Changing Bond

Over the following weeks, Wren found her rhythm and settled into a new routine that worked for her.

She cooked dinner for everyone in the house—well, except for Talon.

Next came individual combat training with Shorty before she had a quick lunch, by herself now that Carrie had also returned to work.

Her afternoons consisted of tutoring in various subjects for a couple of hours, hand-to-hand combat with a martial arts expert, and a few hours of free time that she usually spent practicing her newly acquired skills.

Her belongings arrived, and she spent some time arranging her suite to her satisfaction.

But she was lonely.

She knew Talon was around—she could feel his presence at times—but she only caught a glimpse of him a few times.

He was actively avoiding her.

At first, she was relieved. Then she was happy.

Slowly, she started to become frustrated.

He was supposed to be her partner, and yet he was never around.

Her frustration finally landed on anger, causing her to become more and more stressed. The icing on the cake was that she had no way to relieve her stress.

She supposed the workouts would have helped, but she considered that work.

Oh, how she wished she could have her piano. That was just another change she had to accept. There was no piano in sight, and she was not going to be the one to ask for it.

She would just have to find a new way to relieve this pent-up stress. Just one more item to add to the list.

She spent most of her time alone and avoided contact with everyone.

Wren woke one morning to a knock at her door.

“Wren? Are you all right?” Evan hollered through her bedroom door.

Wren quickly pulled a robe on and opened the door.

“What is wrong?” she asked, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and running a hand through her hair.

She had been up late last night.

When she had finally dozed off, the dreams had started in.

She was tired this morning.

“Ummm…” Evan just stared.

Wren glanced down and realized her robe was open, revealing the tiny tank top and silk pajama bottoms.

She pulled the robe closed, and Evan flushed, looking away.

“Ummm, are you all right?” he asked again.

“Yes. Why?”

“Well… You are not in the kitchen making breakfast, so we thought…”

“What? Is it that late already?” She glanced at the clock.

“I am sorry. I was up late and must have forgotten to set the alarm. Give me five minutes and I will be down.” She headed to the bedroom to grab a quick shower and change of clothes.

“Take your time,” Evan called after her. “Lily has it under control.”

Wren had left the door open.

Evan glanced around from the doorway. Wren’s touch was evident everywhere. He had never been in her room.

He walked around her room, stopping at the desk overlooking the garden, enjoying the view while he waited.

***

This was exactly what Talon needed right now. This pent-up frustration needed to be released.

The Being hissed. This was an interesting Level II Being.

He dodged as a stream of acid landed where he had just been. Talon gave it a grin.

The spikes appeared, protruding from his arm, and the Being laughed, releasing them toward Talon.

Talon easily dodged the first two and, with a swift swing of his weapon, cleaved the last one neatly in two.

He watched as the spikes dissolved and then reattached themselves to the Being.

~That is a new trick.~ Talon made a note to let the rest know about this.

He had traveled an hour from the compound to train on the beach this morning.

These pent-up emotions that bombarded him all night and day from Wren were becoming harder and harder to keep at bay.

He thought if he put some space between them, it would lessen, but it had done the opposite.

He had decided it was a mistake to have come and was just turning back when this Being had emerged from the water.

Now all he wanted to do was take care of him and get back before Wren woke.

The need to be close to her grew every day.

The director had been right.

He would not be able to continue like this for much longer.

“I have things to do,” Talon growled and rushed forward, dispatching the spikes that shot toward him with his daggers and burning up the poison with his fire.

The Being was well over ten feet tall.

Talon slid underneath the Being’s legs, slicing them off just below the knee as he passed.

The Being fell forward, twisting as he went, trying to get to Talon, but Talon was ready for it.

He sliced off the arm that reached out with one dagger as he spun in and took the creature’s head off with the other.

~That was not even worth the time,~ he thought as he stood up.

Talon turned at a hissing sound behind him, watching as the Being picked up its seared head and began putting it back on its shoulders.

~Damn, he can regenerate his head too. So, how do I kill him?~ Talon assessed the Being for a second before moving in.

The Being dodged but was not fast enough.

Talon removed the head once more.

The Being let out a laugh.

~Is this thing making fun of me? Well, let’s see if he makes fun of this.~

Talon pierced his dagger deep into the Being’s chest, twisted, and pulled out, making sure he sliced the heart in two.

~Let’s see him regenerate that.~

Talon set the dissolving corpse on fire just to make sure before turning inland.

He needed to get back before Wren woke.

***

A few minutes later, Wren appeared, freshly showered and dressed for the day.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Sure,” he replied.

As they headed for the kitchen, Evan asked, “Hey, Wren, what did you do before coming here?”

Wren could hear the voices getting louder, and she really just wanted to turn around and return to her room for a good cry—something she never felt like doing.

~The lack of sleep and the physical exhaustion are taking their toll.~ She was not good company for anyone right now.

“I taught music in America,” she said.

“Really? What can you play? Can you play more than one instrument? Can you teach me to play drums?”

Wren blinked.

What just happened?

She had never seen Evan this excited or talk this much.

“Evan. Child. Chill.” Wren smiled at him, glad he was so happy about something, but did it have to be directed her way?

~I wonder if the doctor is in today?~ She must be depressed.

~Maybe I could talk to him about what to do about this. I am about to break.~

Evan was suddenly in the talking mood, and she wanted to listen. She really did, but it was so much work right now, and her head was a mess.

She was tired, cranky, and frustrated.

This was not how it was supposed to be.

She should be finding her place. Instead, she was just as alone as she had been before.

Not that the inhabitants of the house were not nice.

She knew that they were trying to help her, but everyone had their own lives, routines, partners, and she had, well…she had Talon and a handful of times in the past month that he had even been in her presence, let alone communicated with her on any level.

She did know he was around because she could feel him through their bond, but he would not even come within her sight unless it was unavoidable.

~I wonder if the bond I have with him has anything to do with the way I am feeling. Even when I was running in fear and hiding from that monster, I did not feel like I would shatter if I was looked at the wrong way.~

She would stop by and speak with the director as well. Maybe he would be able to help her?

“Hey, Ms. Wren? Can I ask you a question?” Even asked.

“Shoot,” she snapped back to the conversation at hand, hoping that he would not ask anything too complicated. She had not been listening.

“Well… Does Talon talk to you?”

“Nope,” Wren was quick to answer. “I have seen him rarely, and usually just in passing. Why?”

Evan looked away. “I was just wondering. I just cannot figure out how he is doing it,” Evan muttered, more to himself than to her.

“Doing what?”

Evan looked around. “You do not know?”

“Know what, Evan?” Wren’s patience was fraying. “Spit it out.”

“Well…” Evan took a breath. “Even though Emerald and I cannot stand each other, it becomes painful if we do not spend time together. We have to see, touch, and interact with each other every day or else we get cranky and more than just a little crazy.”

Wren looked up at the young man before her.

Cranky? Restless? Crazy? That explained ninety percent of her symptoms. Why had she not been told of this? Did Talon hate her so much that he was fine feeling this way? Did he even feel this way? The ass.

“I see… I do not think Talon and I are like that. I have not even seen Talon for the last two or three days. Maybe not everyone has these symptoms?”

Evan let out a laugh. “Oh, we all have these symptoms. You do not want to see Carrie if she has not had her ~alone time~.”

“I do not think I want to see that either,” Wren agreed. “May I ask you a question since we are on the topic of bonding?”

“Go for it.”

“Well, I do not know if this makes sense, but I can feel his presence nearby quite a bit. I was told this is normal between partners?”

If what Evan said was true, it would explain why she felt he was always close by, but not why he refused to interact with her.

“I do not know,” Evan thought out loud. “Usually, you only feel their presence if they are quite close until your bond is stronger. Hmm… I wonder…”

He muttered to himself once more. “I wonder…if that is the way it is, then that would mean…”

“Either we have a very unusual bond to begin with, or he has been near, but not seen, every day,” Wren finished for him.