Maura

The entire pack backs away, giving Beck and Alejo as much room as possible. They continue circling each other, and I can’t help but be entranced by the stark difference between them. Black and golden, opposites much like Beck and Alejo’s personality. Yet, they mesh together perfectly. Even their energies when they’re both near me wash over me in even waves, neither overpowering the other.

Tearing my eyes away from the guys, I scan the faces of the other pack members. They’re all calm and relaxed. Not a single soul is watching Alejo and Beck with bloodthirst or malice in their eyes. It’s astonishing. Can packs really be like this? I never knew werewolves could be this compassionate and loving, this…welcoming. I’ve always assumed that all Alphas are like Godrick or at least have the same temperament as him even if they aren’t on the same level of pain and cruelty.

Alejo and Beck are nothing like him, though.

Alejo lunches forward, and I gasp as he grabs Beck’s front paw and yanks. When Beck whimpers, Alejo lets go and circles him again. Beck moves like lightning and returns the attack. My hand covers my heart as the two go at each other with everything they have. Snarls and the snapping of their jaws echo, bouncing off the trees and the morning air, scaring birds out of the nearby trees.

Alejo whimpers when Beck grabs the back of his neck and slams him into the ground, trying to shake like a rag doll. I take a shuffled step forward, my heart pounding in my chest.

Gentle but firm hands grab my upper arm. I spin around, ready to yell only to find Beth with a tight-lipped smile. “It’s okay. They don’t usually hurt each other, and they certainly won’t kill one another. No one else can train with them like this, though. They’re too strong in wolf form.”

I step back next to her, my eyes moving right back to Alejo and Beck as they snarl and rip at each other. Both whimper, and after Alejo tosses Beck across the clearing, I realize Beck is limping when he stands.

“Okay,” Beth says, shaking her head. “Today isn’t going to be usual, I guess.”

“You’re sure they won’t kill each other?” I say, worry overtaking my system as I glance between her and the guys fighting.

“I’m sure,” she says confidently. “They might beat the hell out of one another, but they’re brothers in every sense of the word that counts.”

Just as I turn my eyes back to the clearing, Alejo knocks Beck onto his back and then jumps down, grabbing Beck’s throat in his teeth. One snap and it’s over. Alejo can kill him easily. Instead, Beck bends his neck in submission. Alejo shifts back to his human form the moment he steps off Beck.

Beck huffs, shaking his snout before shifting back, too.

“Don’t be a sore loser,” Alejo says with a rare grin.

Beck takes a deep breath. “I’d have won if you hadn’t tripped me.”

Even with the jagged gash down Alejo’s back, this is the most lighthearted I’ve seen him.

He slaps Beck on the shoulder. “Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Perhaps you should stay focused on the fight.” He turns and meets my gaze, making my cheeks flush and that knot in my stomach churn painfully and pleasurably at the same time.

He strides to the side, and Beth moves to tend his wounds. I don’t hide my watching him. Alejo is smaller than Godrick by sheer size, but in muscle, Alejo outshines him by a mile. Every part of Alejo is thick and sculpted as if he wants to show off to the world. Even with the scars on his back, there’s no hiding the definition and strength in those muscles.

He’s perfect.

Biting my lip, I let my gaze wander over his ass and thighs. Thick, tight…damn.

I can’t help but think of how soft his tail was this morning when I woke up snuggled into it. What would it be like sleeping next to the man Alejo instead of the wolf? Damn it, why can’t I stop thinking of them like that?

“Maura!” Amber’s voice rings out, snapping my attention away from Alejo, and I spin around to find her and Beck moving toward me, Beck’s wounds already beginning to heal.

“Enjoy the show, Red?” Beck says with a smirk, his eyes shamelessly roaming up and down over me before settling on my eyes.

I cross my arms over my chest. “I hope that little spectacle wasn’t for my benefit?”

Beck shrugs. “Just practice, hon. Now, it’s your turn. If you’re going to head into the forest later, let’s see how ready you are to stay alive.”

***

Beck

“You want me to fight you?” Maura’s eyes widen. “After that? Are you insane?”

“We could go for a run instead,” I say, taking a step toward her, the idea of her running beside me through the forest more enticing than I realized the mental picture would be. “If you want to shift.”

She backs up, her entire body tensing. The trembles start in her shoulders and slowly make their way through her body. I still don’t know if she even realizes how she reacts to some things. Her eyes are fixed on me, and I can actually see the little bit of light that was in them die as she shuts down.

What the fuck did Godrick do to her?

I’ve seen wolves with physical scars twenty times worse than what’s on Maura’s skin, and yet she’s more broken than any wolf I’ve ever met. And I’ve met a lot of broken wolves thanks to Godrick and his bullshit.

He’s massacred whole packs, tortured wolves that resisted, and done things that make me want to puke when I think about them for too long. He’s cruel on a level I’ve never understood until he came for my pack, my family. It just makes me want to protect Maura even more. It’s hard, though, because I’m not sure what I want more—to hold her and show her she isn’t alone against him anymore, or to go find him and rip him apart, limb from limb, for whatever he did to her.

I’m taken aback by how intense those feelings are. I’m protective of the entire pack, and yet what I feel toward Maura is almost blinding and feral. I know without a doubt that if someone tried to hurt her right now, I’d end them in the most brutal way possible, no matter who it is.

What the hell is this between us?

Taking a deep breath, I smile at her softly. “How about we start with the sticks?” Bending down, I pick up the set Amber sat down and hold them out to her. Gesturing to Amber, she grabs another set and brings them over to me.

“You got this, Maura,” Amber whispers as she passes Maura, who looks like she might pass out or die from fear.

The woman stares at the sticks, seeming completely lost. Moving behind her, I wrap my arms around her and show her how to hold the sticks. “There you go. This way, they don’t go flying out of your hand when you strike.”

What feels like a bolt of electricity runs through my arms and into my chest the moment my skin touches hers. After she’s holding them right, I have to step back. Fuck, what was that?

Shaking my head, I try to focus. That’s never happened when I’ve touched a woman, ever. It takes my breath away some and makes my body tingle and vibrate. Everything in me at that moment wants to pull her back into my arms and claim her for myself.

Beck, what are you thinking? Focus!

“Good. Hold them up.” I take my position back in front of her, and put my own sticks up, ready to fight. “When you’re ready, take your best shot, Red. And don’t hold back. Don’t overthink, and don’t worry about hurting me, okay?”

Maura nods sharply, what looks like tears brimming her eyes. Is she scared of me hurting her or just fighting in general? Nothing about this should upset her this bad. It’s just training, and most packs do stuff like this even if it’s in wolf form instead. Maura acts like she’s never seen this kind of thing, and that’s just crazy because she’s been around wolves her whole life.

What the hell is Godrick really doing in that fucking pack? No woman should be shaking like this, whimpering the way she does…

“Maura,” I say, and she literally jumps back like I’ve startled her. Holding my sticks up and opening my fingers a little to show her it’s okay, I take a step forward. “Breathe, hon.”

“I-I can’t,” she says, her eyes shining with pain as she takes a deep breath.

She might be terrified, but at least she took a breath and listened.

“Yes, you can,” I say gently. “You can do this. Just give me your best shot.”