Chapter 5 Adaela #2
I quickly moved out of the way as we both got to our feet.
Valen swiped a large hand toward me, which I blocked with my forearms, the burn of the hit numbing my fingers.
Circling him, I tried to find a weak spot.
My shadows slithered around him while I tried to figure out how to get him to tap out.
I was so busy focusing on my own powers that I forgot who Valen was, and he grabbed hold of my mind, forcing my own shadows to pin me to the ground.
My shadows began to put me into a full-body hold, enough that they began to restrict my breathing.
They were wrapping tighter than I was comfortable with, so I tapped out while my hands were still available.
Pissed at myself for not anticipating that Valen would use everything in his arsenal, I lay there with my arm across my eyes as I caught my breath.
“Girl, that was pathetic,” Athena said, helping me up once Valen had released my mind.
I shrugged. “As I said earlier, I’m not currently at my best. I can’t afford to keep doing this. I need to learn how to get back in the right headspace and always be ready for anything.”
“I think you need some retraining on the art of shielding your mind,” Valen admonished, handing my water bottle over to me. I took it with a nod in acknowledgement.
He was right. I’d not been concerned about someone getting past my defenses for so long that I stopped building up my shields, even knowing what he could do.
“I think I could benefit from some meditation. Even hung over, I should’ve been able to block your advances.
I’ve done it successfully before,” I said, working to mentally rebuild my walls.
I envisioned a rich, steel fortress of spikes surrounded by Lus Mór, then asked Valen to try again.
His cool magic tapped at my shields, like deft fingers plucking strings on a guitar, trying to find a way in.
He shrugged, then lifted his arms to pull his locs back in a scrunchie, his ochre biceps flexing with the action.
“I could get in if I wanted to, but it would take some work to get there. You’re on the right track, Little One.
” He went to pat the top of my head, because he knew it annoyed me to no end, but I quickly moved out of his way, and he smirked. I punched him lightly in the arm.
“Speaking of shields,” I said, “how are the defenses around the Pax currently? Has anyone heard?”
Loki jerked his head toward the Pax members who didn’t have high enough clearance to know the security functions with exasperation, then at me from where he was doing deadlifts on the other side of the gym. “This isn’t the place to be asking about this.”
Fuck me. I really was off my game.
“You know what, you’re right. I obviously need sl—” Vada walked through the door, and I forgot what I was saying.
My gods, what was it about her? She had an air of authority I’d never noticed about anyone else.
Her walk, the way she held her shoulders, and the couldn’t-give-a-fuck attitude on her face struck me speechless.
I turned my head and locked onto Daphne as if I hadn’t seen her, then changed the subject since I couldn’t remember what I was talking about anyway.
“Any excuse to party, right?” I awkwardly said as I tried to distract everyone from my wandering gaze, then produced the worst fake laugh in existence.
“Well, I think I’m going to go home and take a nap. I’ll catch y’all soon?”
As everyone gave me confused stares, I headed back toward the locker room to grab my stuff before anyone could question my odd behavior.
I didn’t want them to notice anything specific.
I remained focused on the panic that Vada would see me in here and want to talk.
I wasn’t sure how that awkward conversation would go, and I didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with it today.
What was going on with me? It was like I had a schoolgirl crush or something.
What should have been a productive day turned into the most useless trip.
It was just one of those days. You’d think I would have learned by now that I was absolutely hopeless after a day of partying with my friends.
I was too old for this shit. I laughed at my constant thoughts about how old I was, considering I was one of the youngest on the Pax’s board.
I changed into black leggings, tossed my bra into the laundry basket, then changed into an old band tee that had seen better days.
I should have probably taken my second shower of the day, but I was too damn tired.
I’d do it later, but I had to stop pushing things off because it was more convenient.
Crawling into bed, I collected my shadows to curtain the room in darkness. My shadows used to whisper the secrets of my enemies to me as they listened from afar. Nowadays, they protected me from the light coming through my window.
I sighed, then had one of them morph into a small dog to snuggle with as I fell asleep.
Sometimes the touch starvation was real, and after spending the night with a gorgeous woman who was haunting my every waking thought, it seemed prudent to have something to hold onto.
I wanted more than what I had been given, but at this stage in my life, I genuinely thought that I was meant to be alone.
Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t need anyone, but I would have loved to share my life with someone.
Instead, my love went to the romance books I read, to the philosophy I studied, to the friends I’d made over time, and the community who helped save my life.
It went to the people I helped to protect, and the city that granted me my freedom from the abusive relationship with the Fae.
While some deep, dark part of me needed to be let out, I’d spent the last sixty-five years pretending as if I didn’t have a dark need for vengeance running through my body.
My shadows had been aching for action for too long now, and I didn’t quite know what to do about it.
They were readying for something big, and I almost always listened to my intuition.
This time, I had no idea what to expect.
Was it a new power level, or was something coming on the horizon?
I really needed to turn my brain off. I checked my phone to turn on an alarm, so I didn’t spend the rest of the day in bed, only to see a text pop up.
Unknown:
Hey, is this Adaela? You left your number at my place this morning. IDK if you remember me from last night, but this is Vada.
A big, goofy grin bloomed over my face and butterflies erupted low in my belly, but I was so tired that I didn’t think I could respond right then, even though I wanted to.
I knew nothing about her. I couldn’t remember hearing her voice, nor could I remember even leaving the bar with her.
What happened last night that was making me giddy about someone I couldn’t even remember having a conversation with?
I fell asleep to the memory of Vada sleeping peacefully as I’d left her apartment this morning.