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“Keep your pants on, Bronywyn. We were only having a bit of fun.” He flashes a boyish grin Magnolia’s way, but she looks less than amused.
Good for her. “You ready to get started?”
She nods and rushes toward me, messenger bag slung over her shoulder.
“This one have anything to do with your pals from tonight?” Chasin calls out.
“None of your damn business.”
I lead Magnolia into the living room and gesture for her to take a seat across from me.
“What did he mean, ‘pals from tonight?’ Did you go out?”
How much to tell her?“I was under the guise that Tarnley needed my help. But when I showed up, it was a trap.”
“A trap?” Her furrowed brow and pursed lips tell me that she had no clue what was going to go down tonight, which gives me what I need to trust her going forward.
“Yes. They trapped me within the confines of a ward and tried to rip my magic out.”
Magnolia covers her mouth and gasps, eyes widening almost comically. “They didwhat?”
“No harm done. I’m fine, and now I know that I can no longer trust them.”
“I can’t understand why they would do that to you. You guys are friends.”
“I thought we were,” I confirm. “Now, I’m not so sure. Rule number one, Magnolia, trust no one. No one but yourself. You are the only one who won’t let you down.”
She’s quiet a moment. “That sounds lonely.”
“It’s not so bad,” I say with a smile, as I lean back against the cushions. “You can have acquaintances, just no one that you let completely in. If you keep your walls up, even partially, you cannot get hurt.”
“Is that what happened tonight? You had let your walls down?”
“Tonight, was a misjudgment on my part. It won’t happen again, I assure you.”
“I promise I didn’t know about it. I haven’t talked to anyone but Drex today, and he was with me on pack lands most of the day. If he’d known something—”
“Easy, Magnolia. I didn’t think you had anything to do with it.”
She visibly relaxes back into her seat. “I just wanted you to know that whatever is going on between you guys, I’d like to believe we’re still friends.”
“We absolutely are.” I flash a smile and get to my feet, shrugging out of my jacket as I do. “Now. What do you know as far as hand-to-hand goes?”
“Uhhh, nothing?” She smiles awkwardly. “I’ve barely ever balled my hand into a fist before.”
“Then that’s where we’ll start.”
“Not with the magic?”
I shake my head. “Your magic is a tool for you to use, but it’s not the only one you have. One of the things that makes Delaney so powerful is her ability to use both her abilities as a witch, and her abilities as a hunter—the physical stuff. Then, if you’re ever in a position like you were in that blood den, where you can’t access your power, you have a backup. The last thing you want is to be completely helpless.”
Magnolia gets to her feet and slips the messenger bag over her head before tossing it to the couch. “Okay. Physical. I can do this. I can fight.”
Her innocence calls to the part of me that once longed to be a mother. Putting up both fists, I drop my right leg back ever so slightly and take form. “I’m assuming you know how to make a fist, correct?”
“There’s a particular way?” She stares down at her hands, and I chuckle.
“Make sure your thumb is on the outside,” I instruct, showing her my own. “When you connect with your target, make sure you are connecting with these two knuckles. They are less likely to break than your two smaller ones, and your line of force will be stronger.”
