I hoisted my duffle bag onto my shoulder. “I’m sure you two have a lot to talk about. If you don’t mind, I’m going to head up to my room. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a long day.”
Tristan nodded. “I’ll have some food sent up to you shortly, and we’ll talk more tomorrow.”
Wishing them both a good night, I jogged up the stairs, eager to put as much distance between Hamid and me as I could. I was immensely grateful to Tristan for putting us in separate wings, but it wasn’t like I could have said that without being rude.
Sometime in the last few days, I’d stopped trying to make Hamid the bad guy in all of this, and I’d come to accept that he was as much a prisoner in our situation as I was. But that didn’t change the fact that we were bonded, and the last thing we needed was to spend more time together than necessary.
My room was on the third floor, and I let out a relieved sigh when I opened the door and saw everything just as I’d left it. Leaving my bag on the floor, I flopped down on my stomach on my bed and buried my face in the pillow. I stayed there until a knock came at the door, and one of the kitchen staff entered carrying a covered tray that smelled heavenly of grilled steak and baked potato.
After I’d devoured every morsel of food on my plate, I took a long, hot shower and climbed back into bed to answer the half dozen texts I’d gotten from Sara and Beth since I arrived. I assured them I was fine and that I’d let them know how it went tomorrow, and then I turned off the light and tried to sleep.
Sleep, however, did not want to come to me. I’d grown used to the sounds of the city, and I’d forgotten how quiet it was here at night. Rooting through my bag, I found my earbuds and started listening to the playlist that always helped me relax.
An hour later, I threw the earbuds across the room in frustration. I glanced at my phone and groaned when I saw it was barely midnight. If I didn’t find some way to relax my mind and body, it was going to be a long, sleepless night.
I rolled out of bed and dressed in some of the old training clothes I’d left in my closet. Pulling on a pair of running shoes, I left my room and quietly made my way downstairs. I didn’t expect to run into anyone, but I also didn’t want to take the chance of alerting my self-appointed protector that I wasn’t tucked snugly in my bed.
The first floor of the north wing was the training area, and I moved through the darkened hallways with practiced ease until I came to the door that opened to a small courtyard. I slipped outside and eased the door shut behind me. The cold night air felt good as I set off across the lawn at a light run and followed a narrow gravel road into the trees.
The woods were quiet except for the light scuffs of my feet hitting the road and the occasional rustle of a small animal in the brush. My breath steamed the air, and it was so dark I had to enhance my sight to see the pale outline of the road as it curved through the trees.
Once my eyes became accustomed to the dark, I increased my speed. In lieu of a heavy sparring session, a brisk run should help burn off my excess energy. Tomorrow, I’d find someone to train with so I wouldn’t have to do this in order to sleep.
Five minutes later, I saw the faint glimmer of the lake up ahead that signaled the end of the road. When Nikolas had built their gorgeous log home out here last year, he’d had the road put in to make it easier for Sara to travel between the lake and the stronghold. There was nothing that man wouldn’t do for his mate.
I was barely winded by the time I reached the clearing that was used for parking, and I knew it was going to take a few more roundtrips to get me tired enough to sleep. Resigned to that fact, I made a U-turn to retrace my steps.
I almost yelped when I saw the tall figure standing in the road. That was also when I realized my Mori was doing that strange fluttering thing, which should have alerted me to his presence. I was still getting used to the oddities of the bond, but this one I should know by now.
I stalked toward him. “Are you following me?”
“I saw you run into the woods, and I came to check on you,” he replied. “What are you doing out here at this hour?”
I waved a hand at my workout clothes. “What does it look like I’m doing? And since when do I have a curfew?”
Hamid shot me a disapproving look. “You don’t have a curfew, but you should not be out alone in the woods in the middle of the night.”
“I am not going to get into everything that is wrong with that sentence,” I said with more restraint than I’d thought I had. “I will remind you that we are on a road, not in the woods, and still on Westhorne grounds.”
“No place is impervious to attack.”
I let out a short laugh. “Are you serious right now? You know this place is under Fae protection, not to mention our own security and…”
I trailed off when I saw two pairs of glowing red eyes in the darkness a few yards behind him. Anywhere else, such a sight would have me reaching for a weapon, but here, I knew exactly what those eyes belonged to.
“And what?” Hamid took a step toward me.
Two menacing growls froze him in his tracks, and he turned slowly toward the sound, putting his big body between me and the creatures. I grudgingly admired how calmly he reacted in the face of an unknown threat. Well, unknown to him. Just imagining his expression as he got his first look at Sara’s little pets had me grinning like an idiot.
I peered around him to see the two massive hellhounds that took up the whole road when they stood side by side. “Hey, boys! How are my favorite hell beasts doing?”
The hounds stopped growling to pant happily at me. Everyone knew hellhounds were territorial of their home and the people who lived there. I’d been around these two enough times to feel safe with them. They wouldn’t harm Hamid either unless he tried to hurt me.
But he didn’t know that.
Hamid shifted his weight from one foot to the other, and the hellhounds growled again.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” I walked around him, fighting to keep my expression serious. “Hugo and Woolf are very protective of Sara and her friends.”
At the mention of Sara’s name, both tails began to wag. I walked over to the nearest hound and scratched his head, which came almost to my shoulder. “Such a good boy,” I crooned. “You’ll keep me safe from the big, mean warrior, won’t you?”
“Jordan,” Hamid said in a warning tone, and I had to keep my head down so he couldn’t see me trying not to laugh.
I gave the hound one last pat on the head. “Okay. Go patrol, and try not to eat anyone.”
The two of them barked and took off into the woods. They’d stay out here all night until Sahir came to feed them in the morning. I wasn’t sure how they stayed within the borders of our land, but they never strayed.
I smiled at Hamid, who looked like he wasn’t sure what to make of the last few minutes. “And that is why it’s safe for me to be out here at night. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to finish my run.”
He didn’t respond, and I didn’t wait for him to think of something to say. I spun on my heel and started running back toward the stronghold, feeling lighter than I had in days.
Back on the grounds, I decided I didn’t need another lap after all. I headed up to my room where I took my second shower of the night and lay on the bed, replaying the scene with Hamid and the hellhounds. I think I was still chuckling when I fell asleep.
* * *
“I always knew you’d come back to us,” said a familiar voice the next morning as I was filling a plate in the dining hall.
I looked up from the buffet to see a grinning black warrior with short black hair and hazel eyes. “Someone had to make sure you weren’t going soft here,” I retorted lightly.
Terrence laughed and tossed a grape, catching it in his mouth. “Come sit with us, and tell us about all the excitement in L.A.”
“You heard about that?”
He snorted. “Who hasn’t? And I don’t think a single person here was surprised to hear you were smack dab in the middle of it all.”
I walked with him to his table, where a smiling blond warrior greeted me. I should have known Josh would be here. He and Terrance had been as thick as thieves since our first year of training, and one would never leave without the other. They’d been stationed at Westhorne since they completed their training six months after I did.
“Is the old gang getting back together?” Josh joked when I sat next to him.
Silence fell over the table, and I didn’t need to look at their faces to know we were all thinking about the same thing. There had been six of us in training, not counting Sara, and only three of us remained. Olivia and Mark were dead, and Michael, the traitor who had betrayed us to vampires and caused our friends’ deaths, was locked in some facility for mentally unstable kids in India.
Sara said Michael was sick and shouldn’t be held responsible for what he’d done. She was a bigger person than I was because I could find no forgiveness in my heart for him.
Josh coughed uncomfortably. “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I told him. I’d left here after Olivia and Mark died. and I’d only come back for visits. I didn’t know how Terrence or Josh had been able to stay here, surrounded by so many memories of our fallen friends. I couldn’t have done it.
“Tell us about what’s going on in L.A.,” Terrance said. “It’s all anyone can talk about here.”
“I’m not surprised.” I told them what I could, and they bombarded me with questions.
“Man, that must have been something,” Josh said when I’d finished telling my story.
Terrence nodded. “Did you really bag a Hurra demon by yourself?”
I laughed. “Have you ever seen a Hurra demon? It’s a little blob with tentacles and nothing to write home about. If it weren’t for the fact that it was supposed to be extinct, no one would be making a big deal of it. You should have seen the Kraas demon Hamid killed. That was a lot more impressive.”
Speak of the devil. My Mori began to flutter, and a few seconds later, Hamid entered the dining hall with a warrior I didn’t know. The two of them looked deep in conversation until Hamid’s gaze landed on me. I felt the intensity of his stare from across the room, and I wondered if he was still annoyed about last night.
Josh leaned over until our shoulders were touching. “Damn. Who’s the goliath?”
“That would be Hamid,” I said, my eyes still on the big warrior.
Hamid’s eyes narrowed as they shifted to Josh. It took me a moment to clue in to the fact he wasn’t happy about the other male being so close to me. I’d known this could happen, but I’d hoped we could get out of the bond before it got to this point.
I shifted in my seat to gain his attention again, and when I had it, I sent him a pointed look that said to knock it off. For a moment, his expression didn’t change and I thought he was going to come over and cause a scene. But then he looked away, and my body relaxed.