Zola's Pride (3 page)

Walker tilted his head to one side.
“You don’t have to do that, Zola. I know it isn’t—I
have a place to go. I’ll be fine.”

She wouldn’t be. She couldn’t
close her eyes to sleep, knowing he roamed the city and might
disappear before she’d pried the truth from him. Before he’d
given her the closure she deserved, the final balm to the heart he’d
broken so long ago. “Stay. We have things to discuss. You owe
me this, in exchange for my help.”

Some of the tension faded from his
stance. “Are you sure?”

Zola couldn’t help but smile.
“Sure that you owe me? Yes.”

“
Sure that you really want me
to stay.”

Yes.
“You’re sleeping on the couch.”

A slow smile curved his lips. “I
expected nothing less.”

The smile spoke of wicked confidence
and lingering heat, evoking a strong enough reaction to drive her
from the couch in search of her phone. Calling Alec would give her
time to catch her breath, to find her balance. Perhaps time to fool
herself into believing that she’d invited Walker to stay in
search of closure when the truth seemed so much more damning.

Her rebellious heart wasn’t
trying to close the chapter of her life dominated by Walker Gravois.
It was trying to start a new one.

Walker sat behind the dojo’s
small front desk and fielded another inquiry about class schedules
and rates. The phone had been ringing nonstop all morning, making it
clear just how successful a business Zola had built for herself.

But she needed help. There was a
whole level between the ground studio and her apartment on the third
floor, a single cavernous room where clients worked out or sparred
between private lessons. Right now, it sat empty. Someone could be up
there teaching a second class. And if she had someone working the
desk—

Knock it off, Gravois,
he told himself firmly.
It’s
her business, not yours.

A particularly enthusiastic
kiai
drew his attention back to the floor, where Zola ran herd over a
dozen supernatural children. Most knelt in a ragged circle, fidgeting
with the abundant energy of youth, while one tiny wolf with bouncing
pigtails barreled through
taikyoku
shodan
so fast it looked
like a blur instead of a
kata
.

Separate classes for humans and
supernaturals, another thing that had to complicate her scheduling.
She definitely needed help, and he had to remember that he was the
last person who should offer it.

Zola murmured encouragement to the
girl as she corrected the position of her arms, then watched her
execute a few vigorous punches. “Better,” Zola said,
raising her voice. Her gaze caught Walker’s across the room,
and she smiled a little. “Up, all of you. Along the far wall.”

One or two of the children groaned,
but they still formed a staggered line against the mirrors. Zola
moved to stand beside the desk and nodded. “Sprints. Thirty.
Boys, then girls, then boys, then girls.
Go!
”

The seven boys took off toward the
far wall, the shapeshifters outdistancing the one child who sparked
with magic instead of feral power. Zola turned her back on the
spectacle and switched to French. “I cancelled my afternoon
classes. When the little ones are gone, we’ll be able to
concentrate.”

“
It’s a nice place,
Zola.”

Pride shone in her eyes. “Yes.
My place. My home.”

And he’d stumbled back into
it. Guilt raked at him, and he had to force a smile. What if her
involvement went beyond allowing him to use her contacts? If he’d
brought his fight to her...

He’d never survive if his
mistakes hurt her.

She read his turmoil in the fake
smile. “I wasn’t helpless, even as a girl. Whatever
comes, I’ll handle it.”

He should have known he wouldn’t
be able to fool her. “You shouldn’t have to. That part’s
on me.”

One dark eyebrow swept upwards. “You
think I need your protection?”

Careful, Walker.
“I think it’s my responsibility if I bring my trouble to
you.”

“
Only if you’re better
at handling that trouble than I am.” She smiled in teasing
challenge as the doorbell jingled, announcing the arrival of the
first of the parents returning to retrieve their children. “Perhaps
we’ll see later.”

Definitely a challenge. “You
looking to fight me?”

“
Just a friendly sparring. I’m
sure we’ve both learned new tricks since the last time.”

So many layers of meaning, even if
Walker was fairly certain she’d meant the words innocently.
“Can’t wait,” he murmured, lowering his gaze so she
wouldn’t see the awareness there.

Zola slipped away to resume watch
over her charges, running them back and forth as more parents and
guardians arrived, until the front of the dojo was crowded. More than
one of the wolves cast curious glances his way, but no one approached
him, not even when Zola sent the last of her students stampeding
toward the exit.

She closed the door and threw the
deadbolt. “The children are my favorite. They haven’t
learned to be afraid yet.”

“
But they’re aware.”
They’d recognized him as out of place.

“
New Orleans is safer. Not
safe.”

Another thing that hadn’t
changed in the years he’d been gone. “My half-brother
still lives here.” Better to get that out there, to let
her think it had influenced his decision to come back, even if it
wasn’t true. After all, he hadn’t dragged ass into John’s
restaurant past closing time, asking for help.

No. He had come to her.

She brushed her fingers over the
light switch, leaving the dojo lit only from the broken light
slanting through the blinds on the front window. “Yes, I
remember.” Her footsteps took her toward the stairs, as if she
expected him to follow. “I enjoy his cooking.”

Surely John would have said
something if Zola had taken pains to introduce herself. “Have
you met him?”

“
Of course.” She
hesitated, then turned while balanced on the first step, putting her
eyes level with his. “I told him only that I’d met you
during my travels, and that I’d considered you a friend. He
never indicated he knew otherwise.”

Because his brother had never been a
meddling bastard, and it was a dozen kinds of wrong for Walker to
regret it now. “John’s the quiet type.”

“
Mmm. Some say the same of
me.” A smile played at the corners of her lips. “So. Do
we spar?”

So that was what had her in such an
all-fired hurry to get upstairs. Walker acquiesced with a shrug and
one raised eyebrow. “If you think you can handle me.”

Laughter was her only answer as she
spun and launched herself up the stairs. He had to follow at a run,
and barely ducked a swing when he made it into the open room above.

He circled out of reach, keeping a
sharp gaze on her center of gravity. “That wasn’t quite
fair, honey. Cheap shots are beneath you.”

“
No such thing.” Her
weight rested nimbly on the balls of her feet, and she swayed a
little, smiling. “Never start a fight you don’t intend to
finish, no?”

“
The cardinal rule,” he
agreed. “But you know dirty fighting exposes weakness.”

“
So does friendly banter.”
She darted forward, a feint obvious enough to be easily avoided.
“Play with me, Walker.”

He kicked off his shoes and rushed
her once. Instead of meeting her straight on, he pushed off on her
shoulder, using the momentum to spin them both around. She went with
it, flowing into the turn so fast she whipped around in a tight
circle and nearly struck his back.

He broke away and let her come at
him, ready to pin down her technique. She didn’t have one; she
had at least a dozen, drawing on elements from various martial arts
so quickly, so fluidly, he could barely catalogue them.

There was more than a little
capoeira influence in the way she moved, especially when she crouched
to avoid a blow and immediately retaliated by bracing her weight on
one arm and launching into a
meia
lua pulada
. Her legs
kicked through the air, spinning so fast they almost blurred, and he
barely dodged.

Walker managed to get her on the
mat, but she hooked her feet under his legs and threw him off
immediately. He landed with a thump on the mat, and she sprang up in
another flurry of kicks.

Walker rolled and swept her feet
from under her. She went down again—barely—and he threw
one leg over her and wrestled her wrists to the mat above her head.
“Should we count it off?” he panted.

“
I don’t submit,”
she snarled, but something other than anger laced the words. Desire.
Heat. A heat reflected in her eyes, in the way her body twisted
beneath him, not so much testing as teasing. “It has been too
long since I fought for survival. I am becoming soft.”

He only wished that were true, that
she’d reached a point—found a place—where she could
afford to let go a little. “You’re tough as nails and you
know it, Zola. I’m just stronger, that’s all.”
Stronger but stupid, because he couldn’t help responding to the
soft press of her body.

“
I’m faster. Speed
should balance strength.” Her voice dropped to a husky whisper
that invited him to test more than her strength. “It would
have, too, if the lion didn’t wish to be caught. She does not
have my pride.”

Blood thundered in his ears as sense
memory overtook him. He’d had her under him like this before, a
mostly innocent situation that had turned to painful awareness in a
heartbeat. She had kissed him that time, the awkwardness of the
advance eclipsed by her eagerness—and by his own desire.

Memory clashed with adrenaline and
the feel of her body against his, and Walker’s dick hardened.
He would have rolled away, but that hot invitation in her eyes kept
him motionless. Riveted.

The world upended in a surge of
sleek muscle. She moved fast, rolling them in a tangle of limbs that
ended with her straddling his hips, hands planted on either side of
his head. Echoes of that same memory were reflected in her eyes,
along with wariness. “If you want that innocent girl, you won’t
find her here. I’m a grown woman.”

He hadn’t wanted to want that
innocent girl any more than he wished to complicate Zola’s life
by desiring her now. “I know who you are.”

“
No, you don’t.”
She nuzzled the line of his jaw and back toward his ear, her cheek
smooth against his face. Her breath blew warm over his earlobe just
before her lips brushed his skin, an electric contact. “If you
stayed, you could learn. All the things you used to know, and the
things you never discovered.”

The most dangerous issue of all was
how Walker wanted to respond to the sweet temptation of her offer. He
could
stay. He had—

No idea what the fuck is going to
happen,
he reminded
himself coldly. He’d be risking her heart again if he promised
something he couldn’t deliver, though his body didn’t
care. It yearned toward her, desperate to augment his memories with a
thousand things he’d never felt. “Zola.”

She closed her teeth on his throat
with a purring growl.

Heat streaked through him, and
Walker flipped her without thinking. He pinned her hips with his and
almost returned the sharp, instinctive caress. Instead, his mouth
descended on hers.

He hadn’t known he was going
to kiss her until he did, his tongue parting her lips before slipping
into her mouth. He’d missed this the most, but instead of
trembling under him like she had all those years ago, she bit the tip
of his tongue with a needy little snarl and kissed him like she’d
forgotten how to do anything else, teeth and tongue and desperate
gripping hands, pulling him closer.

They
didn’t
know each other anymore, but that could change in a moment. A
heartbeat. And it would be all too easy to lose himself in her.