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"Dude, you're going to regret this," Caleb deadpanned, plopping back in his seat and crossing his arms behind his head. "This will be fun to watch."
"Kao, listen to me," Rosie began, but I cut her off before she could continue.
"Rosie, please."
I projected how badly I needed to do this through our bond, so she'd know how important it was to me. This wasn't a matter of needing to stroke my ego, or thinking I'd lost my ever-loving mind... sort of. This was me needing to prove to myself that I had what it took to protect my family. Rosie must've got the message judging by how her body relaxed. She nodded, giving me her okay to do this. She didn't like it, that was very evident in her bright blue eyes, but she understood that this was for me.
"Del, you sure you want to do this?" Javier asked Del, not because he was worried for her. More that he was worried about what she would do to me.
Del's eyes moved up and down my frame before nodding once. "I am," she said before pointing at me with her chin. "See the look on his face? That's the look of a true warrior. One who knows the odds are stacked against him but is willing to go down swinging if that's what it takes. You've earned my respect, Kao."
I wasn’t going to lie, that took me by surprise. Not only did Del compliment me when moments ago she called me weak, she also said I earned her respect. I puffed out my chest taking pride in her statement. That didn't change my mind, however, and she knew that.
"Just try not to kill him. He's my sister's mate after all," Javier said, then took his seat.
Raph and Rosie did the same, but Kai continued holding onto me. I regarded my twin, reading the pleading expression to give up this crazy idea before I got hurt. I did my best to assure him that I'd be okay with my smile. His frown told me he wasn't buying it.
Kor tôhtN’Kai krap. It's time for me to step up this time.
Even though I didn't say it out loud, I knew he heard me. It was a twin thing, knowing what the other is thinking or feeling. Reluctantly, Kai released my arm, then reached out to grab Rosie's hand as he sat back down beside her. Taking a deep breath, I addressed Del. "So how should we do this?"
Del looked at our surroundings. "We have plenty of open space here. We'll fight here, and it'll end when one announces his or her surrender. Do you accept?"
"I do."
"Dude luck, Kao! You'll need it." Caleb chuckled but a second later froze when Del looked back at him with a heated glare.
She then unzipped the top of her bag and opened it up. I nearly choked from the sight of all the weapons I spotted. There were a few things that I couldn't decipher, but I did recognize the many handguns and rifles, followed two swords with weird symbols written on the base. Del eventually pulled out a pair of black leather gloves that had silver rectangular blocks across the knuckles. She quickly put them on then dove back into her duffle pulling out what looked to be a silver baton-looking device that she stuffed in her back pocket.
Caleb noticed it and his eyes became the size of dinner plates. "Del, do you think you'll really need to use that?"
Del shrugged. "Precautionary measures. You never know."
Okay, now I was curious what the thing was. If Caleb had to ask about it, then it had to be one hell of a dangerous weapon. Del zipped up her bag then gestured for me to follow her. I did, walking off to our left where we had nothing but an empty field of green grass. We stopped about five feet from the camp.
"Right here is good," Del said, then got into her fighting stance; turning to her side, one foot out, one foot back, and her fists clenched at her front.
I briefly went over my options on how to fight her. I could shift into my wolf form, make it more difficult for her, but she may expect that. She was probably a black belt or something, so hand-to-hand combat would have me on my ass in no time. There was no real way to approach this.
"What’s the matter?" Del asked when she noticed I was just standing there. "You're not getting cold feet, are you?"
"Not a chance," I responded, then got into fighting position myself.
Less thinking, more action. It's worked for me before.
"Good, then come at me."
The next five seconds of my life fell into a blur. One moment, I lunged out a fist towards Del, and the next she had me flipped over and on my back with a thud.
Laughter erupted from the direction of the camp, but I didn't pay attention to it. Instead, I was trying to wake up from the sudden whiplash I experienced.
Del stood over me with her arms crossed over her chest. "Is that all you got?"
This was going to be harder than I got. "Not a chance. I was just going easy on you."
"Is that right?” Del smirked. “Okay, then show me how serious you can get."
Del back away while I flipped myself back to my feet and whirled around to face her. My wolf was just as determined to prove ourselves as I was, so I called on him to give me some back up. My eyes shifted, and I tapped into his natural reflexes. There was no way she could match up to a shifter's enhanced speed, right?
