Lone Wolf Rising (Paranormal Romantic Thriller) (The Winters Series) (15 page)

Thankfully, he made the turn into his subdivision rather quickly after they crossed the city line.  He scanned a card at the wrought iron gate which opened with great speed.  A few turns later she was standing outside his family home.  It looked more like an estate.  An elegant fountain
of angels graced the front yard which was perfectly landscaped.  The house was at least three times the size of her own.

The inside was just as spectacular.  The floors were marble,
the walls looked like stone, and the décor was ancient.  Rebecca was afraid to touch anything.  It was like stepping into a museum.  “Nice house.”

Lucky shrugged, “it’s been in the family for generations.  But it serves its purpose.  Hungry?”

“Yes!  Famished.”  She followed him into the kitchen, which looked more like stainless steel restaurant kitchen.  “How many people live here?”

“Right now?”  He started pulling things out of the fridge.  “Just my mother and I.  I have an older brother and sister but they
’re away at college right now.”

Rebecca raised her eyebrows and started helping him make the green tea.  “It’s an awfully large house.”

“Agreed, but there is no way my mother will sell it.  It has too much family history, not to mention it really suits our needs.”  He grinned when the toast popped up and placed them on a plate.     

Breakfast was not a large meal; toast and tea without her usual honey fix.
  She argued the importance of honey to Lucky and how it helped control allergies, but he was not hearing or allowing her to make excuses.  She was on his time and she was expected to follow his strict diet. 

She was only allowed to pout for a few minutes before he picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder and carried her down to the basement of his house.
  The action knocked the breath out of Rebecca and then made her irritable, which did not help her mood. 

Her wolf was literally snarling in her mind.
 

She insisted he put her down and he tossed her unceremoniously onto the blue sparring mat that took up a good portion of the room.
 

When she
stopped seeing red she focused on her new surroundings.  Daddy had always said to
‘be aware of what is around you’
and this seemed like a good time to do just that.  The basement was the largest
she had ever seen.  Half of it was covered in the mat that upon closer inspection revealed drops of dried blood, most likely from other training sessions.  She wondered how much of that blood was Lucky's and how much would be hers before they were done.

Her eyes were drawn to the walls; all four of them were covered with weapons from various periods of times in history.
  Guns, cross bows, and throwing stars were on one wall.  Swords, long bamboo sticks, and daggers filled another wall with shields and what looked like a family crest.  It was red and gold checkered.  The black shaded design in the center showed a man holding a sword drawn, ready to attack, and a trumpet in the other hand.  She loved history and had seen enough family crests to recognize that this was one of them.  One day she’d have to ask him about his own family heritage.

In between the sword wall and the random weapons wall she caught sight of a punching bag and two
practice dummies; one made of wood pegs and the other had the shape of a stuffed human
.
  The third wall was made up of weights and exercise equipment. 

"Heads up!"
  Lucky tossed a long bamboo stick in her direction which she easily caught.  He flashed a smile
 
which said he was impressed and then took a fighting stance on the blood stained mat across from her.  "Fight training begins now."  He lunged at her and she easily dodged
his advance.
 
Soon she realized this was a practice shot as his aim got more impressive and speedier with each lunge.  Instead of getting a chance to attack back with the stick; which she assumed was to take the place of a sword, she wound up having her hands full simply dodging and blocking his advances.  If she was being honest, her agility and ability to dodge had to come from the wolf, because she never possessed this skill before.

After about ten minutes of blocking she made her first mistake; she took her eyes off of him to wipe the sweat from her face.
  He took that opportunity to swing low and knock her feet out from underneath her.  She flew backwards, proving gravity does exist, and fell flat on her back, knocking the wind out of her once again.  Before she could gather her reserves he was on top of her, straddling her hips.  In other situations this position may have been enticing, but that was not the case at this very moment.  His eyes were dark and deadly when he crossed both bamboo sticks around her neck like a pair of scissors. 

"With one swift motion you’re dead."
  He said coldly.  "That’s if you hadn't already bled to death from the silver sword I used to weaken you during the battle."

"Only mortal wounds with silver can kill a werewolf."
  She countered his brutal honesty with a piece of her own.

He pulled the ankle dagger out of its holster and sliced into her hand.
  She felt the sting of the knife cutting through the skin as easy as butter.  Blood pooled around the wound and showed no sign of healing.

"Silver slows your super healing abilities."
  The cut on her hand continued to bleed, not heal as quickly as before which only served to reinforce his demonstration.

Then, just as suddenly, he stood up and waited for her to join him.
  "Point received."  Rebecca grumbled as she made quick work of returning to a standing position.  He tossed her the bamboo stick again and went on the attack forcing her to go on the defense.  "Can't we take a short break?"  She whined, which really was unbecoming as she blocked a swing that promised to hit her straight across the face.

"Your enemies won’t be giving you a break, and neither will I during training."
  He made his point when his stick knocked her sharply against the outer thigh.  During the training she couldn’t silence her wolf from snide comments, growls and snarls.  The wolf was making it clear she didn’t like Lucky one bit.  They sparred all morning and only took a break when his mother came downstairs to gather them for lunch. 

"Not yet, mother."
  He forced the words out between clenched teeth as he attacked and Rebecca continued to counter.

"Lucian."
  Josephine’s voice held a warning.  She stood on the outside of the mat; arms crossed over her chest, and raised her black eyebrow.  The ice cold stare was enough to give Rebecca the shivers and he quickly finished their match so they could join her for lunch.

Rebecca
 had no idea Josephine
,
the head of the Protectors, was Lucky’s mother.  Their coloring was like night and day.  She was dark haired with pale skin and he was light haired with tanned skin.  However, once Rebecca learned this she recognized similarities between the two.  They were both long and lean; solid muscle moved effortlessly under their skin when they moved.  Her black curls were shaped the same as his blonde ones.  Her eyes were more gold and less amber which was the opposite of Lucky’s.  But the real sign they were related was in their smiles.  She had just as many smiles as her son and when they used the same ones they looked like mirror images; similar to those shared by Savvy and Rebecca.

Lunch was far more
filling than breakfast; a hearty soup, large salad, and roast beef sandwich.
 
Rebecca had no idea how hungry she was until she sat down to eat and her stomach grumbled its thanks.  It almost made her forget how angry she was at Lucky for the brutality of the session
.

Her wolf on the other hand could care less about the lunch; she was furious and pulled no punches.  The wolf’s anger bled back into Rebecca’s emotional state.

"How was your first day of training, Becca?"  Josephina asked before taking a bite of her salad.

Rebecca managed a sigh, mostly an attempt to keep the rolling waves of anger under control.
  "I learned a lot."

"Like what?"
 Josephine asked after she swallowed another bite and wiped her lips with a cloth napkin.  The look in her eyes seemed genuinely interested.

"Primarily that I’m not as tough as
I thought I was."  Rebecca
 
took a large bite of her sandwich. 

"That is a hard lesson, but a very important one."
  She slid a look of approval toward her son.

The comment only added wood to the burning fire inside her.
  "However, your technique could use a little work."  Rebecca took another bite of her sandwich, thankful to have the distraction of hunger to keep her temper in check.  The wolf in her body hated the way she was beaten at every turn during their morning training.

"How is that?"
  Lucky asked, curiosity and warning played in his eyes.

"Well,"
 Rebecca took a deep breath.  "It occurs to me that knocking a girl down and killing her fifteen times in four hours isn’t very motivating
."

"You were very motivated to get up and fight back."
  Lucky took a bite of his own sandwich.

"Fifteen times… that’s disappointing
, Lucky."  Josephine chided him.

Rebecca felt a moment of gratification.
  But it was short-lived.

"I didn’t go easy on her, mother.  She is very adept and learns quite fast.
  Each time she got back up she improved."  Lucky set his fork down.

"Wait
, you expected to hear the number was higher?"  Rebecca suddenly lost her appetite and pushed her plate forward.

"For an
 inexperienced new wolf, yes.  I expected that number to be much higher.
" 
She placed her fork down beside her salad.  "You have to understand, Becca, this is a diff..."

"If one more person tells me this is a different world we live in
, I am going to scream!"  Rebecca exploded from her seat.  The hunger pains were gone.  The wolf’s ego was in control now.

She was not stupid, despite what everyone seemed to think.  Naïve, maybe, but she was not an idiot.  She was scared, worried, and always living in a level of fear that eclipsed every decision she made.  She was also tired of being told, over and over again, that this was a different world.  She has figured that out already.
    

Josephine rose from her seat but kept her voice even and smooth.
  "Lucky is trying to help get you prepared for this world.  Your entire pack was annihilated only a few days ago.  You became a wolf only two days ago.  You’ve made it clear you want no protection which is rather insane if you ask me, but we’re doing our best to respect those wishes.
" 

Her
logic was infallible which only pricked Rebecca’s ego more.  She felt angry tears sting her eyes.  Frustrated that she could hardly argue the point she lashed out in another way.  "Then respect my wishes and stay far away from me."  She did not mean the words; they just flew out of her mouth like birds from a disturbed tree.  But now that the words were out, she needed to leave.  So she did.

Rebecca heard the scrape of a chair across the floor as she slammed the door behind her
.  Reality made her realize the fault in her attempt to storm out with purpose.  Her phone, hoodie, and ride were still in the basement training room.  She had no car, no way to call Savvy
 
to pick her up, and two suburbs to walk before she was home.  This only served to put out the fiery embers of anger in her blood.  She really needed to find a way to control this new part of her.  The wolf seemed to get her into more tough spots than out of them.  “
Now look at the mess you got us in to
.”  She hissed at her wolf.

'I told you to take your own car.  Now you have no choice but to go back and get your things.
'  She pouted and Rebecca imagined she was licking her wounds.

She now understood, more than ever before, the statement
'pride comes before the fall
.'  There was no way in hell she was going back.  With no other option she decided to start walking. 

After only a few blocks a black escalade pulled up beside her.
  "Do you need a ride?"