the way her wings lit up the determination on her face and it almost made him smile when she punched one of the Apysns in the jaw and sent him flying.
Solan let his spark out again, aiming for the Apsyn still on his feet. That strange flicker happened a second time, but at least the enemy stumbled back. Lena’s wings exploded out of her back in a burst of color and she shot her spark, giving herself time to get away from the soldiers. Solan’s mind was already working on the next step. They needed to put these soldiers down and assess the situation, find out if there were more, determine a safe area to regroup and call in back up.
Lena was almost to him when she tripped. No, something tripped her. She’d been moving too smoothly to get caught up in her own feet.
He needed to get to her, to get her out of this mess and to safety.
But she was already gritting her teeth and crawling towards him. “Don’t worry about me, stop them! Give me cover.”
He did, shooting his spark in an unrelenting blast of power, making it impossible for the Apsyns to advance. It took a lot to kill a person with a spark, but Solan could do it. And he would to keep his Match safe.
It took an interminable minute for Lena to crawl to him, but when she made it, he breathed a sigh of relief. She looked back over her shoulder before staring behind him towards their bedroom.
“We need to report this.” The Apsyns were quiet for the moment. He didn’t know if they were knocked out or worse, but they’d have to deal with them before they caused more trouble.
Lena had another idea. “Get to our room.”
What good would that do them? They’d have a way to escape since there was a window, but there was no defensive advantage to their room. But Lena looked determined and something told him to follow her lead in this.
They retreated into the room and the door slammed behind them. Lena stared at it, no, above it, for a moment, until a light he hadn’t noticed before flashed green and remained lit.
Lena sagged against the door in relief. “We’re safe for now.”
“What? We need to report an Apsyn incursion.” There was nothing safe about it. But this whole situation still seemed too weird to comprehend.
“It wasn’t Apsyns, it was the house.” Lena was breathing heavily and speaking nonsense.
“What?” He’d seen the Apsyns with his own eyes, he’d felt the crackle of their spark in the air. They’d had Lena in their clutches. And yet they’d also flickered in and out of existence... like a hologram. A very sophisticated hologram.
Solan sank down onto his bed as Lena explained. There was no one coming to train them; the house itself was their trainer, offering challenges, making them stronger, driving them insane with anxiety every minute they weren’t under attack.
He didn’t know whether to be upset or impressed.
He could do both.
Lena pushed away from the door and sat on her own bed with a wince. Her hand came up to rub her shoulder.
“Are you alright?” He was somewhat worried about the fact that the house could injure them, but neither of them were bleeding right now. At least, he didn’t think they were.
“Strained a muscle, I’ll be fine.” She rubbed at her shoulder even harder, but it looked awkward.
“Let me help.” He didn’t wait for permission, instead grabbing the medkit on the wall and finding a mild healing cream that was perfect for soothing upset muscles. “Take off your jacket.”
She sat very still for a long minute before shrugging out of her jacket and then pulling off her top to give him better access to her shoulder. She looked away, body tense.
This was a bad idea.
The light from the window gave the room a golden glow that made Lena shine. And her skin was warm and soft where his blunt fingers pressed against it. He rubbed the cream in and tried not to pay attention when she shivered under his touch.
His cock was paying attention.
He hated the way his lungs heaved, but Lena’s breathing was heavy too. Solan shifted to get a better grip on her, his knee brushing against her leg. Lena turned her head to face him and he was caught in the deep brown of her eyes.
He couldn’t look away. Not if a hundred Apsyns attacked at that moment.
His fingers trailed up her neck until they