The arrogant princess and her mate Tom

Training

  Tom P.O.V. 

Next day when we arrived to her house there was nobody there.

- Where is Joanna? - I asked.

- I gave her time off. Why you ask? Are you hungry?

She acted at ease, as if being alone in a nearly 400 m2 house was nothing weird. Her father and the king often offered to hire someone to live with her, but Maria insisted there was no need to do so.She assured that there was no such need because due to extracurricular activities she was almost not at home anyway.  

- Maria, you shouldn’t be alone - Maria raised her eyebrows and looked mockingly - Okey, I don't say anything else. Lets go to practice. We’ll eat after training.

- I’ll go change. If you want to get ready, you have a room next to the training room just for yourself. I’ll see you on the mat.

I quickly change my clothes for sport one, and go to training room. Maria came after a while in a very tight nike outfit. She looked even smaller than usually. Her body was perfectly exercised. Not too much, but her muscle was clearly visible.

- Okey. Lets start with a aligator warm-up.

- What a suprise - she laught - I see that I will learn a lot from you.

After a few exercises we stood facing each other.

- Let's practice the punch combinations. In the end we'll do a little battle. We'll see who wins if you are so self-confident - I said and show some moves. She was good. Everything do with concentration and perfection. She came from Alpha family so she was strong.

- Lets fight Tom! - she said and started jumping around - Please, dont give me a dicounte fare.

- I wasn't going. Attack first- We made a few moves. I had to be careful not to let myself be knocked down, yet I didn't use all my strength. After 10 minutes of blows exchange we were tired and wet. Maria was getting impatient. She tried to kick me in the balls, which made me laugh.

- Stop laughting! - she start yealling at me. I used that moment and grabbed her hand and twisted it so that she stood in front of me, pressed against my chest with her back. - Okey, end of training - said, still pressing her to my chest. As I relaxed my hold on her and was about to release her hand, she suddenly pulled her leg out so that I wobbled and fell to the ground, dragging her behind me. I landed on my back still embracing her. Her head was pressed against the bend in my neck. I felt her whole body tense up and her breathing quicken.

- Are you okay? - I wanted to push her away slightly so I could look her in the face, but she pressed herself tighter against me. - What's going on?

- Nothing. Give me a minute. - Her rapid breathing tickled my neck. We lay like that for a while and then she started to slowly come off of me. She was disheveled and her face was slightly flushed.

- I'm going to take a shower and lie down. If you want something to eat before you leave, you can treat yourself. Joanna should have left some dinner in the fridge.

- Aren't you going to eat anything? -

- I don't feel well, so I'll eat later. Close the door on your way out. - without saying goodbye, she left.

I came home hungry and angry. When I entered the kitchen, mom and Laura were there.

- What happened? Did Joanna let you go without dinner?- Mom asked.

- Joanna wasn't there.Maria had given her time off and she didn't want to eat with me herself. Fu**g princess.

- Ooh... Brother, I don't expect you to have a good career if you can't even talk to your boss - Laura scoffed.

-Laura! - mother admonished her - Tom, you shouldn't talk about Maria like that. Why did she give her time off? So she's alone all day?

- I have no idea. I saw Joanna's car this morning so I think she works in the morning and then leaves. - Mom made a concerned face, so I added - Don't worry about her. She's doing fine. I keep seeing her with Sara and Mark so she's not all alone.

    I knew my mom was right. Maria shouldn't be alone. We lived in a gated community, surrounded only by trusted people working for the king, but times were uncertain. Only two people with royal blood were alive, which made werewolves opposing the royal sovereignty bolder. It was not known if and when they would attack. Currently, the king and my father often left, checking the relations between individual pacts and looking for possible allies in the event of an attack. We suspected that everyone was waiting for Mari's mate. The opponents hoped that someone from their district would be assigned to her, which would give them authority and strength.  

Mom looked at me questioningly.

- You should live with her. Maybe that would improve your relationship. Laura is right. You won't be a good advisor if you don't talk to each other at all. You have to do something about it.

- You think I haven't tried? It's like a closed book. Every time I try to talk to her, she looks at me with derision and ignores my advice.

- I'll talk to your father and King. Just because she seems strong doesn't mean she is. Her father's been gone almost the whole time. You should be her rock. - She made a thoughtful face.

-Mom, I'm not going to live with her.

- It's just an idea. Maybe her father will finally come back for more time. Someone should keep an eye on her.

    When I was in bed that evening I began to remember Mari's behavior. I had been trying to reach her for a long time, but each time it ended in an argument. Something happened during training but I couldn't tell what. Her reddened face and sad eyes kept coming back to me. I wanted to help her but I didn't know how. I could see that underneath the smiling face there was sadness. Every day she was the epitome of strength of character, but her sad eyes never let me rest. ,,If this keeps up, I'm going to be the worst counselor in the world." I couldn't sleep so I got up and went to the home gym. I was hitting the sack, imagining our future opponents, and when that didn't calm my nerves, I went out for a jog.