“Are you going to stand out here all day or do you actually plan on learning something.”
I tried not to jump as Ryder’s deep voice broke through my thoughts. Dammit, he’d snuck up on me again. I turned to glare at him, startled to see he was with another ash, tall and pale with short, military-style dark blond hair. God these men were gorgeous. I wasn’t sure how long my hormones could be stemmed here and have no release. My fear and distrust used to keep the interest at bay, but I was slowly becoming desensitized to their freak ways and now only seemed to zero in on their hotness. Plus, I was starting to see that blaming an entire race for the actions of two assholes, was pretty darn unfair.
When I didn’t answer, Ryder introduced blondie. “This is Zeke, your trainer.”
I scanned Zeke up and down. He looked buff, like he might be a deadly weapon, but nothing like Ryder. “Hi, I’m number forty-six.” I shook his hand, giving Ryder a bright smile. Laced with venom of course.
The corners of Ryder’s lips curled slightly.
Zeke nodded as he released my hand. “Do you have any training at all?”
I stood taller. “Yes, women’s self-defense, shooting range, and I’m a runner.”
Zeke huffed as if that was nothing. “Well then, let’s see what you got.”
He opened the double doors and I was assaulted by the smell of leather, blood, and sweat. For the first time, the noises from within were audible. The room was soundproofed. There was a lot of grunting going on, especially as most of the ash were being slammed onto the mats that littered the open gym floor. Looking up, there were huge exposed rafters and a forty-foot ceiling. Surrounding the fight-zone were a few spectators sitting in bleachers suspended above the gym on some upper floor viewing area. Great, a crowd.
I followed Zeke to an open area. Ryder took a spot leaning against the wall to watch.
Zeke planted his big frame in front of me. “Okay, attack.”
“Like, for real?” I scratched my arm nervously. Damn, he wasted no time.
“Like, totally for real,” he said in a valley girl voice. Asshole. I put my hands in front of me in a boxer’s stance and heard Ryder and a few of the other trainers chuckle behind me. Bastards, all of them.
I decided to act like the airhead they clearly thought I was, stumbling forward and pretending I was going to clock Zeke in the face. He acted as I expected – his arms lifted to block my pathetic attempts at a swing. Then, instead of throwing the punch, I whipped my leg up and kneed him in the groin, connecting solidly. The air whooshed out of him. This was followed by a groan as he curled in on himself.
I forced myself not to smile, but that was perfect. And would hopefully teach him not to treat me like a Barbie doll. My celebration was short-lived though. He recovered quicker than I expected and threw himself forward, taking me down to the ground.
Shit. Being underneath your attacker was the worst possible position to be in. He straddled me, his bulk securing my limbs, and in seconds he had an elbow to my throat. I squirmed, trying to breathe. Ash needed to breathe or they died, right? I tried to pull both knees up, but he was too strong.
As I struggled, he continued to stare at me, those black eyes piercing and strangely empty. “You’re dead,” he said. “If this were the culling, you’d have been gone in five seconds.”
He released my neck and I rolled over gasping and coughing. I popped up quickly and placed my hands up again, sucking in huge lungfuls of air. Mothereffer was going down.
“Yes!” Zeke said. “Use anger, come on. Show me what you’ve got!”
Once I managed to breathe freely again, I was up and bouncing on the tips of my feet, trying to remember that I was an ash. I was stronger and faster than my human self. With a battle cry I ran at him, spinning and delivering a roundhouse kick to the side of his head. He fell backward, but used his long legs to snake out and trip me.
I landed on my right elbow, but was able to prop myself up before he could pounce on me again. He was too big and strong; I couldn’t allow him to take me to the ground. I kicked out and smashed him in the stomach with my heel. He winced as I jumped back up into standing position.
“She’s scrappy,” Ryder called out to Zeke. Damn straight. Scrappy Charlie. Bring it on, you beautiful bastard.
Zeke lifted a brow at Ryder. “She’d scrappy, but also slow and weak.”
Before I could track his movements, his arm snaked out lightning-quick and karate-chopped me in the throat. I bent over gasping as his knee came out of nowhere and cracked me in the skull. Then it was lights out.
Chapter 5
I came to groaning; the throbbing in my skull was awful. What the hell had happened to me now? It took a few seconds, but the training hall and Zeke slowly started to come back to me. What the freak? Where were my awesome ash healing powers?