Then the training hit. Not the bruises. Not the pain. The shape of it. Don’t react. Don’t chase it. Make him commit first.
I let my feet reset under me instead of lunging and I straightened slowly while my pulse slammed hard against my throat.
John’s mouth curved into something that wasn’t a smile.
“There.” He said quietly. “That almost looked like thought.”
Ezra stepped in then with one hard step forward and the shift in the air around him made several wolves at the edge of the clearing go still.
“That’s enough.” Ezra announced.
“That depends.” John said. “Did she challenge me or did she challenge me until the moment got real.”
My hands curled into fists at my sides but I didn’t lift them and I didn’t move toward him. That was the part that mattered. The restraint. The ugly, burnin
