4: Blowing off Steam

                I’d shrugged out of the suit jacket on my way down the stairs, throwing it at Dmitri as he followed me, still chuckling. For the first time ever, I found my way down to the sparring room before Nathan. He wasn’t long behind us though, with Sophie on his heels carrying in some of my work out clothes and a pair of running shoes.

                “I’m not changing clothes,” I barked, making her flinch. I had so much rage ripping through me I didn’t even feel a hint of guilt for my Beta’s reaction. “Sometime today Nathan,” I growled at him impatiently.

                Dmitri wrapped an arm around his sister, pulling her towards the far corner and out of the way while still laughing. Tossing his own suit jacket at the siblings, Nathan stalked towards me, a snarky grin on his face.

                He came at me, swinging for my face. I ducked; grabbing his wrist as it flew past me and his arm too, spinning him around towards the wall. He caught himself as I let go; only stumbling slightly before coming at me again.

                I leapt backwards as he lunged forward to grapple my chest. Dropping down I swung out a leg and swept him off his feet so he landed with a thud on the mats. There was a crack as I elbowed him in the ribs and I rolled back up to my feet and stepped away.

                He used a kick flip to get back on his feet, eyeing me coldly. It was rare for me to score a hit on him, and every time I did, he pushed me harder. Deciding on a new tactic, he crouched low, and lunged again, for my midsection this time. I spun on my heel, bringing my knee up to crack him right in his nose, blood dripped down his face as he righted himself to come at me again.

                The dark shadow I’d grown fond of in Dmitri’s, darkened Nathan’s eyes. I smirked at him, welcoming the challenge. He’d been too easy to hit thus far, and it was doing nothing to help me work through my anger.

                He moved faster, but still not fast enough. He came at me trying to grapple my arm for leverage. Grinning, because I remembered the move from the many times we’d spared, I dropped back down to the mat. Time seemed to move in slow motion as he overextended his reach. Grabbing his wrist as I dropped, I kicked my foot up into his gut, flipping him over me to slam down on his back, hard. Still holding his wrist I wrapped my legs around his arm, pressing my foot on his shoulder as I pulled his wrist towards my chest.

                There was a popping sound, a growl, then the tap-tap-tap of his other and on the mat. The satisfaction of finally besting Nathan, just this once was short lived. It felt like an endless inferno of rage washing through me burned the thrill to ash. I did release his arm though, and rolled back up onto my feet.

                “Sophie, take Nathan to see Dr Martinez, she’s already expecting you both,” Dmitri had finally stopped laughing, and calmly passed out orders. I’d definitely broken Nathan’s nose; probably dislocated his shoulder and cracked a rib.

                Our betas made their way out of the room, giving me a wide berth as I paced back and forth, still seething. As soon as they were safely out of the room Dmitri stepped towards me, those terribly beautiful black eyes with their ice blue center shinning at me. “You want to try someone your own size, Princess,” he growled, grinning at me.

                I stopped pacing, and cocked my head, looking him over. A smirk danced over my lips, “Actually, I would,” I agreed stepping towards him. He didn’t move an inch. This wasn’t going to be like this morning when he’d tried to chase me around and catch me. Nathan moved faster than he could, and I moved faster than that. This time he was waiting for me to come to him instead.

                He stood there, taking the full force of my hit as I swung at his chest. He took another and another, not moving; just staring at me. Almost all of my training had been focused on getting away, or escaping a hold so I could get away, and a few ways to disable so I could escape and get away. I didn’t know what to do with someone that was just going to stand there and not come at me at all. Stepping away from him I growled with all the frustration I felt.

                “Is that all you have, Princess? You hit like a girl,” the corner of his mouth twitched upwards. I swung for his face, getting my wrist caught in his hand. He pulled upwards before I could turn my body and use his hold to flip him over my hip. I tried to use my other hand to pry his open, successfully getting that one caught as well.

                Crossing my arms as he turned me away from him, he brought them down and pulled my hands around behind me so that I was forced to hug myself. “That’s enough!” he growled, as I struggle to find a way out of the hold. With an exasperated sigh, he brought his head down and bit my neck. My whole body froze, a new fire trying to burn out the other one. He dropped my hands and stepped around me cautiously.

                I embraced the comforting buzz that vibrated through me when I phased into a shift, but it settled over me a little differently this time. Instead of being human one second and a white wolf the next, one second I was just standing before him, the next I’d phased out of my clothes, still human. “You’re turn,” I purred, the sudden lustful need to claim what was mine had consumed what was left of my ire.

                He stood in shock, staring at me, “Don’t make me rip that suit off your body, you look very good in it, but it’s in my way right now,” I warned, licking my lips.

                Gaining control of himself, he grinned but I decided he was moving too slow. I stepped into him to help remove the obstacles in my way, he had too many of those dress shirts anyway. As soon as I ripped it open, buttons flying around the room I used it to pull him against me. Our lips crashed together. Savagely attacking his lips, I helped him undo his pants. They fell to his ankles, allowing him to step out of them after he kicked his shoes off. Yes, this was very nice, my expertly chiseled and tanned sex god, unencumbered and ready for me.

                He wrapped his arms around me as we kissed, his hands grabbing my ass and lifting me off my feet. I wrapped my legs around his waist, my arms tight around his neck. Everywhere our skin met sent sparks zipping through me. His lips never broke from mine as he carried me across the room until my back pressed against the wall.

                He pulled his lips from mine, working them over my jaw and down my neck. His teeth bit a little harder, and I tossed my head back to give him access. The sensation of his teeth grazing over his mark was so euphoric it sucked all the air from my lungs as my body moved on its own to arch up into it.

                Adjusting me in his grasp, his lips moved lower, closing over my nipple. He sucked it into his mouth, biting gently as his tongue swirled over it. He was toying with me. I would have none of it. Not today. I needed more, and I needed it now. I brought my lips to his ear, nipping his earlobe as I purred seductively, “Dmitri, my Alpha…”

                A thunderous growl rumbled in his chest, any restraint left in him came undone. He pressed me against the wall harder, shifting his grip from around my hips, to under my legs, spreading my thighs open wider. I moaned against his lips as he plunged into the depths of me. He twisted that blazing need in me, drawing it together until it became so condensed that it exploded. My nails tore into his shoulders, making him groan softly.

                He set me on my feet, and pushed me back down onto mat. Kneeling between my legs, he yanked me towards him. His thrusts were smooth and measured, hitting just the right spot to wreck my body with wave after wave of increasing ecstasy. I was gasping for air when he finally came undone, one last primal growl sending a shiver down my spine as he withdrew and rolled over onto his back staring up at the ceiling, trying to catch his own breath.

                “So it’s not always clothes and all,” he mused between breaths. He’d been intrigued by how when I shifted, my clothes seemed to stay with me so that when I phased back, I was still fully dressed.

                I struggled to make my body obey my commands to roll over and lay my head on his chest. He pulled me against him, kissing my forehead as I rested it on his chest. I smiled feeling wholly content in the moment.

                My smile widened, “Do you think Nathan will hold it against me our next session that I finally kicked his ass?”

                Dmitri’s rich laugh bellowed under me, “Oh Princess,” I could feel pride radiating off of him, “You had him tap out in under a minute. He’s definitely going to hold a grudge.” His laugh filled the room.

                I tried not to grin so smugly, “Really? It felt longer than that. Should we go check on him? And Sophie.” The guilt finally hitting me as I remembered the way she flinched at my words.

                “I really hope that new trick of yours is something you can at will,” I knew the sly smile on his lips without looking up at him. I could imagine exactly what he had in mind to make use of such a skill. “We probably should go let everyone know that you didn’t kill me once you were done with Nate,” he teased.

                Groaning, I sat up and looked over at the pile of my clothes. “Do you think if I concentrate really hard, they’ll just appear back on my body?”

                “Gods I hope the hell not,” he huffed, “I can’t imagine having to repeatedly undress you every time you decide to act like a brat!” He was still grinning.

                “Spoil sport,” I grumbled, crawling towards my clothes.

                I yelped when he landed a sound smack squarely on my ass, making both cheeks sting. “I’m not too tired to put you over my knee right now,” he warned.

                “Promises, promises,” I mocked, skittering out of his reach as he grabbed for my ankle.

                “That’s 1, Princess,” he promised with a smile as he scooped up his pants off the floor.

                I gathered my clothes together and held them in a bunch against my chest. Squeezing my eyes shut I tried to will them back onto my body. After a moment Dmitri chuckled, “The Goddess must have forgiven me after all.” I stuck my tongue out at him, sorting through the pile to find my underwear. “That’s 2.” I loved the way his threats sent a shiver through me, almost as much as I loved when he made good on those threats.

                We pulled most of our clothes back on, his shirt had no buttons left and hung open, while I opted to remain barefoot. There would be no mistaking how our sparring session had gone. We made our way upstairs and over to the medical wing of the house. The receptionist pointed us towards the exam room with Nathan and Sophie in it as we walked through the doors, blushing as she took in our appearance.

                Nathan was sitting on the exam table glaring at Sophie as she tried to show him his face in her little compact mirror. That glare was nothing compared to the look he shot me, “You broke my fucking nose!”

                I shrugged, “You left your face wide open,” I explained using the same tone he’d used on me whenever I made a mistake while sparring. “I am sorry about your shoulder though,” I winced as I saw how his arm hung at his side, I’d definitely dislocated it. In my fit of rage I don’t know which sound registered first the pop or the tap on the mat.

                Dmitri put his body between us, although I wasn’t sure whom he was trying to protect from whom. “Fighters back to your own corners,” he chuckled. “What did Isabel say?”

                “She went to go get a splint for his nose; she thinks it could possibly heal to a bruise in a few days. She wanted to wait for you to put his shoulder back into place though, to hold him down.”

                “Has she already reset his nose?” I asked, stepping around Dmitri to look more closely at Nathan’s face. She nodded. “Lem’me try something?” I tilted my head waiting for him to agree. After glaring at me he gave me a stiff nod.

                That first night in the woods with the pack, the Goddess had taken over my body, bit my tongue and licked the face of a young boy stuck in the middle of his shift, unable to push through the pain; afterwards he shifted effortlessly and painlessly. I pressed my thumb against my slightly sharper canine tooth, pricking the skin. “Don’t move,” I ordered with a hint of sway. I traced my bleeding thumb over the bridge of his nose, gently so as not to shift the bones underneath. Stepping back I tried to will some of my healing abilities into him through the blood.

                By the time Dr Isabel Martinez had returned with the supplies she’d gone for, the dark purple bruise over his nose and under his eyes had turned a more bluish-green and the cut across the bridge of his nose had sealed shut, almost completely healed. There was no way to see if the bones had mended at all beneath the skin, but it did look like it’d healed a lot. My thumb had completely healed over as well, not even a pink mark, just a smear of blood.

                I would’ve thought she’d have gotten used to the strange unexplainable things that happened around me. Instead she insisted on taking a few x-rays to gauge just how fast he was healing. None of us mentioned that I’d used some of my blood to help it along; it was one of the unspoken agreements between the four of us to never expose any new abilities that I happened to exhibit.

                Nathan’s nose was healing at a rate that would have him back to his naturally unhappy scowl by morning. His shoulder on the other hand… It’d taken a heavy dose of sway and Dmitri holding him down for Isabel to get his arm back into place. I assumed my blood would also help it heal to brand new by morning. He was still bruised enough at our regular dinner with the rest of the members in the house for me to gloat about finally getting the best of him. I did not, however, mention how quickly I’d done it.