Blood welled up from the cut across Phoenix’s palm as he laid his knife to the side.
Trace met Phoenix’s eyes, then squared his shoulders, and we got back to work.
“Focus on the injury and try to imagine you can control how fast you’re healing him,” I murmured into my son’s ear as I watched his progress. With the exception of stabbing Chains through the hand, we were still working on very small things. I’d helped with that one, so Trace didn’t get completely wiped out. It was a difficult process to get a kid to understand, yet he seemed to be catching on much quicker than I ever had.
Korrie was sitting off to the side with a grimace on her face as she watched.
“You know you don’t have to be out here,” I said with a chuckle. It was rather unconventional, but it was the only way to train Trace without it taking forever.
Chains hadn’t stopped glaring at Ghost for impaling him to the wooden tabletop. The guys had been fucking cool as shit during our training sessions. Blade had offered himself up, as did Ghost. It was better than I’d had for my training, but then again, I hadn’t been raised around a bunch of bloodthirsty assholes willing to slice themselves open on a whim.
Crazy fuckers, but I loved each and every one of them.
“Always be aware of your surroundings and the situation you’re in. You know how weak you get afterward, and you cannot leave yourself vulnerable.” My son nodded, but continued to close the wound like a pro. It was uncanny.
We’d been working off and on since I’d brought them home to Iowa, yet he was easily at the level I was at after two years of practice. He seemed to be extremely adept with our gift, and we’d figured out that not only had he spoken with my dead mother for years, he could see other spirits too. Ghost had been blown away. We’d never seen someone who had multiple gifts at his age.
“Son, I think that’s enough for today,” I said after he was through. His eyes were getting heavy, and his body looked drained. He’d gotten through far more than I’d expected though. “Come on, I’ll go start your movie, and you can watch it while you rest.”
“Okay, Dad.” He shuffled along beside me until I got him set up like I promised. Little dude was so wiped out, he was zonked by the time I closed his door.
“Did he do too much?” Korrie asked, expression riddled with worry when I returned. I wove my fingers through her hair before clenching it to tip her head back. Biting her neck, I followed it with a soothing kiss, then met her gaze.
“He’s fine. But don’t be surprised if he sleeps through the night. It’s been a long day for him.” Since we’d gotten him home, we’d tried to get things back to normal for him. Korrie had continued homeschooling him during the day, then I’d work with him a bit in the afternoons and again after dinner.
“You still up for your tattoo in the morning?” I asked with a tilt of my head and a half grin. I’d broken down and told her about it yesterday. She’d taken it surprisingly well.
Her gaze was intense as she stared into my eyes.
“Yes,” she firmly replied.
“Good,” I said before pressing a quick kiss to her full lips.
“But I wish you’d tell me what it was going to be,” she grumbled.
“Tradition, babe. In this chapter, the ol’ lady doesn’t get to see it until it’s done.”
“I still say that’s fucked-up. What if they hate it? What if I hate it?”
“It’s about trust. You gotta trust that I wouldn’t put anything on you that I thought you’d be upset about.”
She huffed out a disgruntled sigh.
A vibration in my pocket had me pulling out my phone to check the notification.
There were two missed calls and a text from my father. Instinctively, my eyes locked on Jasmine where she lay curled up on the couch watching the movie with expressionless eyes and her Kindle cast to the side. She rarely left the clubhouse, though several times this week we’d offered to take her out to at least get groceries or hygiene items.
Venom had cleared everyone to come and go as long as we weren’t alone.
“When is he going to figure out I have nothing to say to him?” I grumbled as I shoved my phone in my pocket without reading the message. Korrie watched me carefully, trying to gauge my mood, so I gathered her in my arms.
“Your father?”
“Yeah.” I sighed before giving her a teasingly light kiss that ended with me tugging her lip between mine. Languidly, I suckled on her before giving her a gentle nip.
A soft sigh escaped her as she pressed her body into mine and nuzzled into the crook of my neck. We stood there for a few minutes, simply enjoying the feel and scent of each other.
“I think I’m going to go lie down too. You going to be up for a while?” she asked me. Hands pressed flat to my chest, head tipped up to look me in the eye, she waited for my answer.