Page 56 of The Warrior
His closeness and intensity made me lean back. “They did, but only after they were pacified. Most of them tried to get away and the worst one was Diego de la Vega.”
Magni’s forehead was furrowed with deep frown lines. “What happened?”
My mouth felt dry from the tension emanating off Magni. I licked my lips and searched for a way to tell him. “It was only Hans and me that day, and, well, things didn’t go according to plan. Diego pushed me back and tried to escape. Both Hans and I fired our net guns, but we missed. That’s why I took up the chase.”
Magni’s jaw tightened and he scoffed. “Net guns. Why didn’t you use the weapons I gave you? The wolf gun would have toasted his ass.”
Telling Magni that Isobel had those weapons would only make him worry more, so I didn’t. “I’m a really good fighter, Magni. You would have been impressed with me.”
His ears were growing redder by the second and it made me so nervous that I kept talking when I should have stopped. “I even managed to get out of Diego’s choke hold and put immobilizers on him. Hans was very impressed by that.”
Magni’s eyes bulged and his voice rose. “The asshole had you in a choke hold?”
“Yes, but it was only for a few seconds.”
Magni crossed his arms and took a strong stance as if he was a wall designed to keep me in. “That’s it, you’re not going back there. Diego was child’s play compared to what Devlin will be.”
My tea spilled over when I set down the cup with a solid bump. “Don’t start with me, Magni.”
“How the hell am I supposed to protect you when you don’t listen to me?”
“I can do this.”
The way Magni pressed his lips together made him look like he was suppressing a scream. With a groan he leaned his head back as if the answer onhow to make your wife listenwas written on the ceiling.
“Magni, trust me, I can take Devlin down.”
“Show me, Laura. I wanna see how you’d take a man my size down.”
“He’s smaller than you. According to his file, Devlin is only six-five.”
“Which means he’s got eight inches on you and a hell of a lot more muscle. Not to mention fight training. How the fuck do you expect me to be okay with you going after him?”
I mirrored him, crossing my arms and pushing my jaw out. “I’m not asking for your permission.”
A silent power struggle took place between us until Magni muttered, “If you’re so damn sure of yourself, then show me how you’d immobilize me.”
I crossed my arms. “That’s not fair. Devlin isn’t the best fighter in the world; you are.”
“My point exactly. If you can take me down, I’ll trust that you can take care of yourself.”
My voice rose a bit. “No one can take you down.”
“At least try.”
“No, Magni, I’m not going to humiliate myself in a fight with you.”
Magni spun around, throwing his hands in the air with loud sounds of frustration. That’s when I made a fast move and kicked his feet out from under him.
With wind milling arms, he knocked over a chair on his way down and landed on his ass with a hard “thump.” The look of surprise on his face was priceless and had me smiling with satisfaction.
“Huh, looks like taking you down wasn’t so hard after all. Told you I was good.”
In a fluid movement Magni got back up and brushed his pants off with annoyance. “Nice one, but what are you going to do when he gets back up? You’ll need a lot more than a surprise attack if you want to beat someone like Devlin.”
“Then teach me.”
“Laura, this isn’t some superhero movie. Size and strength matters in a fight and unlike you, Devlin has been training since he was a child. Be realistic for a moment.”
