Page 64 of Rejected By a Wolf

But at that moment Antonio decided the two of them had enough. Though Antonio enjoyed watching Sophia in action, he refused to let her succumb to exhaustion before tonight’s battle.

“I think it’s time to call it quits, Sophia,” Antonio called out. “Don’t forget you have to fight for yourlifelater. You need rest.”

Sophia groaned but didn’t argue, reluctantly lowering her weapon.

“He’s right. Even fey like you run out of energy…eventually,”Conall teased.

“Are you sure about that?”

Conall shifted his gaze between Sophia and Antonio. “Probably not, but angering a werewolf isn’t on my agenda today.”

Good call,Antonio thought.

“Let’s leave them to it, Conall.” Cauladra motioned with her head for him to follow her.

Conall patted Sophia’s shoulder. “She’s right. We better leave you to your protective wolf.” He shot Antonio a weary glancebefore walking off, muttering to himself, “A wolf protective over a fey, never thought I’d see the day.”

Sophia gave them a wave, placing her sword in its sheath and making her way toward Antonio.

He couldn’t stop smiling, pride for his fey consuming him. “You’re a damn good fighter,Fia.That’s for sure.”

“For a fey?” She asked and Antonio could detect a hint of insecurity in her voice.

“No, for animmortal. Consider me impressed.”And so proud of you.“How long have you been training for?” Not many immortals could wield a weapon as well as she did. Though, her real talent lay in the way she stepped around her opponent - a skillful dance that was nearly impossible for anyone to keep up with.

“About forty years.”

He was taken aback. Unnatural beings typically needed to train for centuries to acquire the amount of skill she already possessed. “Only forty years?”

She shrugged. “Yeah. Youdoknow I haven’t lived much longer than that, don’t you?”

A wave of dizziness washed over Antonio. He never thought to ask her what her age was. Being nearly a millennia old himself, he assumed she had lived at least a few centuries. But she hadn’t even lived through one!

“How old are you?”

“Sixty-two.”

“Oh.”Gods, I’m a cradle robber.Antonio struggled to keep a straight face.

“And you?”

“Over nine-hundred.”

She nodded, not seeming the slightest bit surprised.

Trying to hide his own surprise, he decided to keep the focus on talks of her training rather than her age. “How’d you learn tofight so well in such little time? I’ve known immortals who have trained for centuries and still can’t fight like you do.”

“Eat, sleep, train. I guess.” She looked away as if this topic made her uncomfortable. He was determined to find out why.

“You make it sound like you didn’t give yourself time to enjoy anything in life.”

“That’s because I didn’t.” She continued to look anywhere but at him.

Digging for more information, he asked, “Why not?”

“Because I didn’t havetime.”

“We’re immortal. We have all the time in the world.”

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