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Nico bonked his shoulder against mine. “At least now I’m not the only one to blame.”
I sighed and pushed the bumper into Hudson’s chest. He took it and stepped back while I stepped forward to give this another go. This time I squatted low enough to hook my hands around the vehicle’s metal frame, once again enduring the discomfort of a metal burn.
When I lifted, the van easily rose up with me, resting on its back tires. It felt… easier than I’d expected. Hudson set the bumper down. The two of them flanked me, then pushed the front of the van up higher, supporting it over my head.
Hudson jerked his head toward the underside of the van. “Get under there and lift its full weight.”
“You can’t be serious,” I said, but I knew that he was. With how easily I’d lifted the front of van, it couldn’t be that hard.
“Even if it falls, it won’t crush you,” Nico reminded me.
“Our strength helps with that as well,” Hudson confirmed.
I ducked under the van, scrunching down until I reached somewhere around the midpoint. Then I braced my hands against the frame again. I pushed with my lower hand, raising the back of the van up, then slowly rising from my squat, balancing the van over my head.
Once I had it off the ground, Hudson circled the van until he was at the back, his arms up to steady it as I found equilibrium.
“Let’s see you do squats now,” Hudson laughed.
I couldn’t believe I was doing this. With the massive hunk of metal over my head, I bent my knees. It wobbled a little, and the guys steadied it, but I rose back up with little difficulty.
“I wouldn’t be able to do many sets with this,” I chuckled. “But the fact that I’m even contemplating it says a lot. Help me put it down.”
As we lowered it back to the ground, I gazed out into the neighborhood, noticing that a few neighbors were outside, getting into their cars or doing yardwork. They ignored us completely, despite my amazing circus tricks.
Hudson noticed my gaze. “Fox gave us some better wards, so they only see what they expect to see.”
“Thank goodness,” I laughed.
Just then, Jax came outside and Nico stepped away from me like he’d touched a hot stove.
“Ah, my other teacher arrives,” I called, then raced over to Jax and gave him a big kiss.
He pulled back with a small, soft smile, and I hated seeing the lingering sadness on his face. But he brushed some hair that had escaped behind my ear and asked, “What have you learned, young vampire?”
I grinned. “Compulsion. Speed. Healing. Strength.”
“Healing?” Jax glared over my shoulder at the other two.
“Wasn’t their fault,” I admitted. “I wiped out during speed training.”
Jax chuckled. “Well, then I guess I’ll teach you my specialty.”
I raised my eyebrows, but he held up a finger to tell me to wait. He went back inside and the returned within seconds with a dangling strip of cloth.
“What’s your specialty, then?”
He raised the cloth up to my face. “Senses. To focus on hearing, you’ll need to limit your sight.”
I let Jax tie the blindfold behind my head, and then blindly turned toward him. His heartbeat gave him away, and behind him beat two others.
“Try to block Hudson’s attacks now,” Jax said, and I dropped into a fighting stance.
“My attacks? Why do I have to hit the blind woman?” Hudson muttered.
His footsteps crushed the grasses, and I focused on every sound that might give me a clue as to how he planned to attack.
“You’re not going to hit the blind woman,” I said with a cocky smirk.
