Almost Eighteen

My back hit the training mat hard enough to knock every ounce of air from my lungs.

For half a second, I just stared up at the sky.

Blue. Pretty. Peaceful.

Nothing like the asshole currently blocking most of it.

Derek leaned over me with a smug grin. “You done?”

Bite him, Ruby suggested.

I sucked in a painful breath.

We’re not shifted.

Then punch him.

Now that was useful advice.

I looked up at Derek and held out my hand. “Fine. You win.”

His grin widened.

Idiot.

The second his hand closed around mine, I planted my foot, twisted my hips, and used every bit of his own momentum against him.

Derek’s expression changed approximately half a second before his body did.

“What the—”

He hit the mat beside me with a satisfying thud.

I rolled, drove my knee into his chest, and pinned his arm before he had time to recover.

“Actually,” I said, slightly breathless, “I changed my mind.”

A few of the warriors standing around the training field laughed.

Derek glared up at me.

I smiled sweetly.

“You done?”

His eyes narrowed.

“Don’t be a sore loser.”

“I’m going to throw you through a wall.”

“You’d have to catch me first.”

“Enough.”

Shit.

I knew that voice.

I released Derek and climbed to my feet, brushing dirt from the knees of my leggings before turning around.

Alpha Cole stood at the edge of the mat with his arms crossed over his chest.

And beside him was my brother.

Great.

My Alpha and my brother had both watched me get planted on my ass.

Fantastic.

Jake wasn’t even attempting to hide his amusement.

I flipped him off.

His eyebrows shot up.

Cole’s did too.

Right.

Alpha present.

Probably not my finest decision.

I lowered my hand.

“Sorry.”

Cole stared at me for another second before looking at Derek.

“Why did you lose?”

Derek pushed himself off the ground. “Because she cheated.”

“I did not!”

Cole’s eyes moved to me.

I shut my mouth.

Mostly.

“She said she was done,” Derek continued.

“And you believed her.”

Derek frowned. “She held out her hand.”

Cole shrugged one massive shoulder. “Your opponent tells you the fight is over, so you stop paying attention?”

Derek opened his mouth.

Closed it.

I bit the inside of my cheek.

Cole looked at me next.

“And you.”

There it was.

I straightened.

“You dropped your left shoulder before he took you down.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you do it?”

“Because apparently I enjoy getting slammed into the ground.”

Jake coughed into his fist.

Cole slowly turned his head toward him.

Jake became extremely interested in something across the training field.

Traitor.

When Cole looked back at me, his expression hadn’t changed.

Much.

But I could have sworn there was the slightest twitch at the corner of his mouth.

“Again,” he said.

Derek groaned.

I grinned.

“Gladly.”

This time bite him, Ruby said.

Still not shifted.

Excuses.

I loved my wolf.

Most of the time.

Ruby had been with me since my first shift at thirteen, and in four years I’d learned two things about her.

She was fiercely loyal.

And she believed violence solved an impressive number of life’s problems.

I stepped back onto the mat.

Derek rolled his shoulders. “Ready?”

“Are you?”

His eyes narrowed.

Much better.

This time he didn’t underestimate me.

Derek was stronger than I was. A lot stronger. He was twenty-five, had been a pack warrior for years, and probably outweighed me by seventy pounds.

If I tried to overpower him, he’d destroy me.

So I didn’t.

I moved.

He lunged.

I slipped sideways.

He adjusted faster this time, catching my arm before I got completely clear. I twisted with the movement instead of fighting against it, drove my elbow backward, and caught him in the ribs.

He grunted.

I smiled.

He looked pissed.

Even better.

Derek came at me again.

I ducked the first swing, blocked the second, and barely avoided the hand reaching for my waist.

Too close.

Left, Ruby warned.

I moved without thinking.

Derek’s hand missed me by inches.

There.

He was favoring his right leg.

Not much.

Just enough.

I waited.

He advanced.

I gave ground.

One step.

Two.

His confidence returned.

Three.

Then I changed direction.

Fast.

I kicked behind his right knee at the same moment I drove my shoulder into his center.

He went down.

I went with him.

This time, when my knee landed between his shoulder blades and I pulled his arm behind him, Derek didn’t threaten to throw me through anything.

He slapped the mat.

I released him immediately.

“Yes!” I shot to my feet.

Derek rolled onto his back. “I hate training with you.”

“No, you don’t.”

“I really do.”

I held out my hand.

He stared at it suspiciously.

I laughed. “Oh, come on.”

“Not falling for that shit twice.”

“You’re already on the ground.”

“Exactly.”

I left him there.

Training continued for another half hour, and by the time Cole finally dismissed us, sweat had soaked the back of my shirt and my strawberry-blonde hair was sticking to my neck.

I pulled it free from its ponytail and immediately regretted it when half of it stuck to my face.

Beautiful.

Absolutely stunning.

Hailey was going to make fun of me.

I headed toward the water coolers but stopped when I heard my name.

“She’s getting good.”

Cole.

I wasn’t trying to eavesdrop.

I just happened to stop moving and become extremely quiet.

Totally different thing.

Jake answered him. “She’s always been good.”

“No.” Cole’s voice was matter-of-fact. “She’s getting warrior good.”

My heart did a weird little jump.

Warrior good?

I stayed exactly where I was.

“She’s seventeen,” Jake said.

“For three more days.”

I smiled.

Someone had been paying attention.

“She still has school,” Jake continued.

“I didn’t say tomorrow. I said she’s getting there. If she keeps training like this, I want her in the warrior trials when she’s eligible.”

There are certain moments in life when a person should remain quiet.

This was probably one of them.

Unfortunately, I had never been particularly gifted in that area.

I stepped around the corner.

“Too late.”

Jake closed his eyes.

Cole looked at me.

I smiled.

“You were listening?” Jake asked.

“No. You two were talking while I happened to be standing nearby.”

“That’s called listening.”

“That’s called having ears.”

Cole crossed his arms again.

I had seen our Alpha do that approximately ten thousand times in my life. Usually right before someone got a lecture.

“Something you want, Emma?”

There absolutely was.

I wanted him to repeat what he’d just said.

To my face.

Instead, I shrugged. “Water?”

Jake snorted.

Cole looked toward the cooler two feet from me.

I followed his gaze.

“Conveniently located water?”

That twitch appeared at the corner of his mouth again.

Definitely there this time.

“Keep training like you have been,” he said, “and you’ll have a shot.”

My sarcasm disappeared.

“A real shot?”

Cole’s expression became serious.

“I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.”

Something warm spread through my chest.

I had trained with pack warriors for years. I’d gotten bruised, bloodied, knocked down, and occasionally thrown hard enough that I questioned several of my life choices.

I loved every second of it.

Being a warrior wasn’t something I’d decided I definitely wanted.

Not yet.

I had school to finish. College to think about. An entire life ahead of me that I hadn’t figured out.

But knowing I could?

Knowing my Alpha looked at me and saw someone capable of protecting our pack?

That mattered.

Especially coming from Cole.

He didn’t hand out compliments because he liked hearing himself talk. If anything, getting three consecutive words of praise from him should probably qualify as a pack holiday.

Jake had always believed in me. He was my brother. He was practically contractually obligated.

Cole wasn’t.

He was my Alpha.

If he thought I belonged in those trials, then maybe all the bruises, early mornings, and humiliating trips to the mat were actually turning me into something.

A warrior.

The thought settled somewhere deep in my chest.

Ruby practically purred.

We would be good.

We haven’t even made the trials yet.

We will.

Her confidence was ridiculous.

I loved it.

“Aww,” Jake said. “Look at that. You made her speechless.”

And there went the moment.

I turned toward him.

“Don’t ruin it.”