Heart of the Warrior (7 page)

His phone rang and vibrated on top of the simple desk
against the wall. He frowned and rolled his eyes as he picked it up and saw who
was calling.

"Dad? This is a surprise. I was just thinking about
you."
Yeah, thinking about how I live a miserable life so you and Mom
can be happy.

"Oh? All good, I'm sure."

"Of course." He had gotten so good at lying to his
parents he didn't even have to try, anymore.

"You're well, I hope?"

"Yes. Everything's great." Lie, lie, lie.
"So, what's up?"

"Your mother wanted me to call and tell you we’re
inviting your whole team to our party next weekend."

"Oh? You are?" He hated this. He didn't even want
to go, let alone have his whole team along to see the debacle of embarrassment
he contended with on a regular basis. "Um, but I think we’re working that
night."

"I took care of all that. I already spoke to Tristan
and worked it all out."

Ari closed his eyes in frustration and pinched the bridge of
his nose between his thumb and forefinger. His dad loved throwing around his
money and his power as the king's liaison like they were nothing. Dad had been
part of the King’s Guard for centuries and now lived in exceptional comfort as
a close personal advisor of the king, who preferred to stay out of the public
eye. No one ever spoke directly to the king. That was what his liaisons and
consultants were for.

"Well, sounds like you've got it all taken care of. Why
did you call me?"

"I wanted to remind you to make sure you get here early
to help us greet all the guests."

His dad hoped to groom him for a more political position
someday. Ari wasn’t remotely interested but he played along, anyway.

"Fine. What time should I get there?"

"Better make it nine o'clock. With the time change, I
think that’s the earliest you can get here, anyway."

Ari hated Daylight Savings Time. It meant the full-bloods
would have to use their dorms at AKM more often rather than be free to go home
during the day. Severin would likely be assigned day patrols to compensate for
the shorter nights, too. The thought of not seeing Severin every night made his
heart ache. And wasn't that an odd feeling? Ari had never felt such a dull,
throbbing ache in his chest before.

"Okay, Dad. I’ll be there. Tell Mom I said hi." He
rubbed his thumb absently over his sternum, trying to soothe the ache.

"I will. Take care, Arion."

They hung up and Ari wondered if he would be able to get out
of the party. Probably not. Damn it. He needed to toughen up and just plan to
make the most of it. Maybe he would be allowed to play the piano. That would be
worth it. He loved playing music and didn’t have nearly enough opportunities to
do so.

Okay, enough pussy-footing around. Time for a quick shower
and a workout. He grabbed the folded towel and stack of clothes he had set out
last night, along with his shaving kit, and stepped into the deserted hall.

AKM was a veritable ghost town during the day. Except for
the medical wing, the building was windowless to protect the few full-bloods
who rotated day shifts to monitor dispatch and the data center, but it wasn’t
until nightfall that things started hopping inside the facility.

The community bathroom was empty and he cranked on one of
the showers to get the water heated up, which usually took a couple minutes.
While he waited, he brushed his teeth, shaved, and used the facilities.

Showering made him feel a little better about the shit in
his life. Then he got dressed in nylon gym shorts and a T-shirt after combing
his hair and slicking it down with gel.

Okay, so what if he showered before working out? He got made
fun of for showering before and after going to the gym, but he didn’t care.
Showering was to him like coffee was to other people. It woke him up,
invigorated him, and got him ready for his day. Fuck what everyone else
thought.

Hmm, maybe he should take up that attitude with everyone who
wanted to control who he did and didn't go out with. Wouldn’t that be
interesting?

Yeah, right. Like that would happen.

After depositing his things back in his room and tossing his
boxers into his dirty clothes hamper, he grabbed his gym bag then stopped by
the kitchen for an apple and a bottle of water on his way to the training
center. His footsteps echoed in the empty hall. He liked it here when it was
like this. Quiet, calm, peaceful. The evening bustle always made him tense.

He was good at his job and all, but it wasn’t what he loved.
It wasn't that he hated being an enforcer. He just would have preferred to be
at home writing music or playing in one of Chicago's jazz clubs every night
instead of chasing drecks and other criminals.

He was just sinking his teeth into the last bite of apple when
he pulled open the door to the training center and came to a dead stop. Sev
stood in front of the mirrors grinding out a set of bicep curls. His gaze
jumped to Ari’s in the mirror and his arms hesitated for a split-second in
their upward swing.

Fuck. Ari hadn’t expected to see Severin here today. This
was going to be uncomfortable.

Sev's stomach pirouetted inside his belly when he saw Arion.

"What are you doing here?" He set the dumbbells
back in the rack but didn’t turn around. Arion was the last person he had
expected to run into when he'd decided to come in for a workout after his lunch
with his mom.

"I could ask you the same thing," Ari said.

"Yeah? Well, I asked you first." He was being
antagonistic and he knew it, but damn it, he didn’t need the reminder of last
night. He had come here to forget about Arion, not see him. And now the male
was in the same room with him, looking and smelling fucking fantastic to boot.

"I spent the night here." Ari discarded what
looked like an apple core and walked into the large room.

"With the woman you were with last night?" Sev’s
voice held an edge to it. He knew Ari hadn't brought that woman back here,
though. Ari didn’t break the rules, one of which was no outsiders inside AKM.
Family was okay, but no one-night stands, as it were. Micah could get away with
that shit, and had with Sam – partly because she ended up being his mate – but
Ari would never do something like that. He flew too close to the arrow to break
rules.

"I wasn't
with
her." Ari bit the words out
and shot him a you’re-being-an-asshole look before hopping on a bike to warm
up. "And yes. I was alone."

Well, good then. He harrumphed and turned back to the
dumbbell rack. He felt like punching something. Maybe he could go out on a day
patrol and find some drecks and kick their asses for the fun of it. Yeah, and
then he would find himself out of a job for starting another war between the
two races. No thanks.

He picked up the next heaviest weight of dumbbells and
pounded out another set of curls. Without another word to Ari, he worked
through his biceps routine before moving to chest. After loading a bar, he
glanced at Ari's reflection in the mirror and saw him looking back at him. He
quickly glanced away then laid down on the bench and un-racked the bar.

"Need a spot?" Ari appeared beside him, out of
nowhere.

"No." The word shot out of Sev like an angry dart.

"Suit yourself." Ari shook his head and grabbed a
forty-pound dumbbell and pushed out a warm-up set of triceps extensions as Sev
grunted through his set of presses.

Tense silence stretched between them as they peered at each
other out of the corners of their eyes, scowls firmly in place and brows
bunched in irritation.

Sev looked away and finished his set of presses and sat up
to catch his breath while he rested. His gaze drifted to Ari once more. The
male was built. His sculpted triceps popped on the flexion then stretched
through the negative motion, and Sev wanted to trace the outline with this
fingers. Or better yet, his tongue.

Ari wasn't as large as some of the other members on the
team, but his body looked like it had been chiseled from stone. By the gods, no
less. He was hard in all the right places with about five percent body fat, but
then that could have been his vampire genetics. He was rumored to have strong
bloodlines.

Ari's gaze caught his in the mirror again, and Sev quickly
looked away and eyed the sparring mat in the center of the room. He could sure
go for a match right now.

"Hey, Ari, didn’t you say you wanted to spar with me
sometime?" Maybe working out his aggression against the very person keying
him up would set things right. Or maybe it wouldn't. All Sev knew right now was
that he needed to work off his pain and this was as good a way to do that as
any. And why not hurt the one who had hurt him? Sounded good to Sev.

"Yes, I did." Ari’s tone held an edge of its own,
as if he was thinking the same thing or at least something similar.

Sev stood and walked toward the mat.

"This is as good a time as any then, don’t you
think?" He turned to see Ari following him.

Ari's brow furrowed and his jaw clenched. The muscles by his
ears on either side of his face bunched and flexed as if he was holding back a
verbal lashing by clenching his jaw.

"Sure." Ari’s eyes narrowed on him as if he was
ready to exorcise a few demons of his own.

They squared off at each other on opposite sides of the mat,
arms raised, feet wide in solid stances, gazes locked.

"You think you can hang with me?" Sev said.

"We’ll see."

Sev swung and Ari dodged, blocked, and retaliated with a
side-arm that connected with Sev’s cheek as they whipped past each other.

Sev's head ricocheted to the side from the impact, and he
jerked his head back to the front. "Lucky shot." He flexed his jaw
and touched his cheek, actually surprised at Ari’s fast reflexes.

"It’s not luck." Ari surged forward and swung
again.

Sev caught his arm and whisked himself sideways to let Ari’s
momentum carry him over as Sev flipped him.

Ari’s body crashed to the mat, and for an instant Sev wanted
to end the fight before he hurt him, but then Ari spun on his back and caught
Sev’s legs between his ankles and knocked him down.

He suddenly found himself pinned as Ari jumped on him,
gripped him with both his arms and legs, then heave-hoed Sev across the mat.
Shit! Ari was a strong fucker. Sev's long hair flopped over his face to
disorient him as he crashed into the floor again.

Okay, no more playing games. He hopped up and threw back his
hair as he glared at Ari, who was already up and dancing around on the balls of
his feet like a boxer.

"So, you’ve got some moves of your own, huh?" Sev
said.

"I’m just full of surprises." Arion stopped
hopping from foot-to-foot and walked it off, glowering right back at Sev.

Damn, but Ari looked sexy all pissed off, his brow knitted tightly,
his eyes narrowed and resolute.

Okay, so Sev didn't need to be thinking that way right now,
because it was causing him to get his ass beat. He normally didn't struggle
with hand-to-hand. Maybe he was simply too emotionally vested in this sparring
match to perform. Or maybe it really was that Arion's physical beauty
distracted hm. Whatever the reason, he needed to gather himself.

He tied back his hair with an elastic band and cracked his
neck with a couple of side-to-side flexes.

"I bet you are, and not just on the mat." The
words spat out with more venom than Sev intended.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Ari's frown
deepened, making him look even sexier.

Sev chuffed. "As if you don't know."

"Enlighten me, asshole, because yeah, I
don't
know."
Ari's glare was positively electric by now, all kinds of daggers and knives
shooting from his eyes.

Sev sneered and looked away, not about to answer. Big
mistake, because Ari came at him again. Turning back just in time, Sev avoided
being served a dish of knuckle sandwich and dodged out of the way, shooting his
knee up to gut-check Ari. The air burst from the male's lungs and he doubled
over, coughing as if his diaphragm was in his throat while Sev danced away from
him.

A part of Sev ached watching Arion suffer. It didn't feel
natural beating the guy up like this, and he almost wanted to apologize.
Almost.

"Did your girlfriend teach you how to fight,
Arion?" He walked a semi-circle around Ari, glaring, seething, needing to
let go of all his anguish.

"What? Who…?" Ari was still bent over and looked
up, his face a mix of pain and anger as he coughed again.

Sev reversed direction and paced back the other way.
"You heard me. Did she teach you how to fight while you were fucking
her?" His face screwed up with annoyance.

Arion frowned as he finally righted himself and pulled back.
"What’s your problem, Sev? Huh?"

Sev glowered and sneered. "She was a real class act,
buddy. I love how her hand was surgically attached to your crotch. Did you
enjoy it? Did you like getting your rocks off in the middle of the dance
floor?"

"What the fuck, asshole!" Ari stepped back and his
frown deepened further, casting alluring shadows over his eyes. "You sound
like a jealous boyfriend. I didn’t know my sex life was so important to
you."

"It isn't! Who said it is?" Sev surged forward and
shoved Ari hard, but the male pushed back, knocking Sev’s arms to the side.

"Like hell it isn't! Listen to you. We had one heavy
scene in my kitchen and now my sex life is your business? When you haven't said
two words to me since? What the hell? You fucking hypocrite!"

The two were practically chest-to-chest and nose-to-nose,
tempers flaring, vampire testosterone flowing like rolling lava. Ari's toss-out
about what had happened between them last month caught Sev off guard. So, Ari
hadn't forgotten. He had just chosen to avoid the topic of their brief love
fest on purpose all this time. That shit hurt like a razor gashing his heart.