Tatum-
“Today we spar.” I told Brook, as we headed up the stairs, to the gym.
“You think I am ready?”
She turned her head and looked up at me with those big blue eyes of hers. She was getting more beautiful by the day and it was getting harder keeping my thoughts away from what I would like to do to her. Regardless, nothing I think about will ever bring me to even attempt to do anything with her. She seems to have improved a lot, but I can still see the fear and the ghost of her past.
“It has been two weeks. You aren’t going to get much better than you are now without actually sparing with someone.”
Actually, she has exceeded my expectations, to be honest. She looked healthier, put on just a bit of weight, and filled out more. She was still small, but I could now see the definition in her muscles. She has taken to wearing black shorts that formed to her body and a black sports bra. It made concentrating on
Brooklyn-As much as I knew Tate was right, I needed him to train me more than he realized. If he would just give me a chance, I am sure I could overcome this fear. I had to, if I didn’t everything I was doing was for nothing.I had chased after him to try to convince him I was ready, but I had hesitated too long. Just as I caught up with him, he had already been on a bike and driving off like a mad man. I had been given the opportunity to become stronger and finally defend myself. Yet this fear I held onto was holding me back.I have been training nearly every waking moment I could. Learning early on that I couldn’t push myself so hard, I found a pace that suited me. When I wasn’t training I was working on building up my strength by eating more. Or I was learning my way around the territory. Albeit, this was a lot large of a territory I was used to.There were stores I had never even heard of. Everything here was large and extravagant.
Tatum-Skidding my bike sideways to a stop, I stopped my bike in the middle of the road. The rear end of my bike was with inches of hitting the male guarding the main road leading into the pack entrance of Lunar Eclipse.“What the hell man? You could have hit me!” The man said, jumping back after I had already come to a complete stop.Moving my gaze over the man, I wondered if he was a complete moron or what. If he had been worried about me hitting him, he should have moved out of the way. Instead, he had just stayed there like an idiot and only moved after the threat of me hitting him wasn’t even an issue. Rolling my eyes I ignored his statement.“Let your Alpha know Alpha Tatum is here to see him.” I said through clenched teeth.“Right away sir!” The guy said, standing up straight, puffing out his chest.I waited for a few seconds, letting my anger continue to boil. Not that it was even possible to
Brooklyn-I don’t know how long I had walked around the forest for, after leaving Jason to get back to his patrol. The sun had already set and the night chill was setting in. The feeling like I was being followed still flowed through me. Every cell in my body was urging me to run. I would, but I didn’t even know where I was.I must have veered off slightly, it was like I was walking in a never-ending forest. If it weren’t for my ability to adjust well to the dark, I wouldn’t even be able to see anything. I no longer knew if I was even in the pack territory any longer. Maybe if I just stopped and got a sense of where I was, I could figure out which direction to go.Coming into a small clearing, I stopped and turned around a couple of times, trying to see if I could see a path that would lead me out of the trees. When I came full circle once more, I found I was no longer alone. I hadn’t heard him, smelled him, or even sensed him. Stan
Tatum-“I don’t know. Some guy from the Royal Guard.” Mathew answered, taking a couple of steps back.“You really are an idiot. If she is the daughter of someone from the Royal Guard if it ever gets out what has happened to her, do you realize just how fucked you are? She was supposed to be protected, you idiot! Not to mention she probably comes from one of the strongest Alpha bloodlines.” I turned toward Chad, who was still laying on the floor like a coward.“And you, you’re the biggest idiot of them all. Mated to the daughter of someone in the Royal Guard could have guaranteed you a chance to become one of the strongest packs around. Everyone on the Royal Guard is of Royal blood, dumbass. They don’t just let anyone join.”Turning around before they could respond, I headed towards my bike, which was laying on the ground still running. Lifting the bike back on its wheels, I got on and drove away. One m
Brooklyn-I couldn’t wrap my head around any of it. Not what Felix had done, but what Tate had done for me. He protected me, turned against his friend and Beta. Never had anyone ever stood up for me as he did. I couldn’t fathom why, it made no sense. Especially considering he seems so cold to me. Maybe not all the time, but his mood swings around me were enough to give me whiplash.What was it about him that made him so different? Why was it that looking at him right at this moment, I felt safe? How was it that even after what just happened, looking at his bare chest, I wanted to run my hands over him and kiss him? This wasn’t the first time I have seen him without a shirt. I just never thought anything of it. So why now?“Are you okay?”Even his voice sounded different to me. It was the same, but so very different at the same time. Now hearing it, I felt my heart skip a beat and a light feathery caress moved over my skin. I
Tatum-I should have just killed him. All along, right under my nose Brook has felt unsafe. I had been too blind to see it. Okay, so maybe I figured something was going on, but I had trusted Felix and I had just thought Brook was still dealing with the aftermath of what happened to her.“Why didn’t you come to me?”The struggle to keep my composure was very much real. A part of me wanted to go and find him, then show him just how far my tolerance reaches. I searched her eyes as she iced my hand, trying to figure out just what she had been thinking. I don’t know why I didn’t pull my hand away, it was already healing.Maybe it was from the softness of her hands and the gentleness she was using. It was a far cry from the scared little girl she had been when I found her. If this is what she needed to do to keep her mind off what happened, then I will oblige her.Besides, I couldn’t deny that her touch didn’t fe
Brooklyn-I woke up feeling different. When I looked into the mirror in the bathroom after taking a shower, I barely recognized myself. Today I looked as if I slept well for the first time in a long time. I had certainly slept longer than usual and couldn’t even remember what I dreamt of. I looked refreshed and healthy.My cheekbones weren’t as prominent as they use to be, I looked like I filled out a bit more just in one night. Even my complexion looked brighter and not as dull. I wasn’t stressing over what I was going to do about leaving. Nor was I worried about running into any problems. After seeing Tate do what he did last night, I actually felt safe for the first time in years.Walking out into the living room, I paused when the front door came into view. It no longer had a hole in it and looked new. When had it been replaced? I knew I hadn’t imagined the hole. Had I really slept through someone replacing it last night? Forgetting w
Tatum-I waited for her to respond since I couldn’t read her expression. If she wasn’t comfortable with it, I wouldn’t push her, but I really hoped she agreed. The more time I spend with her, the more frustrated I become and I wanted to put as much distance between us as possible. I wanted her to learn how to protect herself, I just didn’t want to be the one doing it all the time.As the minutes ticked by, I wondered if she would ever answer. She kept rubbing her hand and that smile she had earlier was now gone. I don’t know why it bothered me so much that the first real smile I had ever seen on her had been for my brother. Hopefully, she didn’t have any romantic notions about him.Of course, she could always sign a nondisclosure agreement with someone if she did in fact want to be with someone during our term. My brother on the other hand was off of the table. He was would only ask questions and then it would just be a matter