I laid my hands on the counter and stood. “And this is where I bid you good night.”
“You’re not coming to dinner with us?” Sara asked me.
I caught Nikolas’s eye and saw the subtle shake of his head.
“As much as I enjoy your company, Cousin, I think I’ll see if Raoul wants to go for a steak. Then I’ll probably head over to Buckhead.”
She hugged Nikolas’s arms. “I guess we’ll see you later.”
I smiled as I turned away. “Don’t wait up.”
Beth
I zipped up my weapons bag and set it on the floor next to my duffle. Straightening, I scanned the room I’d slept in since I was five. The pale-blue walls were covered in framed photos of my life here, and the shelves overflowed with books and treasures I’d collected over the years. A wave of nostalgia rushed over me. I’d had a good life here, and I was going to miss this place.
“Knock, knock.”
I turned to smile at Mason as his muscled form filled my bedroom doorway. His black hair was artfully mussed, and his blue eyes gleamed with excitement.
“I didn’t expect you until dinner. You packed already?”
He grinned and entered the room to throw his six-foot-one frame down on my pristine white bedspread. At a scowl from me, he kicked off his Chucks before he put his feet up.
“Unlike you, I don’t have a hundred pairs of shoes to pack. I figured you’d need help lugging all your bags.”
I let out a very unladylike snort. “For your information, I’m all packed, too.”
It was true I liked shoes, but I’d probably have little need for most of them on this assignment. A thrill went through me. My first assignment away from home.
He glanced at the duffle bag, and his brows rose. “One bag?”
I shrugged. “Warriors travel light. And you’d be amazed how much I fit in that thing.”
“Good, because we have a lot of traveling to do.”
Our eyes met and grins split our faces. Before I knew what he was up to, he grabbed my hand and pulled me down on the bed. We lay side by side, hands clasped and faces turned toward each other.
“This is it,” I said softly.
“This is it.”
He exhaled loudly and stared up at the ceiling. “Did you ever think this day would come?”
“Yes.” I studied his handsome face, which was as familiar to me as my own. “I always knew we’d get here, even if I had to drag your ass along with me.”
“Yeah, right.” He laughed and reached over with his free hand to tickle my ribs. “I seem to recall me kicking your little butt many times in training.”
“With a sword, maybe. But you still can’t best me in hand-to-hand.”
“In your dreams.”
I felt the slight tightening of his fingers on mine a second before he lunged. Bringing my legs and hands up against him, I twisted to the side, sending him flying over me. He hit the rug facedown, and I was on top of him before he could recover. My legs wound around his, and my hands twisted his arms to pin his larger body to the floor.
I leaned down to his ear. “Say ‘Beth is the best warrior ever.’”
“Beth is the second-best warrior ever,” said a muffled voice.
“Mason, Mason, when will you ever learn?” I let out a dramatic sigh.
“Beth, did you ask…? Oh, hello, Mason.”
Mason squirmed, and I dug an elbow into his back, smirking at Rachel, who stood in the doorway.
“I assume Mason is staying for dinner.” Her eyes sparkled, and her long red curls bobbed as she shook her head at us.
“Yes,” he said in a sulky voice that made me grin harder.
“Okay then. Dinner is in an hour.”
As soon as she left, I released Mason and rolled away from him, coming to my feet in a single motion. As expected, he grabbed for me, but I was already at a safe distance. I knew my best friend too well.
He sat up, glaring at me. I smiled back, and his lips twitched in response. He could never stay vexed with me for long.
I sank down on the edge of the bed and fingered the bedspread Rachel had given me years ago. Everything here was so familiar, and it felt strange to think that tomorrow night I’d be sleeping in a new room in a different state.
“It’s not forever. You’ll be back for a visit before you know it,” said Mason, who knew me as well as I knew him.
“I know. It’s just I’ve never lived anywhere else. Not since he…they found me. And I can’t imagine going months without seeing Rachel.”
I wasn’t related to Rachel by blood, but she was a mother to me in every way that mattered. She’d taken me in when I was a frightened six-year-old orphan, loving me and helping me through my grief for my human grandmother. It was Rachel who had explained the voice in my head and taught me to control my demon. She had also given me my first knife and shown me how to use it.
Mason pulled his phone from his back pocket and waved it at me. “They have this amazing device now called a phone, and you can even do video calls.”
I rolled my eyes at him.
“Besides, you’ll have me watching your back. What more could you want?”
“Absolutely nothing.” I chewed my lower lip. “You know, you can still go to Westhorne.”
He drew his knees up and rested his arms on them. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“No. But I know how much you wanted to go there after training. You’d be there now if it wasn’t for me.”
“Every new warrior in the country wants to go to Westhorne. Well, except for you. By the way, have I told you lately how weird you are?” He gave me a lopsided smile. “There’ll be plenty of opportunities to go to Westhorne, but we only get one first assignment, and we’re doing it together like we always said we would.”
“But –”
“But nothing. I want to do this, and the way I see it, you owe me.”
My eyebrows shot up. “I owe you? For what?”
“For ruining me for other women.”
I burst out laughing. I’d known Mason most of my life, but we hadn’t become friends until we started training together at fourteen. He’d been a cocky thing and already a huge flirt, but back then, I’d had no interest in the boys at the stronghold. It wasn’t until I was seventeen and I’d finally tossed away all my silly girlish dreams of him, that I’d agreed to date Mason.
By then, we were sparring partners and he was my best friend, and the romance was doomed before it had started. He’d been my first kiss, and though he was skilled in that area, I couldn’t see past the friendship. He liked to joke that I’d broken his heart, even though he’d gone on a date with someone else two days later.
“I’ve lost count of the girls you’ve been with. If you’re ruined, I wouldn’t want to see you whole.”
A self-satisfied smile curved his lips.
“And if anything, you’ve ruined me for other men. I can’t talk to anyone like I do with you. So, the way I see it, you actually owe me.”
“I knew it. You secretly want me.”
I threw up my arms. “You’re hopeless. You know that?”
His stomach growled in response. “And hungry. When are you going to feed me?”