“You’re drooling, Snow,” Slade drawled, and when I jerked my gaze up to meet his, I found amusement dancing across his features.
Words spilled from me in a rush: “There’s a lot to take in. Too much really. That can’t be survivable.”
I stilled when I realized I’d said the quiet part out loud again, which happened far too often around my alphas. They had a way of flustering me until I was a disconcerted mess.
Slade’s smile grew and I was graced with perfect, if not slightly predatory teeth. “You were made for me, Emmeline. There’s no other shifter in this world who could survive what I can offer.”
His words reminded me of our conversation in the car when he’d admitted he was a virgin. At first it took me by surprise, but with some time and reflection, it made sense, and I fucking loved that there’d been none before me. I was growing quite possessive of my pack—goddess help my soul.
“Surely, there’d be another out there who could handle you too, Slade,” I found myself teasing. Maybe to lessen the tension. Or maybe I just was fishing for the answer. “An alpha female perhaps?”
The hint of his smile turned darker. “I’d kill any other female who touched me. Hence, not survivable. You are it for me, Snow. Now and always.”
With that destructive statement, he stepped away and I felt his powerful energy wash over my skin as he called for his beast. I set my wolf free too and she arrived with ease, relieving tension I hadn’t even known I was carrying.
I hadn’t shifted for a while, and after years of suppressing my beast, it wasn’t good to start doing that again. It weakened us, and weak could get me killed. Or worse, it could get my pack killed.
Slade’s dragon straightened, impressive as always, and I noted that his scales were slightly greener today, shimmering brightly in the sunlight. His beast tilted its head back and roared to the sky, which must have been the signal for his squad to move. Some took off on wings, like Horton’s eagle, while the land-bound creatures raced into the field. There were a couple of wolves, a bear, and a lion in his alpha squad.Flight Squad,as an ode to Slade’s beast.
Slade didn’t fly this time though, remaining by my side and moving gracefully on all fours across the field. My wolf loved being out here with him, letting out little yips, and the occasional howls. She all but purred when Slade’s huge dragon head dipped, his snout tracing down my flank. Even knowing his beast could gulp me up in one bite, I felt nothing except this warm, fuzzy contentment.
We drew a lot of attention, from Flight Squad, and whichever other enforcers were out training today. Apparently none of them had seen the fearsome dragon’s affectionate side.
I’d barely seen it, but I was officially addicted. With zero plans on attending a meeting, despite having an advanced case of the Slades.
My beast preened as she lapped up the attention of her mate. She’d be insufferable as she reminded me of all the times she’d tried to stop me running from our pack.Yeah, yeah. You were right.
The second part of warmup was over too soon, and I was pumped when I slipped back into my training gear.
“Let’s break off into our pairs,” Slade called, and as I moved toward Horton, I was stopped by a huge arm around my middle. “You’re with me today, Snow.”
Thrown off-balance, I reached out and clutched his arm, my gaze shooting up to gauge how he was handling the contact.There was no sign of his usual flinch or darkening green gaze, and it took him at least ten Mississippi’s to move away from me.
Fuck, I really didn’t need a warmup when Slade was around.
I was currently warm enough to melt into a puddle on the ground.
“Why am I training with you?” I asked, forcing myself to get it together.
“I want to teach you today.”
Don’t freak out. Don’t you freak out.
“But… with the touching and…”
Slade crowded into my space, and it was so overwhelming I started breathing harder than when I’d been running. It turned out that standing in proximity to him was the equivalent of sprinting like my life depended on it.
“There’ll be touching, yes, and I expect you to try and take me down. Fletcher is powerful. Blaine is a piece of shit, but he’s well trained. You cannot let either of them get their hands on you.”
Yes, sir.Thankfully I managed to keep that thought inside my head.
Slade backed away from me and fell into a familiar pose. It was the one I’d been practicing with Horton all week, and I quickly recalculated my stance for a much taller shifter.
When Slade grabbed me, there was no hesitation in his touch, and I was so nervous that I all but slipped over my own feet and landed in a tangle on the ground. The dragon shook his head, his expression serious. “Up, Emmeline. You can do better than that. I’ve seen you do better than that all week.”
Grumbling and ignoring my embarrassment, I got back into position, and this time when he moved, I let my body fall into the series of steps I’d practiced. I nudged into him, hooked my foot behind his, tilted my shoulder for more leverage, and yanked him over the side so he’d lose balance. Slade being Slade, he barely moved, but I managed to knock him a few steps back.
Moving a wall of muscle would normally be reason to celebrate, but Slade didn’t encourage celebrations in the middle of training. I’d heard him drill into his squad over and over that an early celebration when your opponent wasn’t dead was a surefire way to getyou dead.
