I focused. Claire Ryel was the best of the best. Demons feared her. She was Earth’s deadliest weapon, undefeated by anyone she’d ever come up against, and I was about to deck her. Once Claire returned her attention to me, I swung. Claire took the punch, and it almost knocked her off her feet. She looked at Jared, rubbed her cheek, and smiled with bloody teeth. “She hurt me!”

I didn’t let my guard drop for a second, knowing Claire was too competitive to quit. Her ice-blue eyes sharpened and her vicious glare targeted me. “I love you, and I’m sorry for the ass-kicking that’s about to commence.”

“No, you’re not.”

“You’re right. I was just being polite.”

Knowing that she had watched me wait to be attacked with my last two opponents, I took the first shot. She dodged, but in the next moment, my foot connected with her chest, and I sent her flying forty feet into the one muddy section of the entire field. She emerged, wet, dirty and pissed off. She flung her hands outward, letting the excess mud spatter to the ground. “You really went there, didn’t you?”

I smiled. “I did.”

She sprinted toward me and grabbed my shirt. I was soon in the air, but landed on my feet—just short of the mud.

“Nice try,” I smiled.

Claire was unhappy. She tried repeatedly to push, shove, throw, and punch me into the mud, but I either blocked her or put her there instead. After half an hour, her platinum hair was tangled and brown, and we were both filthy and panting. She more than I, but coming into contact with someone covered in muck made it impossible to emerge unsoiled, and Claire was definitely a full-contact adversary.

“Enough,” Jared said, walking out to meet us. He wiped a chunk of mud from Claire’s face. “You’ve made your point.”

“I’m…not…finished with…her yet,” Claire breathed.

Bex had been laughing uncontrollably since the first time Claire found herself in the mud, but with one glare from his sister, the laughter silenced.

“Okay,” I said, breathing hard. “Now you?”

“No.”

“No?” I said.

“Chicken!” Ryan said.

Jared frowned. “We’ve seen what we need to see, and I don’t want you to get overly tired. You may have angel blood running through your veins, but you’re still human. Until we know for sure how your body will handle the stress, I don’t want to push it too far.”

I nodded. “You’re right. I can throw punches at you anytime.”

Jared laughed, and then put his arm around me as we walked to the Escalade. He was thoroughly enjoying my new Yes, Dear attitude. The truth was I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to our baby.