His eyes were hooded and inviting as he gazed down at her like he hadn’t seen anything or anyone as exquisite as she. Her core clenched with want as his lips dipped to her collarbone, nipping, teasing. She clung to him feeling needy, gasping as he reached her nipples.
He sucked on her and she couldn’t hold back a moan. “Please, Adrian.”
Ava woke up drenched in sweat and wetter than she had ever been in her life.
It had felt so real that she had to look around to check if Adrian was actually in the room.
She closed her eyes and tried to get her mind and her breathing under control. The dreams had started almost immediately after she’d taken Reese to the hospital.
Dreams where they did all sorts of things to each other. Dreams where she forgot or didn’t remember they weren’t going to ever be a thing. It would have made seeing him in person awkward except they barely saw each other.
Adrian was now taking up more security-related responsibilities so she didn’t see him at the clinic anymore. It didn’t stop her heart from racing anytime she saw the back of a black-haired warrior in the clinic only for him to turn around and be another person.
It didn’t make any sense for her to be dreaming about him. She wasn’t attracted to him, she’d never been. He was too big, too arrogant, too proud and too Adrian.
Ava sighed and entered the bathroom to take an extremely cold shower. Ever since the attack by the rogues, the pack had been on high alert with curfews imposed and restrictions put in place.
Maybe if Ava hadn’t been in the thick of the fight, she would have thought the restrictions harsh. But she had so she felt the restrictions were light. If the rogues had broken through their defence, they would have been slaughtered.
The thought sat ill with Ava. She was a strong she-wolf. She knew that. But on the battlefield, she felt like a bumbling idiot. She had relied on Liana’s instincts and Adrian to save her life. Ava made a decision then. She would
how to fight. Well enough that she wouldn’t feel like that ever again.
She pulled on her tracksuit. She didn’t know what else to wear. Then she headed for the pack’s training grounds. The training grounds were for warrior training and also for training whosoever was interested in advancing their fighting skills.
The entire pack underwent routine runs and training to keep fit and strong but unless the pack member wanted to join the warriors that was where it stopped. Ava had always known that she wanted to heal not harm so she had only paid attention to the rudiments and running.
The pack training grounds were expansive with hard-packed grounds for running, carefully cultivated trees for obstacle courses, a large building containing gym equipment specifically designed for werewolves, a cafeteria and a relaxing lounge.
“Ava?” Nelson waved at her. She cracked a smile and waved back.
“Nel.” Nelson usually helped out Ava’s dad in coordinating trainings and sometimes came around the house.
“Ava, what are you doing here?”
“I was actually hoping to see you. Dad has been having closed-door meetings with the Alpha so he is really busy and doesn’t have time for me.” She joked.
Nelson ruffled her hair. “We can’t have that now, can we? So how can I be of service?”
“I want to learn how to fight. Like really fight.”
“Fight? Don’t get me wrong, I am happy about this development seeing as I have been asking you since forever to take it up but I want to understand where this is coming from. No longer interested in doctoring?”
“Never. I just want to be able to stand my ground. Especially after the attack.”
Nelson nodded sagely. “The attack. Yes, I understand now. Follow me, let’s get you started.” They walked towards the main outdoor training area and Ava could hear the sounds of wolves fighting.
“Speaking about the attack, I heard you saved Adrian’s life.”
Ava tripped but caught herself in time.
“That is an exaggeration.”
“I heard he was bleeding severely and if you hadn’t carried him to the clinic in time he might have died.”
“I didn’t know the head trainer of warriors was so into gossip.” Ava diverted the conversation hoping he would drop it.
“If you say so, Ava.” Nelson smirked and we entered the main training centre.
Wolves sparred everywhere in human or werewolf form with some partially shifted. Ava was fascinated.
“So when I start training, I’ll be able to do that.” She pointed at two people sparring. Nelson laughed.
“Not for some months you won’t. We’ll get you started on the basics first. I usually recommend running for beginners to build stamina and because if you can’t win a fight, your best bet is to run away. As quickly as possible. But you are already good at that so we can dive right in.”
For the next hour, Nelson put her through stretches and lunges. The correct way to throw a punch, the correct way to move without exposing yourself to attacks, and the correct way to fall. She didn’t even know there was a right way to fall.
Ava got breathless really quickly.
“We need to get you started on weight training and you need to up your running game. You are running out of stamina too quickly. We need to also work on…”
Nelson continued to speak but she had zoned out already. Adrian was there. Perhaps she should have expected it. He was getting more involved in pack security after the attack so of course, he would be on the training grounds.
Adrian was shirtless and Ava couldn’t help staring. He was ripped. His abs were unreal and his muscles flexed with each movement as he sparred with two opponents at the same time. His black hair fell towards his face as he moved, nearly obscuring his green eyes.
He ducked, weaved, and threw punches so rapidly, his every move in sync as if he was moving to a deadly music. He dispatched the other two wolves rapidly, barely looking winded.
Adrian looked around as if searching for something. Ava knew she was who he was looking for but for the life of her, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
Their gazes jammed finally and the world faded into the background. Had he always been so good-looking? What was wrong with her? What was she thinking about?
Adrian couldn’t believe his eyes. Was Ava really there or was he imagining it?
After the attack, he’d tried his best to avoid her and the state of security of the pack had made it all too easy. He appreciated that she had saved his life but it had made it doubly difficult for him to get her out of his mind.
For some reason, she was all he could see anytime he closed his eyes. Everything reminded him of her. Every time he saw a doughnut or smelt a latte, it reminded him of her. He hadn’t seen Gabrielle in days because every time he looked at her he saw Ava in her.
Even now in the training centre a place Ava would never be at, he was seeing her. The mate bond was really doing him in. Ava stood there looking at him with those dark eyes that looked like a pool of melted chocolate that he could drown in.
Nelson snapped his fingers in front of Ava breaking their staring contest. Wait, Nelson could see her? That meant Ava was really there.
Adrian exchanged empty pleasantries with the people he just finished duelling with and moved away from them to Ava. He didn’t know what he was going to say to her but he’d think about that when he reached her.
Ava’s cheeks felt like they were on fire. Nelson watched her curiously but he didn’t ask her why she had been staring at Adrian. Goddess, she wanted to bury her head in the sand, she was that embarrassed.
“So about the training,” Nelson was trying to bring them back on track. “How often can you come in?”
“Well, I–”
“Ava wants to learn how to fight?” Adrian’s voice came from behind Ava, his breath on her neck and she jumped.
“Are you crazy? Who startles someone like that?”
Ava whirled to face Adrian, her temper already rising.
“U, h your future Alpha? Show some respect.” His lips were drawn into that beautiful irritating smile that made Ava want to slap him into the next century.
“Oh, I’ll show you something alright.” She would smash his handsome face against the wall, even though judging from his last fight he could bench press her, something as mundane as reality has never stopped Ava before.
“Hey, guys chill out. Not in here. You two have to learn to accommodate each other.” Nelson’s cool voice of reasoning cut through the tension between them.
“Yeah. That’s never going to happen. Nelson, I’ll come around later for the lessons. Thank you very much for your time.” Ava hugged Nelson and brushed past Adrian as she walked out.
“Oh, don’t leave on my behalf.” Adrian called out to her and his mocking laughter followed her out of the building.
One day, she would stab Adrian at least twenty times, set him on fire and then stash his skeleton in a deep dark hole.