WarriorsApprentice (6 page)

Grateful because if they had not been there, if it had been
just himself and Tybor, Huon would not have known whether to hug him or hit
him.

* * * * *

The hard knot of worry and apprehension in Tybor’s stomach
loosened. The boy hadn’t got himself into trouble yet, although he could tell
from the faint tang of sweat rising from Huon’s skin that nervousness had him
in its grip. As well it might. The boy had no experience with women. Tybor
leaned back
.

Watch and learn, boy. Watch and learn.

The waiter brought Tybor and Huon’s meals at the same time.
He uncorked the Valpolicella and poured a small amount of the rich red wine
into a glass. Tybor tasted and nodded.

The waiter filled the glass, then offered it to Judie. She
hesitated, then said, “I don’t usually drink in the middle of the day but half
a glass shouldn’t hurt. It is Italy after all.”

The waiter looked at Huon. He nodded curtly and nudged his
glass forward.

Tybor ate his meal, savoring the delicate flavors and the
freshness of food so often denied him in the Underworld. So many things were
better here. From across the table Tybor examined Judie Scanlon. It had been a
long time since he’d stopped to appreciate a woman’s softness, her gentle
curves. The demands of his job kept him from sexual pursuit. He ticked over the
past in his mind. Hell, it had been over two hundred years. Maybe the long
period of abstinence explained his aberrant reaction to close contact with
Huon. All he needed to do was get laid. Judie Scanlon would do. If Tybor got
into her bed and gained the information they needed, he could arrange to keep
Huon in the loop. It wouldn’t jeopardize the mission.

He leaned in closer, close enough to smell the subtle musk
of the woman’s perfume over the stronger aroma of the pasta dish in front of
her. “Tell me about yourself, Judie. What are you doing in Venice?”

She put her fork down and looked at him. “I work here.”

“For a local company? An Italian concern?” he asked.

She picked up her fork and recommenced her meal. She didn’t
meet his eyes. After a moment she said, “It’s an international conglomerate.”

“Do they give you time off? Perhaps enough to join me for a
drink tonight?”

Huon turned to face him. High spots of red flushed his
cheeks. “
Perhaps
she’d prefer to have dinner with me.”

If Huon
had
to kill her, Tybor knew he could do it,
but when it came to smooth talk the boy had no chance. So naïve. So clumsy.

“I’m busy until after dinner but I’d like to go for a
drink.” She looked at Tybor and her lids dropped over her eyes. “I’d enjoy the
company of you and your colleague.”

Huon looked at him and grinned. Damn the boy. His eyes
sparkled as if he had guessed Tybor’s intentions and enjoyed thwarting them. He
turned the smile on Judie.

“Harry’s Bar?”

Judie nodded. “If you’d like to have the classic Venice
experience, that would be an appropriate venue.”

Huon pressed his advantage. “At eight?”

Judie’s brow furrowed and Tybor chuckled. “This is Italy,
Huon. People like to be out and about much later than that. Shall we say ten?”

“That would be better.” She pushed her plate aside and
stood. “I have to get back to work. I’ll see you both tonight.” She stopped by
the counter and signed a piece of paper, obviously having an account at the
restaurant, and with a brief backward wave of her hand she stepped outside.

Huon immediately turned on Tybor. “What are you doing here?”

“Shut up. Not here. Wait until we get to your room.”

“My room? Who says you’re going to my room?”

The anger contorting his face surprised Tybor. He’d expected
Huon to be grateful for the help.

“I say I am. Move it.”

Weeks of blind obedience had made their mark. Huon’s lips
tightened but he turned and weaved his way around the tables toward the door. A
heavy hand clamped on his shoulder.

“Are you trying to get us noticed?”

Huon spun around to face Tybor. “What do you mean?”

“I taught you about human customs, human behaviors. You ate—”
He stopped and corrected himself. “
I
ate, you pushed food around your
plate with a revolted look on your face. Humans expect you to pay for that.”

“You ate. You pay.” Huon turned again to leave.

Tybor’s fingers tightened. “I didn’t bring any money with
me. You were provided with a good supply.”

Huon’s hands went to his pockets. “I have some. But I don’t
see why…”

“Later.” Tybor waited until Huon had settled the bill, then
walked out with him.

Huon marched beside him, his face set and grim, his fingers
clenching and uncurling by his sides as every step seemed to fuel his anger.
Tybor followed him up the stairs of the hotel to his room and as soon as the
door slammed behind them Huon erupted.

“What do I have to do to convince you that I’m capable of
doing this? In spite of what I look like, in spite of the fact that you don’t
respect me, I can look after myself!” He shoved his face up against Tybor’s,
lifting himself up on his toes to bring them closer to level. “I’m sick of
being treated like a failure before I even start,” he shouted. “I can do this.”

“I know you think you can,” Tybor shouted back.

“But you don’t believe it, do you? The great Tybor came here
to take over from poor, pathetic Huon
Green
.” Belying the last name
Tybor had given him, streaks of dark red painted his cheekbones, standing out
even more against the paleness of his skin. “You couldn’t resist that little
jab, could you?” he sneered.

“I came to help you, not to take over,” Tybor ground out. “I
couldn’t do this on my own any more than you could. This is more than a one-man
job.”

Huon leaned forward, standing on the balls of his feet,
bringing his face level with Tybor’s once more. “I am
not
a boy. I may
not have had as much as experience as you but I am not
green
.” He yelled
the final word, sparks of rage kindling in his eyes.

Tybor held his breath, counted to ten, then stepped back.
“Fuck. The ‘green’ was just a joke. You told me yourself you’re a virgin. In
combat, you’re better than anyone I’ve ever trained.”

“You’ve never said it before.” Huon sounded sulky and
resentful.

“My job was to toughen you up, not fill you full of warm,
fuzzy shit.”

“You toughened me.” His tone firmed. “Why did you come here,
then?”

“To help you.”

“I don’t need any fucking help.” Huon reached out and shoved
Tybor backward.

Tybor rocked on his heels, riding the blow, then lurched
forward again. “Yeah. You do.” He caught the punch Huon threw at him before it
landed, wrapping his big hand around Huon’s fist and squeezing. “For fuck’s
sake, bo—”

He stopped himself before he uttered the incendiary word. He
forced Huon’s hand down and held his gaze, not blinking, not allowing himself
to be angered, not allowing himself to be
aware
of the fist clenched in
his.

“Brian Hopewood has amassed a group of Gatekeepers.” When
Huon’s breathing grew steadier and less ragged he released his hand and stepped
back. “I trained you believing you would be sent up against Hopewood and his
weapons alone, and even that presented a challenge that few, if any, could
survive. Against Hopewood and his mini-army, you don’t have a chance.”

“Okay. I’m listening.” Huon tilted his head. “What are your
orders?”

“I don’t have any. I’m AWOL.”

Huon rubbed his hand, massaging the reddened knuckles, but
his head jerked up. “What?”

“I’m here without permission,” Tybor stated gruffly.

“I
know
what AWOL means,” Huon said and sighed. “I’m
not an idiot. I want to know why. What if someone comes after you? Arrests
you?”

“I don’t think they’ll risk coming here, now, with Hopewood
and his team in the city. They’ll wait. If I survive, they’ll arrest me when I
go back home. If Hopewood kills me, it will save them the trouble.” Tybor
shrugged. “For now, we’re on our own.” He dropped onto the side of the single
bed. “We have to work out what to do.”

“I know what I have to do,” Huon snapped. “I have to follow
my
orders and those are to get close to Judie Scanlon.
I’m
supposed to get
into her bed…so why the hell did
you
ask her out tonight?”

Tybor settled himself on the bed, plumped up the pillows and
stacked his folded arms behind his head. “Someone had to do it. You don’t know
how to behave around a woman. We don’t have time for you to learn. They should
never have sent a virgin boy to do a man’s job.”

“I am not a boy!”

Huon grabbed Tybor by the collar and hauled him up. This
time the swung punch landed, Huon’s knuckles sinking into Tybor’s eye socket.
By instinct Tybor surged up, fist driving into Huon’s stomach, doubling him
over. He collapsed onto the bed on top of Tybor, gasping for air. Tybor thrust
out a hand to protect himself and it splayed onto Huon’s chest. Once again they
lay body plastered against body, rage simmering in both pairs of eyes, one a
deep midnight brown, the other the blue of the sunlit waters of the Venetian
canals.

Both men stilled, only the heaving of their lungs breaking
the silence. The flames of anger subsided in Huon’s eyes and he whispered
between ragged gulps of air.

“You trained me, Tybor. Believe not just in me, but in
yourself.”

“I trained by your side and I will fight by your side,”
Tybor said, his voice low and grave. “I will not let you die alone. Not if I
can do something to save you.”

And he reached up with his other hand and clasped it around
the back of Huon’s head and pulled it down until their lips met. He ravished
Huon’s mouth with his, hard, savage, bitter, a kiss that tore at his soul and
his knowledge of who and what he was.

Above him Huon tensed, and for a brief moment Tybor felt the
backward pressure as Huon’s head jerked up, then his muscles sagged and his
lips moved and opened as he took all Tybor offered and slipped his tongue
inside, searching for more.

Tybor’s blood pounded through his veins. His heart thudded,
its rhythm timed to the frantic race of Huon’s. His cock hardened and his balls
tightened. His hips moved restlessly. Huon settled into the notch of his
thighs, lifting and rotating to bring their cocks into alignment.

Along the line of his body, Huon softened and melded into
him. Heat wrapped Tybor like a sheet of molten metal. His hand flexed on Huon’s
skin, honed to silk-covered steel by the training Tybor had put him through.
The thought of Huon’s beauty destroyed by the tortures of Hopewood and his
group doused the furnace raging inside him like forge-tempered steel plunged
into cold water. His hand flexing against Huon stilled and his forearm muscles
tightened. He pushed Huon away so hard that he hurtled backward, smacking up
against the wall of the tiny room.

Tybor drew his knees up, swung them to the side and pushed
himself off the bed on the other side, his back pressed hard against the plaster,
his chest heaving.

The boy pulled himself to his feet, heavy-lidded eyes dazed,
lips red and swollen, cheeks lightly grazed from contact with Tybor’s stubble.

Tybor glared at him, his scowl designed to intimidate,
daring him to speak. But Huon refused to be intimidated, now as ever, standing
up to Tybor, proving that his courage did not fail him in any situation,
physical or emotional.

“What the fuck was that about, Tybor?” He indicated the bed
with a sweeping gesture of his hand. “An emotional reaction to combat
situations? That’s what you told me last time we got hard-ons when we got close
to each other. But that kiss was more than a physical reaction to contact.”

Tybor shook his head. He couldn’t hold Huon’s gaze and
looked down at the floor. “I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? I thought you were supposed to know
everything. You’re supposed to be this great warrior who has done it all,
experienced it all, and now you’re telling me that you don’t know what’s
happening here?”

Tybor rubbed his hand across his mouth. He could still feel
the imprint of Huon’s lips, still taste him. “This has never happened to me
before. Not like this.”

“This has never happened to me at all. I’ve never kissed
anybody.” Huon gave a weak chuckle.

“I…” Tybor swallowed. He felt as raw and awkward as any
teenager. He forced himself to lift his head. “I have had sex with hundreds of
women. I’m Dvalinn. I’ve never been attracted to a man.”

Huon’s pale face grew paler. “Yeah, well. I know how
different I am. You’ve made it plain enough you don’t consider me a
man
.”

Tybor scrubbed his hand across his face. “I lied. To myself
as much as to anyone. ”

Huon looked straight at Tybor, his eyes clear and direct.
“What do we do now?”

“We work out a way to carry out this mission. Whatever this
is,” his index finger waggled from Huon to the bed to himself and back again, “cannot
be allowed to interfere.”

Huon snorted. “I don’t even know what
this
,” he
replicated Tybor’s gesture, “is.
I
was supposed to be having sex with
Judie Scanlon before you appeared and took over.”

Tybor’s breath caught. “You
want
to have sex with
her?”

“Shit, Tybor. I don’t know what I want. All of this is new.
Yes, I think Judie Scanlon is attractive and yes, if I have to take her to bed
to protect our people, then I will.” He paused and a small smile flickered on
his lips then disappeared. “Who knows? I might enjoy it once I try it.”

“I should have made sure you had the opportunity before
this,” Tybor said grimly.

“How? Taken me to a brothel?” He began to laugh.

Tybor’s brow creased. “What’s so funny?”

Between gasps Huon said, “I can just see it. Me pumping
away, you standing to one side, screaming out,
harder, faster, go ’round
again
.”