Page 28

Chief Styles Sawyer

Zorion

The next morning, Zorion sat at the dining room table beneath the rays of sun filtering through the bay window.

He placed a forkful of smoked salmon into his mouth and chewed slowly, but his mind was far from the taste of his breakfast.

Confusing emotions continued to stir inside him.

Valor .

Zorion continued to replay what had happened last night over and over again—calloused fingers brushing over his skin and warm breath behind his ear, whispering promises of care and protection.

He closed his eyes, recalling how the man’s heat—his body’s comfort was indescribable—cocooned him the entire night.

Valor was gorgeous, with olive-toned skin and light brown stubble the same shade as his shaggy hair.

But Zorion’s favorite was Valor’s scent, which was the perfect blend of summer rain, cedar, and dominance.

He thought maybe his mind was playing tricks on him because he didn’t know why he was also smelling the deliciousness of sweet berries.

And those damn eyes!

Sensations thrummed under his skin like a heartbeat, over and over. The longer Valor had held him, the more right it had felt. After he’d returned to his quarters, longing crept into Zorion’s spirit.

It wasn’t rational for him to miss Valor already.

A sharp knock on the door disrupted his thoughts.

“Zorion! Is everything okay? What happened to your door?” Ren’s voice carried through the door, which hung on its hinges after Valor’s dynamic entrance.

Zorion shoved his half-eaten breakfast aside with an annoyed grunt.

He tugged the evergreen hood over his head until the edge of the fabric brushed his eyelashes.

“The scanner was giving me problems and I got frustrated,” he answered before brushing past Ren, not bothering with his additional questions.

The automatic doors to the training facility hissed open and he was instantly aware that Valor was near, the ache and longing in him sharpening with anticipation.

The room was beyond huge. It had high beams, rafters and perches, structures of every kind built for climbing. The area was designed like a maze, like the perfect hunting ground.

Zorion glanced up at the observation booth and scowled at the director who stared back with cold gratification.

The scientists stood behind him, their expressions tight and brows drawn down.

Zorion wanted to race up there and destroy them all, but his senses were focused elsewhere.

A man approached, his expression indifferent and his strut overconfident. His camouflage fatigues, combat boots, and tight black T-shirt fit the challenging energy radiating from him.

He stopped just shy of Zorion’s personal space.

“I’m Cipher,” he said and extended his hand.

Zorion stared as if it had shit on it. The man smirked and dropped it back to his side.

“We’re running simulations today. No weapons, just your natural instincts. I only want you to react.”

I don’t give a fuck what you want.

Valor’s voice echoed in his mind.

Be complacent, agreeable, obedient.

Zorion exhaled and gave a curt nod.

Once Cipher and his men disappeared into another booth, the light dimmed.

A digital forest materialized around him. Predators stirred in the underbrush, and before he knew it, he was being hunted.

Zorion’s heartbeat slowed. He vaulted onto a high beam and sat still.

Every jump and dodge felt instinctive. His reflexes were sharper than swords. He glided from rafter to beam, back to rafter with shocking smoothness. His body reacted to threats before his mind did.

Traps were hurled and nets launched. Zorion evaded them all. The high beams were his domain.

The simulation seemed to adapt to his strategy as flames erupted, licking up the sides of the walls—it was a simulation, but the room heated to an unbreathable temperature—and the beams collapsed.

Still, his senses never faltered. His steps as he ran were soundless.

Zorion was moving on autopilot, and he was glad. Otherwise, he’d be freaked out by his new skills.

Without warning, the environment morphed from wilderness to an abandoned urban landscape—gutted buildings with broken windows, narrow dark alleys, and decaying vacant structures.

Drones buzzed overhead and laser tripwires crisscrossed the floor. Danger surrounded him as Zorion balanced steadily on top of a jutting ledge with steady breaths.

He leaped down to avoid a drone, using a crumbling wall as his cover. The mechanical device circled his hiding space, and Zorion heard it a second before it found him.

He twisted in midair, skimming the laser, and hoisted himself up onto a beam disguised as a rooftop. If he’d had a bat, it would’ve been easy to simply knock the damn thing out of the sky.

Next, a vertical wall emerged through an opening in the floor, slick with water pouring from the sprinklers. There were no ropes, footholds, or levers on the ten-foot wall.

Zorion ran across the floor at what he thought was his top speed because his feet barely touched the ground. He leaped and kicked against the wall to give himself the small boost he needed and latched onto the ledge with his fingertips.

The lights returned as he dangled and then silence filled the vast space.

Zorion let go and dropped to his feet.

Cipher and his men walked toward him with satisfied grins stretching their ugly faces.

Zorion was about to tell them all what they could do with their simulation—then he saw him trailing a few feet behind.

Valor .

Instant calm filled Zorion.

He watched with bated breath as the man he’d met last night emerged from the shadows cloaked in head-to-toe emerald.

He strolled across the room as if he owned the place.

The deep-green hood was so low he couldn’t see Valor’s bright-hazel eyes, but he could feel their gleam.

Zorion wondered if Valor knew how dangerously beautiful he was.

With only three-quarters of Valor’s face visible, Zorion focused on the sculpted features he could still see.

Every part of him hollered to close the distance, to touch, to feel his aura of security again, but he held still.

When he was close enough, he could almost hear Valor’s thoughts— Are you okay?

Cipher gestured for Valor to come closer.

“This is Zorion. He is the other half of your two-man team.” Cipher was inching backward. “The director insisted it was time you two meet, yeah?”

Cipher paused and watched the two of them.

As if unable to resist, he and Valor inched closer.

Cipher and his cowardly men continued to give them room as the guards hovered, their hands over their holstered tasers.

Zorion guessed it was a precaution just in case he and Valor started to fight each other.

“Uh, are you guys good?”

Neither he nor Valor answered Cipher. They stood in each other’s orbit and drowned everything and everyone else out.

No one else knew they weren’t making a first-time introduction.

Valor closed in until their chests were pressed together. Zorion leaned his head to the side, keeping his breaths even. He heard one of the guys whisper.

“Shit, what’s happening?”

I don’t know,” another answered in what he probably thought was a secretive tone. “Maybe it’s the animal parts making them act this way.”

“I think you’re right,” Cipher said.

“Sure, let them think that,” Valor said so low against the rim of Zorion’s ear it was impossible for anyone else to hear.

“Uh, maybe you should shake each other’s hands or something,” Cipher suggested.

“Allow them to observe each other,” Dr. O’Reilley said over the intercom. “This is a natural effect of the transformation.”

There were gasps and hums of astonishment from several yards away as Valor nuzzled Zorion’s throat.

“I want them to think we are more animal than man,” Valor said.

Zorion gave a subtle nod.

“You are strong and spectacular.” Valor’s lips gently caressed the sensitive skin behind his ear. “I can sense your anger, but I need you to stay calm. We will get out of here, I swear it.”

“Holy shit.” Cipher chuckled, then clicked a button on what sounded like a two-way radio. “Director, give me a couple of weeks with them, then we go to phase three.”

Zorion tensed.

Valor pressed into him harder.

“Easy. I won’t let them take this from us.”

“Swear it,” Zorion stressed.

“I swear that no one will ever be able to take what is mine .”

They weren’t acting…this was real.

“I won’t be caged and only let out when they want me to kill for them,” Zorion bit out.

Valor’s rumble was so powerful Zorion felt it in his own chest.

“Hawks are predators that can’t be tamed,” Valor growled. “Do not fear these simple men.”