Page 38 of Griffin Undone
Yes, he did. I really didn’t want to think about what it would be like to be on the receiving end of it.
Arik got serious again, though the annoyance stayed gone. “Kat, you have to know the world isn’t sunshine and roses. You won’t always be fighting air.”
“I know that! I’m new to all this, not a complete idiot.”
Seeming to sense the thin ice he’d stepped onto, he grimaced. “Right.” One hand came up, his fingers skating across the tattoo on his neck. “My point is, it takes time to master a gift, just like it does a weapon. You can’t afford to wait on either of them; you have to learn to defend yourself.”
He set the tip of his bo on the floor and leaned against it as if settling in for a long talk. “What you are calls to what we are; Archai and Anigma alike will be drawn to you. You can never take your safety for granted, ever.” A strange bite colored his words.
“What’s an enigma?”
“Anigma,” he said, emphasizing the initial vowel. “They’re the enemy.”
“The ones who attacked me?”
“Yes.”
“Why are they the enemy?” I asked. “Why did they target me?”
“Because somehow, someway, they knew what you were.” He shifted his weight, rocking away from the bo, then back, causing the slender staff to creak. The sway of his beautiful body was mesmerizing, filling in the blanks of how he might look swaying above me. I forced my gaze away until what I was thinking didn’t shine from my eyes. “Hundreds of years ago, a faction of shifters grew within the Archai, shifters who balked at the rules that allow us to live in harmony with humans.”
I snorted. “That’s original.”
Arik hmphed. “That saying, ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely,’ could’ve been written for us. The psychs were our safety net, our last line of defense, until the Anigma began to use them—willing or not—to destroy those who opposed their drive to power. There was a war. People died. People always die,” he said, some emotion I couldn’t identify threading into his voice, “but it doesn’t have to be you. Not if you train. And not if you forget how to trust.”
That indefinable something in his tone sent my heart slamming against the bars of my rib cage. “But I trust you.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t.” Without warning, he drove his bo straight for my throat.
“Arik!” Automatically I brought my own staff up, blocking his teeth-rattling strike at the last second. “What—”
Another jab, this time aiming for my knee. I skittered to the side.
“Stop dancing around and fight. I want you to really go at it. Imagine your worst enemy, imagine hitting them.” Aggression shredded Arik’s tone like ground glass. “Put your weight into your strikes.”
“I don’t have any—” But I couldn’t honestly say that anymore, could I? I did have an enemy, one I wanted to kill. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and focused on the feeling of being grabbed, the sensation of needle-sharp teeth ripping into my flesh, of drowning in my own blood. When my throat closed off enough that I choked, I opened my eyes. I swung the bo with all my might, putting every bit of fear, pain, and yes, hate, into my attack.
“Is that it?” Arik taunted. He sideswiped me, the bo’s end passing close enough to snag my T-shirt. “That’s all you’ve got? I don’t think your enemy has anything to worry about.” His grin was more of a sneer.
Frustration beat at me on a swiftly rising tide. I swung again, but Arik ducked and the bo whooshed uselessly over his head. Again, then again. I struck repeatedly, getting nowhere except sweaty and tired.
“Come on, Kitty Kat. Don’t tell me you’re gonna give up.” He raised a mocking eyebrow as he leaned onto his bo, planted negligently on the concrete once again. As if he had nothing to worry about. As if I was no threat at all.
That’s probably how the shifter who’d tried to kill me felt too.
With a surge of adrenaline and anger, I twisted my bo, jabbing the tip directly toward Arik’s ribs. “No!” No way was I giving up.
Arik turned, the bo missing him by mere inches. Still he hunched over, grabbing his ribs, choking on a grunt.
When he straightened, I stared at what had been a pristine expanse of skin. Now a red blush blossomed over his right ribs, trailing around his side. “What…? Did I…?”
Arik nodded his head, chuckling as his breath wheezed in and out. “Yeah, you did.”
Stepping close, I dared to reach out, dared to touch what I knew I shouldn’t. Arik’s abs contracted under the slide of my fingers. “But the bo didn’t hit; I’d have felt it.”
“The bo didn’t, but you did.” Arik’s hand covered mine, pressing my fingers against him, drawing my hand toward the tantalizingly faint trail of downy hair just below his belly button. “That’s your power; that’s what we’ve got to tap into.”
I barely managed to control the impulse to rub my palm against him. I reclaimed my hand but continued to stare at his ribs, unable to process what I’d done. “I…”
