Vivianna #2
The heat of my anger quickly changed to burning need as I felt his body press closer against mine.
I brought my hands up to curl into his hair, urging the kiss deeper.
He fought to control the kiss, but I challenged him head-on.
His other hand drifted to the small of my back, slipping under my shirt, his fingers digging into my skin.
I pulled back enough to peel my shirt off—I needed to feel his skin on mine.
He dropped his hand from my neck, no longer needing to keep control.
The touch of his fingers caressing and exploring my body set me on fire.
I moaned into his mouth, dragging my nails along his bare back.
He hissed, but it seemed to drive him wild in the best way.
He moved away from my mouth to lavish my neck with attention with lips and teeth.
I shivered under his attention, my desire for him drawing my hands lower till they skimmed along the edge of his shorts.
Abruptly, he froze and shoved me away from him, sending me stumbling back.
“What the fuck, Darius?”
Looking at him with wild eyes, hair mussed from my attention and panting heavily, I waited, watching as he pulled himself back together, shutting every emotion back into its perfect box. The wildness bled from his eyes until they were back to his typical stoic expression.
“I am not one of your mates, Vivianna. I will keep you safe and get you to Kursar, but that is all I can give you. This alpha submits to no one,” Darius said, his look hard and resolute.
“You kissed me, Darius. I didn’t start this,” I said, confused.
“That was a mistake. It should have never happened, and it will never happen again. Like you said, you have three other men who will gladly keep your bed warm.”
I flinched at his words and the venom behind them, making my wolf step out from hiding.
Without another word, he stormed out of the room, leaving me standing in the middle of the gym, abandoned.
My wolf sensed I wasn’t in danger and kept silent, but she kept watch as a wave of sadness washed over me, crushing me under its weight.
I hadn’t known any of them for very long, but they had been my saviors.
I had started to believe there was a better world out there for me, now that I knew who I was.
Sure, Darius and I argued, but I never thought he would be this cruel to me.
The tear trickling down my cheek made my fury at the situation burst through my sadness.
If Darius didn’t want anything to do with me, then I wasn’t going to beg him.
I didn’t need anyone around me that didn’t want to be there.
For my entire life, I’d been cast aside by people who didn’t want me.
No more. In this new life of mine, I was going to ensure I kept myself protected from situations like this.
Truthfully, I should be thanking Darius—he’d saved me the trouble of falling for him more than I already had.
“Viv,” I heard Koit say, breaking into my thoughts. “You okay?”
Looking up from where I was kneeling, I gave a tight smile. “Yep, just meditating a bit.”
Koit’s look told me he knew I was lying. “I saw Darius leaving, and the look on his face tells me he was being a royal prick.”
“It’s fine. We finally understand each other is all,” I said, getting to my feet.
Koit sighed, pulled off his T-shirt, and kicked off his shoes. Walking over to a cabinet, he tossed me a set of hand wraps while he pulled out punching mitts and pads. “I’m guessing a flesh-and-blood target would make you feel better than a dead bag filled with sand.”
I paused but then grinned at the idea, knowing this would help more than anything else.
Koit sure seems to be someone we should keep around, don’t you think?
I said, trying to coax out my wolf. I could feel her interest in the situation, but she stayed silent.
I finished wrapping my hands and continued to stretch so I could shake out some of this stiffness.
“Do you want me to tell you a combo or just react to what I’m throwing at you?” Koit asked.
“Let’s start with a planned combo, and once I get in the rhythm, you can surprise me,” I said, rolling my shoulders.
“Works for me. Let’s do a little of everything. We’ll do the eight-strike combo, jab, cross, hook, cross. You want to go over that first?” Koit asked, lifting the gloves.
“Koit, I know how to do an eight-count drill if you’re doing the traditional combo. I’ve been doing this for years,” I huffed, lifting my wrapped hands.
“You want gloves, Miss I’m-A-Badass-And-I-Know-Everything?” Koit bantered.
“Nope, I want to feel this,” I said, getting in the ready posture.
“Your mate better not come kick my ass when you break a hand,” Koit said, getting his stance ready. “Ready, start!”
Koit started feeding me hits, and I focused in on the movements, letting the smack of the leather envelop me.
I fell into boxing zen and thought only one movement ahead.
Hitting, ducking, swerving out of the way.
I felt my blood pumping as Koit sped the movements up, trying to get me off-balance.
Then he threw up a different combo, and I hesitated just a fraction before I followed his movements.
He led us in a merry dance around the gym, but it was what I needed.
I felt like I was becoming more myself hit after hit, the stress and change from the past weeks washing off me.
Koit then started to advance on me, changing the game by pushing me around instead of leading the hits.
I was now defending myself, bobbing and sidestepping, only getting whacked in the head a few times as we played this new game.
Finally, my wolf decided that I needed a little extra help after getting biffed in the head again from a hit I couldn’t move out from under fast enough.
She snarled and added her extra senses to the battle, and I started sensing Koit’s movements before they got too close.
I studied Koit’s body, watching his muscles to see tell of his next move.
I could tell he was pulling his wolf into this competition, trying to keep up with me and how fast I was moving.
That was when my wolf did the strangest thing—she started to press me to move more aggressively.
To make moves that would cause me to really hit Koit rather than aiming for the punching mitt.
What’s going on? Why are we attacking Koit?
Because he’s been lying to us. I finally figured it out.
What are you talking about? He’s been lying about what exactly?
He’s not a beta, he’s an alpha, and he’s been hiding it from everyone.
I dropped my hands and ducked under the hit he was feeding out, and I aimed for his midsection and tackled him.
“What the hell, Viv?” Koit yelled as we crashed to the floor.
I didn’t give him a chance as I twisted him around till I had him in a choke hold.
“When did we switch to wrestling? I hate wrestling; I never do well with it, especially when there is a hot chick pressing her body against mine,” Koit teased as he tried to wiggle out of the hold.
“Why are you hiding you’re an alpha?” I asked, and as soon as the words came out of my mouth, he tensed in my hold.
“What are you talking about? I’m not an alpha,” he said, his voice hard and dangerous.
I leaned down to whisper in his ear. “Then stop acting like one. Wolf’s out of the bag. Why have you been lying to me and everyone else?”
“Because I couldn’t fight Rik, and I didn’t want to get kicked out of the pack,” he said, tugging at my hold on him.
I let him go, and we sat facing each other. I was utterly confused. “Why would either of those things happen?”
“I’m Rik’s half-brother,” Koit said, letting that bomb drop.
What did he just say? I totally didn’t see that coming. Geez, these werewolves are better than a telenovela.
“You can’t breathe a word of this to Rik. I plan to tell him when the moment is right. He can’t know about this now; it’s not safe,” Koit said, tossing off the gloves and gripping my knees. “Please, you have to tell me you’re not going to tell him.”
“Okay, fine, I won’t tell him, but he needs to know this. How did this even happen?” I said, trying to wrap my brain around the situation.
Well, when two wolves really love each other…
That wasn’t what I meant! Of course I know how it happened, I just don’t understand how a wolf could cheat.
“I don’t know the whole story of how my father ended up sleeping with my mom, but it happened.
I’m an alpha, but I choose to be a beta so I can stay at Rik’s side.
He is the only family that I have left. My mom left to join some other pack after I made my choice not to fight Rik for leadership.
Our father gave me the choice to fight or to keep it a secret and stay in the pack,” Koit explained.
“Wow. I have to say, that is almost as crazy as my life is,” I said, leaning back on my hands.
“What gave me away?” Koit asked.
“You’re kidding, right? First of all, since I’ve met you, you being a beta made no sense.
You carry yourself too confidently around these guys—my wolf even commented on it when we would watch you guys interact.
As for what really gave you away, it was this fight.
You couldn’t keep up without drawing from your wolf, and mine picked up on it,” I said, shrugging my shoulders.
“You are a tough woman to keep up with, I’ll give you that, but I’ve fought other wolves, and none of them said a thing. I wonder if it’s some sort of extra skill you have, to read people’s rank better than others,” Koit said, falling back on the padded floor.
“Might be, but I’ll tell you that you make a whole lot more sense now. I couldn’t place it, but I knew there was something more to you,” I mused, looking over him in all his shirtless glory.
Koit lifted his head to look at me with a shit-eating grin on his face. “Oh, you’ve been watching me, have you? Do I need to call security against a stage-five clinger?”