Chapter 29
Chapter twenty-nine
Raegan
Training at Hype starts at sunrise and ends two hours before the nightclub opens. The dance floor is unfortunately the biggest space in the building, so when people pile into booths and stand behind the bar to watch, I feel more like I’m putting on a performance than actually training.
“Focus,” Kellan barks, grabbing my wrist and throwing me to the ground.
I lean into that momentum and roll across the glittery black floor instead, then push to my feet.
“I’m trying,” I growl, frustrated by the audience.
At least when we’d trained in the gym at the Tower, the other members were too busy with their own training to stand and stare.
But there isn’t room here for others to train.
Not while Kell and my gifts are active.
I throw punches and jabs anywhere I think he’s open, but the prick blocks them all. Gathering more of my gift in one fist, I launch it at his face.
Kellan snatches my hand and grunts. I’d bet it felt like more than a tickle that time.
“Make an opening.” He tosses my hand aside and kicks my feet out from under me.
“Come at me from all sides.” His boot slams down, and I catch it instead of dodging, bolstering my gift there until it eats away at it.
“Like here?”
His grin turns feral. “I liked these boots.”
“My bad,” I taunt, holding his leg and rolling to drag him off-balance.
He jumps and twists out of my grip, landing with one foot bare. Kell unlaces and casts his remaining boot aside.
“You go, Reggie!” Gabriel cheers from the sidelines.
“Yeah! You got ’im, Rae!” Portia hollers behind the bar.
Others join them in shouting my name, bringing a flush of heat to my face that has nothing to do with my gift.
Kellan laughs and shakes his head. “You’ve got some fans, beautiful. You think they’re hoping you’ll get me naked?”
Now that he mentions it, I need to be more careful with my gift. That’s not the result I’m going for. This training is about control and stamina with our gifts. Keep them active all day, fight with them, and not break anything.
Which is easier said than done when that’s all my gift does.
“Maybe they’re hoping to see someone win against the mighty Dragon.”
“Hate to disappoint them, but I call bullshit on that happening here. So let’s at least give them a good show, yeah?”
I clench my fists, heat pulsing in my chest at the challenge. “Bullshit, huh? You don’t think I can actually beat you, even with my gift?”
His grin sharpens, that arrogant look that says he’s about to stick his middle finger in some shit and stir it. “Not a chance.”
Oh. Game fucking on.
Reaching for my gift, I draw more out. I pull it through my limbs until the reddish glow electrifies and dances like lightning over my skin. It burns and tingles where it makes contact, but not in a painful way. Before it expands beyond myself, I stop it.
This is a good exercise in control, keeping the balance of power between where I was before and releasing it completely.
Kellan shifts his stance, the golden scales along the backs of his arms and up the side of his neck almost blinding when they catch the lighting right. I think he’s just preparing for my attack since his gift is already active when his body suddenly shifts to something more.
His blue-green eyes are pitch-black, and two horns protrude from his head and curve back. His fingers are elongated to sharp claws, and a line of scales are raised to razor points along the backs of his arms to his elbows. His feet have shifted to something inhuman.
Like the feet of a Dragon.
I’m waiting for wings and a tail to burst from him any moment.
Someone screams.
The room becomes a mad scramble of people fighting to leave and others trying not to be swept away.
“Kell?” I shout over the chaos to make sure it’s still him.
His usual grin is gone, and there’s a darker, deadlier energy radiating from him. When he hears my voice, he cocks his head at me like a beast eyeing its prey.
“Is that still you?” I approach him slowly, instinct warning me to make no sudden movements. Nothing that could be perceived as an attack. Raising my hand, red lightning still jolts and dances over it.
He captures my hand, then brings it to his lips. Kell licks my palm like he’s enjoying the taste of my gift. His blackened gaze fixates on me like he’s preparing to devour me next.
Something wet sprinkles the side of my face.
“Hey! Change back before everyone panics!” Portia sprays Kellan with water. “I don’t want to use my gift on you, but I will!” She sprays him again.
Kellan turns his head and just stares at her.
I covertly slide myself a bit in front of her. “It’s okay, Porsh. He’s not going to hurt anyone.” At least, I don’t think he will.
Aiden pushes through the crowd of people and runs to our side. “Kellan. What...”
Kell closes his eyes and releases a slow, long breath.
His gift recedes, fading to his golden-brown skin and no horns or talons in sight.
When he opens his eyes, he grins. “That’s only the second time I’ve tested out the increase in my gift, so I’m still getting the hang of it.
What do you think, beautiful?” His blue-green gaze twinkles with excitement.
I release my gift too, now that I think the match is over, and run my hand over his smooth and muscular arm. “That was amazing,” I breathe, still waiting for it all to sink in. “I thought you were going to shift into an actual dragon for a second.”
“Not quite, but it’s pretty damn close.” He chuckles.
“Wow,” Portia commends, and Kell’s attention zeros in on the spray bottle in her hands. He snatches it and sprays her in the face. “Hey! Wait!” she sputters.
He sprays her again, his arm maneuvering out of reach whenever she tries to grab it. “Payback.” He does it one more time. “And for threatening to use your gift on me. I’ll do more than spray you with water if you ever try that.”
Portia squeals each time the water hits her in the face, her arms flailing in front of her to try to grab it blindly.
He finally returns it, and she wipes her face with her arm and hand.
“How was I supposed to know you were fine when you looked like that? What if you breathed fire and we needed to put you out?”
I’m not sure how a spray bottle would combat a fire-breathing dragon, but I don’t mention that. Instead, I focus on the possibility she raised. “Can you do that?”
“No. At least, I don’t think I can. But I have more than that. I just held back so I wouldn’t break the rule of not damaging anything.”
Aiden scans the room. “You may not have broken anything, but you certainly scared some people away.” Surprisingly, only a quarter of the bystanders are gone. The rest are watching on in awe or whispering amongst themselves and pointing our way.
“Not nearly enough,” I mumble more to myself, but Aiden looks at me and lifts his brows. “Sorry, it was just a lot.”
“It’s good the training ended, then. Especially before the two of you actually tried to fight like that. I doubt the nightclub would still be standing if you had.” He glances over his shoulder as Elias approaches. “I’ll explain what happened. You head upstairs and out of sight for a bit.”
“I’ll help smooth things over, too,” Portia offers, following Aiden.
Kellan throws his arm around my shoulder as if to give me a hug, but some of his weight presses down, and I plant my feet. “Sorry, beautiful. It wears me out pretty fast still. I’ll be fine after a nap.”
I grip his wrist over my shoulder and wrap my arm around his waist, though I can’t reach his other side. “Come on. I’ll see if Dane’s finished with Alice and can make you something to eat, too.” Once we’re at the top of the stairs, I tell him, “Next time, show me all of it.”
He chuckles. “You just want to see if I have a dragon dick.”
I gently shove him with my hip. “Shut up.”
Raised voices behind the door are a bad sign of how Alice’s training is going. I knock three times, knowing Jackson will still hear me through the noise. “It’s Raegan,” I call out.
The door opens before I’ve even finished. Jackson holds it open for me as I walk inside Alice’s apartment, where they’ve been trying to teach her how to make others invisible.
“Why are you even here if you’re not going to help me?!” Alice shout-whines.
Dane scoffs. “And what else do you want me to do? I can’t do it for you, Alice. You have to actually fucking try.”
“I am trying, asshole!”
“Are you? Because all I hear is complaining. You want me to leave, but the second I do, you’ll be begging me to come back so you’re not alone with Jack.”
“You’re supposed to protect me from him if he threatens me again—”
Dane cuts her off with a mocking laugh. “I couldn’t do shit to stop him if that’s what he wants to do. I’m just here to make you feel better.”
“Well, you’re doing a terrible fucking job of that!”
“Heyyyy, guys...” I slowly cut in.
Dane’s eyes widen when he sees me. He looks away, rubbing the back of his head. “I need a minute to cool down,” he mutters, storming into the bathroom and closing the door behind him.
Alice glares after him. “Jerk.” She faces me, still looking annoyed. “If you’re here to see how it’s going, it’s not. I can’t do it!”
I offer her a comforting smile. “I wasn’t expecting you to get it like that.
” I snap my fingers. “But that doesn’t mean we give up.
Let’s take a short break and try again when you’re feeling up to it again.
” Looking around her apartment, I don’t see the other person I’d been expecting.
“Elias said your brother is staying here with you, too? I heard he doesn’t do well with a lot of people, which is why you wanted to train in here. ”
She makes a face and plops into the nearest seat. “Sam’s in his bedroom. He’s been spying on the same board member for a long freaking time. I’m not sure he even remembers how to talk. And he’s fine with other people as long as they’re not talking to him or looking at him.”
Right. Just that.