Page 28 of A Kiss From Death
He thinks to himself. “Endurance?”
I shrug, unbothered. “I could run laps around you.”
“Hand-to-hand combat?”
“The best of the best,” I coo.
He smirks with an idea. “Prove it.”
“W–what?” I stutter.
“Fight me. Right here, right now. Unless you’re scared you’ll lose, that is?” he challenges.
I narrow my eyes at him. “I’ve never been scared a day in my life, Command, and that certainly won’t start today.”
We make our way over to the closest sparring ring in the sand. I line up in the center, spreading my stance, chest to chest with Aeron. He winks at me, spreading his arms wide, and I blow him a kiss in return.
I can’t wait to wipe the smug look off his pretty little face.
Aeron’s eyes zone in on me, sizing up his prey. The hairs on the back of my neck stand at attention, and I have this strange feeling Aeron’s eyes aren’t the only ones trained solely on me. Even tucked in the corner of the arena, I have this overwhelming feeling that every single inch of my body is being tracked by another predator. I try my best to ignore it.
It’s paralyzing and exhilarating at the same time.
Knocking fists with Aeron to signal the start of the fight, we begin to slowly circle each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. I slowly work towards his right side, pushing him to circle around, giving me a better view of the arena. More importantly, I spy the owner of the eyes that were burning holes into the back of my head.
Hade.
Straying my eyes from Aeron for a split second, I lock eyes with Hade, who leans leisurely against the Bubble’s force field on the opposite side of the arena, his arms folded over his chest and his ankles crossed.
The perfect depiction of unbothered.
Looking past his superficial mask, though, it’s not lost on me how his jaw is tightly clenched, or how his eyes narrow slightly any time he looks at Aeron.
He’s on edge. Interesting.
Aeron takes advantage of my slight distraction and lunges, making the first move. He lands a small blow to my side—or tries to—but my reflexes react at the last second, using my arm as a shield to absorb the blow.
“Lesson number one,” Aeron mocks. “Eyes on your competition, Vagrant. You’re sloppy and distracted. If you need something pretty to stare at, I’m right here.”
I scoff. “Seems to me like I blocked you just fine, distraction and all.”
Aeron towers over me, packed with muscle. I know I won’t be able to out-strength him, so the only option is to outsmart him. I just need to rile him up a little so he makes a sloppy move, and then I’ll pounce. My small size compared to his, paired with my speed, will give me the advantage I need.
Slowly, we begin to circle each other again, and time freezes. I’m focused and locked in on his every move, just as he is with mine. I take a slow, deep breath, which pushes on my cleavage that’s on full display in this skin-tight suit.
First plan of attack: distract.
I catch Aeron’s eyes trailing from my face down to my chest, where they linger for a fraction too long, and then, as if pained to do so, they trail back up to my face.
“Seems I’m not the only one distracted,” I tease.
This sets Aeron off, just as I was hoping. In a rushed frenzy, he lunges at me sloppily out of frustration, but I’m prepared for the move. Setting my trap, I wait until the last second, then side step his attack, grabbing the back of his neck as he flies past me, shoving him down onto the ground. I quickly jump on his back and straddle him with my full weight to keep him pinned.
In one, swift movement, Aeron rolls onto his back, throwing me off him. I fly through the air and land on my back, briefly knocking the wind out of me. I try to regain my bearings, but in those few seconds, Aeron has switched places with me, straddling my body from above.
“I think I like this view better.” He smiles down at me, and I clenchmy fists.
This man is not light by any means, and it’s starting to get hard to breathe under his weight. I need to get out from under him so I can level the playing field. Right now, my strength doesn’t compare to his, and I need to be able to get back on my feet if I want a fair chance.
