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  I crawl up his body and plant a kiss on his lips. “I’m so in love with you,” I say, relieved to have the words come from my mouth again.

  He smiles against my lips. “I love you, too,” he whispers.

  “So… What are we going to do for the rest of the night?” I ask as I sit up on top of him, straddling his waist.

  His eyes heat as he takes in my position. “Well, I have a few ideas,” he smirks. “But if you actually want to eat that pizza anytime soon, you’re going to have to get off me now.”

  I smile at his bluntness and wiggle my hips as I climb off him. He groans as I sashay across the room, naked as the day I was born. I collect the pizza box and bring it back to bed, climbing under the sheets beside him.

  We spend our night in absolute bliss and I fall asleep in his arms, dreading when this perfect moment will end.

  I wake up in a tangle of Rylan’s arms and legs to find a dark pair of eyes looking down at me. “You know, some consider it creepy to watch a girl while she sleeps,” I laugh.

  He rolls his eyes and flashes me one of those sexy smiles. He leans down and gives me a kiss. “Good morning,” he says.

  “Morning,” I whisper into his lips. “What time is it?”

  “It’s time for you to get up, so I can feed you and get you back to The Academy before anyone realises you were gone.”

  “Okay,” I grin. I grab the edge of the blanket and throw it off my naked body, earning myself another appreciative groan from Rylan. “I’m going to shower,” I say, looking back over my shoulder. I push open the bathroom door. “You coming?”

  I step into the bathroom, not looking back to see if he has followed me in. I open the shower door and turn on the water, I step in and close my eyes as the warm water cascades over my body. Warm arms circle my waist as I’m pulled against a hard body.

  A smile graces my lips as he presses a kiss to my neck. “Do we really have to leave? I could stay here forever,” I say as I relax against him with his strong arms holding me up.

  “Don’t give me ideas,” he murmurs.

  We finish in the shower and get ourselves dressed, walking the two blocks to the garage to pick up the car.

  “You still owe me a fight,” he says as we start our journey back to The Academy.

  “You still owe me a target competition.”

  “You’ll get your competition,” he says.

  “Just as you’ll get your fight,” I smile.

  ----------

  We arrive back at The Guard Academy all too soon and I sneak Rylan’s iPod out of his SUV with a promise to update it for him and I do what I can to get back to my dorm room without being caught.

  “You better have a pretty good explanation as to where the hell you have been?” Jacinta hisses as I sneak in through the window.

  I cringe as I hold the small plastic bag out to her as a peace offering. “I bought you some chocolates.”

  “SERIOUSLY, BIANCA,” she screeches. “Chocolate is not going to make this ok,” she demands. “I thought something had happened to you, you were supposed to be back over 12 hours ago,” she says, grabbing the bag of chocolates anyway.

  “I know, I’m sorry, but we kind of ran into a little bit of trouble,” I explain.

  “What do you mean you ‘ran into a little bit of trouble’?”

  “Well... A vampire slashed all our tyre's while we were getting petrol, so naturally, we went after him and Rylan totally kicked his ass. Anyway, do you know a car only comes with one spare tyre?” I ask, getting off topic. Jacinta raises an annoyed eyebrow at me as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Ok, ok,” I say getting back on with my explanation. “So, we called a tow truck to take the car to a garage, but the garage was closed until this morning, so we got stuck and had to spend the night in a motel.”

  “Wait, what?” she smirks. “You spent the night with Rylan in a motel?”

  I give her a slight nod as her mouth drops open in surprise. “Whoa, holy crap. Tell me he was anything but a gentleman?” she asks.

  I grin up at her, confirming her suspicions.

  “And?” she prompts.

  “And it was amazing,” I smile. Heat rushing into my cheeks at my fond memories as I flop down onto my bed with a sigh.

  “Seriously? That’s all you’re giving me?” she asks.

  “Yep”

  “Argh,” she cries in frustration. “Fine, whatever. But just so you know our dorm matron popped in for a surprise inspection last night and I had to tell her you had a stomach bug and it was coming out both ends, so you were glued to the toilet,” she smirks.

  “Oh geez, I guess I deserved that,” I laugh.

  “Yeah, you did, she was pretty worried about you, she even dropped off these natural oils that are supposed to help regulate everything,” she says, pointing towards the offending oils. “So, when she asks, which she will, be sure to let her know they were just magical.”

  “Fine,” I grumble. “For the record, I wanted to text you, but I left my phone in the car.”

  “It’s ok, just don’t do that to me again.”

  “I won’t, I promise,” I say, getting up and wrapping my arms around her. “Thanks for covering for me.”

  “What are best friends for?” she smiles. “Thanks for the chocolates.”

  “My pleasure, but you know you’re sharing those with me, right?”

  “Why? Did you work up your appetite with last night’s extra-curricular activities? I bet Mr. Badass Instructor gave you plenty new moves to work on,” she laughs.

  “Last night and this morning,” I smirk.

  Her mouth drops open. “Far out, I’m jealous,” she whines. “Don’t get me wrong, I love Trey, but damn, Rylan is hot.” A grin spreads over my face as I nod in agreement. We sit down and rifle through the bag of chocolates feasting on as much as we can until we start to feel sick.

  I tell Jacinta all about our visit with Kaylee as she fills me in on her day with Trey after Daniel got roped into the shopping trip with Nora.

  “So, how are you coping with all the Daniel being your brother stuff?” I ask.

  “Half-brother,” she reminds me. “But I don’t know, I mean, it’s been a little weird between us, but we’ve both been really busy preparing for mid-terms, that we haven’t really talked much about it,” she says.

  “I guess, I’m sure it will all be fine. Daniel isn’t the type to make things awkward. I think you should just embrace each other.”

  “Oh yeah, great idea. Give Nora another reason to want to tear me to shreds. I’m sure she will take it as another way that I’m trying to steal another guy that she likes. You know she is crazy like that.”

  “Yeah, you’re probably right,” I laugh. “Have you heard anything from your Dad?”

  “Yes,” she groans. “He keeps calling and I keep ignoring,” she says. “He has moved on to emails now, demanding I talk to him and threatening if Daniel or I say anything and word gets out to The Guard, he will take my Trust Fund away. But jokes on him, because I don’t want his dirty money.”

  “It will all work itself out,” I say as I give her a squeeze. “Has your Mum said anything yet?”

  “No, not yet, though, after the way she so easily covered for him the other week, I’m kind of getting the feeling she already knows the whole story and is actually shallow enough to stay with him. You know my mum, it’s all about the reputation and the money. She puts on a good act, but who knows.”

  “It’s ok, after graduation you can always come and live with me. We’ll get our own place, though, I’ll be off saving the world majority of the time, but we can make it work. Screw your weird parents,” I demand.

  “Sounds like a solid plan, except the part where The Guard are going to take you away to be their Poster Girl and we will probably never see you again.”

  “Ugh,” I groan. “Don’t bum me out, The Guard can’t have me unless it’s after graduation with an amazing assignment.”

  “It will be,” she
says. “I won’t let them have you.” We give each other another long hug.

  “Hey, tell me about Fey abilities,” I suddenly ask.

  “Why…?” she responds, probably confused because I have never asked about the Fey before.

  “Just answer the damn question” I order.

  “Fine,” she grumbles. “Well, as you should already know,” she starts with attitude. “The Fey can control the natural elements such as water, air, earth, and fire. Which can either be extremely beautiful or extremely lethal.”

  “So, how would they have used those powers in say, The Dark War?”

  “What? Asking about the Fey and The Dark War in the same day. Are you sick?” she asks.

  “Shut it.”

  “Okay, okay, so the Fey are able to manipulate these elements, say an earth user, would be able to open a canyon in the ground and a water user would be able to smother you with water and drown you on your feet. Which is the kind of stuff they did during the war. Like I said, pretty lethal.”

  “So, how come I keep hearing that it would be suicide to take a war to them, but if we attack anywhere else, we might have a chance?” I ask.

  “Well their powers are magnified in their own kingdom, so anyone entering The Fairy Kingdom, is practically doomed, but as soon as the Fey leave the confines of their world, their powers are muted, still there but not nearly as dangerous, giving their opponent an actual chance.”

  “Wow. That explains a lot,” I say.

  “Yep, now you want to explain why you’re asking?”

  I let her know that I think she is right, that The Guard is using me as a pawn to create an army to go up against the Fey.

  “Well, shit,” she says.

  “Yup.”

  Chapter 9

  A heavy pounding shoots through my head at the sound of my alarm, early on Monday morning. I groan as I pull back my sheets and force myself out of bed. I throw my clothes on and force myself out to the gym to meet with Rylan.

  I take a sip of water trying to soothe the ache behind my eyes as I push through the door and come face to face with the beautiful man before me. Rylan gives me a knowing smile as I walk deeper into the gym. I do my best to ignore my feelings for him and concentrate solely on my training.

  I begin my session with a quick stretch and am pleased that his very presence is enough to dull the ache that has been steadily growing behind my eyes. “Alright, that’s enough stretching,” he says, motioning for me to get up. “Let’s get on with it.”

  I climb up and position myself in front of him as he goes through what we will be focusing on in today’s session and soon enough our training has started.

  I launch myself into action, blocking and fighting against all his advances. My head grows dizzy, the more I continue sparring, though I’m almost certain it is just coming to that time of the month and a little lie down after training will put me right back on track.

  I push through the dull ache, my body weakening quickly as my moves become sloppy. Rylan shoots his arm out, grabs me and throws me to the floor. I groan as the pounding increases. Rylan, who has been getting frustrated with my slack and sloppy moves scowls down at me. “What the hell, Bianca? If I was a vampire, you’d be dead by now.”

  “I know, I know, I’m trying,” I groan as I get to my feet. I grab a quick drink of water before bringing myself back to face off against a very unimpressed instructor.

  He jumps at me and I do what I can to block his advance. “Come on, you can do better than this,” he scolds, as I miss yet another hit. He pushes me harder and harder and by the time the hour is up, my body is a mess.

  “I don’t know what’s going on with you this morning, but you better get your shit together by this afternoon’s session,” he growls.

  Anger bursts through me. Can’t a girl just have one bad day? I grab my drink bottle and let out a huff as I exit the gym, without a word or a backward glance.

  I head back up to my dorm room and take some pain killers, immediately falling into a deep sleep. I’m jolted awake by Jacinta when she comes barrelling into our room. “What’s going on, have you been asleep this whole time? You’ve missed all your classes.”

  Well… shit.

  “Hurry, if you get up now, you’ll at least have some time for lunch before training,” I climb out of bed and mope around. My sleep doing nothing for the pounding in my head. I groan as I tidy my hair and put my shoes back on. We head to the cafeteria and sit down with Trey and Daniel who have already got some food ready for us.

  “Thanks, guys,” I say as I plop down into the seat beside Daniel. I look down at my lunch and realise after my training session this morning, I still haven’t eaten and I really have no appetite to eat now. Damn. Stupid headache.

  “What’s up? You’ve been MIA all day,” Daniel comments as he reaches for the food I’ve ignored on my tray.

  “Nothing, just a headache. I was sleeping it off. I didn’t realise I’d slept the whole morning away,” I cringe, hoping I haven’t got any detentions heading my way from skipping all morning.

  “Did the sleep help?” he asks, concerned.

  “Nope,” I grumble as I attempt to bite into a sandwich, but think better and put it back down.

  “That’s ok, I overheard Rylan talking to Ben this morning saying we were going over some new sparring techniques, so today shouldn’t be too rough, I’ll pair with you.”

  “Thanks,” I say, resting my head on his big shoulder. “But don’t take it too easy on me, I’ll still be able to kick your ass,” I smile weakly.

  He puts an arm around my shoulder and pulls me into him. “Don’t worry,” he soothes. “I’ve got your back, pretty girl.”

  Before I know it, the bell signalling the end of lunch chimes and we all get up and head our own ways, me and the boys to combat while Jacinta heads off to FEDS.

  We push through the big combat room doors and walk up to the front where our other classmates have begun to gather. I look up at Rylan who narrows his eyes in curiosity, no hint of regret for being such a jerk this morning. I squirm on my feet, wanting nothing more than to sit down. I zone out and begin staring off into the distance as Rylan gives his little spiel about how today’s session will plan out.

  Daniel tugs on my arm, bringing me back to the here and now. He drags me over to a sparring mat. “What was with that weird look Mr. Big Shot gave you?” he asks.

  “Probably trying to work out if I’ve got my ‘shit together’ after my awful training session this morning,” I say with venom.

  “Whoa, do I detect trouble in paradise?” he asks with a smirk.

  I shrug my shoulders not wanting to get into it. “Alright, alright, I can catch a hint,” Daniel says, then re-explains what we should be doing today.

  “Get on with it,” Rylan hollers from across the room.

  I let out a groan at the sound of his booming voice, but none-the-less, get right to work. I spar with Daniel and just as expected, my body wears down quickly, my moves sloppy and my offence weak. My head begins to spin as I push on.

  Rylan comes and stands by us, wanting to see the new sequences that we have been working on. “Again,” he demands when I screw it up. I give Daniel an apologetic look as I begin again. I get it right this time, but to say it was sloppy, is definitely an understatement. An annoyed expression comes over Rylan’s face, he shakes his head in disappointment. “keep going,” he orders, walking away.

  “Jerk,” I mutter under my breath. I grab a quick drink and get back to work.

  I fight alongside Daniel, who is definitely taking it easy on me and for once, I’m actually grateful. I push myself to my absolute limit, which is nothing compared to one of my good days. I kick my leg up, which Daniel easily catches, throwing it away and sending me into a stumbling spin. I catch myself, needing to blink a few times as my eyes struggle to focus on Daniel.

  “Bianca?” he asks, worried, but the sound is drowned out by the heavy pulse rushing through my veins and not two sec
onds later, I watch as Daniel dives for me as I promptly pass out.

  ----------

  I come to a few moments later to hear Rylan roaring at Daniel. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing,” Daniel defends, annoyance thick in his voice. “She just collapsed.”

  The room hushes around us as Rylan digs into Daniel, getting right up into his face. “Bullshit.”

  “What’s bullshit is you pushing her so hard when she is obviously sick,” Daniel says, voice low and menacing.

  Rylan’s eyes snap to mine, checking over my body, recalculating his thoughts. Something flashes behind his eyes, but I’m far too out of it to work it out. “Ben, finish up here, I’ll take her to the infirmary,” Rylan says as I begin to get up off the floor.

  “Ha,” Daniel scoffs. “I think you’ve already done enough.”

  Rylan fixes Daniel with the absolute look of death and I decide I’ve definitely had enough. I walk forward and roughly shoulder through the both of them, giving them each a nasty push. “Both you asshole’s can go to Hell, I’ll take myself,” I growl, as I continue on to the door. Glancing back to fix them both with a scathing look. “Don’t follow me.”

  The room is silent as I walk out, probably in shock that I had the nerve to not only tell Rylan to go to Hell but to call him an asshole to his face. I expect either of them to still come and accompany me despite my warning but am relieved when I find myself in the infirmary without my overprotective friend or douchebag boyfriend.

  A young and surprisingly beautiful nurse sees me and after a quick explanation ushers me into a room and helps me into a bed, letting me know the doctor will come in shortly. I immediately fall asleep, not bothering to stay up for the doctor.

  I come in and out of consciousness for what could have been minutes or hours when I hear Rylan’s soft voice. “What are you doing here?” he asks, my head pounds and I keep my eyes closed, not ready to hold a conversation. Especially not with him.

  I hear Daniels familiar voice. “I could ask you the same question,” he murmurs. “Isn’t it a bit risky for you to be here at her bedside?”