Tomorrow would really work better for my schedule," I said when Serena called me on it.

She grabbed the back of my yoga pants, stopping my retreat. "You’re going to be fine. I’m sure Brent will start you out with something small. Right, Bre

?"

Brent strode toward us. He wore sweatpants, no shoes, no shirt. I’d never seen anyone with a six-pack in real life before. My heart started pounding.

Holy hotness, Batman. Someone call the fire department. This guy was out of control.

"I thought we talked about you not calling me Bre." Brent crossed his arms, which made his biceps look huge.

No wonder that tree had splintered earlier.

A pitiful whiney noise escaped me before I could stifle it. I covered my mouth with my hand.

The sounds of Adrian and Xander’ fight stopped.

I peeked around Brent to see my classmates watching the drama unfold. I guessed Serena had been right about that. Funny how I never thought I’d star in my own personal soap opera.

Xander ran over to us. "Everything okay?"

I said no at the same time that Brent said yes.

"She smells scared—"

"I know what she smells like," Brent said too quietly.

"Gross!" I said. "That’s really fucking disgusting. Can we not discuss what your super-schnozes are smelling right now? Kay. Thanks."

Brent sighed and closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, they had gone from amber to bright yellow. "I was going to teach her, but maybe it’s easier if I don’t. Serena?"

"I suck at explaining. Xander should do it." She nudged me.

"I’m in," Xander said.

"No," Brent said.

This was going nowhere fast.

Leslie joined us. "You ready, love?" she asked Serena.

"Don’t leave me," I mouthed to Serena.

"You’re going to do fine. Kick Xander’ ass for me." They walked to the other side of the gym, and started stretching.

Jerks. Leaving me alone to deal with the boys.

I glanced from Xander to Brent and back again. "So, what now?"

"Fine." Brent crossed his arms. His biceps bulged and I wanted to squeeze them to see if they were as firm as they looked.

Brent cleared his throat, drawing my attention to his face. I blushed at his smirk. I hoped I hadn’t been too obvious with my staring, but I had a feeling I’d been utterly transparent. Traitorous hormones.

"I’ll be watching you," Brent said.

That wasn’t going to help me concentrate at all.

"Xander is the best student fighter in the school, but he’ll go slow with you." I made sure to keep contact with his eyes as he talked. It was much harder than it should’ve been. "I’m assuming you’ve never taken any kind of class like this?"

"Does a Tae Bo video count?" I said.

"No," they said together.

That’s what I thought. "Then, no."

Make sure she doesn’t break anything when she tries to throw a punch," Brent said. "If she gets hurt, I’ll make you hurt."

Yikes. Poor Xander. Chances were I’d probably hurt myself, but it wouldn’t be his fault.

"I’ll take good care of her." Xander winked at me as soon as Brent walked away.

I looked Xander up and down. He’d put back on his shirt, which I was glad for. Brent could possibly classify as the jealous type. But something struck me as off. "I thought you said you were artsy."

"I am."

"Artsy people don’t fight like that."

"Maybe, but I’m a werewolf." He grinned with all his teeth.

I stared at the ceiling. "Mad. That’s what everyone is here."

Xander put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me toward the mats. A growl echoed through the suddenly quiet gym. Brent was watching us, as promised.

Xander started moving his arm, but I reached up and held it in place. "Where we headed, sensei?" I asked Xander.

Xander and Brent were in some sort of a staring contest. Xander’s blue eyes flared bright. Neither of them noticed me. Xander dropped his gaze to the ground and stepped away from me. "Let’s go over there. Don’t want to be too close to anyone else." His hands were balled into tight fists, knuckles white.

"What was that about?"

"Nothing." The smile he gave me was a shadow of his usual one.

"He’s...what was the word you used...more alpha than you. Right?"

"He’s more alpha than everyone. Except maybe Mr. Langdon. But no one knows for sure."

Interesting. I tucked that piece of info away for future reference. "What does that mean?"

"Alpha rules the pack."

He didn’t add anything else to that little gem. I wasn’t quite sure what he meant by "rules the pack." In what way? And to what extent? I’d save those questions for Serena. She’d give me some real answers.

Xander stopped when we were at the opposite corner from everyone else. We spent the next ten minutes stretching every muscle—hamstrings, calves, shoulders—which gave me plenty of time to work up my fair share of nerves. Trying something new with an audience was not something I ever aspired to do.

"Feeling loose?" Xander said as he stood on one foot, stretching his quad.

I dropped my foot to the ground. "I guess?"

Sounds of light sparring filled the gym. I scanned the room, and caught a few pairs of eyes watching me, but thankfully not everyone was staring. I tried to avoid glancing at Brent, but was drawn to the jerk.

He was walking through the sparring pairs, giving notes and encouragement. When he reached Callista, I turned away. That was one train wreck I wouldn’t watch. The whole jealousy feeling was new to me, and I didn’t care for it at all.

"This is a basic fighting stance." Xander’ voice dragged my attention to the problem at hand.

I copied him, placing my feet shoulder width apart and raising my hands. Xander circled around me, moving my feet into the "correct" stance. He twisted my shoulders a bit. "When you punch with your right hand, you want your right shoulder to be pulled back a bit. Then, as you punch, follow through with it."

I nodded like that made sense, but I had no idea what he was talking about. The weird part was that he wasn’t joking or winking or smiling. That thing with Brent had really gotten to him. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

He circled around me one more time then pointed to my gloves. "You might have some strange fashion thing going on, but the gloves have to go. You can’t fight in them."

"Sure I can. What harm are they really doing?"

"I can’t quite tell how you’re holding your fingers. We’re going to start punching and I don’t want you to break anything."

Against my better judgment, I pulled them off and tucked them into my waistband.

Xander grabbed two hand targets from the other side of the gym. His shoulders were still hunched over.

It wasn’t any of my business what went on between Brent and Xander, but I felt responsible. I had to try to fix it. "I can’t stand the way you’re acting," I said.

He put the pads over his hands. "Look. I like you, but I can’t fight Brent and win." He stared at the pads as he talked.

What? Who said anything about Xander and Brent fighting? "Why would you have to fight?"

"Brent seems to have claimed you and—"

"Claimed me? What the hell does that mean?" I tapped my foot. No one was claiming me except me.