Warrior

Chapter 18-2

“You want to keep going?”

“I’ve seen enough.”

Dax stopped the playback. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

“No. I thought I’d figure out why the karks attacked Sara and no one else, but I can’t see anything here that explains it.”

I rubbed my jaw and thought about where Sara could have picked up the pheromone, if indeed that was what I’d smelled on her hoodie. Could it have been on her clothes before we entered the building?

Once again, I dismissed that idea. If Sara had walked into the hall with scarab pheromone on her clothes, the flock would have attacked her as soon as they caught the scent. So how the hell had she come into contact with it?

Leaning back in my chair, I stared at the monitor that now showed the ongoing cleanup in the main hall. Was it possible that I was making something out of nothing? Where was the motive? Why would another Mohiri want to hurt Sara? I was so used to protecting her. Maybe I was seeing a threat where none existed.

I pushed my chair back and stood. A glance at the time on the monitor told me I had at least an hour before the lab’s pheromone test would be done. The results would tell me if I was overreacting or not. I hoped I was.

* * *It was just after eight that night when I arrived at Tristan’s door to talk to him about the kark incident and the results of the lab tests. I felt Sara’s presence inside, and I was a little worried about seeing her after my behavior in the hall. I was trying to take my time with her, and I didn’t want her upset by this.

I rapped on the door. A moment later, it was opened by Tristan.

“Nikolas, come in. We just finished dinner.”

My eyes went to Sara as soon as I entered the apartment, and my stomach did a strange flip when I saw her. Instead of her usual attire, she wore a lacy pink top that complimented her sun-kissed skin. Her hair flowed in soft waves around her shoulders, and her face was flushed from laughter. Her green eyes met mine demurely before she glanced away.

Remembering my talk with Tristan, I schooled my expression before she could see the effect she had on me. I turned my gaze to Chris, who gave me a knowing smile.

“I’ll leave so you guys can take care of business,” Sara said quietly, a note of discomfort in her voice that could only have been caused by my arrival.

Damn it, I had upset her this morning. Or someone had mentioned it to her. Only yesterday, I’d told Tristan I could train her and be around her without revealing my true feelings, and I’d already caused her distress.

Tristan shook his head when she moved to stand. “No, this concerns you. Nikolas has been investigating the kark attack.”

He looked at me expectantly. “I assume you have something for us.”

I sat on the couch, very aware of the girl sitting three feet away, and the fact that she averted her eyes when I looked at her.

“We examined Sara’s shirt. The karks destroyed one side of it, so we focused on the scraps of fabric left there and found traces of what looks like scarab pheromone. The only way Sara could have gotten it on her clothes is if someone put it there.”

“I cannot believe anyone inside these walls would try to hurt one of our own,” Tristan said, no longer smiling.

I met his skeptical stare. “I find it hard to believe as well, but the evidence speaks for itself. Sahir said he found it odd there was no pheromone spray in the crates with the shipment of eggs. It’s likely someone took it out before he searched them.”

Chris leaned forward. “Why would anyone here target Sara?” He looked at her. “Your beasties didn’t snack on someone, did they?”

“Ha, ha.” She grew serious. “It’s not like I don’t have enemies out there.”

“Out there, yes, but not in here,” Tristan replied confidently. “And we’ve found nothing to indicate the vampires believe you are still alive. Even if they did, there is no way a Mohiri would betray one of their own people for a vampire.”

The idea of someone here betraying Sara to our enemies seemed unthinkable. But God help anyone who caused her harm, Mohiri or otherwise.

“I agree,” I said, looking at Sara. “There must be another motive.”

Chris pursed his lips. “Trainees have been known to prank each other. They were brutal back in my day. Perhaps one of them did this as a practical joke and it got out of hand.”

“I don’t know any of them that well, but they’ve all been nice to me,” Sara said, looking genuinely confused. “I really can’t see one of them doing something that would hurt me.”

“Jordan? Nice?” Chris gave her a disbelieving smile.

She shrugged. “She has her moments. I like her actually. I took her to meet Hugo and Woolf today, and they didn’t go all growly on her so she must be okay.”

I nodded in approval. “Jordan will make a great warrior one day. You could learn a lot from her.”

If I could have picked a friend for Sara, it would have been the blonde trainee, but not just because she was a skilled fighter. Sara didn’t open up to people easily, but she’d looked happy the few times I’d seen her with the other girl.

“She is already teaching me a lot,” Sara said. She stood and looked at Tristan. “I should get going. I need to call Nate because I forgot to ask him yesterday if he’s still coming for Thanksgiving.”

Tristan chuckled. “I doubt you could keep him away. I’ve already arranged for the plane to pick him up in Portland in two weeks.”

Her eyes sparkled. “I can’t wait for you guys to meet each other.”

They walked to the door. Chris and I followed.

“I’m looking forward to it, too,” Tristan told her. “He sounds like a nice person on the phone.”

Sara stopped walking. “You talked to Nate?”

“We speak at least once a week. You didn’t know?”

She wore a small frown. “No. What do you talk about? You don’t even know each other.”

Tristan darted a look at me before he answered her.

“We are getting to know each other. He wants to make sure you are happy here; he knows how much you miss your friends back home. The last time we spoke he wanted to know if you’d started dating anyone yet. Apparently, the boys back home were not to your liking.”

I almost growled at Tristan. Why was he talking to her about dating other males when he knew she was bonded to me?

A flush crept into Sara’s cheeks. “Excuse me while I go kill my uncle.”

Grinning, Tristan opened the door for her. “I will see you tomorrow.”

Sara turned to Chris and me. “Good night.”

“I’ll walk with you so we can talk about tomorrow’s training,” I said, although training was the last thing on my mind. I wanted some time alone with her to get back to where we were this morning before the kark incident.

Tristan raised a hand to stop me from following her. “Actually, I need to speak with you, Nikolas, if you don’t mind.”

I would have glared at him if Sara hadn’t been looking at me. Instead, I just nodded.

“I will walk my sweet little cousin out.” Chris pulled on her hair playfully, and she smacked his hand. He chuckled. “Just trying to make up for all the years I missed out on.”

She gave him a warning smile. “Before you get any ideas, Dimples, I should remind you my best friends are boys and I know many forms of retaliation. I even picked up a few tricks from Remy.”

He winked. “I’ve learned to never underestimate a girl with troll friends.”

Sara rolled her eyes and looked at Tristan and me. “I’ll see you later.”

“Tomorrow,” I replied.

Tristan shut the door, and I rounded on him right away. “What was that about?”

He walked back to the living room, unfazed by my outburst. “I needed to talk to you.”

“Why are you and Nate discussing Sara’s relationships?” I followed him and sat across from him. “You said you wouldn’t interfere.”

Tristan sighed. “I was only relating to her what we talked about. And Nate actually mentioned you specifically when he asked if she was spending time with anyone. He suspects there is something between you.”

I relaxed. “I spent time with Nate when Sara was missing. He’s a smart man, and I’m not surprised he picked up on my feelings for her.”

“He speaks fondly of you. I think he is just concerned about Sara getting involved in a serious relationship. To you, she is a young woman, but to Nate, she is still his little girl.”

“And she is your granddaughter. I understand you are both protective of her, but she is my mate. Nate doesn’t know what that means, but you do.”

“I do,” he replied wistfully. “But Sara is still so young.”

“She is almost eighteen, two years younger than Josephine was when you bonded with her.”

“Yes, but Josephine was raised a Mohiri, and she knew about bonding and mating before she met me.”

I kept my anger in check. “What are you saying? We’ve already agreed that I would hold off on telling her about us. Are you asking me to stay away from her?”

“No. You need her, and she needs you even if she doesn’t understand why.”

“But.”

“No buts. I promised I wouldn’t come between you, and I won’t. I know how much you care for Sara, and I trust you to do what’s best for her.”

“Is this why you asked to talk to me?”

“I actually wanted to ask how Sara’s first training session went this morning.”

I smiled. “Very good. We talked for a while, and then she spent some time getting to know her Mori.”

His brow arched. “Getting to know it?”

“I know how it sounds, but Sara thinks of her Mori as a separate part of her. She’s only connected with it once before, and the experience terrified her because the demon tried to dominate her. That’s why she can’t tap into her Mori’s power. We are starting slow, getting her past her fear before we move on to traditional training.”

I didn’t go into the details of our session. Sara had shared personal things with me today. I’d asked her to trust me, and I would not betray that trust.

Tristan nodded, pleased. “It sounds like you’ve made a lot of progress already.”

“I think so.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Crazy day. Remember when it used to be so quiet here?”

A laugh burst from me. “I hear it’s a lot quieter in Maine these days.”

“You weren’t kidding when you said trouble knows how to find Sara.”

“I’m pretty sure I said she knows how to find trouble. I just didn’t expect it to happen here.”

Tristan sobered. “Do you honestly believe one of our own would try to harm her?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Has anyone here shown animosity toward her?”

“Not that I’ve seen.”

I’d spent the afternoon scrutinizing the possible motives of anyone who’d been close enough to put the scarab pheromone on Sara’s clothes. Celine desired me, and it was possible she was jealous of the time I spent with Sara, but physically attacking someone wasn’t Celine’s way. She’d consider it beneath her.

“From what I’ve seen, Sara interacts mainly with the other trainees, and they all seem to like her.” For a moment Tristan stared out the window thoughtfully, and I wondered what he was thinking. “I just can’t see anyone here wanting to hurt her. Maybe Chris is right, and it was a prank.”

“Maybe.”

If he was right, I hoped the prankster had learned a lesson about pulling such a dangerous stunt. If they hadn’t, they’d have to deal with me.

And I wasn’t laughing.