Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 49

Much as it was hard to convince him, testing had to be done to see where we were on the scale of deterioration. Our home held the equipment necessary to keep a lycan warlord in top physical condition, when he told me I needed to work on my fitness, I suppose he was speaking the truth. Sitting on one of the weight benches, in nothing but the clinging athletic shorts, the female nurse takes his heart rate while K examines the black scarring across his chest. 

"That looks super cool." She comments to Landon who nods in agreement. 

"Like a villain!-" He stops himself and clears his throat. "Sorry, we've been gaming all night."

Sometimes I forget how young he is. The man had been a simple barista, shoved into our world for his knowledge of technology. "Landon, do you have any thoughts on our situation? K?" I ask hopefully. "This is beyond anything we've faced, yesterday he coughed up blood and while he has been brawling... he's healing much slower than he used to."

"He is old." K teases, sticking out her tongue as my husband glares at her. Yawning, she stretches and takes a step back to allow the nurse to check respirations. I ignore the discomfort on his face, I couldn't allow the wolf to take notice. It was hard enough to let anyone else touch him. "Well. You said 'Randy' wants to kill himself, dramatic as that is, if that's how he feels and he commits to it even erasing his memory is going to erase the emotional imprint it leaves."

Landon seems to agree with this. "Exactly. You're going to have to set things right before we can send them back, and we also need to pin down a timeline of when they need to go back. There's only a very tiny sliver in history that they can be inserted into. Tyler is doing his best to work within the dragon realm as he had with Helen to bring you both here, but things are sort of a mess. The dragons are not happy with our intrusions."

I hadn't considered how they would feel about this. 

"It's quite possible this will be the last time anyone is allowed into the realm. If at all. They seem to want to set this right, but they are dragons after all." He scratches his head with a sigh. "Tyler has been a bit of a mess since this whole Helen thing, I know he's trying to put on a good show but... mmm." Landon hesitates, not sure if he wants to put much more on us. "Is it true Kestrel is gone?"

"Gentlemen. You're making this very difficult for me. His heart rate is way higher since you both started talking." The nurse complains, glancing toward Verando apologetically. 

"I feel fine." He mumbles. "Let's get this over with." Standing, he comes face to chest with the poor unsuspecting woman who flushes, quickly averting her eyes. 

"Oh lord." She whispers, red-faced as she gestures to the treadmill. "Let's work through your endurance, we have your counts from a few months ago, we can start there. You're obviously not... lacking.. in physical condition." She practically chokes, keeping her eyes on the clipboard. 

Normally I'd feel a flash of protective nature at the sight of such admiration but frankly, the poor woman was under the spell of the breeding. She wasn't flirting with him, she was terrified of him, I hold back a snicker. 

Slipping on a respirator, he climbs onto the treadmill with an eye roll. The mask increased difficulty, it was hard for man-made items to challenge a Lycan's endurance and the man was built for running. For as much damage as he'd taken through his lifetime, he was still incredibly agile, his 'repairs' had improved the unevenness he used to hold and the fluidity had returned to his stride. 

K points to a mark on the chart. "Right knee and calf, you can't keep him on the treadmill for long, he develops a hitch."

She nods. "Yes... I noted the damage."