by Rae Foxx
Bring it on. She could be my Alpha-eating warm-up act.
“Then stop growling at her,” Howl said, tightening his hand around my waist.
“Woops,” I hadn’t even realized I was; man my wolf was pissed, and it wasn’t because of jealousy. “You don’t think she’ll want retribution, do you?”
“Retribution for what?” Howl asked as the bell rang and everyone gathered around the office.
“Well, we got her dad kicked out…” I hesitated with the look that he gave me, his jaw so tight that you could use it as a bottle opener. “Didn’t we?”
“Seeing as Nicky’s still here--”
“Damn it!” I snarled, back to growling. “What was the point of all of that if we are the ones who get smacked down.” ‘And challenged for your place in the pack.’
Howl gave me another look. Clearly, he had heard that part.
I gave him a big smile and blew him an ‘I don’t give a shit even though I do’ kiss.
Thankfully, we were interrupted by the arrival of the coach.
Or his daughter?
Instead of our regular pot-bellied coach with the t-shirt tucked into his weird baseball pants, a goddess had emerged from the office. Her tight yoga pants clung to every inch of her, the things pulled up so tight she could have easily been cursed with a case of camel toe. Even if she had, I didn’t think any of the male student body would have minded. They were all staring slack-jawed at the busty, cleavage-heavy beauty that was walking our way.
“Nice going, coach!” Evan yelled, “hope you sunk nice and deep into that fine ass!”
Every single male around me laughed at that. I promptly smacked both Howl and Evan upside the head.
“God, do you guys think of anything else?” I snarled, giving Evan a warning glance. He didn’t care. The guy’s smile spread.
“No.” At least he was honest. I smacked him upside the head one more time.
The guy needed to get laid about as badly as Scarlet did.
“Excuse yourself, sir,” the lady said, walking right up to Evan before producing a clipboard. Even I had been so focused on the curve of her ass that I missed it, as well as the whistle around her neck.
Shit.
Evan must have noticed it too because the guy was officially fifty shades of pink.
“My name is Ms. Danvers and seeing as your former coach has decided to retire, I have been brought in as a replacement. I am Ms. Danvers or Coach Danvers. Not Coach. Not Miss. Certainly not one of the vile nicknames you are thinking up. I hear it, you’re booted.”
It was a shame considering the way she was sending all of these hormonal boys into quivering bits of meat. She needed a much cooler name than ‘Danvers’, and the ‘sweet mounds of glory’ name that Evan had mumbled to his brother wasn’t it.
Fucking boys.
“Now, let’s begin,” she said after a minute. “Pair off and begin sparring. I’d like to get a good idea of what levels I’m working with.”
Everyone moved, Evan and Owen already high fiving as they took off into their usual corner. I didn’t even have to ask Howl, his fingertips trailing over my mating scar, were reminder enough that I would be sparring with him from now on.
Not that I really wanted to spar with anyone else. Well, except for Saxon and Finn and…
‘Are you trying to drive me crazy?’ Howl’s fingers dug into my hip, pulling me closer.
‘Now, who’s jealous?’
“What the hell was that about?” Scarlet came up right behind me, sending me jumping so high that if Howl hadn’t been there holding me down, I would have gone straight to the ceiling.
“Huh?” And I was straightening my shorts like Scarlet had caught us in the middle of something. Wouldn’t be the first time, but this time we were actually innocent.
She rolled her eyes anyway.
“What’s with busty brunette?” she nodded toward Danvers, who was officially deemed that name in my head, as she swung those hips with a little bit too much flourish.
“She’s the new teacher.” Why did it feel so weird to give her that title? My wolf bristled, so angry inside of me. She clearly knew something I did not.
“That’s Danvers?” she nearly shrieked, her eyes following the swinging yoga-clad ass like her pupils were on a pendulum. “Damn. I heard we had someone new but didn’t expect that! Usually teachers come from the old families or students who return to work here. But no one's heard of her; it’s like she appeared out of nowhere.”
“I doubt that,” I said, my focus now following the same ping pong motion that Scarlet was. “It’s not exactly like you can hide those…”
“Wait,” Howl said, his grip on my hip loosening so he could look at me. “Are you two objectifying her?”
He was playing a good shocked boyfriend, but even I could see the playfulness in his eyes.
“More like shocked…” Scarlet said, diverting her eyes as she turned red.
“Oh yeah, I mean she does have a nice ass,” I gave Howl a wink. He promptly led me away and toward one of the still unoccupied sparing rings near the wall, Scarlet following along in her beeline to the twins who had become her go-to.
Evan and Owen were already going at it with more zeal than usual, the two wrestling on the ground like the angry kittens they were. Their ring was right next to the one Howl was guiding me to--the ring that was flanked by none other than the perfectly manicured bitch queen herself.
Selene was staring at us like we had stolen her morning protein smoothie.
I smiled and waved, which caused Howl to choke as he tried to hide his laugh.
“Hold it together, buddy,” I said as I patted his back.
“I am, but can we please not poke the bear--”
“I thought she was a wolf. In fact, I’m one hundred percent sure she’s a wolf.” I earned myself a well-aimed finger in the side right into a bruise. I winced.
“You know what I mean.”
“Students,” Danvers near howled, interrupting my planned jab about what else he could poke. “Let’s keep the conversation centered on the task at hand, shall we? You two, I want to see fighting. There will come a time where you will need these skills, believe it or not.”
Oh, I could believe it.
I had bruises to prove it.
‘Most of those are from last night, little wolf.’ God, I loved Howl’s sex growl, would have told him too if Ms. Danvers hadn’t stopped her observations of the other students to stare at Howl and me.
And not a teacher stare either. A creepy guess-my-name-or-I’ll-eat-your-babies stare. I shivered. I could feel my wolf snarl and growl in my chest so loudly even Scarlet and the twins turned.
Damn, my she-wolf didn’t like that.
Okay, Rumpelstiltskin, move on.
Danvers took a slow step forward, hips swaying as she crossed her arms in front of her.
“You must be Ivy Potter.” Damn. It was getting hard to control my wolf with how she was looking at me. “And Howl Wulfson. I’d like to see what you guys can do. Looks like you’ve been practicing hard.”
She narrowed her eyes at a large bruise on my neck, the only one that I knew for sure where it had come from.
Pater face-kicking party.
It had mostly healed, but she clearly saw it.
“Of course,” Howl said, stepping in front of me as his wolf gave a growl of ownership.
What was he doing? Yeah, the lady was weird, but I didn’t need some kind of wolf-based barricade. This wolf could handle herself.
I crouched down and braced my hands on the floor like some kind of ninja and spun around like those street dancers did back home. It wasn’t a legit ninja move, but it did the trick. With one sweep, I kicked out my leg and hit it against the back of his ass as hard I could.
Next thing I knew, Howl was on his ass and I was hunched over laughing.
“There, ass whipped. Do I get an A?” I jumped up; hands still balled. Howl’s wolf was so loud in my head that I was sure that was
n’t the end of it.
More bruises here I come.
Danvers smiled, opened her mouth to respond, but didn’t get one word out before Howl grabbed my legs and yanked them out from under me.
I went down like a jug of gas station water, nipples out, nose first.
“Shit!” I hissed barely able to protect my face before I broke aforementioned nose. I immediately began kicking.
Two quick moves and I had my legs freed. Howl however just kneeled, laughing and holding my left shoe.
“It would seem you do not get an A, Miss Potter. Perhaps more work? And a reminder to never let your guard down. Enemies are everywhere, apparently.” She leaned toward me and whispered, “Focus, Ms. Potter. You, of all people, need to focus.”
Oh, fuck me. Danvers knew about the Alpha fight thing too.
Perfect.
Danvers went back to ass-jiggling her way away from me while I was rounding on Howl, grabbing my sneaker as I tackled him back down to the floor.
He grinned up at me like he had already won.
“I have won,” he hissed so low I wasn’t sure anyone else could hear. “I always win.”
He thrust his hips once, showing me exactly where I was and exactly what I was straddling. His cock twitched as though it could hear my thoughts.
Damn him! He was making it really hard to focus on the whole kick his ass thing.
“Mmm, I like this position, little wolf. Maybe later, after I kick your ass a few more times.”
I rolled my eyes and tried to move. He gripped my hips and pulled me back. So much for ‘maybe later.’
“Besides, aren’t you supposed to be helping me to defeat your dad? Kicking my ass won’t do that.”
He chuckled. “Just you wait.”
Howl smiled, his eyes gleaming as he knotted his fingers around my shirt, pulling me down until his lips crashed against mine. His teeth pulled at my lower lip, nipping at me.
‘I want to be nipping at other things.
God. What I wouldn’t give for Finn’s ability to flower curtain us away from everyone else right about now.
“Traitor,” Selene cough-said from the ring next to us, causing both Howl and I to turn toward her.
And I thought Danvers had some camel toe. Was that some new style I didn’t know about, or did she hike up those shorts the second the teacher stole her thunder? I mean, we had whored out in the desert, but this was taking it to a whole new level.
“Oh, Selene,” I sighed sarcastically, sitting back up on Howl’s lap. “The cough-burn? Really? I think that’s dead. What’s next? You gonna come over here and jack me up?”
She stared at me. Okay, so clearly I’ve watched Dazed and Confused too many times.
Her nostrils flared. “No. I wasn’t coughing. I was gagging. Thinking about everything that’s gone on between those legs makes me sick. I can’t believe Howl even wants to be with someone who rides a bloodsucker.”
I moved, fully intending to rip her face off, but Howl gripped my bruised wrist to keep me still. I winced.
“You’ve been thinking about what’s between my legs, Selene? Aww. I didn’t know we were going steady.”
“We’re not.” She actually looked like she was going to be sick. It was on!
“But you want me…”
“No one wants you, Ivy,” she spat, backing up. “You can keep practicing all you want. No matter what happens, you’ll never beat the Alpha. I don’t even know why you are going to try.”
Howl’s hand was a vice around my wrist now. I had a feeling he was trying to keep himself as still as much as me.
“I’m not the one who issued the challenge.” All attempts at mocking were gone now. “He challenged me.”
She tossed her hair behind her back, making her way to her sparring partner, who I instantly recognized as the poor little rabbit, Nadia. She looked terrified.
“Yes, I know,” she continued, swaying her hips like she had joined the unofficial Danvers fan club. “Which is how I know you won’t win. You might as well leave now. Take the traitor with you.”
The traitor in question was up so fast that I wasn’t even sure he had remembered I was sitting on his lap. I hit the ground hard, swore, and scowled at the piles of mats and foam on the other side of the gym. Guess I should have grabbed one.
“Shut your mouth, Selene. You were never supposed to be my mate. I haven’t committed treason on anyone.” I was actually surprised Howl hadn’t rushed her as he shook with rage. His fists were clenched on his thighs, every muscle in his forearms was bulging.
“Who asked you, needle dick?” Selene snapped. Her voice pulled focus and echoed over the gym right before one of the big folding tumbling mats that was stacked on the other side of the room, the same ones I had been looking at a second ago, went flying. Rainbow colored foam slammed into her; both she and the mat soaring into the brick wall with a loud, hollow crash.
That was me. I’d done that. I’d sent that fucking mat right into fucking Selene and sent them both into the wall.
“Holy shit,” I whispered as the class ran past us, looking from Howl to me to Selene, and then to the piles of mats on the other side of the room in confusion.
At least they weren’t going to start blaming me. Thankfully, because I couldn't come up with an excuse to how I wasn’t involved.
While most of the people, including the new gym coach, huddled around a whining Selene with blood already matted into her inky hair, Howl was dragging me right to the exit, Scarlet and the twins right behind.
“What in the world just happened?” Evan yelled the second the door was shut, hollering like he had seen the best magic trick ever. “Did you get Finn to do that? That was great.”
“Finn…” Yeah, I was going to go with it. It was a logical enough excuse, even if the side-long glare Howl gave me made it clear he had heard every minute of my internal panic attack.
“It wasn’t Finn,” his voice was filled with his wolf. “How did you do that, Ivy?”
Every eye turned to me, all of them slack-jawed. Well, all but Scarlet.
“It’s like when we were kidnapped. In the dungeon…” Scarlet was quiet, but in the silence of the hall, her voice still rebounded.
“Yeah, well, my father was an original. What do you expect?” What in the world were they on about? I was like an Omega or something, surely magic was part of the package.
Or not. They were shaking their heads in unison, eyes wide.
Creepy.
“Shifters don’t do that,” Scarlet whispered, leaning in to touch me before thinking better of it like I was some kind of god. “Fuck, I wish I knew what your mother was. It would answer so many questions.”
“I don’t see how my trailer trash mom was going to gift me with the power of telekinesis.” For all I knew she was fat and high in her trailer, soaking up her checks for signing me over to Nicky.
“Doesn’t matter,” Howl responded. “You have to learn how to do that on purpose, Ivy, if only to control it.”
“Control it? You mean like fight with it.” It sounded cool, but he looked terrified.
“No, to not fight with it. Not unless you want to end up dead. Shifters can’t have magic. If the pack sees you use that in your fight, that’s the end. We need to tell Finn and Saxon. You need more training. We have to find a way to use this to our advantage without my father knowing.”
He didn’t have to say it for me to read that grin on his face. More training. More sparring.
This time I was actually looking forward to it.
Magic and more bruises. Bring it on.
Chapter 6
Even with my super-powered wolf-healing skills, everything ached after last night’s training session. Howl’s regimen of sparring, drills, and overall ass kicking had lasted until nearly two a.m.
My shoulders were screaming. My hips were aching. Even my hair hurt. Everything was sore and throbbing so much that even as all my guys crawled in bed with me last night, I asked to sleep rat
her than romp.
I wasn’t even sure they had the energy for more.
Lovingly, they obliged, which was amazing because that meant waking up in Howl’s arms, Finn’s legs tangled with mine. Saxon was sitting at the foot of the bed reading a book.
His eyes flicked to mine, the book closing as he reached his hand to my ankle, the ice of his touch soothing the bruises there.
“Sleep well, my rose?” He whispered, his thumb moving over my skin.
I nodded. Damn, even moving my head hurt.
That was going to make second-round training even more fun. I was sure there was something to be said for taking it easy, but with the head-ripping competition tomorrow night, I sure as shit wasn’t going to back down. I could handle two days of agonizing pain if it meant keeping my head on my shoulders.
And my mates in my life.
The tight-lipped smile Saxon gave me echoed every worrisome thought in my head.
He was scared too.
Shit. Guess I was going to have to show him how much of a badass I was.
I sat up with a jolt, waking up Howl and Finn with a grunt. Well, Howl grunted. Finn yelled something about broken eggs.
“What?” I asked. The still groggy fae rubbed his eyes,
“Is everything okay?” At least that’s what I thought he said. He was mumbly in the morning. Well, mumbly when woken up with a shout.
“Yes! It’s morning. Time to train.”
I smacked Howl’s ass and he grunted again, gave Finn a kiss and moved to strut my way out of bed like the bad-ass I was.
And promptly fell flat on my face.
Okay, so maybe I had really overdone the training yesterday. My legs had clearly forgotten they had the muscle power to support me.
“Ow,” I grumbled, rolling over to two shocked faces hanging over the side of the bed and one panicked vampire who was already hoisting me to my feet, Finn’s arms out to receive me.
I fell into Finn and his wild aroma, Saxon’s hand still on my back as I felt the warm heat that I had come to recognize as Finn’s magic fill me.
