Smolder (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #29)(6)

I wanted to punch Kane in the face, but I debated whether the comment was enough to justify it, or just my anger with my family talking. Peter beat me to it, moving faster than I’d ever seen him move.

One second we were holding each other, the next he was across the room punching Kane in the solar plexus with his right hand, so hard it doubled him over, then bringing his left elbow into the side of Kane’s face. Kane tried to stand up, swung at him, and Peter raised his left arm to block the blow just in case, but he was already coming up under Kane’s chin with as pretty an undercut as I’d seen in a while. Kane fell over backward, and the fight was over.

“I’ve never seen you move that fast, Peter,” Edward said from behind us in the door of the dressing room.

“Or hit that hard,” I said.

Peter was staring at his hands like he couldn’t quite believe what he’d just done. Apparently, he hadn’t seen himself move like that before either.

Asher looked at his fallen lover and then at Peter and then back to Kane. “I apologize for what Kane said, it was inexcusably rude, but could we begin with verbal insults before resorting to violence next time?”

Milligan was back through the curtains with Craven at his heels. Milligan had his pale hair newly military cut. He kept trying to grow it out since testing positive for lycanthropy had gotten him a medical discharge from the Navy, but he hated it touching his ears. Craven was so newly discharged that his black hair was still in its original high and tight. It seemed weird to have Milligan on duty without his usual partner, Custer, but we’d divided all the more experienced military security among the newer guys who were still transitioning from career military to civilian security. It was a good idea, but I still missed Custer, and Milligan was a lot less chatty and comfortable to be around with the newbie.

Milligan said, “Blake, if you’re going to pick fights with shapeshifters I’m going to have to stay on this side of the curtain.”

“If Kane’s involved it might be for the best,” I said.

Craven knelt and checked for the pulse in Kane’s neck.

“He’s a werehyena, I didn’t hit him that hard,” Peter said, but his voice held a note of panic.

“He’s alive,” Asher said, but not with the emotion you’d expect about the news. Kane’s cruel streak had started to wear thin on everyone.

“He’s got a pulse,” Craven said.

I heard Peter let out a breath, his shoulders slumping with relief.

“And that’s the other reason we’re here,” Edward said.

“Can you move like that now, too?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Neither of us has ever moved like that. We’re stronger and faster, but not like that.”

Peter backed far enough away from Kane so he might have some warning if the werehyena came to and wanted to have a rematch. He backed up until he was standing by Edward. Peter looked pale. “I don’t know what happened.”

“You cleaned his clock,” I said.

“You lost control of your temper,” Edward said.

Peter just nodded. “Worse than I have in a long time.”

“I taught you to fight, and you’ve learned more at the dojo, but with those skills comes responsibility and judgment about when to use them and how hard to go at it. Today was not the moment to go this hard, Peter,” Edward said.

“I know that, I really do, but he said what he said after Anita had talked to her dad on the phone and it was . . . I lost control. I don’t have an excuse for it, but I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t lose control,” I said, “that was very controlled, very precise.”

“I wanted to hurt him, Anita, that’s not okay. I’m too big and too strong, and now it’s even worse. I have to control my emotions as much as I do the physical stuff, or someone will get hurt and I could end up arrested.”

“Well, if you hit a human this hard someone could get dead,” Craven said.

“I don’t want to kill someone by accident,” Peter said. He suddenly looked scared, the shadow of the boy I’d first met on his face. I didn’t blame him.

“You’re here to work out with us, right?” Milligan said.

Peter nodded.

“We’ll teach you how to manage your new strength and speed, and how to hide it.”

“Yeah, that, too. I mean, if I moved like that in the dojo they’d all know.”

“You were fast, kid, but not as fast as we are,” Craven said.

Peter looked at him. “Are you serious?”

Craven smiled that smile that big, athletic men have been smiling since the first one realized he was bigger and stronger than everyone else.

“They are serious,” Asher said, “and please remember that when Kane comes to, he will take this as a grave insult.”

“Is that a threat?” Edward asked.

“No, it is a warning. As I become healthier and less prone to being what Anita calls a shit stirrer, Kane is getting worse. He’s only here today for my fitting because he didn’t trust me out of his sight.”

“The jealousy issues are that much worse?” I asked.

“I fear so.”

“How much worse, since we’re supposed to be keeping everyone safe?” Craven asked.