Filed to story: Luna Lovette and Alpha Kodak Story
He cupped her nape and joined his forehead to hers. “Ah, baby, that’s never going to happen.
I’m not leaving you, and there’s no way you’re leaving me again, so don’t even think it.” He crushed her mouth with his, shooting his tongue into her mouth and coaxing her own to play. Relief filled him when she responded as enthusiastically as she always did. “Like I said, I don’t know how deep this can go. Neither of us wants to be bonded, we test each other’s self-control, I don’t have a good work/play balance, I’m going to drive you absolutely insane trying to control you, and you’re going to drive me insane when you rebel…Maybe it’s fucking doomed, I don’t know. But don’t you want to know?”
No, she didn’t want to know, she had to know. And didn’t that just piss her off. She gave him a curt nod.
“Good. Because nothing and no one will keep me out of your life, Jaime. Not even you.”
Over the next few weeks, as Dante intensified the training, Jaime came to understand just why Tao expected her to quit. In truth, she had come close to quitting many times. Who wouldn’t? Dante was mean when he was in Trainer mode.
Each session they would begin with the warm-up that always left her feeling as though she’d been strapped to a medieval torture device. Once they had finished their laps of the perimeter, Dante would instruct her to practice more on stealth. When she began to progress, he’d increased the timings until soon he was asking her to remain still for an entire hour. Hard shit.
Only one week into their training, he had introduced her to his assault course. If hell had a playground, that would be it. Not only did she have to navigate through a large number of obstacles, but sometimes it was at extreme heights or even underwater. Then there were the snake pits and the eell pool and the times she needed to play limbo under a wasp nest. Not fun.
A number of times her wolf had wanted Jaime to take a chunk out of him. She had to admit the temptation was there. Come on, what did he think she was, a Gurkha freaking guide?
It took two weeks before she was no longer nearing a state of unconsciousness at the end of each sparring session and had perfected each combat move he taught her, such as the palm-heel strike, overhand, elbow strikes, round kick, side kick, sweeping, chokeholds, and joint locks. It was then that he introduced more combat moves such as the eye gouge, hammer fists, knee strikes, ground fighting, counters to strikes, and chokes and holds. She was still trying to perfect those, which was why she was currently on her ass. “Evil,” she said, panting. “That’s a good word to describe you right now.” Dante merely smiled down at her. “That’s what all the enforcers said during training. But they learned, and so will you.” He wondered if Jaime had any idea of just how much progress she had made in her training. She had soaked up everything he taught her. He suspected that Tao’s words were a big part of why she refused to give up, but most of it was because the female was made of steel. He knew she wasn’t convinced that bettering her control would make any difference long-term, but she was sticking with the regimen in any case. He was so unbelievably proud of her.
Now not only was she fitter and more experienced at combat, but her control over her wolf was improving. In the beginning, her wolf had managed to surface just enough to growl during sparring, but not anymore. Even now as Jaime was on the ground with her opponent looming over her, she was able to quash her wolf’s extreme urge to take a swipe at him and warn him off. And he knew it was what her wolf wanted. He could sense her agitation, as could his wolf.
After a few of the pack watched her spar a week ago and saw how well she kept her wolf leashed, their anxiety lessened to the extent that Kodak didn’t insist on her being constantly guarded. He still didn’t let her be around Lovette alone, but that was pretty much expected.
Dante reached down and offered her his hand. She didn’t take it, just like he knew she wouldn’t. Instead, she jumped to her feet, making a distinct effort to regulate her breathing.
“Am I right in thinking that when it’s time for me to play cat and mouse with the enforcers and it does come to combat, they aren’t going to hold back?”
“You are definitely right to think that. Not even Dominic will hold back. I think you’d be surprised if you ever saw him fight. His humor and relaxed countenance totally disappear. It has to.
When it comes to combat, it’s officially a life-or-death situation. As soon as their opponents realize that they’re facing an enforcer who’s come to defend the pack, they will know exactly what that means: they’re going to die. No enforcer would allow anything different. It would be nice if they handed themselves over at that point, but unfortunately, they don’t. They do everything and anything to fight the enforcers off and prefer to die fighting.”
They began to circle each other slowly as he continued to speak. “And they don’t fight cleanly, Jaime, but neither do my enforcers. They each know it isn’t just about them as individuals; enforcers are responsible for one another’s safety, and they know to use the raw, aggressive skills I’ve taught them, because the alternative is death-either theirs or that of a packmate-and that is not allowed.” His commanding, dominant, assertive tone almost made her shiver. He might be evil like this, but he was also sexy as all hell.
“I’ll expect you to enter that same ‘it’s me or them’ mind-set if you ever find yourself in a confrontation again. If any of Glory’s crazy-ass brothers get hold of you, don’t give them the chance to get in the first move. You must do everything and anything you can to subdue them: you hit first, you hit hard, and you aim to end the struggle as quickly as possible. That means targeting the vulnerable parts of the body, like the face, the neck, the groin. When you’re in combat with the enforcers in a few weeks, you have to think of them as opponents and treat them just the same.”
“That won’t be a problem,” said Jaime. “They’ve got some karma coming their way.” His wolf liked her merciless streak, baring his teeth in a feral grin. Just the same, Dante found himself grinning. His Jaime had a fondness for vengeance, and he had the distinct feeling that the enforcers, particularly Tao, would be sorry they doubted her ability to complete and pass the training.
“Good. Let’s go again.”
For twenty minutes, Jaime fought with everything she had, hit him with every move she knew…but soon enough she was flat on her back, gazing up at him. “You’re so not getting lucky later.”
“That’s what you always say,” he chuckled. Both he and his wolf tensed as they saw that Jaime was in some pain with the effort to keep her wolf suppressed. Squatting down, Dante collared her throat with his hand to get her wolf’s attention. Distrustful and unsettled though she was, her wolf had come to acknowledge Dante’s dominance over her. Sometimes his handling helped calm her wolf.
Other times, her wolf viewed his behavior as a challenge and she rose to that challenge-or, at least, she tried to, but Jaime always managed to keep a hold on her. The animal was too temperamental for him to predict her responses, but he was prepared to risk it whenever Jaime was in pain.
He let his eyes flash wolf, communicating directly with Jaime’s wolf. Little by little, the tension left Jaime’s body, and he knew her wolf was calming. “Better, baby?”
“If you like your wrist attached to your arm, you might want to release me.” He smiled at that. Even if he could get her wolf always to instantly submit with the dominant move, which was terribly unlikely, he would never get Jaime to do it. Placing his free hand beside her head, he leaned over and nipped her mouth. “You like it when I hold you like this.” Okay, yeah, she did, Jaime could admit to herself. But admit it to Popeye? Not a chance. She snorted derisively. “It’s cute that you really believe that.” He smiled against her mouth before claiming it with his own. She went lax, giving him what she knew he wanted and smiling at the sound of his groan. Then, in a move he’d only recently taught her, she flipped him onto his back and straddled him. “You dropped your guard. Tut, tut, tut.”
Grinning lopsidedly, he shaped her waist with his hands. “It’s a habit with you. How can I not get distracted by this delectable body that’s all mine? Seeing it all hot and sweaty is the highlight of my day.”
“I can say the same about you.” She would actually be disappointed when the training was over. At present, she was guaranteed to spend a few hours alone with him each day. The guy worked practically all day, every day. As such, sometimes these few hours were the only quality time they managed to have. She still saw him at mealtimes, but they were surrounded by the rest of the pack and he was still in Beta mode then, so it wasn’t the same.
She understood that he had a lot of responsibilities, and she was proud of him. But was it such a bad thing that she missed him when he was gone? In fact, she missed him when he was there, because even when he was with her, he wasn’t always completely there. His mind could sometimes be on things he needed to do or hadn’t done, and his cell phone was like a hotline.
Although she had been prepared for it, she hadn’t really realized until recently just how much of an effect his dedication to his job would have on their relationship. She’d hoped to teach him how to find a work/play balance, but it was proving difficult. Why? Two reasons. One, Dante didn’t seem to think the lack of a balance was a problem. Two, she had realized that, on a subconscious level, he didn’t want to find that balance.
It had taken her a little time to figure out why, but eventually she’d deduced that Dante actually had intimacy issues. Not sexually, but emotionally. It wasn’t really such a surprise, considering that the woman he had loved and imprinted with had betrayed him. But it was difficult to know that the person she cared about avoided any chance of feeling the same, even if it wasn’t on a conscious level.
Mattering to him wasn’t the same as him caring about her. Knowing that she was second in his life was hard, particularly because he came first to her.
“So how will you be spending your evening?” he asked.
“I have a poker game to go to.”
“Poker, huh?” He smiled, knowing she’d win simply because she hated to lose. Even when she lost, she didn’t count it. “Who’s playing?”
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?