Phoenix (3 page)

Yeah, I need at least a full hour.

A mental snort found its way into a slight smile on her face at the thought.

To her relief and dismay, Uriel took that as a cue to get up. He pushed himself easily to his knees and then managed to hop straight to his feet. Slowly he bent over and offered his arm.

“Thank you,” she said sweetly as he hauled her to her feet as if she weighed no more than a feather. At a little over six feet in height, it wasn’t something that she was used to. More often than not Sydney had felt awkward about her height, especially considering she wasn’t some lean basketball or volleyball player like everyone who met her assumed she was supposed to be.

Perhaps it was because next to Uriel, she was still tiny. The big, barrel-chested shifter likely didn’t feel small next to anyone. He was one of the biggest she’d ever seen, easily over six and a half feet, with muscular proportions to match.

“Yes?” he asked politely.

It was then that Sydney realized she had been staring at him, effectively drooling over his body while he was standing in front of her. She needed to do something. Focus! That was it. Focus on what she was supposed to be helping him with. Blinking rapidly, she shook her head slightly and then focused back on him, doing her best to maintain her concentration this time.

“Right. Let me show you some hand exercises to help increase your strength. You said you were originally right-handed, correct?”

He nodded and followed her over to the table near the storage unit.

“Place your palm on the table,” she ordered, opening the storage unit again and grabbing something from it.

“Okay, this exercise is simple. Lift your index finger while the others stay flat.”

He did as she commanded.

“Okay, hold for five seconds. Put it down. Now your middle finger.”

The next finger rose from the black surface.

“Do each finger down to the pinkie. Then do the pinkie again and go back through them to the index. Each there and back is a cycle. Do three to five cycles at a time.”

He nodded and focused on his hand, forcing it to obey. It was clear that he didn’t have as much control over it as he likely would have had with his strong hand. The index finger lifted easily, but the rest needed work.

“Okay,” she said with a nod as he followed her directions until he had repeated it three times. “This is a squeeze ball. Squeeze as hard as you can for ten seconds. Wait ten seconds, repeat. Do that for two to three minutes
after
you do the first drill.”

Uriel indicated his understanding, though he was still focused on the first drill. She turned back to the storage unit, grabbing one last thing before she closed it.

“And this is a bouncy ball,” she said as he grabbed the first ball and began to squeeze it, following her directions.

“A bouncy ball?” he asked sarcastically. “I’m not sure I’m in fifth grade again, Doc.”

She smiled. “In fifth grade you had two arms. Now you have one. It changes everything. You still know the basics, but now you have to rely on your mobility to help you. So you also need to change your stance.”

That got his attention, she noted.

“The game is to bounce it off a vertical wall and catch it. Instead of standing like this,” she said, adopting a straight-on approach to the wall in front of her, “you need to stand like this.” Sydney turned sideways, so that her left arm was closer to the wall.

“The entire time?” he asked.

“Only after you throw the ball, while you’re waiting for it to bounce. So with your follow-through on the ball toss, you’ll end up in this position. The point is to teach your body new reactions, on how to adapt to having only the one arm for use. It’s going to be tough because you’ve gone—what, thirty years?—without having to relearn things like this.”

“Ouch,” Uriel said, clutching at his chest as if she had shot him. “I won’t be thirty for a few more months, Doc!”

Sydney had finally slipped back into her professional demeanor, ignoring what had happened each time she touched Uriel’s skin. The giggle that slipped out of her mouth at his last comment undid everything.

Oh shit.
The distance between them had evaporated without her even realizing it. All of a sudden he was there, right in front of her. Their eyes locked, and Sydney realized that everything about the situation screamed at her to kiss him.

“Miss Hightower?”

The call came from her adjoining office.

Oh thank God.

She gave Uriel a slight grimace, letting him hopefully know that she wasn’t completely against the idea of what might have just happened, and then fled the room. She needed more time to decide if this was what she wanted to do. She was at the point in her life where she could give in to the burn for a night and enjoy time with Uriel without feeling terrible about herself.

Two things held her back. First, she didn’t want to be labeled a shifter groupie, because that’s what usually happened to women who only slept with a shifter once. That was a minor factor since she lived in a small town densely populated with shifters. It was much more widely accepted here. Second, and more importantly, she knew that shifters had two settings: one-night stands, or mates for life. There was no in-between. No yearlong relationship and then fade apart. It was black and white with absolutely zero shades of gray.

Having seen shifter groupies and shifter mates before, the intensity of what she felt when touching Uriel told her that he likely did not see her as an object to use for the evening.

Assuming he’s getting electrocuted every time you touch him as well.

Assuming that. There had been enough awkward pauses between the two in the short period of time already that Sydney didn’t doubt that.

Walking through the door, she saw another woman wearing the ubiquitous white coat that all the medical staff at LMC wore, doctor or not.

“Hey Courtenay!” she exclaimed. Courtenay Laurel was her closest work friend and Sydney was always glad to see her stop by. Courtenay was the resident doctor/surgeon/whatever was required of her. Sydney had rarely seen a better jack-of-all-trades, especially where people’s health was concerned. Although she admired her friend greatly for what she could do, there was no way in hell Sydney wanted to wear that many hats.

“Is everything okay?” Courtenay asked with concern, peering through the door into the equipment room. “I heard a big thud.”

Sydney opened her mouth to reply, but a deep, calm voice filled the room before she could say anything.

“That would be my fault, Miss Laurel,” Uriel said, stepping through the door. “I’m a bit clumsier than I used to be,” he said wryly with a glance at where his arm used to be.

“Uriel! Good to see you in here,” Courtenay said. They all heard the unspoken “finally” she had left out.

It was true. Sydney had heard of Uriel’s injury and had wondered if she would see him in her office. She frowned, berating herself at the fact that Uriel had been injured two weeks ago and she hadn’t looked into exercises to help him. No excuses there.

She didn’t focus on that for long however, because the stab of jealousy at their familiarity caught her so off guard she didn’t know what to say. She actually caught herself baring her teeth slightly, then forcing her lips back together. There was nothing she could do to prevent them from compressing into a thin line, however. Sydney shook her head, trying to clear her mind of the distraction. It was harder than it should have been but she managed to overcome it.

Courtenay glanced over her shoulder and back out into the hallway, listening to someone else. Then she looked back inside, rolling her eyes. “I have to go, another boo-boo to patch up,” she said dramatically and then exited the office.

A large form came up to stand next to her. “I should probably be going as well,” Uriel said. “This was a rather unplanned visit, and I still have work I need to get done today.”

She wanted to protest, but he kept speaking.

“I’m going to come back tomorrow though. How long should I set aside?” he asked earnestly.

“An hour should be good,” she told him, feeling embarrassed at her initial reaction to his planned departure. “Around eleven?”

“Tomorrow at eleven sharp,” he said with a smile that set his blue eyes ablaze with delight.

The moment the frosted glass door closed behind him she exhaled heavily. Though he had only been with her for perhaps half an hour, it had been so tension-laden that she felt exhausted from the experience. Sydney had some research to do though, and she sat down to try and focus on it.

Tomorrow is going to be fun
.

Uriel

“How did your session go today?” Raphael asked.

“Solid,” Uriel replied, stowing his gear in the locker in front of him.

It was the end of the day for him, but Raphael’s was just beginning. With Uriel out of the lineup and a dozen Sentinel bears still in training, the two remaining shifters had been working extra hard to ensure everything got accomplished. Uriel helped where he could of course, but it was limited to teaching, and besides putting them through drills, he hadn’t been very useful there either. He was working to change that though, and hoped to be able to make a difference sooner rather than later. Being pitied was getting really old.

“Good, I’m glad to hear it.” There was the distinct sound of relief in his friend’s voice.

“Me too,” he said wryly. “Damn, you should have seen how pathetic I was yesterday. I couldn’t even balance on one damn leg!”

“Really?” Raphael turned to face him.

“Really. It was atrocious. I fell forward and slammed my head off the chair the first time I tried it. Then later I was doing an exercise and got too overconfident and almost squished the doc.” He shook his head, embarrassed with himself.

Raphael laughed, but the smile on his face dispelled any of insult from Uriel. He had to admit, if it had happened to one of the others, he would have found it hilarious.

“You’re smart and driven Uri. You’ll make big strides quickly I’m sure,” Raphael said, using the short form of his name.

“I hope so. I’m still pissed at how easily Nash’s goons overwhelmed me at the cabin. Though, now that I think back to it, I thought I tripped and fell over something. But I bet you it was me losing my balance. After that... well, I was helpless. I spent a long time trying to figure out what piece of furniture had it out for me. Turns out it was myself,” he said with a shrug.

“Where you off to now?” Raphael asked as Uriel finished stowing his gear and headed for the door.

“To make another mistake,” he said cryptically and left.

A mistake is right. What the hell are you thinking?

He was remembering the way his body had been shocked down to the soles of his feet the first time his hand had made accidental contact with Sydney. He was remembering the overwhelming desire to kiss her after he had almost fallen on her. Lying on the floor next to her, he had almost given in, almost leaned forward to press his lips against hers.

Logic told him he needed to get to know her a little better before doing that. Which is where he was going today.

No, you’re going to make a fool of yourself when she rejects your dumb ass for being creepy.

Uriel and his inner voice weren’t on the best of terms at the moment. It was going to owe him a big apology if Sydney says yes to his request.

And if she says no?

I’m going to drown your annoying voice in beer, now shut up.

Shaking his head, he concentrated on the present, following the winding halls into the underground portion of the mansion. The building was large on its own, but much of the mountain underneath it had been dug out to make space for additional rooms and offices. The tunnels extended well into the mountain as well, though many of those tunnels were off-limits to the normal employees. Deep in the mountain was where they stored the Dragon Stones. Nobody was to be allowed in there except for the Kedyns or the Stone Bears. Not even the new Sentinels were given access.

Which was probably a good thing, considering they were fairly positive there was at least one spy among them. Nash had revealed most of his men by making use of them, but he was a crafty bastard, and his boss was even more cunning. They knew there would be at least one mole still planted within the organization. The three Stone Bears had been evaluating their remaining trainees, trying to figure out who it was. So far, they had had no luck.

Medical.

The sign flashed above him, letting him know he was entering the medical wing. His steps faltered briefly, but momentum kept him going until he was able to push through the sudden bout of nerves.

S. Hightower – Physiotherapist

The sign on her door loomed large in front of him. Lights were still on, which meant that she was still in the office. His nerves screamed at him, but he didn’t want a repeat of last time, so his fist rose and knocked swiftly and as confidently as he could manage it.

“Come in,” he heard through the glass.

Swallowing hard as he tried to remove the lump that had formed suddenly in his throat, he pushed open the door and stepped inside.

“Uriel,” she said with surprise. He watched with muted amusement as she scrambled quickly to clean up some of the mess of papers scattered around her desk.

“Hey,” he said lamely, then shook his head. No, if he wanted this to happen, he was going to have to do so without being a little boy about it. “Sorry to bug you again so soon,” he said, flashing her his best charming smile.

“It’s not a problem,” she said, bowing her head slightly.

Had she just batted her eyes at him? He thought so, but he wasn’t positive.

“Listen, I know this might seem crazy, but I was wondering if I could see you again.”

She froze, then frowned. “I thought we already agreed on tomorrow at the same time?”

Idiot. She thinks you mean for another appointment. Be clearer with her! Don’t be stupid again.

“I’d like to see you outside of the office,” he told her, trying to keep his voice level.

Unfortunately it came out sounding rather robotic. Either Sydney didn’t notice, or the actual words and not the tone he had spoken them in had gotten through to her. He didn’t much care which, as long as she didn’t laugh at him.

“What did you have in mind?” she asked nervously.

“Can I take you for coffee?” he suggested.

Sydney seemed to think about it for a moment. Then she frowned, and he felt his spirits begin to plummet.

“I actually have to get home and take my dog for a walk,” she said slowly, as if considering each word she was saying. “Care to join me for that? I know it sounds silly,” she said with a laugh, “but he stays cooped up all day!”

“You have a dog? In Genesis Valley?” He was surprised. Most people were terrified of having pets in the town. They feared the shifters would eat them, or kill them out of spite.

Shifters were loath to kill any animal. But no matter how much they tried to assuage the townsfolk, very few of them bought in to the idea. The fact that Sydney would bring her little Chihuahua or lapdog with her was astounding. She must be braver than he thought.

“Yeah, he’s just a big wuss though, so I don’t have to worry about him going anywhere or getting lost. Likes to stay at home, curled up in my lap on the couch,” she said with a loving smile.

Clearly she cared for her dog a lot.

“I happen to love dogs,” he said truthfully. “I’d be more than happy to accompany you. I don’t get the chance to see many here.”

A walk around the block was less than what he had hoped for, but perhaps she would invite him in after, or he could convince her to go to the café in town for a hot chocolate after a walk in the cold. Who knew? Either way, Uriel was happy just to spend some time with her.

“Follow me home then?” she said, stacking some of the papers on her desk and shutting down her computer.

“As long as you promise that it’s not as creepy as you just made it sound,” he joked.

“That depends,” she replied seriously.

“On what?” he asked suspiciously.

“On how Bruce reacts to you.”

He frowned. “Bruce?”

“My dog,” she teased. “He’s man of the house. He’ll let me know if you’re a creep or not.”

Uriel laughed. “It’s a deal then. Oh, by the way, can we stop at a pet store on the way? I need to buy something to bribe him with.”

Sydney giggled as she followed him out of the office, killing the lights on the way.

“Do you need to go grab your stuff?” she asked, pulling the key from the door as she finished locking it.

“What do you mean?” he asked, looking down at himself. He was wearing jeans and a sweater. Not overly fancy, but they were both in good condition and fit him well.

“Your winter jacket, or a hat?” she suggested.

“This is my winter jacket,” he told her, pulling on the sweater.

“Won’t you get cold?” she asked.

“I’ll be fine,” he reassured her. “Lead on,” he gestured when she raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

They walked out to the parking lot. He took a look at what she was driving: a red medium-sized SUV, and told her to go on, he would go to his vehicle and catch up. She nodded and headed down the mountain while he took off across the parking lot to the ramp that led down into the cavern that served as the base of operations for the Stone Bears. His big black truck was already warming up as he slowed from his awkward run.

Note to self: Run more, learn to do so with just the one arm. That shit is weird.

His whole body had felt jolted by the experience and he realized it was the first time he had run since the injury. More of that was definitely necessary.

“I do love remote start,” he said as he climbed into the cab, the music already on and air circulating throughout. He didn’t need the heater, but he did enjoy having air moving in the truck while he was in it. It also was programmed to turn on the cooled front seats. The heat his body emitted as a shifter rapidly warmed the leather even in the coldest parts of winter, so having something to keep the seats cool was a sinful luxury that he never wanted to live without again.

Revving the engine he guided the truck easily up the mountain and followed down the sole road toward town. Driving with one hand was probably the single task that hadn’t changed for him, as he had always driven with his left hand before, so it remained easy for him to do so now. In a few minutes he caught up to Sydney and the two of them meandered down the snow-covered mountain road and through town until they arrived at a cute little bungalow.

“This is gorgeous,” he said. She was at the end of a cul-de-sac, and her property extended outward into a wooded lot. It was a lot of property too, and he wondered how she maintained it in the summertime.

“Thank you. It’s a lot, and I have to pay someone to handle the lawn in the summer, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love being able to take Bruce out back there and see him run around.”

Uriel tried not to smirk at the thought of her little dog getting lost in the snow. He continued to admire the house as she waved toward the front door, indicating he should follow her. There was a wooden awning that covered a portion of the driveway on the right-hand side of the house. Stacked along the wall was a large amount of firewood, and toward the back he saw another door.

Above the entrance the roof came to a pointed arch, jutting out several feet to provide covered front access as well. He glanced to his left at the large bay window, imagining that she probably had quite a nice view from there in the summertime. Although there was a row of houses across the street, beyond them the mountains rose up and away.

“I bet you get some spectacular sunsets through there,” he said as she pulled her keys out, opening the screen door.

“Oh it’s wonderful. I’ll often have a drink while simply sitting there and reading a book or watching the landscape.” The joy in her voice was palpable. “Okay, I’m going to let Bruce out.”

Uriel quickly took a step back from the door and dropped to a crouch.

“What are you doing?” she asked as he put his hand out in front of him near ground level.

“I don’t want to scare him,” he explained. “I’m large, and small dogs generally find me intimidating. I’ve learned to greet them like this. It’s much easier.”

A small grin came over Sydney’s face and she was clearly biting her lip, trying to hold in laughter. “If you say so. Place nice, okay?”

He nodded, frowning. She turned the key and immediately something inside began to bark.

It was a deep, powerful bark.

The next thing Uriel knew he was flat on his back as a big black shape barreled into him, taking him down into the snow on the front lawn.