Wolves' Bane (The Order of the Wolf, #3)(66)
Lance chuckled as he walked away, shaking his head. “Sure, buddy. Whatever you say.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Norman
My body was aching, my lungs screaming, as I pushed myself to run for a while longer on the treadmill. Even with my new, powerful muscles, I still felt the neglect of not training all week. Burning pain aside, I was glad to be back at it. It felt good to push myself again. Especially now that everything seemed right. With Cal home and willing to train with me, my mind was settled in a way that I had never experienced ever in my life. I was content, even with the looming threat of my impending battle with Lazarus.
There was only the tiniest nagging feeling…just a speck of doubt that poked at me every once in awhile. What isn’t he telling me? What made him push me away? It was there and gone, just a glimmer of hesitation that I didn’t have the courage to pursue, instinct telling me that maybe the answer wasn’t something I really wanted to know.
“Don’t push yourself too hard, Morgan.” Cal’s voice came from behind me and I turned my head to see him, my eyebrows cocked. “Seriously, I’ve got plans for you today and they’re going to involve a lot of stamina.”
I smirked at his expression, the double meaning behind his words clearly written there. “Oh yeah?” I punched the stop button on the treadmill and stepped off the machine, my legs rubbery from exertion.
Cal wrapped one strong arm around my waist and brought me close, his lips briefly brushing mine. He pulled away to stare down at me. “Are you sure you don’t want your best buddy, Lance, to come back and train you?”
I felt the bite of his words. Although his lips were curled into a playful smile, his eyes didn’t share the mirth.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Cal,” I whispered as I brought my arms up around his neck. “I’m sorry I said those things. I don’t want anyone but you. Ever. I was angry and scared—” And there was that nagging feeling again, pushing me to ask him.
Before I could get another word out, he bent down and crushed his lips against mine, devouring my mouth like a starving man. Obliterating any other thoughts.
When he pulled away, his eyes were shining. “That’s good, Morgan, because I don’t want anyone but you either. And the days of you being trained by anyone else, including Lance, are over.”
I smiled, then moved away from him to snatch a towel and wipe my face. “Well, if you can kiss me like that when I’m covered in sweat then we’re in for a fun day together.”
Cal snickered as he motioned for me to follow him to the other side of the room. “Lance trained you in grappling and defensive moves, and I know that you’re good with your blades and the sai.”
I frowned. “How do you know that?” I stopped a couple of feet away from him as he zeroed in on one of the closed doors at the back of the room.
Cal glanced over his shoulder, his hand resting on the knob. “I was watching you on the security monitors while you trained.”
My frown deepened. “That’s a little creepy, Cal. Wouldn’t it have been better for you to just have come down and watched us? I mean, if you didn’t trust us, why not make your presence known?”
Cal disappeared into the room beyond the doors and reemerged carrying a bulky, long object that was covered in a coarse-looking tarp. “It wasn’t that I didn’t trust you.” He shrugged as he walked past me. “I mean, I wasn’t overly pleased to watch another man put his hands all over you.” He heaved the massive load he was carrying onto the matt and turned to face me. “But I couldn’t be in the same room with you without wanting to rip all of your clothes off and ravish your body. So I had to watch you on camera instead.”
I felt the burn of a deep blush rise over my face. “Oh,” I said as I glanced down at my feet, feeling both embarrassed and giddy.
He was next to me in a minute, his finger lightly touching my chin to raise my eyes to meet his. “I wanted you, Morgan, my Huntress. I wanted you before we bonded, from the moment that I first laid eyes on you.” He licked his lips as he stared down at me, his eyes hooded. “After we bonded, it took everything in my power to stay away from you.”
“So why did you?”
Cal sighed and released my face as he took a step away. “I can’t tell you why.” He turned around and began untying the ropes that held the tarp closed on the thing he’d brought out of the storage room. “Not yet anyway.” He glanced up. “But I will. When the time is right, I will tell you, I promise you that.”
I nodded, a tight feeling of anxiety clenching my stomach. Whatever it was, I didn’t want to know, right? Cal swiveled his gaze back down to the tarp and continued to untie it.
“So as I was saying, Lance did a good job going through the main fighting techniques you’ll need when you face off with Lazarus, but there are two things he didn’t do.”
He ripped off the tarp to reveal a mass of fur and the cold dead eyes of a wolf. I gasped and stepped back, my reaction fueled by the overwhelming stink of the beast. It was just as I remembered when Lazarus had confronted me. Rank, dirty, disgusting. “What the hell is that?”
Cal smirked as he stood and raised the beast up. I noticed the thing was on a stand, supported so that it was upright on its haunches, its face set in a fang-baring sneer. “This is Norman, our training friend.” He motioned for me to come closer, but I shook my head.