CHAPTER 16
I wouldn’t consider it a complete return to the old not-so-nice Nathan days, but he wasn’t exactly likable when we started training, or whatever he wanted to call it. I’d forgotten he had mentioned teaching me to use a few weapons. He hadn’t.
Developing hybrids usually reported to the base to start training right away. I would go there eventually, but since we had to hide out for a while longer and currently had Skotadi after us, he thought it was in my best interest to start training now, to learn how to defend myself. Apparently, when he lived on the base years ago, he had been one of the combat instructors, so he happened to know what I was missing out on. Lucky me.
I wasn’t as enthusiastic as he was. Really, I doubted he was as thrilled as he put on. I figured he was just stir crazy and viewed this as an opportunity to thwart the boredom. Whatever his reasons, he turned into a bossy tyrant again.
Morning of the first day had been exhaustingly boring, spent going over various weapons and how to use them. He made me shoot a few guns to ‘get a feel for them.’ I had decent aim, or so he said. As much as I hated the guns, I hated the knives more, especially since I knew that just a scratch from any of the diamond coated ones could kill me. Fortunately, he gave me a regular knife to practice with so I wouldn’t inadvertently kill myself. Or him.
After lunch, he suggested a lesson in hand-to-hand combat, and that was when things got interesting.
I shouldn’t have been excited about it, considering he was about to hand my ass to me without breaking a sweat. I had a moment of trepidation when we reached a flat area in the field Nathan declared a suitable location. That anxiety vanished when he removed his sweatshirt and tossed it to the ground. Luckily, his back was to me, and he didn’t catch my eyes bugging out of my head.
The black torn sleeveless t-shirt he had on underneath revealed the sculpted biceps he has been hiding all along, and the sides of the shirt scooped low enough that I glimpsed a smooth ripped chest when he turned. I was acutely aware that this was the first time I was seeing so much of him. It was nice, really nice.
His upper left arm was marked with a tattoo I couldn’t make out from the distance. Other than that, his skin was unmarked and flawless. Lean and smooth muscles blended and moved together like a marvelous piece of well-oiled machinery.
I’d bet he had one hell of a six pack.
“You change your mind?”
“Huh?” It took me a moment to realize he had been talking to me as I ogled him. That was what, the third time he has busted me now?
“I asked if you were ready,” he said slowly, like I was an idiot, which he probably thought I was by now.
“Yeah,” I said quickly. “Let’s go.” I swung my arms and clasped them in front of me with a sharp nod of my head.
“Alright, then.” He took a wide stance, crossing his arms in front of him and, God help me, all I could think about was how sexy he looked. “What do you do if someone attacks you?”
It didn’t help my case that I hadn’t been prepared for a quiz first, and stared at him dumbly.
He tilted his head. “Take your time, Kris.”
“Shut up.” I could do this. I jutted my chin out at him. “Man or woman?”
He hesitated, clearly wondering where I was going with this. “Man.”
That was easy. “Kick him in his happy place.”
His lips twitched and I caught the brief twinkle in his eyes. It took visible effort, but he managed to keep a straight face—something he seemed to have a hard time doing around me lately. He considered my answer and nodded objectively. “Good tactic, and probably effective, but I think we’ll skip over practicing that one, if it’s okay with you.”
“Sure thing, coach,” I snickered.
“Plan B?”
I shrugged. “Run?”
He made a face. “How far do you think you would get before I caught you?”
From him? Not far. He knew that. He knew that I knew that. But honestly, what were my alternatives? He towered over me by nearly a foot and had eighty pounds on me. He was bigger, faster, and stronger. He was a trained part-god. I couldn't possibly compete with him.
I huffed. “You can’t expect me to stay and fight you. I’ve seen what you’re capable of. No thanks,” I said defensively. “Plus, look at you, look at me. It’s hardly a fair fight.”
“Exactly,” he exclaimed like I had said something brilliant. “There are ways to use your opponent’s size and strength against them, so that when you do run, you get away, and maybe they think twice about following.”
If it worked, he would be in serious trouble. “Okay, Sensei, and how do I do that?”
He spent the next half hour going over technique, and demonstrated a few maneuvers to incapacitate an opponent of any size. By the time he offered for me to try a few moves on him, I was giddy with excitement.
“Aren’t you afraid I’ll hurt you?” I teased.
He didn’t even hesitate. “No.”
I scoffed. “You just taught me how to hurt you. Isn’t that an insult to your teaching skills?”
“It’s an insult to your ability to use what you’ve learned,” he returned quickly, and then relented some with an easy shrug. “It is your first time trying, after all.”
I would have been infuriated if that remark had come from anyone else. Coming from him, it sounded…right. Plus, from the smirk on his face, I knew he was teasing me. So Nathan wants to play? Game on. For dramatic effect, I stretched my arms behind me and tilted my head from side to side.
Nathan watched me, and waited. “Let me know when you’re ready,” he said casually.
I put my hands on my hips and narrowed my eyes at him. “Ready.”
I really was not ready when he lunged at me, and that was my excuse when I failed miserably and ended up restrained in his arms. And that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
He let me try over and over, and I failed each time. Finally, out of breath after five minutes, I stopped him. “What am I doing wrong?”
“Nothing. You just need more practice. You can’t expect to be good at it the first time you try.”
“You’re really fast,” I panted as I clutched my side.
“You’ll get faster too.”
“You have an advantage right now,” I reminded him. “Just wait. I’m going to surprise you one of these days.”
He didn’t look convinced. That only made me more determined. Somewhere along the way, I had come to seek his approval, and dammit, I was going to get it.