Claimed

Chapter 17: Wanting

Red's POV:

The only thing that came close to training with Kane was when Ezekiel and I used to train as kids. Of course, it was done in private. Away from everyone because my dad would never be cool with me training with a timber wolf future Alpha, but still. Zeke and my dad were the only people I couldn't take down, though I got close with Zeke a couple times.

That was years ago. I hadn't seen him in a long time but I had a feeling he only got more intense. My inevitable goal before everything in my life fell apart was to get good enough to kick my dad's ass and then revisit Zeke and see how we held up against each other. If I was being honest, Zeke was the best fighter I'd ever encountered and I thought no one could even come close. Until Kane.

Goddess have mercy, until fucking Kane. Dari said he was going to train me within an inch of my life, but I was pretty sure Kane was going to kick my ass even more. Between Dari, Ezra, Kane, Ben, and Dean, I was no longer having trouble sleeping. I just fell on the bed and was immediately out after hours of grueling training every day.

I thought I knew my body pretty damn well, but muscles I didn't even know were there were sore. Every single inch of me was sore and tender, screaming at me to stop moving but I couldn't. I had a literal deadline.

I sat on the floor in my room with my legs spread in a split position and stretched to the right side, reaching out to my toes and groaning at the satisfactory pain in the stretch.

"Hey, you sort of almost knocked Kane off balance today," Dari said from the bed. "Progress."

"Oh fuck off. Like you could take him," I sighed, stretching to the other side. "I need an ice bath."

"If you want it, you got it. Ben already offered earlier."

I leaned straight forward, resting my chest against the ground and groaning again. Everything hurt. It was a good hurt, but still. I pulled myself up and went over to the bed, flopping down on with no sense of grace whatsoever and rolling on my back. I glanced over at the clock, seeing it was close to dinner time. Right next to the clock was that candy bar Ben got for me when we went shopping.

I ran my fingers though my hair and my lips pulled down. I could not figure that guy out to save my life. Maybe I needed a guy's perspective. I never had before but I also never met someone as unreadable as Ben.

"Hey Dari," I said, flattening my hand over my stomach. Goddess, my abs were so sore.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Ben..."

"Is into you? Yes. Absolutely."

I rolled on my side and propped my head up in my hand. "Really?"

"Red, he literally punched someone for you, spends every day with you, does one on one training with you, and stares at you all the fucking time. Not to mention the way he's been rubbing that fucking salve on your back to help the muscle soreness," he said, rolling his eyes.

That comment made me warm a little. The amount of training I was doing was hard. I was sore every day. After a week of barely being able to move, Ben brought in a salve the healer put together to help ease the soreness. He put it on me where I couldn't reach and today especially, it felt intimate. His hands on my skin did things to me.

"I can't believe you're even asking me this," Dari continued. "Since when do you need help with guys? They fall at your feet. Always have. It's why Santi got in fights all the time. Couldn't stand having ten boys follow you around staring at your tits and ass. Keeping guys away from you was like a full-time job for us."

"Ben's different."

Dari rolled his eyes. "Whatever, girl. He's a straight dude staring at a hot woman sleeping in the room right next to his. Not hard to guess what he's thinking about when he's looking at you and so conveniently rubbing salve on your back."