Skye’s Limits by Stephani Hecht Read Free Book Online

soldier in the damn coalition, everyone would still think he was nothing more than a loser. The worst part of it was, Skye had nobody to blame for it but himself. All the culpability lay at his size ten feet.
    He began to put on the sparring equipment in short jerky movements. Those Hawks had been right, he was nothing more than a useless stoner. He might as well give it up now. Why even try to pretend that he was something that he wasn’t? He may as well save Alden all the trouble and just give up now.
    “Are you done pouting? Can we get going?” Alden asked.
    Rage filled Skye. How dare Alden egg him on when he was the one who started this whole thing? Skye wondered what it was that he’d ever seen in the guy in the first place. He was nothing but a big jerk.
    Getting into a fighting position, Skye nodded his head. He wasn’t even giving Alden the satisfaction of speaking to him. Let the asshole talk to the wall for all Skye cared.
    They began to spar. This time, Skye fought with all his might. He used all his anger. His anger at the Ravens who had fucked up his life. His anger at those who had dissed him all along. His anger at Alden. All of it.
    At first, he missed most of his punches. But soon he started to get some punches in. Then to his surprise and delight, he started to get even more in. Skye continued to fight on, not holding back.
    Then he got one good one in. It hit Alden straight in the face. There was a loud crunching noise and blood sprayed everywhere. Skye let out a gasp of horror as he realized he’d broken Alden’s nose.
    “Shit!” Skye said.
    Alden bent over as blood dripped all over the place. Skye ran over and grabbed a gym towel, quickly bringing it back over. “Here, hold this over it.”
    Alden did, the white towel becoming red as the blood continued to flow.
    “I am so sorry,” Skye said.
    Alden shifted and so soon there was huge-ass Tiger in Alden’s place. Skye took a couple of steps back and said, “Like I said, I’m really, really, sorry. I didn’t mean to do it.”
    The Tiger came up closer and nudged Skye with its big nose. Skye stumbled back. His heart began to beat fast, hoping that Alden wasn’t pissed at him and going to take a chunk out of him for retaliation.
    “Alden, I said I was sorry. What more do you want?”
    The Tiger shifted, and soon Alden was standing in its place. “Well, for one thing, you could be congratulating yourself for finally getting in a good punch.”
    Skye gave him an incredulous look. “Are you kidding me? I broke your nose and made you bleed all over the place.”
    “True, but you got in a well-placed blow. That’s a first. We should be celebrating, not worrying about a little blood being shed. It happens all the time in training. You better get used to it if you want to be a soldier,” Alden warned him.
    “But I didn’t want to hurt you. I did it because I was mad at you,” Skye admitted.
    Alden let out a sigh as he ran his hands through his short hair. “You had every right to be angry at me.”
    Skye shook his head to make sure he was hearing okay. “Are you kidding me?”
    “No, I’m not. I was being an asshole earlier. I’m man enough to admit it.”
    Skye nipped on his bottom lip. “Why did you yell at me then?”
    “I was worried about you. I care a lot about you, and I was worried that you had messed up.”
    Skye’s heart skipped a beat. “You care about me.”
    Alden looked up at the sky. “Yeah, I do. More than I should, but I do.”
    Skye wanted to pinch himself to make sure that he wasn’t dreaming. “Why? What’s wrong with you caring about me?”
    “You’re my student. I should be keeping my distance from you.”
    Ooooooohhhhh…so those looks hadn’t been imagined after all. A thrill of happiness went through Skye, and he almost did a happy dance. Instead, he took a step closer to Alden.
    “What would you say if I told you that I care about you, too?” Skye asked.
    “I would say that we are treading on