She’s breathing slow and steady, even though I know my touch is distracting her.
“Focus on me,” I murmur. The fighting is intense today. I can sense the emotions myself, the anger from several fighters out there.
Her control falters, but she breathes steadily and holds.
“You’re doing great,” I murmur.
She takes another deep breath. “I’ll be okay. You go train. I need to learn to do this on my own, and I want to see if I can last the entire lesson on my own.”
“Nice, you sure?” I ask, tucking a curl behind her ear.
She’s fucking beautiful.
She nods. “I am.”
That isn’t a lie.
“I’m proud of you,” I murmur, taking her chin and tilting her head up to meet mine as I kiss her softly.
She lasted almost a full lesson yesterday, but that was with me beside her. Something tells me that today she’ll get it.
I walk out from behind the screen just as a dagger shoots towards me. My eyes flash as I catch it between two fingers, my eyes snapping to Ian’s, who is grinning in my direction.
“Almost got you there!”
“Far from it. Let’s spar.” His face drops as he stares at me. I’m really going to enjoy this. I crack my knuckles, and he swallows hard.
“Shit, no, that’s not what I-”
“You almost got me, right?” I smirk, and he steps forward as the others laugh. I spot Tatum watching me, an unimpressed expression in his eyes. He hasn’t really liked the fact that Sienna and I are a couple, same with Ahren, but they took it better than I was expecting. Tatum will come around, too.
I now step onto one of the sparring mats and look at Ian. “Lucky for you, I’m in a good mood.”
“Thanks, Sienna!” Ian shouts before I motion for him to come at me.
“So what’s thisabout?” Theo asks as he pulls up a chair in the conference room we’re in. It’s dimly lit, the blinds drawn on the windows, and a long table that can seat 12 covers most of the room. A large screen is on one wall, and the floor is carpeted.
It’s late in the evening, but we’ve been called for a meeting with Leo. Ares, Carter, and Renji are here as well, and so are Artemis, Brock, and Sienna.
“Egypt,” I say the moment the door shuts behind Renji.
“No shit, really?” Theo looks surprised.
I glance at Ares. Things have been tense between us, but I’ve not managed to get him alone to talk to him. Tonight I need to at all costs. If Leo wants him on this mission, then I need to have a word with him prior.
We’re silent as we all sit down, waiting. Soon, Leo, Ahren, Dante, and Dad appear in four boxes on the large screen. Fuck.
Sienna is sitting next to me, but I hope he doesn’t question that. She stiffens at the sight of Dad, and she’s doing her best not to look at me.
“Alright, there are two more on the team, but they won’t be joining, so we’re good to go,” Leo says, running his hands through his hair. He looks tired. He’s in his man cave from what I can tell, his legs up on the table, smoking a cigarette.
“Dante, my man, sorry - I mean Goliath. How you doing? It’s been a while,” Theo says.
Dante smirks. “It sure has. You still rocking the blue hair?”
“Obviously, it brings out my eyes,” Theo says cockily, making Ahren smirk.
“It’s late, Theo. Shall we get to this?” Dad asks. He also looks tired. His hair is wet, he’s clearly fresh out of the shower, but Ican tell he’s exhausted, too.
