The Director

“Let’s go.” Talon removed himself from the doorway.

This was going to be a long day if she was going to be this slow. What was he going to do with such a useless partner?

“You will need to change. Your first combat training is directly after. I will wait for you by the front door.” Talon turned and was gone without a sound.

~He is a ninja.~ Wren glared at the spot where he had just stood.

“Sorry about him,” Lily looked back at Wren from the sink. “He is not good with people. He has not had an easy time here or anywhere, for that matter.”

“You need not apologize for him,” Wren replied. ~What do these people see in him anyway?~ she wondered.

“I am sure that once you and he get to know each other better, he will open up to you,” she continued, ignoring Wren’s comment.

“Do not get her hopes up, Lily,” Carrie interrupted. “You never know. They may have a hate bond.”

Wren happened to be looking at Michael when Carrie said this, and she watched some unidentifiable emotion flit across his face before it was gone. She turned back to Lily and Carrie.

~Hate bond? What is that?~ “Where do I go to meet the director?”

“Just meet up with Talon. He will be by your side the entire time,” Lily ushered her toward the door.

“Go change. He is right, you will not wish to have your first training session in a skirt.”

“Thank you for breakfast,” Wren gave the room a nod. “And the information.”

As the four people watched the petite woman leave, they were all thinking the same thought. Things were going to get interesting now that she had finally appeared.

***

Within minutes, Wren met up with Talon at the front doors, and they headed to the building that housed the director.

Without speaking to her or even looking at her, Talon led the way, entering a building and only stopping when they reached a door at the end of a long hallway. He knocked once, then entered.

Wren followed him in and found an old, white-haired man sitting behind a desk. His hair was sticking out in all directions, and his suit looked like he had slept in it the night before.

Talon sat in one of the two chairs facing the desk, obviously not impressed with the man, the room, or the situation.

~What a load of manure,~ he thought to himself as he watched the old man fawn over the woman next to him. ~Why is everyone so enamored by her? She is short, mousy, and a pain in the ass already. Please do not let her be my partner!~

***

“Hello, my dear.”

The old man scurried around the desk and shook Wren’s hand vigorously before drawing her into a hug and immediately letting her go again.

Wren staggered and fell into the chair beside Talon. ~What was that?~ Did everyone here feel the need to touch people without permission?

“I am so glad that you finally arrived. I have been waiting for you.”

“He knew that you would be found and brought here today.” Talon spoke carelessly as he looked out the window, seeming to be bored with everything that was going on around him.

“I see.”

Wren looked at the man who was once again sitting across the desk from her. She finally realized that although he looked like an absent-minded professor she had once had, his eyes were quite sharp and they did not miss a thing.

“Now then, my dear.” He gathered some papers and started to tap them on the desk. “Shall we get down to business then?”

He sat up in his chair and looked at Wren.

“Now, has it been explained to you how you obtained this power?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now let me explain what your role is.” The man leaned back in his chair.

“You and Talon and the others will use this power to protect the Earth and humanity from these Beings that are trying to destroy us and the Earth. Your job is to protect the humans and, when possible, send the Beings back to their homes, alive.”

Talon snorted from his chair. “Like that ever happens, old man.”

“Oh, pipe down over there, I can hold out hope, can’t I. Now, as I was saying…” He turned his attention back to Wren.

“The first thing we need to do is create the initial bond and then figure out where your power core lies. From there, we can decide the best method of using and protecting it. You were told about protecting your power core, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that is one less thing to discuss.”

As the director spoke, his hands moved constantly. Flitting here, flitting there, picking up one paper, putting it down just to pick up another. It was quite distracting.

“Once we have located and figured out how to protect your core, you will then be given various tests to determine what kind of abilities you possess. Do not worry, child,” he added as he watched the flicker of fear cross her face. “You will be just fine, and Talon is here to walk you through it. From this point on, you and Talon will be together every day, as much as possible. Oh, that reminds me…”

He ignored the look of despair that crossed Wren’s face and the glare that Talon sent his way.

“We need to do the initial bond before we go any further.”

He stood back up and came over to Wren’s chair.

“Bond us? Now? Here?” Wren asked, a bit afraid of what would take place for the bonding.

“Yes. Yes. Do not worry. This is only the initial bond. You will bond twice more after this, in different ways and at different stages of your development.”

“Three times?” Wren shot up. “I am sorry. I have missed something here. What the hell is this bonding process, and why do we have to do it three times?”

The director’s movement stopped for just a second before picking up again.

“Lily did not explain?”

“Hell no, she did not explain!” Wren was tired. She was scared. She hated the man next to her, and she wanted answers. Now.

The old man smiled at her.

“Allow me, then. Bonding is the process taken on by you and your partner to create abilities and power that you cannot create without a partner.”

“Okay? So why him?” She stuck her thumb in Talon’s direction but refused to glance his way.

~Rude.~

“There is only one other power core that will react with yours,” the director’s smile grew. “You have a soulmate!”

Wren’s face drained of color as she collapsed back into the chair. She did not want a soulmate.

Talon watched her reaction, and he felt his anger rise. ~What the hell is this?~ he thought. He did not want to bond with her either, but her reaction was a bit over the top. There were a lot worse people she could be attached to.

The director watched the emotions cross the faces of Talon and Wren. He wondered if they would make it as partners. Talon was closed off from all, and it seemed that this young lady was coming with her own baggage.

It was going to be a rough go of it. He hoped the rest of the family would be able to survive the trials ahead.

Wren’s mind was going a mile a minute, and then a thought popped into her head.

“Once bonded, what happens if one of us dies?”

Talon raised an eyebrow. The woman knew how to throw a punch.

“It depends on the person,” Talon was the one to speak. For the first time since they had entered the room, the director remained quiet.

Talon motioned toward the man before them. “For the director, his power has greatly diminished, so now he trains others. For Mr. Lee… He took on his partner’s power at their death, and he now works alone, unable to mate with another. As for Spencer… Well, the burden was too much and he chose to follow his partner into death.”

“Why was it so different for them?”

“It is based on the type of bond they have.” The director spoke this time. His tone was more subdued as he came around his desk and motioned for them to stand.

“Type of bond? There is more than one way to bond?”

“First, the initial bond. Once you are bonded and we have an idea of what type of bond you are, I will explain more in depth.”

“All you need to know in this moment is we need to bond. There are three phases to bonding, and the director will not shut up until we do.” Talon was done. He was peopled out and ready to leave.

They needed to get this over with.

“Shut up, Talon.” The director tried to reassure Wren. “The first time is relatively easy and pain-free. This is for your power cores to become aware of each other. Later, in the second stage, the emotional bond will happen.”

“And the last bond?”

“The physical bond,” Talon growled out. That bond would happen over his cold, dead body. “This will round out the mind, body, and spirit. We start with the soul and end with the body. Shall we?”

Wren’s head spun with all of this information, but she nodded anyway and waited for her instructions.

The director held out his hands to the two people in the room, ignoring the tension in the air. They were not happy, but they would get over it.

“How do we do this?” Wren asked.

She took a few deep breaths, willing her fear to subside as she looked at the calloused hands of the director. She could do this.

Before she could change her mind, Wren placed her hand in the director’s hand and watched as he placed Talon’s over hers.

Wren felt the urge to pull back and run from the room as the heat from Talon’s hand started to seep into hers. She could do this.

It would be over soon.

“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Talon asked, watching her haggard breathing.

The woman was in a full-blown panic attack over this. She was never going to survive a fight.

“There is no turning back after this.”

“Is there any other choice for me?”

“There is always a choice,” Talon replied, the gold flecks in his eyes seeming to glow as he continued to stare at her.

“Will you choose this responsibility?”