Andre’s POV
I was up early the next morning, and my beautiful mate was still fast asleep. Her gorgeous locks fell over her face, and the urge to push them away and swoop on her succulent lips nearly overwhelmed me.
She took a deep breath and sunk deeper into the covers. A smile crept on her face, and I began to wonder what she was dreaming about.
I finally decided to leave her and head into the shower. It was still quite early, and the sun had barely gone over the horizon.
I grabbed my bag and found my gear.
I put them on and headed out as quietly as I could, blowing my beautiful sleeping mate a kiss as I closed the door to our room.
I was glad to see that the guards were still posted in the corridor, and they had kept to the rotations and had been watching all night.
One of them gave me a head shake; there was no suspicious activity all night while we slept.
I was content, so I headed to the front desk. The receptionist was slightly startled, but as soon as she saw me, she relaxed and slipped into her cosy, flirty space.
“Hello, how can I…”
“Where is the gym?”
I had no interest in making small talk with her, and she was slightly stunned by my rough reply.
“Uhmm… well, it… it’s three blocks away from here, on your left. You can’t miss…”
I didn’t even let her finish and I jogged off. I wasn’t going to flirt with her. The Goddess had given me the most perfect mate in the world and I wasn’t going to give that up for anything.
I jogged to the gym and nearly jogged right past it.
It seemed quite empty; no one had arrived.
I turned around and just saw the sun rising. Little wonder why the streets seemed so deserted.
I took my chances and went to the gym. To my greatest surprise, there was an attendant, and he was doing a slight workout routine.
He saw me, dropped his weights, and walked up to me.
“Good morning. Don’t you think that it’s…”
“Do you have a sparring area?”
The attendant looked at me sceptically. His eyes washed over me, but I didn’t flinch.
“Aren’t you a bit early?”
“I’ll pay you double.”
That was enough explanation and he let me in without another word. He showed me the sparring area and left me alone.
I was about to do some stretches when I heard a familiar voice behind me.
“Well, guess who decided to come out?”
I whipped my head around and saw Pierre standing behind me, tying his gear around his fist.
I smiled and he returned the gesture. He explained that he had come early too, and made the attendant the same offer.
We chuckled and decided to spar together.
We both got onto the mat and circled each other. I gave Pierre some quick blows, and he dodged them with remarkable efficiency.
“You seem to be bursting with energy, Alpha Andre.”
“And you better look out,” I replied.
In a few seconds, I threw a jab with my right and nearly caught him at the side of the head. he was fast enough to block, but the force of it sent him reeling across the floor.
He got up and dusted himself off. I smirked and waited for him to regain his composure.
“You know that I would never dare to hit my Alpha,” he said as a matter of fact.
I smirked. He was only trying to cover up for his bad form.
“Well, you might have to reconsider that decision.”
I didn’t waste any time and sent a barrage of fast and hard punches towards Pierre. He was too slow and couldn’t keep up. He blocked a few but it didn’t spare his body from my onslaught. He was unable to land a single blow on me.
Finally, I ended everything with a sweep to his leg and he fell to the ground.
“Ahhhh,” he groaned painfully. “Great match, Sir.”
He lay back on the mat and his hands massaged the painful parts of his body.
I glanced at the old clock and noticed that the time had barely gone by. I had beaten Pierre in a few minutes, much less time than in the past.
I stood there thinking. Had I really gotten stronger, or had Pierre just not put in enough effort and not been training as hard as before?
“Pierre, ready for another round.”
He groaned and still lay on the ground.
“Negative, Sir. I think I’m done for the day.”
I frowned but he smiled at me as he sat up.
“If you are still feeling like it, I could call some men to spar with you. I wasn’t much of a challenge after all.”
A smile stole my face, and I gave Pier a note. He closed his eyes, and I could tell that he was using the mind link to contact our guards at the hotel.
I sat on a bench and waited, surveying my hands and feet. Nothing looked different about me. I hadn’t gained any muscle mass, but my wolf had never felt so alive.
I soon heard the sound of running feet, and I turned my head and saw twenty of my men hurtling through the doors, pushing the attendant aside, and running toward the sparring area.
“You called us Alpha Andre,” one of the guards said as he stood at attention with his comrades.
“Yes. I need to spar and I want all of you to be my opponents.”
Nineteen of my men stood back and one came forward to face me. I scowled as my eyes washed over the lone fighter.
“I didn’t mean that you should come at me alone.”
“A… A… All at once, alpha? B.. but…”
I raised an eyebrow and looked at him suspiciously.
“Do you doubt my ability, warrior?”
He stuttered and immediately fell to his feet.
“N… no my Alpha. It’s just that…”
“I want all of you to come at me at once. And to sweeten the pot, any of you who can and even a blow on me, will get an entire month off of work and three million dollars.”
I saw the agitated murmur among my men as they all whispered and turned to one another.
They encircled me and they assumed a battle-ready stance. My eyes darted quickly around the room as I took in my twenty opponents and Pierre, watching from the sidelines.
One of the guards made the first move…