Chapter 130

*Ivan*


Drake took his leave. He seemed like he had forgiven himself at least a little bit. But I could tell how dead serious he was about not letting anything or anyone take Ariya away from me. The mate bond between us was powerful. I wanted to make sure that Ariya and I were so powerful that no one could even touch either of us. But that meant so much training. I wasn’t sure how much time we would have but every second counted. I needed to make sure that I was able to protect her.
“Breathe, Ivan. I know you want to protect me. But for now, we need to sleep.” Ariya whispered.
I looked down at her. She was laying in my arms. We were in our mind and I wanted the peacefulness of this moment to last forever. I cleared my thoughts and rolled to my side so I could hold her. Ariya’s head was nestled into my chest. I rested my head just above hers so I could breathe in her scent the entire night. Within seconds I was drifting off to sleep. It had been a long day and there was still so much work that needed to be done.
An alarm sounded in our mind and Ariya groaned as she stirred in my arms. I kissed her on the top of her head as I moved to get up.
“I have to start getting ready, princess.” I told her.
“It’s sooo early.” She grumbled.
“I know, but it means I get to see you soon.” I laughed.
Ariya brightened up immediately, “I can actually hug you!”
“I know, it’s not the same in our mind. At least we can still have some parts of it. We should let Drake know that the alarm rings throughout our mind.” I laughed.
Ariya pushed the thought to Drake to let him know that we were up. Drake seemed exhausted as well. He didn’t show up this time, just connected to our mind like an intercom. He was thankful that we let him know and then severed the connection and went back to sleep.
I got up and our connection shifted so I could actually move my body. It was kind of weird being able to detach from my body.
*It’s kind of like our mind, body, and spirit are 3 fully different things.* Ariya pointed out.
*True, it’s like our mind is the place that we can go to. Where our thoughts and feelings can reside. But our body is our physical form. Then our spirit is like a form of energy that can be changed in a way.* I thought.
*Something tells me we’re going to need to strengthen all 3 of them to be able to make it through all of this.* Ariya said.
*We’ll figure out how to. It’s just going to take time.* I told her.
I started getting ready for the day. I made food quickly and got changed. Before I knew it I was heading out the door. Ariya had stayed awake this time, keeping me company while I got ready for the day. I left heading to the facility. Our connection was getting stronger with each passing day. It was getting easier to establish our minds being connected and we were able to feel what the other felt better. I was able to tell her reactions even without seeing her face. I could tell if she was grinning or pouting at this point.
I neared the front of the building and Ariya went quiet as usual. I opened the front door and walked through security. Like last night the guards all seemed to shake in fear when they saw me. They greeted me in the usual way and I responded with my 1 word answer as usual. I went to my office and completed any paperwork that was left for me. After all was done, I swung by the room Ariya was in. I already knew she was awake but she turned the light on as well.
“I’m just dropping off food for you. I’ll be checking in with Boss in a minute.” I told her.
Ariya nodded but didn’t say anything out loud. She knew I had done it on purpose. Though we knew no one was watching or heard us.
*I really want to kiss you, princess.* I told Ariya in our mind.
*I know but you need to see Boss first. Besides, didn’t he say he would explain about the ability thing today?* Ariya asked.
*He said he would but I’m not sure if he meant immediately. I’m also not sure if he’ll tell you directly.*
*He might. Your memory showed that he knows I saw. I had my Dragon’s Eye activated. I’m sure he’s assuming I saw everything.*
*It could be dangerous, Ari.* I warned her.
*It’s ok. Boss might give us more information than he plans to. We just have to do what he does to me. Read between the lines and pay attention.*
Ariya finished eating and I looked at the time. I had about 5 minutes until Boss showed up. It was just enough time to walk to his office.
*I’ll be back, Ari.* I told her.
*Are you severing the connection?* She asked and I could feel the worry in her voice.
*No, just leaving the room.* I reassured her.
*Oh, ok.*
*I told you, I want to be connected with you as much as possible and as much as you’ll let me.*
I felt Ariya grin as I walked down the hallway.
*I want to be connected to you as much as possible too.*
I grinned internally, keeping my outward expression blank. I got to Boss’s office right on time. Boss raised an eyebrow, surprised that I had met him at his office instead of beating him there and waiting outside.
“She was up, I gave her food already.” I told him.
“She’s up earlier today.” Boss noted.
“Probably from the fight yesterday. She passed out pretty early. I had a feeling she’d be up earlier today.” I explained.
Boss chuckled, “You did good yesterday. It was better than I expected. She’s fast though.”
I nodded, “I’m still faster.”
“Not nearly as much faster as I thought you would be. Ariya is only going to get stronger. It’s probably best if you work on increasing your speed. She’s likely to start working out. She’s been there long enough, she’s probably getting antsy.” Boss chuckled.
*Well I guess we don’t have to convince him.* I thought to Ariya.
“Do you want me to stop her from working out?” I asked him.
“No, let her. She needs to get stronger anyway. If we’re going to beat Drake she needs to be able to get as strong as him.” Boss said.
“It could take a while if we just let her try to do it. She’s likely not going to workout when I’m in the room.” I told him.
“True. I thought about having you train her more so she increases her power faster but I don’t want her to get stronger than you. We don’t need her to become a problem.”
“I can keep ahead of her. I just need to be able to train on my own outside of basically training with her.” I told him.
*Careful, Boss might get suspicious if you push training me.* Ariya warned.
*Don’t worry, Ari. I’m just telling Boss what he wants. He wants me to be the one that is ok with adding more work onto myself.* I told her.
“Are you sure you can keep ahead of her? She’s going to progress at a rapid rate.” Boss warned me.
“I’m sure. If I think she’s even getting close to my level I’ll let you know. Do you think we’d be able to use her against them?” I asked.
“It’s possible, but I doubt it. She’s getting memories back which means her old self, the one that was raised by the Navi, is going to become more predominant. I doubt she’ll turn on her own. Especially the Ivan boy. Whoever and wherever he is. She may not remember everything about him, but she loves him. That is evident in her memories. Turning on Drake though, she might be willing to do that if the circumstances are right.” Boss told me.
“So for now we let her gain strength so we can use her to figure out how to beat Drake.”
“Exactly. Keep her in the room when you train. I don’t need the others seeing what’s going on. Your performance yesterday has them quaking in their boots.” Boss chuckled.
“I noticed. The guards seem absolutely terrified.” I laughed with him.
“They should be. None of them should think they’re capable of defeating her.” Boss said, growing serious.
“I hope I’m not overstepping, but if we make her strong enough that she’s on the level with Drake, what’s the point if no one outside of you and I can beat them?” I asked him.
“That’s part of the point. The Navi are strong. Stronger than any of the people that we have here. They’ll be training trying to get stronger but Ariya is beyond their capabilities. The only ones strong enough are us and the Enforcers. Once she reaches the right level, I’ll have the Enforcers join the fun.” Boss grinned wickedly.
“Is that what happened with Ryker?” I asked.
Boss smirked, “I was wondering when you were going to ask me about him.”
My eyebrows pushed together, “What do you mean?”
“You didn’t realize your memories aren’t really there of him? I mean I guess it has been about 9 years since you last saw him. It would make sense that your memories are faded. You trained with him for 3 years and then saw him periodically for the next 2?”
“I didn’t realize.” I said, thinking hard.
“Ryker left your training alone but once he joined the Enforcers he broke some of those memories. He had to. None of the Enforcers' identities are public knowledge.” Boss explained.
“Why tell me now?” I asked, confused.
“Because, I think it’s time for Ryker to come back and help you to continue training. He’s the only one I’ve seen be stronger than you. It wouldn’t give you a break from watching Ariya though, I’m afraid. Ryker isn’t too thrilled about watching someone for a long time. Though he might make an exception since you initially trained Ariya. He’s likely to be intrigued.” Boss snickered.