Page 78 of Dragon's Temptation

Liv stared at me. “What was that?” She looked at her hands.

“That was you,” I said. “The true you. It took some pushing, but there you are, and your power came out to play.”

Liv shook her head in a daze.

I got up and walked to her. Being a shifter meant I healed fast, and it took a lot to put me down.

“Come on,” I said and sank into a battle stance. “Let’s do this.”

Liv shook her head again, but it wasn’t because she didn’t agree. She was just not sure what to do.

“Do what Lazlo and Mykel taught you,” I said.

I lifted a fist and punched it in her direction, moving in slow-motion. She lifted an arm automatically to parry the blow.

I did the same with my other fist, a bit harder, a bit faster, and she did the same, blocking me again.

I moved faster and faster, and she matched me blow for blow, blocking my punches, anticipating my words.

“Come on, let it all go,” I said. She was still holding back, only doing as much as she thought she could do, not as much as she was really capable of. “Hit me with your best shot.”

She clenched her jaw and threw a punch. I blocked it, but the punch had so much power behind it, my body slid backward in the sand.

“Yeah!” I laughed, and I gave it all I had, too. I fought her, feigning an attack, and she reacted instinctively. She didn’t only block me, she countered with an attack of her own, and just like that, we were in motion. I punched and kicked, stepped back, blocked her blow, and countered again. She moved with a confidence I’d never seen in her before, now that she knew what she could do.

The training with the guys had paid off. Liv still had some work to do, but she moved like a warrior, and her newfound power and magic were enough to help her. She gave me a run for my money, fighting back, and I didn’t hold back with her. I fought her as hard as I could, but not once did she falter and fail.

We moved back and forth in the sand, in the shallow, muddy parts of the river, and over the rocks. We parried and fought, and it was a hell of a workout.

After what felt like we’d been at each other for days, I stepped back and held my hands up. I was breathing hard, my chest heaving and falling, and my muscles ached after being pushed to the limits.

Liv leaned on her knees, breathing as hard as I did. Her legs were muddy after we’d been in and out of the water, and her clothes were a mess. Her face was covered with dirt. When she looked at me, she burst out laughing.

“This is crazy,” she said.

I laughed, too.

“I don’t know any other word to use for it. It really is crazy.”

Liv wiped her face with her shirt, and it came away muddy.

“I’m a mess,” she said.

“Come on,” I said. “There’s a waterfall up here.” I wasn’t ready to go back to the cottage just yet. I wanted to be in the middle of nowhere with Liv a while longer, relishing in how close we suddenly were now that she’d dropped her guard.

Going back to the cottage wouldn’t be like going back to the city, but it still felt like we would return to reality, and I wasn’t ready for that just yet.

We followed the river through the trees. The sand changed from beach sand to a dark soil, and the trees weren’t all palm trees anymore, either. The rocks grew taller and bigger.

“How can I be so strong all of a sudden?” Liv asked.

“Your power was unlocked when the spell broke.”

“All at one time?”

I nodded. “Depending on the nature of the spell, yeah, it seems like it. The other things you learned, like how to fight, how to defend yourself, getting fitter and stronger… that just added fuel to a fire that already burned bright.”

Liv paused and took a deep breath. “All of this is so much to take in.”

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