Skye’s Limits (2 page)

The relief that came over Branson’s face was almost heartbreaking. It wasn’t until then that Skye realized just how much his behavior had been hurting his brother. All of a sudden, Skye felt like a selfish jerk. While he had his own reasons for wanting to drink his problems away, he shouldn’t have dragged Branson into it.

“Thank you,” Branson said.

Gage ran his hands through his hair and let out a sigh. “It’s about time. You won’t regret it, Skye.”

“Yeah, tell me that tomorrow after I have to face a session with Alden.”

“He’s not as bad as you think. You’ll see for yourself,” Gage reassured him.

“So you say, but I’ve heard that he’s tough,” Skye countered.

“He is, but you’ll do okay. I believe in you,” Gage said.

Skye wished he had faith in himself. But that was one thing he’d never had and never would. He’d always been a fuckup and always would be. That would never change, no matter how much Branson wanted it to.

Skye let out a deep breath. “Okay, I’ll give it a shot. It can’t hurt.”

His mind was screaming,
are you kidding? You’ll never succeed! You never have before, so why should this time be different? You’ll just end up disappointing Branson again.

Skye stood up. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to go take a shower.”

“That’s a good idea. You may want to get to bed, too. Alden is expecting you at seven in the morning. He said for you to wear some sweats and to be ready for a good workout,” Branson said.

Seven in the morning? That was only five hours away. Skye didn’t know whether to cry or whimper. He settled for a resigned sigh. “Okay, I’ll be ready.”

He went and quickly took a shower. He got dressed in sweats to save time in the morning and set his alarm. He lay down, but, try as he might, he couldn’t get to sleep. Maybe it was because he knew that with all the shit that had gone down that evening, he would have
it.
By that, he meant the nightmare that had plagued him ever since the evening they’d lost their parents.

Skye had been so young at the time that, by all rights, he shouldn’t have remembered that day, but it still was burned in his mind. He could recall each event in stark detail.

His mother had been making dinner. Skye had been excited because it had been his favorite, fried chicken. He had loved the drumsticks the best. She had always made it with her homemade mashed potatoes and gravy.

His father had just arrived home from work. He was a soldier for the coalition. The coalition had been much smaller than, since it had still been rebuilding after the mass Raven attack five years prior. Branson was home, too, he was studying for school. He was angry at Skye for keeping the TV too loud, but Skye had ignored him because his favorite show was on.

Everything had seemed so normal. It was just another day at their house. Then the Ravens had attacked. It wasn’t a small noise or a flutter of warning but rather a blast of the window, shattering immediately.

His father and mother had shifted, then tried to fight them off, but they were outnumbered. Branson had even taken a baseball bat and tried to fight them off, but the Ravens had taken it from him and used it against him. They had bashed him in the head. That was what had made him blind for the rest of his life.

Skye had escaped injury by climbing into one of the lower cupboards and hiding out. It wasn’t until the Ravens had set the house on fire and left that Branson had somehow managed to find him and drag Skye to safety. How Branson had managed to do that in spite of his injuries was a miracle.

And Branson had been dragging Skye ever since then. Skye buried his head in the pillow. When was he ever going to learn to stop hiding and face what had happened that night? Could he ever have the courage Branson showed? Or was Skye going to keep on being that same scared kid?

Alden arrived at the training center a couple of minutes before seven to set things up for his newest trainee. He still didn’t know why he had taken on yet another problem case. He had sworn to himself after the last one that he was done with brats and their troubles. But when the leader of the coalition had asked him to take on one last case, Alden had crumbled and agreed. After all, who could say no to their boss? Well…Shane could, but then that was a whole different case altogether.

Alden sighed as he wondered what he was going to face this time? Some rich kid who had daddy issues? Or was it going to be a brat who didn’t get enough love from Mommy? Or maybe it was some spoiled DB who had too much time on his hands and just wanted to party too much. God, but Alden was sick of being the go-to when it came to the head cases of the coalition. Why couldn’t parents handle their own offspring anymore?

He heard the door of the training room open and turned to face his newest pupil. When he got a good look at the shifter, Alden sucked in a breath. Wow, that was not what he had expected at all. Not by a long shot.

The young man had to be one of the best looking guys he’d ever seen. Slim, but not too skinny, with slightly long blond hair, baby blue eyes, and full lips, the man was sexy without even trying to be. It didn’t matter that he had bags under his eyes and that his sweats were ten sizes too big for him. He still made Alden hard and full of need, which was odd, because it had been forever since anybody had garnered that kind of instant reaction from Alden in a long time.

Alden shook his head. What in the hell had gotten into him? He was here to turn this young man around, not maul him like he was some kind of chew toy. But damn was it hard to remember that. Especially when said guy kept licking his lips in a nervous manner, and all Alden could think of was what interesting things he could do with that tongue.

“Ah, my name is Skye. I’m here for my training,” the young man said.

Alden snapped out of his fog. Skye! Now it all made sense. Alden had heard the rumors about Branson’s younger brother and his problems. So, it looked as if Branson had finally wised up and sent his brother out for help. Well, it was about time.

“Right, I’m Alden. Let’s get right to work. No sense in standing around and talking. We both know why you’re here.”

“Yeah, because I’m a fuck up, and you’re supposed to work the hell out of me until I’m better.” Skye continued to lick at his lips as he looked everywhere but at Alden.

“That’s about it.”

Alden threw some sparring gear at Skye. “Let’s start with this. That way I can see how good you can fight.”

Skye clumsily caught it. “I can already tell you that I fight like shit. They tried to show me before, and they gave up.”

“Yeah, well, I’m different. I don’t give up. When I’m done with you, you will know how to fight.”

Skye gave him an if-you-say-so-buddy look before he began to put on the equipment. As Alden drew closer, he could smell the lingering scent of booze emanating from Skye. It didn’t come as a surprise to Alden. He’d been told Skye had a drinking problem. No doubt the brat had spent the night before partying. Well, by the time Alden was done with him, Skye would be too tired to even think of going out. All he’d want to do was crawl into bed and crash.

Once Skye got on the sparring gear, he gave Alden a onceover. “Aren’t you going to put on any protective stuff?”

Alden just let out a dark laugh. “I won’t need it.”

Skye gave a hurt look. “I’m not that bad.”

Alden got into a fighting stance. “Let’s just get going.”

Skye swung out, his punch clumsy and sloppy at best. Alden easily deflected it and countered with a blow of his own that sent Skye down to the mat. Skye landed in an ungraceful pile and shook his head as if he were trying to clear the birdies.

“Ouch! That hurt,” Skye protested.

“Just think of how bad it would have hurt without all the padding,” Alden countered without an ounce of sympathy.

Skye might be as hot as hell, but Alden still had a job to do, and he was determined to do it well. Even if Skye did look up at him oh-so-prettily, and Alden knew that Skye wasn’t even aware he was doing it.

To his credit, Skye quickly got to his feet and back into his fighting stance. He once again swung at Alden and once again ended up on the mat. They kept this routine up for an hour until Alden finally called a halt to the activity. By then, Skye was sweating and probably sporting more than a few new bruises, despite the padding.

“What’s next?” Skye asked wearily.

“You take off your padding, and we go to the shooting range,” Alden said.

Skye scrunched up his nose. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“Why’s that?”

Alden was just dying to hear this story. Knowing what little he did about Skye it had to be a doozy and probably was funny as hell. Although, Alden was going to have to do his best not to laugh.

“The last time I was there, I accidently shot in the sky and winged a Hawk.”

Okay, that one was so funny Alden had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep a straight face. It had nothing to do with the fact he thought that a lot of the Hawks were jerks, either…okay, it had
everything
to do with the fact he thought most Hawks were jerks.

“How do you accidently shoot in the air?” Alden asked, once he had control of himself.

“Well, you see, I was trying to act like a sexy cowboy, and I was doing a dance. I didn’t realize my finger was on the trigger, and….well, I guess you can figure out the rest.”

“You know that the shooting range is no place to play around?”

“I do now.”

Alden pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why do I get the feeling you give Branson a lot of headaches?”

“Because I do. He got really mad the time I dyed my hair all blue.”

“How did he know? He’s blind.”

“Carson told him. He said that it looked like I went headfirst into a village of
Smurfs
. Which isn’t really fair, considering some of the things Carson has done with his hair.”

Alden found himself silently agreeing with Skye on that one. Carson was not only a smartass, but the Goth had a habit of putting all kinds of wild-colored streaks in his hair. So he really didn’t have any room to talk. But then again, nothing ever stopped Carson from running his trap in the past, so why should a little hypocrisy?

“Just take off your padding, and let’s go to the shooting range,” Alden said.

“Okay, but I warned you,” Skye mumbled.

Skye took off his padding, then put it up without having to be told to. Which was a first in Alden’s history of students. Not that Alden was looking for ways to compare Skye to the others and give him better marks—honest.

They went to the shooting range. It was busy, and they got a lot of wary looks, most of them from Hawks. When Skye stuck his tongue out at them, Alden smacked him on the back of the head.

“Just ignore them,” Alden grumbled.

“I try to, but they are so much fun to egg on. Get it….egg,” Skye laughed at his own bad joke.

Alden just shook his head and got two guns, along with ear and eye protection for them, half of which he handed over to Skye. “Put this on, and try not to shoot anybody in the process.”

Skye put on the protective gear, and damn if he didn’t look adorable in it. Once again, Alden pushed away his improper thoughts and gave Skye a gentle shove toward an empty shooting range.

“Come on. Let’s see if you can even hit at a target first, so I know what I’m working at. And before you ask, there is no dancing allowed.”

“Buzzkill,” Skye shot back.

Skye aimed at the target that was in the outline of a Raven and fired. Alden was shocked when Skye actually hit the target. It wasn’t dead on, but it wasn’t too far off.

“Wow, I’m actually impressed,” Alden admitted.

“I used to watch my dad and brother practice all the time. That was before…” Skye trailed off and shook his head. “Forget about it.”

But since Alden was there for more than just training Skye, he couldn’t forget it. “No, tell me.”

Skye nipped at his bottom lip. “That was before the Ravens attacked our home and killed my parents and hurt Branson.”

“How old were you at the time?”

“Five.”

“And you still remember it?”

“I still remember everything from back then. I especially remember how I hid out in the cupboard instead of being brave and fighting like Branson did,” Skye said.

Alden could hardly believe what he was hearing. Was Skye actually blaming himself for not being braver when he was nothing more than a toddler? If so, could that be the root of all his problems?

“Skye, you were just a baby back then. If you had come out, you would have just ended up hurt or worse,” Alden told him.

Skye turned away. “How about we get back to this shooting lesson?”

Alden wanted to press on, but he knew better. If he pushed too hard now, Skye might never open up to him again. He needed to earn Skye’s trust in bits and pieces. He had already pressed enough as it was. That was okay, Alden was nothing if not patient.

“Sure, we can continue with the shooting lesson,” Alden said.

They went on for a few hours, Alden giving pointers here and there, and by the time they were finished, Skye had improved even more. Alden could see that Skye had great potential as a soldier when it came to shooting. Now if he could just improve his hand-to-hand combat skills.

“Let’s go grab some lunch, and we’ll work on small weapons,” Alden said.

“I can’t wait,” Skye said in a tone that spoke that he could very well wait.

“Just get moving, smartass,” Alden said.

As they were walking away from the shooting range, Alden saw Branson waiting for them. Turning to Skye, Alden said, “Skye, turn in our equipment while I talk to your brother.”

Skye made a face, but he did as told. As soon as they were alone, Branson asked, “So how is he doing?”

“Fine.”

“He hasn’t caused you too many problems?”

“No, in fact, I already figured out what’s been causing some of his issues.”

Branson gave a half laugh. “One morning with him and you already know why he is the way he is? And I haven’t been able to figure it out in all the time I’ve been living with him?”