Chapter Six: Atlas

I hope they are not looking for Eleanor. I don’t want her to get caught up in this or to get hurt. I need to find out more, to see if she experienced anything strange lately. The killing of the rogue is suspicious, but it’s not impossible.

I was at the training facility five minutes early because I wanted to be there when Eleanor showed up and I hope Ben wasn’t following her. I’ll have to make sure he gets extra training, so he’ll leave her alone more often.

Eleanor came in when I was setting up the punch bags and, sure enough, Ben was trailing behind her. I took a deep breath to calm myself down before she approached me.

“I invited Ben. We usually run together. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” I said with sarcasm, hoping she caught on. I only wanted her here. It’s why I pushed back warrior training, hoping no one shows up early.

“We’ll start with simple things today in human form. There is going to be a lot of punching.”

“I’m just going to head to the treadmill to run,” Ben interrupted. “I don’t need to learn to punch.”

I nodded to him, secretly doing a happy dance in my head because he is going to be across the room and it leaves me alone with Eleanor.

“I thought we could also get to know each other as I train you. For every question you ask, punch the bag and for every answer you give, punch the bag.”

“What about you? What do you have to do?”

“I get free rein since I’m the instructor.”

She scoffed, but then gave me a smile.

“Fine, I doubt this can go wrong.”

“You’ll want to get in the correct stance by placing your left foot in front of the right if you are going to punch right handed and then you want to bring your hands up, and always be on the defensive.”

“Like this?”

“Exactly like that.”

I stepped behind to show her the movements. I placed my hand on her right arm and slowly moved it toward the bag while moving her waist. “You want to rotate when you punch. The power is going to come from your core. Are you ready?”

“Yes. Can I ask the first question?”

“Punch the bag first.” She didn’t hesitate and threw her first punch. “That was good, but you need to rotate more and aim for the upper part of the bag where the face would be.”

“Are you happy to be home?”

I find it interesting that she didn’t get more personal. “Yes. I’m happy to be back with my family and the pack. I’m not happy that I came back during mating season.”

Without hesitation, she threw another punch. “Are you looking for a mate?”

“I’m not actively looking for one, but I’m open to finding one. What about you?”

She threw a punch before answering. “I don’t know. There is so much I want to do, but there is pressure to settle down and have pups. I guess I’m open to it if I’m allowed to continue my studies and to work.”

“When I take over, I’m pushing the mating season back for our pack and I’m going to convince our allies to do the same. I hate being told that I need a mate because I’m almost twenty-two.”

“Is your father making you have a mate before turning over the pack to you?”

I don’t even care that she didn’t punch the bag. I like that she is looking at me.

“He is trying to and my mother is trying to make me feel guilty for not giving her grand pups yet.”

I walked up to her and turned her towards me. “How about you throw the punches at my hands and rotate with the left and right?”

“Is this all we are going to do?”

“We have to start somewhere.”

“I was hoping to show you I can beat you.” I can tell she is joking because of her tone and the smile that is on her face.

“You won’t even be able to pin me to the floor,” I state.

“I can if I use your weight against you. Physics is more powerful than you think.”

Before I could answer her, she swept her foot out and knocked my feet out from under me and, out of a reaction, I grabbed her. She couldn’t hold my weight, so we both fell to the floor.

Eleanor landed on top of me, laughing.

“I was trying to catch you by surprise.”

“You did.”

“But it didn’t go the way I thought it would. You are the only one that is supposed to be on the floor.”

“Technically, you’re on me.”

Her face flushed red, and her shyness showed.

“I’m sorry,” she stuttered.

I quickly flipped us, and my body was now on top of hers.

“Don’t be. I enjoy having you here.” I placed more of my weight to pin her and I lowered to capture her lips with mine.

Kissing her felt like fireworks. My body exploded with tingles and my wolf howled with joy. She felt right, like we were supposed to be together, and I had to hold my wolf so he wouldn’t marker her.

I broke the kiss when I felt her body tense.

“Is everything ok?”

She let out a gasp as her eyes closed and her back arched.

“Eleanor.” She didn’t respond, and her eyes were darting back and forth.

“Can hear me? Open your eyes.”

Fuck, what did I do?