But as much as curiosity was chewing on me, there was no way I was going to walk around looking for the two of them. I wouldn’t let things get that bad that I needed sectioning. Common sense told me that seen as she’d be at the arena within the hour I might as well just sit, eat, drink, and then head over there shortly.

Needless to say, the time dragged. It was worse because I had nothing to do to occupy my thoughts. It only occurred to me as I was making my way to the arena that I didn’t actually have anything to say to Sam that would seem important enough to warrant me walking over there. I’d have to say I was going to observe the training again. I’d actually enjoyed watching last time. Instead of wounding my ego that I’d been wrong about her capabilities, it made me proud of her.

When I arrived at the arena only a few of the recruits were there, chuckling like a bunch of high school kids in a locker room. I waited in the spectators’ box. A few minutes went by before she walked in. I’d have been mesmerised by how snug her simple clothes were against her body, hinting at her toned figure, if it wasn’t for the fact that Max was walking beside her and they were laughing loudly – you know the kind of laugh that tells you that the joke was private between the laughers and you’d never get it?

Sam was two recruits short and the training session wasn’t due to start for a further ten minutes but, to her credit, she ushered Max away; conveying the message that now she was his superior and he’d get the same treatment as everyone else whether he’d taken her to lunch or not.

I was about to telepathically alert her to my presence when she did something that again had me mesmerised: she removed the bobble from her hair, letting her dark hair fall loose from the ponytail, and then smoothed it back before gathering it together to style it into a higher, tighter ponytail. Now I was stuck thinking about how soft those strands were and how good it felt to scrunch them in my hand last night. Just as it had felt good having her lips on my neck. If she’d have sank those teeth into my skin I’d have been inside her before she could even swallow one gulp of my blood.

Didn’t expect to see you here. Her tone was flat and emotionless. I guessed that she had sensed me seen as I knew she hadn’t glanced up.

It’s called keeping a close eye on the progress of our squad. I almost said ‘my squad’ but I figured that wouldn’t help me get back into her good books.

As long as you don’t interfere that’s fine.

That was exactly what I would have said to her had our positions been reversed, so although I’d had no intention of interfering I resisted being defensive. Just as I was about to make a throw-away comment about her lunch date with Max, the final two recruits entered and she quickly rounded them all up like sheep.

Throughout the entire session, I watched her. I couldn’t take my eyes off her; she conducted herself so confidently and had such control over her gift that I was in total awe of her. She basically commanded the entire arena and everything in it just with her presence. Not once did she become unsure of herself. Not once did she lose control of the situation. Her husky voice echoed and teased my ears, hypnotising me almost.

She had the recruits repeat the same exercises of last session, making them practise their gifts on one-another, but this time she acted as a distraction; she threw energy balls or thermal beams or tapped into the natural elements.

“During any kind of battle, the odds of you getting a fair spar with another vampire are slimmer than Commander Michaels’ favourite consort,” she said to them. I had to laugh a little. “There’ll be other vampires coming at you from all angles, even from behind you. It’s important that you’re able to defend yourselves and attack despite these distractions. I’ve been serving as that distraction, but I haven’t attempted to hurt any of you. In a battle, it will be different; the vampires coming at you will have every intention of hurting you. So, we try this again. This time I will aim at you – don’t start whining like girls, I won’t be too harsh. Yes this isn’t fair but battles aren’t fair. The only way you’ll learn to dodge is if you experience what will happen if you don’t. So, let’s go.”

God, she was amazing to watch. The way they all hung off her every word...It was a situation that only an extremely good leader could create and sustain. I had to agree with Antonio – I agree begrudgingly though – that she would make a good co-leader in a battle, and that the squad would benefit from having her there. I’d benefit from having her there.

Was I in any way surprised that the second the session was over Max dashed toward her like a puppy to its master? No. By the looks of it, neither was Sam. When uncertainty flashed on her face, I strained my hearing to listen to their conversation.

“You said you’d never tried eating there and that we could go together some time,” Max was saying to her. “So I just thought, hey no time like the present.”

“You’re not content with whisking me off to eat lunch, you now want to commandeer my entire night as well?” She was laughing but there was awkwardness in it.

“Oh come on, it’s gotta be better than sitting in your apartment munching on crap while Fletcher turns up to eat half of it.”

She smiled in surprise. “How do you know he does that?”

“Sam, please,” – oh he’s begging her now? Pitiful – “put me out of my misery, come out with me later. Please?”

She rolled her gorgeous eyes. “Alright, fine, we’ll go out. You’ll have to give me an hour to change clothes and stuff.”

Motherfucker. I was down there in a second before he could propose anything else like, oh I don’t know, him going to her apartment for ‘coffee’ after the meal. This was so like the feeling of someone trying to take something that was mine. She’d whip me to death if she knew that. She looked up at me, waiting for some kind of comment. I tried really hard to gather the words together to form a compliment about her coaching, but nothing would come out. I just wasn’t practiced at compliments. Her growing smile indicated that she noticed my inner struggle. I could actually feel her amusement.

“So, I’ll come to your apartment in an hour then,” Max said to her. His eyes then darted to me and he shot me a self-satisfied smirk. Yeah, he knew I wanted her and he was sending me a message that it was too late. He really believed that? I almost felt sorry for the guy. Almost.

“I’ll just meet you in the lobby,” Sam told him.