“I’m Hogan. I’m standing in front of you. I have every intention of killing you. You’re unarmed. How are you going to take me down before I snap your neck?”
“Find a weapon?” Cael suggested.
Ash shrugged. “Sure. In this kind of situation, anything and everything becomes a weapon. Except there’s nothing you can use.”
“Well, then,” Dex said, hands planted on his hips, “I’m kind of fucked, aren’t I?”
“That’s why you’re here. The answer is, you fight dirty. You use whatever means necessary to stay alive. You need to be able to perform under impaired visibility and extreme fatigue, both mentally and physically. When in our Therian forms, our Human side may be neurologically present, but our feral instincts are at their most animalistic. We fight to survive. When in our Human form, or for those who are Human, you rely on your training to do what needs to be done. Remember, go for vulnerable areas. Neck, liver, kidney, groin, eyes. Use your elbows. Go for the face.” He took a stance and motioned for them to advance. “All right. Come on.”
“Which one?” Cael asked.
“Both.”
Dex arched an eyebrow at him. “My, my. Aren’t we full of ourselves.”
Ash shrugged. “If I’m wrong, I’m the one who ends up bruised.” Which he wouldn’t. Now Dex on the other hand…. Ash was looking forward to this. There was nothing that put a smile on his face like slamming Dexter Justice Daley into the mat. It was almost therapeutic.
“I don’t know,” Dex teased. “Can your ego take it?”
“Don’t worry about my ego,” Ash replied smugly. “Worry about your face when it hits the mat.”
Dex flipped him the finger, and Ash chuckled. He held back a smile, watching the brothers murmur to each other. Finally. They were getting it. He tightened his fists and readied himself. He took a deep breath and released it slowly. Combined, the brothers only weighed fifty-five pounds more than he did. Ash could bench eight times that. If his lessons took, Dex and Cael would use his size against him.
This just might hurt.
The brothers bumped fists, and both took off at a run toward him. Ash readied himself, studying them both in an attempt to anticipate who would strike first and how. As expected, Dex moved in first, pulling back a fist as he neared. Ash went for a left hook, smiling when he realized he’d made his first mistake. Dex tended to go high, looking to land a punch to the face. This time he chose the unexpected route.
Dex dropped to his knees—missing Ash’s fist—and used the momentum to slide on his knees. Not wasting his own momentum, Ash twisted his torso to catch Cael coming at him from his right. His little cheetah Therian showed no hesitation or mercy, using Ash’s bulky frame as leverage. He grabbed hold of Ash’s arm and used Ash’s bent knee as a springboard to jump and swing a leg around Ash’s neck. With a growl, Ash had snatched a fistful of Cael’s uniform to throw him off when he felt the blow to the back of his leg.
Ash came crashing down onto one knee and was propelled forward by Cael using all his weight to bring Ash down with the help of Dex, who punched the back of his other knee before slamming into him from behind.
Fuck! Ash hit the floor hard, teeth gritted as Cael’s legs wrapped tightly around his neck, his hand grabbing a fistful of Ash’s hair. A zip tie tugged at his now bound wrists. Cael petted his hair and leaned in with a breathless whisper.
“Tied up looks good on you, Keeler.”
“Oh shit.” Ash laughed as he was released.
He rolled onto his side and sat up, shaking his head at the “woops” from their fellow agents who’d gathered around. Dex and Cael gave each other a high five before Dex crouched down beside him.
“How’s that ego doing? Want me to get you an ice pack?”
“Fuck off.” He looked from one smug brother to the other. “You boys forgot the most important part of the lesson.”
“And what’s that?” Dex said, standing and folding his arms over his chest.
“When you take down your opponent, make sure they stay down.”
He twisted his body, spun on his side, and swiped his leg under them, knocking them both off their feet and onto their asses. The two groaned, and Ash couldn’t help his grin as he got to his feet.
“Other than that, nicely done.”
The two cheered, and Ash shook his head at them. He bent forward and thrust his wrists down over his ass. Nothing happened. Feeling the ties with his fingers, he glowered at Dex.
“You’re supposed to be using regular zip ties for training. These are Therian-strength zip ties.”
Dex blinked innocently at him. “Are those Therian-strength? Must have gotten them mixed up.”
“Right.” Ash didn’t buy it for a second. “Get them off.”