Chapter 29

“All right, guys, we’re going to take advantage of this opportunity to test Allie’s progress,” Ming Lao announced.

Naeemah and Gregg were away for an important Assembly meeting, which meant Allie had to double up with Aidan for the day.

“Can’t I just work with Chloe? We have a session today anyway,” he muttered bitterly.

“No, you may not.”

“Since when do you train with Chloe?” Allie asked. She worked with Chloe frequently. At fifteen, she was the best opponent for Allie as a beginner, but she couldn’t imagine why Aidan would need to train with her.

“I don’t train with her. I train her.”

He teaches? She could see it in his eyes; he hated it.

“Ming, I haven’t practiced as a Savateur in years.”

“Exactly, you should be a fairly even match.”

“An even match? Ming’s got jokes.” He shrugged out of his shirt to stretch. He took a moment to gloat when he caught Allie staring. She blamed the tattoos.

“She’s pretty good, Aidan,” Ming warned. “No, Allie, just the fingerless gloves today.”

Great. She dropped the padded training gloves that kept her hands free of broken bones and grabbed her silver fingerless gloves instead. She was actually a very good Savateuse, but sparring with Aidan was pretty high on her list of things she never wanted to do.

“Second level?” He sneered, reaching over her head to grab his fifth level gloves. “This is a total joke.” He headed to the mat.

“McBrien, you’re an ass!” She threw her gloves at his head.

He swatted them away like a buzzing fly.

Shrugging furiously out of her yoga gear, she turned to face him in her halter and short-shorts. She looked ridiculous with her Savate boots laced up to mid-calf, but Allie enjoyed a moment of satisfaction when Aidan’s eyes widened in appreciation. Apparently, it was a good look.

“I don’t want anyone holding back. Let’s see your best efforts,” Ming said. They faced each other, bowing with barely discernible nods before circling the mat.

Aidan, in a slight crouch, was the first to advance, but she was quick to block his surprisingly slow leading jab. He followed with an equally slow roundhouse kick, landing the blow gently behind her knee. Allie glared at his retreat.

He’s going easy on me. It was a slap in the face, like he didn’t respect her as an equal.

She pressed this time, but he blocked her crossing punch. She caught his jaw with a fast uppercut, and it felt incredible. They were equals, and for the first time, she thought she really understood what that meant. She didn’t feel the guilt she experienced when sparring with Chloe—despite the fact that she routinely kicked Allie’s butt.

“This is so bizarre.” He tried to break her concentration as they continued circling the mat, faster now.

While he took the time to taunt her, Allie advanced again and managed to knock him to the mat with a sweeping kick. He blocked her next move and launched back to his feet in one powerful movement. He succeeded in landing a wicked open-handed jab before she could recover.

She tasted blood, and it really pissed her off, but at least he was treating her with respect now.

Leaping to avoid his attack, she flew into high roundhouse, catching his face with her boot, drawing blood. She followed with a fast, hard uppercut and a piston kick.

They were a whirl of activity as they advanced and retreated, neither gaining the upper hand. Both were bleeding and sweating, intent on winning the match just to show the other up. She knew she would be covered in bruises, with fractured fingers and painfully broken toes, but she wasn’t about to back down.

“Enough!” Ming called loudly to get their attention. “You can stop trying to kill each other now. It’s a draw.”

Allie turned to face her opponent with a proper bow of respect. It really was a great fight. Aidan returned in kind with a grin and a wink. She felt a surge of conflicting emotions at the familiar gesture and suddenly felt like punching and hugging him all at once. She managed a smile, but he turned away, his eyes darkening as if he just remembered they weren’t on good terms.

“I don’t even want to know what that was all about,” Ming said dryly.

* * *

“Seriously, who peed in his Cheerios?” Sasha shivered in the cold gust sweeping across the docks at Edgewater. “He opened his big stupid mouth, didn’t he?” Her intense blue eyes brimmed with concern.

“Don’t worry, Sash,” Allie said as they darted for the heat lamps to wait for the ferryboat.

“He loves you. Give him a chance to get over the shock of not getting what he wants, when he wants it, and he’ll come around. But in the meantime, we have birthdays to plan!” She smiled, dropping the sensitive subject.

“You two really should have been twins.”

“Just remember, I’m nearly a month older,” Sasha reminded her.

“Are we talking about your birthdays?” Chloe asked eagerly when she joined them.

“It’s our seventeenths, so it should be special.”

“It will be epic,” Graham said as the boys gathered around the heaters.

“You guys know something.” Sasha’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Spill it.”

“I suppose Mom won’t mind.” Aidan forced a smile for his sister. “Everyone’s coming home for our birthdays.”

“Our everyone?”

“Everyone’s everyone,” Quinn said. “Almost.”

“Can you be a little more specific?” Allie asked.

“When no one dies, the relatives tend to pile up,” Graham explained.

“I’m going to have to walk around with a whiteboard and markers, aren’t I?”

“You may actually want to take notes,” Sasha said. “Let’s see how fast I can do this. Uncle Liam is Dad’s oldest-younger brother, and his daughter is Kahlynn; then, there’s our brothers, Scott, Darius, Seamas, and his husband, George. Our sister, Imogen, and her husband, Lucian. Then, Mom’s parents, Grandma Nadira and Grandpa Sayid. And Uncle Aide, Dad’s youngest brother, is married to Aunt Hélène, and their kids are Erin and Dean. Now, here’s where it gets tricky. Aunt Hélène is Emma’s daughter from before she met Daniel. That makes Hélène, Quinn and Graham’s older sister and Chloe’s niece. Then, there’s Ming’s parents, LuLi and Ju Long, who’re Quinn and Graham’s great-grandparents and Chloe’s grandparents. Did I get everyone in there?” she asked breathlessly.

“Everyone that’s coming anyway, but we might want to think about name tags,” Quinn said.

“I have a headache,” Allie groaned.

“So, where’s the party?” Chloe asked.

“That’s the best part,” Quinn said. “Mom planned a War Game, and this one’s going to be crazy. Two teams, on the island, and everyone’s playing.”

“Shut up!” Sasha bounced in her seat.

“Why does that sound utterly terrifying?” Allie felt a surge of dread.

“It’s just a game, sorta like capture the flag on speed, and this will be the first time I can actually play,” Graham said eagerly.

“The challenges are designed to push us out of our comfort zones,” Quinn added. “It’s way better than training.”

“Full gear and everything?” Aidan asked, a huge grin splitting his face.

“Yeah.” Quinn responded with his own idiotic grin.

“Gear?” Allie tried to keep up.

“Fatigues, lots of weapons and ammo,” Quinn said.

“And this is fun? I think I’ll just sit this one out.”

“No way, you’re going to love this,” Sasha insisted.

“Somehow, I doubt that.”

“You’ll be fine.” Chloe squeezed her hand in sympathy.

“This is happening in a week. I’ll never be ready!”

“Suck it up, red.” Aidan rolled his eyes. “You had me on my toes the other day. You’re ready.”

* * *

“Allie, you’ll do fine.”

“Jin, I’m going to get my very large butt handed to me in a very small, nicely wrapped package,” she said acerbically.

“Not if I can help it.” Gregg grinned wickedly, towing her over to what she secretly referred to as his toy box. Otherwise known as the weapons room.

“I don’t want new weapons,” she whined. “I can’t manage the ones I have, you crazy Scot!”

“Relax, I got you covered.” He winked as he strapped a belt around her waist and holstered a ridiculously long serrated dagger at her hip, along with a dozen throwing blades.

“You do remember how dangerous I am with those?” She gave him an exasperated look.

“Aye, that’s the point. Everyone will duck and cover if they see you wielding these.”

“Even my teammates?”

“Especially your teammates. I think you’ll like this one, although something tells me you’ll just think it’s pretty.” He produced a slinky silver whip disguised as a bracelet.

“Aw, it matches my new shoes … er, dagger, matches my new dagger.” She pulled the loose coil over her wrist.

He growled something in Gallic—probably a prayer for patience. “When you strike the whip, the tiny barbs expand, and if you catch bare skin, it will do some serious damage.”

She couldn’t imagine using any of these weapons on her friends, except maybe Aidan, but he could take it and actually kind of deserved it. No matter how many times they told her, “we heal fast,” she knew she would never willingly hurt anyone for the sake of a stupid game.

“I know you think we’ve all lost our bloody minds, but I promise this will be fun.”

“Before or after I’m cut to ribbons?”

“Put these on, kid.” Jin tossed her a set of gear. She ducked out to change into her fatigues. They were oddly heavy, lined with some kind of mesh that made the fabric like armor. When she added the steel-toed boots, gauntlets, and greaves, she realized she would be well protected from injury. She cinched the belt at her waist, holstering her collapsible quarterstaff and the nasty looking dagger at her hip. She finished her new ensemble with the shiny whip snaked around her upper arm.

“How am I supposed to walk and not fall down under all this crap?” She sneered. “Not to mention the fighting part?”

“We’ll spend the rest of the week practicing, don’t worry,” Jin said. “I’m on your team, and I promise I won’t let you get into anything you can’t handle.”

Allie just wasn’t sure she trusted his definition of what she could or could not handle.