Page 27 of Crossing Between

I watched as Quilith opened a portal to Zoey's home to let her grab new clothes and communicate with her brother where she was. After they left, I looked over at my partner and roommate. He was actively avoiding my gaze. I couldn't have that.

"So," I snapped my fingers together. "You like me." I grinned widely as he cursed under his breath. "You llliiiikkkkeee me."

"Oni," Varon appeared behind me, and he thumped his knuckles on the back of my head. "Stop it. We need to talk about Zoey and the situation before they get back. After, you can tease Elias all you want."

"Hey! Don't give him permission to do that." Elias swung his head around to glare at both of us.

"If it gets you two to finally talk about your feelings, he can tease you as much as he wants." Varon rolled his eyes as he beckoned us to follow him.

"That's a lot coming from you." I jumped to my feet, pulled Elias to his, and dragged him behind me as we followed the vampire. "Should I remind you about last night?"

My purr made our boss pause. He looked over his shoulder at me and his eyes had turned black, his monster in the forefront. "Kenji, I'm going to say this only once. Don't bring that up again until I do. Understand?" With that, he began walking forward again.

I snorted softly. The ancient idiot loved last night but was too hard-headed to say it. I couldn't wait to get my lips around his cock again. He tasted elegant, like aged whiskey, and I wanted more.

Elias pulled his hand, and I clamped mine down on his. I was not going to let him get away from me any time soon. This was far too fun, and my monster was enjoying being around two of our three mates.

"Kenji, let go of my hand." Elias tried to stop us, but I just kept walking. He had to follow or risk falling face forward.

"Nope. I like holding your hand." I wish I could see his face, but if I looked at him, he'd probably get angry again at how wide I was smiling. "You'll just have to deal with it."

"Dear gods, you're so arrogant." Elias' grumble was music to my ears because he stopped trying to get away from me as we followed Varon down to the basement.

Neither of us had been to this part of his house. Nothing usually surprises me much over the last century, but the last few weeks I've had many instances. The basement was another one.

Our sparring room was workable and convenient to have close versus having to go into the gym every day. Varon's basement put our room to shame. This was almost a replica of our training building at work, even with the magic and gun range.

I whistled, impressed. Elias grumbled again as he looked around.

"Varon, did you just make a copy of work’s gym?" Elias finally managed to jerk his hand away from mine because I was distracted by the swords on the far wall.

Varon walked over to the training pad in the middle of the basement and turned to look at us. "Work’s gym was copied from my basement." He pulled off his shirt, and my mouth went dry at the pale white skin.

Damn. He was like a mystery lollipop. My fangs grew along with my body as I transformed into my regular form. Just remembering his taste last night and seeing him like this made me want to jump him that second.

"Start stretching and stop staring, idiots." Varon gestured for us. "We need to speak about how we should start on Zoey's training and what she'll need exactly."

I flashed a grin at Elias and stripped down to my shorts before I joined Varon on the mat. Elias followed quickly, leaving his clothes on. What a party pooper.

"I think we start like this." Elias folded his arms together over his chest. "Basic workout, as we have her show us her magic. Once we have a better take on her magic, we can move on to showing her how to wield it, which we'll need Quilith for."

Varon was stretching his legs on the ground, his back bowed as his hands reached his feet. "Quilith will be her mentor more than us, but we can at least assist in that responsibility."

I pulled my right arm over my head toward my back by my elbow. "Are we going to talk about how all of us are interested in her and each other now?" I laughed softly as both of them groaned at the same time.

"You're like a dog with a bone. You won't give it up." Elias smacked me on the back.

"I mean, I'll give it up to any of you three any time you ask." I fluttered my eyes at him as he sputtered, and Varon just shook his head.

"Would you just start sparring, you idiot?" Elias threw a punch at me as I was bent forward in a stretch.

I evaded with a swift sidestep, my movements practiced and fluid. Elias followed up with a series of powerful kicks, each one aimed with precision, but my reflexes were impeccable as I ducked and weaved through Elias' onslaught. He had a bit of anger stored up that he was releasing.

The tempo of the sparring session quickened, as Varon observed from the side of the mat. Elias unleashed a flurry of punches with multiple tentacles, but I parried and countered with a spinning kick that sent Elias staggering backward.

Just as our session was heating up, Quilith's portal appeared in the room a few feet away. Elias pulled back as I did, and I wiped my forearm across my brow. I'd just started to get a nice sweat going.

Zoey stepped through the portal in a new change of clothes, which made me grin.

She was a dazzling burst of color. Every stitch of clothing she wore was bright neon colors.

I suspected it was her way of providing a mental shield against the world.

I couldn't wait to break that shield down and get inside her head.

Not to mention tasting her delicious body.

She smiled as she saw us, and the room became brighter still. I sighed. I was such a cliche.

"You guys started right away." She pulled her hair up in a bun as she walked toward us next to Quilith. "I was hoping for some breakfast before you decided to start whipping me into shape."

"Here, my darling." Quilith tossed her a protein shake that they had in a pack they'd had on their back.

"You're going to want a little on your stomach but not much once we get started.

" They stopped in front of us. "I'm going to teach you how to unlock your full power.

Not just the power you've been training.

" They gestured at Varon, Elias, and me.

"They're going to be here to help mold your control. "

"Let's get started." Zoey threw the empty bottle over her shoulder.

Man, she just made me want to jump her and hump her right there like a heathen.