Page 25 of Phoenix Falling
“I’m sure it doesn’t,” the one named Lucia said, raising a hand to get our attention. “At the same time, you have allies who are willing to always stand beside you, no matter how long it takes for you to feel safe. Our females are at the ready to volunteer. We want to welcome you as sisters.”
“And you’ve been trained to fight?” I asked. I assumed from their stances that they had but wanted to be sure.
“Every member of the clan has basic training,” Nala assured us. “We don’t all serve on the Warrior Council, but we know that our mere existence makes us a target. So yes, we participate in training along with the males from a set age. Those who wish to are even combat trained.”
I felt my shoulders relax. If their females could do this, could face Archai males in a fight, not just humans, then so could we. After all, we carried the same genes, right?
“So let’s pair up.” Demetri immediately began assigning partners. It felt a little bit like gym class since I was the last one standing, but I was also less traumatized than some of the others, so when he paired me with James, I was comfortable.
“Since most shape-shifters carry a knife—”
“Why?” Helen asked where she stood with one of the females.
“Because the only way to make sure you’re dead is to separate your spinal cord,” Rhiannon, her partner, stated matter-of-factly. “You can be severely injured and even disabled by severe injuries, but without the severing of your spinal cord, you won’t die.”
“Great,” Amy said a bit snarkily. “Eternity being damaged. Yippee.”
“It’s not as bad as the alternative,” Cale, who had been paired with her, said with a smirk.
“He’s not wrong,” Tabby agreed.
“All right,” Demetri said, calling us back to attention, “basic knife skills.”
James approached, pulling what looked like a standard KA-BAR from a sheath on his thigh. “Wicked-looking knife,” I said.
“Not my favorite”—he reached casually over his head, pulled a full-length sword up from a sheath strapped in the middle of his back, then slid it back down—“but it’ll do in a pinch.”
That much I knew. I found myself dropping into a fighting stance, my weight on my back leg, the front ready to move in any direction when necessary.
James’s eyes narrowed. “You’ve had some training?”
I shrugged. “Just some karate classes. It was a while ago.”
Not a lie. I should know—I was a living lie detector, right?
He nodded his approval. “Great. Show me what you can do.”
“What?” I squeaked.
There was no time for more preparation than that. James lunged forward, the knife held out in front of him. Probably not close enough to actually stab me, but close enough that he entered my personal space. Instinctively my hands came up, and I brought them around, avoiding the knife but slapping my open palms hard against James’s inner wrist and the outside of his fisted hand. The knife leaped from his grip and fell to the floor.
A chuckle reached my ears above the drum of adrenaline. “Nice!”
That was Demetri. I sucked in a breath, trying to calm my racing heart. Instinct, but not one I wanted to admit to. I shrugged again. “Basic knife attack response, right? We practiced that one in class.”
We’d done more than that, but I couldn’t tell these males that much, not without revealing more about my family than I wanted to.
“It might not have worked if he’d been ready for you,” Demetri said. “The pressure point for that move is easy to hit, but James’s grip is loose because we’re just practicing. A shape-shifter’s firm grip and a human’s firm grip are vastly different, but it’s always worth a try. Even if you can manage to deflect a shape-shifter’s aim, it’s worth trying—if you have no other choice,” he warned. “If you don’t have to get that close, don’t.”
I nodded.
“Okay,” James said. I noticed his gaze was more intense now, more serious. “Let’s try again, shall we?”
I didn’t really have a choice if I wanted to learn more, did I? I jerked my chin at him as if my heart wasn’t still faster than normal and I didn’t feel like I was about to jump out of my own skin. “Whatever you say. Let’s go.”
ChapterEleven
GRIM
