Chapter 9 Training #2
I had thought I’d follow in my mother’s footsteps and become a teacher.
But by the time I started commuting to Edinburgh for sixth form, the thought of staying in Faoiltiarn forever with my grief-stricken mother had become suffocating.
Then I found an unexpected opportunity to study Holo Creation at the University of Missouri-Columbia. ”
I preened a little. Even though this guy had come extremely close to cutting my throat open last night.
Still, I pushed a curl that had gotten loose from my messy bun behind my ear. “Thank you, Aengus.”
“You will call us Diarmuid.”
“Now you want to be called Diarmuid?” I scrunched my forehead. What is happening?
“In this room, while we are training, you will call us Diarmuid,” he commanded.
The almost-smile abruptly disappeared. “And now you will drop to the floor and show us the state of your physical conditioning by demonstrating how many push-ups you can do.”
Oooh-kay. My split-personality theory was beginning to seem not so far out there.
And the dragon’s third personality was a 100% emoji drill sergeant.
The answer to that push-up question was zero. Unless you count a strained upward dog before collapsing.
“In tomorrow’s training, we will begin increasing your strength,” the Diarmuid personality proclaimed.
He helped me up off the ground. When his giant hand closed around mine, something warm and electric moved up my arm and landed squarely in my chest.
When I craned my head to thank him for the help to my feet, the two words died in my throat. His gaze burned into mine, ravenous. Like he hadn’t eaten in a very long time.
Just in case we get to keep you…
That would not be happening. I would figure out a way to get out that door, no matter what it took.
Yet, there was that tug in my tummy. Tightening the knot.
“You will show us your sparring skills.” His eyes snapped away, and he dropped my hand. “Have you any experience?”
“I’ve taken a self-defense course, yes. Sort of.” I tipped my head side to side with a hedging grimace. “It was for a story for my college’s holonewssite. All the other participants were humans, though. So I really had to hold back so I didn’t hurt anyone with my wolf strength.”
“You will not be required to hold back with us. In fact…”
He twisted with athletic grace and picked up one of several knives hanging in a collection on a nearby wall.
I hadn’t noticed them when I came in—probably because of the gigantic dragon.
I wasn’t close enough to feel their vibration, but they all appeared to be made of that self-cleaning forever metal that had been all over the bears' secret kingdom.
My stomach twisted, remembering the sharpness of the blade against my neck.
“I don’t want to fight with weapons,” I told him. “Especially against you.”
“Weapon,” he corrected. He cupped the back of my hand and brought it up.
Another electric shock of warmth zapped through me as he pressed the sleek handle of the faintly vibrating blade into my palm. “You will be the only one wielding a knife.”
I looked down at the weapon. The faint vibration made it feel unnatural in my hand. But a kernel of an idea stirred in the back of my mind. Not quite a plot yet, more like the beginning of one.
I continued to act reluctant. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
He leaned down, amusement tilting his lips into another almost-smile. “You need not fear hurting us. We are a drakkon, and you are a mere wolf.”
I didn’t know whether to be reassured or insulted.
“Enough of this vacillation.” Before I could decide, he straightened to his full height and declared, “You will show us what you learned in this single teach—”
He cut off when I showed him the number one lesson that had kicked off that in-person class. If you can’t run, the element of surprise is one of your best defenses. Make a plan. Then hit them fast, and hit them hard.
I hit him fast, and that turned out to be a big mistake. The hard part was efficiently circumvented when he caught me by the neck. With one hand.
One second I was flying at him with a plan to put a knife to his throat and demand he take me to the door the key in my pocket was looking for.
And the next the knife was clattering out of my palm as he pinned me to the closest wall, his much larger body a heavy weight against mine.
The stone at my back was ice cold. He was not.
He burned like a furnace, and though he had nothing below the waist, the strange bulge was back, pressing against his stomach and into mine. Tightening the knot in my belly.
“Good job, Dorie.”
Was it a good job? He’d disarmed me within seconds. But I couldn’t seem to drag enough air into my lungs to ask if he was being sarcastic.
A small cloud of steam drifted from his mouth, sweet and woodsy, like a fire burning deep inside of him.
His eyes scanned my face, and his head lowered.
My heart sped up, the knot squeezing tight. Was he going to…?
“We will return to our drakkon form for tomorrow’s sparring session.” His heavy weight abruptly lifted. “Now you will show us your cardio conditioning.”
And that was how it went for the next hour or so.
Drills. So many drills. Luckily, the jumpsuit was activity sensitive. It not only kept me cool, it squeezed across my chest to give me sports-bra-level support.
But I couldn’t form a question, let alone ask him about the key in my pocket.
Something told me it wouldn’t be a good idea anyway. His unsolicited “protection” might include “shielding” me from finding a way out of this mess.
“Okay, okay. I can’t do this anymore,” I panted after the worst drill of all: sit-ups, which I would like the record to show are a form of torture in any millennia. “I’ll go take that bath now.” It felt like calling mercy! after wrestling with Albie.
He once more helped me to my feet. The difference in our states was impossible to ignore, standing across from him.
The cooling system in the jumpsuit could only do so much. I was an overheated mess, but Diarmuid’s shell, as he’d called it, was immaculate and continued to smell like a forest bonfire, as opposed to a puddle of dank sweat.
No doubt about it, I would make for a terrible heroine of a romantasy holo.
Still, he regarded me with that unblinking stare. Unreadable, but intense.
I wasn’t sure what to say, other than, “Thank you… for training me and showing me your true form, even if it was by accident.”
That consternated look returned. “You are welcome.”
I turned to go.
But then he said, “Rev—Dorie, if you truly wish to leave your designated quarters, we have an offer that you might like.”
He hesitated. His jaw worked twice before he spoke.
“You can undergo your training again tomorrow. Outside.” He raised his emerald gaze to meet mine. “If you would like.”
I blinked.
So let me get this straight. I was not only stuck in the far, far, far past. But my possible fated mate was a dragon.
Who was keeping me prisoner in a cavern.
And only willing to let me go outside if I agreed to let him act as my personal trainer and self-defense coach.
Also, he possibly had three personalities.
One of which had put a knife to my throat last night.
Okay, it made even less sense when I listed out everything that had happened since I literally fell into this new reality.
But I opened my mouth to answer.