Chapter 17

Inviting Jed to spar seemed to peak the interests of the wolves. No one had yet dared to ask him for a one-on-one. He may not look like much within their ranks, but no one could doubt that he was stronger than a wolf in human form.

He smiled lopsidedly at Mila, giving an exaggerate bow. She was still balancing while Dillon moved to sit with his sympathetic mate. Winnie patted his shoulder softly before turning worried eyes on Mila’s new sparring partner.

Mila lowered herself off the staff to offer him a polite bow, holding the staff behind her back. She’d never fought a vampire without help either. She had no idea if she’d be able to keep up with him, but she felt strong. Several days of sleeping in water had revitalized her. It had been a while since she’d felt this strong.

Even if this did turn out to be foolish, she wasn’t concerned about Jed hurting her. A few nights in his company had made her aware of how his movements sounded even when she couldn’t see him and he’d never attempted to lay a hand on her. He was a gentleman.

Mila stepped back from him. Other wolves that had taken interest in her new sparring partner, were coming to take a closer look, adding to the noise. There were some soft whispers when she closed her eyes.

With Jed, the eyes were unreliable. He moved too quickly to track properly with vision alone. She held herself tight against the staff behind her back, making herself small. She listened closely.

Mila side-stepped a motion. She could feel it brush past her face, missing by a centimeter. One of the younger pups made a startled noise that was somewhere between a bark and a hiccup.

Jed made a soft noise in his throat, like he was holding back a laugh. Another side-step. Her curls rustled when the air shifted, she’d missed another grab.

Three more before she felt she could open her first set of lids. The wolves burned bright when she looked at their heat. All of them ran exceptionally hot. Jed didn’t. He was little more than a wave in front of her. He reached again, his chuckle becoming more of a growling sound.

When he reached for the sixth time, his hand moving lightening fast, she smacked his wrist with the staff he’d made. It made a loud crack, but neither the staff nor his wrist broke. Very well made.

She spun the staff under one arm, waiting for his next move. He was exaggerating a little, hamming it up by shaking his wrist as though she’d hurt him.

“You’re fast, cher,” he laughed easily. “Should I pick up the pace?”

Mila gave a stiff nod. She’d hardly finished the motion when she found herself ducking backward. His fist whistled, just barely missing her nose.

“Almost got you. You’ll need to be faster. I don’t want to hurt you,” He said, his voice stilted. It sounded like he was actually worried about hitting her. Perhaps he was going to take the sparring seriously?

Mila frowned, “I’m really not as fragile as I look. I probably won’t break even if you hit me full strength.”

“That ‘probably’ doesn’t sound very confident.” He grumbled and she could feel it when he dialed back his next strike.

Mila couldn’t truly be sure. One-on-one combat had been rare enough for her kind. They’d moved like piranhas, a mass of crippling jabs, bleeding out an opponent. Their hive mind had made it possible to coordinate well even in the midst of a skirmish. Being entirely alone and unable to hear the mind of her sparring partner had her at a bigger disadvantage than she was used to.

She had fought well with the human remnants, but they were a lot slower and softer than Jed. The weapon in her hand had been carved by just his nails. If she really tried to use it to hit him, there was no doubt that it would splinter into a million pieces without leaving so much as a bruise.

She flipped, moving back to pass the staff off to a bystander she couldn’t entirely see. Through the filter of her lids, they just looked like a very large, red silhouette. “Hold that.”

The person obeyed, their warm hand brushing hers.

“Are you sure about that, cher? I really don’t like your chances in a hand-to-hand brawl,” Jed said, his voice pitching a little with worry.

“Worry about yourself,” She hissed, feigning confidence that she couldn’t entirely be sure of.

She lunged at him this time, feeling the movement of air as he passed her first strike easily. She breathed in, smelling him. She was listening hard. He had no heartbeat, but she could hear the rustle of his clothing and hair. She could sense the air pressure around him, the way he moved felt like little explosions.

It had been a long time since she’d lived a proper aquatic life, but that didn’t mean she’d forgotten. She had adapted to the surface world, learning to move the way a human being would to avoid unwanted attention. Here, she didn’t need to.

She felt her crafted habits that she’d developed while pretending to be something she wasn’t. Centuries as human were nothing to the millennia of living as a mermaid. Now, she allowed the years of caution to slip away with the tide.

In the water, she was the fastest creature in existence. In the water, she was strong enough to punch the life out of a whale. If she was capable of moving like that under the crushing pressure of the entire ocean, the air would offer little residence.

Her first collided with Jed’s cheek where he’d been too slow to block. His head snapped to the side with a cracking sound like a falling tree. He froze for a long moment, taking it in.

“Ouch,” he said, a little breathless with surprise.