Free Remy by Susan Bliler

Winter was nearly here.
    Remy bristled as Recker approached.  He knew he was supposed to be supervising his own team, not watching what was happening on the human team, but he’d been having difficulty keeping his eyes off Harlow.  He played off the fact that she was a new recruit to keep his team from suspecting anything.  All Sentries at StoneCrow were his responsibility now, so he didn’t bother defending the fact that he’d just ignored Recker and Shane’s match to watch Harlow get taken down for the umpteenth time since hand-to-hand training began. 
    Recker tilted his head to watch the training taking place out in the field.  “What in the fuck is she doing?”
    James stepped up, speaking around a bite of apple he’d opted to choke down before his turn at fighting came up.  “Oh, she’s getting her ass kicked.”
    Remy growled.
    “Easy, XO.”  James held up his hands in mock surrender. “Just making an observation.”
    Shane joined them, frowning at her pitiful attempts to get up from beneath David.  “She’s terrible.”
    Remy didn’t respond.  He just watched, silently willing Harlow to pull David down closer to her so he’d lose his center of balance and give her a chance to roll to her feet.  She didn’t.  Remy’s eyes snapped to Josef and he listened to the advice the team lead was giving Harlow. It was good advice, she just wasn’t following it.  He knew why.  He could scent the panic rolling off her in waves.  None of her team recognized that she was drowning right now, but he did, and so did the Walkers beside him.
    Shane’s angry gaze jerked to him.  “You gonna do something about that?”
    By the Gods, he wanted to, but this was it.  He had a feeling that, if he could just manage to force himself to stand back, just a little while longer, Harlow would break. Then, he’d be free of her.  Two more days like this and she’d be begging him to cut her from the team.  Problem was, he didn’t know if he could handle watching it for another two minutes, let alone two more days.  “No.”  He answered simply.
    They watched as David laughed, then grabbed Harlow’s hair and dropped to a knee.  He rolled her onto her stomach and snaked an arm under her belly to lift her up so her ass was aligned with his hips.
    “Fuck this!” Shane snarled, and he and Recker stalked toward the fighting ring, but didn’t get the chance to interfere. 
    Josef, Harlow’s team lead, jerked David up by the throat, shoving him hard into the tall cowboy on their team, Aaron.  Aaron’s large arms wrapped around David’s, holding him in place as Josef slowly leaned in, a murderous look on his face.  “She!”  He jabbed his finger toward Harlow where she rolled slowly to her feet with Brian’s help.  “Is your teammate!”
    “This is fucking training,” David countered, his eyes leaving Josef to go to Harlow.  “We don’t pull punches here.  You know that!  If women can’t hack it...”
    “Oh no, he didn’t !” 
    Remy’s head turned as Nyree broke off from her team of Walkers who’d also been watching and stalked to where David was still being held.  She and Beth were both fully human, but some of the most highly trained Sentries he had. 
    Nyree jerked her chin to Aaron.  “Let him go.” 
    Aaron did as commanded and Remy smirked.  David was about to get his ass handed to him by the baddest female on any team, and he deserved it. 
    Letting his eyes drift from where Nyree was striping down to a form fitted T, Remy settled his gaze on Harlow.  She looked so damn sad, and when she lowered her chin, he knew she was disappointed in herself.  His thought was confirmed when Brian tried to reach for her, but she jerked away with an angry, “I’m fine.  I’m just used to fighting on my feet is all.”
    Shane growled as he and Recker came back from their attempted rescue.  “You need to fix that.”
    Tearing his eyes from Harlow and the pain she was causing in his chest,