Refuge(108)

After I’d done countless air punches to his satisfaction, he stood in front of me. “Hit me.”

“What?”

“Strike me.”

I frowned. “I’m not going to hit you.”

One corner of his mouth lifted. “Trust me, you won’t hurt me.”

“But – ”

“If you want to learn to fight, you’ll have to get used to hitting people.” He raised his hands in front of his chest, palms toward me. “Now hit me.”

“Don’t temp me,” I muttered. I got into position and struck out with my right hand. It hit his open hands with a small smacking sound.

“Shoulders forward. Now hit me again.”

My fist tapped his palm a second time.

“Relax those arms. Again.”

Over and over, he had me strike at him as he barked instructions like a drill sergeant. First we practiced my right arm, and when he was finally satisfied, he made me start the same drills with my left one. I lost count of the number of punches I threw, but I was sweating and my arms ached by the time he put his hands down and told me to take a short breather.

Barely five minutes passed before he handed me a set of dumbbells. “Now we work on strength training and conditioning. We’ll stop when you can’t go anymore.” I narrowed my eyes at his barely concealed smirk. He was enjoying this.

Two hours later, I dropped the skipping rope in my hand and leaned, panting, against the wall. It was all I could do not to face-plant on one of the exercise mats, and the only thing that kept me upright was my determination not to collapse and concede defeat to Nikolas.

He picked up the rope and hung it on a hook. “Ready to call it quits for today?”

“No, just catching my breath.” I stepped away from the wall and my exhausted legs quivered, but I stayed on my feet. “What’s next?”

Admiration flashed in his eyes, and I felt a ridiculous burst of pleasure. He had pushed me hard for hours, and I think we were both surprised I was still on my feet.

He turned away and began stacking weights on the rack in the corner. “I think that’s enough for now. You don’t want to overdo it in your first session.”

“Okay.” I was not going to argue with him. I’d proven myself, and now the healing baths called to me like a siren’s song. I couldn’t believe I’d thought Callum’s lessons were tough. I would be lucky to walk tomorrow . . . if I didn’t fall asleep in the bath and drown myself.

“Tomorrow we’ll start working with the bag,” he said as if it was some kind of reward.

Holding back a groan, I opened the door. “Yay.”

I could have sworn I heard a soft laugh as the door shut behind me.





* * *


“Hey, Sara, mind if I sit with you?”

“Huh?” My head jerked up from where it had been resting on my hand, and I squinted at the blond boy standing in front of me holding a lunch tray. “Oh, hi, Michael. Sure, have a seat.”

I sat up straighter and surreptitiously wiped my chin in case I’d drooled when I dozed off. A quick glance around the room assured me that Nikolas was not there to see me falling asleep over my lunch. Not even a long soak in the baths had helped me after training with him all morning.

“Thanks.” Michael sat across from me and started eating his sandwich. After a few bites, he laid it down and pressed his lips together like he wanted to say something. I didn’t press him because I figured he would spit it out if he wanted to.

“I heard what happened in town,” he said at last. “Everyone’s been talking about it. Did you and Jordan really kill three vamps all by yourselves?”

“Yes, but they were baby vamps and Jordan took out two of them.” I told him the story although I knew he’d heard Jordan’s version already.

His blue eyes shone with excitement. “Wow! That’s totally awesome.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Yep, I guess it was.”

“I’m glad you’re okay.” He picked at his food. “You didn’t come down at all yesterday, and I wondered how you were doing.”

“I was just chilling.” Michael was way too sweet to be a warrior. He should be a healer or something like that because I could not picture him killing anything, not even a vampire.

He nodded and took another bite of sandwich, chewing slowly before he spoke again. “Can I ask you, is it true about you and Nikolas?” As soon the question was out, his face reddened. “Sorry. I know it’s none of my business.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s not like it’s a big secret.” I refrained from sighing because I knew I was going to have to face the questions and comments sometime.