Page 52 of The Wolf's Bullied Pregnant Mate
She groaned and kicked herself back into speed. I matched her pace despite it being agonizingly slow. But soon, we were back at the start of the track, and Adalyn promptly went boneless on the bed, but I scooped her back up.
“Nope,” I chided. “The worst thing you can do after physical activity like that is stop. Keep moving, witch.”
“Remind me to kill you when we get out of here,” she said through gritted teeth, clutching her side.
“Why not inside? They’ll never find my body.”
She paused. “I was being nice and letting you see daylight again for a second.”
I laughed unexpectedly. She caught my eye, and for a second, that grounding motion overwhelmed me again. Everything faded away, but Adalyn—her smile was hesitant, as if she still didn’t know what terms we were on.
But I smiled back and jerked my head. “Come on.”
“Where are we going? You just made me run!”
“You asked for self-defense,” I said. “Being physically fit is part of it.”
“I didn’t ask for a personal trainer,” she muttered. “I just want to know how to, like, defend myself.”
“And at this rate, all a demon would have to do is make you run for five minutes, and you’d die from a heart attack or lack of oxygen.” My answer was dry and unserious, and it made Adalyn laugh. She clasped a hand over her mouth, her eyes crinkling with amusement.
There were so many empty rooms, as if the witches truly had hidden down her, made a home of sorts, expanded their sanctuary so they each would spread out and never disrupt one another. There were two other hot springs like the one Adalyn and I had been in, all of them emerald, smelling like sulfur.
But I led her past another pool like that through that main tunnel I had found and veered her off into another cavern.
I had set up a space for her to practice aim.
“What is this?” she asked.
“You have spells that can be externally aimed,” I said. “So I’m going to teach you how to aim them faster when facing multiple enemies.” The thought threatened to sour my mood, picturing Adalyn against a horde of demons. “You can protect yourself, but there’ll be a time when you need to go on the offensive. Right now, you have power when a person is in an advantageous environment, but when they’re not, all you have are shields. You need to practice a new angle of your magic, see what happens when it’s not just a singular enemy in a resourceful place, like a pool.”
I shot her a dry look, remembering how she had turned her power on me.
“This can also help with your energy drain,” I continued. “If you use short but frequent bursts of magic, you have a better chance at recharging it quicker than one massive use in one go.”
“I have been,” she argued. “My shields on the island…”
“That’s frequentlargeamounts,” I said, my voice softening. “Hector… He checked in again yesterday and told me he’s seen the energy your shields bring up on his screens. Adalyn, I’m sorry I put you down about them.”
She shrugged, but I shook my head, insistent. “No, I mean it. We have different ways of fighting back. I want to share mine with you, but I shouldn’t have reduced the meaning of yours.”
She plastered on a smile. “Zephyr, you don’t have to apologize. I know my worth.”
My mouth pressed into a tight line at the false bravado in her voice, and I recognized just how much she had used that voice with me before we learned to coexist better.
“I hope you do,” I told her. “Because it’s much more than I ever truly appreciated, and I’m sorry.”
She gave me a small smile, nodding.
“To make up for it, I’m your first target practice.”
Adalyn’s face shifted into surprise. “Sorry?”
“You’re practicing your aimed spells on me.”
“No,” she answered.
“I felt the currents over your body the other day,” I told her. “I’ve withstood your burning in the Emporium, the pool, and vice versa. What more do you have in that magic well of yours?”
