Warrior (Relentless #4)(39)

“And to challenge authority,” my sire added.

“I might have broken a few rules, but I –”

Their laughter filled my hotel room, and it was a full two minutes before either of them could talk. My mother wiped her eyes and leaned back in her chair.

“My darling boy, there wasn’t a rule you hadn’t broken by the time you reached puberty.”

“I wasn’t that bad.”

“Really?” She arched an eyebrow. “How many times did you sneak out to watch the warriors train after I forbade it? How many times did you injure yourself playing with your papa’s swords even though you were warned against it? We went through more gunna paste than five warrior units together.”

“I wanted to be a warrior. What was wrong with that?”

“You were ten, a little young to be a warrior.” My sire nudged my mother. “Irina, how old was our son the day he decided he was ready to join the warriors on patrol?”

Her eyes sparkled with laughter. “Thirteen.”

I remembered that day well. I had wanted so much to be a warrior like my parents, and I’d spent every hour I could with the warriors, watching them train and listening to their hunting stories. I started practicing with knives when I was ten, years before my formal training began, and by the time I was twelve, I was already proficient with most of the weapons used by the warriors.

The warriors’ stories of the world had enthralled me. I had never been outside the walls of our stronghold, and I longed for the day I could go out and see the world. I started asking to go on patrols as soon as I was skilled enough to ride a horse and hold a sword at the same time, but the warriors told me I wasn’t ready. I knew better – or I thought I did.

One day, I hid inside a supply cart going to an isolated village suffering from an especially brutal winter. It took three hours to reach the village, and by the time we got there my whole body ached from huddling in the cart. I knew by the warriors’ hushed voices that something was wrong, and I climbed out to see the villagers gathered around seven bodies laid out in the village square. Two vampires had attacked in the night and killed six people before an archer took down one of the vampires. The other had fled.

We helped the villagers bury their dead and stayed the night with them. The warriors were furious when they discovered I had stowed away, and they gave me a severe tongue lashing. That was nothing compared to the scolding I got from my parents when I returned home the next day.

For weeks, I’d dreamed of the bodies lying in the bloody snow. Seeing up close what a vampire could do lit a fire in me, and I began to train with a new intensity. By the time I entered the warrior training program at sixteen, I could best all but the most experienced swordsmen.

“Your escapades were much talked about back then.” My mother laughed softly, laying a hand on my sire’s shoulder.

He smiled and reached up to lay his over hers. “You always had a good heart, Nikolas, and you were passionate about your dreams, but you didn’t like to be told what to do. And you always felt ready to take on the world, thinking you could handle anything. Remember that the next time your orphan challenges you. Maybe you two are more alike than you think.”

A faint knock sounded on their end and my mother went to answer the door. She came back wearing a rueful smile.

“I have to go. I have a new litter of weerlaks, and no one else here will handle them. They must be fed six times a day or they become difficult.”

Difficult was a mild word to describe the bad-tempered brutes. Weerlaks resembled a cross between a honey badger and a saber-toothed tiger, and they were just as mean. They were always born in litters of four, and they communicated telepathically with their litter mates. They were fast, deadly, and territorial, and if trained properly, they made excellent guard animals. My mother had been raising and training them for as long as I could remember, and her weerlaks were highly sought after by other strongholds in Europe and Asia.

She blew me a kiss. “I love you. Get some sleep so you are strong enough to keep up with your charge.” Laughter followed her as she left before I could make a retort.

My sire grinned at me. “I’ll let you get back to your rest. I’m sure it’s well deserved. Don’t wait too long to call next time. You may be a great warrior, but she worries.”

I nodded. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

Laying the phone on the nightstand, I slid down on the bed and put my arms beneath my head to stare at the ceiling. Had I been as incorrigible as they made me out to be?

I thought back to my childhood in Russia and then in England, and I came to the surprising revelation that I’d really been as bad as my parents had said. All I’d cared about back then, besides my parents and Viv, was becoming a warrior, and I hadn’t wanted to listen to anyone who slowed me down or got in my way. I’d been so sure I knew what was best for me, and I took foolish risks, believing I was ready for anything just because I could use a knife and a sword before anyone else my age.

I understood Sara’s behavior a little better after talking to my parents. The anger she’d directed at me yesterday was a mask for her fear. Not fear of vampires, but of losing the life she knew. New Hastings was her home, and she felt safe here with the pack. From my observations and my interactions with her over the last few weeks, I learned she was a private person, despite her friendships, and she valued her independence greatly. She saw me as a threat to her way of life and her freedom. I could empathize with that, even though it wouldn’t change my plan to keep her safe.