Last Kiss Goodnight (Otherworld Assassin #1)(55)
Author: Gena Showalter

—ROMANS 13:12

SOLO WAITED.

Vika resisted, clearly unsure.

“You have a kind heart, and you deserve to be cherished,” he said. “Until that happens . . .”

She frowned, eyeing him warily. “Violence isn’t always the answer. I’m too weak to defend myself against the muscle and brawn of a man. I tried, and this was the result.”

She’d gathered her courage once. She’d risked everything. She could do it again.

“You’re right. Violence isn’t always the answer. But sometimes violence is the answer. Don’t ever go looking for a fight, Vika, but when it comes to something like survival, don’t back down when one comes looking for you. Your opponent will simply keep coming back for more and things will get worse. I know you understand and accept that on some level, or you would have reacted to what I did to the monster.”

A moment passed. She nodded, whispered, “But if I try, I’ll keep losing.”

“Of course you will. Right now you’re fighting from a place of defeat. You have experienced the same results for so long, you no longer expect anything different.” He’d done the same thing. He’d taken one look at her and decided she could never want him. He’d acted that way, too. Had spoken that way.

The moment he’d decided to fight to have her, things had begun to change between them. They had talked, and they had laughed. They had grown closer. Soon, he would have his hands all over her.

“You have to force yourself to stand up again.” He kept his arm extended as he told her one of the stories his mother used to read to him. It was one of his favorites, about a sword-wielding giant who had caused an entire army to tremble with fear. Along had come a young boy who’d had no formal training, but who had managed to kill the giant with only a slingshot and a stone, saving the entire army.

As Solo spoke, interest sparked in Vika’s eyes. “And you think someone like me can save an army?”

“I will give you something better than a yes or a no. I will give you something to think about. We have both admitted that we believe there is another world in operation around ours. I’ve seen it.”

“I have, too!” she said.

Her enthusiasm made him smile. “Humans, otherworlders, it doesn’t matter. At our core, we are spirit beings. We have souls and bodies.”

“That’s what I thought!”

“You are a spirit, eternal; you have a soul, your mind, will, and emotions, and you live in an aging body. Your spirit is attuned to the unseen world. Why else do you think you can see into it?”

“How do you know this?” she asked.

“My mother taught me.” And so had X and Dr. E. “I wasn’t sure I believed her at first, but intense study proved her right.” He’d wanted to know more about the creatures following him. He’d wanted to know whether or not he was crazy.

“Go on,” she said, interest clearly intensifying.

“As spirits, we have more direction than we realize. Listen deep inside yourself. There’s a knowing that supersedes emotions and mental capabilities. That knowing will lead you to victory every time, if you’ll pay attention to it.”

She closed her eyes, concentrated. One second passed, two. Her eyelids flipped open, and she frowned with disappointment. “I listened, but I didn’t sense anything.”

“Sometimes it takes time and practice, shutting out the rest of the world, the noise.”

Her lips pursed with a hint of irritation. “There’s a problem with your theory: I don’t hear any noise.”

“Actually, you do in your head,” he said, and she couldn’t refute it. “Everyone battles their thoughts at some time or another. Negative thoughts, wrongful thoughts, wicked thoughts. You have to cast them down and refuse to dwell on them.”

“Why?”

“If you entertain one, it will welcome another, and the more you entertain those, the stronger they become, developing roots and sprouting thick sprigs of leaves, until you can no longer see through the dark forest in your mind.” He knew that firsthand.

She deliberated for a moment, nodded. “You’re right.”

“Always.”

She snorted. “So what happened to the boy after the fight?”

“He became a symbol of victory to his people and was later crowned king. Now, allow me to help you, Vika. There’s a very good chance I was placed in your life for this reason. And besides, if you want a different life, you have to do something different.” The words gave him pause. He was beginning to sound like X.

Well, that wasn’t such a bad thing.

Solo waved his fingers. He would be careful of her injuries, but he would teach her the way Michael had taught him: hand-to-hand combat, inflicting whatever was necessary to force the knowledge into the well of instinct.

“Truly?” she asked.

“Truly. You must always be ready to defend yourself against whatever comes against you, and learning the rules of battle is a good start.”

She deliberated for a moment more, sighed. “Oh, all right, but only because I’ve always wanted to be a queen.” Her hand at last fluttered to his, and he gently tugged her to her feet. She inhaled sharply and swayed, and he wrapped an arm around her waist to hold her upright.

In the place where his own instinct swirled, he wanted to shout with satisfaction. A beautiful female—this beautiful female—leaned against him, resting her head in the hollow of his neck, trusting him.

“Just need a moment to steady,” she murmured.

He caressed the line of her spine, the exquisite curve of her waist, and had to grind his molars to stop himself from groaning. Slow and easy, he reminded himself. He’d known this would be difficult.

“You’re so hot,” she said.

“Sorry,” he said, but he knew she couldn’t hear him.

“It’s nice.”

Really gonna kill me.

“This won’t make me like my father, will it?” she asked.

And there was the crux of the problem, he realized. He moved his hand up, up, and tilted her chin. “He fights to inflict pain. You fight to save. You’re nothing like him, and you never will be.”

Tears of gratitude welled in her eyes, and his heart suddenly felt as if it was being squeezed by an iron fist.

“Ready?” he asked. Any more waiting, and they wouldn’t get to the fighting.

“Ready.”

For the next several hours, he taught her how to (properly) make a fist, exactly where a lightweight like her could punch a man to inflict the most damage, to disable, and how to use even the most innocent of items to slow an attacker.