The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1)

SMACK. I winced as my back hit the mat and inwardly cursed.

Bugger, feels like I bruised my spine again, yippee.

Ignoring the ache, I grappled with Nathan. Like hell I’d let him win this one. Hooking my leg around his as he worked on getting me into a shoulder lock, I flipped him using his bent elbow to my advantage. It didn’t go as I intended. The bastard went with the roll so we tumbled right over with me on the bottom again.

Fuck.

'Awww is little Kitty Cat stuck?' Nathan smirked.

Ass-wipe.

Jerking my right knee up I snatched at his collar and wrenched, leaving my other leg slack so we rolled over. He gave a yelp of surprise as he slammed into the mat. A very satisfying sound. Moving to lock his arm, I wasn't quick enough. With a snatch, he grabbed both my arms and I was back at the beginning. On the mat, with his face in mine.

Knee to the groin
, suggested the silly voice in my mind.

Catherine,
my rational voice was stern,
use what you were taught, no cheap shots.

'Cat’s down!' hollered Sensei as he tracked the grappling pairs in the room.

Like hell I am,
growled both voices and I wrapped my legs around Nathan’s hips. The look of shock on his face amused me, even more so when I gave him a suggestive smile, arching my eyebrow.

Cheap shot? Not if he fell for it. He didn’t register what I was up to until his head connected with the mat. I smirked down at him.

Sensei had a wide smile as he called, 'Catherine wins.'

Nathan scowled at me.

'Get off, would you?'

I stood and sauntered to the side, joining Kassie as we watched the final pairs fight. Tonight I’d won all three of my fights.

Not quite as good as Loi. I watched as she brought Daniel down to the mat hard enough that he yelped in pain. Sometimes the two inch mats didn’t feel that thick. I felt a pang of sympathy for him.

'Laura wins, making her this evening’s champion,' Sensei crowed in triumph. Kassie and I hollered, clapping for Loi as she stood, ever graceful, and walked our way. Most of the guys in the room had rueful smiles as they joined in the applause.

'I can’t believe you’re letting yourselves get beaten by girls,' Sensei shook his head in mock distress. 'What will I tell the other sensei at the meet?'

'That you train Amazons,' Jason, the class smart ass, quipped back.

Actually that was a good description for Laura, though I didn’t think you’d see many Amazons with Scottish accents. Five foot eight, with a figure like a pin-up girl and thick black hair to her waist, Loi made most people look twice.

'What’s the magic word?' demanded a saccharin sweet voice, interrupting my thoughts.

The three of us, along with those sitting out, turned to look. There was Sian, the fourth of our quartet, with Grant beneath her tiny thighs.

For some reason Grant felt the need to be stubborn when tapping out with Sian. It may be due to her dainty appearance. Sian was the blond in our group and just adorable to look at. Dainty and precious, more like precocious, truth be told, she scraped in at just five foot like Kassie. But while Kassie had a curvy busty figure, Sian was petite in every sense of the word; except personality.