What resembles a snort sounds to my left and I whip my head in that direction, only to find Creed’s face set in stone like he’d never dare let that slip of a noise come out of him.
“You’ve got some nerve. Did you bring me here so I can soak after getting my ass handed to me?”
“Yeah, yeah. Get up and get in position.”
He tosses the wooden sword on the ground a few feet away from me, and I sneer at it, then at him. “No. Not until you learn some manners.”
“Have it your way then.”
I scramble to get to the sword, but I’m too slow.
My muscles’ first reaction is to tense, but I force them to relax as Creed’s massive body plows into mine.
My heart gets stuck in my throat as fear wars with surprised adrenaline. I swallow that down and go with the momentum of his force, allowing my back to hit the ground.
Before he can squash me completely, I thrust my hips, push on his chest, and roll us.
My fist draws back and comes down in a single second, crashing into the grass beside his ear as he moves out of the way just as fast.
“Good, Thayla, but I’m bigger than you, stronger than you.” His hands grip my hips and with fucking core strength that proves his words to be true, he sits us up and slings me backward. My legs wrap around his waist and my arms around his neck as he flips our positions.
“You can’t let me get on top of you. This puts me at an advantage. What are you going to do to get free?”
I do the first thing that comes to mind.
I punch him in his throat.
He grips his neck and wheezes as I bring my knees to my chest, then throttle him to the side.
Despite his struggle to breathe, he gets to his feet as fast as I do.
My fists shake as I bring them up, preparing for whatever he’s going to surprise me with next. My vision blurs on the sides as darkness creeps in, and I can’t get my breathing under control.
He steps toward me, and I step back.
“Thayla,” he says low, holding his hand out. My head jerks at the sound of his voice and I blink through the black haze attempting to take over my mind.
My breath falls from my lips in heavy pants as he lays his palms on top of my painfully clenched fists until I lower them. They instantly go to my knees as I bend over and force air into my lungs.
“Why did you do that?”
“I needed to see what your response would be. Fight, flight, or freeze.”
“A fucking warning would’ve been nice. You said you were training me, not attacking me.”
“I am training you. Do you think an Oblirian, Dark God, half-dead god, or any other fucker in between who wants to hurt you is going to warn you? Head-to-head, sword-to-sword, I don’t doubt your capabilities to hold your own, but we aren’t always going to be in controlled situations.”
I close my eyes and tilt my head toward the sky as I get the slight panic still rushing through my blood under control. Part of me knew the entire time he wasn’t trying to hurt me, but his actions caught me off guard.
My brain and body just reacted.
“Is your throat okay?”
He scoffs, but I swear I catch his lip twitch. “Don’t worry about me. Get your sword and get in position.”
I plan on bitching and moaning about this the entire time. His grumpy ass deserves my attitude, even though I secretly agree, extra training isn’t a bad thing.
I’m very proud of the small progress everyone else has made over the last two mornings, but at the same time… they have a long way to go. I’ll never say anything that would discourage any of them, but if Creed is going to push me a little harder and that provides me with the ability to protect Lambrit, Yemi, Rose, and Havar in any kind of way, I’ll do what he says.
