“Elina did kick my ass when I first arrived here,” she answered drolly. “I am aware of their prowess.”
The goofy grin he shot her way almost made her laugh aloud. “Oh, that was nothing. Wait until you see them spar. That’s something completely different. Lily sparred with Mac when she first came here and she was magnificent. Then she sparred with Kal and it was so clear how much she had been holding back with Mac. They are so amazing they’re mind-blowing. I can’t wait to see what Kothari is capable of.”
His enthusiasm and interest in Kothari made her feel uneasy. She hadn’t seen much of the younger Varcolac since he had arrived, but she could sense just how dangerous the boy was. One look at him and she knew that there was something very wrong with Kothari. The fact that he made Louis appear like a choirboy was a good indicator of that… and he was about to spar with Liam.
She was unaccountably afraid, so much so that she called out, “Liam!”
His expression was quizzical when he turned to face her, but he halted his progress into the main sparring circle to allow her to hurry over to him. “What is it?”
“Remember what you learned when we dream walked in your mind. You are a multifaceted being, Liam. Do not favour one aspect of your personality over the other.”
His brown eyes became more confused, and he reached out a hand to gently place it again her cheek. His expression lightened a little when she didn’t automatically pull away. “What are you trying to tell me, Reasa?”
“Do not trust him,” she hissed out, her eyes never leaving his. “He is dangerous, Liam. Do not let your guard down.”
“Kothari is my friend. He would never deliberately hurt me,” Liam countered, totally confused by the fear on her face.
“Listen to me, Liam and hear what I am saying. That boy is the most dangerous being I have ever come across and I have come across many scary things in Europe. He may be your friend, and he may not mean to hurt you, but he is walking a very fine line, I can see it in his eyes. Bring your vampire forward, and don’t rely on your wolf. Now is the time to meet fire with fire. Now is the time that you must be whole.”
There was so much foreboding in her voice that for a moment Liam considered cancelling the sparring match. She was truly afraid that something bad was going to happen and the only way to dissuade that fear would be not to fight with Kothi. He couldn’t understand why she was so worried though. He couldn’t understand what it was she was seeing when she was looking at his friend. The only way to prove to her that there was nothing to worry about was to show her.
“Okay, I will do as you ask, but there really isn’t anything to be concerned about, Reasa. It’s just a friendly sparring match.”
‘Just a friendly sparring match,’ he’d told her barely five minutes ago and now he was lying panting on his back as Kothari circled in a slow, wide movement. What the hell was wrong with him? His friend had come at him like a demon possessed, kicking, talons slashing, fangs biting every which way he turned. Liam had been so unprepared for the ferocity of Kothi’s attack that he’d taken blow after blow until he was knocked down and fighting for breath.
“The bigger they are, the harder they fall,” Kothi laughed, but there was no humour in his words, instead, there was a trace of malice.
Liam groaned and pulled himself up to his knees, his eyes narrowing as he glared at his friend. “I thought this was supposed to be a mock fight,” he growled.
“I am fighting, and I am also mocking you, so I would say it was,” was the sarcastic reply he received, and it only served to send a spike of anger flooding through him.
“He’s a cocky little shit,” his vampire whispered in his mind. “I think you need me, Liam my boy.”
There was something very disconcerting about having his other half address him as if it was a separate being. Liam wondered if this was what insane people experienced as the norm. Shaking his head, he rose to his feet and took a deep breath. “If you want a fight then I guess it’s time to give you one, Kothari.”
As soon as he’d finished speaking, he quickly coaxed his wolf into a more submissive stance, ignoring the frustrated growl he received from it. Strength surged through his muscles as his vampiric side rose up sharply, and his fingernails turned to wickedly, sharp talons.
“Oh, Liam has a vamp does he?” Kothari laughed again, moving at supernatural speed before he had stopped speaking. He cursed loudly, spinning away as quickly as he’d attacked, holding his side as blood seeped through his fingers.
“Yes, he does, Kothi, and he very much wants to play with you.” Holding up two fingers, Liam made a come-hither gesture, his grin turning to one of pure malice. “Let’s dance, little boy.”
“Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea.” Lily swallowed hard as Liam and Kothari crashed into each other, talons flashing wildly as they barrelled into the treeline. Reasa was sitting forward, her gaze intent on the two sparring males.
“Glorious,” she muttered under her breath, causing Lily to turn her gaze from her friends to watch her expressive face.
Thereasa was riveted to the ongoing contest, her expression rapt as she tried to follow the speed at which Kothi and Liam were moving. For a moment, Lily thought she was watching them both, but after a few seconds she could see that Reasa was tracking Liam more than Kothi.
Realisation dawned, and Lily felt a sense of hope building up inside. This was what Reasa knew, what she was most comfortable with. Liam’s display of his more vampiric side had caught the former vampire’s attention and she was liking what she saw very much. Her friends may come out of the sparring match feeling like they’d been run over by a truck, but Liam was giving his mate the one thing that she needed to finally connect with him; his vampire.