The Moon's Fangs | 1
36 | the art of chase

After the day we had, I didn’t mind hanging out at the lab for the remainder of it. Plus, I needed the time to plan out my diabolical scheme. The one where I finally bested Reks in a training match.

Catching him off guard would be the key to this working. If I failed to do that, the plan would spiral. I already knew there was no chance in hell I could magically beat him in a direct fight after only a couple training sessions. Even with him going easy on me.

Sitting on the edge of the mat, Nox played out simulations of mine and Reks’ past duels, slowing down areas where I slipped up or the moment Reks had made the defining move that won him the match. I studied his hands, his stance, his timing, everything. Studied him like a pro procrastinator jamming info in their brain the hour before a big test.

Most of my slip-ups were due to clouded judgment… and lack of skill. Every time he touched me, I would immediately close myself off from my Guide and focus entirely on him. It was like Reks had a disorienting superpower, warping my attraction to him into a weakness.

I glared at the simulation, transfixed in thought.

I’d have a better chance at gaining the upper hand if I tried a sneak attack when he wasn’t expecting it. Sneaking up on an assassin didn’t exactly scream wise idea. I imagined it would take on a similar effect to startling a trigger-happy gangster. No. For this to work, I would need him to believe it to be just like every other time we trained; in his control.

“Time’s up.” Reks strode into the armory like he owned the place. Well, he did. By default.

“Hold on,” I said, lifting a finger. “I need some clarification on the rules here.”

“Rules?” he drawled. “Were they not clear before?” He leaned his hip against the workbench next to the mat I sat on, arching a brow while looking down at me.

“This time is different. There’s more at stake now.”

One side of his lips kicked up. “Your potential promotion.”

“Yes,” I hissed. “What exactly do I need to do to win this? Am I allowed to use objects to help me? Or do I need to act like my finger is a knife and pretend to slice your neck?” I slid my pointer finger across the front of my neck.

“Fates. The stargazer has turned competitively lethal.” A breath of husky amusement left him as my cheeks colored. I enjoyed his nickname for me far too much.

“Reks, seriously.” I eyed him. “I don’t want to try something new for it to only end with you saying I cheated, or something absurd like that.”

He pushed himself off the bench, then moved to crouch in front of me, balancing perfectly on his toes. “Excluding weapons from this armory or vials from the lab, you can use whatever you like.” he took my hand - the one I punched the cage fighter with - and gingerly unwrapped the tight binding Shion made good work of. “The only reason why I’m giving you those specific restrictions is because you’ve never used orleizen weapons before, let alone any weapons. I’d prefer you not accidentally trip and fall on one of my blades.”

His thumb traced idle circles on the inner part of my wrist as he slowly unwound the cloth from my knuckles. Each circle his thumb made was small but agonizing and utterly distracting. Our match hadn’t even begun, and he was already exploiting my vulnerabilities.

“A-and, what about the vials?” I asked, almost hoarsely.

“Many of those serums are deadly. One can even sear the skin upon contact. If you spill just the tiniest drop on your pretty skin, it’ll burn a hole right through you.”

“Jeez.” I pulled my hand back in shock, but his fingers tightened around my wrist, keeping me there.

“Don’t move.” He instructed, pulling the dirtied cloth free from my hand, then closely inspecting where my knuckles had been previously split open and bruised. Now, they only looked slightly discolored. Lightly bruised, nothing more. “We’ll keep it simple. If you can pin me down for five seconds, that’s a win. If you manage to knock me out, that’s a win. Or…” his dark eyes trailed back up to meet mine. There was something predatory about that look of his that made my stomach dip in wild anticipation. “If you can keep me from pinning you down during this session, I’ll give you the win. Do we have a deal?”

None of those sounded remotely possible. But if these were the only parameters to this training session… then it left more options open for me to explore. Options including outside of this room.

“Almost.” I gave him a skeptical look. “Luk’s off the table. No snaky whips are allowed to leave your body.” I waved a stern finger in the air between us.

“Fair enough.” he simpered. “Though, if you do pass on to weapon training, Luk is fair game.”

I smiled, taking the temporary victory. Not having to worry about Luk popping out during this would be crucial. Reks’ Guide was like the end-all-be-all.

“Is there a time limit?” I asked. There needed to be a time limit. It would be a boon for me if I could run it down to zero.

His fingers slipped from my wrist, satisfied by how quickly Nox had healed my hand. “Until I say so.”

I scrunched my brows together. “No way. You’ll win every time if that’s the case. Set it for five minutes.”

“Ten minutes,” he argued.

“Seven.” I insisted, knowing for dang sure I wouldn’t last ten minutes with the sporadic plan I had in mind. Seven was pushing it.

“Deal,” he said, curiosity glinting across his eyes as he studied me with a look that wished to know exactly what scheme had implanted itself into my brain.

I sucked in my bottom lip in thought, and I watched as his eyes were drawn to that action. It gave me another little idea. “When can we start?”

“Whenever you’d like.”

Anticipation picked up the pace of my heart. My next move would either result in my immediate and embarrassing defeat, or a prolonged struggle with the same ending. Even still, my heart raced at the wishful prospect of an unlikely victory.

Knocking him out was out of the question. Obviously. He’s a vitiate, for god’s sake. No chance of that happening. Plus, I’d feel awful if I even managed to hurt him like that. Pinning him down for five seconds seemed plausible… in theory. But my best odds favored the third option; keeping my distance until time ran out. If I could manage that, an opening may present itself.

I looked up to meet his steady gaze. So calm and collected. Unaware of what devious little scheme brewed in my head.

I fought back a smile, forcing my body to mirror his composer before taking pleasure in its ruin.

“If you’re not ready—”

“Now!” I cut him off, shoving both of my palms hard against his chest.

His eyes suddenly widened, and he lost that perfect balance on his toes and toppled back against the mat. His hands jolted up, prepared to snag me the moment I tried to jump on him - but that wasn’t the plan at all.

I sprang up on my feet and bounded towards the exit. Adrenaline galloped alongside me, demanding I move faster. Regret and excitement danced through my veins while my rational side screamed in retaliation.

“Amelia-” Reks called out, breaking off in a short, testing laugh. “Oh, you’re in for it now.”

His tone went wickedly low, which only made my legs move faster. I reeled around the corner, catching Reks out of the corner of my eye. He was already on the move.

An icy thrill skittered down my spine.

I darted into the lab, knowing full well Reks would be on my heels if I so much as tripped. I snagged a rolling table and swung it behind me to create an obstacle. He cursed as it fell to the side with a loud crash, sliding in his path.

I didn’t stay turned around long enough to see if it worked in my favor. I kept running straight down the opposite hall - the one leading to his master bedroom.

Nox’s panic was nothing short of hilarious. As long as it kept track of the time, it could freak out to its little heart’s content. For the both of us.

“Amelia-”

The closeness of his voice made me squeal as I darted through his room. My heart leaped in my throat, sensing him gaining on me. I was fast, but so was he.

Barely two of the seven minutes ticked down.

“Running from me was a bad idea.” A promise of punishment laced his tone. “When I catch you—”

“No!” I squealed, sending a quick mental command to Nox to turn the water on in the bathing room. I needed something to slow him down, and I desperately needed it to catch him off guard long enough for me to find another room to run into and create yet another obstacle to buy time.

The water turned on the moment I reeled into the bathing room. The slight slowdown of my momentum when veering the corner turned nearly fatal as I felt Reks’ fingers graze the back of my arm.

Curses flung left and right in my brain, like a spider had jumped on me.

With him being this close, I knew he’d catch me before time ran out. There wouldn’t be time to create another diversion in another room. The running water needed to be my saving grace. All my cards were thrown in on the hope he wouldn’t be able to get a firm grip on me if we were both slick with water. My only other advantage was that I had traction boots on while he was barefoot. Ha! Lookie who has the barefoot curse now!

Too scared to steal a glance at him, I led the chase through the running shower. The hot rain shower quickly drenched us both.

The moment of truth came when I needed to find a way to turn around without getting caught within a one-eighty, back towards the master bedroom.

“You’re mine now.” A hand suddenly wrapped around my bicep, forcing a girlish scream to erupt out of my throat. I yanked my arm the moment I felt him, and the water helped make his grip cascade down my arm and slip free. In that split second, we made eye contact. That wolfish smirk turned into a full-fledged beaming smile, then he bit down on his lip when he lost his hold.

I gasped.

He was nearly on top of me. There wasn’t time to turn around. And he knew that. Even with slippery skin, the proximity stole that leverage. He could snag my clothes - my waist. Something sinful and predatory swirled in his dark eyes the exact moment we both came to that conclusion. He knew I couldn’t get away now.

~Crouch!~ Nox frantically hissed in my mind. ~Do it now!~

A lightning-like sensation zinged through my veins.

Sharply and without grace, I covered my head and crouched to the floor mid-run. The sudden change of movement caused my legs to slip out from under me, and Reks didn’t have time to stop. He tripped and fell over my body.

His legs crashed into me, sending him plummeting to the shower floor at the same time I fell to my side. He slid harshly against the slick floor, then his head audibly smacked into the corner of the marble.

One second my heart thundered through every part of my body, the next it stopped. My next breath seized. Reks laid still on the shower floor.

I scrambled over to him, pulling his head up from the tile. No blood.

“Ow…” he groaned, running a hand through his drenched hair.

Relief washed over me as I let out a shaky breath. “Reks? Reks, can you hear me?” I asked, slowly sliding myself into a straddling position on top of him. I set myself over his pelvis, positioning both boots over his thighs.

He blinked running water from his eyes to no avail and gave me a bemused smile. Not exactly the answer I’d been looking for.

I pressed my arms against his chest and held up two fingers in front of his eyes. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

As he blinked some more, trying to focus on my hand, I changed my number to three, then four… then slowly to five.

A sedate grin spread across his handsome face. “Is this how you like to celebrate your victories, Stargazer?” A jolt of butterflies skittered through me as his hands trailed up the length of my thighs, slowing on the grooves of my hips where his thumbs applied subtle pressure. The action caused heat to curl in my lower stomach. “If it is, I think I might enjoy losing to you.”

“How hard did you hit your head?” I teased.

His fingers splayed across the sides of my hips, poking under my - his - shirt. “Hard enough to see stars.”

“I… should get off.”

I moved to swing my leg off, but his grip tightened. His long fingers squeezed my hips, provoking bursts of fire in their wake.

“You’re not going anywhere.” his smoky voice turned rough and heady, soliciting a roll of pleasure through my core.

“Reks…”

“Amelia…” he echoed.

I drew in my bottom lip between my teeth. When I did, one of his hands slipped away from my side to slide up to my shoulder.

“Don’t,” he warned. “Don’t do that.”

I let my lip slowly slide away from between my teeth as a smile crept on, watching his eyes study the movement like it happened in slow motion. “Why not?”

“You’ll end up furious with me again.” he said, dragging his eyes up to mine. My stomach dipped at the reminder of our short time at the hot springs. How he tasted of melting ashlets on my tongue.

His dusky lashes clung together from the water coming down on us, and his eyes were as dark as ever, pulling me in to fall into his bottomless oblivion.

“Oh…” I whispered. The cascading water dripped from my face to his, but I barely heard the running water. Like white noise. All I could hear - all I could feel, was his heart thundering against his chest - against me. And my heart matched his like two competing storms with the same intention. “I’m going to save us both the trouble and get up. Okay?” I said, but my body, the traitor, made no movement in following through. Not because he held on to me so fiercely, but because my body refused to part from his. It felt like attempting to pull apart joined magnets.

“And if I refuse?” One of Reks’ brows arched as his hand inched towards my neck while the thumb in the slope of my hip made distracting idle circles. Each swirl turned my thoughts into honey.

My voice turned raspy. “Then I will be severely upset with you.” I said, despite knowing full well my body language and involuntary tone expressed the exact opposite. He saw right through me, through the lies.

“I’m willing to risk your wrath.” he suddenly leaned up, setting us both upright. I sucked a silent gasp between my lips as my weight pressed against him, sinfully aware of his hard length settled between my thighs. My pulse drummed hotly against my ears, losing all my words.

He left no space in between our bodies. His hands, God, his hands were all-consuming.

“Tell me to stop.” Reks gripped the back of my neck. His thumb gently pressed under the edge of my jaw, keeping my face tilted towards him. A demand which demanded its own opposition.

My lips parted to do the responsible thing, but nothing came out. I knew I should tell him to stop - to at least wait until after we talked to Sio and get clarity on our situations. But my judgment was being weighed down by desire. I had shoved it aside for so long, it now burned like wildfire, lashing uncontrollably in my veins. It was too potent.

I wanted it to consume me. More than anything. I wanted to drown in his wicked inferno.

My nerves danced as my hand explored the rim of his drenched shirt while the other trailed up the back of his neck, leaving goosebumps in their wake.

“Amelia, tell me… to stop.” his voice shook in a low growl.

Slowly, I swept hair from his ear and twined the locks tight around my fingers, interlacing my hand in the back of his soaked hair. I leaned in close, deadly close, to whisper something I couldn’t take back. “Don’t stop.”

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