I whimpered out a protest even as my body arched into him, reacting to the way his cloudy eyes were staring down at me. He dropped one of his hands to wrap tightly around my spine.
“Your fight is the thing which sets you apart from other dwellers,” he whispered into my ear as he held my trembling body. “But you have to learn to recognise when you can’t win.”
Oh no he didn’t.
I grabbed my skirt again, but I moved deliberately slowly this time, keeping myself pressed against him. I bunched it up into my hands, inch by inch, as his eyes flickered from my face, watching as the material climbed higher up my legs.
“Dweller…” he ground out.
For just a moment, unadulterated pain flashed through me, but as quickly as it happened, it was gone, leaving only an echo of it for me to react to. Coen blinked rapidly, once, twice, and then his gaze was back on my face. I had broken his concentration.
Willa for the win!
He frowned, obviously hearing that thought, but it was too late for him. My dress was up high enough now.
“What was that thing you said before?” I asked, as the gathered sols began to grow impatient, shouting things at us.
“You have to learn to recognise when you can’t—”
I swung my knee up into his balls.
His breath rushed from him and he stumbled back, his hands falling away from me.Whoops. Ihadintended to knee him; I just hadn’t intended to knee himthere.I froze at the newly tinted green of his eyes, and in that moment, I was pretty sure that I was seeing death. Coen wasn’t a pain-gifted sol at all. He wasdeath.
I held both hands up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to …” I was backing up, my hands still above me. The crowds were noisy around us now, and even though I never planned on it, I decided to surrender.
Just as I opened my mouth to shout it out, a zap of energy shot through me, and no sound emerged from my mouth. I tried again as Coen stalked toward me. He had recovered in a mere moment, which didn’t seem fair. I’d never get away with another underhanded shot like that again. It should have at least given me two clicks’ reprieve. I tried for a third time to speak, and still no sound emerged.
My eyes flicked across to the glass box and I just knew one of those assholes had done something to me. They wanted to see what Coen would do. How far he would go. Whether he would hurt me or not. Whether he wouldkillme or not. I, on the other hand, didn’t want to see what Coen would do at all. That wasn’t the kind of knowledge that I required. I would have happily flounced right out of the arena, shaved off all my hair, and slipped into the unassuming role of Will Knight, sans obvious nipples, to hide from the gods. But I couldn’t do that, because the guys felt some kind of obligation to the gods, or the gods had some kind of control over them. And I felt some kind of obligation to the Abcurses, or they had some kind of control over me. Really, obligation and control were becoming more or less synonymous to me.
And there was one more, tiny little thing.
The gods were cheating.
They were taking away my ability to surrender, and that was unfair. That made me mad. I stopped backing away from Coen, blinking as though I was about to start bawling like a little girl. He totally bought it. Idiot Abcurse. He frowned, some of the danger edging out of his walk as he approached me. I dropped to my knees, my hands tangling in the sand. I was really milking it.
“As much as I like this,” Coen’s voice rumbled, his hand in my hair. “You actually need tosaythat you surrender.”
For a just a few, weak moments, I flirted with the fact that I didn’t have the strength of will to resist Coen and his deep, rumbling voice. I considered that I wanted to be on my knees before him, and …
But no.
Nope.
I was Willa Freaking Knight. Baddass Extraordinaire. Best Dweller in the World. And I was going to attempt to kick the ass of the massive Pain sol even if it was the last thing I did.
“Take this!” I shouted … ormouthed,more like, but my point was still made.
I tossed the sand into his face, surging to my feet and running away from him.
Before I could figure out a plan, a huge body slammed into me and lifted me up to drive us across the arena, all the way to the barrier where the Abcurses still stood.
My back slammed against the wall. It was hard and hurt a little, but nothing like it would have if Coen had used all of his muscle.
His breath washed across my cheek, and I went a little dizzy at the woodsy, fresh-cut pine scent he had going on. I could feel his body trembling; he was on the brink of losing control and I couldn’t even open my mouth to try and save myself. Instead, I tossed my arms around his neck, plastering myself to him in a fierce hug.
I might have been a terrible fighter, but I was a stellar hugger. One of the best.
When I drew back, Coen’s stone-chip eyes locked onto mine like a predator to his prey, and I could feel the faint vibration of his growl as it passed from his chest to mine. Instinct took over and I leaned closer to snuggle my face into that spot between his shoulder and neck.
