“Because Alaric was stalking you,” he counters. “How else do you think he was there at the right time? He’s had his eye on you since the feast.”
I pull my arm free and step back, frowning at him. “Jeez. I thought I was here to train, not get a lecture.”
Eziel lowers his voice. “Just be careful, that’s all I’m asking. Alright?”
I stare at him for a moment, taking in his sincerity. “Alright,” I say, my cheeks warming under his stare. It’s clear he’s only looking out for me, even if I do find it a little overbearing. He’s exactly like Caspian in that sense.
Something moves in the corner of my eye.
I glance at the archway, and I just catch the back of Caspian storming around the corner. My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach. How long has he been standing there? Did he hear what the prince said about Alaric? I mean, it wasn’t true; I did only kiss him… and get a massage from him. Cold dread creeps over me. I’ve got a terrible feeling this won’t go down well with Caspian later. He’s crazy protective over me.
“Let’s get started,” Eziel says, nodding to the pile of weapons across the courtyard. “Pick your poison, Firewolf.”
Curiously, I head over to them and sift through the various kinds of weapons. The academy only trained us in combat in our wolf forms. Luckily, my dad taught me how to fight using daggers and swords. It’s one of the few times we ever bonded. Even then, my mum practically begged him to teach me, and he’d made his reluctance abundantly clear the whole time. I really did never matter to my dad. I was just a nuisance to him, right from the moment he laid eyes on me.
I push the sting that thought causes to the side and pick up a sword. It’s surprisingly light and easy to wield. Once I clip some daggers to the holsters around my thighs, I head back. Eziel watches me twist the sword in my hand while walking over to him.
“So, what’s the plan?” I ask.
He arches a brow and smirks. “Don’t die.”
“Isn’t that comforting?” I call after his retreating figure.
He laughs and sits back in his throne, snapping his fingers.
One, two, then four shadows appear in the courtyard with us. They barely reach my waist, but damn they’re fast. They move around me in a series of dark blurs, their movements forcing me to spin and lose my balance.
“They’re only level-one demons,” the prince explains, leisurely crossing an ankle over knee. “I want to see how you handle them.” An amused glint flashes in his eyes. “Feel free to use your thighs like you did with Caspian. That shit was hot.”
Rolling my eyes, I grip the handle tighter and wait for one of the giggling little fuckers to come at me again. I strike down, but it slips past me and climbs onto the roof of the archways. The sword burns against my palm and the entire blade turns crimson before slowly melting. I throw it away before the liquidised steel touches me and the demons’ high-pitched cackling echoes around me. Damn it. I’m not sure I’ll be able to catch them. I might need my wolf to do this.
“Terrible posture,” I hear Aamon mutter to the prince. “Did you see how her back was arched? She’ll never land a hit at this rate.”
Oh, so Aamon is here to watch too, huh?
Alright, alright, alright.
Let’s put on a good fucking show for them.
I take a run and jump toward the archway and pull myself over. My boots hit the concrete as I steady myself on the roof, pulling a dagger out from my holster. One of the demons charges toward me. I pivot to the side and toss my dagger, hitting the creature in the back before it can so much as turn around.
Even over the blood pounding in my ears, I hear Aamon’s scathing voice mocking me.
“How abysmal. She really ought to—”
I slide an icy glare in their direction. Aamon flinches and looks back down at his book, but Conaeth continues drinking his beer with not a care in the world.
“Continue,” he says calmly.
“Only if that dickhead stops the running commentary!”
Eziel chokes on his drink and leans forward in his throne in a fit of laughter. Damn, his laugh is sexy; even when he’s choking. His little advisor turns a brilliant shade of pink and flicks rapidly through the book. I’d like to shove that thing up his arse.
Two demons whizz past me, lifting my braid over my shoulder.
I bend down by the edge of the archway and press my hands flat against the concrete. With a deep breath in through my nose, I lunge off the roof and shapeshift in the air. My wolf’s huge paws slam into the earth, the force causing a wave of air to ripple the grass. She snaps her jaws in the direction of Aamon and then takes off after the demons. Now this is more like it. She catches a demon within sixty seconds. The instant she pins it down, the creature disappears into a puff of smoke.
My wolf snarls at the lack of blood and takes off after the other demons. She misses them a few times due to timing her lunges incorrectly, but she doesn’t give up. We never do. By the time she’s caught the fourth and last demon, she’s panting and sweating.
“You rely too much on your wolf,” Eziel says, walking toward her.
My wolf takes offence and snarls at them, but the prince doesn’t even flinch when he stops right in front of her. He is an alpha, after all. It would take a lot to intimidate him. However, my wolf is having none of it; something that could result in a fight if she provokes his alpha side too much.
He reaches out, and my wolf pulls back
