“I can’t believe all this is happening.” I chuckled ruefully, and crossed my arms. “I feel like I’ve been saying that every day for the last month or so.”
Delphine put her arm around my shoulders. “Things haven’t been normal for a while now.”
As I glanced back at the closed door, a new thought occurred to me. If what Sahalie proposed was going to come to fruition, did that mean I would be present at the meeting? A meeting that would most likely-unless I’d fully misread the situation-turn into a fight?
My strength and speed were better than a human’s, but that was nothing compared to a full shifter. The fight in my apartment had been evidence of that. Had Aurelius and Vince not shown up, Delphine and I would be dead now.
“Can you help me with something?” I asked.
Delphine raised an eyebrow and gave me a shrewd look. “I don’t like that tone. Is this going to be something bad?”
“Depends.” I shrugged. “Do you want to help me stay alive?”
She snorted. “I’ve been watching over you for a decade now. I think you know the answer to that.”
“Okay, good.” I grabbed her wrist and led her down the hall. “Let’s talk.”
Delphine had been chosen as my nanny and steward because she wasn’t popular in my household, but also because she was capable of protecting me. Even though my parents hadn’t wanted me around, they also loathed the idea of some random human criminal killing a member of the Laurent family. It was more about status than any real concern, but the idea was the same. Delphine was an excellent fighter. She’d held her own with the two half-shifted assassins who’d broken into our apartment. If I was going to end up in another fight, then I needed to learn to protect myself. Who better to teach me than the woman who’d protected me all these years?
We headed to one of the grassy glens on the estate grounds. Delphine’s breath hissed out in little visible puffs against the cool air.
“Are you serious about this?” she asked.
“I am. Teach me how to fight a shifter. It might save my life. We should have been doing this all along,” I explained. “It won’t hurt anything to learn. Plus, it’ll help take my mind off everything.”
Delphine nodded, resolve and understanding settling on her face. “Well, if we’re doing this, then there’s one thing you need to know.”
“What?”
“Prepare for the unexpected.”
I yelped in surprise as Delphine shifted and lunged toward me, her jaws open and angled toward my throat. Thankfully, I didn’t freeze. Tilting to the side, I used my weight and gravity to pull me down. Twisting my hips, I rolled out of the way of her attack.
Delphine landed on her paws, and spun in place, quick as lightning. She attacked again, her teeth clacking together at my heels as I crawled away in a rising panic. Jesus, she was fast. Within seconds, she’d backed me into a tree. Thick shrubs stood on either side, allowing me no place to run. Flipping over, I met her face-on.
Snarling teeth and bristling fur vanished as she shifted back to her human form, gazing down at me huddled on the ground like a small child.
“I see we have our work cut out for us,” she said.
That stung my pride, and my cheeks heated. Despite myself, I could feel the desire to pout coming on.
“You didn’t warn me,” I said, wincing inwardly at how lame and childish I sounded.
“Is your brother going to warn you when he attacks?”
I sighed and pushed myself to my feet. “No.”
“Okay, then. Let’s start with some more basic stuff,” Delphine said, her smile returning.
Over the next several days, all the planning took up most of Aurelius’s time and attention. We were able to connect at mealtimes mostly, but the rest of his days and nights were taken with meetings, discussions, and planning. Bastien hadn’t responded to the Hikshil’s request yet, and the entire castle was in what I could only describe as a constant state of tension. Through it all, Delphine and I spent the time outside training.
Over the course of three days, I actually improved quite a bit. I’d learned how wolves attacked and fought, the rhythm of their paws, how they balanced, what they’d do when cornered. Personally, I thought I’d done a damn good job.
“Nice moves. Want to try that on someone else?”
Delphine and I both turned to see Freddy strolling down the hill toward us.
“I’m guessing you’re the someone else?” I said, then chugged from a bottle of water.
“Yup. I’ve been watching you since yesterday.” He pointed at a window on the fourth floor of the mansion. “My room. Great view.”
“Are you any good?” I asked. “Delphine has done a pretty great job. Is there anything you can teach me?”
He smirked at me. “I know a thing or two. You forget, I didn’t ride off into the sunset like some badass the way you did. Istayed behind and got taught all the things a good noble-born shifter needs to learn.”
“A badass?” I said, snorting a laugh. “Is that what I am? You make it sound like I left of my own volition rather than being kicked out on my ass.”
He shrugged. “That’s the way Sophia and I saw it. You got away. We had to stay behind with our psycho brother and less-than-loving parents. In our minds, you were a hero. Let me help make you one for real,” he said, and extended his hand to help me up.
“Fair enough,” I said, though deep down, his words struck me with heart-melting ferocity.
A hero? My younger siblings had spent all these years wishing they could be me, when I’d spent all that time wishing to be them. Had we not been about to spar, I’d have probably gotten a little teary-eyed.
Freddy looked at Delphine. “Have you guys done any half-shifted fighting?”
Delphine shook her head, her nose wrinkling in distaste. “I never liked doing that. It doesn’t feel right. Like putting a shirt on backward. Not painful or disgusting, just uncomfortable.”
Freddy chuckled. “That’s a good way of putting it, but it’s a powerful way of fighting. You aren’t quite as fast or powerful, but you still have the jaws and enhanced strength. Then there’s the hands,” he said, holding his up, fingers curled like talons. “Easier to attack when you aren’t walking on all fours. That night at the conservatory you saw how efficient it is to fight like that. In closed quarters, it’s a better option.”
“Okay, then,” I said, preparing myself. “Let’s see what I can do.”
It turned out, I could do very little. I managed to hold my own for a few moments, using what Delphine had shown me, but Freddy’s size quickly overwhelmed me. He was right. Instead of only focusing on not getting bitten or tackled, I also had to watch out for his wicked claws.
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