“No one’s making you,” Sam pointed out.
Technically he was right. Micah had never demanded I become a fighter. I could just be the secret order’s healer and let the boys take care of the jobs that involved fighting demons or Fallen. But if I did that, I’d always be their helpless sister. A princess who needed protecting. I’d never feel like I was one of them, and they’d never stop trying to shelter me.
And I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life letting everyone else take care of me.
Nova and Dion’s training session wrapped up after a couple of hours.
“I want to stay and watch Aunt Dani shoot,” Nova said, clutching at her father’s shoulders when Nate picked her up. “Please, Daddy?”
“Not today, sweetheart. Mommy’s expecting us home soon, and Uncle Samuel needs some alone time with Aunt Dani.”
“Maybe next time,” I said, leaning over to kiss the top of her head.
“See you back at the house,” Nate said with a nod to Sam, who was now the only one in the room with his wings still out. “Dani, be safe.”
Nova squirmed until Nate put her down so she could run over to Dion, the two of them whispering to each other about the fight and different moves they wanted totry later. Dion might not care for me, or just about anyone, but he was the most protective older brother and cousin any girl could ask for.
Between Dion, Nate, and Sam, I felt bad for any boy who ever tried to date Nova.
An image of Hayden standing at the altar in his tux with a gleam in his eye popped into my head. At some point, Nate and Sam were going to figure out that he’d married me, and I honestly wasn’t sure how they’d react to that news. I wasn’t Nova, but that didn’t mean they’d take well to hearing I’d married someone without telling them.
“Your turn.” Sam started toward the locked room at the back of the gym.
I slid my bow from the holster at my thigh and let my own wings spread out above the low back of my dress. Here went nothing.
We started easy—Sam set up a simulation, and I shot at the various demons who came at me. Things got complicated when he added humans to the mix. I could tell the humans from the human-looking demons by the colorful auras of emotions around them, but there were so many of them it was hard to get a good shot. It slowed me down and allowed the demons the chance to get close enough to touch me.
An arm knocked the bow from my grasp while the demon’s other hand wrapped around my throat. And just like that, I was transported back to an exam room two years ago while Beelzebub’s fingers dug into my skin.
“Don’t just stand there, Danielle,” Sam commanded, but he sounded so far away. I was paralyzed by thememory of the demon who’d promised to destroy everything I cared about. It was only a matter of time before I made a mistake. Either my family would find out about the deal I’d made or Hayden or Miles would learn that I was an angel. I couldn’t win against a millennia-old prince of Hell.
Fingers tightened around my neck, cutting off my air, but it wasn’t as painful as the situation I’d gotten myself into with the Prince of False Idols.
And then the simulation vanished.
I choked in a breath. Lack of oxygen wouldn’t kill me, but there was nothing comfortable about being strangled.
“You froze,” Sam said, his voice void of any kind of sympathy.
I didn’t answer as I bent over, my hands on my knees, and pulled in as many breaths as I could.
“Danielle.”
“I know,” I forced out through gritted teeth. “I screwed up. I keep second-guessing which ones are human and which are demons.”And I got lost in a flashback of the worst night of my life.
“Humans can be monsters too,” he said. “Don’t let anyone,ever, grab you like that without pushing back.”
Too late.
“I think we’ve established that I’m useless when it comes to hand-to-hand combat.”
“Because you abhor violence and you’re putting up a block in your mind that’s stopping you from hurting anyone.”
“I hurt people when I shoot at them,” I argued.
“It’s not the same. The bow gives you distance, keeps the fight from being intimate. You can’t feel the heat of their skin or smell their scent.”
“Well, how do you suggest I fix it?”
