Page 21 of Thor

“You wouldn’t really eat them would you,” Elle asked, her voice barely a whisper.

Thor snorted and tossed the scoop back in the barrel. “Probably not. They didn’t taste good the first time.”

The goats bleated again and began munching on their pellets.

“Is this why you brought me here? To show me your goats?”

“Nope. I brought you here to teach you some self-defense.”

“Self-defense?”

“Yeah. You need to be able to defend yourself against assholes like the guy who grabbed you.”

Her eyebrows scrunched together.

“It’s a figure of speech. It means... a... uh...” Thor wasn’t sure how to describe an asshole without being graphic. “A not nice guy.”

She nodded but a nervous expression crossed her face.

“Don’t worry. I won’t hurt you or anything. I just want you to be able to protect yourself so you don’t find yourself in the same situation again.”

She swallowed hard. “All right.”

* * *

Elle’s skin heated,and she shoved her hands behind her back to keep from showing Thor how much they shook. She wasn’t sure what to tell him. If she told Thor Val was a Valkyrie and Val had taught her to fight for years, he would become suspicious and wonder why she hadn’t defended herself earlier. But she wasn’t sure how to tell him she knew how to fight without telling him why she didn’t fight back. About how the beatings and abuse at her father’s hands had caused her freeze response to take over every inch of her body.

But maybe self-defense was different from fighting.

“Come over to the mats.” He motioned to an area near the back wall where thin bright red pads lay in a broad rectangle.

She followed him to them and stopped at the edge. “Should I remove my shoes?”

He shook his head. “You need to be wearing whatever you might be wearing if someone tries to touch you without your permission again. That way you will feel most in your element.”

She stepped on the mats which had a slight springy give to them. She walked across from Thor and stopped.

Thor thought for a moment. “To do this, I’m gonna have to touch you, all right?”

Her throat dried but she nodded.

“First I want to do what happened to you earlier. I’m gonna grab you around the waist.” He waited.

His body. He was going to wrap his body around her body. He was going to touch her almost like a hug.

She could do this. She could.

She turned around slowly and he approached her. His warm breath tickled her skin and made it pebble as he brushed the hair from her neck.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and applied a small amount of pressure. “Where were your arms when he grabbed you?”

Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr bleated loudly and jumped at the fencing of their pen.

“Knock it off goofballs. I’m not going to hurt her,” Thor called.

Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr continued to bleat, seemingly unconvinced.

Her mind fogged with feelings she’d never experienced before. “Uh...”Concentrate girl. He’ll think you’re an idiot if you can’t even keep your head while he is trying to teach you.She cleared her throat. “In front of me.”

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