The Brotherhood

07

It had been five endless weeks of training with Kane and Finley had gotten ten times better than she'd been before. Now, when the pack sparred together, Finley could beat Sloan and Miles fairly easily. She undeniably proud of herself and the work that she'd done with Kane. 

Finley found that she looked forward to her training sessions with Kane, despite the fact that most of their training together made her wish she was dead. More times than not, after training with Kane, Finley would fall into a bath and soak for a solid hour before slumping into her bed at night. Though she was worn out, the aches and pain were welcome. It meant that she was finally becoming stronger. Eventually, she hoped that she would become strong enough that she wouldn't need to rely on Kane or anyone else for protection. 

The afternoon was warm and sunny, which was highly unusual at the compound. The pack was sitting outside around the sparring ring watching as Raynar and Warren went at it. Since it was such a hot day, most of her brothers had taken off their shirts, allowing the rare glimpse of sunlight to tan their skin. The sight didn't bother Finley at all. She'd spent her whole life around half naked boys. Once you'd seen one of them, you'd seen them all. 

Finley sprawled out in the sun with her face tilted slightly upward. She kept her eyes on Raynar and Warren in the ring though. It was a helpful way to learn. Besides, it was much easier to learn from someone else's mistakes than from your own. She usually had less bruises that way. 

Even though she knew that she should be watching Warren and Raynar spar, her eyes kept traveling toward where Kane stood on the side watching the sparring. He stood with his arms crossed loosely over his chest. Finley had finally started to learn how to read his body language over these past few weeks. This was his I don't want to seem like I'm relaxed, but I'm secretly enjoying myself posture. Finley knew that he was enjoying himself out here in the sun with his brothers. For some reason that fact made her want to smile. 

She watched as the corners of his lips stretched into the barest glimpse of a smile at something that Sloan had said to Miles. Finley felt herself starting to smile in response to Kane's smile. She had no idea when his happiness had started to affect hers so much, all he knew was that it did. Finley would do almost anything to see that all too rare smile on his face. 

Finley watched as Kane wiped sweat from his brow with the hem of his shirt. She caught the briefest glimpse of the rippled muscles of his abdomen. Something deep within her stomach tightened at the sight of all of that velvet wrapped steel. She ignored the feeling, but her eyes didn't stray from Kane. She watched enraptured as Kane kept the hem of his shirt in his hand and lifted his shirt over his head. With one hand. Like that wouldn't be the hottest fucking thing she'd ever seen. 

Kane stood in all his shirtless glory before all of them. His pectoral muscles were twice the size of any of the brothers around them, which was saying something since every single brother was packed with muscle. He had a six pack of abdominal muscles that were bigger than any she'd ever seen. His arms were just as huge as she'd imagined them to be. Finley thought she might be drooling. Her mouth was definitely hanging open. She snapped her jaw close so that the others wouldn't notice her oggling their alpha. 

For some reason, this reminded her of the first time she'd seen him. When she'd been young, she'd had a huge crush on Kane. She chalked it up being young and stupid and surrounded by stupid, gross looking boys all the time. 

When she'd first met Kane it had been when she'd been introduced to her brand new pack. 

They'd all been standing in a line like someone had ordered them to do it. Finley thought they all looked rather unnatural standing like that. Six little boys all standing in a row, staring at the little girl that had somehow wandered into their midst. The first thing that Finley noticed about them was that they were all different sizes. There was one that was scrawny, one that was big and hulking, one that was short and gangly, one that was slightly chubby with a frown on his face, and one that was almost the same size as her. The last boy in the line had curly brown hair and he was only an inch shorter than her. For some reason, he became the one that Finley like the best.