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Chapter 4
The next morning,Mia stood in the hall outside the training room and stared at the metal door in front of her. It looked solid, and the small window was embedded with wire mesh. She didn’t want to think about the reasons for all that reinforced steel.
The nerves she’d woken up with increased their efforts, and she took several slow, deep breaths to calm herself. She didn’t know what to expect at this first training session. But after what she’d seen last night, she was glad it was James in charge of her training and not one of the knights. They were good guys. She knew that. Her sister had made a point of telling her many times just how awesome they were. Still, they were overwhelming.
She’d tossed and turned all night, trying to get that cold yellow stare out of her mind. God, Zenon was terrifying. But for some reason, that fear didn’t stop her from being incredibly drawn to him. It made no sense. Perhaps avoiding him for the rest of her stay would be for the best, for both of them. His dislike of her was blatant to the point of out-and-out hostility but didn’t stop her curiosity where he was concerned.
“You going in?”
Mia spun around and looked up, all the way up. Chaos looked down at her, brow raised.
“Ah, yes…I was just…”
He reached around her and pushed the door open. “Everything will be fine.” Then he motioned for her to go in ahead of him.
The room was small, windowless, and the walls—she reached out and pushed on the one closest to her—were padded. Alarm bells fired through her and her gaze shot to James who was already in the room. “Why the hell am I in a padded cell?”
The door clicked shut behind her and she spun around. Chaos stood, arms crossed, blocking the exit with his massive body. “Sometimes during training, things go…where we least expect. It’s for your own protection.”
“I don’t mean to be rude, but what are you doing here? I thought James was in charge of my training?”
He grinned. She guessed in an effort to put her at ease, but it looked more feral than comforting. “Until we learn what our demi can do, I like to be in here as well. Things have on occasion gone wrong. I hear your power source is fire?”
“Yes.”
He shrugged his big shoulders. “I’m here so you don’t barbecue James.”
Oh God.
“Oh.” She felt her face heat to scalding proportions. “I’ll try not to, ah…do that.”
“I’d appreciate it,” James drawled then clapped his hands. “Okay, enough talk. Let’s get started. Mia, come to the center of the room.”
Mia did as he asked, and he moved up behind her. Chaos started to circle around her, she guessed preparing for the worst. She swallowed hard. James’s hands came down on her shoulders and he squeezed gently. It felt nice, reassuring. “Roc told me you could call up your power pretty easily.”
“Yes.” The heat from James’s palms had seeped through the thin fabric of her T-shirt and she calmed further.
“Can you do that for me now?”
She nodded and let that tight, volatile energy build in her chest. It always felt so much bigger than the delicate-looking flames she called forth, which was another reason she’d decided to come to the compound.
She felt her power slither across her shoulders and travel down her arms. Warmth tingled through her veins to the tips of her fingers. Heated wind began to swirl around her, sending her hair flying, and she looked down at the small flames that licked from the tips of her fingers.
“Jesus, that wind’s hot.” But James didn’t leave her. He stayed right where he was. “That’s good, Mia. The pressure in your chest, is it gone?”
She turned to face him. “How did you…”
“I told you. No matter how different our powers are, all manifest in a similar way.”
“Oh, okay.”
“Well, has it gone?”
“No. It’s hard to describe, but the pressure keeps building and I can’t—” Mia gasped, unable to keep it up much longer. James exchanged a look with Chaos. The pressure tightened further behind her ribs, stealing her breath.
“It’s okay, Mia. Just let it go.”
“I can’t… I…”
