He nodded. “I have one thing I need to do first.”
“Oh?”
“Visit the blue beast man. He deserves to know why Mia won’t be visiting him.”
Saff sucked in a breath and fell into step with Blaine. “He isn’t going to be pleased.”
“Pretty sure that’s an understatement.”
They walked through several corridors in the House of Galen before they took stairs down to the basement levels. It was darker there, the only light coming from orange lights set into the walls. Saff stared at the heavy-duty cells ahead. Even from a distance, she sensed the black, chaotic emotions pumping out of the cell.
A tall guard nodded at them and they stopped by a cell with a heavy door with some bars set in the center of it.
Blaine cleared his throat and stepped closer.
Suddenly, the door rattled and Saff had to control the urge to jerk. She saw the huge blue alien staring out at them, gold eyes glowing. His long dark hair fell past his muscled shoulders and faint swirls of tattoos covered his skin. To Saff, he felt like a throbbing mass of rage.
“Hey, Blue,” Blaine said.
As far as Saff knew, the alien hadn’t spoken. Not even to Mia.
“I’ve got some bad news—” Blaine drew in a deep breath “—we were attacked here yesterday, and…damn, there is no easy way to tell you this. Mia was taken. Stolen with the other women, Dayna and Winter.”
The blue alien went very still and Saff could almost swear she felt the temperature drop.
“We are doing everything to find her and get her back,” Blaine added.
The blue alien’s hands curled around the bars. “Mi-a.”
Blaine stepped closer. “We’ll get her back.”
“Mi-a.” The beast man’s voice rose, along with his tumultuous, rage-filled emotions. “Mia!”
The alien exploded into a frenzy, and both Saff and Blaine stepped back. Horrified, she watched the alien tear around his cell, destroying his bunk in a whirl of fists. He slammed kicks and blows against the walls, pulverizing rock into dust.
“Jesus.” Blaine just stared.
“Best just to leave him,” the guard said. “Poor guy takes a while to come down when he rages.” The tall man’s eyes were solemn. “Sorry to hear about the women. Mia is really nice. Spends hours sitting outside Blue’s cell and even sings to him.” The guard shook his head. “Only time the guy sleeps.”
Sorrow dragging on her, Saff left with Blaine. As they walked, she felt the tension in him. “This isn’t your fault, Blaine.”
His jaw tightened. “I don’t want to talk, I want to train.”
“I’m happy to oblige, Earth man.” She wouldn’t mind pounding something right now, herself. She led him back to the gym.
He took in the equipment and the mats, and the fighting ring in the corner. “Why not outside, in the training arena?”
“Oh, we’ll get there.” She walked over to the wall and found what she wanted. The fighting sticks were crafted on the planet Kaan-Tie from mewa wood. She held a set out to him. “For now, we’ll start with these.” She headed out onto the mats.
With one stick, she pointed out the edges of a single mat. “You need to stay in the confines of the mat. You’ll need to be aware of your position, and exert some control to keep your body inside the boundaries during the fight.”
A muscle ticked in Blaine’s jaw. “Control isn’t my…strong suit right now.”
She tilted her head. “That’s okay, Earth man. There are lots of wild gladiators out there in the arena. You’ve seen Thorin fight. You need to learn to use that lack of control to your advantage. Don’t let it use you.”
Blaine’s hands flexed on the fighting sticks. She watched as his knuckles turned white.
“You don’t understand. Before…I was always controlled. I like control.”
And that was eating him up inside. She lowered her voice, aiming to offer reassurance, but drak, Saff had never been the soft and soothing sort. “You might never be like you were before, Blaine. And you already know that you can never go home.”
He strode a few steps across the mat, turning his back to her. He set his hands on his hips, his body tense.
“Use it, Blaine,” she urged him. If he didn’t learn to embrace it, he’d never find a place in the arena.
After a deep breath, he turned back and lifted the fighting sticks. “Let’s fight.”
Okay, so apparently she wasn’t very good at this comforting stuff. But she could sure as hell help him hone his fighting skills, and give him a way to exorcize the demons.
After showing him some basic moves, they faced each other across the mat. They started slowly at first, the sound of wood whacking on wood echoing around the room.