by Angela White
“Going through it like an Eagle was great,” she answered tensely. “Wow, Alex is fast!”
Aware of her tension, Marc didn’t change his plans or censor his words.
“You’ll be that good someday.”
There was a sense of being patronized and Angela cast out a line, hoping not to snag anything, but needing to know. “Adrian will be opening Eagle tryouts for rookie levels soon…for women.”
Marc’s attention snapped up from her delicate wrists. “Tryouts?”
When she nodded, showing the V in her chin, his heart thumped painfully. “You’re thinking about it?”
She nodded again, and he was aware of those shrewd baby-blues evaluating his reaction. Swallowing his first three responses, Marc sipped his chocolate and thought. When he finally spoke, it was carefully.
“It’s rough, the way they do things here. You might want to try a few private lessons with Doug or Kyle first, to be sure.”
It was a perfectly reasonable answer and then his mouth opened again.
“And I honestly don’t know if you can do what they do, honey. You’re awfully small compared to them.”
Listening, Neil groaned at the thoughtless words.
Angela’s demeanor frosted over and that cute chin became a set line.
Damn it! Marc thought. Why couldn’t I stop there?
It was an identical wish for both of them.
“It’s been a long time since you’ve said that to me, Brady.”
“And I wouldn’t now, if I wasn’t worried about you getting hurt,” he defended.
Angela pushed away her anger as best she could. “I’m not afraid to get hurt if it means earning something that I want. I never have been.”
“I know that, better than most people,” Marc relented. “It’s your choice, Angie, as always.”
“Yes, it is.” She stood as Neil came toward them and Kyle’s team filled the small area.
Smothering disappointment, (she’d hoped Marc might actually support her idea) she let only traces of it lace her tone. “Looks like there’s hours yet before the camp will be ready to travel. Let’s do our normal drill.”
Marc started to tell her it wasn’t safe for her to be out in the open, but Neil beat him to it.
“I’ll have it set up in 5 minutes. All of us hate missing sets while we’re in the QZ.”
Satisfied she’d be safe; Marc did a fast sweep of the molding trees and bold ants that littered their view. “What’s with the ‘all of us’? It’s your first time in quarantine, right?”
Neil smiled sheepishly, relenting. “So I’ve heard.”
All three of them were laughing as they came from the little mess.
From the edge of the tattered caution tape, Adrian saw them and thought they seemed out of place with the apocalyptic landscape to backdrop their happiness. The brackish sky was a dim, depressing canopy that dripped indifferently over everything.
“Hey, Boss.” Kyle had come to meet him, an extra mug in hand. “All quiet now.”
“Now?”
The mobster took a quick glance around to verify there was no one else in hearing distance. “She had a nightmare. Said you need to talk to the new woman, Samantha.”
“She say anything else?”
“Something’s coming within the week.” Kyle’s voice dropped. “You think Samantha’s special too?”
“The odds just went up on that bet.” Adrian turned toward the larger camp, taking the hot coffee. “Bring her by while I’m breaking down my canvas and we’ll find out.”
3
“Ready?”
“Yes.” Angela blew out an annoyed sigh. “And stop warning me. It’s like training with someone’s nervous grandmother.”
The Eagles laughed, their eager noises carrying on the wind.
Flushing a bit, Seth lunged with a leg sweep that she jumped and returned, sending him to the ground in surprise.
“Never underestimate your opponent!” Doug growled, huge form moving between them. “Who’s next?”
They’d been at it for half an hour despite her passing the self-defense part in the first few minutes. She’d insisted on more.
“Me.”
Marc stepped forward. His tone was hard to read, but his thoughts said he hated witnessing her wrestle with these men.
“You guys are too easy on her.”
There were scoffs from the four disheveled men she’d cleared and the senior Eagles monitored closely, evaluating. It was obvious that she was better than some of Adrian’s rookies and this would tell them where to place her in training when Adrian openly declared her an Eagle. That he would, his top men had little doubt, though it had only been a few days. When Adrian wanted something, he got it, and female members of the guard were high on his list. He’d just been waiting to put his faith in the right one.
“Don’t hurt yourself, now.”
Marc’s challenge came from their mornings spent this way and Angela’s face stretched into a grin. Lower level men exchanged disapproving looks at her lack of seriousness, but again the top Eagles wondered. The determination behind that smile said she was anything but distracted.
From the beginning, it was fierce. Marc did what none of them had been willing (in this situation) to do. He tackled her.
Prepared and glad to be on his training terms, Angela locked her ankles and used the momentum from their fall to roll him over and off.
Marc pushed to his feet, hair messed sexily as he stalked her. Contentment melted his angry face back into her best friend and Angela crouched low. “Say it. Say it!”
“I’ve missed this.”
Her grin widened. “Even the pain, grunt?”
He barked a laugh. “Especially that!”
“Then, let’s get to it.”
Before he could rush her again, Angela lunged upward to deliver a harsh hit to his shoulder that he absorbed, wrapping his arms around her upper body to trap her in a tight hug.
Angela immediately dropped to her knees and twisted her elbow into his side. Able to slip free, she ducked his swipe for her braid and kicked out, shoving him away from her.
Angela flashed to her feet, eagerness spilling out. “More, Brady, more!”
It was a blast from their past and it lit up his heart. “Whatever you want, baby cakes.”
In her happiness, Angela didn’t get set for his lunge and the shock of being on the ground under a man sent fear rushing into her mind, freezing her.
“Lock those ankles!”
Angela steeled her panic, calming, and then Marc had his hands full keeping her on the ground as she punched, twisted, elbowed.
As they struggled, there was the sound of their harsh breathing and the mutters of the Eagles, who all wore deep scowls at a woman being on the ground under a man they didn’t trust.
As they rolled over again, Marc still coming out on top, Seth stepped forward to break it up.
“Leave them.” Adrian had come from the caution tape with quiet steps, and it eased his men to have him present, even as their frowns grew.
“Still want more?”
Angela had freed herself and was staying low as Marc circled her, rapidly closing the space.
She didn’t answer his taunt and he eased closer. “Very good. You remember the next lesson?”
“Trade-off.”
“That too much?” Angela shook her head and Marc came forward aggressively.
This time, even Neil went to stop it and only Adrian stepping forward halted the rush to help her.
He stopped as soon as the men did, though, enrapt by the battling warrior woman of his dreams.
Angela swung, connecting with his open palm and Marc immediately returned the motion. Angela had her feet braced and didn’t budge as her hand absorbed the hit.
She threw the next punch with a quick twist at the end and she could feel his surprise that she’d remembered the single five-minute lesson. The blow made him sway to the right and she waited for his hit, gaze locked firml
y on his.
Marc knew what she wanted, what Adrian also wanted, and was unable to resist the pull from them both. Angie wanted the Eagles to know she could do this and Adrian wanted the same.
Fine, Marc grunted at the hope as she read his thoughts. At least with me, she won’t be hurt.
“Level Two.”
Angela swung at the words, following a right with a left, and Marc stood pat so he wasn’t pushed off balance.
His turn now, he stomped toward her with a raised hand and the fear froze her again. He’s so big!
Unsure and very aware of his duty, Adrian stepped forward as Marc’s slap neared her face and then she cupped her hands into one fist and slammed it into Brady’s unprotected jaw.
Expecting it, Marc grunted at the impact, but kept coming and she flashed out with a punch to his kidneys that sent him to his knees at the unexpectedness of it.
Calming, Adrian motioned the Eagles back, but he stayed close as Marc lunged for her legs and got a boot in the shoulder that sent him rolling and then onto his feet.
“Switch.”
Angela’s grin stretched her lips into a fierce snarl as she attacked.
Now mostly confident they’d done this enough times to keep her from getting hurt, Adrian observed the reactions of his men. He tried not to wonder how many of Marc’s hits had landed when she’d first begun to learn these moves.
Angela swung from the hip, letting her anger out a bit and Marc’s duck was quick. He jumped from her leg sweep and managed to avoid her left hook, but the right caught him squarely on the forehead and he hit the ground.
Stunned, Angela rushed to him, not thinking about anything but him falling from the mangled Blazer. What was she doing?
“Marc?”
Marc’s body was shaking, but not from her hit, and his snort shot out at her worried tone.
“I’m fine,” he ground out through the laughter, “Just finished thinking you wanted me on my ass and then here I am.”
Angela chuckled, offering a hand up that he took and kept for a second.
“Nice switch. That enough or you want some more?” he challenged as if he’d won, making her grin. The sparks between them were thick.
“That’ll do, Brady.”
Her amused sigh was full of long-suffering and she exited the circle with his chuckle in her ears and a lighter heart. Marc didn’t want her to be an Eagle, but he did want her to be happy. If this was what it took, he would give it to her.
“Let’s have a lesson.”
Adrian’s words caught Angela’s attention and she lingered nearby, hoping she’d be allowed to observe. Sweat rolled down her spine and she shivered as a cold gust of wind gave her a chill.
Adrian led them toward the rear of the long tent that Neil had indeed directed them to less than five minutes after they left the little mess.
“Open matchups.”
All the Eagles grinned, stripping off their gear, and when Angela stayed near the door, Adrian gestured toward her. “Eagle Four has lead. Rookie session during, Eagle Three.”
For reasons she soon understood, their spirits went up another notch.
Neil motioned toward her. “You should have a front row seat for this.”
Angela went willingly enough, happy to be allowed to watch, but she was aware of Marc’s good mood being gone as he fell in on her left. She also noticed a few of the Eagles giving her strange looks, but their thoughts weren’t open in her distraction.
“What was the first thing you learned in my self-defense class?”
Adrian’s voice was full of a command that he hadn’t used with Angela yet and the sound of it was mesmerizing, drawing her closer.
“To duck!” the Eagles answered in unison.
“And the second?”
“To hit back!”
Adrian gestured to the empty space in the center of the tent. “The basics. Square off and show me.”
Angela observed in fascination as the men chose each other and started brawling. Except it wasn’t a chaotic fight with wild swings and reckless moves. It was a choreographed play of punches and ducks that made the men doing it come across as puppets on a stage, their strings being wielded by a master.
“That’s the first set you’d learn if you were an Eagle,” Neil stated.
Angela was mesmerized. Not a single swing was out of place, no missteps that sent them into each other or to the floor. This was the basics?
“It wasn’t so smooth in the beginning. It gets this way over the course of time and repetition.”
Not sure why Neil was telling her these things, Angela was aware of Marc’s disapproving grunt on her left.
Adrian spun a finger. “Level One.”
Now the hits were landing into open palms, much the way she and Marc had done. Only these punches were hard and fast, making men move from the force being used.
The slaps of skin meeting skin rang violently through the tent and Neil waited for the right moment to speak, surprised to find he could read her as easily as he did the males. “By the end of this level, your arm muscles are so sore you feel like you can’t move, and the bruises on your palms last for weeks.”
Angela didn’t respond, thinking she’d had a small taste of that when Marc had finally agreed to give her the training she wanted. He’d pulled most of his hits, she knew that, but she’d also made him stay at it until she ached, just to make up for his easy touch.
“Level Two.”
The first punch took Seth to his knees and Angela stiffened her lips into a line to hide the fear that bubbled up. This is what she needed to discern, what she had to know.
Seth wiped the blood from his mouth, slinging the scarlet drops as he swung back.
Marc had refused to do more than trade hits with her open-palmed. Would she be able to take that? If not, she’d never be an Eagle.
“Three.”
Adrian led them up the levels, giving them the release and nerve-steadying workout they needed, and he studied Angela as the fighting got harder. She needed to know what she was walking into.
“Camp rules say when you bleed, you’re out,” Neil stated with a tone of longing. “But as an Eagle, there’s no crying off. Blood is part of what we do.”
Angela could hear Neil wishing he was part of the lesson instead of sitting here with her and she kept quiet, hoping he’d understand that he didn’t have to miss the fun to explain things to her.
To teach you, the Witch corrected, awake and scenting the tent’s odors of strength and pain. You’re the rookie he’s instructing.
“Level Six.”
Angela winced as Daryl smacked into the ground near her feet, but his wink and grin told her he wasn’t unhappy and when he delivered a brutal ankle kick to his opponent, his roar was full of life.
“They love this,” she murmured wonderingly.
“Enough to follow his orders no matter what they are,” Neil said pointedly.
Angela heard the warning, and the tone that said she wasn’t strong enough to do this, and raised her chin. Just because she was scared of something didn’t mean she couldn’t do it, especially when there was so much at stake. When the slavers came for her, when Dean came, she had to be able to hold them off long enough to kill their leader. With the head cut off, Adrian and his men would be able to go in and wipe out the rest.
“You okay?”
Marc’s voice brought her back to the lesson and she gave a nod, frowning as she realized the men were all cleaning themselves up. She’d missed the end.
“We have another half hour. Anyone feel like a challenge?”
Adrian stepped into the center of the tent, removing his 9mm, and the excited reaction of the men was nothing to the thumping in her heart as Adrian stripped his shirt. She surveyed the tattoos, recognizing some as Marine and others that she suspected went much deeper into the underside of the military. They stretched over his back and arms in beautiful, exotic detail.
Eagles moved his way and Adrian’s stance sai
d he wanted it as much as they did. Angela sighed. What is it with men and fighting?
“They won’t hurt him,” Neil assured her. “Now them, well, that’s another story.”
“Let’s thin things out a bit,” Adrian stated. “No one below Level Three.”
There were good-natured groans and movements that left half a dozen men in the ring with Safe Haven’s nearly naked leader. When they all rushed him, Angela tensed, drawing a disdainful thought from the other man at her side.
She knows they won’t hit him, right?
Thud!
Marc’s lids narrowed as Adrian took a sharp hit on the jaw and fired a blow that sent the offender to his knees.
Thud!
Another punch landed on Adrian and a second Eagle hit the floor an instant later.
Damn, he’s fast, Marc thought, surprised. He had known Adrian was lethal in many ways. It was in his body language, but Marc hadn’t expected the 40-something-year-old to be so quick.
Angela observed with her hands balled into fists to keep her emotions from showing. The witch was whispering, muttering of the wasted energy, but Angela could feel their need for this. Adrian was giving them a release from the tensions of being perfect all the time in front of the camp.
And showing you what to expect, the Witch cautioned, fading. Pay attention, if this is what your future holds. You’ll have need of it.
Another man went down and Adrian took out the last two in one very fast leg sweep that made the Eagle next to Angela almost whimper in longing.
“He’s been practicing,” Neil muttered, forgetting his duty as the desire to join in flooded him. Matchup with Adrian was an incredible rush.
“Anyone else?”
Unable to stop himself, Neil asked, “Request permission to trade off.”
Adrian allowed it and Neil motioned Seth over to cover his duty as he moved toward the blond.
“Level Ten.”
Neil froze for a brief second before starting to strip his hat and Beretta. “You got it.”
Each Eagle there suddenly didn’t envy Neil the personal time. They recognized the punishment. Level Ten was only for tests and even then, few passed.
