Chapter 57

By Friday, Stephen Jackell had been officially expelled from Alpha Academy.

It sparked a new slew of whispers towards me in the cafeteria. However, as soon as Maximus resumed his seat at mine and Loren’s table, a silence fell over the cafeteria. Maximus ate in silence again and then told me to meet him at the outdoor track at eight the next morning.

When the sun rose on Saturday, both Loren and I were awake. Loren was buzzing with excitement, and I was twitchy with anxiety. What would a training session look like with Maximus? Would I get the same buzzes of electricity I had when we’d sparred before? Or when I’d trained with Valentin?

No, no, I corrected myself. Valentin was my fated mate. No one had two fated mates.

Would it be so wrong if you did? My wolf mused. I completely ignored her.

Loren made sure to dig into the depths of her closet and find something skimpy yet practical. She decided on a strappy sports bra and a matching pair of leggings. The sports bra was exactly that; a bra. I made Loren let me wear my long sleeve over the top of it. I didn’t need more eyes following me across campus.

By seven forty-five, I was dressed and ready to spar. My hair had been slicked back off my head and wound into a tight bun. I did a light jog across the campus to warm up. As the sun finally rose above the trees of the forest, I came across the track.

Maximus, arms crossed over his hulking chest, stood on the outer side of the track. I stopped short of him then walked the rest of the way over. He was wearing sparring gear as well: a pair of grey shorts that hit the middle of his massive thighs and a tight grey long sleeve that stretched over his pecks. It rippled as he dropped his arms.

“Good, you’re warmed up,” he said. “Saves me some time.”

“Are we on a crunch for that?” I asked eyebrow raised. He completely ignored me to go rummage through a bag by his feet. I rolled my eyes and gave him a look. He also ignored that as he stood up and handed me something.

I turned the object in my hand. I recognized it as a resistance band and raised my eyebrows at him.

“Pilates?” I teased. “I didn’t figure you for the type.”

“It’s for your thighs,” he corrected. “The extra resistance will build muscle quicker. Something you clearly need.”

I gasped and sailed my fist into his shoulder. His stupid, massive body barely moved. Instead, he grabbed the resistance band from my hands and crouched down.

“Right foot up,” he instructed.

I blushed at the level of his head before shifting my weight and lifting my foot up. Maximus shimmied the band over my foot.

“Left,” he grunted.

I shifted my weight again, still feeling the heat in my cheeks. Maximus slipped the band over my other foot. Then, he tugged the band up until it was met with knees. He then shimmied up to the middle of my thighs. His hands gripped the outside of my thighs as moved it.

The slight electric pulse flowed from his fingers into my legs. I locked my knees to prevent the shudder from flowing through me. Maximus’s eyebrows knitted and he looked up at me from his crouch.

The image was damn near pornographic.

Maximus, on his knees at my feet, holding my legs where an electric pulse was slowing leaking from his fingertips into my bones. He was a hairs breath from my lady bits and looking up at me with those big, dark gold eyes. His lips parted slightly, and I gnawed down on my lip to keep the whimper from escaping. Then, he cleared his throat and the moment was broken.

“Right,” he grunted as he stood up to tower over me once again. I took a step back as did he. He crossed his arms over his chest again. He seemed completely unphased, except I saw the way he was clenching his jaw.

“Right,” I mimicked as a sigh. “So now what?”

“Your legs and core need work. That’s whats keeping you from holding a stance when you take a punch,” Maximus said.

“How do you know that?” I said, being petulant.

Maximus blinked at me. “I was at your fight with Kairos,” he replied. “I watched you take every hit as if you’d been run over by a pack of wolves.”

I blinked at him. He watched me at the fight. Not Kairos. My heart fluttered a bit.

Pay attention! I screamed at myself.

Or we could ditch this whole thing and do something much more interesting, my wolf mused.

Don’t you have paws to clean or something?

My wolf snickered in response. I ignored her. I looked back at Max. He had one eyebrow raised as if he’d been waiting a while.

“Legs,” he repeated. “And core.”

He took another step back and dropped into a squat. “Start with a squat,” he said. He then slowly side stepped, moving horizontally as he held the same stance. “Then move laterally. That’ll strengthen your outer glutes and inner thighs.”

I took the squat stance. Then, I took a sidestep. The resistance band pulled taught across my thighs and dug into the outside of my thighs. Then I stepped my feet back to hips width and the band loosened. However, the strain in my ass and my thighs was intense.

“Fuck,” I hissed.

“Sucks, yeah?” Maximus commented. “Keep going.”

I grumbled a bunch of curses under my breath but kept the sidestep up. Max followed me as we did the entire length of the track. Then he made me go back. By the time we got back to the start, my ass was throbbing.

I huffed and stood up straight when I got back to Max’s bag. Sweat poured down my back. I wrenched the long sleeve off and chucked it to the floor before I turned back to Max. His pupils had dilated and he was staring at me like I was something to eat. I crossed my arms over my chest as I struggled to catch my breath.

“What’s next?” I panted.

“Lunges,” Maximus said. “With the band.”

“Motherfucker,” I said under my breath before starting off in a forward lung away from Maximus. I could’ve sworn I heard a snort of laughter behind me but when I looked at Max, he was just as emotionless as usual.

When I turned back, I was dying. I almost keeled over with one step and was heaving grunts of air. I glared at Maximus.

“Do I have to?”

“Yes,” he said plainly. Then he moved over to me. “And stand up straight. You’re going to throw out your back bent over like that.”

Without even a second thought, one of his hands went to the low of my back as the other one landed near my naval. I was mid lunge as his hands pressed into my skin. The energy was palpable, surging through my skin and up into my brain. I gasped as I felt it. Then, I heard the strange thrummed that tended to come with the electricity around Maximus and I.

Lub-dub, lub-dub, lub-dub—

I tried to ignore it but every bone in my body was screaming for me to look at Maximus. I turned my head slowly and met the piercing dark gold gaze of Maximus Wolfham. The noise started thrumming faster and faster and I couldn’t help but lean towards him.

But then, as quick as it was there, it was gone.

I blinked and Maximus was a good ten feet away from me. He looked far calmer than I felt. But in his eyes, there was a dark emotion that made me shiver.

Lust.

“Just… stand up straight,” he finally said, voice low.

I pushed my shoulders back and finished my lungs. My legs weren’t all that was burning by the end of that round of lunges.