“We will talk to your father about this after training, Stella. Don’t keep Jupiter waiting any longer,” she demanded and I obeyed.

I bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. My father was still staring at the door over his newspaper as if he still couldn’t believe Tristan had just left his house. I almost laughed at his incredulous expression until I noticed Seth standing at the kitchen sink in the same kind of shock.

Crap.

He looked up at me and our eyes met but I immediately wished they hadn’t. Seth looked hurt…. no worse than hurt.

Seth looked betrayed.

Chapter Eighteen

Training was brutal. Not only did Jupiter refuse to let me start with a weapon, but he was a relentless drill sergeant that shouted his orders like I was experiencing my first day of boot camp. And like I had no feelings. I wanted to suggest to Jupiter that reminding me of how close I came to failure was not a motivational factor in my life, but I feared that would only egg him on. And in truth he was pissing me off.

And then there was Seth.

Seth….

Seth was definitely taking out some anger and pent up aggression on me.

“You’re dead,” he announced as I lay on my back with his sword at my throat. He stood over me inserting all kinds of male dominance and a low growl escaped me before I could stop it. “Get up,” he ordered.

I grunted a reply without making an effort to move. I was pretty sure the ground was so frozen and my fall had been so hard that I left a permanent Stella-shaped indentation in the earth. Seth pulled his pirate sword back to his side and then offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me swiftly to my feet, depositing me in a standing position so that I was ready to go again. His eyes cut away from me, and he shrugged his shoulders getting ready to attack again.

Ugh.

“Get rid of your weapon,” Jupiter called from across the field. “And this time try not to die!”

I tossed my sword like a javelin into a snow bank on the opposite side of the open field and closed my eyes to center myself. Seth wasted no time and before I could even inhale an entire breath I had to duck out of the way from a brutal swing of his sword. I stood up straight ready to run toward my weapon, but had to leap into a back flip instead.

Before I started actively fighting, I used to watch action movies and laugh at the theatrics of some super heroes. I never believed there was an actual, real life moment when a back flip would be essential to one’s survival.

Until today.

A back flip just saved me from the wrath of Seth.

“Are you trying to kill me?” I shouted as I jumped to the side, avoiding another sword slice. He caught my sweatshirt, ripping a huge hole in it as he plunged his sword deep and withdrew. I let out a frustrated scream. I liked this sweatshirt!

“Just making sure you’re prepared,” Seth panted with a twisted, cruel curve to his usually charming smile.

He continued to attack as I moved in the general direction of my weapon, keeping my eyes focused on him the entire time. I desperately wanted to watch his sword; my eyes betrayed me in the way they naturally sought out the sharp tip plunging toward me. I forced myself to keep my eyes trained on his body, the direction his hips and shoulders were pointed, the place where his eyes fell, gave away his own moves just a fraction of a second before his weapon would follow.

“I get your point,” I grunted, jumping high off the ground as he swung his cutlass toward my feet, hoping to unbalance me. It was how he won the last skirmish and I wasn’t going to fall for the same trick twice.

“And what point is that?” He half grunted, half shouted with the effort to continue to attack me.

“I messed up,” I tried to whisper so Jupiter couldn’t hear us, but I was practically running for my life, even if it was just a training exercise and I was heavily out of breath. I risked wiping the sweat off my brow with my sleeve before continuing, only then I had to take a second more to twirl behind Seth, our backs brushing as I dodged another one of his potentially lethal blows. He missed me, but now I was further away from my weapon than when I started. Dang it. “Nothing happened with Tristan last night. He just came over to make sure I was alright, and we fell asleep,” I explained quickly while he stalked toward me, letting me talk. “It was innocent,” I finished meekly.

Wrong thing to say.

Both hands gripped his sword above his head and he brought it towards me angrily. Oh good God, he was actually going to kill me. Apparently I didn’t need to be scared of Aliah after all.

I let out a very girly, very unprofessional scream and dived out of the way, landing on the ground in a painful, sliding softball move that I learned back in junior high. It turns out sliding into home plate on rock hard dirt is actually much nicer than the jagged cuts and frozen burns ice is capable of. No time to think about my injuries, I rolled up to my feet and sprinted across the field to my weapon.

Thankfully the katana had landed with the hilt sticking out of the snow and I was able to grab it as I ran by and circled around to meet Seth. His eyes were hard honey-colored granite as he circled around me, waiting for the opportunity to strike.

“Finally!” I heard Jupiter holler from where he watched us engage. “It should not have taken you that long to get to your weapon Stella!”

I brushed off his words of “encouragement” and gave Seth a pleading look. “I’m sorry Seth,” I groaned and then flinched when he jerked his arms to the right.

He didn’t strike though, instead he continued to circle with me. “He doesn’t belong in your bedroom, Stella,” Seth growled, the muscles in his jaw ticking angrily. “He doesn’t belong anywhere near you. I am your intended.”

It took a moment for me to swallow back the rush of feminism that blinded my vision in red. Was he kidding?

“Seth, that may be true, but Tristan has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. He practically grew up in my room. That was not his first sleep over and it won’t be his last,” I spat, finishing just as his sword clashed with mine.

Seth let out a feral, caveman like sound and attacked me with the full force of his skill level. He came against me, swinging his sword faster than I could keep up with and I grudgingly gave up ground as he pushed me back toward the forest.

Our swords met time and time again as I struggled to keep him from completely overtaking me. But when my back hit the rough bark of a tall pine tree that lined the field I knew I was in a bad place. I tried to hold my ground and match Seth’s sword swings, but it took all of two more skillful maneuvers on his part before he completely disarmed me, my katana clattering against another tree ten feet away.

He stepped forward, but let his weapon drop to his side. He hovered over me, his golden eyes blazing and his neck glistening in sweat from the effort it took to pin me against the tree. We were both breathing so heavily that with every intake of breath his muscular, sweat soaked chest brushed mine.

I forced myself to look into his eyes, trying desperately not to be a sore loser. His jaw was still ticking and it did nothing but enhance the masculine lines of his jaw. I was no closer to catching my breath but it wasn’t because of the battle anymore.

“It will be the last time another man is in your bed,” Seth warned, tilting his head down to stare into my eyes, bringing his mouth inches from mine. “I’m trying to be understanding about your relationship with him, Stella, but I cannot and will not tolerate him in your bed.”

I wanted to snap back with something angry and full of twenty-first women’s rights liberalism, but the words died on my tongue with his warmth completely enveloping me and his eyes looking at me like I was a prize he was sworn to protect with his life.

Which was kind of true.

He stayed close to me, his body pressing against me now.

I started having thoughts that had nothing to do with Tristan or training and more to do with the perfection of Seth’s lips and what they would feel like if he wasn’t being so gentle with me.

Not that he was being gentle now…. which was kind of the point….

“Stella, you lost again?” Jupiter snarled, catching up with us in the tree cover.

Seth broke away, still breathing heavily. He gave me a sideways glance and from the heat of his eyes I wondered if he was having some of the same thoughts I was.

Which was crazy. We barely knew each other.

And I had seven years before I had to get serious with Seth.

“Again!” Jupiter called out. “And Stella if you lose this time I will call Aliah myself and specifically ask him to take you away so I don’t have to deal you anymore!”

I grunted a jumble of curse words that I was well aware were not proper Star-behavior and pushed off the tree with my elbow. I shook out my hair, pulling it back into a new ponytail and deciding I had to forget about Tristan, Seth and Aliah and figure out how to win this damn training so I could be done for the day and get back to bed.

----

I walked into the house hours later sweaty, exhausted, disheveled and with my sweatshirt ripped to shreds. It hung awkwardly off of me; since the collar was still fully intact but every other part of it donned jagged, saber shaped gashes.

Note to self: Don’t wear sweatshirts to train in.

Way too much fabric.

Especially when you have a pissed off Angel trying to teach you an annoying lesson.

I bristled again at Seth’s words. I couldn’t deny the attraction between us, and I certainly wasn’t going to ignore the role we played in each other’s lives both now and in the future. But it was still obnoxious to have to deal with it all now.

If things had gone according to plan, I wouldn’t have to worry about Tristan sleeping over or the feelings I had for him that used to feel so normal and suddenly felt forbidden and dangerous.

I sat down heavily at the kitchen table and then cursed when I realized I forgot to get a bottle of water first. I was too tired now. I would just live with being thirsty.

Seth came in a few minutes later, looking sweaty and unnervingly wild, but in that guy way that made you still want to lick him, even though he would taste like salt. Ugh.

He walked over to the refrigerator, making himself completely at home which irritated me. And then he pulled out two bottles of water before joining me at the table and sliding a bottle to me.

Which irritated me more.

I glared at the bottle, hating that I was so thirsty. Taking a drink somehow felt like a crime against women everywhere. Even though I technically couldn’t even bond myself with women across the world since I was an alien and what not…. still…. It was the principle of the matter.

“I know you’re thirsty,” Seth laughed and his voice rumbled through the room, softening my resolve. He stretched his long arm across the table to nudge the bottle further towards me, the muscles in his bare forearm tensed and pulled in the effort. I was mesmerized.

Grudgingly mesmerized.

“Don’t be a sore loser,” he teased.

“I didn’t lose,” I reminded him. “That’s why we got to quit. I won.”

“You’re right,” he relented and for a second I thought he was sincere. “It took seven hours…. but you did win.”