Rhydian was all for a female protecting herself, but she hadn't had enough self-defense training with dragon-shifters yet to be able to take on an attacker confidently.
And going forward, he would ensure he had a dedicated line for Delaney to call him whenever and wherever he was, and damn the old protocols.
Not waiting to hear the rest, Rhydian raced toward the space he'd given Delaney to use for her boxing lessons.
His dragon snarled. Hurry. We need to check on her.
Not wasting time, Rhydian pushed himself harder. If her attacker was anywhere to be seen, then he was going to let his dragon out and teach the bastard a lesson.
~~~
Delaney had been envisioning where all of her equipment would go inside the space Rhydian had given her when someone knocked on the door to her future training center.
Since Idris and a Scottish Protector named Zoe were stationed outside the door, and there weren't any windows or other exits, it had to be one of the Protectors or someone she trusted.
Maybe the dragon hunter bust was over and Rhydian had come to find her.
Smiling, she'd nearly reached the door when it crashed open and landed with a bang on the floor. Inside the open doorway wasn't the Protectors or Rhydian, but instead some man she'd never seen before.
Since he had a tattoo on his bicep and flashing eyes, it was a dragon-shifter.
Delaney knew dragon-shifters were stronger and faster than humans. Before she did anything, she had to figure out if the dragonman had any sort of fighting skills. Because if not, then she had a chance.
If he did, she would have to think of a new plan.
He walked slowly toward her, teeth bared, probably trying to scare her. She decided to play along and make him underestimate her.
Delaney backed away, constantly calculating how many steps it'd take to reach him. The male finally snarled. "You should've fled after the warning. Now I'm the only one left to keep this clan free of humans, as it should be."
The dragonman didn't like humans, but that still didn't tell her anything about his fighting background.
As she drew nearer to the back wall, she stopped in place and hunched in a little, hoping she looked scared. Since it wasn't something she did often—show fear to strangers—who knew if it looked convincing, even if she was a little nervous on the inside.
The dragonman kept walking toward her. "You should be scared, but remember, you brought this on yourself. Humans and dragons don't belong together. We may sometimes fuck you to get children, but then we discard you and send you back. And it should always be that way."
For a split second, it crossed her mind that this man might rape her.
But then she remembered who she was—bloody Delaney Murphy, former professional boxer and second place world champion—and pushed that fear aside. She'd tear off his dick before she let him touch her.
She caught him flexing his right hand and making a fist. While not guaranteed, he was probably right-handed.
As she planned the strategy in her head, she did her best to remain looking terrified, including dashing her eyes to each side and back. Of course, she was merely judging distance and how she could get around him.
When he was a few steps away from being able to grab her, she ducked down and to the side. While the man did swivel around, it wasn't fast enough to dodge her punch to his kidney. He roared and tried to grab her arm. Delaney danced backward before moving to the right. She went in to get his other side, but the dragonman moved away before she made contact.
She'd lost the element of surprise.
He managed to growl, "You asked for it now."
He swung out, but clumsily. She managed to lean back with only an inch to spare. He wasn't experienced, but he had a longer reach. Delaney needed to compensate for it.
She and the dragonman kept circling one another, both holding back and figuring out what to do next. Her knee complained a little at the sudden exercise without any sort of warmup, but she ignored it. Even if it injured her further, it was better than ending up dead.
And she was certain the wild-eyed dragon-shifter wanted to do exactly that. His eyes were slitted and filled with hatred.
Maybe his dragon had taken control and gone rogue.
That would make her winning more difficult, but she wasn't giving up. If she ever wanted a life with Rhydian and Rian, she had to fight for it.