“They’re lying.”
“I know that.”
“So what now?” Shane straightened his back and glanced over his shoulder at the house when he heard Maya’s voice. She was in the kitchen with Lottie. “Are we to stay down here indefinitely?”
“No. We explained that you and Maya ran off together and that I, of course, have no idea where the two of you went. He started to give me shit and threatened to tattle to his daddy, but when I told him that the king already knew what was going on, he backed down. Big time.”
“Interesting,” Shane said quietly. “Then he is definitely acting without his father’s approval and clearly has his own motives. Why does he want Maya?”
“Are you serious?” Olivia asked incredulously. “Why does any man want Maya?”
“I’m well aware of Maya’s beauty,” Shane said with waning patience, “but there’s something else going on. His behavior is desperate and surprisingly aggressive. It doesn’t make sense to me that this is simply about possessing a woman. He wants to reignite the war between our races and he’s using Maya to do it, but why?”
“I’m not sure, but Horace and his pack of delinquents are refusing to leave the city until we relinquish Maya.”
“Then he’s going to be in Manhattan for quite a while,” Shane responded flatly.
“I relayed the events to Emperor Zhao directly, and he will be speaking with King Heinrich while they’re at the summit. If Horace is still here at the end of the week, then perhaps I can persuade the king to come to the city and deal with his kid. You and Maya should be staying with Lottie for about a week. My guess is that Horace won’t leave on his own, and from what I hear, he and his pack had to leave the Plaza after that big mess you all made. Now they’re crashing at a hotel here in the Village and spending their waking hours at The Dollhouse getting drunk and banging strippers two at a time.”
“Understood.” Shane walked over to the water’s edge and watched an alligator float by like a log, waiting for some unsuspecting animal to get too close. “We will make good use of our time down here.”
“Shane?” Olivia asked tentatively. “How are things going with Maya?”
“They’re…progressing. In fact, I’m about to start weapons training and then hand-to-hand combat.”
“Right.” Olivia laughed. “Well, good luck with that. Sit tight, and I’ll be in touch by the end of the week or sooner.”
Shane hung up the phone and slipped it in the front pocket of his jeans. A moment later, the screen door from the kitchen creaked open and Maya’s scent drifted over him on the breeze. A smile curved his lips, and when he turned around, he saw her standing at the table, inspecting the weapons he’d laid out a few minutes ago. She was clad in the sentry catsuit and once again had her hair tied back in a tight ponytail.
“I see you are ready for training.” Shane closed the distance between them and walked around to the opposite side of the table. He glanced over to the kitchen window and noticed that there were actually lights on in the house. Apparently Lottie used her electricity sparingly, but this eccentricity only made her more endearing to him. “What is our friend Lottie up to?
“She’s fixing herself something to eat, but then she said she’s going into the city for a while. I guess she works as a fortune-teller at a few bars in the French Quarter,” Maya answered, holding out a mug for him and taking a sip from the one in her other hand. “But she had something ready for us too.”
“I see.” Shane took the mug and looked at her intently. “I thought for certain you’d be trying to talk me into letting you go hunting.”
“Not really.” Maya lifted one shoulder and peered at him over the edge of her mug beneath a row of thick, long lashes. “I’m feeling rather satisfied at the moment.”
“At the moment?” Shane smirked before emptying his mug in one big gulp.
“Yes. But you never know when a girl will be hungry for more,” she murmured coyly. Maya placed her mug on the table and her smile faltered when she eyed the array of weapons. “Any word from Olivia yet?”
“Yes.” Shane put his mug down next to Maya’s and paused for a moment. He didn’t want her distracted from her training and decided on a less-is-more approach. “Things are quiet, and we’re to stay down here and train for a week. Olivia feels that we can return once the summit has finished and King Heinrich is free to deal with Horace himself.”
“That’s it?” Her brows knit together and she paused for a few seconds, studying him intently. “I didn’t cause a new war?”
“No.” Shane shook his head and folded his arms over his chest. “But things are still touchy, so until the summit is over and the king is free to be directly involved, we will stay here and you will train. The war with the wolves may not be imminent, but you should know how to defend yourself. Based on what I saw in the dreamscape, you have the makings of a great warrior, Maya.”
“Me?” Maya asked with obvious disbelief. “A warrior? Like you and Olivia?”
“Bella did call you a hunter.”
“Right.” Maya rolled her eyes. “At this point, I’d just like to stop being a liability.”
“Good.” Passing her a pair of leather gloves, Shane noticed that her necklace was no longer around her neck. “Maya, where is your necklace?”
“I took it off.” Her hand went instinctively to the spot where it usually rested. “I didn’t know what to expect, and since it’s the only item I have left from whatever family I had, I didn’t want to lose it while we practiced.”
“Fine.” He watched her pull on the gloves. “Then let’s begin.”
Over the next two hours, Shane worked with Maya on her throwing skills, and to his great surprise, she had remarkably good aim. He showed her how to use her sonar-like senses to focus on disturbances in the atmosphere so she could hit a target without even looking at it. He tossed several objects in the air, and after only three or four attempts, she’d managed to hit almost every one. Her aim with the guns was equally good, and based on the way the targets were shredded, she’d do just fine in a gun battle.
Shane did wonder what would happen once the targets were live and fighting back. It was anybody’s guess how she’d handle that.
“Would you like a break before we begin the hand-to-hand combat?” Shane asked, removing the targets from the trees. Lottie was kind enough to let them train, so he didn’t want to leave any litter in her backyard. “Take a few minutes to regroup?”
“No.” Maya’s jaw set with determination, and she stood in the middle of the yard in what could only be considered a battle-ready stance. With feet shoulder-width apart and hands curled into fists at her sides, she looked prepared to take whatever he could dish out. And sexy. The woman looked dead fucking sexy. “Let’s do it.”
“As you wish.”
Shane walked past Maya to toss what was left of the targets into a large trash can by the kitchen door. Then, without any warning, he whisked back to Maya, linked one arm around her waist, pinning her arms at her sides, and brought his other hand up beneath her chin. If he were in battle, he could easily break the neck of his opponent, and though he had no intention of harming her, he wanted to see if Maya would try to defend herself. She froze.
Shane kissed her cheek tenderly and released her from his grasp.
“Why didn’t you try to defend yourself?” he asked as she turned to face him.