Mated

Thirteen

"Malia." James stood in front of me fully dressed in his usual attire of jeans and a T-shirt with the sleeves rolled.

"Get dressed. I'll be just outside your door."

I dressed quickly, remembering it was our first day of training, and pulled my hair in a tight bun and then opened the door. James leaned against the wall, arms and ankles crossed, peeking down at the exposed part of the tattoo on his bicep.

"Second thoughts?" I joked.

He pushed off the wall and together we descended the stairs. The house was quiet, everyone must have been outside except for the two on patrol. When we stepped outside, Mike, Colby, and Hugh were out there practicing kicks.

"Colby, did I say you can stop?" Ryder exclaimed. He stood by, watching them with his arms behind his back. He was mirthless, on the border of scary, all of the time. This was the perfect job for him.

"I just need to catch my breath," Colby panted, leaning over with his hands on his knee. The poor guy was always getting picked on by him.

"You'll be lucky if you can even knock down your opponent let alone catch your breath at this rate. The battleground is not a game. You won't stop until the enemy stops breathing," Ryder countered, his loud voice echoing into the air. And with that, Colby bent his head down and convulsed as his breakfast came out over the grass.

"Gross! Come on," Mike, who had been standing a few feet from him, jumped. "This is exactly why I didn't want to be his partner."

I followed James around the side of the house and downhill toward the clearing where we'd had our picnic. The sounds of the guys' own session became distant as we walked deeper and deeper into the clearing until we came to a stop.

"We'll start with the basics," James faced me. "Show me how you would stand, ready to fight." I hesitated and then spread by legs until I was standing diagonally with them shoulder width apart and brought two fists up to my face.

He came up beside me and moved my thumbs so they rest on the sides of my fists and raised my elbows higher and leveled them out. When his hands landed on my waist, I tried to ignore the shock wave they sent running through me.

"Bend your knees just a little bit, not too...there you go. Always aim for the face first but if they're too tall, go for the ribs," he said, pushing me down and inching me back up when I went too far. The heat from his hands warmed my sides until he removed them. Now he stood a few feet in front of me close enough that if I reached out, I could strike him. "Throw a punch."

Although fighting wasn't exactly part of my Luna training when I was younger, Connor did mixed martial arts back in high school and Ray and I watched him practice and went to his matches. Since I never fought like this myself, I plowed my mind for memories of some of the moves I'd seen him do. I jerked my fist forward aiming for James' jaw and he caught it with his hand like it had been predictable.

"Don't throw your entire weight at me. Your jabs need to be quicker. Again." When he released my hand I threw out another punch. But he caught my fist again, twisted it, and jabbed at my side.

"Ah!" Pain shot from my wrist and up my arm and the force of his jab knocked me sideways over the grass.

"You said you didn't want to be defenseless...I won't train you any differently than the guys. If you don't want to continue we'll stop," he said, swooping down to give me a hand. I ignored his hand and got to my feet, returning to the stance he'd just taught me.

"I'm fine." I huffed out a breath through my nose.

"Okay," he said, raising a brow. "Again."

I bent my knees and this time, bouncing on my feet to help me keep my balance and move quicker than before, I went for his jaw. He barely dodged it and my hand grazed his chin. In a flash, his arm was around my side and he stepped around me before hoisting me into the air and flipping me over his hip. I lie flat on my back on the grass again.