Shielded

Watching Ray pretend that she cared about mani-pedis and school dances was fucking hilarious. I kept waiting for her to snap at Maddison and put the ridiculous human in her place, but it never happened. She just sat there and patiently tried to follow the constant stream of nonsense that was coming out of Maddison’s mouth. Valkyries have our own communication system that includes an encrypted news app that allows us to keep up to date with what the various royal lines are doing throughout the world. My entire life I have watched Kings and Queens through different political dealings and scandals. My overall feelings towards our females have never been high and even those opinions dropped after my fling with Regina. But Ray was different. She didn’t act like the entire world was here to service her every whim. For fucks sake, she was bending over backward to be patient with a silly human girl. Maybe if Ray aligned herself with the right royal family, she could actually do some good in our world.

--Connor

Maybe I wasn’t cut out for my birthright, because being the center of attention was nerve-wracking and I kinda hated it. As I sat down at the new table at the open seat between Jack and Blake, I cloaked myself further. I looked around at the dozen people that were gathered around the table and felt my stomach sink. Was this really the life that I was destined for? Fake platitudes and being mobbed by people I barely even knew.

I was so distracted by all the people that it took me a while to remember that I forgot to go get a school lunch. I was about to get up and stand in line when a brown paper bag materialized in front of me. I looked up to see Max sitting directly across from me.

“Elijah packed you a lunch,” Max explained and then started pulling food out of an identical brown paper bag. Actually, the twins had matching brown bag lunches too. The simple idea that I had been included in such a ritual as packed lunches made my heart sing. Maybe I could suffer through popularity if I got to have actual friends. I looked in the lunch bag to find a feta and chicken salad with a little bottle of greek dressing. There was also a bag of chips, a yogurt, and an apple. If Elijah kept this up, my diet was going to get a whole hell of a lot healthier.

I decided that I had earned a break after not snapping at Maddison, so I cloaked myself a little more and settled in to enjoy my lunch in peace. The people-watching was very entertaining as the students around us started to focus on the Three Musketeers. I silently took note of how each of them handled the extra attention. Connor just ignored everyone until he wanted something from someone. Then he would use his allure like a finely tuned weapon. Blake soaked up the attention and seemed to enjoy being the center of attention. With his easy-going attitude, everyone around him just smiled and laughed along with him. Max fit somewhere in between the twins. He didn’t necessarily encourage the people around him as Blake did, but he also didn’t fully ignore people either.

What really surprised me was how much people were talking to and engaging with Jack. When I first saw Jack at the beginning of the year, he was the underfed, dirty, street kid that the jocks stuffed into the lockers. The first time I ever even talked to Jack was after I had stopped a bunch of kids from the hockey team that were gathered around him in a circle and pushing him from kid to kid. But today, some of the most popular kids in school were asking him about his part-time job in the scrap yard and his auto shop project. The best part was that Jack looked to be enjoying all of the extra attention. Unlike me, he wasn’t awkward or self-conscious. His amazing personality was shining through and people were finally taking notice.

The rest of the day passed in a daze and I kept myself cloaked while thinking through the implication of having such a strong allure. I wasn’t positive I could adapt as well as Jack was. Maybe I wasn’t meant for the spotlight. Maybe that was why I was given my Cloaking Gift. Because I was destined to stay in the shadows. No matter what Chasity said, not every teenage girl craved the attention and adoration of her peers. I found the whole thing uncomfortable. I just wanted to survive the next four months, age out of the system, get into a college, and find some way to support myself as I got an education. Then I wanted to figure out some way to quietly help people and make a living. I was a simple girl that wanted simple things out of life.

By the end of the day, I was mentally fatigued and Max was just plain exhausted. He actually fell asleep on the top of his notebook while the chemistry teacher was lecturing about balancing ionic bond equations. I made sure to take extra detailed and neat notes because I knew that he would want to copy them later on. At least he didn’t start snoring like Connor mentioned I had done when I took a nap in class.

Max startled awake when the bell rang and I gave him grief about the small amount of drool that had collected on his notebook. His neck turned red and he looked mortified. I got the impression that he wasn’t one to sleep through many classes. After teasing him a little bit more, I handed over my notes and he thanked me as if I had agreed to give him half of my liver. Together we stopped by our lockers and then walked out to the parking lot where we met up with the twins by Blake’s ridiculous truck. None of them seemed surprised that I was hitching a ride to their house, so I assumed that Elijah had told them I was invited to dinner.

I remembered that Connor was a hotshot swim champion and asked about practice. He told me that they only met up to practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays because Skyline had to share the community pool with three other school teams. He had gone to practice yesterday when I hadn’t come back from the police station.

“Why are you guys at Skyline?” I asked but when none of them answered I elaborated. “I mean it is clear that you guys have money and influence. Skyline is one of the worst schools in the district. I would have figured you guys would have pulled some strings to get into a better school.” I wasn’t even sure that their house was within the correct county for them to be going to Skyline.

“Oh that,” Blake answered. “Skyline may not be the best school but it does have one of the largest student populations. Also, there is a large wolf shifter pack in the area and all of their kids go to Skyline. Not to mention the high concentration of covens in Oakland. We are there to keep an eye on adolescent supernaturals. It was part of the deal when Elijah took over this territory.” Wow, there was still so much about being a Valkyrie and a part of a clan that I didn’t understand.

“What else do you guys help Elijah with within this territory?” I asked.

“We go on patrols, help with supernatural investigations, and fill out reports that are sent to the Collins Royal line. Once we graduate Connor and I will follow in Elijah’s and D’s footsteps and go to the police academy. Being a part of the human police force allows us to monitor what is going on in the community, and run interference if any supernatural stuff comes up. A lot of Valkyries go into law enforcement. Max here is going to medical school though. Mr. Know it all in a white coat. Can’t wait to see it,” Blake teased and Max’s neck turned slightly pink again.

Hmm, I had never really considered police work. But I had also never spent too much time thinking about a future past my eighteenth birthday. In my head, I wanted to go to college just because that was how people actually got out of this town and school was one of the only things I was good at other than fighting. But I didn’t know what I wanted to study in college as Max did. It was just an abstract idea that I was dedicated to achieving.

“Do you have to go to college to be a police officer?” I asked.

“Nope,” Blake replied and popped the p. “You can, but it isn’t required and we have the connections to make sure that our applications get accepted.”

“Did you apply to college?” Max asked from beside me.

I nodded my head before saying “a bunch of local colleges and universities. San Francisco State, East Bay, City College, Berkeley City Community College. Places like that.”

“Why all local?” Connor asked and turned in his seat so that he was facing Max and me.

“Even with a scholarship, I wouldn’t be able to afford to move far. I am hoping to work enough over the summer that I will be able to put together a security deposit for an apartment or dorm, but I can always stay in my bus if I need to.” This statement caused Connor and Max to share a meaningful look. They were clearly communicating something.

“What?” I asked, a little frustrated that I still seemed to be missing things.

The two of them continued to stare at each other for another moment before Max finally let out a deep breath and turned his shoulders to face me. Effectively cutting Connor out of the conversation. “Ray, have you put any thought into what we told you about female Valkyries? About how they are all a member of one of the royal lines.”

“You mean the whole thing where you guys think I am some long-lost princess or something? Not really,” I admitted. The idea had been so absurd that I had pushed it from my mind.

“Well, even if we never figure out who your mother is or why you were left to grow up with only your father, you are still a female Valkyrie. That means your special. It means that you can basically write your own ticket in our world,” Max said but I didn’t really understand what he was saying. Did this have something to do with Connor saying that I was going to have princes vying for my hand in marriage?

“I hope you’re not talking about me choosing some Valkyrie prince to marry so that I can be a royal,” I told Max dryly. I was seventeen years old. Way too young to even consider anything having to do with marriage.

“That is exactly what he is talking about,” Connor said directly. “Once you pick a royal line to align yourself with I am sure that they can help you get into and pay for any university in the world. With your grades and their connections, you could go anywhere. Even places like Oxford or Harvard.” He had to be kidding. The world didn’t work like that.

“Just like that?” I asked sarcastically as I snapped my fingers. “I pick some royals to hang out with and poof I can have anything my little heart could ever desire? Wake up and smell the refreshing aroma of reality, Connor. We aren’t living in some Disney movie. In the real world, there is always a price.”

“Yeah, well this isn’t the human world we are talking about,” Connor volleyed back at me. “In our world, in the Valkyrie world, females do get everything their heart desires.”

“Maybe, but it is at the cost of their personal freedom,” I snap.

“What are you talking about?” Connor demanded.

“You guys told me that female Valkyries are basically just a rare commodity that the royal lines trade amongst themselves to gain power and better their positions. It didn’t sound like the women had much choice in who they marry, where they live, or what they decide to do with their own lives. I have lived that life. Spent every hour of my childhood being told what to do and who to do it with. I may live in a broken-down bus and my only prospects may be a cheap community college, but I would take that over being controlled again any day of the week.”

The car fell silent after my little blow-up, but I didn’t regret my words. If these guys really thought I was just going to fall into line and allow their society to turn me into a tool for the Valkyrie ruling class, then they really didn’t know me. “You can’t keep living isolated from the Valkyrie,” Max said in a gentle voice. “It’s not healthy.”

“You could stay with us,” Blake blurted out as he parked the truck in their driveway. Then he turned his shoulders and leaned back against the window so that he could also look at me in the back seat. With all three of them looking at me I felt like some sort of animal at the zoo that they wanted to experiment on.

“You have got to be kidding me. You did not just ask me to move in with you,” I yelled and vaulted myself out of the stupid truck. As soon as my feet hit the pavement I started pacing up and down the paved driveway to try to dispel some of the restless energy that was suddenly surging through my system. I mean what was he thinking? Asking me to move in with him. The entire school would have me pregnant and sleeping with all of them by the end of the week. And what would I do when they decided to kick me out just as quick as they allowed me into their close-knit clan? I may not have much but what I did have, I fought tooth and nail for. If I just accepted their handouts I would become a charity case and lose my ability to provide for myself.

Fuck! Why did Blake have to go and mess everything up? I was just getting used to the idea of having friends and learning more about what it means to be a Valkyrie. But I didn’t trust them enough to give up my freedom. What if they tried to start controlling me as all my foster families had in the past. And now I didn’t know if we could just be friends after an offer like that.

“What’s going on here?” Elijah demanded from the front porch and I cursed myself for forgetting to cloak my mind. He probably just got a mental earful from my roiling thoughts.

“What are you doing home?” Connor asked instead of answering Elijah as Derik came out of the house to see what was going on. Just great. Even more of an audience for my mental breakdown.

“We came home to talk about how Wonder Girl here discovered she has a fifth Gift,” Derik drawled as he leaned a shoulder against a support column and brought a mug of something steaming hot to his lips. Derik’s words sank through my frazzled brain and I spun around to glare at Max. I had told him he could tell Elijah about what my father had forced me to do as a child. Not his entire clan about me being some kind of Gift crazy freak.

But Max just looked back at me with wide eyes and spread out his palms out before saying, “It wasn’t me. I didn’t tell anyone about the Tracking.” No buzz. He was telling the truth. I turned my glare on the only other person in this world that I had told, Blake.

His face paled and he tried to laugh it off with a sad little chuckle. “Hey, I didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret. If I discovered I had another Gift I would shout it from the rooftops.” Seriously? When I felt the urge to call a blade I turned and resumed pacing down the driveway and start grinding my jaw so hard I wouldn’t be surprised if I chipped a tooth.

“Wonder girl needs to fight,” Derik called and I shot him a look for the ridiculous nickname. If he said it one more time I was going to show him exactly where he could shove his witty remarks and piss pour sarcastic attitude.

“No one is fighting,” Elijah declared and I had half a mind to remind him that he wasn’t the boss of me. If I wanted to fight then I would fucking fight. No one told me what to do.

“Oh come on, you can see it as clearly as I can,” Derik said. “She is filled to the brim with excess energy. If she doesn’t burn it off soon, she is going to do something she will regret later. We have all felt it before and you know as well as I do that the best solution is to spar. I don’t think the rules are different just because she has girly bits.” He did not just say girly bits! I thought as I called a throwing knife and let it fly straight at Derik’s thigh a good inch from his manly bits.

Unfortunately, he was expecting the hit and called his shield. My knife bounced off the barely visible barrier before it could find its mark. “See what I mean? Connor, why don’t you run the princess through her paces while she calms down a little,” Derik taunted and I could almost see the red haze covering my vision as my temper spiked. “Let’s see if she can hang with the boys.”

Oh, it was so on. I pulled the useless gauze off my left hand, called my staff, and strode to the middle of the yard while expertly twirling it around my right hand. Connor checked with Elijah, but when he received a head nod he called two short wooden weapons that were stained a deep brown and each had a knob-like handle about four inches from the back end. I was pretty sure they were a Japanese weapon called a wooden tonfa. He wouldn’t have the reach that I did with a staff, but he would be able to move significantly faster and would have better maneuverability than I would. This might actually be fun.

Connor waited for me to make the first move and I could tell his heart wasn’t in this fight. He blocked my first couple of strikes easily but he didn’t initiate any offensive moves himself. “Come on Connor,” I called. “Max said you’re supposed to be this great warrior. Let’s see what you can do.”

“I struggle to control my Strength in a fight. I’m not going to come at you when you don’t have another offensive Gift to counter mine,” Connor said and I let the insult fuel my already boiling-over rage. How dare he assume that I couldn’t defend myself against anything he could throw my way. Just for that, I was going to have to teach him a lesson.

“Max, you can heal any bruises I leave on him, right?” I asked and grinned when he gave me a nod in the affirmative. Connor looked cocky like he thought I was just talking a big game. Well, it was time for him to learn a little humility. I started slowly spinning my staff again and after three full turns, I reached out with my other sense and pulled the fabric of reality around my weapon. Connor’s cocky smile faded as he realized that he was now fighting against an invisible weapon. I faked a low hit with my staff and when he dropped his right weapon to block I formed a partial mini shield around my left fist and delivered a killer hook to his exposed shoulder. The shield fed me a zap of his power as it made contact with Connor’s skin and he went flying a good three feet backward landing on his back.

This time I gave him my cocky smile and said, “do you want to tell me how unmatched I am again?” Connor didn’t think it was funny and did an impressive move where he arched his back and then jumped to his feet in one smooth action. He crouched in a fighting stance and shuffled towards me while delivering strike after strike with his tonfas. I met him blow for blow and felt my muscles start to loosen with the familiar movements. Derik had been right. I needed this release.

Connor must have pushed his Strength into the next hit because it powered through my block and both his tonfa and my staff struck my right hip, sending a zing of pain down my leg. I stumbled and he took advantage of my lack of balance to push me to the ground. Connor was almost a foot taller and had a good hundred pounds on me. I wouldn’t last long in a wrestling match with him. The second I hit the ground I rolled away from him and used my invisible staff to hit the back of his legs causing his knees to give out. I quickly reversed my grip and delivered another hit to the back of his shoulders that forced him to the ground giving me enough time to regain my feet.

The blood pumping through my limbs felt amazing after all of the drama and uncertainty of the last couple of days. I bounced on the balls of my feet and let out a chuckle of sheer relief. Connor got to his feet and recentered himself before I went on the offensive. This time I lead the fight, forcing him to block each of my strikes based on my body movement alone. He blocked a good majority of them, but every once in a while I would fake him out and land a punishing hit on his body. He deserved to really learn his lesson.

Clearly, I was pissing Connor off and he was losing control over his Strength because each of his strikes had more power behind it than the last did. As his Strength grew the tide of the fight started to turn. His size and brute strength were tricky to deal with, but I always liked a challenge. I started using partial shields to protect myself from his hits and used my faster speed to maneuver myself away from his hits and used the longer reach of my staff to get in a few more hits while keeping him at bay.

I was concentrating on the movement of Connor’s hips and shoulders to gauge where his next strike was coming from when all of a sudden his hands froze in midair and he dropped to his knees. I just barely pulled my latest hit avoiding chopping him directly across the adam’s apple. Something was seriously wrong. I spun around to find two men I didn’t know, one only about five feet from me and the other standing a decent distance behind him. The one standing closer was a spitting image of the twins and the undeniable power of compulsion was radiating off him.

The moment I understood that this man was compelling Connor to drop helpless to his knees, something in my brain snapped and I just reacted. I threw a shield around Connor and sealed him off in the void where this man couldn’t reach him. Then I released my staff and called two short swords as I rushed the asshole. Before he could do more than call a knife into his dominant hand I had one tip of a short sword resting on his carotid artery and the other slicing a hole in his pants near his end seem. Then I snapped up a shield that surrounded everything but my hands that held the swords in place so that he would have a harder time compelling me.

“I don’t know who you are, but if you even think about compelling another one of my friends again, I will make sure it is the last thing you ever do,” I hissed and was surprised to find that I meant every word. I would kill to protect these guys. Holy shit, I would kill to protect these guys.

“My apologies, your highness. I only intervened to ensure your safety,” the man said at the same time that Blake yelled, “Ray, stop! That’s our father.”

“I don’t give a shit who he is. He compelled Connor to drop his guard during a fight. If I had been holding a blade instead of my staff I could have killed him,” I said in a flat voice without taking my eyes off of the man.

“All I saw was my son going after an unarmed woman with his full strength. I did what I had to do to stop him. Now that I know you are a royal, I am extra glad I acted. Your safety is our number one priority,” Mr. Berg said and allowed the knife he had called to dematerialize. Jesus these people were obsessed with their royals.

“Ray, everyone is safe. Please step away from Hunter Berg, release the weapons, and we will talk everything out,” Elijah said in an authoritative yet calm tone that broke through my anger. I wasn’t going to slice into an unarmed man. I had a temper, but I wasn’t that cold. And I was going to get some answers, just not from Hunter Berg.

I released my short swords, stepped away from the twins’ dad, and pushed my way back into the void. I brought Blake with me for good measure. I wasn’t going to let either twin out of my sight until I got to the bottom of this. The second I got to the void I spun around to find Connor. When I saw him I walked into his space and reached up to gently cup his cheek. I could tell he was shaken.

“Connor, is your father like mine? Did he compel you to do things against your will?” I asked in a raw voice that showed him exactly how much it cost me to ask that question.

“No,” Connor said and wrapped a hand around the one I had on his face. I truth-checked him but he wasn’t lying. Oh, thank God.

I looked over to see Blake standing shoulder to shoulder with Connor. I met his eyes and pleaded, “I need to hear it from you too.”

“Oh Babygirl, no. He was a hardass and takes himself way too seriously, but he never hurt us,” Blake said and once again there was no buzz in my head. I let out a breath and rested my head on Connor’s chest. Boy, I screwed the pooch with this one. I had just attacked the twins’ dad and now there was no way around explaining the intricacies of the void to the twins. And what the twins knew, the rest of the guys would know too.