Moon Touched (Zodiac Wolves: The Lost Pack #1)(35)

I pushed myself to my feet, still trying to orient myself. This time, Kaden didn’t let me duck past him, just caught me and pushed me back. I stumbled but didn’t fall. A small swell of pride went through me. I wasn’t perfect, but I wasn’t awful, either. I could do this.

“Again,” he said.

The more we fought, the more I realized how little I knew about anything. He would simply move out of the way and let my momentum carry me past him several times, or block my attacks and use them against me.

“How are you so fast?” I panted, as we circled each other.

“You’re a shifter, Ayla. Use your wolf reflexes.”

He darted at me, and I jumped back. It wasn’t the smooth, physics-defying motion he would have used, but I’d escaped. We circled each other some more, and I breathed in deep, trying to focus my senses. It didn’t help. I could see how quickly he was moving, then slow it down a bit so I could try to track his movements as I came closer, but I wasn’t able to land a blow on him. Frustration built as he continued evading me.

“I get it,” I said, as I tripped over his conveniently placed foot. “Can you actually teach me something now?” I looked up at him as he held his hand out to me. I reached up to take it but paused. “You’re just going to use it to flip me over your back or something, aren’t you?”

“Maybe. I wouldn’t trust my own word.” A slight hint of amusement played across his lips.

I glared at his hand and pushed myself up on my own. It was hard to focus on my anger when he rolled his shoulders, muscles rippling. If you don’t stop focusing on his muscles, you won’t learn a damn thing, I told myself sternly.

“I’ll show you some basic moves,” Kaden said. “It’ll give you a good base to start with, something to build on over the next few days.”

For the next hour, he went through some moves with me. It felt unnatural, trying to move my feet with my punches. Twice, I tripped over nothing but air. Each time, Kaden’s face broadcasted, seriously? I couldn’t help the blush that spread over my cheeks. I’d never been particularly clumsy, but there was something about training my body to do something different that made me feel like I’d never truly used my limbs before.

“You make this look so easy,” I said when I paused to take a breath.

“I’ve taught you the moves correctly,” Kaden said. “Your timing is just off, and you need to work on your body placement. It’s sloppy. You’re too worried about thinking about what you should be doing, and not letting your body do it.” He paused, and I huffed out another breath. “Go into a forward roll, like you’ve just punched someone and then come out from under their return attack.” He demonstrated the movement, making it look as easy as breathing.

I nodded and planted my feet, holding my hands up in the defensive position he taught me. “Start here, right?”

“Wider,” Kaden said, and I sighed and widened my stance. It felt wrong, and even as I tucked down and launched myself forward as he’d taught me, I could tell my balance was off.

I didn’t get fully over so much as I dove headfirst into the ground. I got my hands up in front of me in time, and rolled off to the side, pushing my momentum into not breaking my face. This was a lot harder to do than I thought it would be. Especially with how easy Kaden made it look. I had a feeling that the ground and I were going to be very well acquainted by the time training was over. When I glanced over at Kaden, he had his arms crossed over his chest, and I watched him let out a deep breath.

“We have a lot to work on,” he said, shaking his head.

Next, I watched as he demonstrated how to fall properly without getting injured. Then, he started pushing and tripping me again. This my body took to like it was natural, and it was. I’d learned over the years that in order to survive a fight, I needed to be able to take a beating and find a way to escape. It was how I'd survived this long.

A few times I looked up to see Kaden nodding, as if almost impressed. From him, it was practically glowing praise.

“Are we done yet?” I asked, panting as I stared up at the sky after rolling out of one more trip.

“One more thing,” he said. “Holds. You’re weak, weaker than most shifters, and if one gets you in a hold, you’ll have to be able to break it. Otherwise, you won’t stand a chance.”

Great, I thought as I pushed myself up off the ground again.

“We’ll start with simple holds, like this one.” He spun me around, and I didn’t even have time to open my mouth to ask him what he was doing before he caged me in his grip, pinning my arms against my sides. My brain short-circuited as his body pressed against mine, his broad chest hard against my back. His breath stirred the loose hairs at the back of my neck, almost as if he was leaning down to kiss the exposed curve of skin.

I didn’t even register that he was talking for several moments, his words coming to me as if they were slogging through molasses. “Use your arms, push mine up, and drop to the ground.”

What? It was hard to remember what I was even doing, let alone why I should want him away from me.

“Break. This.” He tightened his arms around me, fists pressing into my abdomen, just this side of painful.

I drew in a sharp breath. The pain snapped me out of whatever the hell that had been, and I struggled in his grasp. His instructions registered a moment later, and I lifted my legs up, letting myself fall, and tried to push my arms out and up.