Skye’s Limits (7 page)

A warm feeling went through Alden at those words but so did a small spark of anger. He shouldn’t have been the first one to be Skye’s cheerleader. Where had his brother and friends been? It seemed they had been too busy thinking the worst of him to consider that there might have been a good side to Skye. If only they had looked a little deeper, it could have saved them all from a lot of heartbreak.

“You never gave me any reason to believe otherwise,” Alden replied.

“I will be counting the days until I can see you again,” Skye said.

“Me, too. Trust me when I say that.”

“I won’t cheat on you or anything. You’re it for me, Alden. I just want you to know that. Maybe you think I’m moving too fast, but I feel it already.”

A feeling of happiness soared through Alden. He had already known that Skye was the one for him, but he hadn’t been for sure that the feeling was reciprocated. Now that he knew, Alden felt like he could take on the world.

“No, I don’t think you’re moving too fast. In fact, I already know that you’re the one for me too.”

Skye gave him one of those grins that always made Alden turn to putty. “So I guess that three weeks is nothing then. We will have the rest of our lives to spend with each other.”

“Yeah, three weeks is a drop in the bucket.”

Even as Alden said that, he knew those next few weeks were going to be hell on him.

Skye had expected to go through basic training or something, so he was surprised when he was thrown into the team and expected to sink or swim. Sure, they helped him out with the fundamentals, like how to handle some of the more advanced firearms and such, but other than that, he was treated like any other soldier. The only exception was he didn’t go out on any real missions yet. He wouldn’t until Logan deemed them ready. For that, Skye was grateful. He knew he wasn’t ready for a real battle yet. In fact, the very idea terrified Skye a bit, although he’d rather bite off his own tongue before he’d admit it aloud to his fellow soldiers

Never before had Skye been more grateful for all of Alden’s training. Without it, Skye would be lost. He saw more than one newbie fumble around and end up flunking out. Each time he saw yet another green guy walk the long road home, Skye said a silent prayer of thanks to all those long hours of preparation he’d put in. It may have had been grueling at the time, but it had paid off well.

Logan took the team out for a morning run, and Skye was pleased to find himself in the middle of the pack. He wasn’t the first one, but then again, he wasn’t bringing up the rear like some of the newer guys were. He could tell by the way that Logan gave a half smile and cocked a brow when he looked at Skye that he’d impressed his new superior officer.

That didn’t stop some of the other members of the team from giving Skye dirty looks. It would seem that some of them continued to see him as a lackey stoner, and they didn’t like him coming on their turf. Worse yet, they didn’t like him beating them at some of the training exercises. In short, Skye wasn’t feeling the love. But, that was okay, he wasn’t there to make friends, he was there to do a job and he still planned on doing it well, friends or not.

As they were getting ready to go to the shooting range, one of the Hawks on the team
accidentally
bumped into Skye. It hadn’t been the first time something like this had happened, either.

Skye stumbled a few steps before he turned and said, “Do you have a problem?”

The Hawk, who was twice the size of Skye, curled up his upper lip. “Yeah, we don’t have room on our team for a loser like you.”

Gage also happened to be on Logan’s team, and he instantly inserted himself into the situation. “The only loser I see here is you. In case you forgot, you were the one who lost to a Raven the last time we had a battle. How many days were you in the infirmary? Was it three days or four? I forget because you’re there so much.”

“Go away, Gage, this doesn’t involve you,” the Hawk said.

“I beg to differ. Skye is my brother-in-law, so yes it does,” Gage countered. “Now, go on and get your ass moving before I put it back in the infirmary.”

As soon as the Hawk left, Skye turned to Gage. “While I appreciate the help, you can’t fight all my battles for me. If I don’t learn to handle the situations on my own, they’re never going to learn to respect me.”

Gage put his hands on his hips, looked at the ground and let out a deep sigh. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just so hard to see those guys treating you that way. I want to step in and beat them all.”

Skye smiled at him. “I appreciate you being all protective of me, but I have to take care of this battle on my own. Trust me, I’m ready for it. A month ago, I wouldn’t have been, but now I can take anything that comes my way. Alden taught me well.”

“I’m sure he did,” Gage said with a snort.

Skye immediately went stiff and grew apprehensive. Had he done or said anything that gave them away. He and Alden had been so careful. Skye couldn’t have imagined how they could have slipped up.

“What do you mean?” Skye asked, noting how stiff his voice was.

Inside he was screaming,
don’t say anything to make him any more suspicious. Just act cool.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed how close you two have gotten,” Gage said in a knowing tone.

“Of course, we got close. He was my mentor.”

“You know what I mean. Don’t play stupid with me. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other when you don’t think anybody is looking.”

Skye shook his head, still playing the dumb card. “There’s nothing going on with me and Alden at the moment. He would never start something with somebody while he’s mentoring them.”

“Yeah, but I’m willing to bet that in the next couple of weeks, you two will be all over each other like two cats in heat,” Gage snapped.

Well, that wasn’t too far from the truth so Skye decided that he wasn’t going to confirm or deny it. Instead, he said, “And if it did happen, what would be so wrong with it?”

“Besides the fact that he used to be your mentor, and he’s older than you? Are you fucking kidding me?” Gage asked in a loud voice.

Skye looked around nervously. “Can you please keep it down?”

“What? Are you afraid of everybody finding out about your dirty little secret? It’s going to be out soon enough.”

“There’s nothing dirty about it? So quit trying to make it sound that way,” Skye fired back angrily. “In case you forgot, my brother is older than you.”

“That’s different.”

“How?”

“He was never my mentor like Alden was with you.”

“Alden isn’t my mentor anymore, and nothing happened while he was.”

Skye decided to leave out the part where they shared the one kiss. It was nobody’s business but his and Alden’s, and it would stay that way. Besides, at the rate Gage was going, if he did find out, he would flip a gasket.

“Wait until Branson hears about this,” Gage said.

Panic filled Skye. “You’re going to tell Branson?”

“Of course. He’s my mate. I never keep anything from him, especially something this big.”

Skye leaned against the wall as dread filled him. Branson was going to blow his lid when he found out about this. Skye needed to find a way to warn Alden, but how was he supposed to do that when they were keeping a distance from each other for three weeks?

Then the answer came to him with crystal clarity, he could tell Logan. He and Alden were best friends. Surely Logan could be trusted to pass along the message. Now all Skye had to do was get Logan alone for a moment.

“I need some time to think,” Skye said as he turned away from Gage.

“I’ll bet you do. Maybe you should think of a way of not messing up everything you do,” Gage shot back.

Skye wanted to flip Gage off for that one, but that would have been a move the old Skye would do. The new Skye just ignored him and kept on walking. He finally found Logan talking to one of the newbies.

Going up to him, Skye said, “Sir, can I have a moment of privacy with you? It’s about an important matter.”

Logan did that cocking of his brow thing, reminding Skye so much of Alden that it hurt. But in the end, he nodded and said, “Okay, we can go to my office.”

Logan’s office wasn’t much bigger than a closet and was a disaster of disorganization, but they both somehow managed to fit in and shut the door. Skye immediately wished they had left it opened when the smell of dust overwhelmed him.

Logan sat behind his desk and said, “What do you need?”

“Gage knows about me and Alden. Even worse, he’s going to tell Branson,” Skye blurted.

“Shit, that’s not good,” Logan said, running a hand through his short hair.

“I know! You need to warn Alden. I would do it myself, but we’re staying away from each other for the next three weeks until we go public with our relationship to protect each other. If Branson goes berserk and makes a big deal about this now, he’s going to destroy all that and smear Alden’s good name. I can’t let that happen to him on my account.”

Logan studied him. “Your reputation will suffer, too. Don’t you care about that?”

Skye shook his head. “I’m used to having a bad rep. I can live with it. Alden’s worked too hard to be where he’s at. He doesn’t deserve to have to deal with all the dirty looks and snide comments. I know what it’s like, and I don’t want him to have to live through it.”

Logan was quiet such a long time that Skye began to fidget. “I was right. You are the one for him.”

“Huh?” Skye said, more confused than ever.

“You’re willing to put his needs before yours. Only somebody that really cares for him would do that.”

“Of course I care about him. He means everything to me. Which is why you have to warn him. Please?” Skye begged, praying that Logan saw how dire the situation was. “I can try to calm Branson down, but I don’t know how successful I can be. He can be a bit of a hothead when it comes to me at times. I don’t think he’s going to be happy when he finds out that I’ve fallen for Alden.”

“Yeah, I’ll warn him. I’m just worried about you. Are you going to be okay?”

Skye gave a dismissive wave of his hand. “It won’t be anything I haven’t gone through before. Branson will yell at me a lot and threaten to kick me out, but he won’t go through with it. He’s done it a million of times before. I usually leave for a few hours until things cool down.”

“You’re not going to go out drinking if that happens, will you?” Logan asked.

“No, those days are long behind me. I’ve gotten too far to fuck things up.”

Logan grabbed a piece of paper and wrote something down before handing it over to Skye. “Here is my number. If you need a place to crash for a while, you call me. Promise?”

Skye took it. “I promise. Thanks, sir. It means a lot to me.”

“Okay, you’re dismissed for the day. Good luck.”

Skye put his hand on the door handle. “Thanks, I’m going to need it.”

Skye made his way back to his living quarters with a heavy heart. He already knew what was waiting for him there. He had no doubt that Gage had beaten him home and filled Branson in on all the gory details.

Just as he expected, as soon as Skye opened the door, he was meet with both Gage and Branson. Branson had his arms crossed over his chest, and Gage had a resigned look on his face. It was like he was trying to say,
I’m sorry, but I had no choice but to tell him.

“Shut the door and come inside. We need to have a talk,” Branson said.

Oh boy, Skye knew that tone all too well. Branson was not happy at all. Skye did as instructed and made his way into the living room. Usually he would have slumped down on the couch. This time he sat down on the edge and kept his back straight. He had nothing to be ashamed of, so he wasn’t going to act like it.

“So Gage blabbed to you about me and Alden,” Skye said.

Might as well get right to the point instead of dancing around the subject. If they were going to have it out, Skye didn’t feel like making a game out of it. He was done with that kind of crap.

“Yes, he did. Is it true?” Branson asked.

“What part?” Skye asked carefully.

“Have you and Alden been screwing around?” Branson demanded angrily.

“No, we have not had any sexual relationships at all.”

“Then why does Gage think that you have?”

“Because he, like everybody else in the coalition, assumes the worst in me,” Skye said.

Gage let out a gasp. “That’s not true, Skye.”

“Really? Then why didn’t you believe me when I told you Alden and I haven’t had any relations?”

“Because you two have been making fuck-me eyes at each other like nobody’s business. Anybody can see that,” Gage said.

“I’m not going to deny that I have feelings for Alden, but I haven’t acted on them. I wouldn’t do that while I was still his trainee. It would be wrong and ruin his reputation,” Skye said carefully.

“And what about now that you’re not his trainee?” Branson asked.

“That’s really none of your business.”

Branson slammed his hand on the table. “Yes, it is my business. You are my younger brother.”

“A younger brother who is a full-grown adult and capable of making his own decisions now. You may not always agree with them, but I am old enough to be in charge of my own life.”

Branson let out a sarcastic laugh. “And you’ve been doing such a stellar job of it so far.”

Okay, that one stung a bit, but Skye realized he had it coming. “Maybe you could have said that in the past, but not anymore. I’ve been doing well these past several weeks. I haven’t gone out once. I’ve even done well enough to make it on Logan’s team as a coalition soldier. You would think that my own brother would be proud of me instead of giving me flack.”

“I’m giving you flack, as you call it, because you’re about to drag a good man down with you. Have you ever thought about what’s going to happen to Alden’s reputation once this comes out? No, all you care about is what happens to Skye. That’s all you’ve ever cared about,” Branson shot back.

Skye swallowed several times as those words hit him like a ton of bricks. He and Branson had said some hurtful things to each other in the past, but that one had to be at the top of them. Skye got up and went to the door.