Skye’s Limits (4 page)

Alden feathered the pad of his thumb over Skye’s cheek. “So that’s why you’ve been working so hard. I wondered why I didn’t get any attitude from you.”

“I want to make sure that I do this right. I don’t want to fuck up this time,” Skye said.

It was so important to him to succeed this time. For once in his life, Skye wanted to make things right. He wanted to stop being the screw up and make Branson proud of him. Most of all, Skye wanted to stop being that scared kid in the cupboard.

Alden abruptly dropped his hand and cleared his throat, then stepped away, and just like that the moment was broken. Skye shook his head slightly. It was like Alden felt they had crossed some line and he’d done something wrong, although for the life of him, Skye couldn’t figure out what it was. It wasn’t like they had kissed or anything. Although, Skye wouldn’t have minded if they had. In fact, he wouldn’t have minded if they had done a whole lot more.

But then that would have been crossing a line. Alden was his teacher…his mentor, and that was probably a big no-no. For all Skye knew, it could get Alden in a lot of trouble if he got up close and personal with his mentors. The last thing Skye wanted to do was to get Alden in hot water.

Alden went over and got the sparring equipment. “Let’s spend most of the morning focusing on your hand-to-hand, since that’s where you’re the weakest.”

“Okay,” Skye said, even though he knew that would mean he would spend most of the time kissing the mat.

They got into their fighting positions, and, just as expected, Skye spent most of the time facedown on mat. In fact, he got on a first name basis with the damn thing he spent so much time on it.

That still didn’t stop him. He would spring back up every time and start fighting again. Now that he’d mentioned wanting to be a soldier for the coalition, he was more determined than ever to make it happen. He wanted to be a contributing member to the group, and he could think of no better way. If that meant he had to learn how to fight, then so be it. He would put up with the bruises to his body and his ego.

Near the end of their sparring match, he even started to get a few blows in here and there. Not many, but enough to make Alden wince in pain. Ha! Maybe he’d think twice about not wearing any padding.

By that time, they’d gathered a small crowd. At first, Skye was dismayed. That was until he heard some of their comments.

“Look at him, he won’t stop.”

“You have to give the little guy credit, he never gives up.”

“He has some balls, I’ll give him that.”

“Wow, he’s a fireball.”

Skye realized they were actually rooting for him. It was enough to push him on to continue to fight. A sweat broke out over his body, and his muscles screamed in pain, but he pushed on. No matter how many times he was thrown down, he got back up and fought on.

It wasn’t until Alden held up a hand that Skye stopped.

“Great job. You’re actually improving some,” Alden said. “Let’s go get some lunch.”

As Skye took off his equipment, he basked in Alden’s praise. All the while wondering why it meant so much to him that he had pleased the Tiger shifter.

A few days later, Alden was in the middle of training Skye when an alarm went off, followed by a voice on the loudspeaker, “Raven attack taking place. Alpha, Beta, and Cheetah teams scramble.”

Alden let out a curse. They would have to call out his team when he was in the middle of training a student. It was unusual since his team was one of the most elite and only used in the worst case scenarios. But he had no choice. He had to go, duty called.

“That’s me. I need to go,” he told Skye.

“Go ahead. I’ll be fine on my own,” Skye assured him.

“Practice on the obstacle course while I’m gone,” Alden ordered.

Skye nodded. Alden figured that ought to keep the brat busy. The obstacle course was so hard and demanding that it would make an
American Ninja Warrior
contestant weep in fear. Even most of the seasoned feline soldiers had trouble finishing it. Skye would no doubt spend most of the time picking himself off the ground.

Alden got to the van and met the rest of his group. Vapor, Logan, Andrew, and a handful of other guys. Usually, they would be leading other groups, but as part of the Cheetah group, they were a new elite unit that had been formed for when situations were at the worst and needed a heavy hand.

“What do we have?” Alden asked as he hopped inside.

“It would seem that a group of Ravens have attacked another group of feline homes,” Andrew said.

While Andrew may look on the small side, looks could be deceiving. He was the best fighter out there. Not only was he a master at weapons, but he could get in and out of any situation faster than anybody. The guy was like a shadow sometimes.

Vapor, who got his name for being much the same way and also happened to be Andrew’s mate, said, “Why these civilians keep insisting on living in clusters is beyond me. They have to know that they are making themselves a great big target to the Ravens.”

Andrew shrugged. “Maybe they just like living close to their family.”

Andrew was Mitchell’s younger brother. The whole Jaguar family and their mates lived in one big living quarter in the back of HQ. Vapor turned to his mate and rubbed him on the back, knowing he’d touched a nerve.

“Yeah, but they don’t have the safety of living where we do. They’re on the outside where it’s more dangerous and open to attack. They need to think of that.”

Silently, Alden agreed with Vapor. While it might be hard to live away from one’s family, they had to think of safety first. Living in one cluster was just an open invite for the Ravens to attack.

The van raced to the location, making the men in the back bounce around. Alden winced, he was going to have some interesting bruises on his ass, that was for sure. He would have yelled at the driver had the situation not been so dire.

He smelled the smoke even before they reached the location. He leaned forward to look out the window and saw the smoke billowing up. It was black ringed with gray and reached high up into the sky. The fact that no fire trucks were racing to the location showed that the locals already knew it was a shifter situation and were staying as far away as possible.

They were the first team to arrive. That still didn’t stop them from jumping from the back of the van and getting right into the fray. It wasn’t like they were going to let something like being outnumbered a hundred to one stop them. They were too crazy for that.

Logan let out a war cry as he lifted his machine gun and sprayed a line of fire into the air. Not to be outdone, Vapor lifted his and shot at a group of approaching Ravens who were in their human form.

As always, the Ravens reminded Alden of a bunch of guys who had tried to go Goth and got it all wrong. With black hair, all dark clothes, and pale skin, they had soulless eyes that reminded Alden of onyx marbles. He didn’t get creeped out by much, but even he got the shivers at the sight of so many of them.

Alden took down about half of the Raven’s with his shooting, but the rest kept going. He let out a curse as he wondered where in the hell the other teams were. Not only were they about to get their asses handed to them, but all hell was breaking loose.

Half of the homes were on fire. The civilian felines were doing the best they could to defend themselves, but they weren’t trained soldiers. Already, Alden could see a couple of bodies on the ground that he knew were feline shifters. He cussed at the senseless loss.

“Where in the hell is our backup?” he asked.

No sooner had he said that when several black vans pulled up. The doors opened up, and coalition soldiers both Hawk and feline began to pour out. Half of them shifted, the Hawks taking to the air while the feline began to run down the Ravens who were in human form.

“It’s about damn time,” Alden said.

“Now you know how I feel most of the time,” Shane said, coming up with an evil grin on his face. “We assassins are always waiting on you guys to show your asses up when we go on duel assignments.”

“I’m just crying in my
Cheerios
for you,” Andrew drawled.

“You should be since I ate the last of your
Lucky Charms
,” Shane shot back.

Andrew cocked his machine gun. “Bastard, that’s a killing offense in our house. You know that. I thought that since you and Trevor got your own place, you would be staying away from our kitchen.”

Shane shrugged before he pulled out his
Glock
and fired off a few shots, neatly killing off two Ravens. “I was hungry, and we were out. What can I say?”

Alden gave them an incredulous look. Here they were in the middle of a battle, and those two were arguing about cereal of all things. That family was full of crazies.

Alden was so busy looking at them that he didn’t see the Raven flying his way until it was too late. Claws raked his cheek and knocked him to the ground. Pain exploded in his head as it hit the hard packed dirt.

Quick as lightning, Alden got back up to his feet only to be knocked down again when a Raven hit him on the other cheek. Great! Now he had a matching set of claw marks. This time Alden landed on his chest, sprawled out like some green soldier on his first mission.

Boy, if Skye could only see him now, he would be laughing his ass off. But Skye wasn’t there. He was safe back at the HQ, no doubt sweating his ass off on the obstacle course.

“You look like you’re really having a rough time there, slick,” Shane snarked.

“Bite me,” Alden growled.

“I would, but Trevor said it was rude, so I stopped it.”

Knowing Shane, that was probably the truth. Alden got back up on his feet, traded his machine gun for a pair of
Glocks,
and started fighting again. He took cover behind a car and began shooting.

Once the other teams arrived, they quickly got things under control. The Ravens were numerous, but so were the coalition soldiers. Before long, they had the Ravens flying or running away.

Afterward, Alden looked around at all the damage and let out a deep sigh of regret. While it looked like they had only lost two civilians, their homes were all on fire.

Damn the Ravens! And damn them for their hate!

Why did they always have to attack the innocent? It made Alden think of Skye and his family and the hurt that had been caused by his attack. Of all the baggage that Skye still carried around. How years later he still hadn’t fully healed. How he might never be the same. It made Alden want to find every Raven out there and destroy them all.

Afterward, they stayed until the cleanup crews came, and then they loaded up in the vans and drove back to HQ. The entire time there, Alden couldn’t wait to get back to Skye.

He let out a sigh. What was he going to do? He knew that his feelings toward Skye were wrong. That Alden had more than crossed the line—he’d hopped, skipped, and jumped over it. He had strong emotions for Skye, and there was no denying it anymore.

The van pulled into the parking lot of HQ, and they all unloaded. Alden quickly unloaded his weapons and debriefed then went to see what trouble Skye was up to. Logan went with him, no doubt for the entertainment aspect.

He found Skye on the obstacle course. There was a crowd around him, too. Since they were all cheering and clapping, Alden knew it couldn’t be good.

“Oh, shit!” he said as he rushed forward to see what his trainee had done this time.

He pushed his way through the crowd and was stunned by what he saw. Skye was navigating his way through the course, and he was doing it at an amazing pace. One that most seasoned soldiers couldn’t manage.

“Look at your little guy go,” Logan said as he nudged Alden with his elbow.

“He is amazing, isn’t he?” Alden said with pride.

“I didn’t know he had it in him,” Logan admitted.

“You should see him shoot. He’s even better at that.”

Logan cocked a brow. “Really? Sounds like he has the makings of a great soldier.”

“Funny you should mention that. Skye said that he would like to go that route. You wouldn’t be interested in taking him on your team, would you?”

Logan cocked his head to the side as he seemed to be thinking it over for a moment. “If you get him cleaned and straightened up, then sure. I would be more than happy to make a soldier out of him.”

A burst of happiness shot through Alden, and it was all he could do not to let out a whoop. He used all his control to maintain a straight face.

“Great, I’ll let Skye know. He’ll be thrilled to hear that.”

Logan studied him carefully. “Why do I get a feeling that Skye means more to you than just a student or mentor?”

Busted!
Alden should have known that he couldn’t get anything past Logan. He had known the man too long. They could read each other like a damn book.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alden still said, shooting a nervous glance at the crowd.

Logan grabbed Alden by the arm and led him to an empty corner. Once they were alone, Logan looked him straight in the face. “Fess up, buddy. Tell me what’s really going on.”

“You know it would be improper for me to have anything but impartial feelings toward Skye,” Alden said.

“But you still do have feelings for him, don’t you?”

For a moment, Alden thought about denying it, but then he realized that it would feel good to unload his secret on somebody. Letting out a sigh, he said, “Yes, I do. Damn it all.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing. That’s the right thing to do.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “Skye’s not going to be your trainee forever.”

“Meaning?”

“Once you’re done training him and I take over, he’s open takings for you,” Logan said in a
duh
voice.

“Somehow, I don’t think others will see it that way.”

“That’s always been your problem.”

Alden grew confused. “What has?”

“You care too much what others think. You need to care only about what you think this one time. Otherwise, you may lose the best thing that ever came into your life.”