Revelation (23 page)

“
Great. Let’s start the instruction,” I say eagerly after having rested a bit.

Asher nods to Callan. “Some of the basic self-defense you’ve learned in Krav Maga will apply to what we’re going to learn here.”

Asher and I stand face-to-face as Callan circles around us. “First thing is first, basic defensive and hand-to-hand combat tactics. I’m going to mirror some of the Krav Maga stances and moves you’re used to so we can ease into this, okay?”

I nod. “Okay.”

“Basic drills done repetitively will force muscle memory, and during an adrenaline rush, muscle memory is what will save you,” Asher explains gently.

“Got it.”

“Asher is going to be your sparring partner while I instruct,” Callan says.

Two hours later
, I can’t even keep my head up. I’m burned out and my muscles are fatigued to the point of not being able to lift my arms.

“I think she’s had enough for today,” Asher says.

“You think?” I say sarcastically, flopping down with dramatics on the mat, unmoving.

Callan just laughs. “Yeah
, she’s done for. See you tomorrow morning, cutie. Then we’ll start your twelve hour shift.”

I just lay there, willing death to take me
, quickly.

Asher walks over and lifts me off the ground. “Come on
, siren. Let’s get you into a hot tub so we can relax out your muscles and get the stink off you.”

I sulk. “I do not stink.”

He smirks. “Um, yeah, you do. Have you smelled you today?”

“I would hit you but frankly, I
’m too tired,” I croak out.

Asher carries me up to my room and
places me gently on the bed while he walks into the bathroom and turns on the hot water in the whirlpool tub. I can hear the jets starting too. I don’t think I’ve ever been this sore. Even my fingernails hurt.

He comes out of the bathroom and just stares at me. His voice
is amused as he asks, “Are you going to get up and undress or do you finally need a protector’s help for that?”

I groan. “Just put me in the tub
fully dressed. It hurts too much to move.”

He approaches
me, eyes twinkling with humor. “Alright, I’ll assist but just this once.” Asher carefully moves me to a sitting position and bends down so he can untie my sneakers. Then he slowly takes them off, one by one, as my breath gets caught in my throat.

His indigo eyes follow my hazel ones
, all humor from before gone as the heat in my veins begins to crawl up my body. His breathing becomes rapid as he pulls off my socks. It’s nice to see I affect him as well.

Large
hands slide up my legs, landing on either side of me as he cages me in. His chest leans in so close that I can feel the warmth radiating off his body.

Asher
swallows hard. “I-I think you’d better do the rest.” His voice is raw.

I nod as he helps me off the bed and I walk into the bathroom
and turn around. “Asher?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

His sexy smirk makes an appearance.
“Anytime, siren.”

21
Strategy

My body hurts
. Even the hair follicles on my scalp ache in protest of movement. It took me twenty minutes to get into a t-shirt and pair of sweatpants after my very long soak in the whirlpool tub. As I shuffle my way to the bed, I see two Advil on the nightstand with a glass of water. I feel grateful, knowing Asher put them there and closed the blinds so I can rest.

I drag my
limp body into the comfortable bed then pull the covers up, allowing exhaustion to take me into a blissful slumber.

One would assume a normally healthy eighteen
-year-old woman who runs at least five miles a day and takes Krav Maga self-defense classes would have enough stamina to keep up with her training routine. One would be wrong. The last two weeks of daily twelve-hour intensive weapon and hand-to-hand combat trainings still cause my muscles to protest in agony every night.

“Fight harder,” Asher growls at me in frustration.

“I can’t,” I whine.

“You can. You must,” Asher says
, looking annoyed.

I watch him, knowing the confrontation with Deacon terrified him. “Okay
.”

“You need to lift your daggers higher and
snap them forward with a tighter and more controlled thrust,” Asher scolds me. “Remember, you will be shorter than most of your opponents. Wielding weapons will be harder for you so you must use more force and precision. You’ll only get one shot to pierce a heart. Do it again, from the beginning.”

“If I see you rolling your eyes at me
, externally or internally, I will make you run another ten miles today,” he threatens.

Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
“Fine. Again,” I say as I take my aggressive stance.

“Ash, perhaps Eves should work on hand-to-hand for a bit.” I love Callan.

Asher nods, allowing the sweat to drip off his face. “Fine.” He stalks off.

“Who spit in his cheerios?” I ask.

Callan laughs. “Alright, cutie, you know the drill. Five basic moves, practiced to perfection.”

I put down the daggers that have become like second hands to me and get into fighter stance with Callan.

“Remember, for each drill, we’ll repeat the same movements you’ve done a thousand times before. They should come to you without thought at this point.”

Callan comes at me, and for a moment, I hesitate. That’s all it takes for him to hit me at full strength and knock me to the mat. He reaches
down to help me up. “Again.”

I stand, exhausted, sweat pouring off me
, and get back into the stance. Callan comes at me, twisting around and gripping me from behind as I topple to the mat.

“Don’t hesitate
. Focus, Eves. If you don’t strike first, it’s too late,” he reminds me.

Asher walks back in
, chugging down water, just in time to see me take my third fall from Callan’s attack.
Crap
. He looks pissed though I can’t tell if it’s directed at Callan for dropping me or at me for allowing it.

“Callan, leave us.” It’s a harsh command that surprises both Callan and I.

Callan slides his eyes to me then back to Asher, nodding in agreement before walking out of the training room without a word.

I place my hands on my hips, my breath ragged from the sparring. “Was that necessary?”

Asher doesn’t say anything. He just throws his empty water bottle to the side. It hits the floor and bounces. I’m fixated on it, watching it roll.

For some reason, I don’t want to see the disappointment in Asher’s face as he stalks towards me. “I suggest you mentally prepare yourself because
right now, I am not your protector. I am not your friend. I am someone who is going to attack you, over and over again, until you drop me. Do you understand, Eve?” he asks as he pulls off his shirt.

My heart rate kick
s up a notch. It’s hard to focus when he’s shirtless. “What are you doing?” I question, doing my best not to quiver.

“You need to learn how to defend yourself when distracted.” His voice is cocky and unkind.

I huff. “All righty then. Glad to see you think so highly of yourself.”

“Are you prepared for my attack?” he asks abruptly.

I go to answer him but before I even take a breath, my back is on the mat and I am staring up at the ceiling.
Crap.

“Get up
, Eve,” he demands as I roll my aching body and stand again.

He attacks from behind this time
. Within seconds, I’m laying face down on the mat, with him on top of me. I really can’t focus when the tattoo is touching my bare shoulder and causing the humming to jolt through me.

Asher pushes off me
heatedly. I slowly get to my knees and fix my tank top.

“What the fuck is your problem?” I hiss at him.

“Again,” is all he says to me as he lunges for me and I dart to my left, avoiding contact.

He spins
, facing me again, his breath coming out like a bull at a matador. He narrows his eyes and speaks through a tight jaw. “Fighting is all about focus and knowing what your opponent is going to do as soon as or before they do it. You need to think one step ahead of me and then immobilize me. Act on offense not defense.”

We circle one another for a moment before he charges again catching me off guard and I land on the mat, hard. “Fuck, Asher
,” I scream and get up faster this time.

“Are you pissed
, Eve?” he taunts. “Then come at me.”

I do
. I lunge for him full force. He grabs my arms, twisting me around, and slamming my back against his chest. The protector mark is zapping me again. He leans down and whispers nastily in my ear, “Not good enough.” Then he pushes me away while I growl at him.

“How do you avoid being taken to the ground in a fight, Eve?” he yells at me.

I rack my brain, panicking at his question as he attacks and I’m once again flat on my back. I jump up even faster this time.

“You strike
out with your closest weapon to your attacker’s easiest target,” he spits out.

I lunge at him, kicking my leg to Asher’s knee
, making slight contact but not enough to bring him down.

“Yes. Good
. Again,” he encourages in a rough tone. “If you hit or kick early, before your attacker reaches you, then you may be able to get by without tumbling to the ground.”

Once again
, he jumps for me as I duck and twist, facing his back. I lock my wrist and angle it downward, making contact with the back of his neck and causing him to grunt but not go down.

“Use your knees and elbows
, Eve. You can put more power behind them at your height.”

I do
as I’m told. I bend at the waist as he comes at me then round my right leg up at the knee, connecting with the side of his face as he grunts. My smile inches up on the corner of my mouth.

Asher
spits a small amount of blood onto the floor and connects with my eyes. “Again,” he says a little less severely this time. He sniffs in once and turns a cold face to me, ready to attack.

I crouch into a defensive stance as he comes at me so fast he
’s just a blur. I duck out of his reach and twist on instinct, grabbing the back of his neck in a chokehold while my foot connects with the back of his knees, bringing him down to the mat with me falling on top of him. He twists and his back hits the floor first.

We’re both breathing heavily from the work out. Lying there
, his eyes meet mine and a small smile forms on his face. “Excellent. See, when the supernatural kicks in, so do your instincts.”

I return his smile as my hand becomes extremely warm. It’s then that I realize it’s covering his protector tattoo. The energy hums
between us as heat flows through my veins. Asher’s indigo eyes become dark and filled with desire as my own body tightens in response and fills with lust. My body is hungry for his touch. His large hands lift, pushing the fallen hair out of my face.

He sits up with me on his lap
. I shift for a moment, straddling him. I’m aware of all the places his body is touching mine. His arousal hits me like a train as our emotions begin to feed off each other.

“Ash
.” It’s a soft plea. A wanting request for him to kiss me this very instant. My longing for him is at its limit and I can’t push it away anymore.

“What do you want
, siren?” His question is quiet, barely a whisper.

“You
,” I say with an unwavering voice.

“Eve
.” My name comes out like a prayer from his lips, causing me to pull him closer.

My voice
is a husky whisper. “Make me yours.”

“Well, I do hope that I’m not interrupting anything.” An icy
archangel’s voice comes from the doorway.

Asher and I both fr
eeze. He pulls me closer, out of view.

“Both of you
, in the office now,” Michael states angrily and walks out.

“Shit
,” Asher says as he pushes me off his lap and stands up to search for his shirt. Prowling over to it, he snatches it off the ground and throws it on.

Humiliated
, I don’t make eye contact with him as I catch my breath and come back to my senses.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t, I mean
, we shouldn’t have—” Indigo eyes meet mine before he huffs and walks out of the training room, leaving me to bask in my mortification before heading to the office to get scolded.

By the time I get there, Asher’
s already seated and looking like he’s taken an earful from Michael and none of it pleasant. I hesitate by the door for a moment before entering.

“Eve, have a seat.” It’s an order not a request from Michael.

I sit and Asher doesn’t even glance my way. His expression is void of emotion and his eyes are fixated on the window in front of him.

“Asher has explained what I walked in on in the training room. I’ve made it clear to him that relations such as what I witnessed are not to continue. Not only is it inappropriate, but also there are dire consequences for continued actions.
For Asher and the rest of the London clan. They are here to protect you and only to protect you. I realize the bond can encourage and heighten emotions such as today, therefore, I think it would be best if Callan and Tadhg finish training you while Asher falls back into a sentinel role only. Are we clear?” Michael says with a flat and stern tone.

I swallow
, waiting for Asher to fight him on this. It doesn’t happen. My eyes slide to him. His face is forward and his expression is impassive. I nod my agreement.

“Good. Asher
, you are formally dismissed. Eve, we will continue our control over your divine abilities so stay seated,” he orders as Asher gets up and leaves without a word and my heart officially breaks into a thousand pieces.

Two hours later, I’
m back in the training room. Tadhg and I are working with weapons as Asher watches from a distance.

Keegan, Abby, Kenna
, and Leo walk into the training room. “We’ve come up with a strategy,” Keegan announces as we all stop and circle around the rest of the group.

“What is it?” Asher asks with a
slightly nervous twinge to his voice.

Keegan looks around, sliding his eyes between Asher and
I before speaking in a quiet and authoritative voice. “We use Eve as bait to lure Deacon in then we place him in stone petrifaction.”

Asher
right away shakes his head no. “There’s no way I’m placing Eve in that kind of danger. She isn’t ready. He’s half-demon, for shits sake. Are you out of your mind, Keegan? Do you know what he would do to her if he got his hands on her?” Asher shouts, clearly pissed.

“I un
derstand your concerns, brother,” Keegan soothes.

“NO
, YOU DON’T!” Asher roars.

“
The strategy here is that if we can get Eve to distract Deacon long enough, a protector will be able to get to him, piercing his heart with the Angelic Sword and turning him to stone. With Deacon out of the way, we can simply focus on The Dark Army,” Keegan explains in an attempt to convince Asher.

“She’s guarded by gargoyles and supernatural beings Asher. Eve
will be safe,” Kenna adds.

“No.
Why would Deacon just assume that Michael or we would willingly hand over a charge? Or that Eve would even agree to go without a fight?” Asher responds without delay.

“
The plan is to have The Royal Gargoyle Council of protectors reach out to Gage. They’ll tell him The Angelic Council had no knowledge of Eve’s existence. That they were furious with Michael when the council learned he allowed her creation, since it clearly violates the peace treaty. In an attempt to save face, The Angelic Council has ordered Michael and The Royal Gargoyle Council to cease our protection of Eve, effective immediately, and turn her over as a gesture of peace to Lucifer in order to prevent war. We, in turn, are forced to follow orders because the gargoyle’s ongoing protection of and loyalty to mankind, outweighs Eve’s continued haven with us. We let Deacon believe our protection of Eve would lead to too many human deaths and break our own treaties and oaths,” Keegan says.