"Why can't you do it?" I barely know Cole, and Ryder wants him to 'train' me. "I'll help but with the hand to hand combat. I'm not going to be able to look at my mate and think that I have to punch her in the face." "Hand to hand combat." I exclaim after a minute of stunned silence. "I've run from stuff like this my entire life and now you want me to do something like this." When I try to move out of his hold he grips my hips tightly stopping my profoundly fidgeting body from moving an inch further as he lets a low growl leave his lower throat. "Stop moving," his voice is a low growl as his usual hazel eyes swirl with a pitch black colour. I can feel the hardness that my squirming had created pressing against the centre between my legs. "Will this training help me neuter that?" Ryder says nothing and stands back up with the iron feet of the chair scratching against the sandstone pavers as he pushes the chair back. His arm is tight around my waist as he removes my contact from him and props me back onto my feet. He doesn't let go of me for another five minutes and the entire time he has his eyes clenched tightly shut and keeps a steady but heavy breathing pattern. My mind is telling me not touch him. I knew that the black colour he's eyes had turned meant that his wolf was close to the surface. His wolf wanted to mate me, he wouldn't hurt me but I know enough to realise that his instinct to complete the process would be too much for him. Eventually Ryder's eyes open and he looks down at me questionable searching my face for a negative reaction to what just happened. They've returned to their beautiful hazel colour though. "I'm in control." He confirms the current thoughts running through my mind. "You're not blocking your thoughts from me." He's a lot calmer now and his voice shows it. "Why should I?" "Do you hear mine?" he seems confused and his eyes continue to scan over my face. "No, not really, you block me out don't you?" I think I've become more confused than him now. Ryder's eyes squint and his hand comes up to run lightly over my cheekbone his fingers dancing against my temple for a second. "I don't block you. I'll only ever block you if I'm afraid my thoughts will affect you in the wrong way. When I hear your thoughts, I hear them as if they were my own. Open up your mind to mine, please, it'll calm you more." Ryder leads me from the garden when I divert my eyes from his not wanting to reply to what he said. I don't know whether he's going to take me to the lessons that his mother is going to give me on how to be a respectable queen or the lessons in self-defence from one of my most experienced guards. We get to the fourth floor and Ryder leads us down the right hallway where I saw him disappear after the first time I meet him. It's vast. Not as big as our room upstairs but this one is set out to have more open living space. The floor is made of soft mats on the floor that also run up the back wall and on the side of the room there is exercise equipment. Cole is sat over the other side of the room on a table and Eleanor is stood in front of him bandaging up his hand. When I see the six month old bouncing on Cole's knee something clicks inside my mind. "Eleanor is Cole's mate." I can see the way that she looks at him and the way that the little baby tries to get closer to the both of them, stretching himself in a way that shouldn't be possible tells me that he's there's. The little family has noticed our presence in the room now and Cole gives a nod to Ryder before he walks us into a small room off to the side. It's an insignificant room with only a screen divider in it and a small side table. Ryder hands me a pile of black clothes nodding for me to go put them on behind the divider as he begins to lift his shirt up over his head. Before I can get stuck staring at the toned muscles of his abdomen, I move behind the thin divider to slip into the clothes that he had given me. The tight leggings finish just past my knees and the loose black tank top has purple stripes around the sleeves. When I round the corner back to where Ryder is my mouth drops open when I see that he hasn't slipped on another shirt along with the black workout shorts that hang low on his hips. He's lent against the table tapping away at the screen on his phone. He looks up at me when I get in closer to him and I'm guessing that the reaction that crosses his face is similar to what crossed mine as his eyes move over every inch of the glossy material that hugs the new weight added to my legs. He's quick to change it though. "You'll start with me today. I don't want you getting hurt so I want your reflexes faster before you start with Cole." Somehow I manage to nod at him. Eleanor has the baby boy in her arms now and is standing in the middle of the room. Cole looks nervous as he stands with her his arms crossed over his chest showing the prominent bulges of his muscles beneath his black t-shirt as he converses with Eleanor as the baby pulls the end of her ponytail into his mouth. He growls lightly when he sees Ryder but my mate doesn't react to the threat. I see Eleanor roll her eyes before she leans forward to kiss Cole, his eyes don't leave Ryder even as he shares the intimate moment with his mate but when the baby lets out a squeal of joy he looks down to press a small kiss to his head. Even Ryder reacts to the reaction of the little baby and I can feel the small chuckle through his chest. Eleanor rolls her eyes again and pulls away from Cole. "Careful of her stomach, she'll be in more pain of you put too much strain on her." She says to both of the boys as she makes her way out the door giving me a sympathetic smile before she goes. "You ready," Ryder asks as he leads me across the room with Cole leaving a distance between us but eventually I nod and I'm surprised by how little warning I have for what he does next.