“How alive,” I correct.
I step onto the mat and hold out a hand.
“Come here,” I say.
She looks at my hand like it has cooties.
“I feel like you’re abusing your power as the big scary mob guy,” she says.
“Tallulah,” I say.
She swallows and steps forward.
Her palm hits mine. Callused from typing, soft in places. Too small. Too warm.
“Rule one,” I say. “You don’t let anyone put hands on you without consent. Ever. Including me. If I touch you, it’s because you said I could. If you say stop, it stops. I don’t care if we’re mid-move.”
Her chin comes up. There’s something like respect in her eyes, under all the sarcasm.
“Clear,” she says.
“Say it,” I insist.
“You can touch me,” she says quietly. Then she adds, with a taunting smile, “For training.”
Kael’s threat pulses behind my ribs.
Hands to yourself.
I ignore the part of me that wants to argue technicalities.
“First scenario,” I say instead. “Wrist grab. You don’t yank away, although that’s going to be your first instinct. You rotate. Toward the thumb, not away.”
I close my fingers around her wrist slowly. Thumb over her pulse. Nerves jump under my hand.
“Look at me,” I say.
She does.
“See my thumb?” I ask. “That’s the weak point. You turn your wrist toward it and step in, not back. Use your weight. Don’t try to fight strength with strength you don’t have.”
I guide her through it, hand on her forearm, then at her elbow. We’re close enough that I can feel her breathing change.
“Try it,” I say, letting go.
I watch as she mentally works the problem, then gives a little nod. “Okay. Ready. Grab me.”
I grab.
She sets her shoulders, then over-rotates, stumbles, ends up closer than she meant to be. My hand slides from her wrist to her forearm to her side, steadying.
Her whole body hits my front in a soft, unplanned collision.
My fingers dig into the curve of her waist on reflex.
Every cell in my body goes on high alert.
Kael’s voice snaps through my head like a gunshot—the minute you touch her like she’s yours, you’re a problem—and I drop my hands as fast as I can make myself.
