CHAPTER 20

Before dawn could even grace the skies the next morning, I was awoken by Griffin. With slumber still coating my eyes in my early morning delusion, I could have sworn he looked like a dark angel hovering over me with a sinisterly smug look on his face.

"Time to get up, Superstar." His morning voice was even more gravely than usual. And it did something to my insides.

My response to being woken up was an unattractive grunt.

Before I could even register what was happening, I was drenched with cold water. I moved faster than I ever had before as I flung myself up, the coldness shocking my system.

"You prick!" I whisper-screamed, careful not to wake up the poor souls around me at this ungodly hour.

He gave me a dark chuckle. "Just be happy it was only a cup and not the bucket. Now get up, you wanted to train. We're doing this my way."

I rolled my eyes at him like I did all too often. But I also couldn't be too mad because he was doing this for me after all. So I bit my tongue, grabbed some clothes and stormed off to the bathroom. He followed, keeping a slight distance between us, careful not to say anything else while he held back his amusement. I paused when we reached the bathroom. How the hell were we going to do this. There was no one else in here that I could even hide behind. I stared at him. He looked back, this time not trying very hard to conceal that he clearly found enjoyment in this. "Other side mister," I demanded.

"Not much of a morning person, are you Sunshine?" He laughed.

"Other side." There was no humour in my voice. "Actually no, you stay here. That's my side."

He huffed out a laugh as he walked past me to the shower stall closest to us. He wasted no time, pulling off his shirt. That was my cue to leave. I power-walked to the back corner that I favoured, using all my will not to turn back and stare at his sculpted, delicious body. I waited until I was in the stall, covered by the walls before I removed my clothes, hanging them over the edge.

Griffin whistled to himself as he showered. I made eye contact with him once across the room and he winked at me. I felt my body temperature rise, and not just from the hot water that poured over me.

He finished first and got changed on his side. Once he was done and had left, I turned the shower off and threw on my clothes. I went with a long sleeve black crop and khaki cargo pants, channelling my inner Kim Possible.

When I was dressed, I headed out to the gym, finding Griffin waiting for me in the Chill with his arms crossed as he leaned against the sliding door opposite the staircase. His wet hair dripped onto his white shirt and down to his grey sweatpants. He looked bloody good in grey.

"Before we start, we need to establish one thing." He looked serious as he blocked the doorway to the gym.

"What's that?"

"That I'm the greatest."

"Ugh." Was this guy for real?

"Now now, Superstar. This is vital for our training. It sets the tone. Not to mention that without proper recognition, I may have no choice but to pull out of this deal. For I have many things I could be doing with people who acknowledge my greatness." He grinned at me.

I crossed my arms and leaned on my hip, waiting for him to continue his bullshitery.

"Repeat after me: Griffin Gray, you're the greatest of all time."

"Greatest fighter?" I questioned.

"No. Just greatest. Period."

I was unable to prevent my brow from rising.

"Consider this our oath. The signing of a metaphorical contract," he continued. I held my unkind stare. "Play nice, Rocket."

I rolled my eyes. He cocked his head, waiting with no intention of moving until I said the stupid words.

Fine.

"Aye aye, Captain." I saluted at him mockingly and then put my palm to my chest. "Griffin Gray … you are the greatest of all time."

"Why thank you, Supernova. That wasn't so hard now, was it?"

I huffed at him as I pushed past. It was way too early for this.

"What should we start with?" I asked as he followed me into the gym.

"Weapons," he responded.

I made my way towards the mats in that section. "I feel like the sword or daggers are almost right, but not quite." I breathed out as I stretched my upper body.

"You'd look fucken sexy with the sai." He strolled over to the end of the shelves to a black felt box. Opening it, he picked up a pair of sleek, smaller versions of the sword, with two side prongs on the handle that curved up and outwards. Like Griffin's sword, they were both polished to perfection, made fully from silver with detailed grooves engraved in the handles for extra grip. They looked ancient and fierce, and I already loved them.

"They haven't called to anyone else. Maybe they were waiting for you." Well, if that didn't make a girl feel special.

He handed them to me, his fingers touching my skin for longer than they needed to. When he finally pulled away from me, I gripped the two sai and began spinning. And just like that, I knew what to do with them. I'm sure my training and knowledge of the other weapons I'd tried so far had helped in terms of basic technique. But these felt right.

"Atta girl." His words—that husky voice—caused my body to quiver. He was going to be the death of me.

And then we battled. The clang of silver against silver echoed as we lunged at each other, blocking and spinning our weapons in a twirl of movements. A beautiful dance of stabbing and striking. I felt like the two beautiful warriors I saw on my first day—ignoring the fact that one of them was Sienna.

I felt like a Knight.

Occasionally he broke down a few moves for me. Showing me how to block correctly or running his hands down my body to correct my stance. But mostly, I knew what to do.

Looks like weapon training wouldn't be my biggest weakness anymore. But I would still use all the help I could get from him.

Plus, I wasn't mad at the one-on-one time.

We went on like that for what seemed like forever in a state of blissful flow. Of pure concentration. I was lost to it, and so was he as the rest of the world seemingly paused. He deftly swung his sword around and by some miracle I kept up. I couldn't recall what I was thinking about for once in my life. It's like my brain—my thoughts—were quieted. But I had a sense of purpose in my strikes.

Unfortunately, the serenity couldn't last forever and before we knew it, the officers and commanders started to slowly drift in, getting things ready for training. I didn't understand how so much time had passed.

Griffin's movements slowed until I came back down to earth. Once I regained consciousness, he stopped. As I returned from that out of body experience, I was hit with the low that naturally followed a high. I felt immensely sad. And angry. And lost. All the emotions felt vehement as they coursed through me. I saw it all again: the bloody couch, the matted hair, the glazed eyes, the look on his face. Then his words rang through my head, over and over again. ‘I did this'. My body began to tremble.

I sensed a presence come closer to me as Griffin slowly reached a hand out to my shoulder. When he touched me, I flinched but the horrifying image receded. I blinked a few times, clearing my mind as he gave me a gentle, placating smile.

"Where did you go?" His strong voice was calm but concerned.

"I … uh …" I didn't know how to tell him. What to even say. All I knew was that I didn't want to feel like that anymore—the helplessness I felt in that moment at the pack house. And the fighting—the training—it helped.

"He hurt you badly, didn't he?"

I considered an appropriate response.

It wasn't me he hurt. At least not physically.

Yes. He was a cold-hearted killer.

I'm completely broken.

Where did I even start? How bad did he hurt me? Was I traumatised?

Taking in my conflicted expression, his thumb gently rubbed my shoulder in comforting circles.

"You're a Knight now, Cosmo. You're strong. No one can hurt you again, unless you let them."

I nodded, grateful for the words of encouragement. Especially from him.

He smiled to himself. "Cosmo. I like that. I like that a lot. That'll stick." I rolled my eyes but I couldn't help the stupid grin that spread across my face. The prick knew how to distract me.

"I love it when you roll your eyes at me."

I forced myself to glare at him which he returned with a grin. He nodded at the sais still in my hands, "Looks like those were waiting for you after all. You were great."

I bit my bottom lip as I observed them, turning them slowly to take in all their beauty. "Looks like they were."

When I looked up again, Griffin"s silver eyes were fervently watching me. "He brought you down." He seemed to mutter the words somberly under his breath, almost to himself.

As if realising the softness in his tone, he picked himself up and his eyes brightened. "I hate seeing you so dejected. I don't normally do this but I'd be happy to make an exception for you and offer my personal services to pick you back up? I'll even let you take control."

"Oh my god, Griff. Really?" I hardly thought now was the time for one of his attempts at me but I had to admit that it did lighten the mood. Although, I couldn't tell if it was a joke or not. I'm sure there was some slither of seriousness to it.

One may have assumed his weapons were the most dangerous thing in his arsenal. But it was his mouth.

And by that I meant his words… although I'm sure it would also be great at other things.

I didn't have too long to mull it over or come up with something smart to say as Thea's footsteps seemed to echo through the gym. Without even turning, I could tell it was her.

She reached the mat where we trained; arms crossed, posture poised, eyes hard. "I watched you train. Seems like you're a natural with those." Like her son, she nodded to my new weapons. Her demeanour was cold but her words were somewhat warm. And it was strangely disarming.

"Oh, thanks Thea."

"Guess you are a Stone after all. Glad to see it."

I wasn't given a chance to reply as she abruptly walked away, heading towards one of the other officials. I hated that those words, her approval, meant so much to me. But here I was, revelling. She was one hell of a scary lady and having her like me, even a little bit, made the people-pleaser in me rejoice. She was warming up to me. Another sure sign that I was fitting in.

I looked to the other Gray that still remained beside me, looking content. Proud even. "Well, I got the elusive approval of two Grays in one morning. Looks like it's going to be a good day," I chuckled.