Free Enticed by Jessica Shirvington

to me all this time? Had he really just been making excuses for why we shouldn"t be together? Nyla and Rudyard were clearly more than just partners and if they could be …

    -

    Zoe fought like a cat. She leapt and darted with economy of movement but freaky speed.
    Salvatore had a more reserved and calculated approach. Not as flashy but you could see instantly, he was to be respected. It was all over fairly quickly. Zoe won the spar, getting Salvatore into a potentially lethal hold. But I was highly suspicious that Salvatore had let her win.
    „You"re up," Steph said and then gulped loudly beside me. When I looked at her, all the colour had drained from her face.
    „It"s okay, Steph. It"s just training. Remember, we are a lot stronger than normal people," I said, still completely preoccupied with Lincoln. He and Magda had only just joined everyone else. Clearly they"d had more talking to do.
    Not again. Please, not again. Lincoln promised no more lies.
    „Violet – your turn against Spence. Nyla does a lot of the combat training at the college, but since she hasn"t watched you fight before she will only observe tonight and then plan a program for you tomorrow," Griffin said in his umpire voice.
    „Okay," I said, making my way onto the mat to stand opposite Spence.
    We hadn"t real y had a chance to talk since first meeting at the airport. „You ready?"
    Spence snapped at me as if I were holding up his life.
    Oh, this is going to be great.
    „Yep,„ I said. Punching him in the face was going to be my pleasure.
    Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Magda lean in and whisper something into Lincoln"s ear. Her hand rested on his shoulder and I was sure she glanced at me, looking for a reaction.
    I didn"t even see Spence coming. It wasn"t that he"d done anything extraordinarily stealthy, I had just been pathetically distracted. I took a jab to the gut as punishment.
    I tried to pull myself together. I knew this was important. Rudyard already had his first impression of me but I knew this would be Nyla"s. Not to mention that everyone was watching to see what the fuss was about.
    Barely three minutes later I was flat on my back. I"d managed to get in a few good moves, but Spence had fought fiercely – at times even a little underhanded for a training session –
    and I never had a second to get myself together.
    „See?" he barked. „This is stupid! We come all this way to train with this chick and she can"t even last long enough to make me sweat. He stormed over to Nyla and Rudyard, leaving me sitting on the ground. „It"s not fair. I"m a good fighter – I should be allowed to hunt! I shouldn"t have to wait for my partner." He flung a hand back towards me. „She doesn"t even know how to handle herself against me and she"s allowed to hunt."

    Steph stood up, hands on hips. „Hey, macho man. Have you ever disabled more than half a dozen exiles in one go? While you"re lying on the ground dying?" Steph had a nice way of getting to the point.
    „Who are you, anyway? This isn"t a spectator sport, you know," Spence spat at her.
    „I"m the one who"s going to explain to you two very important things. First, you need deodorant … like now. Second, if you think beating Violet in a bit of sparring and then boasting about it like a total idiot would somehow make you look like some kind of under-appreciated hero-in-the-making, you are so out of lick it"s almost funny,"
    Spence looked around the room as if he were waiting for someone to drag Steph out and throw her on the street.
    Rudyard stood up and put an arm out for Nyla to join him.
    „We are finished for tonight. We"re going back to the hotel. Zoe, Salvatore and Spence, we expect you for dinner." Rudyard gave Spence a brief nod. „Strong fighting." Then he turned to Steph. „You, Stephanie, are welcome to watch any training sessions Violet invites you to. I find your approach … effective."
    As they walked out the door, Rudyard looked back at Lincoln and Magda and then