Page 11 of Reforging Onyx

There was a light rap on the door only minutes later, then it cracked open as Shane carefully stepped into the room with a blank expression. “Mr. Bancroft?” he asked.

“Shane,” Dominic said, his tone entirely too mild. “You will be training Onyx today ahead of his venture out of the house. This is something that you should be able to manage successfully, without any undue damage occurring, I believe?”

Shane nodded once. “Yes, Mr. Bancroft.”

Onyx’s expression darkened as he took in the sight of the wolf responsible for keeping him alive when all he’d wanted was to die, but he didn’t want to say anything to change Dominic’s mind about this either. “Can we go?” he asked with as much patience as he could muster.

It wasn’t much.

Shane kept his eyes on Dominic, only stepping back out of the room after Dominic had nodded. He held the door stiffly while Onyx came out into the hallway, and closed the door behind them. He didn’t say anything, just started toward the workout room, not touching Onyx but making sure he stayed in sight.

Onyx exhaled slowly, but he didn’t look at Shane. He didn’t make an effort to talk to him, either, instead simply heading for the training room.

Only when they were inside and the door was closed did he turn to face Shane, his voice sharp as he snapped, “You called him! How could you do that to me?”

He hadn’t meant to start out that way. He’d meant to exercise and be done with it, not to have this conversation. But the words had escaped him before he could stop them, and now he wasn’t going to back down until he got his answers.

“I’m not ready to die,” Shane said, like it was that simple. “And if I let you die, Dominic wouldn’t let me live.”

Onyx crossed his arms against his chest, staring at Shane. “He can’t just kill you over something happening to his property,” he snapped. At least, he was pretty sure he couldn’t. Wasn’t that how things were supposed to work, anyway? “You’re a supe, and I’m just some slave.”

Except he wasn’t just some slave to Dominic, somehow, and he didn’t know how or why or when that had happened. But even so. Dominic was acting like he actually cared about what happened to Onyx, when that was impossible.

Someone like Dominic Bancroft would never care about anyone else, and Onyx didn’t want him to pretend to care about him.

Shane shook his head, a harsh laugh laced with a touch of bitterness escaping him. “Laws don’t matter where someone like Dominic Bancroft is concerned. And you—” He shook his head again. “You’re not just his slave. You’re his obsession. Even I can see that. That makes him dangerous where you’re concerned.”

Onyx glared at Shane, partially because he was still pissed and partially because he was speaking the truth. Dominic was obsessed with him, even though he was legally nothing, and… well, Bancrofts always got what they wanted. Especially the rich ones.

“You’re not the one who has to deal with being his obsession,” he retorted. “If you were, you’d want to die too.”

But instead of dying, Onyx was on the verge of having his magic back for the first time since his capture. Did that change things? Could that change things?

“Maybe I would,” Shane said. “And maybe I’d pray that someone else was ready to die to let me out of it. But I’m not — not his obsession, and not ready to die. There’s a good bit that I’m willing to try to do, but that’s a lot to ask.”

Onyx scoffed. “There’s nothing you’re willing to try to do, not if it might bring His Highness down on you,” he sniped. He crossed over to the mat, letting his hands drop to his sides again. “Well, come on, then. I think I deserve to get at least one good punch right to your fucking face.”

“I’m not a dying-for-a-cause kind of guy. I told you that before,” Shane pointed out. But he got into position opposite Onyx, in a loose and defensive stance.

“Yeah, well, I am,” Onyx said, his voice just as brittle.

Was?

He wasn’t sure, now that he looked back at it in retrospect. But then, he’d take an opportunity to die if he got one, no matter what it was for.

He closed the distance between them and threw a punch, following it with a kick, then with another, as he launched into a full-out attack that might even seem in earnest against the werewolf.

What was the point in holding back? Shane could take it.

Shane had obviously been prepared to meet the attacks Onyx launched at him, and he gave ground easily before unleashing his own set of counterattacks that made Onyx work.

Onyx was all torn up inside, conflicted and consumed by uncertainty and bitterness, and the only thing he knew how to do was fight.

Well, that and throw fireballs, but considering he couldn’t currently set Dominic on fire, that wasn’t a possibility either. Maybe he’d tell Dominic to print out pictures of himself for Onyx to set ablaze later that day.

For the moment, though, he threw himself into his attacks, fighting until he was panting and there was a sheen of sweat across his forehead and seeping into his clothes. Shane was working hard, too, but Onyx wanted to push him harder, make him work more, before he took off any of the pressure.

The doors to the room swung open after what felt like hardly any time at all, and Dominic strode into the room, a smile touching his lips as he looked over Onyx.