Reject Me Again, My Alpha
Chapter 17

” Ermm yea , I’ll just go and well ” I looked down at my blanket-covered body. I looked up to see Devon looking down too. ” Yea Enzo, had me bring that here.I’ll just wait out here ” he said, clearing his throat. He laughed ” Sorry I’m not being creepy or meaning to be , it’s just this cave “. He turned away from me. ” It stinks of s*x and , my wolf is getting ready for tomorrow night , he’s on edge. You know what a full moon does to us wolves. It’s like we are all in major heat. Even with you just standing there barley dressed , it has set him off. And he knows Enzo would have our head if he caught us leering . Go , go get dressed ” he said, waving his hand over his shoulder at me. Heat flooded my cheeks with embarrassment , so I quickly scurried back inside and got dressed.

When I was fully clothed , I kind of wanted to just hide out in here. These wolves were all very direct. I guess it wasn’t in our nature to mince words. Even if they make someone else uncomfortable. But I didn’t want to be rude. Knowing he was out there and me in here , well, it was just weird. So I pulled up my big girl pants and nervously walked out. He was sitting on the floor near a tree. When he heard me, he looked up from the phone he had in his hand.

“You hungry or thirsty ? Enzo had me bring some food and drink out. It’s in that bag there. ” He pointed to a backpack that was just outside of the cave behind me. ” Erm yea thanks ” I muttered and turned, picking it up. I pulled out a bottle of water and a chocolate bar. Then I moved a little closer to him , but far enough away to where it didn’t look weird and sat with my back against a tree. It was awkward and silent. I sat eating the chocolate and sipping the water, trying to think up things to say or talk about. But the truth was , even though I knew who Devon was. I had never actually spoken to him , like ever.

But it seemed Devon had no issue breaking the silence. ” I have never seen Enzo so distracted. ” He commented , looking at him. He looked relaxed , carefree. But something in that statement seemed off. When I didn’t answer, he looked up from his phone and at me. With an easy-going smile, ” I obviously didn’t know the reason why , until he told me all about this situation “, he whistled and laughed. ” What a s**t storm this is , replaceing out your mates and not being able to go through with it “.

Looking down at the water bottle, I started picking at the label. ” It was definitely a shock “, I said simply. ” I bet , he says you’re cool and understanding about it all though. Must admit I found that hard to believe , any girl that found out Enzo was their mate would be elated , and they’d have dug their claws into that mating quicker than that ” he snapped his fingers. ” But he says , your OK with him trying to break the bond. All you wanted , was well that ” he nodded at the cave. ” For as long as it took for him to break the bond , it must sting you to know while you’re f*****g and enjoying this , when he leaves here he is working on breaking that bond you have ?”

I took in a sharp breath at the sting that sentence caused. ” s**t , I am not meaning to hurt you , I’m just curious, is all ” Devon said. I shook my head, still not looking up. ” It’s fine , and I guess all I can say to that is I am not like the girls you obviously acquaint yourself with. I understand what his mating with me would mean. It would be a fight from day one to get the pack to accept me for who I am and respect me , they definitely wouldn’t. They do not do it now. I know all the girls here want to be his mate. So their hatred of me would only intensify with jealousy. It is not like I can challenge the biggest bully to prove a point now, is it ? If I could, this would not be an issue, to begin with. Fighting the bully , or the strongest wins the respect of the rest of the pack. Is that not the stupid pack’s mentality? ” I asked, looking up at him , sarcasm dripping from my voice.

He studies me , his head tipping and I hold my gaze strong. Then he gave me a look. That look that looked a lot like respect, and he tipped his head my way. ” Enzo was right , you are different. And I think a lot stronger than you think , mentally anyway. I can’t talk about your fighting skills. Last I saw you , you were face down in the mud “, he grins, joking. And it actually made me smile a bit. ” My brother Peter taught me to fight. He says I’m fast , but I lack the confidence to use my speed against those that I know are stronger. I pull back and cower instead of diving in, apparently. Then training would make me hurt the next day, so I ducked out and made excuses about not training anymore “, I shrugged.

He narrows his eyes. ” Really ? I know Peter , he is a good fighter. If he says you were fast, then maybe he was onto something. Winning a fight is not all about brute strength, its speed and mostly in the mind. Picking out your opponents’ weak spots , the pattern they fight in. Determining their next move and counteracting it.And the pain is the best part , it tells you its working, work through the pain and see the result. With our wolves’ speedy healing, it shouldn’t have taken you long to recover anyway. ” he was sitting forward now, he seemed passionate about what he was saying.

” I might take maybe just a little longer , a day maybe. ” He tilts his head ” Anthea , if I do a good training session I ache for a day. With that, we are no different. I think you giving in is more to do with yourself and your making excuses. ” Blunt , straight to the point and cutting deep. ” Get up ” he says , jumping to his feet before I had the chance to answer his last blunt opinion. ” Wait what ?” I ask as he starts walking towards me . ” Get up , Enzo could be another few hours yet. Either we sit here bored, trying to fill awkward gaps of silence or we can see what you’ve got . Plus a full moon and all, my skin is crawling with pent-up energy. Yours must be too, ” he was right. Now I have had a good nap. I felt like I could run for hours. It was a weird feeling after only dealing with one full moon before. It seemed this one’s effect on me was stronger.

He made it over to me and held his hand down at me , smiling cheekily. It seemed now he had put me through some sort of test or whatever. He wasn’t being, I don’t know, being a detective with me now. I shook my head, no, though ” I can’t, I mean well, I’ll be rubbish and waste your time. ” He narrows his eyes ” Get up ” he pretty much demands and I replace myself reaching up and taking his hand. He pulls me up to my feet and walks us to where there weren’t as many trees.

” OK, let’s go with you, dodging my hits to start with , warm up slowly. Don’t be shy and fight. I won’t go tell anyone or anything , if your rubbish Anthea. Who knows, I might teach you a thing or two so your face doesn’t end up in the mud again”, he raised a brow and I actually laughed at him. Devon was a cheeky, cocky guy who was also funny. I mean I didn’t know him really , but he seemed like he was a good guy. Unless I was reading him all wrong. “OK get your stance. I’ll start slow and soft “. I did what Peter told me when he said get my stance. I turn my body slightly and plant my feet. Raising my fist up. Devon looks down at my feet and nods , looking impressed. ” OK, let’s do this, just dodge my hits for now. “

My heart was pumping with nerves. Fighting with Peter was one thing. He was my brother , I could be vulnerable with him. But this was Devon , the next beta of the pack. What if he found me lacking? He could tell the whole pack I was weak and a vulnerability , tell Enzo I was. My nerves made me mess up a lot , he caught me loads. He was only tapping so they didn’t hurt , but I wasn’t moving like I knew I could. ” Anthea, concentrate , get out of your own head. A five-year-old pup could dodge these ” he snapped. He threw a few more at me and I dodged half of them. He kept doing it but quicker , not giving me time to think, and it worked. I started moving around and missing his hits. ” That’s it , if I don’t give you time to think , then you nail them. Now relax into it, they’ll get harder. If I hit you it will hurt “.

He’s right. I missed one and he clipped my shoulder. His power sent me stumbling back. But it spurred me to not get hit again. He told me to start blocking , so I did. I started moving around and dancing around him like Peter had taught me. I knew he was going easy on me , but I started to replace it fun. When I saw him, smile impressed with me when I blocked a good one . I don’t know how long we were at it for , but he ran me through loads of different stuff. Self-defense tactics and moves , he was patient when I got them wrong and talked me through the move.

We were sparring and he had just pinned me when we heard someone clearing their throat. We both looked and saw Enzo propped up against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest. His eyes narrowed at both of us “What’s going off here ?” he asked, and Devon jumped up off of me. ” Passing time , training “, Devon said, smiling, holding his hand down at me to help me up. I grinned and took it , he helped me up and then I looked at Enzo who was staring at Devons hand on mine, his jaw tense. So , I quickly pulled it back. ” s**t, we’ve been training three hours ” Devon said, looking at his phone. ” What ? Three hours , give never lasted that long. When I trained with Ptere I would be tired after an hour and have to give up “, I said, astounded.

Devon looked up at me from his phone smiling ” Before or after your first shift ?” he asked. I scrunched my brows and thought back. ” Before. I haven’t trained with Peter for about six months “, I answered him. He bumped his shoulder into mine. ” You have your wolf now, Anthea. She will have helped enhance all of your abilities. If you let her. You did well today. Peter was right. You are fast”. I grinned at him and then looked at Enzo. He didn’t look happy though, he actually growled a little . “That was my cue to leave. If you ever want to train again, Anthea let me know. ” Another growl and Devon laughed. He winked down at me and then shifted , the shorts he had been wearing tearing up and shredding as he ran off through the trees. Looking at Enzo , he was staring at me. ” I left you alone for a few hours, come back and replace you sweaty with my best friend hovering over you ” he says, raising a brow at me. He pushes himself off of the tree and moves towards me in a slow predatory way.