Chapter 18 - Zephyr
Another three days passed until it had been a week since the party.
Our civility lasted. We didn’t have any other arguments, and although Adalyn grew quieter at times, retreating into other caverns that we discovered over the next few days, trying to reconnect with herself and her coven, I found that my first instincts towards her weren’t to kill but to hold .
I hadn’t expected to reveal so much of my past to her that night in the stargazing room, but I didn’t regret it. Confessing to killing some of her coven should have given her an excuse to end my life there and then—but she hadn’t. She had listened. And whether she was silently working through those feelings or not, I didn’t know. Maybe that was why she lapsed into a quiet place in her own mind.
But I found that whenever she did, I couldn’t ignore the urge to shift and run through the tunnels, exploring. Not to escape but just to pretend that I might get out. The caves were beautiful, but I was starting to feel claustrophobic.
Yet as soon as I saw Adalyn, each time I spiraled into pacing, restless energy, that riot calmed down in me.
Especially when she came and asked me to start her training.
Although Adalyn was magically powerful, she was right about being physically weak. We started the day after she asked me for help, and I had her run laps around the cavern, making a track for her. After five minutes, she was winded.
“C’mon,” I jeered, on the third day of her laps. “Even Hec can do better than that and he sits on his ass at a computer day in, day out.”
She shot me a seething glare. “He’s also in the military,” she panted as I jogged alongside her. “Don’t you have to pass, like, some physical test?”
“I aced every physical,” I told her with a smirk. “As you can imagine.”
“Asshole,” she muttered without any bite.
“Get those knees up, Adalyn.”
She groaned and kicked herself back into speed. I matched her pace despite it being agonizingly slow. But soon, we were back at the start of the track, and Adalyn promptly went boneless on the bed, but I scooped her back up.
“Nope,” I chided. “The worst thing you can do after physical activity like that is stop. Keep moving, witch.”
“Remind me to kill you when we get out of here,” she said through gritted teeth, clutching her side.
“Why not inside? They’ll never find my body.”
She paused. “I was being nice and letting you see daylight again for a second.”
I laughed unexpectedly. She caught my eye, and for a second, that grounding motion overwhelmed me again. Everything faded away, but Adalyn—her smile was hesitant, as if she still didn’t know what terms we were on.
But I smiled back and jerked my head. “Come on.”
“Where are we going? You just made me run!”
“You asked for self-defense,” I said. “Being physically fit is part of it.”
“I didn’t ask for a personal trainer,” she muttered. “I just want to know how to, like, defend myself.”
“And at this rate, all a demon would have to do is make you run for five minutes, and you’d die from a heart attack or lack of oxygen.” My answer was dry and unserious, and it made Adalyn laugh. She clasped a hand over her mouth, her eyes crinkling with amusement.
There were so many empty rooms, as if the witches truly had hidden down her, made a home of sorts, expanded their sanctuary so they each would spread out and never disrupt one another. There were two other hot springs like the one Adalyn and I had been in, all of them emerald, smelling like sulfur.
But I led her past another pool like that through that main tunnel I had found and veered her off into another cavern.
I had set up a space for her to practice aim.
“What is this?” she asked.
“You have spells that can be externally aimed,” I said. “So I’m going to teach you how to aim them faster when facing multiple enemies.” The thought threatened to sour my mood, picturing Adalyn against a horde of demons. “You can protect yourself, but there’ll be a time when you need to go on the offensive. Right now, you have power when a person is in an advantageous environment, but when they’re not, all you have are shields. You need to practice a new angle of your magic, see what happens when it’s not just a singular enemy in a resourceful place, like a pool.”
I shot her a dry look, remembering how she had turned her power on me.
“This can also help with your energy drain,” I continued. “If you use short but frequent bursts of magic, you have a better chance at recharging it quicker than one massive use in one go.”
“I have been,” she argued. “My shields on the island…”
“That’s frequent large amounts,” I said, my voice softening. “Hector… He checked in again yesterday and told me he’s seen the energy your shields bring up on his screens. Adalyn, I’m sorry I put you down about them.”
She shrugged, but I shook my head, insistent. “No, I mean it. We have different ways of fighting back. I want to share mine with you, but I shouldn’t have reduced the meaning of yours.”
She plastered on a smile. “Zephyr, you don’t have to apologize. I know my worth.”
My mouth pressed into a tight line at the false bravado in her voice, and I recognized just how much she had used that voice with me before we learned to coexist better.
“I hope you do,” I told her. “Because it’s much more than I ever truly appreciated, and I’m sorry.”
She gave me a small smile, nodding.
“To make up for it, I’m your first target practice.”
Adalyn’s face shifted into surprise. “Sorry?”
“You’re practicing your aimed spells on me.”
“No,” she answered.
“I felt the currents over your body the other day,” I told her. “I’ve withstood your burning in the Emporium, the pool, and vice versa. What more do you have in that magic well of yours?”
Adalyn hesitated. “No, Zephyr, I—”
She trailed off.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” she finished.
“Pretend we’re still enemies,” I purred.
But then I hesitated. Were we still enemies? Is that how she still saw me?
I shook off the doubts and continued. “Either way, I want you to do it when I’m in this form, as I am, and then, with your permission, I want to shift in front of you and have you practice aiming when I’m moving with a bigger body. The demons will be fast and smart, able to move between portals, as you know. You need to be twice as fast and three times as ready.”
She braced herself in the middle of the room. I didn’t exactly have portals, but once she got the hang of speed and perception then, I knew another cavern I would lead her to that had a few archways connecting to one another, all returning to the same, open cave. I would imitate the demons disappearing and reappearing in the portals.
But for now, I wanted her to work on protecting herself.
Can you bear the thought of not being at her side when she does this ? I asked myself. Can you bear the thought of her being alone? What will happen when you don’t have a permanent place in Azure Cove, but she does ?
I shoved those thoughts away.
“Okay, you see those marks lines on the walls? The circles? That’s where I want you to aim at first. Then I’ll come after that.”
“Okay,” she answered, nodding.
“I saw those blasts of power you exhibited at the party,” I said. “Think of that. Channel that but in a thinner blast with more focus and less chaos around you.”
She closed her eyes, and I stood behind her. I couldn’t not hold her hips.
It’s to keep her steady, that’s all .
“Zephyr?”
“Hmm?”
“I can’t concentrate when you’re this close to me.”
“Try,” I murmured, pressing my mouth to the back of her neck. “There’ll be distractions out there during a fight. Ones that don’t feel good like I do.” I smothered a smile against her skin.
That was all I kept convincing myself. It’s to steady her; it’s to test her ability to not give in to distractions . But I knew it wasn’t only that as I ached to let my hands wander over her body. Once, I had told her never to touch me, to keep her witch powers out of my sight.
But now, as Adalyn took deep breaths, closed her eyes, and found that place where she could conjure up blasts of magic, I found myself aroused by her ability.
Focus , I chided myself. Goddamn it.
Sharp blasts of wind hit my face as Adalyn focused her magic. One by one, she aimed at the targets. Six out of ten landed, but the other four were wildly off. Scuffs of white were left behind by her blasts.
“Good,” I praised. “Good first go.”
“Is it your turn now?” she asked sweetly.
“What happened to not wanting to hurt me?”
She grinned. “I changed my mind.”
I laughed. “Uh, no. You’re not practicing on me, just yet until you get at least eight out of ten targets.”
Adalyn’s eyes narrowed as she braced herself again. The magic came from an aura surrounding her hands in a glow of violet. Her body twisted and pivoted as she aimed, her face scrunched in concentration. Her dark hair billowed around her shoulders as pants and little noises of effort escaped her.
My hand glided along the exposed skin of her lower back, where she wore joggers and a cropped t-shirt.
She hit six again.
“Go again,” I told her.
Sweating, she nodded, a new determination entering her eyes.
Six again.
“Do you want to protect your home, Adalyn?” I goaded without the venom and real anger I had once used. “Demons won’t give you a second chance.” I put my mouth at her ear. “And a wolf won’t always be waiting in the trees to save you when you’re defenseless. Come on, again .”
I knew my wolf taunt would get her more focused. She hit seven this time, and the eighth was much closer.
My lips teased the shell of her ear. “You’re doing so good, Adalyn.” My hands splayed over her torso, brushing the waistband of her sweatpants.
“Don’t distract me,” she hissed.
And oh , I wanted to desperately. I wanted to see how well she would focus if I slipped my fingers in her and teased her to completion. But I didn’t. I let her focus, and the next go, she hit eight targets.
She spun around, kissing me, a smile on her lips. It felt all too familiar, like a routine we had naturally fallen into now—I had never kissed for the sake of kissing until her. Kissing had been a segue into sex, a way to get a hookup desperate for more. I had never truly enjoyed it for the sake of enjoying it.
I savored the taste of her mouth on mine before she pushed me back with a hand on my chest until I was backed against the wall where I had made the markers for her target practice.
“Okay, trainer ,” she drawled. “Let’s see what you can withstand.”
I bared my teeth at her, cocking my head. “Bring it on, witch.”
I pointed at my left shoulder, my right side, both my legs and my stomach. “Areas of aim. Go off any of those, and I’ll have that pretty throat beneath my hands before you can blink.”
Adalyn laughed darkly before she shook herself off, readying herself.
Her blasts of magic hitting me square in the chest knocked me off-guard, slamming me back against the wall as I wheezed.
“Fuck,” I choked out.
Adalyn cursed and went to rush to me, but I held up a hand. “Keep going.”
“Zeph—”
“Keep. Going.”
Her magic sizzled on my skin as she hesitantly blasted five more shots at me, aiming just off the specific place I had told her. She caught my collarbone, one of my knees, and my ribs. I wheezed, coughing, as I recovered.
“You know, this pain is actually good,” I said. “It’s hot.”
Adalyn only laughed as she twirled a thread of power around her finger. “Want some more?”
I met her determinedly. “Go for it.”
So she did. Over and over, alternating between me and the wall so I could catch a break.
Finally, we paused for lunch and made our way back to bed. Adalyn murmured something at the doorway.
“It’s a beseeching,” she said. “To ask for forgiveness for the use of power without any true outcome.”
“There’s an outcome,” I said. “Practice. Ensuring you’re better trained. When we go into firearms training, we don’t call all those bullets a waste. We say it’s practice because if we don’t use them in those situations, then nobody would be able to shoot in real times of need.”
As we heated up more rice— again —Adalyn asked me more questions.
“How come weapons?” she asked. “Why not go for the likes of Alex’s role of directing operations and leading your own team? Or like Sweeney with scouting.”
I forked some food into my mouth. “Honestly, it's pretty simple. I don’t have to kill a man with a weapon. I can aim for an injury that he can be saved from but still be felled long enough for me and the guys to do our job. At the time, I had to pick a specialty—or wanted to—I didn’t trust my own hands enough to pull back. But a weapon is a weapon. It often has the same strength, no matter how you use it. A bullet will strike the same—mostly. But my hands… I didn’t trust them not to kill. I had gotten so used to it, and I wanted to hone my anger, as I mentioned, but I wanted to learn how to exist with my anger and hatred rather than kill through it. I wanted my hands to do more than just end lives.”
She nodded thoughtfully. “Thank you for setting this up for me. I’ve been in protection mode for this island and myself for so long that I didn’t realize fighting back was a proper option. There’s a rush of power that comes with fighting the way you’ve just showed me. I like it. It feels… Gratifying. Though, I don’t know how well I’ll hold up against demons.”
“You won’t,” I told her. “I know I provided scenarios, but there won’t ever be a moment where you’ll face demons alone. I will be there.” The words came out in a protective snarl.
Adalyn sighed. “You can’t know that.”
“I can,” he said. “I mean it, Adalyn. I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
“Since when?” she asked, a slight bite to her voice. “What’s changed? Why do you… Want to be near me? Is it because of the sex?”
“No,” I said. “I don’t think it’s just that. I just feel very strongly about protecting you.”
She gazed at me as I avoided her eyes. I couldn’t tell her my suspicions. That Azure Cove was possibly having a repeat of the ancient shifter and his witch mate. Was it true? And was I ready to face that?
***
We trained hard for the rest of the day.
Johnson checked in to tell me that Alex had started the dispatch of demons, sending him and Frazer out from their respective hideaways to start taking out some demons, scattering their numbers from one area, and I itched to wait for my own command from him.
A new scent began to mingle with Adalyn’s usual one, lavender and jasmine mixed with incense. I couldn’t place it yet. Not as those wickedly harsh blows of hers became softer hits against my skin, as if she was learning how to control the intensity of her blasts.
But as I lay next to her that night in bed, I realized what had changed, what the new scent was.
I turned to look at her outline in the darkness, my stomach dropping.
It was a scent that had shrouded my brother and his wife when I had visited them last in Pittsburgh, only to be invited to a baby shower a few weeks later.
It was…
Adalyn was…
I couldn’t form the word in my head, but slowly, I fell apart in that bed next to her as I picked up the signs that Adalyn was pregnant. Was that a life I had ever envisioned for myself? In the military, I hadn’t ever let myself dare think that one day I would settle down and have a family.
But Alex had done it.
Frazer wanted to do it. Even Hector had shrugged and said he thought about kids one day.
Sweeney and Johnson had been similar to me, but I was never really sure if it was an option until we were older. But…
There was something distinctly shifter within Adalyn—growing inside of her, already at a fast rate due to my genetics.
I never thought I had wanted it. Not with the heartbreak that had shrouded my family. I had seen my mom struggle to raise me and my brothers after my father’s death. If I had a family while doing my job, then would that mean Adalyn would be left to raise children alone?
Then I brought myself up short, realizing I had slotted Adalyn into my future.
A mate— my mate.
A mother to my child.
Did she know? Did she suspect?
I pressed closer to her, inhaling her scent. She shifted, groaning softly in her sleep as her hands reached for me.
Maybe Alex was right. Maybe fate had brought us back here. For him, his fate pulled him to Harper. But mine was taking me right back to the original shifter who had protected this island from demons with his mate.
“Goodnight, Adalyn,” I whispered. I pulled her close to me, her back to my chest, and laced our fingers over her stomach.
I didn’t sleep for a long time that night, my thoughts churning with visions of my baby— our baby—and Adalyn and what would ever happen if there was a time when I couldn’t protect either of them.
I would die before I let that happen, I realized.
I vowed, in the darkness of that night, that no matter what happened, I would always protect my child, even before they were born, protecting my unclaimed mate that carried them.