Because if I earned it, we would fuck afterward. And that was exactly what we both desired.
But I couldn’t focus. Oh, I wanted to lose myself to Az’s violence, but I was distracted.
By her.
Every time I went to block one of Az’s moves or became tangled up in his limbs, she flitted through my mind, demanding my attention.
The damn woman with an angelic face and pert tits had effectively taken over my thoughts, crowding out my drive to take on Az.
Making meweak.
What the hell had gotten into me? I’d upgraded her bedding. Stocked up her fridge. Even ensured her clothes were a little more resilient than they should be.
I’d fucking pampered her, treated her differently than the rest. Given her a damn tour of campus, too.
That went beyond some foolish bet with Az. It implied that I actually wanted her tosurvive.
And I had no idea why.
She meant nothing to me. She wasnothingto me.
So why the fuck couldn’t I shake this girl from my thoughts? Because it’d taken me too damn long to pick her up? To capture her? Was it the chase that had me all bent out of shape?
“You’re still distracted,” Az accused.
I grunted, ignoring him, and went in for another hit to his ribs, only to end up on my back for the third time in five minutes.
Az landed on top of me, his elbows caging in my head. “I’m going to make you take me raw up your ass if you don’t start giving me a fight.”
Mother of all fire gnats. I could already feel him hardening against my thigh.
“What’s it going to be?” he taunted. “More foreplay or a quick deed?”
“Get off of me,” I snarled.
“Make me.”
Fuck!I was torn between just letting him have me and flaming his ass with magic. The former would provide a reasonable diversion and perhaps give me an outlet for this pent-up energy Camillia had unleashed beneath my skin.
And the latter would seriously piss Az off—something I very much enjoyed doing.
Instead, I went with neither option and rolled him off me with a quick punch to his side and a flex of my hips. He went spinning with a laugh—the sound hungry to my ears—and jumped right back up to his feet at the same time I landed on the soles of mine.
Shoving the pretty Halfling from my head, I went after Az with the full force of my frustration, nailing him in the jaw with my fist before drawing my knee into his abdomen. He cursed, the grin disappearing from his features as he focused on the task of kicking my ass.
Or trying to, anyway.
This was why we sparred—I was the only one who gave him a true challenge, and I reminded him of that while we danced around the training arena.
Az threw a punch and I blocked it, the bones in my forearms vibrating with the sheer power in his blow. I swept a foot behind his ankle, but he sidestepped me before I could knock him down.
“You can do better than that,” Az drawled, grabbing me behind the neck and pulling me close enough that his teeth grazed my lower lip.
Fucking tease.
I grabbed his forearm, only for him to lock me in a hold and haul me over his body with ease.
Because yeah, a rare Black Phoenix was stronger than a Hellhound and a Minotaur put together—but much more attractive.
