Skye’s Limits (5 page)

“Which is?”

Logan pointed toward the obstacle course. “Skye. He could very well be the mate you’ve been looking for all your life. Don’t blow it because you’re too caught up on a set of principles that you have set up for yourself. That kid deserves better.”

With those parting words, Logan turned, then left. Leaving Alden standing there all alone with his mouth hanging open in stunned silence.

Alden looked back over at the course to see Skye was just finishing up. Could Skye be his mate? Sure, Alden had feelings for him—really, really strong feelings, but he had never stopped to ponder that Skye could be the
one
for him.

Now that Alden rolled it over in his mind, he couldn’t think of anyone that he would rather be with. Skye might make Alden want to beat his head against the wall at times, but there were more times Skye made Alden want to smile. That was something that Alden hadn’t found in somebody in…well, forever.

Skye came running up to him. He took off his protective headgear, leaving behind cowlicks. It should have made him look dorky, but on Skye, it just made him all the more endearing.

“Did you see me?” Skye asked, a big grin on his face.

“Yes, I did. You impressed me.”

“Really?”

“Yes, not only that, but you impressed Logan. So much so that he said that once I’m finished with you, he’ll take you on as a trainee to be one of his soldiers.”

Skye’s eyes grew wide. “You’re kidding me.”

Alden let out a small laugh. He just couldn’t help himself. Skye’s reaction was so funny. “I don’t kid about stuff that important.”

Skye gave a little jump before he embraced Alden. It was a sweaty hug, but damn if Alden didn’t enjoy every second of it. All-too-soon Skye pulled away. “Oh my God, thank you so much! I can’t wait to tell Branson and Gage. They aren’t going to believe it. I’m not a fuckup anymore.”

“Hey, you were never a fuckup. You were just a little lost there for a moment.”

Alden hated it when Skye talked about himself that way. Sure, Skye might have had a few bumps…alright, a lot of bumps along the way, but he was working hard at cleaning up his act. What’s more, he had come there almost all on his own, so he deserved some credit.

“You’re the only one who has ever said that to me,” Skye said softly.

“I said it because it’s true,” Alden replied.

“Thank you. And I don’t just mean for the comment. I mean for everything.”

“Skye, you did it all on your own. You have no idea how amazing you are,” Alden said.

“No, Alden, you have no idea how amazing you are,” Skye returned.

Skye reached up and gently touched Alden’s cheeks. “You’re hurt. How did that happen?”

“I got taken down by a couple of Ravens. I’ll be okay.”

“You need to shift and make sure that you heal.”

A lump formed in Alden’s throat. Since he was an orphan because he’d lost all of his family in the mass Raven attack over twenty years ago, nobody had ever cared about his injuries before. It felt good to have somebody who gave a damn about him.

And it was at that moment that Alden realized that Logan was right, Skye was the one for him, and Alden wasn’t about to let him get away.

Over the next couple of weeks, Skye worked hard with Alden to get ready to go into training to be a soldier. Since he lacked the most in hand-to-hand and small weapons fighting, that was what they worked the most at.

Most nights, Skye went home so tired that he could barely crawl into bed. He received texts from his old friends asking him to go out. Every time, Skye would respond the same way—that he was too tired to go out. Eventually, the texts died down, and they stopped bothering him. Skye realized that he had probably pissed them off, and they had ditched him as a friend. Instead of being upset about it, he felt a sense of relief. It was as if that old chapter of his life had finally closed and he could finally move on.

He no longer felt the urge to go out and party. He was set on his goal to become a coalition soldier. He wanted to make Branson proud of him. What’s more, he wanted to make Alden proud of him.

As Skye lay in his bed, all sore and tired from his latest day of work, his mind drifted to his trainer. While he knew it was wrong, he couldn’t help but think of Alden in a sexual way. What Skye would do just to get one piece of Alden. Oh, who was he kidding? He wanted the whole man, every from his toes to his scrumptious lips.

Gah! Just thinking about Alden made Skye hard. Palming his erection through his sweats, Skye thought about how sexy Alden looked. Even when he was all sweaty from working out, he managed to flip all of Skye’s buttons.

Skye moved his hand and threw it over his face. He might as well forget it. Even if he did clean up his act, there was no way there could be anything between the two of them. Not only was there no way that Alden would ever be interested in somebody who was as young as Skye, but Alden was some elite soldier. He was the best of the best. While Skye was some bumbling nobody. Why would he ever be interested in a nobody like Skye who was ten years younger than him?

Yet there had been times when Skye could have sworn that he saw a spark of interest in Alden’s eyes. Of course, Skye could just be imagining it. Maybe it was his mind playing tricks on him. Only wishful thinking on his part. Or it could be that Alden just had something stuck in his eyes at the time for all Skye knew.

Skye buried his head in the pillow. He was driving himself crazy by thinking of all the possible scenarios. He needed to face facts. Nothing was going to happen between Alden and him, period. So, he just needed to forget about it and focus and what was more important, becoming a coalition soldier. That was his goal—not getting a piece of dick.

Closing his eyes, Skye fell into a restless sleep.

The next morning when Skye showed up to training, he was so tired from tossing and turning the night before that he could barely keep his eyes open. Of course, Alden had to notice as soon as he saw him.

“I thought I told you to get a good night’s rest. You weren’t out partying, were you?” Alden asked sharply.

Skye, being a bit grumpy from lack of sleep, immediately went on the defense. “No, I just had trouble falling asleep. Why do you always have to assume the worse with me?”

“What else am I to expect? You come here looking like you have been dragged through the mud and back again. Going by your track record, I have no choice but to assume the worst,” Alden shot back.

Skye immediately became wide awake as anger shot through him. “I haven’t gone out once since I’ve started working with you. So what makes you think that I would start now?”

“Because, you obviously didn’t get any sleep last night so something is up.”

Skye let out a shaky breath. “What more do you want from me? I come here every day, on time. I give you one hundred percent. I do whatever you ask and never complain. I even shifted when you asked me to, even though it terrified the hell out of me. I don’t know how much more I can give you to show you that you can trust me.”

“Everybody relapses at least once or twice. Nobody would blame you if you had,” Alden said in a more gentle voice.

Skye held both arms out. “Do you want to come and smell my breath or something? You’ll see that there isn’t a hint of booze. In fact, I’ve lost all my old friends because I’ve refused to go out with them anymore. Not that you give a damn. Obviously, you don’t give a shit about me, or else you wouldn’t be accusing me of this.”

Never in his life had Skye been more angry or hurt. He had expected this kind of treatment from Branson and maybe Gage, but never from Alden. In the short time that Skye had known Alden, he’d grown to trust the Tiger shifter, and this kind of behavior was coming completely out of left field. It felt like a blow to Skye’s gut.

Alden’s stared at him for a moment. “You swear to me that you didn’t go out last night?”

“On my life. Not that you’d believe me.”

Alden let out a sigh. “I’m sorry, I do believe you. It’s just when I saw you coming in looking like shit, I thought for sure you’d had a relapse.”

“Fuck you.”

“Hey! I’m still you’re mentor, and you’ll treat me with some respect,” Alden shot back.

“That shit goes both ways. You haven’t shown me any respect this morning with your accusations.”

“I have every right to worry about you. You don’t exactly have a stellar past,” Alden reminded Skye.

Skye opened and closed his mouth a few times as he tried to think of a comeback to that one, but damned if he could think of one. Alden was right. Skye didn’t have a good past, and there was no arguing it.

“Can we just get to work,” Skye finally said.

He felt like his heart had been ripped out and stomped on. Everything he’d feared that Alden thought about him had been confirmed. All this time he’d thought that maybe…just maybe Alden would be able to see past all his fuckups, but no. Alden saw Skye like the rest of the coalition saw him, as nothing more than a loser.

Why did Skye even bother? Even if he did become the best soldier in the damn coalition, everyone would still think he was nothing more than a loser. The worst part of it was, Skye had nobody to blame for it but himself. All the culpability lay at his size ten feet.

He began to put on the sparring equipment in short jerky movements. Those Hawks had been right, he was nothing more than a useless stoner. He might as well give it up now. Why even try to pretend that he was something that he wasn’t? He may as well save Alden all the trouble and just give up now.

“Are you done pouting? Can we get going?” Alden asked.

Rage filled Skye. How dare Alden egg him on when he was the one who started this whole thing? Skye wondered what it was that he’d ever seen in the guy in the first place. He was nothing but a big jerk.

Getting into a fighting position, Skye nodded his head. He wasn’t even giving Alden the satisfaction of speaking to him. Let the asshole talk to the wall for all Skye cared.

They began to spar. This time, Skye fought with all his might. He used all his anger. His anger at the Ravens who had fucked up his life. His anger at those who had dissed him all along. His anger at Alden. All of it.

At first, he missed most of his punches. But soon he started to get some punches in. Then to his surprise and delight, he started to get even more in. Skye continued to fight on, not holding back.

Then he got one good one in. It hit Alden straight in the face. There was a loud crunching noise and blood sprayed everywhere. Skye let out a gasp of horror as he realized he’d broken Alden’s nose.

“Shit!” Skye said.

Alden bent over as blood dripped all over the place. Skye ran over and grabbed a gym towel, quickly bringing it back over. “Here, hold this over it.”

Alden did, the white towel becoming red as the blood continued to flow.

“I am so sorry,” Skye said.

Alden shifted and so soon there was huge-ass Tiger in Alden’s place. Skye took a couple of steps back and said, “Like I said, I’m really, really, sorry. I didn’t mean to do it.”

The Tiger came up closer and nudged Skye with its big nose. Skye stumbled back. His heart began to beat fast, hoping that Alden wasn’t pissed at him and going to take a chunk out of him for retaliation.

“Alden, I said I was sorry. What more do you want?”

The Tiger shifted, and soon Alden was standing in its place. “Well, for one thing, you could be congratulating yourself for finally getting in a good punch.”

Skye gave him an incredulous look. “Are you kidding me? I broke your nose and made you bleed all over the place.”

“True, but you got in a well-placed blow. That’s a first. We should be celebrating, not worrying about a little blood being shed. It happens all the time in training. You better get used to it if you want to be a soldier,” Alden warned him.

“But I didn’t want to hurt you. I did it because I was mad at you,” Skye admitted.

Alden let out a sigh as he ran his hands through his short hair. “You had every right to be angry at me.”

Skye shook his head to make sure he was hearing okay. “Are you kidding me?”

“No, I’m not. I was being an asshole earlier. I’m man enough to admit it.”

Skye nipped on his bottom lip. “Why did you yell at me then?”

“I was worried about you. I care a lot about you, and I was worried that you had messed up.”

Skye’s heart skipped a beat. “You care about me.”

Alden looked up at the sky. “Yeah, I do. More than I should, but I do.”

Skye wanted to pinch himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming. “Why? What’s wrong with you caring about me?”

“You’re my student. I should be keeping my distance from you.”

Ooooooohhhhh…so those looks hadn’t been imagined after all. A thrill of happiness went through Skye, and he almost did a happy dance. Instead, he took a step closer to Alden.

“What would you say if I told you that I care about you, too?” Skye asked.

“I would say that we are treading on dangerous ground.”

Skye moved in even closer, and Alden didn’t make any move to step away. Skye looked up from under his lashes. “You know that I’ve never been good at playing by the rules.”

“But I have been,” Alden countered.

“Have you ever considered breaking them once in a while?”

“No.”

Skye’s heart skipped just a beat, but he wasn’t going to be beaten that easily.

“How about bending them just a wee little bit?” he asked instead.

“Skye, don’t tempt me,” Alden said.

By now their lips were just inches apart. Their breaths mingling. The electricity in the room so high that it was almost explosive.

“It’s just you and me in this room, Alden, nobody would ever have to know,” Skye said.

“But I would know,” Alden said.

“All I’m asking for is one kiss. That’s all.”

Alden let out a moan. “You brat, you know I can’t resist you.”

Alden wrapped one arm around Skye’s waist and brought him in close. It was a bit difficult since Skye still had on the sparring equipment, but they managed. Slanting his mouth down, Alden brought their lips together in a heated kiss.