Shanna could almost feel the steam coming from her ears. He was pissing her off big time and seriously thought she was some pathetic bitch who needed someone to fight her battles for her, as though she were useless. Her gaze swept over his large body, his muscles, and then she moved without giving him warning, knowing it was the only advantage she had. I’ll show him weak.

Berrr stumbled back a good four feet when Shanna’s bare foot made contact with his stomach and a grunt tore from him as he bent from the blow. Shanna spun, kicking out again, and caught him in the shoulder with a roundhouse kick. It knocked the big guy on his ass on the floor by the tub. She backed up, putting her arms tight to her chest, watching him with caution as his head lifted. Shocked blue eyes locked with hers for a few heartbeats before he softly growled at her.

“That’s kickboxing, Berrr. Little ole me is big and bad enough to knock you on your large ass. What was that you were saying about how weak human women were?” She arched her eyebrows and then held her hand out, motioning him up with her fingers.

“Are you ready to take it back? If you want I can put you on your ass every time you get up until you’re willing to admit you are wrong.” He put his hands on the floor, going to his hands and knees, his narrowed gaze locked on her as another soft growl came from his slightly parted full lips. “You want to play?”

“I’m not playing.”

Shock hit his features. “You want to fight me?”

Frowning at him, she shrugged. “If that’s what it takes to convince you that humans aren’t weak, damn it, and just because I have breasts doesn’t mean I can’t take care of myself.”

A grin curved his lips as he slowly rose up to six and a half feet of large, muscled male. Shanna admitted feeling a little fear as she realized he could really hurt her if he got his hands on her. I’ll just have to keep him back and on his ass, she thought. She’d taken years of lessons to defend herself as a teen in foster care when bigger kids had bullied her and started to beat on her. The volunteers at the community centers had offered to teach her self-defense classes. After she’d left foster care she’d joined a gym to take lessons to continue learning fighting skills. She’d let it go a few years back but it was

“like riding a bike” or so she hoped.

“You want to play.”

“I’m teaching you a lesson, not playing.”

Chuckling, he reached down to remove his boots one at a time and tossed them toward the corner, revealing that he didn’t wear socks. Shanna swallowed hard. The big bastard looked amused as her gaze ran over him. She’d never taken on an opponent in the ring that damn big but the saying “the bigger they are the harder they fall” went through her mind. She backed up out of the bathroom into the much-larger bedroom, darting quick glances around the area to learn her surroundings, and hoped that more space would help her avoid his hands.

Berrr slowly followed her, his eyelids narrowed as another soft growl came from him. “You should drop to your knees, lower your head and show me submission, Shanna. That is what a Zorn woman would do and you said you wanted to be treated just like them but you aren’t acting like one.”

“I saw those women kneel to you.” She frowned at him, glaring. “I’m not the submissive type so deal with it. I’m also not weak, pathetic, or going to take any of your shit.” She hesitated. “You could drop to your knees though, lower your head and show me submission.”

His head tilted slightly as he studied her with glowing amused eyes. His arms spread wide open as though he wanted to give her a hug a second before he lunged forward in an attempt to grab her. Shanna jumped back—barely missing his hands that swooped toward her—ducked and spun, kicking a leg out to slam heel first into his stomach. She purposely aimed high, not wanting to nail him in the crotch. He’d been nice to her so far and she didn’t play dirty unless she absolutely had to.

Berrr stumbled backward a few feet, not doubling over this time, but he frowned while one hand rubbed the spot she’d hit, all traces of amusement gone from his features. Shanna’s gaze darted around the room to look for escape routes and objects to put between them if he lunged at her again. A soft growl made her full attention snap back to Berrr.

“You can’t win, Shanna.”

“I don’t have to win. I just have to make my point that I’m not pathetic or weak. I’m already a hell of a lot tougher than your women are, Berrr. You won’t see me dropping to my damn hands and knees to stare at a floor just because I said something you didn’t like that made you growl at me. I don’t give a shit if you don’t like what I say.” He didn’t want to hear that one bit and it showed in his tight-lipped expression and in the grim look in his eyes. He didn’t growl at her this time though. He took a deep breath, sucked in air sharply, making his massive naked chest expand before he lunged for her again. Shanna dove for the bed and barely escaped as she landed on it to roll out of his way.

The bedding that Shanna landed on was yanked hard. It was a big bed, larger than a king size, and her body was being dragged toward the alien who fisted it, hauling her closer, faster than she could roll. He was going to get her and she knew it so she turned to jerk her knees up to her chest to put her in a ball. Right as he released the bedding to grab her, she kicked both feet hard and they slammed into his upper chest.

Berrr went flying backward, stumbling, but managed to stay on his feet. Shock etched across his features as Shanna rolled over to frantically crawl across the bed to get to the other side. A roar filled the room behind her that made her look to see that Berrr was sporting two of her red footprints on his chest. One of his hands rubbed an obvious sore spot while he glared at her.

Shanna climbed off the other side of the high bed, happy to have it between them as she glared back at him. She was breathing hard, out of breath, and trying to ignore that both of her ankles throbbed from how hard she’d kicked him. It wouldn’t have surprised her if she had a limp when she attempted to walk but she wasn’t ready to throw in the towel just yet.

“That hurt.”

“I’m not weak, damn it. Do you take it back? I want an apology for all that shit you said about human women.”