Page 71 of Fated to Her

“Not bad for a human,” the girl says.

I smile at her; at least she’s talking to me.

“I’m Leila,” she tells me.

“Nice to meet you, Leila.”

I pull the last knife out, but it’s wedged into the wood behind the target, making it hard to pull out.

Maverick comes over and yanks it out for me when he sees me struggling. Suddenly, an ax hits the target next to his head, causing me to jump before a growl erupts from behind us. A shirtless Eli steps into the arena. The kids are staring at him nervously, moving away from him.

“I told you to stay away from her,” Eli growls, and I step forward, blocking his path as he stalks toward his father.

“No, I came in to watch the kids. He didn’t,” I tell Eli, who grabs my arm.

“I told you to stay away from him, Addie.”

Cyrus rushes over to us.

“She has every right to learn how to defend herself, Eli. No harm training with the kids,” Maverick says, and I can see a few of the parents come in and remove their children.

I smile at them apologetically and am surprised when they nod at me.

“With fucking knives? Are you nuts? She will hurt herself,” Eli snaps at him.

I shake my head when he pulls me away. “Stop, I wasn’t doing anything wrong, Eli,” I tell him, ripping my arm from his grip, and nearly stumbling backward.

Maverick grabs my elbow to steady me. Eli’s eyes snap to his hand. Yet his father isn’t challenging him, only stopping me from falling. Cyrus grabs Eli, shoving him back before he can attack his father.

“She is human. What part of that don’t you fucking understand?” Eli growls at his father.

“She may be human, but she is not weak. Doesn’t her being human give you more reason to let her train so she can defend herself?” Maverick says.

“She doesn’t need to train when she has us,” Eli tells him.

Maverick sighs before pinching the bridge of his nose and letting out a breath. “Fine, Eli, have it your way.”

“Addie, now!” Eli growls, and I place my knife down on the stump table when Leila, who in my eyes is one brave little girl, approaches him, tugging his arm.

“If she can hit the target three times, can she train with us?” she asks him.

Eli laughs at her, shaking his head. “She’s human, Leila.”

“Doesn’t mean she can’t hit the target,” Leila says, placing her hands on her hips.

Maverick snorts behind me.

“She won’t be able to hit the target. She will only hurt herself,” Eli tells her.

Gosh, I hope our child is as sassy as her. She clearly has no issues challenging authority.

“Then nothing to worry about. Emery said girls could do anything, but she’s human. You’re probably right,” she says, smiling.

Eli tries to walk off, tugging me with him.

“So, that means you have no problem with her trying to hit it because she won’t, right? So, what’s the harm in her trying? If she sticks three out of five knives in the target, she can train with us. If she can’t, ban her from the arena,” Leila says.

I chuckle at her.