Nephilius - A Walker Saga Book 5 (33 page)

It was
actually nice to see Colton in such a playful
mood
. He’d been much happier since
finding out about Brace and me. He was happy for his friend, which
made him a keeper in my opinion.

My eyes
stayed locked on Brace’s broad
-shouldered
back as he moved through the Angelica. The damn flip-flopping of
nerves started low in my belly. Crap! I did not want him fighting
again. Bloody stubborn Walkers. Delane should just get her butt to
First World.

I wondered
for a moment how the other girls were going on their
worlds
. No one had checked in yet. So I
guessed they hadn’t found any suspicious energy-gathering
areas.

I
wondered if I should send my tethers out to
check on them, but I was worried that I’d connect to them and
freeze them in a vulnerable position. I’d hate to think that I’d
left them defenseless to an attack or something. Maybe I’d wait for
them to call for me.

I watched as
the Angelica transformed the tournament field into the different
fight squares. The champions from the first day were stepping out
to battle. I could see the field clearly
.
The white-winged Angelica were batting away the mists and using
their powers to halt the freezing winds.

My eyes were
immediately drawn to the tall Walker in the center of the field.
Brace was against a black
-wing, but it
was not Delane. She was to battle a white. The judges were gathered
together, ready to observe the staggered battles again.

At
Steva’s command, the first group began. The rest
of the Angelica either watched the fight or moved in a series of
warm-up exercises. Brace did neither. He stood there looking bored
and spent his time watching me. I could feel his warm
gaze.

L
ucy and Colton came back then,
distracting me. They settled in on either side of me, both reaching
out to touch my arm, offering comfort. Even though Colton thought
it was hilarious, they both knew I was nervous.

I didn’t
have to worry. Brace’s turn to fight came around
. He wore armor but had no weapons. He fought hand to hand,
using the lighter gravity to bounce around and keep pace with the
flying Angelica. It took no more than ten minutes for him to
cold-cock the black in the face and knock him backwards. He
followed this with an elbow to the jaw that knocked the Angelica
unconscious.

He moved to the next round.

In round two
his opponent was a white
-wing. The fight
started with blasts of cold wind that seemed to extend from the
white female’s hands. The ice hit Brace and he moved in slow motion
before freezing to the spot. His arms still lifted in exaggerated
slowness as he fought the chills. The Angelica made her move then,
coming straight in at Brace with a long samurai-looking sword. I
held my breath, my nails digging into my cheeks as I urged Brace to
free himself.

“
Come on,
come on, come on
,” I chanted under my
breath.

Lucy reached
up and removed one of my hands
, before
squeezing it tightly. I didn’t shift my eyes from the fight. My
gasp was lost in the jeers of the crowd when the white-wing swung
her sword in a strong wide arc toward my frozen mate. Colton’s free
hand gripped my shoulder, keeping me from moving. I hadn’t even
realized that I’d started to head onto the field.

Thankfully,
at the last minute
Brace lifted an armored forearm and blocked that first sword
thrust. The Angelica had clearly not expected that. Her arms
dropped, leaving her guard down. Which you should never do with
someone as fast and highly trained as Brace.

The combo of
uppercut, hook and jab knocked winged
-woman to the ground. Brace then removed her sword and,
using the edge of the guard, clipped the white in the temple.
Another round to Brace.

“Why doesn’t he use weapons?” I asked.

“
Trying to
even up the playing field
,” Colton said.
His very icy blue eyes were lit up as he watched all the fighting
going on. “Damn, I should have signed up for this.”

Lucy and I rolled our eyes at each other.
Men. Are. Stupid. That is all.

The fighting continued, and then as if fate
had dictated it – although I was sure it was somehow maneuvered by
the judging panel – the last two left were Delane and Brace.

The field
was cleared of square mist zones, leaving a wide open tournament
area. I was pretty sure every single Angelica stood around us now,
staying in their flocks so splashes of blue, green,
purple and black contrasted with the cloud
world. The white-wings blended in, although their feathered
appendages were shimmery, reflecting off the rays of the sun-cloud
thing that filtered light into their pale blue sky. The way
Nephilius managed to use clouds or variations of them to form a
world was pretty amazing.

In deference
to
Delane’s skills, which were superior
to the other Angelica, Brace now held weapons: two long swords with
thick blades, like those of the knights from the medieval times.
But they had to be much lighter, otherwise two would be damn heavy
to fight with. Even for a Walker.

D
elane held her axes loosely
gripped on either side of her.

It looked
like
Brace and Delane were chatting with
each other. I could make out their lips moving, although from this
distance there was no way to know what was said. Delane smiled
then. Brace returned the grin, and then the fight was
on.

Brace was
the first to move, which might have taken Delane by
surprise
, since I’d noticed during her
battles that generally she was the aggressor, but Brace had her on
the defensive.

I clenched
my hands tightly, sweat beading on my palms despite the freezing
air of Nephilius. Delane was the first one to draw blood, her axe
slicing in between the shoulder and arm pieces of Brace’s
armor
.

His
expression
remained unchanged and I knew
that such a small wound would barely register with him.

The clanging
of weapons was loud across the zone and
I
knew we weren’t the only ones mesmerized by the graceful movements
of these two. It was almost like a dance, the back and forward, the
graceful arc of the weapons. Glints of steal. Sparks of metal on
metal.

Brace
dropped his swords and brought forward two smaller blades that must
have been tucked into his clothes. He was getting in close and
personal now. The follow
ing series of
movements resulted in numerous cuts littering Delane’s arms and
torso.

Brace had a
few injuries
too, but his Walker healing
fixed that up quickly. Delane healed fast also, but nowhere even
close to the speed of Brace’s healing.

The intensity increased as they fought for
supremacy. I was pretty sure that Brace was going easy on the
Angelica, although she was a worthy opponent.

And as I had that thought the fight dynamics
changed.

Brace
started pushing her back toward the edge of the
field
. She seemed to be struggling to
match his blows now. The faster they came the slower she was to
react. I felt some of the tension leave my body, and I sagged
forward a little.

“
Yeah, it’s
pretty much over now
,” Colton said. “I’ve
seen Brace fight a million times. He’s winding up for the
kill.”

I
hope
d he didn’t mean that literally. I
needed my half-Walker in one piece.

And sure
enough
, three movements later Brace had
both of his knives crossed on either side of Delane’s throat. I saw
the resignation on her face; she knew she’d been bested. Someone
needed to tell her, though, that Brace was one of the finest
fighters in the known star system. With hundreds of years of
experience over her. I had no time for a depressed half-Walker on
my hands.

The judges moved into the tournament area
and spoke with Brace and Delane, and then all of them crossed over
to stand just in front of us and the five groups of gathered
flocks.

“We have our champion.” Steva spoke out to
the crowds. “Which only proves to us that the Angelica flocks need
to train harder.”

Okay, they were not real happy about an
outsider beating them.

“
Until next
tournament.” All of the judges spoke the same words. And then they
turned away and left
, each heading toward
their respective flock.

Delane and
Brace moved toward our group
. Many of the
Angelica inclined their heads to us as they too left.

“
Not much of
a ceremony
,” I said as they stopped
before us.

Delane met
my gaze. “We don
’t fight for the trophies
or accolades. We fight for the honor and knowledge that we’re the
best. No ceremonies required.”

Fair enough.

Brace moved
closer to me
, and I couldn’t stop myself
from jumping into his arms. He moved his knives at the last second,
and caught me with ease.

His armor was hard against my body, but I
didn’t care. He looked so hot all dressed up like a warrior.

“
We need to
see the lalunas like yesterday
,” he
muttered, his tone lowering to a growling register.

I laughed. “Yes, as soon as Lucy and Colt’s
mating ceremony is over.”

Pulling away
from the warmth
, I met the steady gaze of
the Nephilius half-Walker. She never indicated whether she found
these romantic relationships uncomfortable to watch. She just took
everything in her stride.

“Are you ready to leave, Delane? Do you need
to grab anything?”

She shook
her head. “The Gaa council is aware of my absence
, and I have bid farewell to Jesile, my training partner.
Other than this I’ll need clothes provided. We manifest our outfits
using the mists and energy.”

“
No
problem
,” I reassured her. “And you can
come back and visit Nephilius if you need.”

She shook
her head. “No, I
’ll stay with you until
we finish this battle. I have no need to return here unless
victorious.”

Right. I’d
forgotten we had warrior
-Walker on our
hands.

“
Well
, let’s head back. I have a
wolf to wed.” Lucy clasped her hands together.

Colton gave
her a look hot enough to melt the paint off a car. Of
course
, in New York most of the
rusted-out cars no longer had paint but the analogy still
worked.

We moved
away from the dispersing crowds
. Angelica
were taking to the sky in masses of huge winged flocks. It was
quite spectacular. I forced my gaze from the air to follow Delane.
She showed us an out-of-the-way spot to open a doorway. Brace shed
his armor before stepping inside.

“
Can you
contact the girls for me? I want them all there
,” Lucy said just before we followed them into the
doorway.

I couldn’t reply inside the vacuum, but I
gave her a nod.

I’d just
tether to them really briefly.
I hoped
that way I wouldn’t get them into a dangerous situation.

When we
stepped out of the other side onto the grassed area, I scanned the
front of the house
, hoping we wouldn’t
see any of the ceremony setup yet. I wanted it to be a surprise for
Lucy. Thankfully everything looked the same.

“I’ll let the girls know now, Luce. Can you
take Delane inside and get Lallielle to find her a room?”

“
No problem,
Abbs. And I’ll see your butt inside soon
.
I need some help finding a dress. For you and me,” she
warned.

I screwed up
my nose. Truthfully I was both excited and dreading this ceremony.
Tucking her pixie wings away
, Lucy gave
me a kiss on the cheek before leading the serious-faced warrior
away. Colton, as always, stayed close to his girl.

“You can go check on Abernath … if you want
to.” I smiled at Brace.

“I don’t want.” He grinned lazily. “Mom and
Caty are keeping me updated.”

I smiled,
but my insides turned over in flip
-flopping motions. “Did you tell them about how I broke our
melding bond?” His mom already had her evil eyes on me. She was
going to hate me after hearing that.

“The decisions we make are no one else’s
business. I’ve told them you’re my true mate, which they’re very
happy about … especially Caty.”

“But it was a decision I made on my own.” I
lowered my eyes, that burning ball of emotion rising from my chest
again. I fought it down before it reached my eyes and they started
leaking again.

One finger lifted my chin, and thankfully my
eyes were dry. “There is no you or I. Only we. Your decisions are
my decisions.”

That right there was the reason I should
have trusted Brace in the first place.

I cleared my
throat
, wanting to lighten the mood. “So
you’re saying that if you stuff up, that’s also mine?”