14. River

"Wait, seriously?" I laugh.

Birds chirp in the distance and I glance around at the green trees surrounding our secret meadow. Since it's late morning, the sun is already high in the air, and the California weather is starting to warm up.

Akira strides to the middle of the clearing. "Seriously."

"This is not what I thought you meant when you asked if I wanted to let off some steam." I waggle my eyebrows at him.

His gaze is heated. "Oh, little fox. Don't tempt me. If you"re good, maybe I'll reward you later."

A jolt of lust shoots through me. "Okay, I'm listening." Honestly, I don't mind. There's something both comforting and exhilarating about watching Akira throw his daggers, along with the pleasant hum of the shell singing between us.

"Come here. I'm going to teach you how to throw a dagger."

My mouth falls open.

"Trust me, you'll see how stress-relieving and fun it is."

I walk to the middle of the clearing where Akira usually stands, but he beckons me closer.

We're standing significantly closer to the target. "Isn't this too close?" I ask.

"Have you ever thrown knives before?"

I shake my head. "No, never."

"That's what I thought." He gives me a warm smile. "No, then, we aren't too close. It takes a lot of strength, skill, and practice to throw these particular faerie daggers."

"Aren't they spelled to only work with your touch?"

Akira nods. "They are, but as a human, you don't have any magic to draw from. So these particular blades will just act like normal daggers to you. No magic or flames."

That eases some of my tension. I might accidentally burn myself if the handles were on fire. I shake the tension out of my shoulders and stretch my neck from side to side. "Okay, show me what to do."

"First, we are going to play around with your posture. I usually stand with my dominant foot forward, pointing at the target. But I know stance can be differ from person to person, so do whatever is more comfortable. Just make sure your knees are slightly bent, like this." He bends his knees slightly. "Don't ever lock them straight."

I shift my weight back and forth, trying to see which foot is more comfortable.

"Good." Akira nods. "Once you have your stance down, you will want to focus on hand-eye coordination. Once you get throwing I'm hoping it will relieve stress for you the way it does for me. It's very therapeutic."

I can't believe he's patiently trying to teach me something just because I was stressed after I hung up on my uncle. It's oddly… romantic.

"Now, look at me. I'm going to show you how to throw, without the dagger first. This is just so you can see what I do." Akira places his right foot forward, pulls back his arm, aims, and then throws. "You are going to want to hold this particular dagger by the blade when you throw. The farther away you are from the target, the farther up the blade, and closer to the handle is where you want to hold it. Does that make sense?"

"I think so," I reply. "So, the closer I am to the target determines how close to the tip of the blade I need to hold it?"

"Exactly."

"I'm going to pretend to throw again. Watch my arm and pay particular attention to my wrist." Akira aims and throws again. "Can you imitate that for me?"

My cheeks flame. "Won't I look stupid just pretending to throw something?"

"Of course not. Did I look stupid?"

Hell no, he looked hot. But I'm pretty sure I wouldn't look half as good.

"Go on, little fox. You'll be good for me, won't you?"

Ugh. "Not fair," I grumble. "You're using your sexy, commanding voice."

Akira smirks. "Is it working?"

"No." I readjust myself in my pants. "Anyway," I drawl. "Okay, how's this?" I bend my knees, arch my arm back, and flail it forward, pretending to throw a dagger.

"Your stance is good, but you have to put some strength into your throw."

My cheeks flame even more. He's right, I totally half-assed that. I aim and throw again.

"Good." He pulls his dagger out of his hidden pocket. "Now, watch me throw the knife this time. I'm going to grip the tip of the blade since we are so close to the target. Again, watch my wrist and how I keep it sturdy. The key is to not flick your wrist."

He throws the dagger and hits his target. This time when he jogs back, he hands it to me.

"I forgot how heavy it is. Didn't you say it was on the lighter side?"

Akira chuckles. "It is… for a magical dagger. Plus, I'm paranormal. Go on, try to throw it."

I take a deep breath and try to remember everything he told me. Aiming, I sling my arm back and throw. It feels good. Exhilarating. That is until the handle thunks against the trunk and falls pathetically to the ground. "Damn," I breathe.

Suddenly, Akira is there, the front of his body pressing against my back. "That was great, little fox." He whispers into my ear.

My cock jumps. Fuck. "What are you doing?"

He pulls my body tighter against his. I gasp when I feel the expanse of his hard muscles. "Giving you a small reward." Akira kisses my left shoulder blade as his hand slides under my shirt to rest on my lower stomach. He doesn't move his hand, but somehow this feels possessive. Claiming.

I shudder under his touch.

"Do it again. This time throw a little harder after you aim, but don't flick your wrist. Just let the dagger slide out of your grasp."

I do as I'm told. This time, while the blade goes wide, it actually sinks into the bark of the tree stump.

"Good." He hands me another dagger. Again.

I throw at least four more times before he walks over to collect all his daggers. When he demonstrates again, I notice how steady his wrist is, how his arm muscles ripple when he throws, and the amount of power that goes into that one throw.

I aim. Arch. Throw. It feels good. Different. A rush of power flows through my arm as the blade slides out of my grasp. When the dagger hits the target, my mouth falls open. Then I whoop with joy.

I throw my arms around Akira and pounce. "I did it!" I cheer. Then I'm kissing him. Akira laughs and swings me around. It was just one time, but it was such a rush. "Can I do it again?"

Akira is beaming at me as he hands me his other dagger. I take a deep breath and try again. It doesn't quite hit the target, but it's close. I whoop again.

We spend the next ten minutes with us throwing before my arm starts feeling exhausted. "Okay, I need a break."

Akira jogs out to the tree stump and collects his daggers. As soon as he's back, he directs me to the side, where I sit on a border. Akira walks further out and throws all six of his blades, one after another. I glance over at the stump and notice the daggers form a full circle, causing a memory to flicker.

I sit up. "Wait. Did you do that on purpose?"

Akira glances back at me as he pulls his daggers out of the bark. He cocks an eyebrow. "Do what?"

"That." I point at the tree. "Make a circle with your daggers."

His lips twitch. "Uh, yes. I did that on purpose." He smirks

"And your aim is that good? Every time?" I wave at the tree again.

"Of course, I'm that good," He huffs. "I"ve been a fae warrior for—"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, you"re a big, strong, sexy warrior." I hold my hand up when he opens his mouth. "No, I'm talking about your precision. Can you do that every time?"

"What are you getting at, little fox?" Damn, he looks adorable when he's confused.

"Hold on a second," I say, pulse racing. "Why didn't I think of this before?" I mumble to myself. I think back to the few times Indy and I went to the circus as a kid. Searching the ground for something, anything for Akira to throw at, I don't find what I'm looking for. Finally, my eyes land on my almost empty water bottle. I jog over to it. "This will do."

Placing the bottle on top of the boulder, I eye the distance between it and Akira. "Can you hit the top of the water bottle?"

"Yes."

"Okay, do it."

As soon as the blade hits the top of the bottle, it hits the target and soars through the air.

I point at a spot in the tree and back away. "Hit that spot. Good! Now this spot." By the time I point at my fifth random target, Akira laughs. "What are we doing?"

"A Wheel of Death!" I exclaim, unable to keep the idea to myself any longer. "You should do a wheel of death."

"Like Drake? There's no way in hell. I don't know how to ride one of those motorcycle death machines."

I laugh at the flabbergasted look on Akira's face. "What? A motorcycle isn't that hard to drive."

His mouth falls open, but I wave the notion away.

"No, Akira, let me show you." I fish my phone out of my pocket. "There's another Wheel of Death. It's for a blade thrower." I show him a video of a circus act where the assistant is strapped to a wooden wheel. As the wheel spins, knives are thrown, missing the assistant"s body as each knife sinks into the wood behind her.

"That actually looks really simple. I could totally do this. It's all about timing. As long as the wheel is going at a consistent pace, it would almost be impossible for me to hit someone. Especially with my kitsune eyesight." He nods. "Yeah, I can do this. I just need an assistant."

"I'll do it," I say in a rush. I didn't even think this through, but if I'm being honest, as soon as the image popped into my head, I couldn't picture anyone but me spinning on that board as Akira threw his daggers toward it. Fuck, why is that mental image turning me on?

Akira is beaming at me. "You'd do that for me?" He almost sounds awed. Fuck, I love making this man happy.

I nod, eagerly. "Like I said before, I trust you."

His dazzling smile widens, and he rushes forward, swooping me into his arms.

I laugh as he throws me into a bridal carry, as if my height doesn't mean a thing to him. Damn, I can totally get used to this paranormal strength thing.

"So, sexy huh?" He twirls us in a circle.

"Hmm?" I murmur in a daze.

"You called me a big, strong, sexy warrior. Which means you think I'm sexy!" He flirts.

"Oh, lord." I laugh. "Here we go again."