Page 32 of The Marked and the Broken
“If I have to go commando, so do you,” I declare, and annoyingly, Torrez seems more amused by this than he is upset. He smiles at me the whole time we’re both getting dressed. I pick up my shredded under clothes and stuff them in Torrez’s pockets. He breathes me in deeply as I manhandle him and pulls me in for a soft kiss before I can step away. I almost give a contented sigh against his lips, and then I remember that I’m irritated that I have no comfy and supportive undergarments on. I narrow my eyes at Torrez, and he laughs. It’s clear he knows the effect he has on me, and he’s playing dirty.
“Careful, Wolf,” I warn, my tone seductive as I trail a finger down my chest. “Two can play that game.” He pulls me closer, and I lean in toward his mouth, loving the heat in his eyes. At the last minute, I veer to the side, denying him a kiss, and whisper in his ear, “Let’s be super quiet as we sneak out of here; maybe they won’t notice that we’ve left.” I don’t wait for him to answer before I’m reaching for the door and pulling it open. He growls irritably and reaches for me, and I laugh quietly and make a run for it.
I freeze just outside of the doorway, and Torrez slams into me. “Shit,” Torrez swears as he grabs my waist and keeps me from tumbling down the front stairs. “You can’t just stop…” he starts to tell me, and then he stops talking as he sees what I’m seeing. A couple of female shifters and a handful of males all straighten up as we stumble out of the door. All of them sniff at the air, and I watch as each of their faces fall, and a couple of them make irritated noises before walking away.
“Um, what the fuck was that?” I ask Torrez, who moves to stand shoulder to shoulder with me.
“Those were the members of the pack who were hoping to give challenge, just in case your mating wasn’t sealed,” Manya explains as she and Fedor walk toward us from the surrounding trees. “But it looks, and smells, like everything is in order. Congratulations, you two,” she exclaims, opening her arms and pulling Torrez and me in for a hug.
“She’s no Brun, but she’s stronger than she looks,” Fedor tells Torrez, with some hard slaps to his back, like he needs the words of encouragement or consolation.
Torrez looks down at me, and I can just tell he’s silently warning me not to nut punch the alpha.“She’s no Brun,”I mock in my head and then jump when Torrez sneakily drops his hand from around my waist and pinches my ass. “Don’t do it, TGV,” he warns me casually.
I choke on a laugh at the abbreviation of my horrible superhero name as Torrez leads me away from the alpha couple.
Yep, I should never be allowed to choose names for anything…ever.
14
My phone vibrates, pulling me out of that in-between gray world that exists when you’re trying to sleep, but you’re not, and yet you’re not completely awake either. I look at the incoming text and smile, quickly gauging how difficult it will be to sneak out of here without waking anyone up. Bastien’s hand is resting on my hip, and I gingerly lift it and set it on the mattress next to his warm body. Then I untangle my legs from Ryker’s and have to unthread Knox’s fingers from out of my hair. Sabin, one bookend to this little cuddle party, has his back to me. While Valen, who’s on the other end, is holding the corner of my long pillow with an outstretched hand. The room is filled with the slow, deep breaths of sleep, and I tiptoe my way out of the room, trying not to jostle anyone too much.
I discovered one night when I had to get up to pee, that Torrez likes to run as a wolf at night. So I’m not overly surprised that he’s not fast asleep like the others. I don’t know how he’s not a walking zombie all the time, between training all day and running at night. He’s been pushing hard to catch up with the rest of my Chosen since he got all of his Sentinel runes, and I figured he’d crash at the end of the day like the rest of us. I guess there’s no hitting the snooze button when it’s time tofeed the beast, as Torrez likes to call it.
I make my way out the front door and circle to the back of the house. My phone lights up when I unlock it, and I click on the text message that brought me out here in the first place. I send a quick reply as I move toward the trunk of a fallen tree just inside the tree line behind the house. I click on the contact and press the green phone button, bringing my phone up to my ear.
“Hey, Vin, did I wake you up?”
“Na, I was pretty much up but trying to convince my brain not to be. What are you up to? It’s getting kind of late there, isn’t it?”
“It’s only nine thirty, and I’ll go to bed soon. I was just working through the last video you sent, and I had a question.”
“What’s up?” I ask as I settle against the big log.
“Okay, so you talk about combos and then show me a couple of different ways I can hit someone multiple times without giving them a chance to hit me. But in the fourth combo you do, would it work if, when I spin, I throw an elbow into their side and then deliver the kick, or would that mess with my momentum or something?”
I chuckle. Who knew Captain Cockblock had such a kickass little sister? Cyndol and I have been texting back and forth since I met her. She’s filled me in on hermean girlproblem, and I’ve been talking to her about self-defense and radiatingdon’t fuck with mevibes. When the guys and I started training here, I saw the perfect opportunity to send her some visuals. I’m pretty sure the guys think I’m crazy when I force them to practice the basics at the beginning of every training session we do. I always spout some bullshit about how brushing up on the basics makes us better at everything else, and they just go with it.
What they don’t know is I record ourback to basicssessions and send them to Cyndol every afternoon so she can practice. Sabin’s going to go mental when he finds out about this, but I figure by then, Cyndol will be able to take him, so it’s all good.
“So combos can be tailored to what feels right for you. It’s important to follow your instincts when you’re practicing and getting a feel for the flow of the hits, because what may feel natural to me will be different for someone bigger and stronger than me or someone smaller than me,” I tell her.
“Okay, that makes sense. I just wish I knew how it feels to actually hit something. I mean, just practicing the movement is good, but how will I know if an elbow will work without actually throwing an elbow to see if it messes with my balance or momentum?”
I beam at her question and send her a mental hug through the phone. If only I could get my Chosen to think the way Cyndol does.
“That’s why I ordered you a combat dummy,” I tell her, and I’m so fucking excited about it that you’d think I was the one getting a present.
“No way! Are you serious? Oh my heck, you are the freakin’ best, Vin. I can’t wait!” I can hear Cyndol jumping up and down and squealing excitedly as she does. It makes my heart so fucking happy that I’m resisting the urge to jump up and down myself.
“It should be arriving at my house in the next couple of days,” I tell her, and we both squeal again. “I already talked with the sisters, and they’re going to call you and arrange a time to sneak it into your room. So keep an eye out for their call, okay?”
“Crap, I think my screaming woke up one of my dads. I gotta go. I’ll text you later, you’re the freaking best, Vin, love ya!”
“Night, Cyn, love you too!”
The call ends, and I stare at it, smiling for a couple of seconds before pulling up another number and calling that.
“You okay?” Mave croaks, and I chuckle.
