“My name is Jessa Lebron, and this is my mate, Braxton Compass,” the chick said confidently. “We’re here as a favor to a friend, to temporarily fill in as teachers for this class.”
The room went deathly silent, and I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. It seemed like the moment she’d mentioned their names, everyone went into shock.
A hand rose in the middle of the room, and Jessa flicked her long dark hair back. “Yep,” she said, with just a little impatience.
“Are—” The student broke off to clear his throat. “Are youtheJessa Lebron?”
Jessa blinked down at him before she shook her head. A small smirk appeared on Braxton’s face behind her as he crossed his massive arms.
“Yes,” Jessa said with a sigh. “I’m the Lebron you’ve probably heard about. The dragon marked and all that bullshit. Yes, Braxton is a dragon shifter, and no, he will not shift for you, so don’t ask. We’re here to teach you all how to fight, how to defend yourselves, and how to handle whatever Atlantis brings when it finally rises. Once we have that all worked out, we’ll be heading back home to Stratford with the tyrants.”
Braxton shook his head. “Jessa, babe, you have got to stop calling the twins tyrants,” he said in a deep, rumbly, sexy-as-hell voice.
She shrugged, but didn’t agree to anything.
Twins.Jesus. I could only imagine miniature versions of these two supes. They’d be both adorable and scary.
“They’re like really,reallyfucking famous,” Amanda whispered breathlessly, her eyes so wide they took up half her face. “Like … Braxton is the leader of the supernatural council in America, along with his quad brothers.”
Compass.“Tyson Compass?” I asked, remembering one of the guys mentioning his name.
She nodded. “Youngest supe to ever become a sorcerer. They’re legit legends. I can’t believe we’re going to learn from them.”
I wondered then if the favor had been for Louis; he was from Stratford and would have well-connected and powerful friends. My insides were filled with heat, energy bursting to life at the thought of learning from supes like this. This was invaluable. Now I was triple excited that I’d decided to take this class.
“Everyone line up,” Jessa said. “I want one long line.”
Students started to move, and eventually we all got into a line that spanned half of the room. Jessa and Braxton waited near the fight ring for us to sort ourselves out. When we were all situated, they walked toward the first student and introduced themselves. Then Jessa, who was dressed in gym clothing, faced the student.
“Attack me,” she said.
She was across from a guy, shifter for sure, who towered over her in height. I waited for Braxton to step up and act all protective, but he remained back.
“Uh, I … I don’t want to hit you,” the guy sort of stammered, looking very unsure.
Jessa waved an arm at him. “You won’t hurt me, I promise. All of you should have done some defense and fighting classes in your junior years. I can’t assess how to train you until I know your level of skill. So … attack me.”
From my position, I could just make out how pale he was, but he didn’t argue again, he just threw a half-hearted punch in her direction. Jessa had enough time to roll her eyes, jerk her head to the side, and catch his punch, twisting his arm around and kicking out his legs to land him on his knees while she held his arm in a position to allow an easy break.
She released him quickly, stepping back. “Up!” she said shortly. “Again.”
Some confidence, probably fueled by anger, embarrassment, and ego, entered his face, and he jumped to his feet. This time he attacked strongly, throwing out two-three punch combos before side-kicking. Jessa dodged each, sparring quickly with him before she got him on the ground again in less than a minute.
“You go over there,” she told the guy, pointing to the right side of the fight ring.
This continued on and on, and it was soon obvious that she was sending the skilled fighters to the left side of the ring and the mediocre fighters to the right. No one went easy on her after that, but somehow she still managed to put every single fighter on the ground.
“No magic!” she yelled when a wizard lost control and shot a spell off at her. It didn’t hit because Braxton moved super-fast, stepping between her and the spell. The magic bounced almost harmlessly off his broad chest.
“Dragon shifters are immune to a lot of magic. And when they’re in their dragon form, they’re so powerful…” Amanda whispered from beside me.
I nodded, but I was too nervous to really think about it. Unlike the others here, I hadn’t grown up in supe communities. I had zero fight training outside of knowing how to throw a punch if cornered by a handsy dude at a party.
And Jessa was almost to me.
Damon, who was two students down, faced off against her. I’d seen him in action before—he was quick and skilled, and he had an abundance of confidence.
“Attack,” Jessa said, her eyes assessing him carefully. She seemed to note that he was in a stance very similar to her own, looking completely at ease. She started to move on her feet then, light bounces, like she was preparing herself for the strike.
