Amanda

I'm so damn tired of these mornings, I drag my feet down the hallway. Last night, I had some very disturbing sexual dreams about a certain someone. I won't admit to myself who that someone is either. The worst part is I don't know if I'm getting these dreams because I'm having feelings? Or because I'm hungry?

"Hey gurl! You going to play hooky today?"

Tally sits at the table alone, eating a football team size bowl of sugar crisp. I crack a smile, raising my brows,

"It sounds like a plan-"

"No, she's not. She's training today, and you have work to do."

I roll my eyes as Jacob walks through with the morning paper. Tally's cheeks turn red, and I follow her line of sight. Jace? He's buttoning up his shirt. She's damn near drooling and hiding all at once. Oh boy, I remember my first crush. All those raging adolescent hormones. I smile, pretending not to notice when Austin walks in. Tally isn't the only one blushing. I remember the vivid dreams, and I'm suddenly flushed,

"Amanda, how are you feeling?" Austin asks without sarcasm. Ok, were playing nice now? I can do that.

"Good." My response comes out squeaky and high. I clear my throat, "How was your... trip?"

He smiles seductively, and my chest heats along with my face.

"Eventful, I heard your night was... uneventful? Are you hungry this morning?"

My face falls, I'm mortified at his question. He leans in and whispers in my ear,

"I have what you need, when you're ready to admit you need it. I'm immune to your venom."

Austin winks and leaves with an apple in hand. My knees knock together, I'm wet with arousal just from his words and that damn dream. This can't be my life now. How am I supposed to function like this?

"Amanda, are you alright?"

Tally and Jacob are staring at me. Tally looks mad, and Jacob sheepish, he asked me something,

"what?"

Tally growls at me, "He asked if you were ok, but you were too distracted to answer!" Tally storms away before I reach for her arm, telling her to wait, but she shrugs me off. I ask Jacob, "What's her problem?"

He shakes his head in dismissal. "Its just a crush. Don't worry about it. I'll talk to her. He raises a brow, pointedly, "You have training, better get to it."

My fake smile doesn't phase him. At least Tally's mood makes sense. She has a crush on Austin and Jace? I look at Jacob to see if he's done his customary breakfast of coffee and dipped croissants when I notice he's not dressed for training.

"What are you waiting for?" He asks, I look pointedly back at him, giving him my best duh face. "Your not even dressed."

He laughs at me, and I become highly irritated.

"I assigned Austin to train you initially. He was unavailable. He's available now." Jacob leans back, opening the paper and hiding behind it.

"But I'm used to you. Wouldn't it be confusing to switch now?"

He folds a corner of the paper down, peaking out,

"No."

Keeping my patience, I calmly ask,

"Why not?"

He sets the paper down, sighing like I'm the biggest pain in his ass.

"You can learn something new, actually it's not a bad idea to let everyone have a go at teaching you."

He nods his head at his own idea,

"Then can I start with someone else?" I suggest. He sets the paper aside again, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Is there a reason you don't want Austin teaching you? Did he do something?"

I come up blank; I don't even know what to say. "No, never mind, it's nothing." I mumble curses at Jacob and Austin the whole way to the basement. I'm not pleased with all the new demands I've been given, but I want to help. If I can stop what happened to me happening to someone else, I'd suffer through just about anything. Besides, I have years of penance for the man; I shudder at the thought. Who else would I be around, anyway? It's not like I can walk around announcing what I am or wearing a warning label.

When I walk into the gym, I notice Austin isn't alone, and I can't say I'm not relieved. He's prepping the mats, and Grayson is building his pecs on the bench press. I never noticed how muscular Grayson is. it's quite impressive. Still, Austin has him beat for definition. Speaking of, Austin is starting at me. He looks pissed. Ok, whiplash much? Like, what the hell? I ignore him and set my bottle on the side bench, leaning a hip on the counter. I refuse to help someone who's mood flips at the drop of a hat.

"What has Jacob taught you?"

Yep! His playful side is gone, and out comes the cold shoulder. Fine! I can deal with cold better anyhow. I mimic his tone.

"Basic hitting and defense. Yesterday, he taught me how to knock a weapon out of my attacker's hand."

He pauses for a moment, then points at the Matt.

"Get down on your hands and knees."

"What? No!" I'm shocked at the demand

"Grow up, do you want to learn or not?"

I blush, embarrassed by my indecent assumption. How does he do that? Now I feel like I have the dirty mind when ten minutes ago he offered to pleasure me. Or for me to pleasure him? regardless. I do get down, but now I'm pissed. He leans over me, wrapping the crook of his elbow against my windpipe. There are so many points of contact that I freeze, and my body focuses on a particular one. His package pressed against my hip.

"What's the first thing you're going to do?"

I try to concentrate. It was so much easier with Jacob. I'm not attracted to him, so I could think. "Flip you over?"

"Wrong, take your opposite foot and aim for my groin. Try."

I do, using the feel of him against me; I aim, and he dodges it in time.

"Now on your back."

He places his foot on my chest, getting me to grab it, and shows me how to twist it, effectively snapping the knee. Austin calls this ground grappling. He fights dirty, and I imagine he always wins. We're about forty minutes in, I'm just starting to gain confidence when I notice Grayson watching. I've got my legs wrapped around Austin's head, trying to perform a flip.

"That's all fine and dandy, but what if you're fighting more than one assailant?" Grayson asks, standing above me.

Austin doesn't look happy about his advice.

"Grayson!"He walks over, and I loosen my grip.

"What? it can happen. Let's give her a situation."

Grayson drops and grabs my arms so I can't do the flip. I look up, and his crotch is directly above me. When I look down, Austin is between my thighs, and the image is too much, I'm aroused. Austin's eyes hood, and I believe his statement from days ago because I see it now. He can truly smell when I'm aroused. His nostrils flare, and his grip on my hips tightens. My arousal spurs when I watch him watching me. Grayson clasps my wrists, holding them down.

"How would you get out of this one?"

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I don't particularly want to get out. The thought shocks me, and I begin to struggle in earnest, panicking.

"Relax! Concentrate." Austin's words help a bit as they remind me not to panic. I quickly kick Austin's chest, throwing him back and curl up over Grayson using my held arms to stabilize the weight of my body, and gravity is enough to break Grayson's hold. I end up on top of Grayson's back.

I hear him cracking up "Nice! Newbie, couldn't have done it better myself."

I glow with the compliment and decide I'm really going to enjoy fighting after all. Grayson leaves and reminds me not to be late for dinner. I look back at Austin, and he looks livid as he slams the mats back in their place. What is his problem?

"I did good, right?"

He slams the mat down and turns on me. His chest is heaving.

"Yeah, it was just fucking perfect!"

I watch in shock as he storms out, slamming the door...

Dinner is a four course meal tonight. I guess Sundays are big. Everyone seems to be in a great mood except for my two favored people. Tally is ignoring me while being overly sweet to everyone else, and Austin keeps glaring at me. I sip on the ambrosia, joining in safe conversation with Jacob and a bit with Grayson because he's sat beside me. The ambrosia disappears fast and I'm left starving, so I nibble on some fruit to try and fill the void. It doesn't help, the pesky pains are coming back. I think the work out increased my appetite. I try not to cringe during an intense staying ache that penetrates from my belly button to my core.

"Amanda what's on your face?"

Jacob looks at me oddly, and I wipe around my mouth with a napkin.

"Did I get it?" I ask. Jacob jumps up from his chair and everyone stares at me. I look down and realize what the fuss is about. The bright colors are back and the scales lightly raise. Oh no, between that and the pains, I know what's coming.

"I don't think the ambrosias working." I exclaim my panic, laces my words. Jacob takes me by the elbow and pulls me aside.

I explain everything to him and we go over it three more times, but he swears I'm missing something. So he demands I let him run some tests, Jacob takes my blood and tells me to rest. He pushed feeding on me, but I denied my hunger, telling him this has nothing to do with it. I know he doesn't believe me but I don't care, I just want to be left alone. The pain is a lot easier to handle when I don't have to school my features. I down some more honey, but it does nothing thanks to the potency of the ambrosia. I can only hope he finds a solution. A few bouts later, I ask Jacob for another dose of ambrosia. He's reluctant to give it, but eventually caves. I manage to fall asleep but it's restless and I'm plagued with murky nightmares of past experiences most are of my time of captivity others are of John. I jump awake to a deep throbbing pain between my legs. Its three am, and the house is silent. I bite down on my lip, holding in a scream. It's too much to take. I know what I have to do...