Page 39 of Charged By the Razorbacks

Jarek let her guide him, mostly because he wanted to see where she’d take it, partly because he liked the way she touched him.

“You telling me I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time?” he asked.

“I’m telling you that there is definitely room for improvement,” she said, not missing a beat.

Then she moved.

Fast.

She stepped inside his reach, hooked the prong of her sai against his wrist, and turned, using his own balance against him. He shifted automatically, but she was already ahead of him, redirecting his weight just enough to show him exactly where he’d gone wrong before releasing him again.

“See that?” she said. “You don’t meet strength head-on. You move it.”

Jarek rolled his wrist once, resetting. “You’re saying I’m the problem.”

“I’m saying you make things harder than they need to be.”

“That’s one way to look at it.”

“It is,” she replied, already repositioning him. “It also happens to be the right way.”

Aleksy watched from the side, one of the sai balanced in his hand as he tested the weight, his attention fixed on the motion rather than the conversation.

“It requires precision,” he said.

Tamsin glanced toward him, nodding once. “And patience.”

Jarek snorted. “Yeah, you lost me there.”

Her eyes flicked back to his. “No,” she said. “You just don’t like it.”

He grinned. “That too.”

“Again,” she said.

This time, when she stepped in, he didn’t resist the movement. He let it happen, let his body follow instead of forcing it, and the difference was immediate. The motion carried cleaner, smoother, the control shifting in a way that made more sense.

“Huh,” he muttered. “That actually worked.”

Her brow lifted. “Told you.”

“Don’t get used to it,” he said. “That was a one-time admission.”

“Sure, it was.”

Aleksy stepped in then, testing the same motion, his execution more controlled from the start, his grip looser, his movement already closer to what she’d shown.

Tamsin watched him for a second, then nodded. “You adjust faster.”

“I watch first,” he said simply.

Jarek huffed a quiet breath. “And judge the rest of us while you’re at it.”

Tamsin’s mouth curved again. “He’s not wrong, though.”

Jarek shook his head, but the edge wasn’t there. Not really.

They kept moving after that, working through the drills, shifting positions, trading off. Tamsin stepped in when needed, corrected where it mattered, and let them work it out where it didn’t.