Moon Touched (Zodiac Wolves: The Lost Pack #1)(41)

Or Kaden, a voice whispered inside me. A voice I told to fuck right off. He wasn't my mate. Jordan was the one the gods had chosen for me, no matter how much I despised him.

I doubted Kaden would want me anyway. The man growled and glared at me anytime I had to spend any time with him. Even when he wasn't around, his presence seemed to follow me throughout my day.

In the morning, he left notes for me. Clean the community center was pinned on the fridge the morning after he’d confronted me in the forest like nothing had happened at all. I’d blinked at the note for several minutes before realizing that if I spent any more time being confused, I’d likely be late. Then the next day he sent me somewhere else, to act as that place's janitor too. Rinse and repeat.

Combat training with Kaden hadn’t gotten any easier either. I did the stretching routine Kaden showed me, and I’d stopped face-planting every time I tried to do a basic move, but beyond that, I could tell he was frustrated with my lack of progress.

On the other hand, my afternoons with Stella were coming along nicely. Being in wolf form was natural to me, unlike hand-to-hand combat. With practice, I found it easier to shift, just like Stella had said, and it became almost painless over the course of the week. It was still harder to focus in wolf form, but even that was getting easier.

I thought of the freedom that my wolf form brought me, how fast I could run, and how I could hear things so much clearer. I wanted to run for miles and miles until my wolf body couldn’t handle it anymore, and then take a nap in a clearing, maybe by a little stream that would lull me into sleep—

“Stop daydreaming,” Kaden snapped. I blinked and realized I’d been reaching for my toes for several minutes, far longer than I was supposed to. I got up and followed him to the center of the gym, which was empty except for us. He'd had me meet him here today, instead of the usual clearing, and now he led me to a punching bag.

“Show me a punch,” he said, holding onto the bag.

“What, no instructions?” I asked.

“I need to see what I’m working with. If it’s anything like the rest of this, I’ll have to take you from the very beginning.”

I bristled at his words. “It’s not my fault that my pack didn’t teach me this. My alpha never expected me to do much of anything.”

“Well, I do. Now punch the bag.” Kaden sounded almost bored, as he often did.

I hated when he acted like this. I knew he did it on purpose, probably to rile me up. Getting mad makes you stupid, he’d said once. Keep your cool. It was easier said than done, especially when he kept acting like an arrogant prick. I wound my fist back, ready to punch, imagining it was his face.

"Stop." Kaden let go of the bag suddenly and stepped back. I paused, muscles tensed to throw the punch. “Unless you want to dislocate your thumb. Get it out from under your fingers.”

I complied, and Kaden held up his own hand to show me. I mirrored his clenched fist, leaving my thumb tucked alongside my fingers rather than underneath. Actually, that made a lot of sense, and I felt dumb. That was a common feeling while working with Kaden. It was as if he expected me to know everything already, and when I didn’t he got frustrated. But how was that my fault? I was doing my best to learn. I punched the bag, but it didn't move like I'd expected it to, even with my shifter strength.

“You’ll want to concentrate most of the punch in the first two knuckles,” Kaden said, pointing to them on his own hand. Then, he drew his elbow back and punched. His breath came out in a sharp noise with the punch. “Always exhale on your punches. It tightens your core, which will give you better power. If you’re going to punch someone, make sure you throw your entire body weight into it.”

He guided me through the entire process, making sure to point out that I would be engaging my hips and legs too if I was doing it properly. Then he stepped back to the bag and held it. “Try again.”

I nodded and planted my feet, then did what he'd shown me. This punch felt better, more solid, but the bag still didn’t move.

“You’re not using your hips." He slid away from the bag and moved directly behind me. "I'll show you."

My breath caught as Kaden pulled my body flush against his, one hand on my hip, and the other reaching out to encircle my wrist. What felt like an electric shock went through my whole body, rendering me useless. I moved, supple and pliant in his grasp as he twisted my hip back and extended my hand for me.

He was saying something, but the words didn’t register. His hand felt hot enough to burn, just sitting there on my hip. Nothing he’d done had ever felt like this before. I could almost imagine that his hand would slide over my body, splaying flat on my stomach to hold me against him for an entirely different reason. His mouth wouldn’t be telling me how to throw a punch but would brush my neck, moving slowly, surely. The hand circling my wrist would meet mine, intertwining with my fingers.

The image was so vivid, so real, that I staggered with the effect of it. I might have fallen if I hadn’t been pressed so thoroughly against the hard line of Kaden’s body. But then again, I wouldn’t be in this situation at all if Kaden hadn’t grabbed me like this.

Kaden’s hand tightened around my wrist, as he drew my hand back and moved it through the right motion again. His hand did slide a little more onto my stomach, and I actually stopped breathing, wondering if I was going insane. I was certain Kaden could hear the way my heart thundered in my chest, or smell the lust from between my thighs. But if he noticed, he didn’t say anything, and after a moment, he stepped back.