Warrior (Relentless #4)(103)

I would have glared at him if Sara hadn’t been looking at me. Instead, I just nodded.

“I will walk my sweet little cousin out.” Chris pulled on her hair playfully, and she smacked his hand. He chuckled. “Just trying to make up for all the years I missed out on.”

She gave him a warning smile. “Before you get any ideas, Dimples, I should remind you my best friends are boys and I know many forms of retaliation. I even picked up a few tricks from Remy.”

He winked. “I’ve learned to never underestimate a girl with troll friends.”

Sara rolled her eyes and looked at Tristan and me. “I’ll see you later.”

“Tomorrow,” I replied.

Tristan shut the door, and I rounded on him right away. “What was that about?”

He walked back to the living room, unfazed by my outburst. “I needed to talk to you.”

“Why are you and Nate discussing Sara’s relationships?” I followed him and sat across from him. “You said you wouldn’t interfere.”

Tristan sighed. “I was only relating to her what we talked about. And Nate actually mentioned you specifically when he asked if she was spending time with anyone. He suspects there is something between you.”

I relaxed. “I spent time with Nate when Sara was missing. He’s a smart man, and I’m not surprised he picked up on my feelings for her.”

“He speaks fondly of you. I think he is just concerned about Sara getting involved in a serious relationship. To you, she is a young woman, but to Nate, she is still his little girl.”

“And she is your granddaughter. I understand you are both protective of her, but she is my mate. Nate doesn’t know what that means, but you do.”

“I do,” he replied wistfully. “But Sara is still so young.”

“She is almost eighteen, two years younger than Josephine was when you bonded with her.”

“Yes, but Josephine was raised a Mohiri, and she knew about bonding and mating before she met me.”

I kept my anger in check. “What are you saying? We’ve already agreed that I would hold off on telling her about us. Are you asking me to stay away from her?”

“No. You need her, and she needs you even if she doesn’t understand why.”

“But.”

“No buts. I promised I wouldn’t come between you, and I won’t. I know how much you care for Sara, and I trust you to do what’s best for her.”

“Is this why you asked to talk to me?”

“I actually wanted to ask how Sara’s first training session went this morning.”

I smiled. “Very good. We talked for a while, and then she spent some time getting to know her Mori.”

His brow arched. “Getting to know it?”

“I know how it sounds, but Sara thinks of her Mori as a separate part of her. She’s only connected with it once before, and the experience terrified her because the demon tried to dominate her. That’s why she can’t tap into her Mori’s power. We are starting slow, getting her past her fear before we move on to traditional training.”

I didn’t go into the details of our session. Sara had shared personal things with me today. I’d asked her to trust me, and I would not betray that trust.

Tristan nodded, pleased. “It sounds like you’ve made a lot of progress already.”

“I think so.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Crazy day. Remember when it used to be so quiet here?”

A laugh burst from me. “I hear it’s a lot quieter in Maine these days.”

“You weren’t kidding when you said trouble knows how to find Sara.”

“I’m pretty sure I said she knows how to find trouble. I just didn’t expect it to happen here.”

Tristan sobered. “Do you honestly believe one of our own would try to harm her?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Has anyone here shown animosity toward her?”

“Not that I’ve seen.”

I’d spent the afternoon scrutinizing the possible motives of anyone who’d been close enough to put the scarab pheromone on Sara’s clothes. Celine desired me, and it was possible she was jealous of the time I spent with Sara, but physically attacking someone wasn’t Celine’s way. She’d consider it beneath her.

“From what I’ve seen, Sara interacts mainly with the other trainees, and they all seem to like her.” For a moment Tristan stared out the window thoughtfully, and I wondered what he was thinking. “I just can’t see anyone here wanting to hurt her. Maybe Chris is right, and it was a prank.”

“Maybe.”

If he was right, I hoped the prankster had learned a lesson about pulling such a dangerous stunt. If they hadn’t, they’d have to deal with me.

And I wasn’t laughing.





Chapter 19





“So, are we done training for now?”

I sat on one of the arena seats and motioned for Sara to sit beside me. “We’ll take a short break, and then I want to try something new.”

She’d spent the last hour working with her Mori, and I was pleased to see her progressing so quickly. Yesterday, she’d been afraid of her demon, and today she had allowed it to connect with her for a short while, even tapping into its strength to help her lift heavy weights. She still had a long way to go, and merging with her demon was hard on her, though she pushed through it.