Heat crept over my cheeks, and I bit back a smile. “Yeah, you’re right. Okay, then let’s do it.”
“Show me what you can do.”
My hands went to my chest, and I unbuttoned it. Lachlan’s gaze trailed down and followed every movement. Pulling back the sides of the shirt, I exposed the black swirl embedded between my breasts.
He cleared his throat, scratching the nape of his neck as he seemed to force his gaze up to mine. “That mark is really cool,” he rasped.
“I love it.” Emotion swelled in the back of my throat, and I shut my eyes. “Now, step back, and please be—”
The shadow jolted forward, followed by a resoundingsmack.
My eyes popped open, and Lachlan was cupping his nose in between his hands as dark crimson dripped into the cracks of his lips and dribbled down his chin.
“I’m so sorry! I told you I don’t know how to control this thing!” I rushed forward, swatting my shadow to move to the side as I grabbed a cloth that I had shoved into my pocket out and blotted Lachlan’s nose with it.
“It’s okay.”
“Remember what I said.” Coach Simmons’ voice startled me as he walked over to us. “You can’t control it. The shadow can only feel what is desired. If you try to control it, it makes it angry, so to speak. The shadow doesn’t actually have emotion, but it also will go crazy if you try to control it.”
Coach Simmons stepped between us and positioned us to where Lachlan stood about five-feet from me. “Think about what you want. Remember, this is offensive training, so what you need to do is try to get him on his back. I want you to visualize your shadow lashing out and knocking his feet out from under him. My goal with this exercise is to see everyone’s abilities and what they know how to do.”
I took a deep breath, my vision snagging on Lachlan’s bloodied nose, and I winced.
Don’t hurt him. Just knock him off his feet. I can do this,I chanted in my mind. I dragged my gaze down his body, admiring how broad his chest was before I focused on his legs, and I imagined my shadow sweeping quickly and knocking him off his feet.
My shadow whipped forward, narrowly missing Simmons, who had to stumble back to avoid being hit, and it slipped under Lachlan before traveling up with an audible rip.
My heart slammed against my chest as I forced my shadow back into the mark and kneeled beside Lachlan, who was flat on his back.
I checked him for any visible injuries, but the only thing I noticed was that my shadow had ripped his sweatshirt. The fabric hung in tatters, exposing his bare chest for all to see. He hoisted himself up, and I grabbed his arm as he got to his feet. His body racked with a shiver, and I forced myself closer to him, leaning against his chest and hiding his bareness from the rest of the class.
“I guess you wanted to see me shirtless too, huh? I’ll take that as a huge compliment from you, Wren.” Lachlan chuckled, and I buried my face into his warm, extremely comfy chest. He wrapped his arms fully around me and sighed.
Simmons forced out an awkward chuckle before turning and walking away.
A blast of heat smacked into us, and Lachlan’s arms tightened around me as he turned me, so he took the brunt of the impact of heat.
“What was that?” I pushed up on my tiptoes and peered around Lachlan’s side to see where it came from.
“Nate.” Lachlan growled, and worry thrummed through me.
Damien and Nate were fighting with full power. Damien’s black horns were fully grown on his head, and his tail swished back and forth behind him as his shadows encased his body, twisting and moving around. His eyes twinkled as if he were having a blast. Which, knowing him, he probably was.
Nate looked like a true fire fae with flames licking up his body, and the heat melting all the snow around him. He blasted three consecutive balls of fire at my mate, and a strangled gasp tore from my lips as I gripped Lachlan’s arm.
Damien deflected the three attacks with his shadows, and I could see the murder dancing in his eyes. “You just made my mate worry about me.Bad fucking idea.” With the ferocity of a torpedo, three black tendrils struck forward, penetrating Nate’s torso in a clean shot through to his back.
I couldn’t even imagine how many vital organs he struck.
Nate’s flames flickered once before dying. His eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fell onto his back with a dull thud.
Simmons let out an exasperated sigh as he strolled over to them. Students were gathered around, their own fights far less interesting.
“What happened between you two?” he asked.
Damien’s eyes found mine and twinkled with mischief. “He went on offense, so I went on defense. That’s how war works, right?”
I swallowed hard. Fear seemed to be a common expression on most of the other students′ faces.
