Page 78 of Outnumbered

Nico sighed and ran a hand down his face. “I’ll talk to him later. Let’s work on your hand-to-hand combat skills. Those are definitely your most lacking right now.”

Getting to my feet, I glanced at Caleb one more time, but he was already fighting. Hopefully, he could vent some of his frustration in practice.

Nico and I faced off, hands up by our faces.

“No magic,” he ordered me. “Not that you could use any right now anyway.”

I shook my head. “Definitely drained.”

“Good,” he said, “that means you won’t cheat.” He threw a punch at my face and I ducked beneath, trying to hit him with an uppercut, but he twisted out of the way.

Nico was definitely holding back, but even these slowed down fights were helping me learn how to react, block, and counter. The person I was a year ago would have gotten her ass kicked by the me now.

Caleb yelled out and I turned to see what happened.

Nico’s fist connected with my face and I fell to the ground. “Shit, Ember, I’m sorry.”

Head spinning, I tried to orient myself. Cold grass pressed against my face and legs, which meant I was laying on the grass.

“What the fuck?” Caleb snarled. He pressed a hand to my face. “Shit, Dad. Did you have to hit her so hard?”

“She got distracted and didn’t block,” Nico said.

Finally, no longer spinning, I sat up and hissed at the throbbing in my face. “He didn’t do anything wrong. The whole point of these is to teach me not to do stupid things like drop my hands and look away from my opponent.”

Caleb probed at my face and I hissed in pain. “Let’s get you some ice.”

“Why did you yell out?” I asked.

“Got cut by a claw,” he said. “It’s healing.”

“Why don’t I heal fast like you guys do if I’m also a shifter?” I asked as I walked on wobbly legs into the house, Caleb’s arm around my waist.

“We aren’t really sure, honestly. There’s no reason you shouldn’t heal fast. Nana Kara was going to look into it for us.”

Entering the kitchen, Jolie and Branson looked up from cleaning the dishes, the two having drawn the short straws after breakfast.

Jolie gasped. “Ember! What happened?”

Branson rushed to the freezer to get an icepack.

“I got distracted and Nico’s fist didn’t,” I joked and laughed, but then hissed in pain at the movement.

“Where’s Fox?” she asked Caleb.

“He went to take care of something in the city,” Caleb answered.

“It’s okay,” I said. “The ice will help.”

“Been punched in the face before?” Caleb asked with a frown.

I nodded. “Branson woke up swinging.”

Branson held out the icepack with a flinch. “Yeah, sorry about that.”

“To be fair, I learned to restrain people after that. Waking up in a strange house with IVs hooked up to you is bound to startle a lot of people.”

“Oh, that would be terrifying,” Jolie said with a nod.

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