Chapter 13

"I—hate—this!" I panted as I threw a tired fist at the punching bag in front of me for what felt like the billionth time.

"You can say that again," Ashlyn said to my right, bending over her knees as she huffed and puffed along with me.

"You haven't seen anything yet," Tobias said beside me—not even winded—kicking at his own punching bag like it pissed in his cereal.

Honestly, it was very distracting to work out beside him because, shirtless and glistening, his off-limits hotness was incredibly hard to ignore. I kept finding myself stealing glances at those chiseled muscles and hating myself when my core heated in response.

Defense class was every bit as horrible as I'd imagined it would be. The training room was enormous, divided into sections with different equipment. One section had ellipticals and treadmills, one had full-body punching bags and gloves, one had weights, and then half of the ginormous gymnasium had nothing but a foam mat that covered the entire floor; I assumed that was where the sparring happened.

I took a moment to catch my breath and looked around. There were hundreds of students here. Half the school must be in the gym. Many of them were training just as enthusiastically as I was, but some of them, like Tobias, were really giving it their all.

"Sorry if this is a stupid question, but why are you pushing yourself so hard?" I asked after my lungs had stopped screaming at me.

Tobias didn't stop his attack on the bag when he answered. "Students can test out of Defense, and seeing as my father is the General of the shifter forces, it's expected of me to do so."

He gave the bag one big punch, and it rocked so hard that I thought it was going to fly clean off the chains that held it.

"Wow, a general?" I said on an exhale. "Tough shoes to fill."

"You have no idea," Tobias grumbled, giving the bag a death stare.

The idea of testing out of this class was tempting, but I had very little faith that my body would ever excel at this type of thing. I could barely go up a flight of stairs without getting winded, and I had about as much desire to tackle someone as I wanted to be tackled myself.

"How do you test out?" I asked, expecting a harrowing answer.

"You have to win the simulation," Tobias replied matter-of-factly, turning his head in the direction of the closed-off room in the corner.

I remembered Brett talking about that at lunch. I still had no idea what it really was. Was it some kind of virtual reality, like a video game? Did you have to put on goggles and body sensors? And what were the ‘simulations' like?

"Alright, class, that's time." Caesar's voice filled the gym. "Time to pair up for forty minutes of sparring."

"Oh no," I groaned, my exhausted shoulders slumping as low as they could go.

The class gathered around the foam mat, and Caesar and his assistants paired everyone off. I dreaded him coming to me, dreaded who I might get paired with. If it was Cora or one of those mer-bitches, I was done for. Heck, if it was Tobias, I was done for. Please let it be Ashlyn. At least I know she'll go easy on me!

"Arya, you'll be paired with Kendall," Caesar said when he came to me.

An exclamation point floated over my head at that designation. I was both thrilled and dismayed. Why did it have to be Kendall? I was covered in a thick layer of sweat, and I was sure my hair looked like it had gone through a garbage disposal. Now I had to get up close and personal with the only cute mer guy at this school who didn't treat me like crap?

Kendall made his way over to me with an expression that said he was pleased with the match. And his shirt was off. And his chest was glistening like that of a Greek god. How the heck was I supposed to focus when he looked like that?

I didn't miss the glare that Kendall shot Tobias or the glare that Tobias gave in return as he passed him toward his assigned partner. Interesting tension there, and I wondered with a flutter in my belly if it was because of me or something else.

"Go easy on me?" I asked as coyly as I could.

"Of course," he chuckled.

So quickly, I didn't know what was happening, Kendall spun around and kicked my feet out from under me.

I was certain I was going to land painfully on my ass as I went flying. I squeezed my eyes shut to brace for impact, but strong arms caught under my back and knees. When I hesitantly peeked one eye open, I saw that Kendall was cradling me against his firm, slick chest, his handsome face wearing a devilish smile.

Oh, this guy is good!

"You fight dirty," I said, my breathless voice barely audible.

He winked. "I just wanted to sweep you off your feet."

Swoon!!!

"I'm sorry, but that was really corny," I giggled, even as I clung to him.

"I know, but I couldn't help myself." He laughed back and set me gently down on my feet. "Okay, let's get to the actual training. I'll try to teach you some evasive maneuvers you can use against these other guys because I don't think anyone else you might get paired with will go easy on you."

"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 hard something pressing 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 right forearm 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."

My smile faltered as instant guilt stunned me for making that claim. The person who supposedly robbed me was my mom, and saying such a thing was an insult to her memory. After all, I knew deep down that whatever Mom's reasons were, they weren't malicious.

"That's alright," Kendall said with a warm smile. "We'll try to get you caught up on everything you missed. I'll personally take you under my fin. I'm sure there are lots of things I can teach you."

With the heated glint in his eyes, there was no missing the innuendo, and honestly, I had a whole lot of pent up teen mischief to catch up on.

When he lunged for me this time, I saw it coming, but saw no reason to resist physical contact with him in this circumstance. He wrapped an arm around my waist and took me down to the mat. "Now, let's work on your ground game."

As my head landed on the mat, I caught sight of Tobias staring at us across the room.

He didn't like me. Most of the time, he avoided eye contact if he could help it.

He couldn't like me because of the whole speciesism thing.

But as I—let's be honest—barely struggled under Kendall's gorgeous body, why did it feel like I was betraying Tobias?