Punch. Punch. Block. Duck. Punch. Kick.

It seemed pretty standard with Valente, he didn't try to hurt me, and maintained a rhythm with me which after a few rounds felt so natural with him, it almost seemed like we were dancing.

After a few rounds, both of us were sweaty, our faces a little red from the consistent movement, and that's when his face of concentration adopted a knowing grin.

As I looked at him look at me, I couldn't help but stop.

"What happened?" he asked, running his fingers through his slightly wet hair making it stand a little straighter to add to his beauty.

I should not think like that.

I should not think like that.

I should not think like that.

His smirk just grew wider.

"Nothing," I said, looking away from him. "You're looking at me."

The smirk vanished from his face and a look of concern overtook him.

"Did I make you uncomfortable in any wa-"

"No, no. It's not that," I said a little quicker than I wanted to.

I like the way you look at me.

I rolled my eyes at my own thoughts.

"Ima if you're sabotaging my thoughts I'll kill you," I told her.

"It's all you babe," she replied.

"It's a little distracting, is all. Sorry," I said, quietly.

His smirk returned.

"You're a little distracting," he said.

I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die.

I shook my arms out and took my stance again, looking at his chest rather than his face to try and avoid his smile, but realized the purpose was failing as I noticed the way his tshirt fit so perfectly on him.

He ignored my stance and stepped a little closer, his feet just a few inches away from mine.

He held my shoulders and looked at my eyes, causing my insides to knot.

"I've traveled Rayne. I've seen black hair and the color of your skin before. But I've never seen those eyes on any wolf," he said, bending his head a little lower to get a good look.

I shrugged.

"It isn't that big of a deal," I said.

"Unless," he said, coming even closer, so much so I could feel the heat coming off of him, "they aren't werewolf eyes."

His eyes widened in realization.

"You're a dyrith Rayne," he said through the mindlink.

I nodded my head.

"Gramma says that too," I told him honestly.

"Are you two going to stare at each other all day?" Delta Osvald's annoyed voice came from the front of the training field.

He was looking at us with his eyes turned to slits, the 'I'm watching you' in them, evident.

The sudden attention from everyone who was looking at us now had my ears burning, and all I wanted to do was hide. On the contrary, Valente seemed to like the attention.

I rolled my eyes. Typical Alpha.

We started the drill again, and I tried to maintain my composure as best as I could.

"Half werewolf and half what?" he asked me through the mindlink as we trained.

"I don't know. Can't tell," I replied.

Instead of sending the drill kick near my waist as we had been doing, he kicked my legs from underneath me, causing me to lose my balance.

I fell painfully hard on my side.

"Horrible reflexes, that rules out half the list," he said with a finger on his lips, standing almost casually.

"I wasn't ready," I told him, now angrily getting up.

"Yeah that's why you have horrible reflexes," he said, as we both took the fighting stance again.

"I didn't expect you to do that to me," I told him.

He snickered and looked at me, shaking his head.

"Oh little butterfly, there's so much I can do to you that you wouldn't expect," he said.

I didn't want to feel the way I felt at his words, but Valente was playing with me now.

He quickly kicked my legs underneath me again while I was caught off guard, causing me to fall on my other side.

He burst into laughter at my fallen form and my anger was rising even more now.

"Get up Rayne. This guy wants a piece of me," said Ima.

I quickly got up and took a fighting stance again. This time, I was ready.

Valente took a fighting stance too, his laughter had died down, but it was still there in his eyes.

As we started the drill again, I could feel an intensity in our movement that wasn't there before. We were faster, stronger and more accurate with our landings.

After three rounds of drills, Valente started to change the moves, and I could tell he was going to transition into an actual fight, and I was ready.

As our drill turned into a fight, I couldn't tell if he was holding back the way he did with Mordekai, because all his punches and kicks that I blocked were still pretty hard, and I knew I was going to be bruised in the morning.

As he moved to punch me in the stomach, I quickly side-stepped and punched him hard in the side.

Valente faltered, but didn't stop.

His face showed an aggressiveness that I bet whoever had seen before, didn't live to describe it. But there was something in his eyes, that I couldn't quite make out.

As we fought, I realized neither of us got tired, and every point of contact between us brought added momentum and strength to our movements, to the point I had started to enjoy my rough, painful fight with him.

We'd definitely stopped going easy with the attacks too. In simpler words, we were beating each other up.

He punched me hard in the face, earning a ghost of a smile from me, before getting a hard kick in the same side where I'd punched him.

That didn't stop him though. He was drinking away the pain like adrenaline, coming back harder each time.

"You're killing me Rayne," he said through the mindlink, his voice was laced with only one thing that I could make out.

It was the same thing I saw in his eyes, that accented his aggressive movement.

I saw desire.

...