Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
“I guess I should thank you, then,” Taryn says.
He cocks his head to the side as he crosses his arms again. “Why?”
Her smile grows, and my heart jumps up into my throat, the nausea and sweat from earlier returning with a vengeance.
Oh, Goddess. This is it. She’s been tricking me this whole time, and she’s going to tell him we’re mates and thank him for introducing us because we wouldn’t have ever met otherwise. And then I’m going to die.
“Because if you hadn’t set us up, I’d never have discovered how much I enjoy listening to people speak in French,” she says, winking at me.
I grit my teeth to prevent myself from breathing an audible sigh of relief, but the relief is one hundred percent felt. The nausea is gone, the sweat stops forming, and my heart returns to its normal position behind my ribcage.
Sebastian chuckles and jerks his thumb at me. “True, but it did mean you had to put up with this dickhead for an entire evening.”
Taryn shrugs. “He’s not so bad.”
“Trust me, he’s totally a dickhead.”
“I’ll be the judge of that,” she says.
“All right, enough chatter, Cadet,” I say, and she straightens up, turning her focus back to me.
My eyes scan the gathered training class, searching for someone for Taryn to partner with for our next activity. I need to watch Taryn spar, which will be easier if I’m not the one doing the sparring. And I am not sure I trust my wolf to be on his best behavior right now.
“Maddie!” I yell, summoning Wesley and Sebastian’s younger sister over.
She joins us, breaking away from the group of trainees she’d been chatting with.
“What’s up?” she asks, her violet-blue eyes looking between the three of us, her long, dark brown ponytail swinging with the movement of her head.
“I need you to spar with Taryn,” I say. “I can’t get a good read on her form and skills if I’m fighting her, so I’ll watch the two of you instead.”
“Sounds fun!” she says, smiling. “You ready?” she asks Taryn, who nods at her. “Sweet!”
Maddie links arms with Taryn, leading her to the sparring ring, the two of them already whispering and giggling about whatever it is girls whisper and giggle about.
“Less laughing, more sparring!” I say, striding after them.
“Someone’s grumpy today,” Maddie says with a laugh. “Do you need a cookie?”
Taryn giggles, too, her hand flying to her mouth to hide it, but it’s too late. I already heard it.
I narrow my eyes at both of them. “Do you need to do more pushups?” They both shut up, but the laughter still twinkles in their eyes. “That’s what I thought. Ready positions. Now!”
I point to the center of the ring, and they both scurry to get into position, crouching and bringing their hands close to their chests. I examine Taryn’s stance and posture, adding to my mental list of feedback. Her eyes flick to me as I walk around them, taking my time to check her form. And maybe to check out her form.
She gives me a smile. It’s as quick as a wink, but it’s there all the same. I return it without a thought, my smile as brief as hers, before I return to drill sergeant mode.
“Begin!” I say, ready to find out if my mate can hold her own against a lycan female.
TARYNI
spar with
Maddie for at least an hour. Maybe more. I lose track of my wins and losses, but I know we’re close to even. She may have one or two more wins than me, but since she’s a lycan and I’m a werewolf, I’m feeling good about myself and my abilities.
But I hope she hasn’t been taking it easy on me.
That would be embarrassing.
I scramble to my feet after getting pinned by Maddie again, readying myself for another round, when Reid walks into the ring. “That’s enough,” he says. “You can clean up.”
My shoulders slump in relief, and I follow Maddie towards what I assume are the locker rooms, but Reid grabs my hand, stopping me. “Not you,” he says. “We’re not done yet.”
I glance at him, forcing my eyes to stay on his face instead of wandering lower. So far, the entire time I’ve been here, I’ve had to remind myself not to ogle him. But his tatted biceps his black T-shirt sleeves can’t contain, his broad, muscular shoulders that stretch and bulge beneath the fabric, and those damn gray sweatpants are all very distracting and have me almost drooling, have me ready to act on what I told Blake I wanted to do to him—climb him like a tree.
What is it about gray sweatpants on males, anyway?
I blink and swallow, pushing back my wandering, indecent thoughts. “We’re not?”
He shakes his head. “I still need to see your wolf.”
“Oh.”
I lick my lips and glance around his pack grounds, calculating how many others are nearby and how close they are to us, determining how easily they’ll be able to see my wolf. My heart accelerates and I remind myself to breathe.
I hate this part. Not shifting. Not my wolf. I love my wolf, and I could never be ashamed of her or her size. She is beautiful and strong even with her smaller than normal stature.
But I hate that I can’t control the reactions of others when they see me shift. I hate that I can’t predict their thoughts or read their minds. I hate that I have to think about proving myself capable of anything beyond basic self-defense skills once people know my wolf is small.
Reid squeezes my hand, and I turn to him again, glancing down to where we touch. I didn’t realize he was still holding my hand. He looks down for a second, too, then drops my hand and clears his throat, pulling my focus to his face and his kind eyes.
“No one here is going to judge you for your wolf or how she looks. They all know better than to do that, know better than to judge someone based on what they are on the outside.”
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?