Warrior (Relentless #4)(106)

She tried to pull away, but I captured her hands again as I stared into her startled eyes.

“Nikolas, whatever you are thinking is a really bad idea,” she said fearfully.

I watched in fascination as tiny blue sparks moved over her face and made strands of her hair lift into the air. My eyes met hers, and I sucked in a breath at the golden specks shimmering in the green of her eyes.

Sara ripped her hands from mine, her wild eyes telling me my theory was right. Now I needed to show her why I trusted her with my life. Her natural instinct to protect those she cared about was too strong for her to harm me.

She backed away. “Nikolas, please stop. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to hurt you.”

Using my demon speed, I moved out of sight behind her. Before she could turn, I grabbed her shoulders to startle a reaction from her.

She screamed, and a buzzing tingle raced up my arms.

A second later, I was airborne.

I hit the wooden seats with enough force to punch the air from my lungs. The arm of one of the seats jabbed me hard in the ribs before I rolled backward onto the floor, dazed with the faint smell of ozone filling my nostrils.

I lay still for a moment, trying to clear the fog in my head and taking stock of my aches. There was definitely gunna paste and a trip to the healing baths in my near future.

Hands shook me, and I heard a frantic voice saying my name.

I opened my eyes to find her leaning over me. She was so close that my first thought was how easy it would be to reach up and pull her mouth down on mine. The thought brought a smile to my lips.

“I said you could do it.”

Her mouth gaped, and she stared at me.

“You jerk! You…you *!” she shouted as her small fist punched me in the chest. Then she was up and running for the door.

I beat her to it, and she ran into my chest. She tried to go around me, but I captured her arms and refused to let her go.

“Sara, we needed to test your power to see if you can use it at will, and now we know.”

She glared at me through her tears. “At will? I almost fried your ass! If I hadn’t pulled it back in time, you’d be singing a different tune. No, actually, you’d probably be dead.”

“But you did control it, as I knew you would. You want to know how I knew that?”

I released her, and she folded her arms across her chest. “Please, educate me.”

I met her angry glower with a smile. “I know because if there is one thing I have learned about you, it’s that you are incapable of hurting someone – unless they are trying to hurt you or someone you care about. Then all bets are off.”

She looked away from me, and her voice was hoarse when she said, “You scared the hell out of me. I thought…”

Warmth flooded my chest at the emotion in her voice. Did I hear something more than friendly affection, or was it wishful thinking?

“I’m sorry,” I said softly. “I didn’t want to frighten you, but the only way to get you to show your power was to expose you to a demon and to put you on the defensive. Now we know what you can do, and we can work with that and teach you to call on it when you need it.”

“I am never doing that again,” she declared.

“Not that, no.” I was glad to see anger replace her fear. “We won’t have to try anything that drastic next time.”

“Next time?” She glared at me. “What part of never do you not understand?”

I met her angry gaze. “So you refuse to use your power on me again, no matter what I do?”

“That’s right.”

“And how will you stop it?” I asked, although I already knew the answer.

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

“If I bring my Mori out again and come after you, what’s to stop your power from attacking me again?”

She shifted restlessly from one foot to the other. “I will stop it.”

“How?”

“I just will, okay?” she snapped. “I know what it is now, and I won’t let it get away from me again.”

I watched as the impact of her declaration hit her. Her expression went from indignation to confusion to chagrin, all within the space of a minute. She wasn’t happy with my methods, but she had to admit they were effective. In forcing her to use her power, I’d shown her she could control it.

“So now that we have that settled, why don’t we try something easy that doesn’t involve throwing me across the room? If you are up for it, that is.”

She scowled at me and marched over to where we’d been working with the weights. “Fine, but don’t blame me if I knock you on your butt again. And you owe me for making me believe I killed you.”

Her refusal to concede gracefully made me laugh as I joined her. I could only imagine what she was going to ask for. “Okay. What do you want?”

She smiled mischievously. “I need to go into town this week to pick up a bunch of stuff for Oscar before he gets here.”

“Oscar?”

“My cat. Nate is bringing him when he comes for Thanksgiving.”

“Oh.”

At first I was a little disappointed that all she wanted was a ride to the pet store. But then I realized this was a great opportunity to spend time with her outside of training.

Over the next hour, we worked on her power. She threatened to walk out if I tried to get her to use it on me again, so we had to make do without a demon. It made for a frustrating session for her, but I wouldn’t let her stop until she managed to call on her power and produce a few sparks. Her little smile as we left the arena told me she was pleased by how far she’d come in only an hour.