“He’s like a boxer waiting for his opponent.” Wyatt’s observation was spot on.
“That’s because he does box.” I left unmentioned that it was underground illegal boxing matches lead by our cousins. They weren’t quite ready to hear about that secret.
Once surrounded like Flint had been, the match started. Unlike Flint, Clay was a very aggressive fighter although that was only a relatively recent change to his fighting style. He hardly defended himself anymore, saying that at least he could still feel something when he got hit. It would be a lie to say I wasn’t worried about him which reminded me.
“What’s the date today?” If my sudden question shocked the shifters next to me, they didn’t show it.
“May 15th.”
I did a quick mental calculation, if we were still here in 11 days, I would need Hawk and Flint to cover for Clay and I for the day. Turning my attention back to the fight, Clay was halfway through the shifters looking bruised in a few places but largely none the worse for wear. About 5 minutes later, it was only Clay and Damien still standing but with one solid punch to Damien’s jaw causing him to crumple, the fight was won.
“Flint, would you mind?”
“No, but you need to do something soon.” His words made me sigh and made the shifters next to me perk up in interest.
“I know.” Clay would likely run himself into the ground if he continued this way, although part of me couldn’t blame him for trying to deal with his emotional trauma this way, but still, I didn’t want to lose another family member.
Wyatt turned to me with a mischievous smile on his face.
“Any tips?” Clearly having seen two groups get beaten so handily made him realise it wasn’t as easy as they first thought.
“Yeah. Pray.” I smirked.
All of the shifters stood with Wyatt looked less confident then they did at the beginning of the first match but he managed to rally them a bit with a heartfelt speech. Not that it would help. I watched the shifters circle Hawk and realised despite the violence of the sparring matches, I felt more relaxed now then I had in a long while. Until Alexander opened his mouth that is.
“I overheard you this morning.” And there went my good mood.
“I didn’t realise the Leo would stoop to eavesdropping.”
“It wasn’t intentional, I was heading to the kitchen when I came across you. I wanted to answer your question you asked your brothers. If you’ll allow me to?” His words were softly spoken.
“You’ll have to be quick. You have approximately two minutes before Hawk wins.”
As I said that, the match started. Hawk was an exceptional fighter, he was able to read his opponents moves almost before they made them allowing him to counter efficiently aiming directly for one hit areas that would knock them unconscious.
“I never had any serious relationships, I saw how badly that went for my mother and father when they met. I vowed to not to hurt my mate that way, and I waited. If you weren’t my mate, I wouldn’t have courted you for that reason alone. Not because you’re an angel or scarred, those don’t matter to me. If I were human, I would have pursued you the first chance I got.”
As he finished, so did Hawk’s match. Flint got up to heal them all as Hawk came back to the sidelines, completely untouched and no more out of breath then he would have been going up the stairs. I knew people were waiting for me to stand up but I was still reeling from what Alexander had just told me. What he said hurt a bit, that if I hadn’t been his mate he wouldn’t have been interested but I understood the importance shifters placed on it. It was the same importance angels and demons placed on finding their Hearts. But on the same breath, he told me that if mate bonds weren’t a thing, he would have picked me, maybe not permanently but at least to see if we were compatible. The main issue I was having was whether he was telling the truth. The fact he told me he overheard us this morning did lend him some credibility.
“Autumn?” Alexander’s soft voice sounded close to me, snapping me out of my daze.
I turned to stare at him, trying to read from his face if he was telling the truth or not. Slowly, I nodded and took the hand he held out to me, helping me up of the ground. I’d give him one chance because I knew I would regret it if I didn’t.
Comments (0)
See all