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“On one condition,” I stipulate.
“Okay?”
“We have to tell your dad.” I raise my hand. “Not to get his permission. This is your choice, and I’ll do whatever you needto feel safe. However, this is his base, and we’ll need to use the facilities. I feel better teaching you here in an environment I’m familiar with.”
She puts her hand out. “Deal.”
I slide my hand over hers, and electricity shoots up my arm. Her mouth drops open, and she pulls away quickly.
“When do you want to start?” I ask.
Aurora recovers from her shock. “As soon as we can.”
“Is your dad home?”
“He’s in his office.”
I collect our trash and toss it in the receptacle. “Let’s go talk to him.”
She pats her leg for Lykos to follow. The general’s door is open when we approach his office. “Dad,” she calls. “Can we talk to you?”
General Parks looks up from his computer. “Absolutely. Come in.”
It’s déjà vu all over again. I drop into the leather armchair with Aurora next to me. “I need to request to use some of the facilities on the base, Sir.”
General Parks sits back in his chair studying my face. “You don’t need my permission to use anything on the base, Rivers. You know that.”
“Not for me, General.” I gesture to Aurora. “For her.”
The general swings his gaze to his daughter. “What parts of the base would Aurora need access to?”
“Before he answers you,” she inserts. “I asked Jaxson to teach me to fight.”
Red slowly creeps up the side of his neck. “Fight?”
“Yes, fight.” She stands and walks over to him. “I need to be able to defend myself, Dad. You taught me a lot growing up, but everything you showed me was useless againstthem.Please Daddy, I need this.”
The general stands and pulls her into his embrace. “If this is what you need, then you can have it.” His eyes shift to mine. “Rivers, whatever you need access to, you let me know, and you’ll have it.”
“If you can get me the schedules of when the gun range, obstacle course, and gym will be in use, I’d appreciate it,” I rattle off. “I’ll also make sure we go during times that no one is around so we don’t draw attention to ourselves.”
“I’ll have that emailed to you by the end of the day.”
I hate to leave, but I need to get started on a game plan. Might be better if I inform the rest of my team what’s going on. As much as I would like to have Aurora all to myself, we’ve all perfected skills over the years, and she would benefit from learning from each of us.
I push out of my seat. “Aurora, are you okay with the rest of my team joining us? I think they’ll be able to help us out.”
“Um… sure,” she says hesitantly.
“If you ever get uncomfortable, we can kick them out. We’ll do this at your pace.”
She juts out her chin and narrows her brows in determination. “I’ll be fine.”
“Can I have your phone?”
She pulls it out of her pocket, unlocks it, and hands it to me. I type in my phone number and text myself before handing it back to her. “Now you have my number, and I have yours. I also put in Yazzie’s number.”
Her brows raise in question. “Yazzie?”