Page 72 of Fated to Her

Eli sighs before accepting her bet.

“Fine. If she can hit the target, I’ll let her train with you,” Eli tells her, folding his arms across his chest and staring down at her.

She smiles, flashing her canines at him before skipping over to me and grabbing my hand. Maverick gives her a nod. A few parents laugh, coming over to lean on the arena fence.

Eli places five knives on the stump next to me. “Gotta get three out of five, so don’t miss,” he says.

Maverick laughs.

“I’m glad you find humiliating Addie funny, Father,” Eli says.

“We aren’t laughing at Addie, Eli. We’re laughing that you have just been shown up by a ten-year-old. Addie won’t miss the target. She’s been out here for over an hour, hasn’t missed yet,” Maverick retorts.

Eli turns to face me. “Prove it, then,” he says, raising an eyebrow at me, clearly thinking I’m incapable of doing anything.

Leila comes over to me.

“No helping her, Leila,” Eli tells her.

She pouts.

I pick up the knife, now under pressure. It’s different when I’m doing it for fun; now, though, my hands are beginning to sweat. I pick up the knife and adjust my feet. Leila clears her throat, and I peek at her, her eyes on my hand, telling me to move it down farther. I readjust my grip then take a deep breath. Once I’m sure I have my spot, I throw the knife as hard as I can at the target. The knife hits the center and goes into the wood behind the target.

“Beginners’ luck,” Eli chuckles.

I smirk before picking up the next one, the knife sliding in next to the other. Leila hands me the next one, and I smile at her and throw it. It hits just outside the bullseye but still hits the target.

“Again,” Eli says, moving to the target and pulling the knives from it. He walks back to me, turning my hips slightly. “Hit the outer ring. Let’s see how good your aim is, then.”

I take the knives; one hits the second ring, but the next hits the outer ring, like he wanted. He grunts in approval and nods, wanting me to throw the next one. I see Cyrus sit on one of the pews, watching with a silly grin.

The kids come back in and resume training as Eli pulls the knives from the target for me. He saunters back over to me.

“You could have said you’d done it before,” he says, standing next to me.

“You didn’t let me.”

“So, can she train with us?” Leila asks.

I peer at Eli over my shoulder.

“Yes, I said she could if she hit the target,” Eli says before kissing my shoulder. He hands me the small ax.

“I can’t throw this,” I tell him.

“No point learning only how to throw knives when you can do it already. I’ll show you how,” he says, adjusting my hand and stance.

We spend a few hours training with the kids, and Eli seems to relax. I can tell he sees how unreasonable he was being. Maverick even comes over to help me with the ax, and Eli lets him, surprisingly, instead going over and sitting with Cyrus, who is still watching.

I help the kids and parents pack it up when we’re done, Eli following me around, but he doesn’t stop me or get up when others come close to me, though they all make sure not to touch me.

“I want to go for a run,” Eli says, coming up to me and wrapping his arms around my waist and rubbing my belly, which is growing more and more each day.

“I’ll go with Cyrus,” I tell him.

“Go change out of the dressing gown. We leave in five minutes.”

I make my way back to the house. I change out of the dressing gown and into a jumper, knowing it’ll be cold while running. Emery has been gone all day, leaving me to wonder where she went. Slipping my joggers on, I head back outside. Cyrus and Eli are waiting out the front, and both turn to face me when they hear the door open. I go over to Cyrus, and he opens his arms and wraps them around me, rubbing my back. I lean against him, waiting for Eli to finish talking to one of the pack members.