Made By Design (Blood Bound Series Book 2) (26 page)

White light shot through the opening, taking my vision away as calloused hands found my waist. “Heard you coming. We’ll need to work on that. But not today.” Ty’s hot lips brushed over mine. “Welcome to my training room.”

My sight adjusted to the glow pouring off the multiple domed lights strung from ceiling beams. The room was big, square, and underground. Divots marked the wooden floors and there were darker stained patches.

Across the room my brother sat against the wall with a silly smile on his face. Beside him was Vanessa, dressed in black leather pants and a tight vest. They weren’t quite touching, but Dorian glanced sideways at her slowly and obviously before standing up. “Great, you’re here.” He raised a brow at Ty, looking impatient. “Now can we get started?”

“Hey, Amelia,” Vanessa called before smiling at my brother. “Don’t see why not.”

“Get started on what?” I asked, feeling nervous.

Ty cupped my shoulders and spun me to the back wall. My jaw fell open while tingles rippled down my back. The wall was strung with weapons. So many that you could barely see the white of the wall behind them. There were axes, picks, mallets, machetes, and a bunch of other items I didn’t know the names to. Every weapon was silver, or at least tipped with the metal. Their surfaces glinted against the light, promising pain. A sparkling assortment in deadly sharp proportions. I’d known I was going to see his training room, but I hadn’t expected this. This was the room Ty had been taught to fight in. The room where he’d learned to deflect the attacks of these very weapons at the hands of his father. It was also where he’d perfected wielding them himself.

Without thought my hand traveled up the many rough scars across Ty’s arm. I cringed. The same scars covered his entire body. After seeing Ty transform in the forest, I’d guessed some of them had come from his bones splitting through his flesh. But the others? They had to be the result of constant years of war-like training. In many ways it was barbaric. Still, I wanted to hear it from Ty.

I traced one of the larger scars across his forearm. “Your scars…they were inflicted by these weapons? By your own father?”

Ty shrugged. His expression was flat. “The training has to be brutal. It has to be real. Fighting for fun with fake weapons will only get you killed in the field.”

Imagining Ty as a boy, fending off weapons and battle strikes from his solid-built father seemed like abuse. Still, I could understand why it was done, and why it was necessary. If not for Ty’s combat ability, the attacker on the cruise may have killed us both.

I exchanged a look with Dorian who seemed to be waiting for something in between watching Vanessa. They both came up beside us and Ty nudged me closer to the wall.

“Oh, shit,” I said. “Don’t tell me—”

“That we’re training with weapons!” The excitement in Dorian’s voice peaked. “Which one’s mine?”

Vanessa clinked forward in black stiletto boots and unhinged a bow from the wall. “It’s one of my favorites.” She directed him to the other side of the room, and slid a target with a painted bull’s-eye out from between a gap in the wall. “Target practice first.”

“What do you like?” Ty breathed against my neck, his chest grazing my back.

I shivered and imagined his hot, broad hands touching places on my body that were hidden by clothes. An emotional spike struck my chest and I abandoned the fantasy. Kendrick wasn’t here, but he was still in my head. I pulled up my blocks the best I could, and glanced back at the wall of weaponry. Dorian and I were here to train, not fool around.

I studied each weapon. All the knives, machetes, and axes looked so deadly…and messy. I couldn’t imagine having to use them on any living, or non-living thing. It was too gruesome and violent. The spiked mallets and other pulverizing weapons made my stomach drop. But then I saw—

“What about this?” I ran my fingers along the links of an iron chain.

“Thought that might be your style.” Ty went to the wall, but didn’t grab the chain. Instead he removed a shiny silver ring that was as big as my skull. I almost wondered if Ty was secretly into magic tricks until he uncoiled the thing. “This packs a bigger punch than any chain.”

Entirely made of silver, it unraveled into a long, flexible whip. This was a serious and lethal weapon. I gulped when Ty cracked it out in the air. The ripple forced countless, inch-long, silver spikes to jut out.

“I—I don’t think—” I stopped speaking as Ty curled my shaking hand around the silver handle. The whip was heavy, but not too heavy, and the way it sat in my grasp just felt…right. It was like this weapon had been forged personally for me. “Wow,” I breathed, any other words lost to me.

Ty smiled, looking a little unsure. “I know I’ve been tough on you, and I know Kendrick thinks I get off on it. But I don’t. I needed to push you to see your strengths. So when I saw how quick you were with your hands…I got the whip made. Its length, width, links, and weight are customized to fit you.”

Warmth coated my heart and dyed my cheeks. “Ty, I—I don’t know what to say.”

“Say you’ll use it.”

I curled the whip back up, amazed at how the spikes fell flat before coming in contact with my hand. “How do I start?”

Ty pulled a bunch of target dummies out from a chest against the wall, and got to work stringing the human-shaped sacks from the ceiling beams. I peeked over at Dorian and Vanessa, wondering how his weapon of choice was working out. Right now Vanessa was standing next to him, her arm around his back and positioning his hold on the bow. There was a look on his face that I’d seen many times before. The one that meant he wanted to strip off her leather pants and have some fun.

I was almost about to warn Vanessa when Ty stepped in front of me. “All ready.”

Wanting to test out my new arm-extension, I decided to leave the warning for later.

Ty was with me the whole way, barking pointers and tips to get the whip to do what I wanted. Time and time again the whip struck its targets, curling around limbs, torsos, and necks. A good hour later my targets were shredded. Sawdust piles—their stuffing—littered the floor and coated my sweaty tank and leggings.

Propped against the wall, Ty smiled. “Good job.”

I smiled back. “Got any more dummies?”

Ty’s smile changed, holding a hint of mischief as he shook his head. “Let’s move on to the next step.”

Before I could question what the next step was, Dorian and Vanessa strode over.

Dorian kicked at a heap of sawdust. “I’m gonna bounce. Got stuff to do, people to see.”

“Yeah, I’ve gotta go too,” Vanessa said, gaze not meeting ours but shifting to the exit door. “Experiments and study to catch up on, you know.”

I shot a hard look at Dorian that said,
don’t even try it,
as he backed up to the door after Vanessa.

“Later Sis, Malau.”

As the door closed I asked Ty, “The next step?”

Ty moved to an area that wasn’t covered with sawdust and removed his shirt. “Moving target practice.”

Eyes transfixed on his sculpted chest, I stared. With Kendrick locked out of my mind, we were finally alone. If I could just touch—then his words registered. “Hold on. You want me to attack you?” I lifted the coiled whip. “With this? Ty, no. What if I hurt you?”

“Then I’ll have trained you well enough to be able to stay alive and defeat an opponent.” He came forward, arms pulling me close and lips pressing against my forehead. “Then I won’t have to be as terrified every minute I’m not there to protect you.”

Touched, I rose on my toes and captured his lips for a short, hot kiss. The temptation to stay was there, to distract him from our training. But Ty was right. “Be careful.”

Ty released me and backed up. “Don’t hold back.”

I squared my shoulders and let the whip roll out, ignoring the clenching of my gut. Ty’s stance was centered, his focus sharp, waiting for my strike. With a deep, dreadful breath, I flicked my wrist. The silver length strung out into the air at Ty’s arm. I winced, but he ducked at the last second, evading its curling spikes. I struck out again, this time at his shin. Again I missed, hitting air as he launched six feet into the air. The next move was a sweeper, gliding fast as light to trap his torso. Ty evaded the needle-like tip, back rolling out of its path.

The strikes and dodges continued on. After what felt like hours my arm began to ache, and Ty’s chest was slick with sweat and his face was red.

I reined in what little stamina I had left and compiled the moves I’d learned. The ebbing energy and growing fatigue made my attempts less precise, more desperate, and erratically faster. When my whole body started burning with exhaustion, I picked my last moves. Quick curl-out above the chest. Missed. Backward sweep for the waist. Missed. And wrist flick for the—

The whip met its mark, curling around Ty’s leg, spikes embedding in his shin.

He fell backward and I rushed over. “Shit. Oh shit!” Red torrents leaked from the numerous holes now plugged by silver in his leg. “What do I do?
Shit
. Tell me what to do!”

Ty leaned up on his elbows, pain tightening his muscles and…smiling? “Calm down first,” he said. “Believe me, these are just scratches. I’ve had much worse. Now twist the handle, jiggle, and pull back.”

“Ty, no. It’ll—”

“It’s the same thing you did with the dummies.” His voice was so calm, reasonable. “If you can’t do this, you’ll lose your weapon in battle. Plus taking it out myself will tear open the holes even more.”

The panic left me with a rush of instant calm. Adrenaline faded while the smell of his dripping blood onto the wooden floor soared. I bit my lip and held my breath, twisting the whip’s handle. A jiggle and a tug freed every spike from Ty’s shin. The whip recoiled into a tight hoop in my hand. Now unplugged, scarlet poured from the punctures, streaming down Ty’s leg. Fresh desire pumped through my veins, speeding faster with my bloodlust.

“Hold it back,” Ty spoke without concern. His eyes caught my wild ones, burning with total belief. “You
can
control it.”

Repeating
control it
over and over, I stared as the leaking blood began to slow. My mouth watered and my fangs ached, but I wouldn’t give in. As the last drops fell, the holes closed over, crystallizing with scabs that smoothed to pink fleshy spots.

As I stared at his leg and the pool of scarlet beneath it, Ty moved to kneel before me. His irises glowed as he curled his fingers around the back of my neck. “You did it.”

Overwhelmed by my achievement and the still-lingering aroma of Ty’s spilled blood, my body took over. I flattened Ty against the wooden floor and leapt on top of him, bloodlust warping into desperate desire. His breath sucked in as my hands ran along the outline of his chest, my nails digging in just a little. I took a deep breath and let his scent fill my lungs. With the mental blocks reinforced in my head, I threaded my hands through his sleek hair and lifted his face up to mine. Met with hunger, his lips slanted across mine, over and over. His hands captured my hips, pulling me closer. Our tongues slid against each other and any space between us was lost. The scent of desire rose from both our bodies.

And still my bond blocking held. I lowered my hands, wanting to remove the material separating us. Wanting to see how far we could get this time. My fingers grazed the hem of my dirty, purple tank…

Then the door to the training room swung open.

Mr. Malau strode in, eyes registering me and turning incredulous. “Get. Up.”

I scrambled off Ty, my face ablaze and my heart smashing against my ribs.

Ty sighed through uneven breath and leaned back on his elbows. “Father. You’re back early.”

The pissed off alpha let his glare slide from me, taking in the mess of sawdust and blood before narrowing at his son. “You’re training her.” It wasn’t a question, and was spoken like an accusation.

Ty answered anyway. “I want to know she can protect herself.” There was challenge in both their faces, but neither said any more on the matter. Instead Ty asked, “So, you have news?”

Mr. Malau’s jaw clenched, a muscle ticking in his cheek. “There’s been another one in Anchorage.”

Ty jumped up, dusting off his hands. “Same location?” He pulled me up and smiled. Then he nodded at his father. “I’ll make the arrangements straight away.”

My brain raced with confusion, my lips speaking past the shock of Ty’s father walking in on us. “What’s going on? What arrangements? And another what?”

Mr. Malau’s eyebrows lifted at me. “Nosey. Aren’t you.” His gaze narrowed and he
huffed
. “Since my trusting son’s going to tell you anyway… There’s been another rogue murder in Anchorage. Near the club you tried your luck at.”

My gaze fell to my dust-caked Vans, my stomach twisting. Ty’s father was referring to the time I’d almost killed a human. The first time I’d met Ty when he’d stopped my kill. Back then he’d thought I was the killer they were after. After that, his hunting expeditions had been to take out any acting rogue vampires. So he must have found and killed the one in Anchorage, right? “Does that mean there’s a new rogue vampire?”

Ty ran a hand through his dusty hair. “Maybe. I’m not sure. We put down one in Anchorage back then. But there have still been victims, and the numbers are growing. The last time we interrupted two attacking one girl. One got away.”

Imagining two blood-hungry monsters chowing down on a poor innocent girl brought acid to the back of my throat. “So what happens now?”

“I’ll go on recon?” Ty said. At my confused look he explained. “Check out the victim and murder scene. See what clues were left behind.”

Like a menacing hulk Mr. Malau strode forward, his golden eyes sparkling dangerously. Ty blocked my body with his, a warning growl rumbling from this throat. My hand tightened on my whip.

Mr. Malau laughed, seeing the weapon. He sniffed the air. “You may have spilled my son’s blood, but I’ve got decades on him.” Ty growled louder as his father came closer, eying his son. “Stand down, before I knock some respect into you.” When there was no movement he almost smiled. “Strong and fearless. I’ve trained you well.” The older version of Ty slid his gaze my way, the expression on his face devious at best. “Since you, vampire, insist on remaining in my son’s life, you may as well experience our world. Our lives.”