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If I wasn’t already hot from the anger and exertion, his words would have pulled a different kind of heat to the surface of my skin.
The bead of sweat traveling down my spine already felt obscene.
Jari dropped his head to press his lips against my ear and his hand gripped my hips. “What do you say we go back to our room and get a workout of a different kind in, hmm?”
My eyelids fluttered shut, but they opened as I caught a glimpse of Rand storming across the yard.
“No, whatever you’re trying to do, absolutely not.” My sweetheart Manno was all fire and ice as he stopped right front of me. He tugged me away from Jari with a glare at my Levan mate.
“Rand, what’s your problem?” Jari tossed his hands up in exasperation as Nato joined our group.He worked his jaw as he glanced between us and the rest of the Mannos on the field, who were trying not to be too obvious in their observation of us.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re at war. We all need to take this seriously. All of us. Especially Isolde. The last thing we want is for any of us to die, and after the other Mazza and her bonds destroyed us, I would think you’d see how serious this is.”
“War? What war? Yunez is gone all the fucking time. We haven’t left these walls since that day, and it seems like the world is turning just fine without us.” Jari dropped his voice. “I understand this is important. I understand why. But we can’t keep going on like this.”
Egan stalked toward us, his rust red hair slicked back with sweat. We all turned to watch him for his last few steps before he pulled me away from Rand. “Let’s take this to the suite,” he growled, massaging his palm over the flat of my stomach. “You’re all too loud and everyone here is paying too much attention.”
I glanced around and he was right. Every Manno on the field was trying not to send surreptitious glances.
My LL each surveyed the field and Nato sighed.
“I agree with Egan. Let’s go back to the suite. We all need a breather.” Nato, my Zien mate, had been the leader of our Lusty Legion until secrets were revealed around the true state of the Fennin world. Now that we knew the existence of the Mannos, and Yunez settled into my bonds, Nato was no longer the leader.
He’d been quietly shuffled to the backseat. I could never tell if he was bothered or not, but I thought he, like the others, saw the benefit in adding Mannos to our LL.
Rand nodded, and a—for once—quiet Sage joined us as we left the field. We’d passed a few Mannos in the hallway and we nodded. Thankfully, no one tried to stop us. I had the suspicion I was still wearing a face like thunder, so why would they approach when they thought I might bite their head off?
Reaching our suite, Rand pushed the door open and headed straight for the water, pouring all of us a glass because at the end of the day, he was always the nice guy. I hoped the others appreciated that.
“What’s going on?” Sage took the glass, condensation already gathering on the outside. He wouldn’t meet my gaze, instead training all of his focus on Nato. “Why were you all huddling on the field?”
Sage was usually an asshole. It was true, he was my asshole, but sometimes I wanted to use the nipple clamps on him, and not in a fun way. Ever since they’d discovered Brody was a past “relationship”—hell, relationship was too kind a word. Ever since that day, he’d had a coolness about him. I understood it. When I had to see Lucia, it hurt like hell. But if he didn’t snap out of it, and realize we all had a history, especially after I learned about the cherries, I was going to beat him bloody with my nun chucks, then fuck him to death.
Because I hadthatmuch anger.
I waited for someone else to explain. But Nato dropped his gaze and crossed his arms. Egan shook his head and went to raid the cabinets. Jari raised his top lip as he stared at Rand, and Rand…
He still had fire behind his eyes, even as it was dulling now that we were in the privacy of our home. Or maybe he was losing it because he saw where Jari was coming from?
“I can’t go on like this much longer,” I confessed as I dropped on the couch. “I’m with Jari on this one. We need a plan. We need to work together to form a plan, do reconnaissance, research this other Mazza, anything to be productive.” I tried and failed to keep the bitterness out of my tone.
“Isolde, Issy.” Rand dropped to his knees in front of me, pressing the defined planes of his chest against my legs as he took my hands in his. Sympathy glinted in his gray eyes before they steeled in determination. “I love you so much. So much that I’m going to give you a hard truth.” He took in a deep breath. “The best thing you could do right now is train. Train your body, mind, and powers. Reality has slapped us in the face and we, at least I, realize we’re not ready to win. We’ll be humiliated, tortured, or killed if we aren’t ready. The rest? It’s important. But not as important as making sure you can defend yourself.”
Nato set his glass down on the table and walked over to us. He laid a hand on Rand’s shoulder but waited until he looked up at him to speak.
“You’re right. No one is disputing we aren’t ready. Not even by a long shot, but you have to see, going through the same training motions every day with no results isn’t helping any of us. We’re in a rut.”
Egan huffed. “We’re more than in a rut. We’re drowning in a sea of irritation and self-loathing.”
Rand rubbed his forehead and sighed. “What would you have us do then? Go on field trips to learn more about this other Mazza and hope they don’t catch us? We’ll surely be killed.”
“I’d like to catch at least one of them…” Sage grumbled, and I shot a glare at him, which he ignored.
“I’m not saying we have to stop training all together.” Jari took a seat next to me, wrapping his arm comfortingly around my shoulders. I sunk into him, accepting everything he was trying to give me. He looked at me with his bright blue eyes, then to Rand. “But we need to break this up. Whatever we’re doing isn’t working and we need to change it up.”
“Is this how all of you feel?” Rand glanced around at all of my bonds.
Each of the men nodded, even Sage.
