Sloan (The Protectors Series) Book #9 (9 page)

Chapter 16

Becky snuck her head inside Sloan’s office and breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn’t there. It had been awkward after she’d pulled up to them on her scooter. Katrina had hurried over and hopped on behind her. They’d turned out of the park, and Blaze and Sloan had surrounded them as they went down the road to her home.

They had sat on their bikes until they were safely inside, with a warning to stay put before they took off.

“Is he there?” Katrina whispered behind her.

“No,” Becky whispered back, then rolled her eyes. Why the hell was she whispering?

“That’s because he’s behind you trying to get into his office,” Sloan’s voice boomed behind them.

Both women jumped with a scream and stumbled into the office. “You scared me.”

“Good.” Sloan passed them and headed to his desk. “Stop sneaking around. Though you are obviously good at that.”

If she had a razor, she’d shave that damn cocked eyebrow right off his forehead. He sure was in a pissy mood. Seriously, what had they done that was so wrong? He should be thanking her for working with Katrina on her animal talking control thing. That wasn’t even in her job description, but she was doing it. Well, that might be pushing it a little, but still.

Walking to the back, she angrily slapped her bag down on the desk, then turned only to find Sloan glaring at her. Okay, this had to stop.

“Why are you so angry with me?” She glared back, putting her hand on her hip. She didn’t notice that more people had filed into the office. “You should be thanking me.”

“Thanking you?” Sloan laughed, not a funny “ha-ha” laugh, but a “you’ve lost your fucking mind” laugh. “What the hell would I be thanking you for? Riding that damn deathmobile at two in the morning, breaking into a park in the middle of the night, and almost getting one of my trainees arrested?”

“It’s not a deathmobile. I didn’t technically break anything to get into the park”—yeah, she was definitely pushing it—“and we wouldn’t have gotten arrested because we would have gotten out of it.”

“Oh, I’m sure you could have gotten out of it if you had got  on your knees for one of the officers who seemed to take a liking to you,” Sloan threw out with a sneer.

“Ah, eew.” Becky narrowed her eyes at him. “That was disgusting.”

“Lovers’ spat?” Sid looked back and forth between them, eyes wide.

“Shut the fuck up,” Sloan growled at the same time Becky voiced her “shut up” to Sid.

Glancing around, she realized they had an audience and decided to back down. This could wait. Turning around, she walked back to her desk and sat, then realized she didn’t know what she should be doing.
Dammit!

Hearing Sloan start to talk, she slowly swiveled her chair around to listen and felt really awkward. Her eyes met Katrina’s, who stared at her with a sad expression. Becky just shrugged then went back to listening.

“We found another abandoned building on Fifth Street last night. So any patrols in that area need to keep an eye on that building. We found old blood, though we’re not sure how old, but it’s definitely been used for something,” Sloan said then looked around. “Where’s Jill and Adam?”

“They’re on their way,” Steve said, glancing at his phone.

“Sorry.” Jill ran in with Adam following her. “What’s up?”

“You three are going to be helping with the trainees.” Sloan didn’t hesitate to throw out that order. “Seems we got some real wannabe badasses not playing nice with the other trainees.”

Everyone’s eyes went to Katrina.

“Sweet!” Jill smiled, rubbing her hands together.

“I’ve cleared your schedules so you’re free,” Sloan added, his voice grumpy. “You are Blaze and Jax’s until they say otherwise.”

“I mean, are we just kicking ass and taking names or are we helping them?” Steve stood all proud of being asked to help the trainees.

“They have been singling Katrina out. They think she’s getting special treatment by whoring herself out to the Warriors.” Sloan’s blunt explanation rang through the room.

“Who the fuck has been saying that?” Steve growled, his eyes narrowing.

Becky could see Katrina shift from foot to foot, obviously not liking being the center of attention.

“Those thoughts may change once they find out what power she possesses.” Sloan glanced toward Becky, then away. “What Blaze and I witnessed last night was pretty amazing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Are you freaking kidding me? You already have a power? Where the fuck is my power is what I want to know?” Steve deflated before everyone’s eyes. He looked toward Katrina. “What power do you have?”

When Katrina just shrugged, Becky wanted to urge her to speak about it. Sloan was right about one thing: it was absolutely amazing what she could do.

“Since Becky witnessed it up close and personal, why don’t you explain what you saw.” Sloan peered at her as if daring her to stand up and speak.

Oh, she was the champ of truth or dare. Did he think because he was being an ass she was going to sit around with her thumb up her ass and stay quiet? Pfft, not likely. Standing, she gave him a “really?” smirk.

Heading toward Katrina, she smiled genuinely. “This beautiful woman has a unique gift of communicating with animals.”

“What do you mean?” Jared’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. “Animals talk to her?”

“Actually, I’m not sure.” She looked toward Katrina. “Do they?”

“No, not really,” Katrina replied, looking only at Becky. “We just… understand each other.”

“Not like Dr. Dolittle?” Sid smirked. “Because that would be cool.”

Becky saw a flash of unease pass across Katrina’s face, and it pissed her off. “Well, I think when she has a snake bite you on the ass, that will be cool.” She frowned at Sid. “It’s something that’s hard to explain. You just have to see it.”

“
Dr. Dolittle
was a great movie,” Steve added thoughtfully. “The drunk monkey was the shit.”

“The bear, what was his name, Archie?” Adam laughed. “He was the best.”

“No way,” Jill broke in. “The raccoon made that movie.”

Becky looked over at Sloan with a smirk. “They saw the movie.”

He narrowed his eyes at her before looking at Katrina. “Do you think you can do a demonstration?”

“Yes,” Katrina replied, glancing at Blaze.

Becky also looked toward Blaze, who hadn’t taken his eyes off Katrina until he glanced at his watch.

“Why don’t we head to the warehouse for the demonstration. All the trainees will be showing up for the morning training.” Blaze once again looked toward Katrina.

“Sounds perfect.” Sloan stood as everyone headed out the door.

Figuring this was a “Warrior” thing, Becky turned and headed toward her desk, feeling a little left out. But she was just the secretary, what did she expect?

“Are you coming?” Sloan’s voice echoed in the empty room. When Becky turned around, her face a mask of confusion, her eyes landed on Sloan, who stood by the door. “You’re the one who took her out last night to practice.”

“I thought I was in trouble for that,” Becky replied, but headed toward him, excited to be included.

“You are.” Sloan’s voice was stern, but his eyes no longer looked angry. “I’m just letting your indiscretions build up for one punishment.”

“Which is?” Becky asked, following him outside to his motorcycle.

Sloan climbed on his bike, making him almost eye level with her. “Get on.”

Becky actually looked at his lap, thinking, if only. Her eyes shot to his to see him staring at her, and she knew he was aware of exactly what she was thinking. Quickly, she jumped on the back of the bike, her arms held tightly to her sides. Just her legs and crotch touching him was way too much. If she wrapped her arms around him, there was no telling what the hell she would do. Grabbing his junk was a total possibility. Holy hell, she was a mess.

“You need to hold on,” he said over the hum of the bike.

“I’m good.” Becky cringed, feeling around for something to hold on to other than him.

He reached backward with both hands and found hers. He wrapped her arms around him before taking off. My God, he was built. The feeling of his powerful, masculine stature beneath her fingertips was almost more than she could stand. Fighting to keep her fingers still, she bit her lip and held on. Maybe if she thought of an old wrinkly man, she could fight the urge to actually grab his junk. Yes, she was that close to losing control. Was she that desperate for a man? Apparently, yes, she was.

The ride was short, but not short enough that she wasn’t holding on to him with her front smashed to his back by the time they got to where they were going. Oh, no. She was plastered to him within seconds of the ride. She didn’t know how that happened, she lied to herself. Yeah, she did, and it could possibly take a pry bar to pry her ass off him.

Once they stopped, it took everything she had to release him, but she did take a long whiff because damn, he smelled good. He helped her off the bike. She noticed his eyes were black before he quickly looked away from her as he headed toward everyone else. And yes, her eyes went directly to his ass. She was such a slut.

Chapter 17

Katrina was so nervous she wanted to vomit. Everyone stared at her and the trainees were showing up but staying outside instead of going in. Her eyes searched around, finding Becky, who offered her a reassuring nod. She had no idea what to do. This stuff just happened. She’d never really tried to call upon it until last night. Her breathing sped up, which was especially weird as she was a vampire. She hadn’t had a panic attack since being turned and she felt one coming on. Blaze stood with his arms crossed just watching her, which honestly was driving her nuts. That was all he did, watch her, constantly.

Gulping, she felt as if her throat was closing. Oh, God. She really was going to have a panic attack in front of everybody.

“Hey, you okay?” Becky moved closer to her and whispered.

Shaking her head, Katrina looked over at Becky and wished she was more like her, like anyone else other than herself.

“You’ve got this, Katrina,” Becky urged her.

“I don’t know what to do,” Katrina replied honestly.

“Do the same thing you did last night.” Becky glanced around before looking back at Katrina. “This is your chance. Take it.”

Katrina closed her eyes tightly, letting her mind clear. Opening them, she felt a little better and wanted to hug Becky. Hearing birds in the trees that surrounded the warehouse, she called upon them. As one, the birds flew out of the trees and began to circle above them. More birds of different kinds appeared. She watched along with everyone else as they circled above them.

“Can you tell them not to shit on us?” Steve looked up, wary but impressed. “Because as cool as this shit is right now, shit being the key word, I don’t want to be pooped on.”

Katrina actually grinned, her eyes going toward the trainees. The birds began in an organized fashion to scatter and went back to the trees. This time a large buck came walking across the parking lot, his eyes on her and her alone. She made sure to let the huge animal know he was safe. He walked straight up to her, snorted, and pawed the concrete pavement.

“Hello, Buck.” Katrina smiled and reached out to touch the side of his massive head. “I see you found me.”

“I’ll be damned.” Sid’s tone was one of shocked awe.

“I wouldn’t mind having that head on my wall. Look at the rack on that son of a bitch.” Ben’s voice reached her, and her temper, which rarely reared its ugly head, rose like a beast.

Katrina’s gaze snapped toward him. The buck became agitated, stomping and snorting, but Katrina kept her hand on him. “You ever harm him, I’ll kill you.” Her words shocked not only her, but everyone present.

“I didn’t think trainees were supposed to threaten each other” was Ben’s sarcastic reply.

Looking back toward the trees, a handful of birds flew out and over Ben. A large white pile of shit hit him on the head as more followed.

“Son of a bitch!” Ben wiped bird shit off his forehead, heading toward Katrina, but Blaze stepped in front of her.

“Go get cleaned up,” Blaze warned Ben with a nod.

Katrina peeked around Blaze to see Ben give her one last glare. Then she turned to look at Becky. “That was me.”

Becky laughed, then reached out to hug Katrina. “Hang with me, friend. I’ll teach you everything you need to know about being a righteous bitch.”

“Thank you.” Katrina touched Becky’s arm.

“For what? I didn’t do anything,” Becky replied, then grinned. “This was all you.”

Katrina watched her go, then looked up toward Blaze, who still stood beside her.

“You need to watch your back,” Blaze warned.

Nodding, Katrina turned back to Buck. “Go, and stay out of sight.” She watched as he turned and headed to where he had come from.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this?” Blaze watched the large buck disappear before he looked down at her.

“Because I didn’t want to be looked at as odd, at least any more than I already am,” Katrina answered honestly.

“Well, you are odd,” Steve teased, hearing the conversation. “We all are, but dammit, I’m jealous as hell. When in the fuck am I going to get my superpowers? Seriously, your power is cool. Who wouldn’t want to have a flock of birds on command to shit on people who piss you off.”

“You with that power would not be good.” Adam chuckled as he walked past them.

“I’d be like Tarzan and my best friend would be a monkey, not an asshole vampire,” Steve shot back at Adam, who flipped him off as he headed into the warehouse.

“Well played.” Jill passed Katrina with a proud grin.

“Thanks,” Katrina replied, staring at the warehouse, her nerves getting worse, not better.

Blaze headed toward the warehouse, but stopped and turned. “You training today?”

Katrina nodded, then followed up to the door and walked inside. Everyone was staring at her, the oddball. She wished she were used to it, but she wasn’t. The door opened behind her and she moved out of the way.

“Sorry I missed the show.” Jax walked in, looking down at Katrina. “You’ll have to do an encore after training.”

He didn’t even give her a chance to respond before he walked out onto the mats, yelling at the trainees to get running. Not looking at Blaze as she passed him, she hit the mats and took off running, wishing she could go back to being the girl in the corner.

******

Blaze watched Katrina pass him and he knew she hated the attention. He still couldn’t believe that she could control animals. Steve was right; it was awesome, and it could come in great use to them in the future. Walking out onto the mats, he crossed his arms and observed how the other trainees acted toward Katrina. She still ran alone, while others were in groups. His eyes met Jill’s and he gave her a nod.

Jill took off and began running next to Katrina. Next his eyes met Adam and then Steve’s. With another nod, they took off both running next to Ben and his group.

“What’s the plan?” Jax walked up to Blaze.

“I say we just do what we always do and integrate Jill, Adam, and Steve wherever we see fit,” Blaze replied, then frowned when Ben sped up so he was running directly behind Katrina, then beside her.

“No animals in here, kiss ass.” Even though Ben spoke low, Blaze and Jax heard him, and so did Jill.

Blaze watched as Jill’s hand rose and a broom used to sweep the mats shot out, tripping Ben, who did a stomach slide on the mats, his skin skidding on the mat making a loud noise.

“No, but there’re assholes, jerk.” Jill smirked as she and Katrina passed. Some of the trainees laughed, but Adam and Steve laughed the loudest.

Steve slowed and continued to run in place, but bent down, looking at Ben who cursed before pushing himself back up. “Hurts, don’t it?” Steve laughed again before taking off.

“Don’t worry,” Jill told Katrina as they passed Blaze and Jax. “Soon you’ll be taking care of assholes like him. It took me a while to find myself too.”

Blaze grinned, watching Ben picking himself off the ground. The kid was either going to learn or get his ass handed to him. Honestly he hoped he learned, because the guy had potential, but he let his arrogance get in the way and that was going to be his downfall.

“And maybe we won’t have to do anything.” Jax chuckled, shaking his head before walking to the middle of the mat. “Okay, partner up.”

Making sure Ben and Adam were partners, Blaze put Steve with another potential asshole who didn’t like to take orders.

“During your training you are going to get hit, and if you become a Warrior, you will definitely get hit.” Blaze walked toward Jax and stood across from him. “Your first goal is to not get hit, but if and when you do, your survival is going to depend on how you react.”

Jax and Blaze dropped into a fighting stance.

“What I want you to do with your partner is to go back and forth doing your best to touch their face with just your fingers.” They demonstrated going back and forth with each other. “Use control, keep focused.”

Blaze walked around helping, as did Jax. His eyes flicked to Jill and Katrina. They worked well together.

“Okay, good.” Jax stopped them. “The first person to get touched, stop and sit on the mat. The other person remain standing. This teaches humility, because no one wants to sit down. No one wants to be bested, but we also get to see who has the bad attitude and shows their ass in anger. So the person who gets touched better sit their ass down and fast.”

Again everyone started. Ben was the first to sit down and he didn’t look happy about it. Soon all action had stopped.

“Everyone stand,” Jax commanded. “Now that you have the hang of it, you will be dodging punches. Continue until we say stop.”

Stepping back, Blaze knew what was coming, and he was right. Fights broke out and it wasn’t until Adam picked up Ben and slammed him to the mat that Jax stopped them.

“When in a fight, never become angry because the angry fighter will lose 99.9 percent of the time.” Jax walked up to Adam. “Did you become angry? Is that why you slammed him?”

Calm and cool, Adam replied, “No, total opposite. He became angry because he couldn’t touch me, and I believe it wasn’t until I touched his face with my fist for the sixth time that he became enraged and started throwing haymakers without thought. When I warned him to calm down, he became angrier, so I felt it was time to stop, and I stopped it by sitting his ass down.”

“Who became angry?” Blaze asked, looking around.

More than half the trainees raised their hands.

“Okay, switch partners,” Jax ordered. “Jill, you replace Adam. Steve, you go with Katrina and, Adam, find some poor fucker to go with.”

Once everyone had their partners, Jax ordered them to go.

“Don’t pull your punches,” Steve told Katrina. “You could have hit me with that one.”

Blaze had been watching and Steve was right. Katrina could have made definite contact on her last punch, but had pulled it.

“Do you want to become a Warrior or not?” Blaze narrowed his eyes at Katrina.

“Yes,” she replied, in her usual soft voice.

“Then fucking act like it and punch him when you have the chance.” Blaze growled. “If not, sit your ass down. Only 100 percent in here. If you can’t give that, then leave.”

Katrina frowned, then turned and punched Steve in the nose, hard.

“Motherfucker.” Steve grabbed his nose. “Dammit, Katrina. I wasn’t ready.”

“Good job.” Blaze gave her an approving nod. “And what is the first lesson any trainee learns, Steve?”

“Be ready for anything,” Steve grumbled, his eyes watering as he held his nose.

Blaze turned to leave, but saw Katrina giving Steve
that
look and knew what was coming before she even opened her mouth. “Don’t you fucking apologize.”

Katrina snapped her mouth closed. When she and Steve began again, Blaze looked down at Jill and cringed when she took a hard hit. Damn good thing Slade wasn’t around. Blaze looked at Jax, who raised an eyebrow then went back to watching Jill and Ben go at it.

It was as if Jill and Ben were trading blows. Jill would deliver a good one that would knock Ben back a few steps. He’d then move his neck back and forth before they’d start again. Jill then dodged one, but took a hit when Ben came around with the other hand. Blaze knew that had hurt, but Jill just spat blood and continued.

“Stop!” Jax ordered, and threw them an approving nod. “Much better. Take five and grab something to drink, then back on the mat.”

Blaze kept an eye on Ben as he walked away from Jill without shaking her hand. She just shrugged it off until Ben opened his mouth with his buddies.

“She’s nothing.” Ben’s voice carried. “Got a few shots in, but she hits like a girl.”

Shaking his head, Blaze watched Jill’s calm control crack. Her hands shot up, and so did Ben. As Ben did some hang time in the air, Jill pulled him closer to her. Then with a shove, Ben shot through the air and through the wall. Jill followed him outside through the hole.

“How’s that for a girl, dickhead?” Jill yelled as she headed toward the hole that bright sunlight shone through.

“Shit!” Blaze headed after her with Jax, the rest of the group close on his heels. Glancing over, he saw Katrina also rushing toward the hole with a large grin on her face. She looked absolutely beautiful. “Shit!” Blaze said again, this time with a little more heat.