Braving the Elements (Darkness #2)(18)

Only young men could be this ridiculous. I grabbed a long sleeve tee to throw over my tank top. “But it worked out, I take it.”

“In the end, yeah. Multiple times. But there was a weird moment—“

Charles opened the door for me and waited until I walked through before continuing. “—when Jim sauntered on in. Seeing the action unfold, and the position we were in at the time, he thought he might just give me a little poke in the backside—kind of work me from both ends.”

Charles stumbled, his eyes raking around. I immediately put both hands up in a double-stop gesture as I shook my head. “I have no idea why a strange orgy suddenly turned me on, okay? I’m sexually frustrated. Leave it be.”

Charles grinned. “Mental note.”

“Shut up.”

We walked into Master Bert’s training room and found a bunch of gawking kids. Their mouths hung open as they stared at us with wide eyes.

Master Bert bustled up immediately. “Hello, hello! Maw, I had no idea I was working with so much power. I’ve been going about it all wrong. I’ve got someone coming in especially for you today, Sasha. If you’ll just walk out the back and wait by the nearest tree, he’ll be in shortly.”

“Special treatment, or fear that I am insane?” I muttered to Charles.

“Insanity, probably,” he replied as we found the tree. “No one has challenged the Boss like you did and lived to tell the tale.”

“What does he usually do?”

“Hurt them badly, or kill them, depending on the infraction.”

“Kill them?”

“We play for keeps. He hasn’t killed anyone since his first couple of years as leader, though. Everyone got the hint.”

We weren’t waiting two minutes before an attractive man about my age, relatively speaking, approached with a glide. His toned body was decked out in trendy clothes, his face making the spit dry up in my mouth. Attractive little bugger.

“Sasha?” His musical, midrange voice tickled my ears.

“Y-yes,” I answered, smoothing my shirt, despite the fact that it was cotton and didn’t need smoothing.

“I’m Jessiah.” His vibrant blue eyes shifted to Charles. “And your bodyguard?”

Charles went rigid. Apparently being called a bodyguard was a sore spot.

“She’s valuable. I’m doing my duty as Watch Commander and ensuring her survival.”

“Ah.” Jessiah smirked and lowered in front of me, matching my cross-legged style of sitting. His eyes attached to mine, an inherent sultry quality suggesting I remove my clothes for the occasion. “You are the Boss’ pet, did I hear that right?”

“Way wrong thing to say, bro,” Charles mumbled, shaking his head.

“Especially when she’s working with magic.”

“Hmm. Maybe I am mistaken.”

And maybe you’ll get punched right in the throat! Right after I cop a feel.

“Shall we begin?” I asked sweetly.

His smile was sardonic. “Of course.”



*****

Charles waited in relative boredom for Sasha to make her dagger turn a rainbow of colors. Unlike the others in the class, she didn’t even have to try anymore. The elements session with Mr. Smooth Talking Jackass had her able to pull the various elements, mixing and matching as she needed, and working with what she found. Whether unconsciously, or out of fear, she only pulled enough power to reach the orange level, and that was only once. Usually she stayed in her default red. He’d asked her about it, of course, and she’d replied that Mr. Women-Love-Me made her nervous.

Charles didn’t know why—that jerk wasn’t packing much and he didn’t know how to use it! When Charles tried to explain this, he got an eye roll, of all things.

Plus, the Boss would not take too favorably to his special interest taking up with Mr. I-Smooth-Out-My-Eyebrows. The guy was great at working with elements, sure, but could he do any practical magic with it? Nope. He’d tried to get into the Watch Command twice. The Boss turned him down flat both times.

Clap, clap, clap.

“Okay, let’s learn some practical knowledge. Pair off.” James glanced at Charles. Charles stared back. He wasn’t in the mood to play babysitter to a bunch of newbies.

James backed down immediately. Yet another guy with knowledge that didn’t go beyond the classroom.

Sasha’s constant partner, Gabe, stared at her with nervous eyes and a line for a mouth. This was when things could get hairy. Sasha actually had great sword work, strangely enough, but with so much power zinging around her body, half the time her sword exploded. The amazing thing was that they used practice swords with no real edge—certainly not sharp. But they were metal, and could conduct energy—that was all Sasha seemed to need.

Gabe came at her at a snail’s pace—the kid wouldn’t go into work as a fighter, that was for sure—and slashed at her chest. She stepped out of the way like someone born for the role, and swiped at his arm plate, connecting with a scrape.

“Nice work, human. You are coming along,” James said, his eyes sweeping the students.

Sasha glared at him, and then glanced beyond him to that smirking redhead she had a vendetta against. She rightly assumed she’d earned a name at this point. She was one of the best in the class with hands-on, only failing because of the flaming sword issue, which the Boss suspected had something to do with her kind of magic and not her learning ability. Half the students grudgingly accepted her, acknowledging her right to be there. The other half only smirked when she wasn’t looking.