Basil (The Brinnswick Chronicles #3) - Michele Notaro Page 0,22

thoughts of an angry hunter out of my mind— it didn’t work.

Hitting the ground with a huge “Oomph” coming out of me wasn’t exactly pleasant.

Thayer’s laughter at my pain made me flip him off, but that only set him off more.

For some reason, Grim’s face flashed in my mind’s eye, but I pushed it away. Now was not the time to worry about that asshat of a hunter. I needed to concentrate, so I pushed away thoughts of his gorgeous face and those damn dimples I wanted to see again. Dammit!

Stifling a sigh, I rolled to my side and sat up. Grayson—Nikolai and Delaro’s other viramore—held his hand out to me and helped me to my feet, saying, “I’m sorry. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, Gray,” I said, brushing myself off. He grimaced, so I waved him off. “Go beat up on Jorah or something.”

His lips twitched into a small smile before he nodded and moved down the line.

We were training, which meant that we not only trained our magical abilities, we did hand to hand combat as well. It was good to have, at the very least, defensive capabilities in case we’re ever in a situation that requires more finesse than our overbearing magic allows or on the off chance that we can’t use our magic. Which was highly unlikely, but you never knew. Especially with that witch serial killer still on the loose.

Toby—Thayer’s viramore—came over to stand in front of me, making me groan as I said, “Now I have to fight you?”

He chuckled. “Yep.”

I grunted. Grayson was an ex-Warrior of Tempest, so he was a motherfucking badass that could take down just about any opponent. But Toby was a damn hundred and twenty-something-year-old vampire that had been training and fighting since he was a teenager. Vampires were hella fast and strong, and Toby was hella talented. To say we were being trained by two of the best warriors in Brinnswick was probably an understatement.

Which was really great. Except that it meant I got the shit kicked out of me every damn time we trained. Which was a lot.

Toby grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll take it easy on you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Uh huh, sure.” The thing was, I knew he actually would, and I’d still end up flat on my back or with my face in the dirt.

“No magic,” he said.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know the rules.”

“And yet, you still like to break them all the time,” Nik said from the sidelines of the training area we’d set up on coven land a few years back.

I flipped him off, too. Asshat.

Nik laughed and said, “Go.”

Toby swung a punch at me that I blocked with my forearm—luckily my bracer caught most of the impact because even with him holding back, he was hella strong. He swung his other hand toward me, so I deflected that punch, and the next one before using his momentum against him. Ducking, I side-stepped him and elbowed him in the ribs, but Toby was on me again immediately. He attacked, and I went on the defensive until he somehow flipped me around with one arm around my chest, keeping my arms still, and the other on my throat, gripping my jaw, proving he could legit break my neck if he wanted. Ugh.

“Dead,” Toby said before releasing me.

I sighed and brushed myself off before waving him away. “Yeah, you win, vamp. Obviously.”

He rolled his eyes at me, but offered a small smile. It was kinda amazing how comfortable he was with us all now compared to a few years ago when we’d first met him. He used to be so shy, and I guess he still was around new people, but here with his family, he seemed to be thriving.

Thayer walked over, put his hand on Toby’s back, and leaned up to press a kiss to his cheek. Toby’s answering smile was so bright and full of love, I had to look away because something in my gut twisted, and for unknown reasons Grim’s face flashed in my head again. But I tamped that shit down immediately and thought about the twisting sensation instead. I was honest enough to realize it was a burning jealousy that seemed to be happening more and more around my family. Everywhere I looked, there were happy couples—or throuples—and while I was beyond happy for each and every one of them, I was also a little sad for myself.

Which made me feel like shit because I should be celebrating their happiness,