Mine to Protect Chapter 33: TRAINING

*Derek*

Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!

Why now? We made one step forward and three steps back. She will never want to be with me if we keep running through these misunderstandings. I need to tell Grace that Hazel is my mate, and that she needs to keep her distance from now on.

“Get off me, please,” I say, before I lose my patience and throw her forcefully to the ground. She doesn’t seem happy about it, but she complies.

“What was she doing in your room?” she asks suspiciously, like some kind of angry girlfriend.

“It is none of your business, but as you want to know, we were talking.”

She seems satisfied enough by my answer; then she comes closer, a languid expression on her face, she laces her arms behind my neck, pressing her body into me, and tries to kiss me again.

I hastily free myself from her hold, take two steps back, and put on a serious face.

“Grace, stop it, we can’t see each other anymore. I told you last week that I have found someone, and what you are doing is disrespectful both to me and to her.”

“But we are perfect for each other, Derek! Is she as beautiful as me? Can she satisfy you like I do? I don’t think so. And where is she, anyway? I won’t believe it until I see your mark on her neck!”

“You just saw her. Hazel is my fated mate, and she will be the only one to bear my mark, to be my Luna.”

“What? That weakling? I can’t believe that she is your fated mate. How could the Moon Goddess pair you with someone so average? She can’t be a Luna, no one will respect a Luna like her.”

A threatening growl of rage erupts from my throat at her blatant disrespect of my mate. How dares she? I have treated her too well in the past, and now she thinks she has some kind of claim on me. I’d better make things clear with her.

“You won’t talk ever again in such a disrespectful manner about my mate. She will be your Luna, and you will show her the respect she deserves!” I order, letting my wolf show in my eyes, so that she knows I am angry. “There is no you and I, and there will never be. Accept it and move on with your life.

Tears streak her beautiful features, but she does not move, maybe hoping I change my mind and go back to her embrace.

“Leave, I am tired,” I put my Alpha command in it, so that she can’t argue. I am really tired; I just want to lie down and forget all the shit that happened today.

She turns and runs as fast as she can out of the room.

I am finally alone, although my heart is longing for the woman sleeping in the opposite room, so close, yet so distant. I will try to talk to her tomorrow.

*Hazel*

I haven’t slept much; the thought of Derek having sex with Grace next door has plagued my mind all night. How can I trust him when one minute he says he wants me and the next he’s hugging another woman right in front of me?

He said that they are only friends, that they had sex a few times. Images of them having sex pop in my mind. Don’t go there, Hazel! They seem to have known each other for a long time, while I know nearly nothing about him. Like, what’s his favorite dish, what does he like to do when he’s not working, how was he growing up? I haven’t seen his parents around, and he did not mention anything about them, this is also something I know nothing about. We only shared two kisses. How can I compare to her? She’s so beautiful. Even I would choose her if I were him.

I sigh, looking at my mobile; it’s already 7 a.m., I need to get ready for training. Alice left a note in my room letting me know that training starts at 7:30 in the gymnasium, and will end around 10:30. Three full hours, it’s going to be hard. I won’t be able to eat breakfast before I go, but I am not really hungry anyway, and I want to avoid meeting Derek or Grace downstairs.

I raise my gloomy ass from my bed, put on the training outfit my mom has packed for me, I am sure I am going to get plenty of stares because of this, but there’s not much I can do about it. I comb my hair into a high ponytail, decide not to put any make on, as I presume, I will be sweating like a pig in no time. I put on a chenille white sweater, which reaches only my belly button, and zip it up all the way up, in an attempt to hide as much skin as possible.

Trainers on, and off I go.

I reach the gymnasium’s arena just in time, Alice is already there talking to some huge built guys, who I suppose are other trainers or warriors. Luckily Derek is nowhere to be seen, hopefully he will have other stuff to keep him busy.

Alice notices me, and waves happily in my direction, signaling for me to come closer.

“Good morning, Hazel! Did you have a good rest?”

“Hi, kind of,” I reply without confidence.

“Is everything ok?” she asks me with concern. “Derek was in a bad mood this morning, he was eager to see you at breakfast, but you didn’t show up.”

“I was not hungry, and he did not tell me he wanted to meet me at breakfast, so...”

“Yeah, he is like that, always keeping stuff to himself. Anyway, how about we get started? We have a lot of work to do!”

“Ok!” I nod my head for emphasis.

“Start with some basic stretching, then I want you to run ten laps around the arena.”

“Yes, madam!” I say jokingly.

Alice pokes her eyes out at me, but then laughs and gives me some space to start stretching.

I finish the ten laps without tiring myself out much, my morning runs are finally paying off.

Alice seems positively surprised by my performance.

“You did good, and you made good timing. Way to go, sister!”

I can’t help smiling at her praise. Coming from a badass Gamma trainer, it means a lot to me.

“Now I will start to teach you some movements that you can use for self-defense. You’ll learn the movements singularly at first, then we’ll put them into a sequence. In the last hour of training, we will put them into practice, I will pretend to be the attacker, and you will have to defend yourself. Does the plan work for you?”

“It’s perfect. Thank you, Alice, for training me. I am sorry that I am using up your time, I am sure you have more important things to do than training me.”

“Not at all, it’s my honor training our future Luna. I can’t wait to see you standing at the Alpha’s side. You are perfect for this position.”

I smile kindly at her words, although, deep inside I know that I am not suited to be Luna, and that there is another woman who will probably take on that role. I am not going to tell her this though, it’s not my place to do that after all.

“Take your sweater off, it will get in the way,” Alice tells me, while getting into position.

I do as she says and am met with a few whistles when I come to stand in front of her. She glares back at the idiots who just loudly expressed their approval for my outfit, and they go back to their exercises.

“Sexy outfit,” Alice affirms, wiggling her eyebrows. “Are you dressed to impress a certain someone?”

I blush unwillingly, and hurry to explain: “No! It’s not what you think. My mom prepared my suitcase for me, and she chose all the most revealing clothes she could find. I think I have never even worn this set before. She clearly wants me to hook up with the Alpha.” I say shaking my head in disbelief.

“Your mom is a smart woman!” Alice states with a laugh.

That she certainly is, and a cunning one, I might add.

We start training, and time flies by pretty quickly. Some moves I master easily, being a dancer, I am quite flexible, but some others I find harder to replicate. Alice says it’s because I lack muscle, so I make a mental note to train with some weights when I am back home.

Suddenly the most amazing smell reaches my nostrils, dang it, he’s here.