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She sucked in a sharp breath, her gaze clouding over. Our eyes were trapped, tangling for two beats too long as our shoulders pressed together, hips touching. Her fingers curled around the notebook and the spirals dug into her palms.

When I looked at her like this, her heart spread wide open and soul bare, she was more than Tara’s friend. More than eighteen. More than a predicament, a casualty of life. A blip.

She was defiance.

A force.

A kaleidoscope in motion.

I saw things I shouldn’t see when I looked at her.

Something beyond physical.

Breaking the tether, I cleared my throat and pulled to my feet, cracking my neck as I gestured for her to gather her belongings. “We should get going,” I said. “It’s getting late.”

Halley nodded, shaking off the daze that had hijacked us both and stuffing notebooks and worksheets into her bag. She joined me near the entrance a minute later, and I stepped outside into the cool night, the sky a pepper-spray of stars. “You did good today, by the way. I’m impressed.”

“Yeah, right.” She folded her arms underneath her breasts. “Training was a mess. If you were anyone else, I’d be dead.”

We walked side by side down the quiet sidewalk, brightened by flickering streetlamps and moonlight. A shiver rippled down her body when a fifty-degree breeze blasted us. She was only clad in a tank top and cotton shorts with no jacket, so I shrugged out of my leather coat and handed it to her. “Take it. You’re freezing.” I didn’t wait for a rejection and draped it over her shoulders.

Halley hesitantly slipped her arms through the sleeves and let the warm leather swallow her slim frame. Her throat bobbed as she glanced up at me with only her eyes. “Thank you.”

I nodded. “You can’t think about the what-ifs,” I told her, veering back to her original statement, our steps in perfect rhythm. “That’s the shit that will end up killing you. It’ll override everything you’ve learned, all your logic, training, and basic instincts. Fear is a disease. It’s paralyzing. The only antidote is believing in your resilience. Every challenge is a chance to prove your strength.”

“Right.” Pursing her lips, Halley glowered like my words were a bitter pill she wasn’t ready to swallow.

I needed to change that.

We continued to stride forward, and I simmered in what she’d told me the night she’d shown up at my apartment, begging for me to mold her into a fighter. Someone capable.

Don’t hold back.

Taking that request at face value, I paused on the sidewalk.

She hardly had a chance to question why I’d stopped before I spun around.

I ambushed her.

Firing forward like a thief in the night, I bent over and hauled her up over my shoulder by the thighs, the duffel bag dropping to the cement, her feet shooting out behind her and kicking the air.

A quick gasp escaped her; a breathy burst of surprise.

But she didn’t scream. Didn’t cower.

She reacted.

Halley reached back like I’d taught her, wrapped her arm around my neck and secured her wrist. Her legs locked around my midsection, ankles crossing, and she held tightly for six seconds until I dropped to my knees on the sidewalk.

Shoving me away, she slipped out of my hold and stumbled backward, her eyes wide and glowing beneath the lamppost.

Her chest heaved.

So did mine.

We stared at each other, breathing heavily as the tension thickened, until I stretched a satisfied smile and fell back on my haunches. I flicked a hand through my hair. “Good.”

Swallowing hard, Halley took a few hesitant steps toward me, half her hair sticking out of her ponytail and the jacket slipped off one shoulder. Hazel-kissed irises gazed down at me, radiating with intensity in the lowlight, as I remained kneeling below her on the sidewalk.

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