel even more self-conscious as they continued to peruse every inch of me with trained eyes.
Elder Zeller still studying me, poked, and then pinched my bicep. “She needs to be eating more.”
Elder Merrick grunted from behind me, and I barely kept from jumping when his hands landed on my flesh on my sides, slowly running his hands down the flare of my hips. “She’s got a good structure, though, for as small as she is.”
“Mothering hips, I believe is what they call that.” Elder Zeller cocked his head, staring at where Elder Merrick was gripping steadily, but firmly, and he nodded once. “Have you had children before, Ms. Jules?”
My face instantly flushed, staring down at my hips that were apparently so big, they were “motherly”. “No.”
Elder Zeller grunted also running his hands over my sides, down over my hips as Elder Merrick’s lowered to run down my left leg slowly, squatting behind me, each one’s fingers kneading into my flesh, probing, in my mind both looking for flaws, and staring at where he wiggled my hips a little, testing something-or-other, Elder Zeller murmured, “She could build on this. Build strength here.”
Goosebumps popped over my flesh as Elder Merrick shifted behind me, switching to run his hands down my right leg. “You can tell she’s right handed. It’s subtle, but we need to work on balancing out her muscular strength between her legs.”
Elder Zeller hummed quietly, grabbing my arms, holding them out straight, then he ran his hands up my sides gradually. If I wasn’t completely still before, I became damn near statue like when his hands grazed the sides of my breasts, my eyes flying wide, but he merely continued his progress, watching his hands as they skimmed along the underside of my arms. “Same problem up top. It’s subtle like you said, but you can tell she’s right handed.”
A tiny squeak escaped me on a puff of shocked air…when Elder Merrick’s hands slid up the back of my thighs, landing on my ass.
He squeezed gently from his crouched position, altering his fingers, spreading them to encompass the entirety of my derriere, voice cold and ruthless, emotionless. “Her ass is tone.”
“Well, that’s something, at least,” Elder Zeller remarked, shaking my hands, therefore my arms, watching them move. “Not only does she need to eat more, she needs two hours in the gym a day to bulk up.”
Elder Merrick’s hands—thank God—began to move over my curves to my lower back, his enormous, warm palms sliding up my back muscles as he began to slowly rise, both of them continuing their inspection of me, some good, some not so nice comments, so I opened my mouth wide, irked—and maybe a little hurt, and asked, “Would you like to inspect my teeth too?”
Elder Zeller waved an absent hand. “Not necessary.”
Both stepped away, talking quietly amongst themselves again as if I didn’t exist, Elder Merrick even pulling a thin computer pad from his bag, typing on it while they spoke. I instantly crossed my arms over my chest, peering across the room to where my King and Elder Farrar were speaking with Aria. I really wished I was over there. Considering I was apparently malnutrition, lopsided, and was tiny except for my fat hips, I really didn’t want to be standing in front of someone I hated, but was attracted to.
Really…could a woman feel any less beautiful after a cold examination like that?
Elder Zeller snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Ms. Jules?” One eyebrow quirked.
“What?” I waited, not caring if I hadn’t been listening once they deigned to speak to me. “Wait. Let me guess. My tits are so small they won’t be a hindrance during a battle, which is something you can both work with, but shit,” I held my leg out, pointing, “my feet are too narrow, and might create a balance issue during a fight, so we’ll have to work on foot work.”
Elder Zeller inched his nose, not glancing to the areas I had mentioned. “Ms. Jules, our assessment may seem callous, but we’re both very good at what we do. Once we’re done with you, you’ll be able to handle yourself much better than the,” his nose crinkled, “in-your-face approach you seem to favor.” A flicked finger to my chest, even as he held my gaze evenly. “Besides, you’re built more like a Com, so therefore, your chest is average, not small by those standards. And your feet are small, but not narrow, and we already know your balance is fine from previous encounters you’ve had. You’re very well proportioned for your smaller stature.”
I started to place my hands on my hips, sighing heavily at his patient answer to my churlish one, but I remembered their assessment of my “motherly” hips, so I quickly re-crossed my arms again, not wanting to draw attention to them. “Thanks. I guess.”
“Don’t thank us yet,” Elder Merrick murmured, tone gravelly, still staring down at the thin screen and typing. “We’ve got a lot of work to do before you do that.”
“Right,” I muttered, glaring. “I understand.” And I fucking hate you.