The Panther's Second Chance (Book 10 of the Regal Eclipse Pack Series)

Chapter 14

He should have stayed away. He realized that a few minutes after he'd entered the gym. But he couldn't. He'd needed to see her again. This bond was doing something to him.

After his meal, he'd gone back to his room and straightened it up, before sitting down with a book. He'd quickly realized he wasn't able to concentrate, and his urge to go see her had hit him hard. Plus, he needed to work out some of the tension he was feeling and the gym was the second easiest way to work that out. The first way wasn't an option yet.

He changed clothes and headed down to the gym. Her scent had hit him hard when he'd opened the door. She was sweating from her workout and her scent filled the room, calling to him and arousing him. He'd ignored it and headed over to the rowing machine, which would give him a view of what was going on.

Natalia was fighting with Abby, which wasn't too much of a surprise. Abby was lethal though. Dom had watched the dark haired beauty enough to know she could seriously kick some ass. He also quickly realized that Natalia was distracted.

He watched Abby slam her fist into Natalia's nose and cringed at the telltale crack. He wanted to go over, but he kept back, letting Ragnar fix it. He watched her take hit after hit, as he continued to row, feeling the burn in his muscles. He was distracted as well, watching her fight.

She was beautiful. She had her hair back in a braid, and was wearing a T-shirt and shorts. His gaze darted over those long legs of hers, remembering her having them wrapped around his own that morning.

But then came a sound that made him completely cringe and he stopped, watching her drop. Ragnar hadn't been very far away, and had moved forward to catch her.

Dominic jumped up and hurried over, kneeling down next to her as Noelle approached. She'd been busy with a punching bag across the room. "What happened?"

"She's distracted. By him," Ragnar said motioning to Dom.

"I shouldn't have come down here," he muttered as he stared down at her.

"Is she okay?" Abby asked.

"She'll be fine. That was a helluva move, Abby," Ragnar complimented her.

"She's off her game," Abby muttered.

"And you took advantage of it," Noelle said with a smile.

"Why isn't she waking up?" Dominic asked with a frown as a bit of panic went through him.

Ragnar leaned forward. "Heart damage," he muttered. "She's done for the day."

Dom frowned at him.  He felt like slugging the old Beta himself for allowing this to happen to her. 

Ragnar met his gaze. "She'll be fine. You know that."

He did, but it still irked him. "I shouldn't have come down."

"No, you should have. She needs to learn to fight with distractions. You're going to be the biggest one for her, but she has to pull her focus off of you and on to what she's doing. She was fine until you walked in, and even though she never once looked at you, she was still completely focused on you," Ragnar said with a smirk.

That surprised him. Was she really that distracted by him? He found it a bit hard to believe, but at the same time, he was completely distracted by her too. This thing between them was so strange.

Her eyes popped open and she groaned. "What happened?"

"You let Dominic completely distract you and then Abby kicked your ass," Ragnar said.

She frowned and Dominic could see the pain in her eyes. "Are you okay?"

She breathed slowly. "I hurt."