Chapter 494
494
Sephie
I knew Adrik wanted to keep me busy. I knew he was trying to decide what to do with the
families of all the bosses and I loved him for trying to protect me from that. It did, however, give
me a chance to have Andrei to myself. I’d been thinking about how to help him connect with his
demon and I was pretty sure I’de up with a solution for it..
He was nervous that he’d be able to control his anger once he finally let it take over. Andrei was
so calm and controlled all the time that he’d only rarely seen the extent of his anger himself. He
was so in control of his anger that he always knew the exact amount to let out to get the job
done. No more, no less. The idea of having to let it all out at once worried him.
“Bubba, I’ve been thinking.” I said as I was making him help me in the kitchen. I’d told him I was
going to make him shortbread that afternoon. At least he had something to look forward to after
he discovered my secret n. Poor kid was a pawn from all directions today.
“Still about red pandas or have you moved on to the quandary of why lions are called the king
of the jungle when they live on the savanna and nowhere near a jungle?” he asked.
My mouth fell open. That answer waspletely unexpected from Andrei. I just started
laughing and couldn’t stop for a few minutes. “I love you so much right now, Bubba,” I said. He
wasughing with me, enjoying a chance to be just the two of us. Out of all of them, Andrei
appreciated one-on-one time the most. He loved that I got closer to him first in the beginning.
He loved that he got put on heater duty whee Adrik wasn’t around. He just liked having a few
things that no one else did. It was a confidence boost for him. He was so handsome and so
capable, but he still ‘t see it in himself all the time. He still hadn’t figured out that even if we did
the same things as the other guys, it was still different because it was him. He was the secret
ingredient. They all were. Every experience was different when viewed through their eyes and
experienced with them.
“Okay, spider monkey, what have you been thinking about? Besides endangered wild, I mean,”
he said, still trying to control hisughter.
“I’ve been thinking about how to get you to connect with your demon. I think it’ll be asier for
you if it’s just the two of us,” I said.
He cut his eyes over to me. “Boss isn’t the only one that requested me to babysit today
Iughed. “No, he’s not. I know why he wants to keep me upied and I love him for trying to
protect me from it. I requested extra time with you when I had the idea of how to get you to
connect with your demon.”
“I feel like I should be objecting more to being just a pawn, but I can’t say I dislike he said,
thoughtfully. I giggled. “Okay, tell me your idea.”
“You’re worried about losingplete control, right?” He nodded his head in agreement. “What
if you take a page from Viktor’s book and do it backward?”
“Exin.”
“What if I show you first how to control it, instead of waiting for it to happen and then showing
you how to control it. I’ve felt your anger before. I know how controlled you keep it on your own,
but I also know you know the exact point you can push it to before you feel that control start to
falter. What if I go nuclear first, then show you how it’s done?”
He thought for a few moments. “That could work. Boss knows you’re doing this, right?)
“No one wille running up here unless it’s absolutely necessary. I talked to himst night
about it. Honestly, I think you’re going to do fine. I think it’s more your confidence in your
abilities than it is anything else. You’re always thest one to believe you can do it. You’re so
good at instilling confidence in everyone else. That’s what makes you such a great trainer. You
just suck at listening to your own advice.”
He chuckled, but looked at the floor. I didn’t need to search to know why he felt that way. “You
know your little brother isn’t better looking than you, right? I mean, he’s not ugly, but he’s in no
way better than you are in any category. You should stopparing yourself to him. Can he kill
someone with just his thumbs?”
Heughed. “No, definitely not.”
“Alright then. What good is he to anyone? S*it hits the fan and he knows what angles are the
best ones to get his reaction shot? How is that in any way a useful skill to have?” He smiled at
me. His wide, genuine smile that let me know I’d just said the thing he’s been needing to hear
for years. I kept going. I can’t help myself. “You’ve probably had to hear how handsome he is
for years. I mean, he’s pretty. He might be prettier than I am, now that I think about it. The thing
about relying on your looks is that your looks don’tst. What’s he got to fall back on when he
starts to age? A *hitty personality that he’s developed because he’s used to getting everything
he wants because of his pretty face.” I walked to Andrei, who was standing cross the kitchen
from me. I slid my arm around his waist, leaning my head on his shoulder. “Some of us are
meant to shine very brightly for a very short time. He’s one of those. His light is going to go out
sooner rather thanter. Some of us though, have lights that might not be as bright, but are so
strong that they will shine for millennia toe because of the marks wy’ve left on the world.
Your light is changing the world sopletely that generations from now will benefit. His is
making it pretty for a few more years. Which would you rather have?”
He’d put his massive arm around my shoulders as I was talking. He squeezed me closer to him,
kissing the top of my head. “I still don’t know how you always know what to say, but please
never stop. You didn’t even need to look in my head to know all that.”
I just held my pinky up to him. He chuckled, grabbing it quickly.
He sighed. “Alright, let’s try your idea. Now that we won the bet pool with Stephen, siess it’s
time I got my act together.”
“Okay, so I think all I need to do is go nuclear and you’ll be able to see how I control. It’s easiest
to think of your anger like a living thing. I like to think of mine as fire, because it’s always felt
hot to me. Fire was the natural choice. Sometimes it’s spoke, sometimes fire. Depends on the
levels needed. But when you think about it like a real thing, then you can picture it, which helps
you control it. Make sense?” said, moving to face him.
“It does make sense. Hit me,” he said.
I couldn’t help but grin at him as I let my anger levels rise to insanely high levels. I could still
feel Adrik now, even with my anger levels this high. I felt his moment of happiness once he felt
my anger, knowing he knew what was happening and was it as ready for it as I was. I saw
Andrei’s moment of surprise when he felt my anger go off the charts. They’d only felt it this high
a few times, so it was still surprising to them when it happened.
1 could feel Andrei looking in my head, watching how I controlled it. He was as good of a
student as he was a teacher. After a few minutes, I knew he had the basics. enough to be able to
try on his own. I also figured out why he was wary of letting his anger levels get that high.
“You’ll be able to still control your demon when your anger takes over, Bubba. That’s what
you’re really scared of, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “I’m worried it’s going to take over.”
“Don’t think of it as an adversary. You were the one that caught on that mine was trying to help
me. Yours is no different. If it wasn’t on board with the program, we all would have caught on to
that fact by now. Don’t think of yours as anything other an a friend. It wants to help you just as
much as mine wants to help me.”
He inhaled deeply, then started to let his anger take over. Andrei was so happy and y-going all
the time that his anger felt almost subduedpared to everyone else. High levels for him
would barely register for someone like Ivan. Much like Stephen, Andrei’s anger was calcted.
It was precise. If it made an appearance, the target was dead before they even knew Andrei was
angry. He had closed his eyes to concentrate, but opened them to look at me. Instead of his
cappino-colored eyes, they were almost ck.
My smile told him he had been sessful in his attempt.
Okay, maybe me jumping up and down in excitement might’ve been a clue too.All content is property ? N?velDrama.Org.