Karis Page 3

  It was really more like a large cottage than a house, but it was perfect for her. She could imagine some flowers in front to soften the gray stone exterior, and maybe some window boxes. It was already quaint, but she was imagining a storybook quality to it, and she couldn’t wait to get started.

  Turning her head, she took in Karis’ home. It was built with the same gray stone as her cottage, but it was the size of an actual home, and large. Still, it was much less than his rank qualified him for, and she was surprised he wanted it like this. The average War Cat would maim another for the chance to live in the head warrior’s home, yet he turned it down. A piece of the puzzle of Karis, but one she probably wouldn’t solve.

  The sound of voices faintly reached her ears, and she turned her head to see the man himself walking slowly toward his home, talking intently with Jameson. Her breath caught as a shaft of sunlight lit upon his body, and she swallowed painfully around a suddenly dry throat.

  Sweet magnolias. When had he become so mouthwateringly gorgeous?

  Her tiger purred in her chest, and Arya’s eyes widened in surprise. Had her animal seriously just purred over how good Karis looked?

  Like you weren’t doing a human version of the same thing.

  Well. She supposed her cat had a point with that. Trying to distract herself, she saw Jameson begin to walk away and a thought occurred to her. Running to the living room, she snatched up her bow and an arrow and quietly crept outside.

  Raising the bow, she took aim and smiled as she let her arrow fly. It landed with a thunk in the tree trunk inches from Karis’ head, and he stopped in his tracks.

  “You missed.”

  Why did his deep voice send a shiver up her spine? Lordy. “I hit exactly where I aimed. If I wanted to hit you, I would have.”

  Turning to face her, he studied her closely, the intensity in his gaze raising the hairs on her arms. “So you have my attention. What point were you trying to make with that?”

  His attention was short-circuiting her brain, because now she couldn’t remember what she’d been about to say. Those light gray eyes were potent. She didn’t normally run from anything, but she wasn’t at all sure she wanted to be under this much attention from him.

  Oh yes, we do.

  Down, girl, she told her cat, half amused and half unsettled.

  Clearing her throat, she said, “I was just showing you that I already have some skills necessary for warrior training. I bet I’m a better shot than the majority of your warriors.”

  Eyes narrowing, he nodded slowly. “With your father teaching you, I don’t doubt it.”

  Whoa. That was almost a compliment. “Then you should train me. I’ll probably be better than them in other areas, too.”

  “Your dad didn’t tell you, did he?”

  “Tell me what?” she asked, frowning.

  “He came by last night and asked if I’d train you. I said yes.”

  Stunned, she stared at him for a moment before dropping her bow and jumping off the porch. Bolting to him, she jumped up and latched her arms around his neck, squeezing tight. “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise I’ll do well. As well as the other warriors. You won’t even be able to tell you’re not training a man.”

  His arms came up to support her, wrapping all the way around her, his hands curling around opposite sides of her ribcage. “I highly doubt that,” he muttered. “And I’d be really disturbed if any of my wanna-be warriors jumped me like this when I told them I’d train them.”

  Abruptly aware of where she was, wrapped up in his arms as he held her to his chest, their bodies plastered together, her feet dangling just off the ground, she froze. God, what had she been thinking? She wasn’t a kid anymore, and she was made painfully aware of that as her body reacted to being pressed against his. Loosening her grip on his neck, she awkwardly patted his shoulder to let him know to put her down.

  “Oh, ah, sorry about that. I wasn’t thinking. Won’t happen again,” she said breathlessly.

  Was it just her imagination, or did he hesitate for a second before he started to let her go? Moving his grip to her waist, he eased her down, and she almost moaned at the feel of her body sliding against his.

  Struggling to control her breathing and not show how much he’d affected her, she craned her neck back, staring up at him. They locked gazes, neither saying anything for several long moments, before she became aware that his hands were still on her waist and hers were on his shoulders.

  Clearing her throat, she backed up as they let go of each other, wondering about the almost painful feeling of loss she felt when his hands weren’t on her any longer. What the heck was going on?

  “So, um, when do we start?”

  His eyes were a pale, pale gray, almost white, and she watched as he looked away for a moment, clenching his jaw. When he looked back at her, the color was a little closer to normal, and if it weren’t for the muscle ticking in his jaw, she’d think he hadn’t been affected at all.

  But he had been. By her. What did all this mean, or did it mean anything at all?

  “We’ll start tomorrow. You know the field behind your parents’ home, just beyond the tree line? Meet me there at nine a.m. sharp. No one ever goes back there, so we won’t be disturbed.”

  And just like that, the daze it felt like she’d fallen into was gone, and she frowned. “Are you trying to keep this a secret? Because I don’t feel like it needs to be. I don’t want to hide it.”

  “I’m not trying to keep it a secret, not really. Everyone will know soon enough. But that might not be a good thing. People aren’t going to like it, Arya. And the better skilled you are, the more prepared you’ll be if someone takes too much offense over it.”

  “Ooooh,” she breathed. “Okay, I see. I’ll let you get back to your day. See you then.”

  Turning without waiting for a reply, she ran back to her house, scooping up her bow before going inside. Closing the door, she leaned against it, breathing deeply in an attempt to calm her racing heart. A couple of days ago, Karis had been nothing more than a fairly nice guy she’d known her whole life. She’d seen him often, because he was close with her father. He used to have dinner at her parents’ house once a week, if not more. And he was head warrior, which had elevated him in her eyes, because she wanted to be one so badly. He was the best of the best, and she looked up to him.

  And then she randomly noticed how truly gorgeous he was yesterday. And from that moment on, it was like a full-on race to desire and real attraction. To Karis. Her mind was still struggling to take it in.

  The phone rang, startling her, and she rushed to pick it up, anxious for a break from her crazy thoughts. “Hello.”

  “Hey Arya, it’s Kel.”

  “Hey! What’s up?”

  “I’m going to run to the closest Walmart and pick up some new clothes. I didn’t buy much before coming here. I was trying to hold out until we could go back to Eagle Creek to move my things here, but I just can’t anymore. Want to come along?”

  Excitement flowed through her veins, and she straightened up away from the door. “Go to Walmart? You mean, leave Durga Valley? I’ve never left before.”

  “Seriously?” Kelly asked, shock plain in her voice. “Sometimes I forget how sheltered you guys have been here. It’s allowed now. So what do you say? You up for it?”

  “Heck yeah! When do you want to leave?”

  Kelly laughed. “Meet me at my house in about ten minutes? The sooner I can get away from the construction zone here, the better.”

  “You got it. Be there soon.”

  Ending the call, Arya clasped the phone to her chest and quietly squealed. She was going to get to leave the village for the first time. One bucket list item was about to get marked off.

  Hurrying to the kitchen, she grabbed her purse so they could leave quickly. Zane was remodeling the first floor of their home to better suit Kelly’s needs. Her friend loved that it was being changed, but wasn’t a fan of the dust, debris, and de
struction it was leaving in its wake, so the sooner they left, the better.

  It was as she passed her bow, sitting neglected by the front door, that her thoughts flashed back to Karis. Her body instantly warmed with remembered heat, and she stumbled a little from the force of it.

  For crying out loud, she was acting like some shy virgin with her first crush. Well, the virgin part was right—unfortunately—but she wasn’t shy, and this didn’t feel like a crush. This was more like first lust, really. But why now, and why Karis, of all men?

  Does it matter who it is? You said you wanted to know what all this felt like, her tiger said.

  Just gonna throw my thoughts back in my face like that?

  Yup.

  Her tiger was a brat. If she could bring herself to curse, she’d call her something that started with a B and ended with a H, but alas, she couldn’t quite do it, even in her head. One day, though. Cursing was another bucket list item.

  God, she was pathetic. One of these days, she really needed to get a life. But at least she was making strides right now to do just that.

  Karis stared at Arya’s closed door for far too long after she disappeared through it, troubled to his core. It was the back of his neck stinging, like a pair of eyes were boring into him, that finally caught his attention. Narrowing his gaze, he slowly turned in a circle, scanning the surroundings closely.

  Finding nothing, he turned on his heel and marched away, deciding to leave before he ran into Arya again. He tried to convince himself he hadn’t felt anything except a guilty conscious, but he couldn’t quite manage it. Someone had been there. He knew it in his gut, in that part of him that was honed from years of battle.

  The question became, was it friend or foe? The likelihood of it being foe was strong, with all the unrest in the tribe right now. Hell, it would have been likely before the changes, as well. The mentality of the War Cats had been toxic, like an open festering wound, for as long as he could remember. But those with grudges, the ones who were pissed off over Kian’s changes, were going to be dangerous. He knew it in his bones. Things were going to get a lot worse before they got better.

  Which made training Arya something he suddenly felt an urgent need to do, and not something he was doing out of an obligation to Mikhail. Because his old friend was right. With her willingness to embrace the changes, she automatically made herself a target. The faster he could give her the tools to defend herself with, the better.

  Skin tingling, he remembered in vivid clarity the feel of her in his arms, of her sliding down his body. His tiger purred in his chest and he frowned. To teach her hand to hand combat, he was going to have to get a lot closer to her than they’d been a few minutes ago. Maybe it wasn’t the best idea—

  “I saw you and Arya. You looked pretty cozy,” came a snickering voice.

  Quick as a lightning strike, Karis reached over and wrapped his fingers around Trevor’s throat, lifting him off his feet. “Whatever it is you think you saw, I’d suggest you forget it.”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Jameson said from where he’d rounded a bend in the road. “He’s turning purple, Karis. Unless your intent is to kill him, you might consider putting him down.”

  Eyes narrow, he waited two beats before releasing Trevor, watching as he fell to his knees in the dirt, gasping for breath. “Remember what I said. And I never want to hear her name on your lips again. Now get out of here.”

  Trevor gave a nod, casting Karis a nervous glance before getting to his feet and taking off. Jameson shook his head, chuckling as he watched the young shifter go. “I heard what he said. Overreaction much, Kare?”

  “Trevor’s a little shit who would have spread the tale around only after embellishing it. By the end of the day, he would have had me and Arya rolling around naked in the front lawn.”

  “That’s probably true,” Jameson replied with a nod. “The question is, why do you care? You never have before when the warriors cut up.”

  He frowned. “I’ve known Arya our whole lives, Jameson. And I owe Mikhail much.”

  “Everyone in this tribe has known each other our whole lives, Karis. That’s not much of an excuse. Especially since shifters can hear lies, and that wasn’t the whole truth. And you might have gotten the young whelp to back off, but he was fairly harmless. You just attracted the attention of someone a lot more dangerous.”

  Frowning harder, he followed Jameson’s nod to where Vynn was leaning against a tree. Even in the shade, the silver claw mark scars on his cheek seemed to glow, giving him a sinister air. Pushing off the tree, Vynn gave him a sardonic nod, his lips curled in a smile that was devoid of any humor.

  Karis watched him walk away, troubled. “Vynn isn’t a threat. Why would he be? He just got reinstated as a warrior. He has his life back.”

  “That might be true, but you know as well as I do that he was always a supporter of the old ways. The only thing he’s in favor of is the ban on the label of Other, because it allows him to be a warrior again, despite his new scar. I wouldn’t put it past him to want to try to take all of you out, just so he can put the rules back as they were. Be careful with that one, old friend.”

  Karis nodded at Jameson as he walked away. Troubled, he started walking back to the warrior’s lodge. Could that have been Vynn’s stare he felt back at the house? Trevor’s words made it clear he’d been around when Karis was holding Arya, but he was a young warrior who held no beef with him or Arya. Although, that might be different now that Karis choked him. Still, he didn’t think it was him he’d felt to instantly wary of.

  Vynn, though… he was a different story. He was always one of the best warriors the War Cats had. But he was an arrogant bastard, and like Jameson said, a supporter of the old ways. He’d always been just as much of a dickhead as Kabir, and Raul, his father and one of the elders. The difference was, despite being a prick, Vynn was never evil like the old alpha and the elders.

  But people changed. And what happened in Eagle Creek, when they thought Kian was in trouble, would certainly be enough to change Vynn. The War Cats were well-trained warriors, virtually undefeatable. And Vynn was one of their best.

  In Eagle Creek, he ran his mouth to Ian Gallagher, the leader of the Rocky River fighters, and they fought. Vynn was losing, about to have his throat torn open by Ian, when one of the shifter Enforcers ordered them to change back. His gift was forcing changes, but he used too much power. While Ian was able to remain conscious, Vynn wasn’t. It knocked him and his tiger out, and his animal wasn’t able to heal the claw marks Ian gave him on his cheek. Not in the moment, and not later, which was unusual.

  Vynn walked out of the confrontation bitter and hostile over not only losing, but over being marked. And when they got home, he was labeled Other, cast out of the warriors, and mocked for his scar.

  He was no doubt nurturing his grudges and hatred, and there was no telling when he’d act out on those, or how far he’d go. The Enforcer who forced the change, Luke, was here in Durga Valley, and it seemed logical that if and when Vynn struck, it would be him he went after. But it was also just as likely he’d bide his time, wait for the two Enforcers to leave, and then work toward getting rid of Kian and Zane so he could take their place and reinstate the old ways. Once he did that, he could easily use the warriors to take out the Enforcers.

  This was all supposition, and there was no way of knowing if it was something Vynn would do. But Karis was in the business of assessing threats and thinking over all possible outcomes. And while unlikely, the scenario with Vynn could happen, and that was enough for him.

  Protect Arya, his tiger growled.

  Bet your ass we will.

  Determination settled over him. They would most definitely protect her. And despite his body’s reaction to her closeness, there was no way he could back out of teaching her to fight. He couldn’t act as a bodyguard twenty-four-seven, so she needed to know how to take care of herself.

  He’d just have to be strong enough to resist her pull. Because, Lord kne
w, she’d probably be disgusted if she found out he was interested in her like that, and then she’d never let him teach her. And it was imperative that he did.

  Chapter Four

  Arya paced across the field, excited to get started with her training. This had been the most amazing week of her life, and it just kept getting better and better. Leaving Durga Valley for the first time had been amazing. And eye opening, as well.

  She’d always known they were behind the times in the village. Always known there were better ways to live. But she hadn’t realized it was as bad as it was. What struck her most was the freedom and independence of the women in the small town they visited yesterday. Wearing what they wanted, able to come and go as they pleased, to do what they wanted without a father or a mate dictating to them. And all without being mocked and ridiculed for those rights.

  True, her father had never been overbearing or forced her to live how he wanted her to. He supported her in all things. But the one thing he couldn’t change were the rules of the tribe. And so she, and all women in her tribe, were forced to live half-lives, and sometimes even less than that.

  She really couldn’t understand why most of the women here were so hesitant to embrace their bright new futures, but she wasn’t going to hesitate. She already had a new home, new clothes, and new independence. Now all that was left was to achieve her dream, and she had Karis willing to help her do that.

  A shiver wracked her body as she thought about Karis and the way his body felt against hers yesterday. Her reaction to it was unexpected to say the least, but she was also intrigued. Like her tiger so helpfully pointed out, she’d been dying to know how it felt to react to a man like she had him. And now that she knew, she wouldn’t be averse to a repeat.

  It was still a little mind boggling that it was him of all people she felt her body respond to like that, but she wasn’t going to ignore it and pretend it never happened, either.