Page 109 of Phoenix Rise

“What?” Matt muttered back.

“You Dires figure you’re the only ones with noses.” The ogress shook her head at him.

I sent him a vision of my mouth closing around—

He wrapped his hand around mine, and squeezed. Hard. Until I relented.

Guess it isn’t fair to give you a stiffie without doing something about it.

He sighed.Too bloody late, Angel.

* * *

When Trix and I arrived at the clearing for my late session with Cara, she wasn’t alone. Aria was with her.

The Dragona grinned at me, her bodysuit of red-gold scales glittering in the sunlight. “I’m here to give you a private lesson. Been told you have promise.”

“I have no idea,” I admitted. “If my brain gets involved, I’m all thumbs. But if I do something without thinking about it—I seem to have an inner warrior woman.”

As she tilted her head to regard me, I was struck once more with just how stunningly beautiful she was. But then she said, “Maybe your brain was so damaged you had to rewrite bits of it, and those parts don’t remember how to do things. But other bits do. So if you don’t stop to think, your body just takes over.”

I stared at her. “That makes a certain kind of sense.”

She shrugged. “Then all we have to do is not give you time to think about it. But Cara has asked me to come up with some immobilization holds that might suit your particular talents.”

Things clicked in my brain. “So if I can hold someone still for long enough—”

“You might be able to drain them enough to knock them out,” Cara finished. “As an alternative to killing them, of course.”

“Of course.” I met Aria’s amber gaze. “Is that possible?”

“In the non-shifter world, yes, if your opponent is not armed. But shifters are always armed.” She raised her hand and briefly sprouted her talons before pulling them back again. “Holds that permit them to grab your arms or legs mean they can shred you.”

“Okay.” I was more than familiar with that issue. “So are there any that will work with shifters?”

“Not many. But first, let’s get you warmed up.”

Before I had a chance to process just what that meant, she leaped into motion. Her foot spun through the air toward my head...

And I ducked beneath it, grabbed her lower leg, and spun her into the dirt. She rolled to her feet, grinning like a fiend, and came at me again.

Twenty minutes later, I was panting and sweating while Aria’s cheeks had acquired two small pink spots. She didn’t even look like she was breathing heavily. But she smiled at me. “Okay. Now I will show you a couple of moves.”

She grabbed my wrist and twisted it behind my back. “Now try to reach me,” she said.

I tried. If she stood directly behind me, I couldn’t do it. “But a Dragon would have wings,” I pointed out.

“Let’s switch.” She talked me through the arm twist. Her talons gave her extra reach, and I had to position myself differently to avoid them.

“Okay. Now with wings.”

They got in the way, but she showed me how to still twist the arm and avoid the beating wings.

“How long do you need to keep someone immobile to do your thing?” she asked after I’d released her.

“I’m not sure.”

“That is something you need to practice too,” Cara pointed out as she stroked Trix.

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