Alien Romance: RETURNED: An Alien Warrior Romance: (Acarnania Warriors Book 1) by Jane Hinchey Page B

down! Realising my success, I jumped up and down and squealed with glee.
    He looked up, gave me a wry grin. “Good job.”

CHAPTER SEVEN
    The following morning, as promised , I showed the remaining women how to break an attacker’s nose. I pulled Talia forward to demonstrate.
    “It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you, just demonstrate the moves.” I moved Talia into position and stood facing her.
    “If you are face-to-face with your attacker, like this, then with the heel of your palm, you strike up under his nose with all your strength, like so.” I touched the heel of my palm to Talia's nose. “Keep your arm straight and put all of your strength into it. Again, the whole aim is to get him to loosen his hold on you so you can get away.”
    “What if he is behind you?”
    “Excellent question.” Turning so Talia was behind me, I demonstrated with my elbow. “If your attacker is behind you, use your elbow and aim for his nose—so up, out to the side, and back, like this. Right, into pairs again and let's practice. We'll train with the punching bags again to get you using all of your strength. Remember, don’t be gentle!”
    We were five minutes into it when a group of soldiers arrived, dressed in black shorts and nothing else, here to train. Marat was amongst them. We ignored each other. I kept the women focussed on their moves while the men were put through their paces by Bax, lifting weights, running laps, finally sparring on the big mats.
    At the end of our session, the women wandered over to watch on the sidelines as the warriors sparred two at a time on one of the padded mats. I followed along, recognizing some of the moves Alrik had taught me the day before. My muscles still ached from that tussle!
    Things were winding down when Marat turned and looked me directly in the eye.
    “Dare you, human.” He wasn't as openly hostile as he'd been the last few times we’d met, possibly because his boss was present, but I could see it in his eyes.
    “Dare me?”
    “Think you can take me down?”
    “Actually, no, I don't.”
    “Ah, a coward then. Show off in front of the women, don't have the guts to take on the real thing.”
    “I'm no coward.”
    “Prove it. You even have the advantage; I am fatigued from sparring with my brothers. An easy mark.” His sneer tipped me over the edge, and even though the voice in my head was telling me to walk away, my pride urged otherwise. I was tired of his needling and putting me down, his unending barrage of discriminatory remarks.
    “Okay.” The crowd around us erupted in applause, excitement rippling through the air.
    Bax stepped forward, placing a hand on Marat's shoulder. “Marat, I do not believe this is wise.”
    “She accepted. No one forced her too. It would be dishonourable for her to back out now.”
    Bax didn't look convinced, but he stepped back off the mat. I stepped on, taking a deep breath. This was crazy. What had I been thinking, letting my silly pride serve me up to this bully like a piece of meat on a platter? He was going to rip me to shreds, we both knew it. But even my sense of self-preservation wasn't enough to make me change my mind. I could only hope I'd get a few good hits in.
    We crouched, circling each other. Marat moved first, his fist swinging at my head. I ducked, felt the air whoosh over my hair. He followed with a leg sweep. I rolled, avoiding that, too. Now that I’d evaded his first two moves, I could feel the air change, charged with his anger, his desire to hurt me. I could practically see the cogs moving in his mind as he planned his next move, but rather than waiting to see what he would do, I lunged straight at him, full-on, body to body. He had nowhere to go. I leapt into him, wrapping my legs in tight around his waist, hands clamping down on his shoulders as I head-butted him in the face. Crunch! As we fell, I disentangled myself from him, rolling to the side and crouching on my toes, one hand balancing on the mat. The top of my