We both knew what I was talking about. Last night wasn’t the first time she’d come back bleeding, trying to hide it from everyone else. She’d been hunting again. Being reckless by going off alone without a team to back her up again.
It was a conversation we’d had many times over the years. A lot of the times, I could tell when she was feeling restless and could preemptively catch her before she went out. Often, I ended up going with her just so she wouldn’t go alone.
While Jack struggled to answer me, I lunged. Grabbing her wrist, I pulled her forward.
She twisted out of my hold. Her elbow came at my ribs, but I shifted blocking it with my forearm.
Jack shoved away from me, breathing heavily. We began circling each other once more. My eyes flicked over her, watching for when she’d attack next. Which she did.
Jack tried to sweep my leg. I stepped over it, caught her shoulder, and pushed her back. She recovered quickly, snapping her foot out toward my thigh. My hands caught her foot mid-motion.
The watching crowd made another noise.
She ripped her foot from my hands before I could dump her onto the mat.
“Sloppy,” I stated calmly.
“You’re just slow.”
My eyes narrowed.
Then we were moving again. I stepped into her guard, grabbed her arm, and twisted. Jack tried to shift her weight to knock me down again, but I anticipated it this time.
Using her momentum against her, the world tilted. She hit the mat hard as I followed her down. My knees pinned her on either side of her hips, one hand pressing hers into the mat by her head.
Neither of us moved for a moment. Our bodies were close, too close. Each of us breathed heavily, and our breaths mingled together. It was hard to ignore the soft press of her curves against me.
Jack’s breathing changed. She must have felt it, too. The electricity between us. What this could be if only we let it.
“Still reckless,” I murmured.
Glaring up at me, she bucked her hips in vain. “Get off.”
I tightened my grip on her, pressing my hips firmly against hers. “Not until you admit you’re putting yourself in danger.”
She gritted her teeth, not answering. For a moment, time stood still, neither one of us willing to give the other what they wanted.
A voice cut through the tension.
“What the hell is this?”
Irritation flickered through me.
Jack’s head jerked back, eyes looking up behind her. “Tate?”
My gaze followed hers to the large werewolf standing on the edge of the mat, his arms down at his sides, his face a mixture of confusion and fury.
The wolf’s eyes dropped to where I had Jack pinned on the mat. “Get off her.”
I didn’t move immediately, partly because I didn’t want to and in part because I didn’t take orders from him.
Jack huffed. “It’s just training,” Jack huffed.
Tate scoffed. “Doesn’t look like it.”
Guilt crashed into me. I had been doing exactly what I’d accused Jack of being. Reckless. While trying to get through to her, I forgot that we weren’t back at the guild. We were in a room full of supernatural beings who thought we were just student and teacher, and here I was, craving one more minute of her body pressed to mine.
I released her and stood, brushing my hands off as if this was an everyday occurrence to me.
