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Red Handed

If I let her intimidate me now, she would continue to do so. Her friends, too. I’d seen it a thousand times, and I admit, I’d done it to others. I had to prove myself now or suffer for the rest of the year.

I had to try to make her back down. But could I do it without breaking a single rule?

“You touch me again,” I said, eyes narrowed, lips pulled tight, “and I’ll make you sorry.”

Her mouth curled in a smug smile. Smug, smug, smug. Everything about her was smug. “That’s highly doubtful. I’ve had nearly twelve months of training. I can take little girls like you and snap your necks.”

I closed every inch of space between us. Our noses touched. Her breath blended with mine. Around me I heard conversations taper to quiet. My heartbeat quickened. I knew I was outmatched. I’d seen her fighting skills when she’d battled the Sybilins. And I knew I’d gotten lucky when I overpowered Ryan yesterday. He hadn’t expected me to act. Allison, though, expected it. Wanted it.

But again, I couldn’t back down, couldn’t show any hint of fear.

I raised my chin. “Go ahead and try it. I’ll do to you what I did to that Sybilin: punch your face into powder.”

A little color drained from her face. Good. She remembered that I, too, had some skills, raw though they were. But she didn’t back down, either. “All you are is a druggie. A burned-out, stupid flyer.”

I heard several people gasp. My jaw clenched. How dare she tell them about my past. How dare she! That was privileged information. Too late to keep it quiet now. “I’m a former flyer who isn’t afraid of you.”

“You don’t deserve to be here, former user or not. You’re not good enough.”

“Your daddy thought differently.” I paused, forced an evil smile. “Is that why you’re here? Did Daddy pull some strings?”

Her eyes darkened, and I saw her decision to attack solidify there. I owed the observation to Le’Ace. Because of her, I was learning to watch and absorb details that I had never noticed before.

Allison swung at me, her open palm flying toward my nose. She meant to slam the cartilage into my brain. Bitch. Ryan had showed me this move in class—and exactly what to do. Rather than shoulder her in the stomach, however, I ducked and kicked out my leg, bouncing her ankles together and sending her toppling to the ground.

She gasped in shock, in disbelief, but was back on her feet before I could blink. A moment later, she fisted me in the cheek. This time, I didn’t have time to dodge. At contact, my head whipped to the side. Pain exploded in my head.

Adrenaline swam through me, thick and potent, thankfully drowning all hint of pain. In seconds, I was so high on it, I felt stronger than ever before. Invincible. Powerful.

I ducked as she swung again and punched her in the stomach. The fight was on now. Air whooshed from her mouth. She bent over, jerking me down with her. Then we were on the ground, rolling, rolling, until she was on top of me. Using all my newfound strength, I bucked her off, pinned her down, and punched her in the face—just as I’d promised.

“Bitch,” she growled, and we rolled for a second time. She knifed her pointed fingers toward my throat. “My brother is not for you!”

I managed to grip her wrist before contact, stopping her momentum. “I never said he was.” I arched my back and bucked again, dislodging her just enough to twist one of my legs up and kick toward her stomach.

Before I made contact, someone caught me from behind in an iron-clad grip. “Stop! What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Ryan.

His voice echoed in my ears. I whipped to face him just as Allison pounded forward. She leapt into the air, spun, and meant to knock me in the face with her foot. She would have done it, too, but before I knew what he was doing, Ryan twisted us and took the blow himself.

Allison fell to the ground, gasping, “Ryan! Ryan, I’m sorry.” Contrite, she rushed to his side.

Everyone paused and watched what was going on between brother and sister. And me, the outsider. Who knows what they were thinking. I didn’t know what to think.

Fury contorting his face, Ryan pointed a finger in Allison’s face. “You know better, Al. You know better than to act this way.” His lip was bleeding, already swelling. “Go see Boss. He’s waiting for you in his office.”

She hesitated, paled. Her expression was tortured as she looked from Ryan to me, me to Ryan.

“Go!” he commanded harshly.

She spun and fled from the room.

“You,” he said, grabbing hold of me once more. “Come with me.” Without waiting for my reply, he tugged me into the hall, following the same path Allison had taken.

I could feel the anger radiating from him. There was something else, though, something I couldn’t name that drifted beneath the negative emotion. I tossed a helpless glance over my shoulder and connected with Kitten’s gaze. One of her eyes was already black and she was panting, but she smiled at me, a contented cat.

A set of doors closed, blocking out her image.

Ryan stopped, turned on me, and pointed a finger in my face, just as he’d done to his sister. “What the hell was that about?”

I crossed my arms over my chest and cast my gaze throughout our surroundings. We were in the hall, and we were alone. “Ask Allison,” I said. “She came to me looking for trouble.”

He arched a brow, not pacified in the least. “My sister has never attacked another trainee before. Did you provoke her?”

Scowling, I slapped at his finger. A few minutes ago, he’d been super nice to me, so his accusation hurt all the more. “I. Did. Nothing. So don’t you dare try to blame this on me.”

He grabbed my wrist. I thought he meant to jerk me forward and scream in my face for daring to hit him, but he didn’t. He held onto me, stared at the length of my arm. Bit by bit, his expression softened. “You have talent, Phoenix. I don’t want to see it wasted.”

My shoulders sagged, the fire of my anger dying a quick death. Our gazes met, exactly as they had only a short while ago. A shiver of awareness stole over me. I drank in his appeal. I could feel his body heat. His fingers were calloused and created a dizzying friction against my skin.

In the next instant, he released me and stepped away. He tangled a hand in his dark hair. “What are you doing to me?”

My jaw dropped in astonishment. “Me? I’m not doing anything.” Except wanting you, I added silently. I still wanted him to kiss me. The need was so strong that I suddenly didn’t care about being kicked out. About getting in trouble and having my memory wiped.

“Not doing anything—ha!” He snorted. Once again, he closed the distance between us.

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