Free Embrace Me At Dawn by Shayla Black

the neck, chest, or knees. And watch out for the black blood. Awful stuff.” He grimaced. “Gets everywhere and smells terrible.”
    “ So I’ve heard. I’ll keep their vulnerabilities in mind. What else should I learn today, then? Knives? Guns?”
    “ Not yet, little girl. We master self-defense before we move on. No learning offense until I know you can protect yourself.”
    She frowned. “What about new magic? You’ve all practiced something more advanced, right? Weaving complicated spells together and—”
    “ In good time. Master one skill first. Then we’ll move on.”
    “ At this rate, it will be weeks before I learn even the minimum necessary to fight Mathias.”
    “ Likely.” His stare dared her to object.
    The old Anka never would have argued. Now she refused to stay silent. “All of you need me in this fight. You’re a force stretched thin and exhausted. I can help if you’ll take the damn nappies off me. You didn’t wait to fight. You jumped in and got dirty.”
    He arched a brow at her and crossed his arms over his chest. “And we almost got our arses killed regularly. We jumped in because no one else could or would. That’s not the same situation now. Let’s give you time to learn properly.”
    “ While others die? While you risk yourself unnecessarily?”
    “ If you’re not ready, and we’re in battle, you’re nothing but a liability to us. Then we have to protect you before we can fight anyone. Do you think you’re even prepared to defend yourself against an attack? Really?”
    Before Anka could object or reason with Lucan, he snapped his fingers. Every light in the room went dark. The doors shut. The loud click of the locks reverberated in the silence.
    Anka gasped, startled. “Your magic worked.”
    “ And yours is locked down in this room while we train,” he said in the pitch black. “Now you’ll have to fight me off physically.”
    That sent her heart into overdrive. She backed away a step. “Lucan, what the devil are you up to? What do you mean, fight you off?”
    “ Prove that you’ve mastered self-defense. I’ll give you a ten-second head start. Go!”
    “ I don’t want to play this game.”
    “ You’re wasting time. I’m going to come after you, Anka. And if I’m pretending to be Anarki, I’m not going to play nice. Five seconds.”
    He meant it; she heard the serious tenor of his voice. Instinct kicked in. She turned and fled. Seconds later, she heard him charge after her. Her heart rattled and pounded madly in her chest. She couldn’t see anything in the pitch black, and tried to picture where she was running, but knew there was nowhere to hide. The impulse to flee a dangerous predator breathed hot down her neck. Her brain kicked in, and she knew the worst strategy she could employ was to hide in a corner where she’d be utterly trapped.
    Mathias had taught her that.
    Instead, she stopped running, crept closer to the center of the room, listening for any hint of Lucan, alert for the sound of a footstep or a breath. She forced herself to relax and beat back her panic as she mentally reviewed what he’d taught her.
    Crouched, ready, Anka waited. Long moments passed in complete black silence. Nerve endings sizzled. The hair on the back of her arms stood up. Lucan was near.
    The thought had barely cleared her brain when she felt a warm steel band around her waist. Another hand snaked into her hair and pulled hard. Lucan panted in her ear. Along with a dose of fear, a dangerous thrill rippled inside Anka. Her stomach cramped. She screamed, twisted in his embrace, clawed at him, but he wasn’t letting go.
    “ Fight me,” he demanded in her ear.
    Pushing aside memories of another wizard and another time, she sucked in a breath and scrambled for her next move. Wriggling her arm free, she shoved it forward, then reared back with all her might. Her elbow split nothing but air. In her ear, he chuckled, and she realized that he had leaned far to the other side,