I smiled at the girls, shaking my head sadly. “Will they never learn?” A clever defensive move had me free from Salem’s hold and moving to replace Cassie.

I heard Sam muttering to Salem, ‘She needs your support right now, not coddling.’

Standing opposite my opponent, my feet shoulder-width apart, I arched a brow. “Ready, Reub?”

He grinned cockily. “Yes, let’s –” Then he found himself zooming backwards, crashing into the wall, after a solid kick to the chest from me. He’d underestimated my speed – how silly. And entertaining.

Before he could even think about retaliating, I had my hands on his head. “In this teensy, weensy moment, I could have snapped your neck.”

He bounced to his feet. “That wasn’t fair! You gave me no warning!”

“Oh, and someone you face in a battle will give you a warning, will they?”

“She’s right, Reuben.” Jared sighed tiredly. “You should have known better.”

I skipped to Alora’s side, waving at a frowning Salem. So cute.

Sam scanned the rest of the squad. “Anyone else care to be an arse?”

The girls shot Butch looks of disgust as he stepped forward. “Look, Coach, I’m not saying that the girls aren’t tough. They are. But…” He flicked an impatient glance at Imani, who I’d noticed he could be a little too protective of at times. “Imani’s gift is substantial, but it’s to sever blood-links. In a battle, what can that possibly –?” Abruptly, he cried out and dropped to his knees; his hands cradling his head.

The girls and I watched in morbid fascination as he groaned in agony through gritted teeth. I knew that Imani’s gift allowed her to sift through a person’s mind with a psychic hand. Unlike Ryder, she couldn’t access memories or thoughts, but she could find and then snap any blood-link. And I wondered just what she was doing with that psychic hand at the moment.

“Looks like he wants to jump out of his own skin, doesn’t he?” observed Paige, her voice detached and clinical.

Alora elbowed her gently. “You know, I was just going to say that.”

“I’d feel bad if he wasn’t such an ass,” said Imani.

Jude patted her back supportively. “Some people have to learn the hard way.”

Cassie sighed. “It’s such a shame that he didn’t just learn from Chico or Reuben’s mistakes.”

“When you think about it,” said Maya, “this is actually his own fault.”

I nodded. “Totally.”

“Stop, stop, stop!” Butch growled, pounding the ground with his fist. Then suddenly he sagged, panting.

“What did she do?” asked David once Butch was upright.

“She strummed the blood-link in my head like a fucking banjo!”

Imani shrugged innocently. “You wanted to know how it could possibly help in a battle. I figured it would be easier to show you.”

Maya looked at her. “So it’s an ability that will not only hurt, but distract your attacker and make them vulnerable. I like it.”

Scanning the squad, I almost laughed. Their shoulders were slumped, they were squirming uncomfortably, and they were wearing child-like pouts.

Sam released a cleansing sigh. “Now, I take it we’re not going to hear any more of the ‘but they’re girls, we can’t harm them’ bollocks.” When none of the guys spoke, she nodded. “Fabulous. Let all this serve to remind you that it doesn’t matter how powerful you are, there’ll always be someone who can better you. Look at Ava…Such a cute, harmless-looking exterior. But if I let her loose on any of you, there’s a high chance she’d win. At the very least, you’d walk away with some injuries and a bruised pride – just like our Reuben.”

Whatever a clearly embarrassed Reuben mumbled under his breath earned him a whack over the head from Salem.

Sam turned to me and the girls. “During training, there are three goals. One, to learn to channel all your energy so that there’s none leaking from you. Two, to improve the use of your gifts so that you can not only improve as individuals but as a squad. And three, to know each other’s gifts inside out.

“Unfortunately, I have a small number of nights to get you prepared for whatever happens next. That’s why having these blokes here will help. The first thing I’m going to teach you is how to suck in all the preternatural energy that’s leaking from you. You began producing this unnatural energy when you were Turned, causing your mind and body to evolve. If you can’t hold it inside you, you won’t be able to use your gift to its full potential, and you’ll also be vulnerable. We can’t have that.”

Disappointed to find that I had energy leaking from me – only a little, but still – I was absolutely determined to fix it. I followed Sam’s instructions to the letter. I got the hang of it pretty quickly, since I was determined not to show any weakness in front of the guys or give them ammunition to change their minds. I suspected that was why the other girls quickly got the hang of it too.

Once Sam was satisfied with our attempts, we moved on to improving our strengths while also tackling our weaknesses. The squad joined in for that, and they actually did it without grumbling. How shocking. Sam assigned one guy to each girl, wanting us all to have some one-to-one time before the session was over.

When it came time to assign me a helper, Sam said, “My concern with you, Ava, is that your gift can’t protect you against psychic attacks.”

I sighed. “Yeah, that’s a bummer.”

“But a huge strength that comes with your gift is that you’re bloody fast. You can sense psychic energy rippling through the air, right?” At my nod, she continued, “That type of energy hits fast and hard. But so do you. So I’m thinking that with some training, you could learn to dodge the psychic energy with your enhanced speed. Want to try it?”

I smiled. “Let’s do it.”

“Salem, we need you for this. First, though, we need Reuben to weaken your punch so it’s nothing more than a psychic slap.”

Salem looked from me to Sam. “You expect me to –?” He shook his head. “No.”

She gave him a weak smile. “Salem, I know it will be hard. But I also know that if anyone else here even slightly harms her, you will put them in a coma – happily.”