Cody offered him a hand. Matt levered to his feet and dusted himself off.
The fight instructor faced the audience. “I chose Matt for my demo because I thought you would see what was possible, and he did very well. Not many of you will reach that level of proficiency. Matt has cage fought for years. Our initial assessment will give us an idea of where each of you stand, and I will then assign you each a training partner. Don’t worry if you haven’t done any of this before. Sometimes it is easier to start fresh than to unlearn bad habits.”
He clapped his hands together, sending a puff of dirt up. “Your packages are ready for pickup at the back. No pushing and shoving, please.”
The students stood and began to file up the stairs. Instead of going up when Mari rose, I slid past her and went down.
As I approached, Cody slapped Matt on the shoulder. “We won’t need to assess your fighting ability. I’m likely going to use you to help the others out.” He moved away, brushing at clinging bits of sand.
Still grinning, Matt donned his tee shirt and dusted himself off. He was bleeding from a cut along his cheek and a split lip.
The grin faltered when I stepped up to him and he met my eyes.
“You were great, Matt!” I said. Trix jumped on him, wiggling.
He bent to pet my dog. “Strewth! You think so? Cody was bloody amazing!”
I could tell the Sabre had reached a new level in Matt’s esteem. “Well, you gave him a run for it. “My gaze caught and held on his cheek.
“He’d make a killing in the cage fights.” Matt shook his head. He examined his wrist, shaking it and then folding his fingers into a fist. “He buggered my wrist.”
My own throbbed in sympathy, and before I’d even thought about it, I reached out to take his hand. My fingers traced the bones beneath the skin.
He went rigid when I touched him, and my body vibrated with something I couldn’t define. But he burned hot beneath my touch, just as Trix’s leg had done.
“What are you doing?” his voice was a hoarse whisper.
“I did this with Trix,” I said. “That feral Dire broke her leg, and I—I think I fixed it.”
But Trix hadn’t felt like this. The heat, yes, but from where I touched him, pulses like lightning shot along my nerve endings, traveling straight through me to a place I’d be better off not thinking about in public. My nipples tightened painfully, poking against my tee shirt like they wanted to join him.
His eyes dropped to my breasts, and his wrist twitched in my grip. He cleared his throat. “Think it was a sprain...” His voice broke as he gently pulled away from me. Flexed his fingers and rolled his hand in circles. “Strewth, girl. It feels great.” He met my eyes, and his glowed softly for just a moment.
I reached for his cheek.
It had already stopped bleeding, but the bruise beneath it was black and angry looking. I touched my fingers along the cut, light as a feather.
I was pretty sure he ceased to breathe. I know I did. The pulses between us were so strong—it surprised me we weren’t glowing.
When I pulled my fingers away, his skin was whole, and the bruise had faded. I lowered them toward his lip, but he captured my hand.
“That’ll do,” he whispered, his gaze burning into me. “But thank you, Angel.”
“Well done,” came a feminine voice from behind.
What had formed between him and me fractured. I hadn’t even noticed her in the room, but Cara took Matt’s wrist and ran her own fingers over it. “That healing ability will be a very useful thing for your team.” Positive words, yet her expression seemed a bit puzzled.
It worried me. “Did I do it wrong?”
“Oh, no. You did it exactly right.” She smiled at me. “I’m just folding this ability into the total Anna picture.” The Watcher gave her head a small shake. “I dropped by to tell you that I have someone coming to try teach you telekinesis. Her name is Dani. In two days, we’ll start classes, and there is another student with that talent—he’ll be working with you.”
My stomach twisted. This phantom ability was my biggest worry about all this, but I managed, “Thanks, Cara. So I don’t have to go through another assessment for my abilities?”
She shook her head. “No. I’ll add healing to your talents, though.” Her blue gaze paused on Matt. “With all the shifters in this group, Cody’s going to be a busy guy for the special abilities class. He’s got help, fortunately.” She sighed. “My Watcher friend, Bess, will be around. If either of you need anything while I am away, run it by her. Kitani, Ryan, and Cody are other resources for you. I think Anna’ll be seeing them often when she drops off Trix.”
Matt’s brows rose, and he looked at me. “You’ve been making friends in high places.”
“Well, Trix has,” I amended.
