steroids. Either way, by Monday morning, we were leaving, prepared or not.
I glanced over toward the door. Deacon spotted my gaze and winked. I grinned at him, and my gaze moved on. Several pures were staring at Aiden and me. Apparently, a pure-blood touching my back was more shocking than a Titan kicking an Apollyon’s ass.
I rolled my eyes and turned back to the match in front of us.
Dipping under Perses’ outstretched arm, Seth came up behind the Titan, and just like I had, he prepared to deliver a vicious kick. Perses turned and dipped, catching Seth’s foot. Unable to keep his balance, Seth hit the mat on his side.
Perses tipped his head back and laughed. “Next.”
When one of us went down, it was the next one’s turn. Aiden dropped his hand and pushed himself up. Passing Seth on the mats, the two idiots exchanged smirks.
Seth dropped down beside me. I glanced at him. “I don’t know why you two are giving each other that ‘I’m superior’ look. Both of you are getting your asses kicked.”
He shrugged one shoulder. “Doesn’t mean we have to hug it out.”
Turning my attention back to Aiden, I watched him beautifully execute an uppercut that did absolutely nothing to detour Perses’ brutal punch to the stomach. “You know this is pointless, right? Neither of you needs to be subjecting yourself to this. I’m going to become the God Killer. You won’t be fighting—”
“We will be fighting with you,” Seth argued, his voice low. He too watched Aiden and Perses. “Just because you’re the God Killer doesn’t mean you can go in there alone.”
“I won’t be.” I winced as Perses’ kick caught Aiden in the thigh. “I’ll be with Perses.”
“And that’s not really backup. Who knows what he’ll do in the end? You need someone there with you.” Seth leaned back, stretching out his legs. “And you and I both know Aiden would be a distraction.”
I clenched my jaw. “Aiden will not be with me.”
He snorted. “Does he know that?”
“He will.” I looked at him. “Seth, we need to talk about when we’ll transfer power.”
“That’s not what we’re talking about now. There’s no way I’m letting you go face-to-face with Ares with just Perses. It’s not going to happen, and I’m not going to argue with you. You’ll need me there to run interference, if anything,” he said, returning my stare. “Besides, we shouldn’t make the transfer until we’re in the Catskills.”
I opened my mouth, but Aiden hit the floor on his back and Perses yelled out, “Girl! Your turn!”
Sending Seth a quick glance, I pushed to my feet. “We’ll talk about this later.”
He arched a brow.
While passing Aiden on the mats, he reached over, tugged on the hem of my shirt, and then kept going. I stopped in front of the Titan, muscles locking up. Over at the door, Deacon whistled and shouted, “Show him what a girl is capable of!”
I took my eyes off Perses for a second to smile at Deacon, and that was all it took. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Perses’ hand zooming for my face. At the last moment, I dropped down. The speed in which Perses’ fist shot past my head, stirring wisps of my hair—
“Never take your eyes off the opponent,” Perses said, chuckling.
How many times had Ares had said that when we knew him as Instructor Romvi? Nothing flipped my kill- and-maim switch like hearing those words.
I rolled forward and popped to my feet behind Perses. Spinning around, I dodged his second punch and dipped under his arm. I knew I was fast—faster than Aiden, who was like a freaking ninja, and faster than all other half-bloods. But Perses was like Ares. Fighting was bred into their blood. There was no one in this realm better than them. I could only hope to be their equal.
But I wasn’t Perses’ equal at the moment.
The second I shot up in front of him, he anticipated the move and kicked out, his booted foot connecting with my midsection. Pain exploded along my stomach, and I doubled over. His hand slammed into my shoulder, and I lost my balance. Toppling backward, I hit the mats on my back, hard.
Perses was suddenly in my face, looming over me. A smirk graced his lips. “God Killer or not, girl, he will own you if you fight like this. And as you know, he can’t kill you, but he can make you beg for death. Is that something you want to experience again?”
Anger burned through my veins like poison. “My name is not ‘girl,’ and no, that’s not something I want to experience again.”
The smirk slipped off his face. “Then get back up,
Meeting his stare, I rolled into a sitting position. Ignoring the slice of pain, I got back up.
CHAPTER 18
By Wednesday, I was sure my entire back was an array of violets and blues. I was, literally, one giant walking-and-talking bruise. Aiden and Seth hadn’t fared any better. Last night, when Aiden and I had gone to bed, we’d been too sore and too tired to take off our pants.
Needless to say, Marcus had given up on the separate bedroom thing. Not that there was any point now. Neither of us could do anything even if our body parts touched.
The Army of Awesome was faring a lot better than us. Numbering near a thousand, they were learning basic tactical maneuvers. It was like the videos of boot camp I remembered seeing on TV. If anything, I think Perses was just trying to harden them instead of teaching them any real skills. He was worse than any Covenant Instructor I’d ever seen.
The Titan was a cesspool of insults.
Later that night, after a long soak in some kind of herbal mixture Laadan had provided, I sat on the bed, too tired to make my way back to the common area for food.
Thankfully, Aiden was possibly the most wonderful man in the whole universe. He brought a plate full of chicken tenders and fries to the room.
“Nice shirt,” he commented, nudging the door shut with his toe.
I glanced down at myself, grinning. “Sorry.”
He laughed as he eased down beside me, placing the tray between us. “As I’ve said a hundred times before, I like seeing you in my clothes.”
A flush covered my cheeks. “I was too tired to put pants on.”
Peering up through his lashes, he grinned. “And I’m not going to complain about that.” He picked up a can of soda, popped the tab, and handed it to me. “I lost the battle of wills with Deacon.”
“Uh-oh.”
Deacon wanted to travel with us to New York. He felt, since he’d christened the name of our army, he was some kind of official mascot or something. Of course, Aiden wasn’t happy with that, and I couldn’t blame him. Deacon was safer here. Who knew what we’d meet on the road, and what we’d find in New York once we got there?
“I’ve told him about a million times that I’d feel better with him staying here.” He picked the breading off his tenders, causing me to smile. “But I’m not winning this battle.”
“He’ll probably just sneak out with us, anyway.” I bit half of my tender off, breaded skin and all. “And he’s worried, you know. Not just about you, but Luke, too.”
“I get that.” He tossed the breading onto the plate. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
I watched him meticulously remove more breading and then took a deep breath. “Speaking of not wanting people to get hurt and the whole keeping them safe thing? We need to talk about that.”
He peeked up, his fingers stilling. “Details?”
Finishing off my tender, I took a drink before I continued. “I’m not asking you to stay behind here, because I want you to go with me. And I know you wouldn’t do that anyway.”
Aiden lowered the chicken piece, his head tilting to the side. “Damn straight.”
“But I need you to know that I can’t face Ares with you by my side.” I rushed on, so that the words that were
