by H. T. Night
“I know. Your pack came to your rescue… and so did I.”
“You came in there when all the werewolves were fighting?”
“I had to,” Maya stated.
“Why?”
“Because you were being pinned down and extremely battered. They would have killed you. Well, I was the only person in there with opposable thumbs. So, I grabbed a silver stake that they had brought out.”
I was held spellbound by this turn of events.
“Marcos, in his werewolf form, was attacking you relentlessly. He would have killed you. It was unfair—three werewolves were on you and all the others were in one-on-one fights.” Maya paused.
“What happened then, Maya?”
Maya looked at me and she had a stare I had never seen before.
I repeated my question. “What happened, Maya?” I insisted.
Maya swallowed and then said, “I killed Marcos in his werewolf form by driving the stake into his back. He rolled off you and just disappeared. You stood up and took out the two werewolves that were holding you down. I hightailed it out of there and watched behind the fence. I watched, holding the bloody stake. If I had to, I would do it again. In about thirty minutes, all of Marcos’s men were killed by your pack. Your entire pack.”
“A pack that included you,” I said. I was floored and horrified that my sweet innocent Maya was exposed to such an atrocity. Not only was she exposed to it, she participated in it.
She nodded. “Once all of Marcus’s men were disposed of and went to God knows where when they disappeared, I slowly came back into the kennel. Because I had taken out Marcos, your pack trusted me. That’s why all of you allowed me to come back through the gate and lead each of you to the kennels. Your pack trusted me because I defended you.”
I stared at Maya and was horrified. “I’m so sorry you had to do all that.” This was the furthest thing that I ever wanted her to experience. I wanted to shield her from this life. I guess in a way, she was exposed to it from the get-go after that night at the Flatlands. I guess I was going to have to come to terms that this is now her world too, as long as she loved me.
“What are you sorry about?” Maya said, staring directly into my eyes. “I would do it again if I had to. I didn’t even think about the risk. I love you so much that I just instinctively reacted. It wasn’t until many hours later that what I did sank in. And truthfully, it scared me. But I knew in my heart of hearts, I’d do it a thousand times over if it meant protecting you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want you to get too upset about feeling that I overprotected you.”
“You saved my life.” I was overwhelmed by the thought of what Maya had done.
Maya smiled. “I will always do whatever it takes in regard to you. I love you beyond my own fears and understanding. When I saw you being attacked, I couldn’t imagine losing you. I did what I had to do because I know you would do the same for me.”
“Maya, I love you so much.” I held her close to me, tightly. We lay like that for almost an hour. I loved her so much that I ached. I loved her so much that it felt as if we were one. That was the moment that I knew, a thousand percent, that I wanted to marry her. I knew that someday we get married, but now, I wanted to make it a reality as soon as I could.
“Are you hungry?” Maya asked.
“I’m starving,” I answered.
I took Maya to a local diner and we ate and loved each other. This was what we were. When push came to shove, we would fight for one another. I hoped and prayed that those situations would be far and few between and that we could have more times like this, eating bacon and eggs and enjoying the other’s company.
Chapter Five
I still couldn’t believe what Maya had done for me. It was the most frightening, most beautiful act anyone had ever done for me. I was shocked and walked around in awe of her courage, grace under pressure, and unselfishness. That was the way it was for about a month. She was on a pedestal and I didn’t want her to ever fall from it.
Then, one day, I went to a mixed martial arts match with Josiah. But not as a competitor. As a spectator. Josiah was giving me a hard time for quitting MMA because I had been so good at it. Josiah’s dream was that he and I would be the top contenders at the same time.
“You need to have a talk with my sister, Tommy. I don’t know why she asked you to stop MMA to begin with. At first, I thought that was your excuse because you had an injury. It’s been months now, and you still haven’t gone back. Don’t you even miss it?”
“I miss it more than you know, Josiah,” I answered. “More than you know.”
“I’m turning eighteen in a month. I’m going pro immediately.”
“Oh, you think so, huh?” I bantered. “Just like that, you make the pro circuit?”
“Why not me?” Josiah said.
“My young friend, you need to be in top shape to go pro.”
“You’re one to talk,” Josiah said. “I want a good sparring partner.”
“The hell you say? We’re not even in the same weight class, bro. You still think you can take me? Even right now?” I gave Josiah a confident, cocky smile.
“Hey, I can eat more and you can lose that laying-around gut,” Josiah said. “We meet each other halfway and train the hell out of each other. Other than weight class, you haven’t given me any reason not to think I could take you. I have never lost a fight. It didn’t matter if I was jumped by three guys from behind, I always come out on top. Always. And that’s street fighting. No rules. Tougher than MMA.”
“You think so? And, for your information, this is not my laying-around gut. These abs are hard muscle.”
“Yeah, right! Suck it in when you say that again, Tommy.”
“Okay, Josiah. That does it. It is definitely time for me to get back in the MMA game. Just so I can shut you up.”
Josiah threw a closed fist in the air. “Yes!” he shouted. “You’re back!”
“Yeah,” I said, with less enthusiasm than I felt. Maya was not going to be happy about this. But it was something I had to do.
I dropped Josiah off in Riverside and drove back toward my apartment where my Maya was probably sleeping peacefully. She and I needed to have a serious talk about my return to MMA. There was no way I was going to back down. Not this time.
As I drove back, I thought about what mixed martial arts had meant to me. When you lived, breathed, ate, drank, and slept mixed martial arts and suddenly, that stopped, no matter how wonderful your girlfriend was—and mine was pretty out of this world—you tended to miss the thing that you had been the most passionate about, prior to meeting your amazing female companion.
When I arrived home, Maya was asleep, as I had correctly assumed. I slid into bed next to her and went to sleep rather quickly. I figured we could talk in the morning. There was no use waking her in the middle of the night to discuss a controversial topic. She liked her sleep and I wanted to make sure that we were both fresh for such a heavy discussion.
I was in a pretty deep sleep, so when Maya woke me up at four in the morning and said, “We need to talk,” I moaned. I might have even growled. I could barely keep my eyes open. When a woman wakes you at four in the morning, if the reason isn’t to make love, then you are gonna hate that conversation. So, bearing that in mind, when Maya woke me, the last thing I expected out of her mouth was this:
“Tommy. I want you to go back to MMA. I know it’s who you are. I am confident that, no matter what, you’ll always protect me.”
Was I dreaming this conversation? I opened my tired eyes as widely as I could and said, “What is with the change of heart?”
“Josiah called and told me how much you missed it. I have never felt right about asking you to stop.”
“Then why did you?”
“Believe it or not, I was trying to protect you. To protect us. And our… relationship.”
I smiled at my girlfriend and said, “I knew you were. I never want you to take on that burden ag
ain. I’ll make us some real money now, and I’ll do it by fighting. Enough of this box boy crap.” The only job I had been able to get was a box boy position at one of the local supermarkets. How I hated it! They gave me just ten hours a week. And the box boy received all the crappy jobs in a grocery store: hosing out the Dumpster, cleanups on the aisles from spilled products, and shopping cart roundup in every kind of weather. And bagger. How could any man live on the wages from ten hours a week? That barely paid to feed the two of us, let alone keep the Mustang insured and gassed up. I was living off all my savings and that was running out fast. The only reason I even took the job was to say that I was trying. That I would take any crappy job, just so we had a tiny bit of extra money.
I was hesitant to dip too far into my savings, but I knew I would be making a lot more money with each fight I took on. I would be quitting my box boy job first thing tomorrow. But at least, now I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I had a plan again. A career plan, instead of a minimum wage job. Things were about to look up for me, for us.
I looked at the clock and it was 4:20 in the morning.
“You want to know what I’m going to do to celebrate?” I said to Maya.
“What?” Maya smiled like we were about to begin a sex marathon. She was definitely expecting something romantic to come out of my mouth.
I was going to have to disappoint her. “I’m going to go run eight miles.”
“Eight miles? You’re going to run eight miles at 4:30 in the morning?”
I grabbed my stomach and said, “I’m at least 20 pounds over my fighting weight. Even Josiah noticed. This has got to go.” By this, I was referring to my soft, flabby gut.
She looked right at it, without me having to point to it and I inwardly cringed.
“I guess it is one of the benefits to having you fight,” Maya said.
“What is that?” I asked.
“My man is going to have a ripped, cut body. Again.” Maya touched my chest, which was still muscular, considering that I hadn’t done much working out over the past year.
“You don’t like my body now?” Now my feelings were getting a little hurt. I brought the sexy every time I needed to. It didn’t matter what weight I was. I was slow and gentle and very passionate.
“Don’t get me wrong, sweetie, you still have a wonderful body. But like you said, the tummy has gotten bigger since you quit.”
“Well, say goodbye to the gut.” I slapped myself on my stomach.
“I’ll tell you what. Let’s do a different exercise before you go to get your cardiovascular going.” Maya pinned me to the bed. “So, how does this work? Do I have to do a three count?”
“That’s actually professional wrestling, Vince McMahon crap. I hate to tell you this, but professional wrestling isn’t real.”
“Then, what is real?” Maya asked in a sexy voice.
“Mixed martial arts and this.” I grabbed her and brought her body close to mine. Then, I kissed her with the passion of a thousand werewolves, even growling against her skin. She loved it.
“That’s pretty real,” Maya said, once the kiss was over. Then Maya leaned back in and kissed me in a manner that excited every pore in my body. This was a sensational woman and I was very lucky. We made love for a good part of the next hour. Best cardio ever!
When we finished, I took a quick shower and let the water drip off my body. I had worked hard for my beautiful girlfriend. I stood there and felt the hot water pour down on me. When I walked out of the shower, I wrapped a towel around my waist.
I put on a sweatshirt and sweatpants and my newest running shoes. Then I kissed Maya goodbye and headed outside for what was intended to be an eight-mile run. Somehow, it turned into a three-mile run. That showed me how out of shape I was that a three-mile run nearly killed me with exhaustion.
When I came home, I showered again, and then woke up my girlfriend. She was more than happy to do a repeat of our previous performance. This time, I was a lot more tired, but I gave her the best I had. Which was probably more than what most men could do. Or would. Loving Maya was a pleasure and an honor. Why she loved me so much was a mystery. But I was glad she did. So glad.
I took three showers before eight in the morning. That must have been a record for me or any other man. My last shower lasted almost an hour and I only stopped because the hot water had run out. I was pretty damn tired. When I was done, I collapsed on the bed, completely naked.
When I woke up, I drove down to the supermarket I worked at and gladly put in my two-week resignation. They told me not to worry about working the next two weeks. They said they had applications in a stack that was three feet high with applicants who would love to take my job in a second. I wasn’t sure if they were trying to insinuate that my job was sought-after and that I should feel guilty for quitting. I was quitting to earn almost 100 times the money. So, they could kiss my ass goodbye with their little ten-hour-a-week job. I wasn’t rude. I thanked them for the opportunity, and that was the end of that.
Now, it was time to get back in the gym and do what I did best: make grown men feel my wrath. Damn, I loved mixed martial arts.
Chapter Six
Maya and I lived our lives like clockwork. We never fought about anything. It seemed like we agreed on just about everything. We liked the same movies and enjoyed the same TV shows. I couldn’t imagine living my life without her. Everything I was and all I believed was wrapped up in who she was, too. That was why I decided to ask Maya to marry me.
It was the only thing that made sense. Nothing in my life had ever made sense. Except for her. With Maya, there was perfect order in my life and none of the chaos from my worst times as a younger man. I was better with her than without her. And I was growing.
Here I was with the woman of my dreams, living out a fairytale, and now she gave me her blessing to do MMA. Not that I needed her permission, but I wanted her support and now, I had it. I was very lucky that this beautiful woman loved a scrub like me.
Marrying Maya had been something I’d thought about ever since I met her. I was pretty sure that I thought it within the first hour of meeting her. Was it her intelligence, her beauty, or her grace under pressure? Yes, yes, and yes.
However, the thought of proposing to her did give me anxiety. Not for the reason one might think. I didn’t care about losing my freedom. The way I saw it, being with Maya, I had never felt more alive and free.
The problem that I had kept me up at night thinking about it. My issue was this: I didn’t want to pick up the wrong type of engagement ring. Seriously. I’d seen movies and TV shows where the guy picked out the wrong ring and ended up looking like a douchebag. In real life, I knew what happened when you picked the wrong ring. You might as well have bought her a candy ring and asked her to prom or homecoming. This ring needed to be a statement. It needed to say two things. One, that I loved her with all my heart. Also, it needed to say, “I know your taste.”
I knew I couldn’t tell too many people and it was probably not the greatest idea in the world to share my intent with anyone, but I let Josiah in on the secret. He was seventeen—soon to be eighteen—and seemed to have more common sense when it came to things like this than most guys.
So, I gambled and picked up Josiah for a day at the mall. He was just stoked to hang out. Josiah was a good kid and to be honest, his sincerity was rare. He was a breath of fresh air. He just oozed honesty and integrity, which was extremely unusual for a young man his age.
It had been hard keeping my werewolf secret from him, but I just thought it would be too much for him to know at this point. How could a seventeen-year-old even begin to comprehend all of the complications of his good friend and boyfriend to his sister as a werewolf? It was getting so hard to lie, though, by telling him that I was in the military reserves and disappearing for three days a month from Josiah’s universe. I imagined that someday I’d tell him, but that day wasn’t soon. I knew he was smart though, very smart. I prayed he wouldn’t figure it ou
t on his own before I was ready to tell him. I knew he would see that big of a secret as a betrayal of his trust, rather than me trying to protect him from the consequences of knowing it.
I picked up Josiah in front of his house. I told Maya that Josiah and I would be doing MMA stuff today and that she’d be bored. She was glad to have a day to herself to do girl things.
Beauty did not come without effort and I was not unaware of most of the things she did to her hair, skin, teeth and nails to keep herself looking presentable at all times.
“All right, dude,” I said to Josiah, who was squirming with excitement at starting MMA training with me. “Can you keep the biggest secret of your life?”
Josiah looked at me and didn’t say a word.
“Can you?” I insisted.
“Depends on what your secret is. Is it weird? You’re not some guy who breaks into old ladies’ houses and likes to wear their panties?”
I almost busted a gut laughing. When I finally caught my breath, I said, “Of course, that’s not my secret. It’s about your sister and I promise it’s a good secret, you little wise ass. I just need your word you’ll keep what I’m about to tell you to yourself. For real.”
“All right. I’ll keep your secret. Please don’t tell me you cheated on her because then I would have to kick your ass into next year.”
“Would that be a good secret?” I said, frustrated with my young friend whose thought patterns were less mature than mine, at times, although certainly, I was capable of acting like a seventeen-year-old too. “Cheating? Come on, Josiah. As a matter of fact, that would be the worst secret I could possibly tell my girlfriend’s little brother.”
“That’s twice you called me ‘little.’ I’m not that little anymore. I’m almost as big as you.”
“Big is one thing. Tough is another thing.”
“I think I can handle you.” Josiah laughed like he had the whole world in his hand. There is something about turning eighteen that makes some men feel immortal. What he didn’t know was that I actually was immortal.
