Page 17

Chapter seventeen

Raegan

The mandatory Guild training begins in the fitness center on the first floor of the Tower.

There’s a full-sized gymnasium with a temporary wall splitting a third of it, followed by showers and locker rooms on one side and a fully-equipped weight room on the other.

And a snack and shake bar.

Can’t forget that.

Jackson’s sitting on the edge of the desk Aiden had brought in, one leg folded up on his knee and leaning into his fist as Aiden talks to him.

Behind the desk are rolling corkboards with schedules and lists pinned to them.

Since we arrived early, I’m first in line to start scanning the lists to find my name and scheduled time in each session.

There’s offensive gift training, defensive gift training, weight training, self-defense training, and physical combat training.

Each person is signed up for three sessions based on their skills or desire to be an active fighter or a background supporter.

But this initial gift training is apparently for everyone.

My finger stops on Kell’s name.

I glance over my shoulder at him.

“ I thought you were a trainer.”

He scratches his beard and shrugs.

“I still need to work on my gift. I’m just the combat and self-defense trainer. Jack’s the offensive gift trainer. Dane and Aiden are splitting the weight training. Cibrina is leading the defensive gift session.”

Dane scowls at the list. “What the fuck? Why am I in the defensive gift group?”

Kellan cackles and leans forward to look at the list for the first time as Dane storms over to the desk, yanking out drawers and grabbing something before coming back.

“He’s not wrong. Your gift isn’t really an offensive—”

“—it is when I shoot them after muting their gift,” Dane snaps, scribbling his name off the defensive list. He adds his name to the offensive group and Kellan snickers behind him.

“What are you doing?”

Dane jumps at Aiden’s voice, who had followed him after he’d stolen the pen.

He turns around, crossing his arms and widening his stance, his lips turned down in annoyance.

“I’m putting my name where it belongs.”

“Are you saying you disagree with where Cibrina and I put you?”

“I’m saying I’m not staying behind while you guys go and fight GE, so why the fuck wouldn’t I learn everything I can to be useful in the field?”

Aiden frowns.

“Learning to use your gift defensively isn’t useless…”

I tune out when I catch Jackson beckoning me to him with two curved fingers, slipping around the others to get to him.

He drops his leg and tugs me between his thighs.

Sliding my hands up his collarbone to his neck, I smile at him.

“Are you nervous?”

He tilts his head, a smirk curling his lips.

“Nervous?”

I hum softly.

“To talk to so many people.” All the Guild members chose to stay and fight.

None of them ran away to hide like they could have.

And then there’s the Pits fighters who are joining in as well.

Jackson’s smirk intensifies.

“No.”

Well. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen Jack nervous before.

I trail my hands up to his hood.

“You should take this down, you know. So they can see you.”

He takes my hands and holds them between us.

“They just need to hear me.” He presses his lips to my hands, his deep blue eyes catching mine under dark lashes and spiking my heart rate.

I nod slowly, at a loss for anything else to say when he’s looking at me like this.

An arm falls over my shoulders and pops the bubble I’d been in with Jack, the background noise of so many people chatting in the gym now a dull and constant echo.

“Flirting with the teacher to get better marks, beautiful?” Kellan’s wild grin claims half his face as he leans in between us.

“Don’t leave me hanging this time, yeah? Just tell me where we’re sneaking off to. The locker room? The showers? I can’t fit under the desk, but maybe if we got a table and tablecloth—”

I smack his chest just as Aiden walks over.

“Problem?” he asks, his gaze flicking between the three of us .

I do my best to smile sweetly at him.

“No.” Either I fail, or maybe my smiling like that to him is a red flag on its own because his eyes narrow.

“We’re just excited for the lesson. Come on, Kell. Let’s grab Dane and make sure we find a good spot.” Grabbing his hand, I drag him away to seek out Dane, then plant us front and center so we don’t miss a thing.

If it were anyone else teaching something, I’d be content somewhere off to the side.

But if Jackson is teaching a lesson, you can be damn sure he’ll have my full attention.

It's only another few minutes before the doors close to the gym, signaling that everyone is here. Aiden raises his hands to gather the crowd’s attention, and within seconds, it’s quiet. “Thank you everyone for being here. I know these sessions seem like a lot, but I promise they’ll only take up the first few hours of your day, starting at six in the morning. You’ll still be able to work and continue as you were after that. Today, Jackson is going to give a brief lecture on gifts before we break into different groups. Please give him your undivided attention.”

He steps back and to the side, giving the proverbial floor to Jack.

Jackson uses his gift to lift himself to stand on the desk. His gaze sweeps over the people in the room, taking them in for a second with a small smile. He pulls a few throwing knives free and tosses them up. Aiden’s face tightens, and I can feel Kellan and Dane tense on either side of me. What had he said about his training with Thorne? The wind master had tried to kill him as his training?

The knives flip and twirl in the air above his palm. It’s like the room’s holding its breath, waiting to see what he’s going to do next.

“If I’ve learned anything about gifts in general, it’s that there’s probably more to it than you think,” he muses, his voice carrying and echoing through the room even though he’s speaking as he normally does.

Murmuring ripples through a small group to the side. I’d bet they’re Pits fighters. Guild members wouldn’t interrupt him.

Jackson smiles and directs his attention to them. “Mm…how did you know you have a gift?” he prompts the group as if he’d heard what they said. “Did something happen one day? And did you practice that one skill, accepting it as the end-all, be-all, of your gift?” He waits a beat before he continues, “Or did you try different things? Did you test your limits so you know exactly what you can do and how much? And then find ways to break past them?”

Kellan shifts at my side, his face drawn and serious for a change as he watches and listens.

“No one can tell you what your gift is. It’s up to you to figure that out.” Jackson flips his hand down, and the knives burrow into the desk at his feet. He waves his hand, and a strong breeze whips around us and then dies out.

“How are we supposed to break past its limit?” someone calls out.

“Mine only works for so long,” another person adds.

Jackson nods, stuffing his hands back into his kangaroo pocket. “Keep your gift active every day. Get creative. Stop overthinking steps and feel it. But first”—he bends and tugs a knife from the desk, flipping it between the fingers of one hand— “you need to work on your physical stamina.” He points the tip of the blade at the crowd. “Gifts don’t run out. Your body does. Your body will shut your gift down to protect itself and give it time to recover. Exercise your body, your gift, and use it regularly and without thought—like breathing—and you’ll be able to do more.”

His eyes fall on me, and my breathing thins.

“Raegan.”

Ah, crap. Please don’t call me to the front of the room. It’s school all over again.

Jack’s lips quirk at the corners. He hops off the desk and motions me forward.

Frowning, I walk the few steps to him before he can use his gift to get me there anyway.

He holds the knife out to me. “Destroy it.”

I call my gift to the surface, sending it to my right hand in seconds with only the mild burn it induces now. Before I can reach for the knife, Jackson tosses it to his other hand.

“Too slow,” he remarks coolly.

I grab for it, stretching my arm and taking a step, but he steps with me. I shift my gift to my other hand that’s in reach, snatching at it, but he’s already thrown it back to his other hand.

“You wasted time accessing your gift.” Jackson tucks the knife away in his hoodie. He stalks slowly around me. “And moving it.”

“It was seconds—”

“—seconds too long.” He’s at my back now, his heated breath fanning over my neck.

“Jack,” I whisper, a flush creeping along my skin at his proximity. “There’s a room full of people.”

He chuckles, his nose brushing the back of my ear. Goosebumps cascade down my neck, a shiver of pleasure rippling through me. “ You think I care about them, little one?” he murmurs huskily, thankfully quiet enough to keep it between us. “This lesson is all for you. They’re only here to witness it.”

His lips are twisted to a smirk when he moves back into my view. “Activate your gift,” he instructs, his voice carried once again through the room. “Your whole body this time.” He snags another knife from the desk while I do what he says, drawing my gift through every limb, every inch of me. Jackson lifts the knife between us in an unspoken command.

I reach for it. He moves it again, as expected, but my other hand is out and swiping it, turning it to dust the second I connect with it.

Jackson smiles. “When you’re in a fight, your gift should already be active. If you have to stop and think about your gift”—he snaps his fingers— “dead. Practice with your gift constantly until it’s second nature to use it, even when not in a fight. And then, when you know exactly what your gift can do, attacks will come naturally and on instinct—not planning.”

His words hit me as I remember all the times I’ve seen Jackson using his gift. It’s constant. Even when he’s relaxing, he’s using it to float paper creatures. To jump somewhere high. To listen to something far away. And it’ll be more than one thing at a time.

“You make it sound so easy,” a voice complains, and Jack shrugs.

“It is. With practice. Stamina first.” He flips a finger up to start a count. “Gift active at all times, second.” Another finger. “Test your limits. Know what it can do and how until it’s second nature.” One more finger. “Pass those limits.” His fourth finger raises.

He turns back to me. “Last lesson.” Jack holds up his hand. “ Touch me.” I start reeling my gift in from one hand, and he shakes his head. “With your gift.”

Fear grips my chest. “What? No. Jack—”

Even Aiden steps forward, ready to jump in, but Jackson cuts him a look over his shoulder to stop him, then brings his gaze back to me. His eyes are locked on mine, a small, relaxed smile perched on his lips as he keeps his hand raised and waiting for mine.

“You won’t hurt me.”

I want to believe him. I do believe in him. But the risk…I can’t lose him if he’s wrong.

I hold my hand to my chest, shaking my head slowly. “…don’t ask me to do that, Jack,” I whisper. “If I fuck this up…”

Jackson doesn’t move. His gaze is so intense, so confident that I’ll do what he asked.

Fuck.

I stare at his hand.

At him.

I don’t know if I can bring myself to do it.

“You’re the master of your gift, little one. It’s yours. Not the other way around. Don’t treat it as separate from yourself.”

Isn’t it? Doesn’t it do what it wants sometimes? Spreading too far. Killing people when I didn’t mean to…

He cocks his head the slightest amount. “Are you naked right now?”

The strangeness of the question startles me out of my thoughts. I blink at him, confused. “No…” I reply slowly with the obvious answer .

“Is the floor crumbling to pieces beneath your feet?”

I look down, trying to figure out where he’s going with this, and see the reddish glow on my pants. On my boots.

My clothes. Shoes. The floor that I’m standing on. All of it is connected to my gift right now.

His smile is still there when I look back to him with that realization.

“Sometimes, the difference is simply intent. Your will, whether you’re aware of it or not.” Jackson turns his palm up, reminding me of my original instruction.

I look at my hand, at the reddish glow from my gift like a light beneath my skin spread to my fingertips.

I take a deep breath, though it does little to settle the fine tremble that’s taken over me.

And I place my hand on his.

The room is silent around us. No one breathes the moment we touch.

Jackson’s fingers wrap around the back of my hand, and he tugs me forward. His mouth crashes into mine, his other hand gripping the back of my head as panic screams through me, and I rush to gather and shove my gift away. His hand may be okay, but I am not ready to jump headfirst into testing everything at once.

His tongue pierces past my lips and buries deep as his other hand finds the small of my back and pulls me in tight. I sink into the kiss. Into him. My body buzzes with adrenaline, tingling and hot. Desire mixes with it in a fiery combination, pooling between my thighs as I press myself into Jackson as much as I can, my hands clawing at the back of his hoodie when it isn’t enough.

Hands tug me back at the same time as Jackson’s pulled away. I gasp at the loss, almost reaching for him when oxygen floods back into my lungs, and I remember where we are. Jack licks his lips; his blue eyes still pinned on me even though Dane and Aiden have grasped each of his arms. Kellan’s at my back, his body blocking mine from the rest of the room.

I stay there for a moment to catch my breath, panting like I’d forgotten to breathe in that kiss; it was so intense.

I touched him with my gift. And I didn’t kill him. My gaze drops to his hand. I didn’t hurt him. There’s nothing there.

Relief swells in my chest like a balloon…until it hits me.

If it acts on my innermost wishes…

If it doesn’t hurt what I don’t want it to…

Pain implodes in my chest, then squeezes my lungs in a chokehold.

Then I really did kill Vera.

Her death wasn’t an accident.

My knees give out.

“Woah!” Kellan catches me before I hit the floor, instantly looping an arm beneath my legs to carry me. “You alright, beautiful? Was it the training? I’ll be damned if you tell me his kiss made you weak in the knees.”

“I’m alright,” I gasp, even though it feels like I’ve lost all my strength at once. “I just need a minute.” My eyes instinctually seek out Aiden, who nods.

“Take her to the snack bar,” he tells Kellan, then moves around us to address the room .

I don’t hear anything he’s saying as Kell brings me to the other side of the massive room, putting plenty of distance between me and the others. We walk through the door to the smaller room. The outer wall is lined with windows in a curve that exposes the sidewalk just outside. There are small square tables and chairs in the middle of the room and then a bar with stools on the interior wall. It feels like an old diner that sells ice cream shakes.

Someone walks by the window, and I freeze in Kellan’s arms. “Can they see us?”

He sets me down in a chair. “No. It’s tinted glass. We can see out, but no one can see in.”

One of the other chairs squeals as it’s pulled back across from me. Dane plops into it, then leans his forearms halfway across the table. “Are you okay?” He reaches for my hand.

I hesitate, and his expression falls.

Drawing a slow breath, I take his hand. I notice Jackson sitting up on the bar, one foot up on it, as he leans into his knee and watches us. Watches me. Kellan’s sitting on the next table over, arms crossed.

I try to block them out and focus on Dane. “Sorry. It’s just…” His amber eyes are so open, so warm while they look at me. My heart aches, and I pull my gaze from his. Maybe that makes me a coward, but I don’t think I’ll be able to say it while looking him in the eye. “If what Jack said is true about my gift, then…when I… killed Vera…”

Dane squeezes my hand. “Stop.”

He stands and shifts next to me, his hand never letting go of mine. Dane kneels and cups my face with his other hand, drawing me to look at him. “I’m done wallowing in the past. You keep saving my life over and over again. You owe me nothing . You got that?” He waits for my small nod before he continues, “It doesn’t matter. None of that matters anymore. I’m not thinking about it, and you shouldn’t either. We’re focusing on the future now.”

I breathe in shakily, and when I release it, it’s like a weight falls from my chest, expelling with the used air.

If he’s moving forward, then so am I.

Dane smiles, rising and pulling me up with him in his arms. I breathe in his warm, citrusy scent, soaking him in as my heart calms to its normal pace.

Once I know I’m okay, I pull back and find Aiden has joined us in the room. “The others?” I ask him.

“A group started in the weight room. Cibrina took another group, and Evie and Silas are working with the last group for now,” he replies smoothly, with no sense of urgency or rush to get us back out there.

“Should we—” Movement through the windows catches in my periphery, and I turn toward it. A dark shape drops on the concrete. I run to the window, then gasp when I recognize who it is.