Mountains Vast and a Kingdom So Red

Chapter 20

In the duration before my session with Ryder, I craft a letter for Leviys at my desk. Hunched over, I read what I have so far.

Dear carnivorous wolf,

Your sexting left me reeling. Reeling and wet which is not ideal in a public place; I had to get home to have pleasure, filling my pussy with my fingers to relieve the ache. How you come up with such dirty things, I have no idea. But it is your very voice I crave more telling me these things, and yes, you can take me in my bedroom. I will cover one of your questions and the rest I will tell you when I see you because that is definitely happening.

My family is not the cause of my stress, rather they are the balm to it. I am quite lucky. Father heeded my complaints about the magic soldier and said that he will replace her. And my mother taught me a spell which is a talking spell, a faster method compared to a letter. Goodness, I can't picture you with a wand, the fact is, I do not want to see you with one, that is what makes us different. Your animality is so hot, not to say you are not brilliant, you are, your writing carries grammar and flair, however I appreciate you. I appreciate you are a shifter, oops, you are the shifter. ;)

In order for me to visit the Thewren mountains, I must perform an intercontinental teleportation spell. I have performed one before, you were there, but this time, it is trickier because I have not visited your home before. So the solution is you send me an item of yours, and if it is on the bigger side, that is alright because Delphina can find a bird to help her deliver it!

Above me, the clock announces the top of a new hour and I curse and get dressed. It appears I will be the one arriving late to the compound.

Expecting him to dagger me with annoyance, instead, I find him lying on an exercise mat humming to himself. It makes me nervous, seeing him in such light hearted spirits.

"Hi Mikah," he says, moving upright. There is a naughty smile on his face, but I know it is not for me and my basic uniform.

"Hi to you. Did you have a triumphant date night or something? Interestingly, he ditched the red tie, and a few buttons are open revealing a cross section of his chest.

"And a triumphant morning. My apologies, Princess." Ryder says, sheepish and I watch him fasten the buttons and then get up to grab the red tie from the shelf.

"You slept with the maiden in the compound?" I squawk, my voice the most strangled pitch it's ever been.

"No. In the barrack, but I tried to arrive here as fast as I could, and it takes me half a century to put on the tie." He blushes. "And she is more than a maiden; she is a Defender soldier." Like him, I fill in silently. A tad bit better than Urisis; them meshed together in a bed would make me pass away.

"I can help," I say, gesturing him to come closer. Ryder and I tend to be mellower about the length of our lesson anyway. His breath rises and falls as he watches my workmanship and when it is tied he has yet to back away. "Do you like her? Is she kind?"

"She is kind, and the perfect woman for bedding." Perfect woman? Has a gnome put wacky gears in his head?

"How so?" I ask, stepping backward so he cannot follow my heartbeat.

"Princess, I am drawing a boundary. We are not talking about my sex life." Thankfully, my sense prevents me from telling him I have a vivid sex life. But I do babble on with, "What is the worst thing a woman can do? Like, what would make you leave her?"

"We should stretch," he says rolling up his sleeves.

"I'm warm," I say, prancing around mirroring a thespian more than a runner. And I prevail when I grab two firearms and toss one to him. I pick out eye visors as well. "Come on, Ryder. It cannot be as bad as the voice inside your head," I say.

Ryder takes the firearm and aims it at the wooden target. Real bullets pierce it. "Meditating isn't working. Drinking tea without lemon and sugar."

My lips betray me by smirking and I begin to shoot my own target "Meditation is doable, and if you think a lot during it, be graceful on yourself, because it takes a lot of breaths for the mind to detach."

"You're also meditating?"

"I'm doing it now, or trying to," I say, looking at him when I should be looking at the target and a bullet strikes the nunchucks and redirects its path toward him and me.

"Duck!" Ryder shouts, pushing me down and covering my body with his. My breath comes out uneven until we pat ourselves. No wounds. The bullet carved through the wall. He seems jilted but not angry.

"Mikah."

"I'm sorry; I wasn't paying attention." Tears drench my face; I'm still on my knees.

"You're forgiven. These things happen. But I think going forward, we should just speak about training as we're training." Ryder helps me stand up and I do not let him go, not yet.

"I agree," I say, watching him relax.

"You are my first priority. I do not know what I would do if something happened to you." And then the soldier breaks apart from me and takes the firearm out of my hand. I wait.

"There are some spell drills you're going to do, okay?"

We go through the ones I'm most confident in first, and build from there. Once we're done, he rewards me with "good job" and begins to walk out so I hurry my pace. "I might have found a way to teleport to the Thewren mountains."

"You're still humoring that idea?"

"I am well past humoring; it is going to happen."

"Do you know that the spell could kill you?" Smug bastard!

"Yes, but it will not," I say, even though I cannot prove it is true. "All I need is an object from the man I'm seeing."

"Man," he scoffs, blue eyes glaring at me. "He is a beast."

"Do not call him that! He is half wolf; that is how you may refer to him, and only that. Goodness, what is the point of being your friend when all you do is...belittle me."

Instead of letting us bull fight it out, he shakes his head. "I never belittle you. Never will. See you in two days."