“He better,” Fuzzy grumbles, holding Helaena close to him, “That girl is probably the one innocent person in all this.”
I sigh, leaning my head on Hayden’s shoulder. We need to take care of the Beta Liberation Union as quickly as possible so we can finally get Adela out of there.
Kole’s purr rumbles against my back as I pout, holding my cell phone to my ear. “You’re sure?”
After dinner, I felt the need to work off all the pizza, especially now that I need to be in tip-top shape. Kole, despite already having worked out this morning, joined me in the gym as I ran on the treadmill, pointedly ignoring the dull ache in my abdomen.
Usually the space has at least one or two guards working out off the clock, so I lucked out with it being empty tonight.
When my phone started ringing, I had scrambled to answer it, eager for good news from the doctor regarding my heat.
“I’m sorry Jo,” Doctor McFadden sighs. “There’s just no way to stop it at this point. Your body has been putting it off for too long. Suppressants are virtually pointless with how far gone your hormones are.”
My chest squeezes as my eyes screw shut tight. “So what you’re sayin’ is…”
“Your heat is imminent, Jo. I would suggest staying home and letting your pack help you with the spikes until the real thing hits. After that, you may be a bit irregular in frequency, but you should expect to go into heat once every three months or so.”
“Doctor McFadden, I don’t think you understand. We are in the middle of an impendin’ war with a bunch of beta supremacists—”
“Unfortunately, your hormones do not care one way or another about wars or beta supremacy, or anything else for that matter. Your sister is safe, which you were most concerned about. Take it as a win that your heat stayed away long enough for you to accomplish that.” His voice has that firm-but-kind no-nonsense quality to it that makes me want to stomp my foot and argue until my face turns blue.
“Fine. Thanks.” My words are clipped, and I hang up the phone, disappointment and anger churning in my gut.
“It will be okay,Lisichka,” Kole murmurs into my hair before pressing a kiss to my temple, which sends a delicious whiff of gunpowder and rain up my nose. “We will take care of you, as we always have.”
“How much of that did you hear?” I frown, turning in his hold and looking up at him.
“Not much, besides ‘your heat is imminent’. That seemed pretty self-explanatory.”
“Yeah, that’ll do it.” I laugh bitterly as I walk over to the hanging punching bag in the corner and grab my grappling gloves from a hook on the wall. I need to hit something, and while I should probably go for the boxing gloves, I prefer to practice in the same conditions I find myself in when I fight—and I don’t have padding on my fists when I’m beating the shit out of someone.
I hate how helpless I feel. How the fuck am I supposed to help with anything if I have to worry about a damn heat coming at any moment? It’s not like we can just ask Xavier Bowen to hold off on any of his evil plans until my hormones have figured themselves out.
Kole follows me, positioning himself behind the bag and holding it on either side as I slide the gloves on. He’s silent as I take up my stance, and swing my fist, hitting the bag with a warm-up punch.
I follow up with a few quick jabs, feeling a little bit lighter every time I make contact.
We really should put one of these bags in our own basement so I can blow off steam whenever I want.
My chest loosens when I fall into my drills, my mind going numb as I settle into my routine.
Jab, cross, hook, rear kick.
Jab, hook, body, front teep, rear kick, elbow.
Jab, jab, cross, jab, rear kick, body, hook, jab.
I don’t know how long I push. How long I let myself fall into the blissful silence of beating something with my hands. Sweat runs down my back, my chest heaves as I churn out combo after combo—
“—Jo!” Kole’s panicked voice has me blinking, my breathing labored as the room comes back into focus. My gaze settles on Kole’s perplexed expression as he continues to hold the punching bag, which has something red streaked across it. It’sonly then that I realize my hands are throbbing. Looking blankly down at my knuckles bleeding through the gloves, I peel them off, wincing as the material sticks to my skin.
“Great, now I gotta wash these,” I mutter, tossing them to the ground. They land on the mat, blood smearing on the floor. Dammit.
A shadow darkens my view, and I look up to see my Russian giant standing in front of me, looking at me with concern. Gently, he takes one of my hands, hissing when he sees the way they’ve been rubbed raw. “Why did you not stop when you started to feel pain?” His voice is barely controlled, and I can tell he’s mad.
“I didn’t feel pain,” I say lamely, shrugging. “It didn’t even register that there was anythin’ wrong until I heard you callin’ for me.” His lips purse as he leads me to the wall, where the guys have a first aid kit hung on the wall. “Kole—”
“Sit.” His voice is harsh as he grabs a chair. He stops, closing his eyes briefly while he lets out a breath. Sky blue eyes pierce my soul as they open and meet mine. “Please,Lisichka.”
