Page 105 of The Broken Aztec Princesses

“You got it. I’ll be at Guardian Moon after this, so I hope we can be friends when I get there, too.”

“Guaranteed.”

Chris finally walked away from all the women, two of whom were pouting and giving me the stink eye. The others didn’t seem as crushed.

“Do you want to warm up first or go straight to sparring?” Chris directed his question to Elim.

“I’ve been running after a damn rabid, demon dog for almost three hours. I’m warmed up but I can wait for you.”

“I’m good,” Chris said, removing his shirt.

I didn’t even notice when Elim did the same, I was too busy ogling the tanned muscles flexing as Chris tied his hair out of his face. I blushed when he caught me ogling and winked. The man was six feet of hard muscle, and I found the palms of my hands itching to touch.

“Rules?” Chris asked Elim.

“No rules. Just don’t aim to maim or kill?”

“Done.”

Chris and Elim shook hands before they each took a side of the arena. The sparring ring wasn’t all that big. Maybe twice the size of a regular boxing ring. The ground had a few layers of sand to make the falls hurt less, and it was surrounded by a small fence that came up to about three feet.

I was by no means an expert on fighting. I never cared for it. But I was fascinated by the way Chris and Elim were moving. Elim was all speed. He was trying to tire out Chris by hitting him in the same spots over and over, trying to avoid getting hit. Chris was... efficient. I didn’t know how else to describe it. He wasn’t wasting energy trying to fight speed with speed. He watched and only swung when Elim approached. He was patient like he was with everything else in his life. Like he was with me. Elim looked weak, but I had no doubt the punches and kicks hurt whenever they connected.

‘Don’t look so worried, Violet. I haven’t started yet.’Chris’ teasing tone made me smile.

‘He keeps hitting your right leg. It’s looking red already. If we both end up with a broken leg, who’s going to carry both of us up the stairs?’

Chris let out a sudden burst of laughter. The distraction gave Elim the opening to get a good punch in his side, making Chris huff and drop to one knee, but was able to dodge the follow-up kick.

‘Focus!’I hissed and cut off the mind-link.

Chris sent a sheepish look my way and finally concentrated on the fight.

Once Chris finally started fighting, I felt he started to enjoy himself. He and Elim exchanged punch for punch. There was blood flying, but as much as I wanted to cringe, I could see how much they were both enjoying the fight and being a vampire and werewolf meant most of their injuries were likely healed before the blood even hit the ground. Neither one looked frustrated or angry. After about an hour, Chris managed to catch a kick and threatened to break the leg at the kneecap until Elim surrendered. They clapped each other on the back when they were done and walked over to me. Both were sweaty and bloody, but smiling.

“You guys look like it’s Christmas morning,” I mentioned.

“It was a good fight,” Chris answered.

“I could barely keep up, to be honest,” Elim chuckled, grabbing his shirt and trying to clean the blood off him.

“I didn’t notice. You’re really good. You’ll only get better with Beta Kassie teaching you.”

“That’s the hope.”

“Anytime you want to spar again, let me know.”

“I’ll take you up on it. Especially while Violet can’t train. I’m going back to work. Thanks again for the fight, Chris.”

“You, too.”

Elim walked out and I stood when Chris passed me my crutches.

“Admit it. That was more fun than you thought it would be.”

“I admit nothing,” Chris chuckled.

We were walking back when one of the crutches slipped on a dewy patch of grass. Chris picked me up without warning and I squealed, dropping them.

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