I duck from the barrage of hits aimed my way, Killian bouncing back on the balls of his feet before his mirror image - and I do mean his clone attacks from behind.

Malac sits on the sidelines, flicking little flames of shadows at my every weak spot, the balls disappearing into nothing on contact but leaving a slight tingle behind.

Enough that I feel the attack but not enough to hurt.

It's pissing me off. Every time I block an attack from Killian, I turn to find one coming at me from his clone and then I'm on defence all over again and everytime I let my guard down, theres Malachi, letting me know I didn't do a good enough job.

It was tiring and annoying.

I drop my arms, taking a few steps back and glaring at Killian.

"What is the point of this?" I throw my hands up, glaring at him and then his clone wth equal measure, unsure of which one is actually him until he talks.

"We're teaching you how to defend yourself."

"I know how to defend myself."

"You know how to defend yourself as a human." Killian corrects. "You need to learn how to use your powers as your defence, not just as an offence."

"So then why have we been out here the last two days with you throwing punches at me?" I snap. "Teach me how to fucking use the shadows."

"I'm trying, you're the one who's not using them." Killian says calmly. "Stop using your fists to defend yourself and start using your mind."

"I don't know what you mean." I mutter, fed up. "I'm trying." I mean I'd formed my shadows around me like a shield they just didn't . . . Shield.

Everytime Malachi threw a ball of his shadows they sunk straight through mine and hit me square in the chest or back, or even, annoyingly, my ass.

The wanker just laughed when I threw a shadow back at him and sent another one for me, this one skimming the side of my breast.

He was an annoying gnat, even if his actions were causing desire to pool low in my core.

But I wouldn't let him distract me.

Much.

I didn't know how to block it more than I had. I have no idea what I'm doing.

I throw my arms down beside me, "teach me something else."

"Not until you have mastered this." Killian says calmly.

I didn't master it, not that day, not the next but at the end of the third day when exhaustion pulled at my limbs like an unruly child and I was close to giving up on the powers that were meant to be mine - even if they didn't listen, finally I seemed to have a breakthrough.

And by that I mean, Malachi's shadows didn't once break through mine, even as Killian tried to distract me with his own hits aimed my way.

Sweat slips down my back and exhaustion is a constant companion but I grin at Killian as he stops his attack and steps back, nodding proudly at me.

Malachi lets out a whoop from the sidelines, grinning like the maniac he is before slipping up to me and wrapping me in a hug.

"Finally, baby girl. I was beginning to think you were a dud."

"Get off me, I'm sweaty."

"Just how I like you." He murmurs before slipping a step back.

I ignore the wanton tone and shake out my limbs, looking towards Killian. "Are we done for the day?"

He takes a second to reply, eyes dragging up and down my figure in a way that has a shiver crawling across my back and the creature I keep chained beneath my skin purring.

"Go grab a shower, you stink." I flash a glare Killian's way but he only grins.

Over the last few days he seemed to be more comfortable with insulting me.

It was annoyingly cute that he tried.

I turn on my heel and stalk for the villa - what I'd taken to calling Kades home since he took offence to me calling it a mansion.

Why a guy who took every opportunity to show me I was lesser was offended about me calling his home a mansion was beyond me.

I trudge up the steps, taking them two at a time before slipping towards the wing and the room that had been given to me to shower and sleep for the next two days.

• • •

There's a soft knock at the door as soon as I exit the bathroom, fresh and dressed.

I narrow my eyes at the wood before stepping forward and opening, Killian staring back at me from the other side.

He holds up his hand, a slim bottle clutched between his fingers and holds it out to me. "Thought you might want this."

I reach for it, looking at the bottle and back at him with a brow raised.

"Its muscles soother, for all the aches and pains from today."

I blink at the generosity, lowering my hand before just staring at him. He crosses his arms in front of him, leaning his hip against my open doorway silently.

"Are you going to stand there all night?"

"Making sure you're looking after yourself."

I narrow my eyes at him but lift the bottle again. "Want to help me? I can't exactly reach my back."

He narrows his eyes back but steps forward, shutting my bedroom door behind me.

I step back, watching him curiously before he flicks a chin towards my bed. "Lay down on your stomach."

I swallow at the command but move to the bed, lifting my pyjama shirt over my head and holding it in front of my chest to help cover myself, then I lay down on the bed, my heart beating rapidly in my chest.

The mattress dips beside me from the weight of Killian's body.

It takes a few seconds for him to move, the sound of the cap being twisted off the tube the only noise in the heated room before I feel the cool touch of liquid against my back.

I suck in a harsh breath and Killian pauses. "Cold?"

I nod, agreeing to whatever he just said as he begins rubbing the cream into my back, fingers digging into my muscle. His hands slide their way up my back towards my shoulder blade, tracing the bone there before moving back down silently to my lower back.

When he moves back up, I ask the question that's been in my head since I found out that they weren't human.

"What are you, exactly?" I probe, then hasten to add. "Like I know there's angel and demon and dragon in your bloodline but what are you." I say. "Kade is obviously a dragon. And he can shadows weave and so can Malachi, but you-"

"I can astral project." He mutters.

"No, I know that. But what else?" And then I realise how insensitive that sounds, to assume he can do other stuff. "I mean-"

There's a whoosh of air and then silence, Killian's hands stilling on my back before disappearing entirely.

I curse inwardly for my lack of tact before turning over to apologise. But I don't get the chance, staring at Killian in absolute awe.

"Are they real?"

Killian nods, the white wings at his back fluttering slightly at my perusal. They reach almost to the ceiling, double his shoulder width on either side, pearly white feathers coating the wings from top to bottom.

I reach a hand out, entranced, as if to touch them before I pull back.

"You can."

I flick my eyes to his.

"Touch them, you can touch them." He corrects, clearing his throat.

I look between his eyes, seeing the truth there before reaching forward to skim a hand across the edge of the wing.

There is more strength beneath my palm than I would've expected, the feathers soft to the touch but not flimsy.

"You have wings?"

Killian nods, his eyes closing for a fraction as I run a finger across the tip before he shudders and the wings are disappearing into thin air.

I snatch my hand back. "Sorry."

"Don't be. It's fine."

I blink, my head filling with question after question but I only voice one. "Where do they go?"

Killian shrugs. "I don't know, they come and go at will. But they're always there, I can feel them like another limb and when I call on them, they're there."

"Does Malachi have wings?"

Killian's shoulders drop slightly and he takes a seat on the bed. "He did." He looks towards my bedroom door like he can see through the timber towards his brother. "Something happened when we were young and he was hurt. He lost them."

I remember Malachi telling me the story about his mother, about getting injured and he reached towards the perfect circles on his back, as if reaching for a figment of his past. His wings, they were cut off.

"Your father?"

Killian's looks surprised for a moment, before nodding. "He was disappointed that his offspring manifested Angel powers when his brother's kid had manifested as a drake."

"Kade?"

Killian's nods.

"If he-" I don't know how to word what I want to ask so I just come straight out and say it. "If he cut Malachis wings off, why do you still have yours?"

"Because mine could disappear, he never had the chance to cut them and I was slightly more profitable since I could make mine disappear, like our mother could. Malachi didn't have that luxury. His were permanent. He was an abomination according to our father so he enlisted the help of one of our uncles and our grandfather to remove them from Malachis back, to hide what we were."

"This world of yours doesn't seem very accommodating." I glance into his eyes.

"That's why we're going to figure out what you are." He lifts a brow. "You're not going to let this world ruin you are you?"

There's a noise outside my bedroom and I tighten my grip around my shirt, whipping my head to my bedroom door as it starts to open.