Shit. Being underneathyour attacker was the worst possible position to be in. He straddled me, hisbulk 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 bothknees up, but he was too strong.
As I struggled, hecontinued to stare at me, those black eyes piercing and strangely empty. “You’redead,” he said. “If this were the culling, you’d have been gone in fiveseconds.”
He released my neck and Irolled over gasping and coughing. I popped up quickly and placed my hands upagain, sucking in huge lungfuls of air. Mothereffer was going down.
“Yes!” Zeke said. “Useanger, come on. Show me what you’ve got!”
Once I managed to breathefreely again, I was up and bouncing on the tips of my feet, trying to rememberthat I was an ash. I was stronger and faster than my human self. With a battlecry I ran at him, spinning and delivering a roundhouse kick to the side of hishead. He fell backward, but used his long legs to snake out and trip me.
I landed on my rightelbow, but was able to prop myself up before he could pounce on me again. Hewas too big and strong; I couldn’t allow him to take me to the ground. I kickedout and smashed him in the stomach with my heel. He winced as I jumped back upinto standing position.
“She’s scrappy,” Rydercalled out to Zeke. Damn straight. Scrappy Charlie. Bring it on, you beautifulbastard.
Zeke lifted a brow atRyder. “She’d scrappy, but also slow and weak.”
Before I could track hismovements, his arm snaked out lightning-quick and karate-chopped me in thethroat. I bent over gasping as his knee came out of nowhere and cracked me inthe skull. Then it was lights out.
Chapter 5
I came to groaning; the throbbing in myskull 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 thefreak? Where were my awesome ash healing powers?
I cracked open one eyelidto see Jayden peering at me. His dark eyes flashed and he looked worried.
I sighed. “I feel likeshit.” My thirst knocked into me as Jayden handed me a bottle of blood from ourrefrigerator.
His full lipsstraightened as he frowned at me. “Yeah, skull fractures take a while to heal.”
My eyes widened as I satand chugged the glorious blood, moaning a little. I couldn’t help it, blood wasso damn good now. But seriously … I had a skull fracture? I thought I wassupposed be training, not getting completely broken beyond repair.
After downing the bottle,I looked at Jayden. “Did everyone see? Did all those assholes laugh?”
He chewed his bottom lip.“Not really.”
I could already tell whenhe was lying. His luscious lashes fluttered around like they were butterflywings trying to take flight.
“Liar,” I said, wantingto roll my eyes, but figuring it would probably increase the ache in my head.
He leaned into me alittle more. “Well, they might have at first, but Ryder put a stop to thatfast. He threw one of the trainers across the room and into the stadium.”
Well, that wasinteresting.
The blood started to workits magic and I was already feeling a bit better. I sat up, ignoring the faintthrobbing in my skull.
“So I’m definitely a deadperson once the culling begins. Awesome.” I gave two thumbs up.
Jayden shot me a weaksmile. “I don’t think so. I heard that after seeing you get your ass kicked, andthrowing around a few members of the Hive, a certain scrumptious badass offeredto train you himself.”
I swallowed hard, myheart picking up. “Ryder is going to train me?”
Jayden nodded.
I was sort of intriguedabout that. Why would Ryder offer to train me? And did I even want him to? Iwas slowly starting to forget that electrocuting me thing he’d done. I wasfalling victim to that chiseled jaw and those damn elusive dimples.
Jayden extended his hand.“Come on. I have something to make you feel better.”
I took it and let himhelp me up. The room spun for a minute.
“A margarita?” I asked,and he chuckled.
