Page 17 of The Ruthless Guardian

“No negotiation. I’ve let you do what you want for days, now you can suck it up and do what I want.”

Phoebe huffs and spins on her heel, striding down the stairs ahead of me without another word. Good. I know exactly what she can do with that angry energy, and that’s what I intend to show her anyway. I drop her phone on my desk and follow her down the stairs.

She throws her hands up when she sees me. “I’m here. Now what do you want?” That sass is meant to frustrate me I think, but all it does is make me giddy. I like her smartass mouth. She wouldn’t talk to me this way if she didn’t think she was safe with me.

“What do you want to learn? You can try to fight me if you want, but you’re not going to do much unless you let me teach you.”

“Why would I want to fight you? You’re huge, and I’m not that stupid,” she hisses. She’s feisty like a feral kitten and it brings a smile to my face. She’s this adorable little thing, and she’s posturing to try to make herself look more intimidating so I might back off. I’m not scared of a little claw.

“Because you’re angry at me. So you can either turn that energy towards fighting me or fighting that bag in the corner there.”

She glares at me like I’m the stupidest person to walk the earth, and I revel in it, because it means she’s alert. At least she’s aware I’m in the room with her in the here and now. “I don’t want to fight anything, and I’m only pissed because you stole my phone and insisted I come down here.”

“I’m tired of watching you wallow in your grief without doing anything about it.”

Her jaw drops and her eyes tighten. “I am notwallowing, you bastard! I’m bored! Just because you’re an old, no-fun, asshole doesn’t mean everyone else is too. And you can stop smiling like you find this funny! There’s nothing funny about you being a prick.”

There is, but she can’t see it. “So what do you choose? Me or the bag?”

I get the supreme joy of watching the decision cement in her mind half a second before she lunges for the stairs, trying to escape me, but I block her with my arm- careful not to make her feel too trapped- and corral her back into the basement. “Josiah, stop!” she shouts, staring up at me with anger threatening to burst the seams. “I’m not doing this!”

“You are.”

“You’re going to send me into a fucking panic attack!”

I’m doubtful of that. She’s angry. Right now she’s more stuck in her body than she normally is. That’s why she wants to run from it. “It’s uncomfortable, isn’t it? Having to beaware. You’re not going to panic. You might cry. You might scream. You might decide you’ve had enough and swing on me. I give you permission to do all of it. No one’s going to see you cry or hear you scream or know you swung and missed but me, and I’ve seen you do worse.”

It’s enough to send her over the edge. She swings the butt of her fist at me and hits me in the shoulder, then cocks back and aims for my ribs, but I stop her before she hits me. “Let me go,” she spits.

“There’s no fun in making it easy on you, kitten.”

Her mouth gapes before she snaps it shut and swings with the other hand. “I’m not a fucking kitten!”

“Aren’t you? Small, afraid? No idea how to fight back but going to pretend to either way? That doesn’t sound like you?” I’m goading her. I need her to lose it. I need her to surrender to the anger no matter how it makes her act. She can try to hit me all she likes. She can scream or cry or stomp her fucking feet. I don’t care, as long as she gives in and experiences it.

“I amnoneof those things! And being big doesn’t make you better than me! I might be little, but-” Phoebe grunts as I twist her around, putting her back to my chest so she can see herself in the mirrors on the other wall.

“You’re fluffing your hair up and hissing a lot for someone that says they aren’t a feral, angry little kitten.”

Her elbow is quicker than I’m expecting and she catches me in the ribs, but when she tries to angle her foot back to get me in the balls, I take her to the floor. Pinning her knees together with mine and hugging her arms against her chest, I realize I may have gone too far. It’s a little late, but I release her arms so she doesn’t feel completely trapped. She takes the opportunity to slam her other elbow into my side and I groan, dropping one hand to the mat beside us and blocking her from landing any more blows with the other.

“I’m no goddamn kitten,” she growls at me, bucking backwards so fast she almost slams her head into my nose. “I’m little but I’ll fight you if that’s what you want so bad, you psycho.”

“If I wanted to, I’d have you knocked out or dead right now, kitten. And I may very well be psycho, but those weak jabs you got in wouldn’t do anything against someone that actually wanted to hurt you. I’ve decided that I’m going to train you to fight back so that the anxiety you feel is less warranted. I think that might help you more than the drugs that don’t seem to be doing much for you yet.”

She huffs and the tension slowly leaks out of her. I can feel it in all the places she’s pressed against me as she relaxes and wiggles free of me. She crawls forward and drops to her butt in front of me. “You could have just said that,” she complains, and I shrug.

It would have been a lot less entertaining to explain it to her. I enjoyed seeing what she can do. “Up on your feet. We’ll start with cardio.”

Chapter Fourteen

Phoebe

Ifucking hate being chased. It’s not even fair. My legs are shorter and I don’t do much- okay, any- exercising. Josiah has such long, toned legs and it’s so easy for him to catch me. We’ve been doing this shit for a week now and I’m exhausted. I’m covered in bruises and scrapes from scuffling with him and being clumsy at the same time. He gives me head starts and I still get captured quickly.

“This is bullshit!” I shout from my place in the sand beneath him. “You could at least pretend not to be jacked like a prisoner. Give me a chance.”

“That’s my intention,” he says in my ear with a chuckling voice. “This is feral kitten rehab. If you want to get back out there, you have to be able to protect yourself.” He sighs and pushes himself up, jumping to his feet and holding his hand out to help me. “Since you won’t tell me who wants to hurt you.”

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