Page 145 of Cursed Bonds: An Alpha's Destiny

“Speaking of guard duty,” I said, “how’s Kyro doing? I haven’t seen him since the attack.”

Jace’s smile faded a bit. “He’s fully recovered, but I doubt he’ll be working security any time soon. That attack really messed him up. It was even worse when he found out it was kids who did it. He took it even harder than Tank did.”

“I hope he’s not beating himself up over it.”

“It’s tough. He’s throwing himself into his training, trying to get better. Wants to ensure that the next time it happens, he’s better prepared. Which is what you need to do,” he added, eyeing me. “Didn’t you say you wanted to train?”

“Okay, let’s do it,” I said, clapping my hands together enthusiastically.

“Hang on now. I don’t want to get my ass blasted anymore. Give me a second.”

After vanishing inside, he returned a few minutes later, his arms laden with cans and bottles he’d foraged out of the kitchen trash.

“What’s that for?”

Jace looked down at the items and shrugged. “Target practice.”

Ten minutes later, Jace had the bottles, cans, and cartons sitting in various areas around the backyard—on an old stump, wedged in a tree branch, sitting on a fence post, and more.

It didn’t go well. My success the day before had me thinking this would be easy, but none of the spells I fired off were making contact. My lightning spells had blasted furrows in the yard, a wind spell had knocked over a small sapling, and the earth spell had missed an old can of soup by a solid three feet.

“Dammit,” I hissed. “What’s going on? I did so well yesterday.”

“That was at close distance,” Jace reminded me. “It’s a bit different far away. Same as with a gun or bow and arrow. The farther away something is, the more difficult it is.”

“But I hit you the other day,” I said, and shame burned through me. I’d been so mad at him then.

“You did,” he said, nodding. “But I think you did that out of frustration rather than concentration. You were too angry to think, and that helped.”

“Not thinking helped?”

“Yeah. You were too pissed off at my dumb ass to overanalyze what you were doing. You went with your gut, and bang, you got me.” He stepped up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Stay focused, but calm.”

My magic thrummed and sang at his chest. My focus narrowed, and all excess thoughts vanished.

“Try again,” he whispered, his breath warm on my ear.

I raised my hands and did as he asked. My spells aimed true, knocking over each item in turn. Not a single miss.

“Holy shit!” I cried out.

Laughing, Jace spun me around. “See? I told you that you could do it!”

The pride in his eyes melted my heart. He really had believed I could do it. He never doubted me for a minute. Before he could say more, I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed him.

“Wow,” he said when I pulled away. “What was that for?”

“I don’t know. Just you being you, I guess.”

“If that’s the case, then I will continue being me.”

“You better.”

“Do you want me to set them back up again? Keep working on it?”

As much as I wanted to, Tinsley’s words kept coming back. I needed to work on this slowly. No need to exhaust myself again if I didn’t have to.

“Let’s take a little break,” I said. “Get something to eat.”

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