Page 190 of Knight’s Retribution

Chapter 21

“And again,” Grace said, ducking and spinning away from Kyler’s swing.

Chaos stood to the side, his arms crossed, watching as Kyler tried and failed to kick his mate’s ass. Rocco wasn’t in the room, since they decided he’d be too easy on her, and since the idea was to push Kyler to her limits.

Grace shook out her long slender limbs and moved close again. “Try to remember the combinations I’ve shown you, okay?”

Kyler nodded, feeling like an idiot. This was a lot different from the training sessions she’d done in this room with the others. So far, she completely sucked at this. Like so bad.

Grace motioned her forward. Kyler’s nerves cranked higher. She could feel Chaos’s assessing gaze on her, and the combinations Grace was talking about were scattered in her mind. She didn’t know what the hell she was doing.

“Wait,” Chaos said.

Kyler’s face felt hot, and not from exhaustion as the big male moved in. God, this was humiliating.

He towered over both her and Grace. The fierce male was more than a little intimidating, but he was Roc’s brother and he worshiped his mate. So Kyler fought the urge to take a nervous step back and looked up at him.

The male wore a scowl constantly, and she tried not to take offense or outwardly freak out as he took her in. He didn’t miss her reaction, though, and she watched as he made himself relax and gentled his expression.

Now she felt even more like an idiot.

“I think we need to try something else.” He glanced up at Grace. “Not trying to step on your toes, angel, but I’d like to try a different approach?”

Grace planted her hands on her hips. “Be my guest, big guy. If you think you can help Ky, let’s do it.”

He grinned at his mate, then turned back to Kyler. “Right, instead of trying to remember Grace’s training, I want you to forget everything, all of it.” His gaze slid back to Grace. “Again, not trying to take over, and your training is fucking awesome, baby, but I’m thinking a more intuitive approach might be the way to go here.”

Grace chewed her lip, mulling that over. “Yeah, I think you might be right.”

“Did you just say I’m right?” he asked, eyes wide with mock surprise.

She chuckled and gave him a shove. “Well, that remains to be seen, but I think it’s worth a try.”

“Um…what the hell does any of that mean?” Kyler asked, starting to freak out all over again.

Chaos’s gaze came back to her. “Okay, so a demi feels their powers manifest in different parts of the body, depending on their power. A physical power like yours will come from your chest, here,” he said, pressing his fist to his own chest. “This is what I want you to focus on. I don’t want you to think, I want you to zero in on that spot. I want you to just feel.”

Kyler blinked up at him, her frustration growing. “I don’t know how to do that.”

“Close your eyes,” Grace said.

Kyler did as instructed.

The other female moved closer. “Now think about the way you felt when you were hitting the punching bag. Where was all that rage coming from?”

Without thinking about it, Kyler lifted her hand and pressed it to her chest. Yes, that’s exactly where it came from. “Oh.”

“Yep,” Grace said. “So the easiest way to get that feeling back, to draw your power forward, is to let some of that anger come forward again.”

“I’m not sure I can—”

“You destroyed that bag, Ky, I saw it. That kind of pissed off does not just vanish. You’ve got more of that in you. I know you do.”

Grace understood because she carried her own anger inside her, they all did. A lifetime of being treated like crap will do that to a person. But Kyler didn’t want Diemos in her head, not again, not yet, so instead she called up those memories, the ones when she was a kid, alone, unwanted, shoved from one foster home to the next, never fitting in, never wanted.

A warmth grew in the center of her chest.

“Talk to me, Kyler,” Chaos said.