Immortal Fire - Book One

The next morning, I was ready and waiting when Marcus arrived to escort me to training. He must have seen that I was not in a chatting mood, because he said nothing as we walked. I had forced myself to feel anger instead of pain.

Anger was not crippling, and it was better to cope with everything. I had contemplated refusing to go to training but then changed my mind when I concluded that I would not give Hayden the satisfaction of not having to see me.

“Here we are, love. I will be back at the end of your training to escort you.” He said sweetly.

“Thanks, Marcus; see you later…” I did not wait for him to even reply as I pushed through the front glass doors with determination. Hayden was waiting in the gym with a smile plastered across his face. His smile faltered as I gave him the harshest glare that I could conjure up.

“Good morning, Aria,” he said. He seemed to be trying to get me to speak, but I was not going to. Instead, I strode slowly to the training mats and crossed my arms over my chest, brow raised. Sensing my hostility was not going to fade, Hayden sighed.

“I take it that you hate me now…” he asked, walking slowly towards me.

“Hate is such a soft, insurmountable fucking word, don’t you think?” I sneered.

Okay, that was harsh, but my heart had been broken, and being mad was so much better than admitting it. Hayden looked at me with determination as he studied me.

“Are we going to train or not?” I snapped at him.

“Aria…”

“Hayden…” I countered, matching his tone before he could get his next words past his lips.

He sighed once more then strode to one of the boxing bags across the room and rolled it to the mats. He fastened it to one of the overhanging beams and stepped back as it swayed.

“I want you to train to land a blow. If you do not hit properly, you are more likely to hurt yourself than your opponent,” he said.

“So how do I land a blow, oh wise one...?” I asked, extremely annoyed. Hayden muttered something under his breath as he walked over to where I stood. I wanted to hit him, not the bag, but at the same time, I wanted to hold him. My emotions were so fucked up.

Taking my hand, he moved my fingers so that I was now holding my hand in a fist. A chill ran down my spine and I almost forgot that I was mad at him… almost.

“That is how you hold a fist when hitting someone. Don’t forget. We will not be strapping your hands so that your skin can get accustomed to landing the blows.” He then dropped my hand and motioned me over to the punching bag. Standing in front of the punching bag, I could not wait to hit something, so instead of waiting for Hayden’s instruction, I landed a blow that sent the bag swinging.

Hayden’s eyes widened at the force of my punch.

“Good, now try to do it with both hands; one straight after the other.” He stepped back and crossed his arms over his lean chest. I did as he said, and the bag swung once more.

“Again,” he instructed. Looking at him once, I did as he said; it was as if all my emotions come pouring out as I landed each blow and I could not stop.

I faintly heard Hayden telling me to stop, but it was no good. I kept beating at the punching bag in a blind fury. Fury for everything that had happened to me; my life being one big lie, my parents lying to me, having to leave my home, always being the outcast, Hayden rejecting me, having to fear for my life as well as being flung into a world I knew nothing about… being alone.

My hands were bleeding by the time Hayden pulled me away and held me back.

“Let me the fuck go!” I screamed, trying to push myself away from him.

“No! You’re fucking hurting yourself!” he shouted back. I did not care if I was hurting myself, I needed to hit the punching bag; I needed to make the emotional pain go away.

“Let me go! I’m already hurt, and you don’t care, so don’t fucking act as you do!” I shouted with as much anguish as I could.

I had managed to get an arm loose from his iron hold and accidentally punched him in the jaw during my struggles. He didn’t even flinch. I was struggling as if my life depended on it to be free of Hayden’s arms around me. Tears started to stream down my cheeks as I pleaded with him to let me go.

My rage diminished and I went limp. Hayden lowered us to the floor and held me as I continued to cry. He was stroking my hair. When I eventually had no more tears left to cry, we sat in silence, and I looked at my hands. They were bloody from the blows I had landed on the tough leather bag. Hayden turned my face so that I was looking at him in the eyes. I felt humiliated.

“Aria, speak to me…” He was pleading with me to be open with him. I did not know if I should but the look on his face convinced me.

“I can’t deal with everything that’s happened. I don’t know how to…” Looking at Hayden’s arms still holding me, causing burning, pleasurable tingles to lick at my skin, I muttered under my breath…

“I’m all alone…” A tear escaped my eye and he wiped it away.

“You are not alone,” he said fiercely. I looked back at him, and he seemed to be fighting some internal battle. Hayden lifted me from the floor and took my bloodied hands into his.

“We need to tend to this. Follow me.” He released my hands gently and turned.

He headed into a room off to the right of the gym. I did as he said and followed. The room was bare except for a first aid cabinet and a gurney. Hayden was digging through the cabinet and told me to sit on the bed.

The bed was hard as a rock and covered in a very stiff white sheet. The whole room had the smell of disinfectant that I almost sneezed from its potency. Hayden found what he was looking for and came to stand before me.

“Hold out your hands for me,” he said.

Holding out my hands, he then started to wipe them down as gently as possible. I could not help but admire the way his hands moved as he wiped away the blood that covered mine with such care. I barely noticed the sting of disinfectant as our joined hands tingled from the bond.

“I can’t heal your hands with my magic. Your skin needs to toughen up for the training. If I did heal them, we would never get anywhere with regards to progress considering we are trying to cram years of training into as little time as possible.” He said, sounding as if he was trying to fight an internal battle.

I was staring at him when he raised his head from my hands and our eyes locked. He said nothing and looked back at my hands as he tended to the wounds.

“You do know that I meant it when I said that you are not alone, right?” he asked.

I did not answer because, in truth, I did not believe that. I had never been more alone in my entire life. He stopped what he was doing and looked up at me.

“Aria...?” I sighed.

“You say that, but it’s not true,” I answered.

“Why do you think that?” he asked seriously. Deciding that I could not humiliate myself any more than I already had today, I told him the truth.

“I am alone. My life is not my own anymore, I have no family to go to, I’m here in this world I had no idea about, and I’m being hunted, and… my soul mate does not want me…” I looked down at my hands as I confessed the last part. Hayden’s entire demeanor went rigid, and his next words forced my eyes up…

“I never said that I don’t want you.” He said sternly. Our eyes searched each other for what felt like an eternity. Finally, Hayden went back to tending my hands.

“But, last night, you said…” I started.

“I said that nothing could happen between us; not that I don’t want you or want something to happen.” he interrupted me. I jerked my hands away and Hayden looked up at me bewildered.

“What the fuck does that even mean?” I asked, scowling at him confused.

“Always so blunt… It means that there are too many factors to consider.”

That was not what I wanted to hear, and I felt my gloomy mood return. Hayden noticed and placed his hand on my cheek. The electric current started between us, and I closed my eyes in contentment. Hayden withdrew his hand and returned to my injured ones…

“That should help for now, but you won’t be able to do any contact training that requires your hands until they are completely healed.”

I was already missing the current and sighed. Climbing off the bed and wanting to leave training early, Hayden stopped me.

“Aria, you are not alone. I mean it, you do have me…” he said earnestly.

“Yeah, but not in the way I want you.” With that said, I spun and left.

On my way out I could have sworn I heard Hayden say

“Me neither…”