Passion Ignited Read Online Free Page A

morphed into a standing battle,
which in turn turned back into a ground-n-pound. Everyone was
cheering them on, surprised at how serious the two were taking the
fight. But it ended too quickly as Raider and Nitro were pried
apart from each other.
    “Didn’t think you had it in you, old man,”
Nitro said. A small smile spread across her lips as she looked
Raider up and down. It wasn’t the sweet smile she’d surprised him
with earlier. It was the smile of a predator.
    “Right back at you, doll.”
    Anger flashed across her face and she hissed
at him until Ash put a hand on her shoulder. Her brother pulled her
back just as she launched herself at Raider.
    Raider turned to the others. “Let’s do team
maneuvers. I’m assuming the twins are used to fighting alongside
each other, and I’m assuming you’re pretty good at it, so we’ll
keep you two together. Thrash and Blaze complement each other’s
fighting skills, so you two will go up against the twins. Garrick
and Ethan, you two join with Nitro and Ash. I’ll fight alongside
Thrash and Blaze.” Raider had found this exercise helpful at
deciding who would team up for patrols. An ache formed in his chest
as he thought about the last few times they’d done this; it had
been to help Riley gain some fighting experience. The lad hadn’t
seen many battles, and was still new to the whole fighting thing.
And even though no one knew what he’d turn out to be once his
Instinct kicked in, he’d actually turned out to be a pretty good
fighter. But even that hadn’t been enough when he’d gone up against
Damion and Q.
    “You have uneven teams, Raid.”
    The warriors all turned to the female whose
voice echoed through the gymnasium. Raine and Ferox stood just
inside the doorway.
    Raider smiled over at his king and queen
before turning to the others. “That’s Ferox and Raine, our leaders.
They’re also king and queen of the vampire race.”
    Without another word, all the warriors went
over to greet them. The three newbies were very respectful, even
going as far as asking how Ferox got his injuries. Ferox appeared
to be confused about the arrival of new warriors, so Raider quickly
explained that Demetrius had sent them in to help. He then started
to rush things along so that training could continue. They’d taken
the night off from patrolling, but the Guardians had to be ready
for battle at a moment’s notice.
    “If you’ll excuse us, we have one final
exercise before we call it a night. I’d like to see how well
everyone works in a team capacity.”
    “Of course,” Ferox replied, looking over the
three as if memorizing them.
    “Yes, Raider,” Raine added. “But I would like
to join in on the exercise.”
    Raider’s eyebrows popped up as he looked at
his queen. It had been a long time since she’d asked to join in on
the trainings. Everyone knew that she snuck down here frequently to
practice maneuvers herself, but it had been ages since she’d fought
alongside them, and that was because Ferox feared for his mate’s
safety.
    “That’s not a wise decision,” Ferox said as he
looked at Raine. “This is training for warriors. I should be in
there with them before you should. Besides, I thought you were
feeling ill.”
    Raine shook her head at her husband. “I’m well
enough to train along with everyone else; and your wounds are still
healing. I’ll not have my mate fighting and reinjuring himself. I’m
going in whether you like it or not.”
    Ferox’s jaw tightened, but he gave one quick
nod.
    Raine jogged over and took her place among the
other warriors. She, Raider, Thrash, and Blaze faced off against
the other four. With Ferox watching from the sidelines, their
battle began.

Chapter Three
     
    Raider roamed the halls of the Guardians’
mansion. He’d only gotten a few hours rest after their full night
of training. It had been so thorough that afterward they’d broken
for dinner and headed straight for bed just before dawn. Since many
of them