Risking a glance below, I started to debate the safest way to fall and land with minimal injuries.
Eventually, Slade called out, “Push through the pain and fatigue, Emmeline.”
His voice was closer, as if he’d crossed to stand near me. The thought of falling in front of him had a surge of energy propelling me forward, and after forcing myself to take one step at a time, closing my eyes and chanting through the pain, Iactually reached the freakin’ top.
Hanging over the narrow ledge, I huffed in air, internally fist-pumping at my ability to do the hard things today. All ruined by Slade fucking Riverson.
“Any time today, Snow,” he called.
My arms refused to obey me when I attempted to release the wall, and with great reluctance I called, “I might be stuck.”
The rope burns on my hands were already healing, so surely if I hung around here for a few more minutes, the strength would also return to my arms. There was a low rasping laugh from below, and I almost fell off the wall when a huge body landed beside me.
Landed beside me…“What in the Olympic high jumper was that?” I glanced down for sign of another rope, but there was nothing. “Did… did you leap up here?”
He shook his head like I was ridiculous.You’reridiculous, buddy.
“You’re a shifter,” he told me, nostrils flaring. “You should be able to out-Olympic any human in the world. Are you not concerned by your weaknesses? Even the smallest vulnerability can be used against you.”
Adjusting my body on the wall to ease the ache in my ribs, I said, “I probably should be concerned, but honestly, I’ve managed to keep myself alive without any special muscles or skills for years. I wasn’t raised with shifters. I’ve never let my wolf out much, and I’m weaker for it. I won’t apologize for what it took to survive.”
He tilted his head, and I ignored the jolt in my gut that happened whenever his probing stare dissected me. “That’s fair,” he finally said, sounding softer. “But it doesn’t mean we rest there. I will make you stronger, and I will teach you how to harness your reading difficulties. These two areas of your life will improve through me. This is a promise.”
He pressed his hand to his chest, and I had no doubt that on the rare occasions this dragon made a vow, he followed through with it. No matter the personal cost.
“Just—” I huffed, “—try not to kill me along the way.”
His response to that was strolling across the top of the wall like it was flat ground, plucking me up from my precariousposition, and dropping both of us off the side of the thirty-foot drop.
“Ahhhh!” I screamed all the way down, bracing myself for impact.
Not that I needed to bother.
Slade absorbed the impact and landed like he’d stepped off a two-foot wall.
When he placed me on my feet, I caught the tightening around his eyes, the touch aversion striking him hard enough to leave a visible strain. “Time to assess your fighting skills,” he said abruptly, already striding away.
“I have no fight skills,” I shouted after him, my legs protesting as I hobbled along.
Stubborn dragon. He was going to learn the hard way.
Or… I was.
CHAPTER 45
EMME
Muscled thighs clad in blue sports shorts came into my blurry view as Kellan lowered himself next to my broken body. There was a large, black case in his hand, which he placed next to him, his expression filled with concerned amusement. “Shortcake, you know you’re lying in a pile of snow, right?”
“Umph,” I gurgled, unable to coherently form words after Slade’s fight drills. We’d only worked on stance and technique, for fuck’s sake, and I was still mostly dead. I hadn’t managed to lay one hand on the shifter the entire time, and he’d managed to drop me to my assmultiple timesvia nothing more than a few brief touches over my clothes. Which was a relief… and a bother.
A part of me was desperate to experience the first time I touched him without a reason behind it. To feel his skin under my hands because he wanted me to touch him and not because I needed help or fixing. It’d never happen at this rate, and my stupid hero worship of the dragon shifter hadn’t decreased with my ass-kicking. It was quite possibly worse.
“Snow helps,” I managed to say, enjoying the cool, melting slush easing the pain in my muscles.
“Would you like some food before we move on to the next round?” Kellan asked, and I didn’t miss the waver in his tone as he attempted not to laugh at me. Without waiting for my response, he slid his hands under my arms and hauled my floppy body off the ground. “I’m going to hazard a guess that a little energy boostmightbe required before my lesson.”
“Slade is getting food,” I huffed, shaking my head to keep my eyes open. My lack of sleep really wasn’t helping the whole situation either. “Even my eyelids hurt, Golden. Don’t let him train me again. I beg you.”
