I shot him a look, surprised. “Try what?”
A muscle jumped in his jaw. “We could battle a bit. See if it gets your blood pumping.”
The thought of wrestling with his six-foot-plus of rippling muscle did get things motivated, I had to admit. Imagining his big hands on me had me leaning heavily on the rail as my knees wobbled and the ache through my core momentarily robbed me of breath. Anger wasn’t the descriptive word for it, and I didn’t really think labeling it was going to help.
I remembered being pinned by him, my body pressed up against his, and it almost undid me. Engaging in any kind of hands-on activity with the big Aussie Dire was clearly not the most intelligent thing I could do. Yet—what choice did I have? I had little hope that tomorrow’s special abilities session would get me any closer to my goal. And another failed one might be the last straw. Amadeus would be only too happy to get rid of a “problem.”
Matt watched me. His expression reflected my own doubts right back at me—especially his eyes, which kept flaring chaotically. He wasn’t as calm about this offer as he seemed.
But he’d made it, and I straightened. “I think it’s worth a try.”
His grin was fleeting, but my fool heart did another flip. “Just promise not to zap me,” he said.
I hadn’t thought of that. “What if we do trigger something? Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
Matt headed for the stairs, and I followed. His glance didn’t seem that concerned. “Did it just blast from you without warning, or did you feel something?”
To be honest, despite wanting to have a talent, I’d avoided thinking about the actual killing.
He read it in my face. “I know it must be hard, Angel. But you need to remember in order to do it again.”
I swallowed, and nodded. “I felt a power building in me.” I shook my head. “I was so angry.”
He nodded. “Bonza. If you feel it again, then just holler. We’ll stop.”
It reassured me a little. “I’ll take Trix to the room. She might not like us fighting.” I reached for his textbook. “I can take that up, too.”
“Okay.” He handed it over. “I’ll meet you—where?”
My mind was already assessing locations—somewhere out of the way, where no one would interfere. If he really wanted to make me mad, it might look ugly to an observer.
I had just the place. “Out the back steps,” I said.
36
Matt
I must be bloody well losing my down-under mind.
As I waited for Anna just outside the back door to the academy, I cooked up and rejected a dozen reasonable excuses to back out of this.
Not the least of which was the fact that my big plan for making Anna mad would involve wrestling with her. Which meant putting hands on her.
Puttingmyhands on her.
Considering I fantasized doing just that at least two hundred times today—and not to conduct the kind of wrestling I’d suggested—actually doing it wasn’t likely the best idea.
It was as though my bleedin’ overeager man bits had sprouted lips and spoken aloud. Because no way it had been my upstairs brain that had done so.
But I knew the real culprit. The damned beast. It had wanted to claim her from the first moment I’d seen her. And what I’d sensed between her and the Dragon, as well as from the Bellati, only served to make me aggro in an already tense situation.
I was so fuckin’ screwed.
Okay, poor choice of words.
She emerged from the building and took us out across the field. Doing this in full sight of the academy might thwart what my inner beast definitely had in mind.
“Lots of space here,” I bravely stated.
