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“Thanks,” I said, wobbling a little as I regained my footing.

“Besides, you’re small and thin enough that you could easily slip out of many hold positions. You just have to learn how to use your body.”

Kendall was offering to teach me how to use my body.Yes, please!Now I was hot and flushed for a whole different reason, and Defense was suddenly my favorite class.

“Let’s start with escaping a choke hold,” he said, stepping behind me. “I’m gonna put my arms around your neck, and I want you to try to get out.”

I stood in place, feeling the heat coming off his body as he stood centimeters away from my back. He seemed to be waiting for my permission.

“Okay.” I nodded. “Let’s do it.”

One large, muscular arm came over my shoulder and bent under my chin, his hand catching in the bend of his other arm that jackknifed on my opposite shoulder.

The embrace was tight, but not horribly uncomfortable, and I could still breathe easily. Well, okay, not super easily, as I was incredibly distracted by the hard press of his body behind me, and there was a distinctly hardsomethingpressing against my butt cheek that had me all kinds of flustered!

“Alright, now try to get out,” he instructed.

All I could think about was the fact that his warm body was wrapped around mine, and my head was a frenzy of filthy fog. Mostly, I had no desire to get out of this compromising position, but I reminded myself I was supposed to be focusing on becoming a vessel for revenge against the vampires and dragged my mind out of that delicious gutter.

I wrapped my hands around his thick forearm and pulled. Despite his seemingly loose hold on my neck, I couldn’t budge his arm, no matter how much I struggled. I squirmed and wriggled, trying to twist myself around or slip out. It ended with me looking undoubtedly foolish and somewhat crooked.

Kendall laughed, the vibrations of his chest rumbling against my back. “Well, that was a good attempt, but let me show you the right way.”

He released me and moved so that he was in front of me with his back to me. “Put your arms around my neck.”

I had no problem with following those instructions, pressing up against him, and putting my arms in the same formation that his had been on me. Just as he had, I made sure not to hold him too tightly so I wouldn’t hurt him. Not like I actually could.

“No matter how hard you pull on the choking arm, you’re never going to break it free,” he said, tugging on my rightforearm as I gripped the bend in my elbow. “You have to go for the parts that can be moved, which in this case is the interlocking arm.”

He grabbed the wrist of my other arm, the one that was bent and next to my face, and pulled it down with ease.

Wow, I was weak. But then again, I wasn’t trying very hard to resist him.

“Once you have that arm down, the lock is broken, and you can push the choking arm out of the way,” he said. “But you have to also roll your shoulder into the disabled arm as you push away the choking arm so that you can escape.”

I felt his shoulder blade gently push into the left side of my chest, which completely distracted me from the hand that pushed at my arm around his neck, and he slipped out of my hold.

Kendall turned around and smiled. “Now you try.”

I nodded and happily let him put his arms around me again. Not a bad place to be, at all. Once he had his arms in place, I reached up for his left wrist and pulled as hard as I could. The arm came down no problem, and I rolled into his chest at the same time as I pushed his choking arm away, hopping out of his hold like a bunny.

Free and floating on air, I spun around with an ear-to-ear smile. “That was amazing! I actually did it!”

“That was perfect! See? You’re a natural.”

“It helps that you’re such a great teacher,” I purred, stepping closer. “Maybe you could help me with Mastery, too?”

“Sure, I wouldn’t mind tutoring you.” His eyes raked heatedly over me, but then softened. “I think it sucks that you missed out on growing up like a mermaid. Is it true that you were never in the water until yesterday?”

There it was, the small reminder that I was different from everyone else, and I stiffened instinctively.

But Kendall wasn’t saying it with judgment. The look in his beach eyes was honest, with a glint of sympathy.

“Yes,” I replied. “They’re calling me the fish out of water.”

Kendall frowned. “I’m sorry. I can’t imagine going my whole life without swimming. That really sucks.”

I nodded. “You have no idea. I feel like I’ve been robbed, and I never even knew it.”