Wolfsbane (23 page)

“I know what I like.” Connor grinned, catching the sword she dropped into his hands.

“How many blades do you carry?” Shay asked as Connor took the next two broad-bladed punch daggers from Adne.

“Depends,” Connor replied. “I think six is ideal.

Maybe seven.”

“Ethan and Connor think their manhood is equal to the amount of steel they have tucked beneath their clothing.” Adne snickered. “I think they’re trying to make up for something.”

“Hey, now!” Connor said.

“They once had a competition to see who could carry the most at once,” Adne said.

“Who won?” I asked.

“I did,” Connor said. “Twenty-two.”

“Real y?” Shay’s eyebrows shot up. He began eyeing the various shapes and sizes of weapons on the wal .

“Great.” Adne rol ed her eyes. “Looks like you’ve got a new chal enger.”

Connor shook his head. “I wouldn’t recommend it, Shay. Once you get past fifteen, things start to poke in nasty ways anytime you move.”

“I’l keep that in mind.” Shay grinned.

“Besides.” Ethan was leaning on the door frame.

“Connor cheated. Poniards are not real blades.”

“One through the eye or jammed under the throat kil s just fine,” Connor said.

“Stil , that’s a girly knife and you know it.”

“I know you aren’t dissing girls,” Adne said, glaring at him. “Because that could prove hazardous to your health.”

“Of course not,” Ethan said. “Just dissing Connor.”

“You’re just pissed ’cause you lost.” Connor held the sword blade up to the light. “This needs sharpening.”

“You should take better care of your weapons,”

Ethan said, ignoring the gesture Connor made and speaking to Adne. “So is this tonight’s green room?”

“Seems like that’s what it’s turning into,” Adne said. “You need more bolts? And target practice to take the edge off while we wait?”

“You know it.” He grinned.

While Adne gathered more blades and Ethan rummaged through storage crates, Shay sidled up next to me and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“I’m sorry about what I said back there.”

I ground my teeth, fighting anger but not wanting to snap at him.

“I just don’t want to lose you.”

I nodded but didn’t look at him. Even if it was out of love, I resented his words. I hadn’t deserved them.

Neither had Ren. My chest was tight, thinking of Shay and the Bane alpha. I wondered if they’d ever be able to fight together.

Shay was looking at me out of the corner of his eye. He shook his head and sighed.

“Are you okay?” I asked, swal owing the last of my anger.

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “Just thinking.”

He looked at me and sighed again. “So he’s going to come back.”

“Who is?” I asked, watching steel glint as Connor brandished weapons.

“Ren,” Shay said, and with that name hanging in the air between us, he had my ful attention. “I mean, if this works. He’l be here. With us.”

I looked away.

Ren.

Ren would be here. I couldn’t ignore the rush of heat through my veins at the thought that he would be safe. And that he would be close to me.

“What does that mean?” Shay pressed.

“I don’t know,” I said truthful y, moving forward to inspect the deadly wal ornaments.

He grabbed my hand. “Cal a, hang on.”

When I turned to face Shay, his eyes were bright as spring leaves sparkling with dew.

“I don’t want to talk about this, Shay,” I murmured.

“I have more important things to think about. Like not dying.”

“You don’t have to talk,” he said. “Just listen.”

Both of his hands came up, cupping my face. “I don’t care that Ren wil be here. Okay, that’s a lie.

Just the thought of him being around you makes me crazy. I can’t think straight and al I feel is the wolf inside me. That’s why I said . . .”

A growl rose in his throat and I could see the wolf flash in his eyes, predatory and defensive. “It doesn’t matter. I swear I want to help the pack. And I don’t want anything bad to happen to Ren either . . . wel , most of the time. Al I care about is you and me.

Things have been different between us since we’ve been alone. At least, I’d like to believe they have been.”

I didn’t want to look at him. My heart seemed to be throwing itself against my rib cage, like it was trying to escape this conversation.

“You aren’t in Vail,” he continued. “The rules have changed. I’m going to fight to be the one at your side.”

Had they?
I didn’t know whose rules applied anymore or where my place in any of this was.

“Shay—” I tried to pul back, but his hand slipped around my waist and he held me in place.

“Tel me that isn’t what you want and I’l walk away,” he said, leaning in so his lips brushed my cheek.

My throat closed. I wanted to tel him that I loved him. I did. In a way I hadn’t believed was possible before he’d been in my life. He deserved to know that. He should have some reassurance that his feelings were ful y returned. But I didn’t trust myself anymore. Not after Ansel’s story. I’d brought torture and death to the people I loved. My mother had been kil ed. My pack was stil in danger, my brother mutilated and hating himself. Al of that was my fault.

How could I answer? When I made choices for myself, they destroyed everyone I loved. What did I real y have to offer Shay when al I brought with me was carnage?

“What are you two whispering about?” Adne cal ed from her perch. “Here, catch!”

She pitched a sword at Shay. I flinched, but he stepped forward, easily catching its hilt.

“What is this for?” he asked. “I’m not even going.”

“How else are we going to pass the time before Monroe sends us out?”

“I know I’m not sleeping,” Connor said. “Don’t feel like a tussle, Shay? Just ’cause you’re getting left behind doesn’t mean you can’t take a few swings for fun.”

“I guess.” I caught sight of sharp fangs when Shay snarled at Connor.

“Want one, Cal a?” Adne gestured to the wal of arms.

“No, thanks,” I said, eyeing the myriad of gleaming axes, swords, and dozens of other weapons I couldn’t name. “I’l go with natural assets.”

“Those you’ve got—in abundance.” Connor wiggled his eyebrows at me.

When I smiled, showing sharp teeth, he stopped grinning.

Ethan laughed, smiling at me for the first time.

“Good girl.”

Next to me, Shay swung and dipped the sword, trying it out.

“What do you think?” Adne asked, descending from the ladder and walking toward him.

“I’m not sure,” he said wistful y. “I wish I knew what the Elemental Cross was like. It would be nice to practice with something similar.”

“There’s nothing similar,” Connor said, hurling daggers at a practice dummy. Every blade landed squarely in the target’s chest. My stomach flipped over.
Where will those blades lodge when we attack
Eden? In the hearts of wolves I used to know? That I
once fought beside?

“I guess.” Shay eyed the wal . “But none of these wil be as good. I just wonder if practicing with them wil be al that useful.”

“Stop insulting our weapons, Chosen One,”

Connor said, whirling two swords rapidly before him.

I took a couple steps back from the deadly flurry of blade strokes that Connor produced so casual y.

“They aren’t so bad.”

“I’m sure they aren’t.” Shay laughed. “I only meant .

. .” He spread his hands helplessly. “Never mind.”

“I know what you meant.” Connor grinned. “And practice won’t hurt you, even if it’s not with your holy of holies Elemental Cross. If one-on-one is boring you, maybe you’re ready to try your hand against two of us at once?”

Shay looked at him and then at Adne. “I guess.”

“Don’t taunt him, Connor.” Adne shook her head.

“Ignore him, Shay. You don’t have to try fighting both of us. That’s crazy.”

“I’m sorry,” Connor said. “Do your enemies usual y stand in line waiting their turn?”

“Connor.” Adne put her hands on her hips.

“No,” Shay said, frowning. “He’s right. Let’s try it.”

“Are you sure?” Adne asked, though a smile crept over her mouth.

“Yeah,” Shay said, suddenly grinning. “Toss me another sword.”

“Let him try out the tsurugi
,
” Connor said. “Its hilt kind of looks like the Haldis.”

“Got it.” Adne went back to the wal , reaching for a slender, slightly curving sword.

“And what wil my lady be using?” Connor asked.

The casual way he twirled the swords in front of him demonstrated the fatal control he held over the weapons.

“Let’s see how he takes to qi jie bian,” Adne said.

“That’s something different.”

“The chain whip?” Connor asked. “Not a bad idea.”

“He’s pretty good with whips.” I shivered, flashing back to the night of the union. The dark forest and Flynn’s wicked smile. The way she screamed when I tore her hand off, how Shay had snatched the shadow whip from her severed limb’s grasp, in the next moment turning her own weapon against her.

“Is there anything you’re not good at?” Adne’s smile was blinding. I laced my fingers behind my back so I wouldn’t choke her.

“Golf,” Shay said with a grim smile. “I have no patience for it.”

The air hissed as he swept it with his blades.

Adne rol ed her head back and forth, stretching her neck as she moved toward him. In each hand she held a wood-handled whip made of seven metal links. The end of each whip was tipped by a sharpened dart. They were frightening, appearing almost alive as they twisted through the air, guided by Adne’s graceful strokes.

“Those are whips?” Shay asked, gazing at the snaking metal Adne swirled easily before her body.

The weapons didn’t look like any whip I’d laid eyes on.

“They are indeed,” she said, flicking her wrist. The silver links shot out, and before I could blink, the dart was impaled in the throat of a nearby practice dummy.

“Whoa,” Shay said, taking a step back.

“Not bad,” Adne said, jerking the whip free.

“And what are those?” I asked, watching as Connor strapped the short blades to his belt.

“Get close with those big teeth of yours and I’l show you.”

Ethan snorted, raising his crossbow. “I’l never understand why you like kataras.”

He fired four successive bolts into a dummy with startling speed.

Shay walked to the target. “How do you shoot that fast? I always thought crossbows were slow.

Powerful, but slow.”

“You’re thinking of European crossbows,” Ethan said, coming to Shay’s side and jerking the bolts out of the dummy. “This bow is based on the Chinese design. Built for speed, not force. It has a magazine that loads a new bolt after each shot.”

I clasped my fingers over my chest, remembering too wel how quickly Ethan’s bolts had lodged in my chest. He glanced at me, nodding. “If you can’t hit Guardians fast and often, you’re dead.”

Connor was eyeing Ethan’s bow disdainful y. “I’d get bored as hel using that thing.”

“Brute force isn’t the only way to fight,” Ethan replied.

“You’re just afraid of getting your hands dirty.”

Connor pul ed one of the kataras from his belt. His fingers wrapped around the handle, which ran horizontal to the short, wide blade.

“Bloody,” Adne said, gazing at the weapon. “The word you’re looking for is ‘bloody.’”

Connor cast a sidelong glance at her, drawing the other katara. In the blink of an eye his body blurred.

He leapt through the air, twisting around the dummy, landing on the bal s of his feet in a crouch behind the target.

Shay whistled, staring at the lacework of deep gashes Connor had left on the practice target in the few seconds he’d been near it.

I coughed. “Ninja.”

Shay looked my way, sparing me a thin smile.

“Show-off.” Ethan laughed. “Couldn’t you tel it was already dead?” He held up the bolts he’d just pul ed free of the dummy.

“You two aren’t the ones who are supposed to be showing off,” Adne said.

“What’s this?” Ethan asked.

“Shay needs practice.” Adne swirled the whip so that it coiled and uncoiled like a metal ic serpent.

Shay scratched the back of his neck, looking a bit uneasy. “Maybe we shouldn’t.”

“Aw, come on,” Connor said. “I’m sure you’l be fine. And I’m dying to blow off steam before we do this crazy business in a few hours.”

“It’s a thought.” Shay rol ed his shoulders back.

“I’m kinda edgy too.”

Ethan laughed. “Don’t worry. I’l be the referee and make sure these two don’t play dirty.”

“You’re no fun at al ,” Connor said, swapping the kataras for his usual swords.

“Are we ready?” Adne asked.

“Always.” Connor grinned.

Shay nodded, eyeing the two Searchers who’d slowly begun to circle him. I could see the veins in his throat pop up, beginning to throb as they neared him.

Adne’s whips reached him first, flying low, striking at his ankles. Shay dodged the blow as easily as if he were skipping rope. But as he landed again, Connor came at him, his sword blades no longer moving in a casual dance but whirling with such speed I could barely see where one blade ended and the other began.

I started to move forward, my instincts screaming to throw myself between the gleaming steel and Shay. My body tried to fol ow the cal for blood. I felt like I was suffocating, pushing down the weight of the wolf that was desperate to claw its way out of the human prison that held it back. But I couldn’t interfere. Shay needed this. It was time for the Scion to fight on his own. I just hadn’t anticipated how hard it would be for me to let him go. Backing against a wal to put more distance between myself and the fight, I jumped forward when the spikes of a hanging mace pressed against the skin of my back.

Shay’s eyes locked on Connor. Their swords met, the clang of blade on blade bouncing off the wal s and ceiling. As the two young men focused on each other, Adne stalked Shay from behind. The whips flew toward his unprotected back. I gasped as Shay suddenly forced Connor’s blades down while launching his own body into the air, flipping over Adne and landing just behind her. Connor shouted, crashing to the floor as he barely escaped catching the sharp points of Adne’s whips on his chest. Shay grabbed Adne around the waist, drawing her back and resting the blade of one sword against her throat.