I'd had my blows parried before, but not by many and not easily. But the man staring at me had caught my staff without moving more than his arm. Even the cocky slant of his brow hadn't altered.

Then he did something no one had dared to do before. He jerked my staff toward his body, jerking me there too. His arm slipped behind my waist and he held me tight against his naked form. My breasts already compressed by my workout bra were crushed more. The only things separating us were my thin tee and shorts and the staff we both still held.

I didn't struggle; my eyes met his. The weak struggled; the strong simply escaped. . when they were ready.

"One question. Why? Why are you doing this? Oh, I forgot. . that's how the Amazons stay strong, isn't it? Preying on the most defenseless?"

Anger flooded my body, but I forced calm into my voice. "The Amazons stay strong because we are strong."

He laughed. "Of course. And only the strong deserve to survive."

"Basic law of nature-the strong survive. You have issues with that?" I asked.

"Yes." He jerked me closer. "If it's at the cost of someone else's survival."

He was talking nonsense. "You threaten me, I'll fight back. You steal from me, I'll steal back. If you expected something else, you don't know the Amazons."

His lips quirked, but without humor. "Oh, I know the Amazons. Way better than I'd like. Take my mother, for example. . I know her, know she cast me aside, not because she couldn't raise me, but because she thought I was beneath her. At least that was all she did. She didn't kill me or maim me. I suppose I should be grateful for that. Other sons weren't so lucky. Some of us curse our mothers, but me?" He shrugged a shoulder. "You can't hate a rattler for being a snake, can you? Just like you can't hate an Amazon for being a bitch."

The venom in his voice was harsh, but our reality was harsh. An example of why the sons didn't belong with us. My mother didn't raise me, but while I couldn't claim to love her, or miss her now that we made no pretense of familial care, I didn't bemoan my fate. Being raised by surrogates, one after the other, had made me strong, taught me early on what emotional commitments did to you, how they weakened you.