Chapter 46

DAKOTA’S POV

I opened my eyes and stretched my hands over my head, enjoying the little sounds here and there that my body made due to the stretch. Since that weird night almost two weeks ago, Akela had taken it upon himself to train me. Well, him, but mostly Alan. Because in his words, “…my father knows better than me and is in a better position to train you.”

And that has led to us training in the morning and the evening. In my human and wolf forms, respectively. I rolled out of bed and headed for the bathroom, ignoring the protests of my muscles. They would adjust with time. I quickly brushed my teeth and threw on a pair of leggings and a sports bra.

I took a deep breath, and headed down, straight for the backyard, where I found Alan and Akela waiting. I looked between both men, a bit confused. I have been training alone the past few days without Akela. Anytime he would come to see me, Alan would chase him away because he didn’t need me distracted.

“Good morning.”

Akela blew a kiss at me and winked. I rolled my eyes.

“Good morning, Dakota. Did you sleep well?”

I nodded.

“What is going on?”

“Aww…” Akela pouted. “It almost sounds like you’re not happy to see me here…”

“Oh, shut up.”

Alan laughed.

“Well…I asked Akela here…” He pointed at his son. “If he would be nice enough to take time out of his very busy schedule and join us for training.”

“Oh. Why?”

“Well, I need to pit you against a male wolf.”

“Why not yourself?”

“You’re beginning to act like you don’t want me here….” Akela pouted again.

“Well, it can’t be me because these bones are getting old and a little too dry.” Alan chuckled.

“Aw. Don’t worry. You’re still a handsome old man.”

“My goodness, Dakota. Thank you.” He placed his hand on his chest.

“What about me?”

We both looked at him.

“What about you?”

Akela looked between us like we had somehow grown extra heads.

“What do you mean?”

He stood up from the floor and did a spin, waving his hands over his person like we were supposed to understand what he meant. I did, but why would I give him the satisfaction of telling him what he wanted to hear?

“Ugh. Never mind!” He kicked the dirt with his feet. “Let’s just get this over with.”

I giggled.

Alan drew a circle with some chalk and salt and then divided the circle into two. He stepped back and looked at his handiwork, nodding approvingly to himself. He turned towards us and clasped his hands together.

“Dakota, today we will be concentrating on hand-to-hand combat. You’ve been building strength, now let us test the strength. Both of you get in the circle.” I stepped into one half while Akela stepped into the other half.

“Hand-to-hand combat. That line aims to see who can maintain their side of the circle. To see if you are stable.”

“Okay…”

“Arm-to-arm combat, chokehold till you tap out indicates victory.” I nodded. “Are you ready?” I nodded again.

“Are you sure you want to do this, baby girl?” Akela taunted me as he took off his shirt and threw it to his father, who grunted but caught it. I was distracted for a bit by his torso but quickly snapped out of it. I couldn’t let him win.

“I should be asking you that. But don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone you got your butt kicked by a girl.”

He growled playfully at me, and then his expression changed. And I knew that it was game time.

“Fight!” At the sound of Alan’s voice, Akela launched himself at me. I lifted my hands to my face in defense and struck his face with an uppercut.

That seemed to disorient him for a bit, but he recovered quickly and went down, kicking my legs out from under me with his own. My back hit the floor and the air left my lungs with a swoosh. I quickly moved out of the way as I saw Akela’s bare feet coming down on my face.

“You’re out of your circle, Dakota!” I looked, and I had truly rolled out of my side of the circle. I quickly stood up and shook the dirt away from my body.

“Shit.”

“Are you ready to back down yet, princess?”

“In your wildest dreams, boy…” I got back into the circle and raised my fists to my face. Akela imitated my movements with a smirk on his face. One that I badly wanted to smack off.

“Are you ready, Dakota?”

I nodded.

“Fight!”

I crouched low and punched Akela in the gut, as hard as I could, and was rewarded with a grunt. I immediately followed it with another punch to his face and a roundhouse kick that sent him flying out of his circle. I smiled to myself as Akela marched back into the circle.

“Are you sure you want to continue, pretty boy?”

He smirked at me and shook his head.

“Not a chance, pumpkin.”

He came at me with everything that he had. I found myself on the defense, and I couldn’t even get a good punch in. It was then I realized that he had been taking it easy on me. He lifted me and threw me down on the floor. I groaned as my back hit the ground. He straddled my waist and wrapped his hand around my throat.

“Are you ready to surrender yet?”

“Not even a chance.” I tried to maneuver my legs and throw him off, but it was as though he knew what I wanted to do. He hooked his legs under me and ground his hips against me, holding captive everything from my waist down, while at the same time, his hand around my throat tightening enough to mildly restrict airflow. I sighed and grabbed his hand, grinding my hips against his. He looked at me and smirked.

“You like that, don’t you?”

Before I could respond, he tightened his hold on my throat again, released his hold, and repeated. I let out a loud moan and immediately clamped my hand down on my mouth. I looked at Akela and noticed that his eyes were on another part of my body. I looked down and saw that my nipples were at attention. I gasped.

“Oh, you sick perv!” He laughed.

“You happen to have just lost to this sick perv. Right, Dad?”

I had completely forgotten that Alan was here. I looked over at him and saw him smirking with his arms crossed.

“Oh, so you set me up, huh?” He laughed, and then signaled to Akela to help me up. He did.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

We walked over to Alan, and then his face changed, and his composure turned defensive.

“Odin’s here.”

Akela and I looked at each other.

“What does he want?”

“We both know it cannot be good.”

What did he want?