Page 141 of Wolf Caged
“Because you paid for me.” I needed to shut up, but some pathetic, needy part of me needed to hear him say this combustible heat between us was real.
He prowled towards me, gaze dark and hungry. “Because I want you.”
My breath lodged in my throat together with my heart, and I struggled for air as I lost myself in his eyes, in that look that devoured me and awakened me at the same time, rousing heat in my veins that demanded we forget the fighting and just jump straight to the other thing.
“Begin,” he purred and my wolf howled in agreement, jumping right to the other thing as my blood caught aflame.
I was so caught up in the hunger swirling inside me that I almost missed the fact his fist was flying towards my face. I barely dodged the blow, ducking to my right, my mind racing to catch up with what was happening.
Fighting. Not fucking. Fighting.
Heart pounding, I drew on all my training, every routine that Vyr had drilled into me coming to the fore. I stepped into him, closing the distance between us, my left fist flying for his kidneys. Only I hit nothing but air. I blinked. He was gone.
Not gone, I realised as he kicked me in the back of my leg and it crumpled, sending me into a very ungainly sprawl on the damp grass.
Just too fast for me to track.
I shoved to my feet and whirled towards him, bringing my fist around with me, using momentum to my advantage in a blow aimed at his chest. He dodged back a step and smacked my arm with the flat of his hand, knocking my blow off course.
“I had thought Vyr would have done a better job than this,” he muttered as he easily blocked another fumbled attempt to hit him, bracing his forearm against mine as he sidestepped and then shoved me in the chest, knocking me back.
I growled, frustration beginning to get the better of me.
And hurled myself into a pattern of attack that Vyr had declared suited my speed and agility, keeping low to make myself a smaller target as I put on a burst of speed to pass Kaeleron and come around behind him. He twisted with me, denying me his back, and caught my fist as it flew at him.
I screamed as he twisted my arm and then shoved, releasing me as I stumbled backwards.
“Try harder,” he snarled.
Anger flashing in his eyes.
Or was it disappointment?
That feeling rolled through me as I launched another attack out of nowhere, a swift barrage of punches without a trace of my intent, a move that had caught Vyr off guard more than once.
Kaeleron huffed and blocked each one as he moved back step by step, keeping the distance between us steady, his hands as swift as mine were, allowing not a single blow to touch him.
“This isn’t fair,” I snapped, glaring at him as he resumed a relaxed pose, waiting for me to try again.
Acting as if I wasn’t a threat to him.
Bastard.
I breathed hard, anger spiking as frustration coiled tightly within me.
“Life is not fair, little wolf. It is brutal. It is cold. It is pain. Anyone who believes otherwise is a blind fool.” Kaeleron extended his arm towards me, turned his hand palm upwards and rolled his fingers, gesturing for me to come at him again.
“You have centuries of experience,” I bit out. “You’ve been trained for war. Have foughtinwars. I don’t stand a chance and you know it.”
“Not with that attitude, you do not,” he growled and narrowed his eyes on me as his jaw flexed. “Land one blow on me, little wolf. That is all I am asking.”
One blow.
He said it as if it was easy. Possible.
He might as well have asked me to pluck the moon from the sky.
The difference between our skill was vast and undeniable, and infuriating.
