Page 168 of Cold-Blooded Creatures

“It will help you later, trust me,” Eislyn supplied from beside Kali, in the identical position. She’d held remarkably steady through the warm-up and all the balance exercises I’d been running them through. “Believe me, Eli has been putting me through much worse than this.”

“Youaskedfor it.” Eli shrugged as he lingered on the side of our training ring, waiting for his students to finish gathering for his scheduled class on close combat with knives. “You said it yourself that you want to learn more than throwing knives. That requires this. Now go lower and raise your arms.”

Kali lost her balance and collapsed. “What even is this? It’s been an hour, and you haven’t taught me a thing.”

I snorted. “It’s been twenty minutes. If you want to learn how to fight, you need to know how to keep your balance. You may know where to strike with your fist or a knife, but if your opponent throws you off balance, you’re likely more dead than not. Now roll onto your stomach, position yourself on the balls on your feet, like in the lunge, but stay on your forearms, shoulder length apart, and lift yourself up.”

Cursing, she followed through. I fixed her position so that her body was tensed into a straight line.

“Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she repeatedly hissed, like a chant.

“Don’t forget to breathe.” Eislyn fluidly joined her in the new exercise. “You shouldn’t overwork yourself. It’ll take time for your concussion to fully heal.”

“I. Don’t. Give. A.Fuck,” Kali bit out through clenched teeth. “I’m doing this until I pass out.”

“You will not. I will not watch you hurt yourself from overexertion.” A low voice rolled over my shoulders. As usual, dressed all in black, Gedeon absorbed the sunshine bouncing on people working out in the training rings around us.

“Give me another order and I will shove it up your throat,” she spat out, beet red from the exercises and improper breathing technique. We had to work on that too. “I dare you.”

“I will not repeat myself.” He prowled closer and gripped my chin, his dark eyes boring into mine. “You have five days to ensure she understands the principles of training.”

My pelvis twitched. “Or?”

“Or my belt will tan your ass as it has done hers,” Gedeon promised, focused on my lips as I licked them, and then marched off to the crowd. It parted to let him through, and I would’ve given anything for it to have been the zipper in my jeans parting wide open, because his authoritative tone had shot straight to my crotch.

Jayla choked on her croissant, falling into a coughing fit, and Malaya had to hit her back a few times for it to pass. She wiped her tears and murmured a thank you.

“That’s what you get for getting into this. I’m off to my class.” Shaking his head, Eli strolled toward the other side of the square.

“Sometimes, I want to throttle Gedeon.” Kali splayed out on the ground, her arms wide and her cheek resting on the filthy and dusty gravel. “Everything burns,” she grumbled, spitting tendrils of her hair out of her mouth.

“I’ll teach you how to strangle someone later. It’s harder than you think. For now, we need to work on proper breathing.” I wiped a sweat bead from her forehead with my thumb and tucked a sweaty strand behind her ear, marveling at how she closed her eyes and a faint smile surfaced.

So beautiful.

“Ahm…Hello? Are we not going to talk about what just transpired?” Jayla asked, chewing a golden baked good covered in sugar powder. “Is no one really going to say anything? Because, I mean, come on! Gedeon just told us he wouldspank Zion. Ineedit to be on stage at Vice—it’d be the best show we’ve ever had. Nothing could beat that.

“And since when has this been happening? I thought Gedeon would never agree to it. He’s arrogant and likes his things obedient. Well, I believed so in the beginning. Kali showed differently. Can’t say I don’t enjoy watching her fight him because, let’s admit it, it’s freaking entertaining, but to seeyou”—she pointed her half-eaten croissant at me—“get nailed by Gedeon? Now that would be freaking amazing. I bet our profits would skyrocket, and we’d have a line outside from how many would want to see it. You have to say yes. Oh, oh! I just realized.”

She stuffed what remained of her pastry into her mouth and rushed to kneel in front of Kali. “We have to make sure ithappens. Please, please, please! Let’s forget all about training for the next few days. I need this to come true. I’ll do anything. Just please say yes.”

“Have you finished your babbling?” My ears had begun to ache from Jayla’s incessant prattling. “Because I will put you down to train beside them. And I won’t go easy on you.” Maybe exercises would shut her up for the time being.

“Not in the slightest. I have too many things to say about this. And you like me, don’t deny it. Life would be too boring without me.” She placed a hand on her chest and the sleeve of her green sweater peeked out from her red jacket covered in golden flakes. “And no, there is no way I’m joining you. Ava beat the shit out of me yesterday in group training. I already dread getting back up.” Groaning, Jayla stood up and trudged back to the bench. “My legs won’t keep me upright, but I have to somehow drag myself to Vice later tonight. And speaking about Vice?—”

“Jayla, I swear I will put you through worse than Ava did if you don’t shut up,” I warned her. She was here for one reason alone and it was not to test my patience.

My knuckles lingered on Kali’s cheek, so soft and smooth. The moisture from her deep breaths tickling my skin was grounding, telling me she was here and not in the city.

“Fine, fine, don’t be an ass like Gedeon. I’ll be quiet.”

“She won’t be,” Kali murmured, her voice distorted from how her face was pressed to the dirty ground. “She never is.”

“You know it,” Jayla quipped. “That’s why you love me.”

Eislyn gave up the position I had put them in and sat up, cross-legged. “Why are you here, then?” she asked Jayla. “You should take a hot bath. It will loosen up your sore muscles. You’ll injure yourself from overworking.”

“Because I’m bored. And we have an overload of baked goods,” Jayla supplied. We had to get Kali to eat somehow. And pastries always worked, especially filled with sweet cream. “SoMalaya and I decided to have an early lunch.” She took another flaky croissant from the lunch box that was carefully balanced against Malaya’s round stomach, her dark blue coat covered in sugar powder. Kali had mentioned Malaya was about eight months along by now.