"You're taking it easy on me." I say out of breath as I pin Daniel down on the mat...for the 5th time.
"I'm not!" He says with a glint of humor in his eyes.
"I know you were lying about being on the same level as Maya and I." I remark as I stand to my feet and offer my hand out to him and help him off the mat.
"It was a small fib" he mutters.
I put my hands on my hips and stare at him disapprovingly.
"How small exactly?" I question.
"Very small." He says with a smile.
I raise my eyebrow at him and he smiles cheekily. "You barley broke a sweat on a 6 mile run." I state.
"Neither did you." He shrugs.
I drop my jaw. "I was dry heaving by the 3rd mile!"
"And it was hilarious!" I hear Tyler call out from 3 mats over. He was currently scrimmaging with Kai.
"Shut up Ty!" I look back over at Daniel who was covering his laugh.
"Come on let's keep going." He says getting into his stance. I get into my stance on the mat and within a few very short seconds Daniel has me pinned with a sly smirk on his lips.
"I knew you were fucking lying." I mutter.
Daniel winks before pulling away and helping me up.
"I may or may not have been a 3rd year trainee before I left my pack."
"In New York?"
Daniel smiles and nods. "I only had another year of training before I would be a fighter."
"That means you should be scrimmaging with Jonah or Noah" I say jutting my chin over to my two cousins.
Noah had Jonah in an impossible headlock, but somehow Jonah figured out how to get out of it and pinned Noah.
"Yeah probably. But being pinned by you is way more fun." He winks.
I hear a scoff from behind me. Maya was at another mat training with Alyssa not too far away. When I turned to her I could see her eyes shift back to Alyssa. I sigh and turn my head back to Danny who has a sympathetic look on his face.
"She'll come around." He says quietly.
"Yeah." I nod. "Let's go again." I say changing the subject before I burst into tears for the millionth time this weekend.
~
Lunch break couldn't have come sooner. I was tired, my muscles ached, and I was starving.
I was sat at a fold out table across from Daniel who was currently shoving his face with chips and the sandwich that was made for everyone training. I tried to focus on my own food as well as the conversations going on around me but I was completely distracted by him. I tried not to giggle at the realization of how he always stuck his tongue out before taking a bite of something.
It was friggin adorable.
Since he had opened up a bit about how he was a 3rd year trainee with his pack in New York, I took it as an opening to ask him more questions. Unfortunately I learned that my mate was a lot like a turtle. Yes. I said turtle.
I would ask him a question about his time as a trainee and he would answer the questions with ease, but when I asked if his parents were fighters too he retreated back into his emotional shell. I could tell the question made him uncomfortable, and all he said was his dad was. When I asked what his mother did all he said was she was a stay at home mom. At this point it's clear there's some sort of family turmoil. It pained me slightly knowing he probably didn't have a great relationship with them, but after that question I changed the subject so he wouldn't get cagey again.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when Jonah and Noah appeared on each side of Daniel. Each of them hooking an arm around his neck.
Daniel stiffened at the touch and looked between the two of them confused.
"So we hear you're a 3rd year trainee." Jonah starts.
Daniel awkwardly swallows the food in his mouth. "Uh. Was." He says glancing over at me as if silently begging for help. I only smiled and shook my head.
"The title may change but the training doesn't just disappear dude. Why don't you train with us for a bit?" Jonah asks with a smirk.
"Then Angelique wouldn't have a partner." He states as he looks at me pleading with his eyes to agree.
"There's plenty of first year trainees here I can spar with. Go ahead." I say ushering him to train with my cousins.
Daniel gave me a playful glare before nodding his head. "Alright." He says with a tight lipped smile.
"Great! See you in 10" Noah says patting Daniels back roughly. When I see Daniel flinch slightly I stare at him curiously, but he gives me a quick awkward smile.
"So who are you gonna spar with?" He asks, not giving me any time to question him.
"I would say Maya but she's clearly still not speaking to me." I grumble.
Daniel sighs and nods.
"She can spar with me" Lilith offers.
"Hell no" I state quickly.
Lilith chuckles and fakes hurt. "And why the hell not?"
"Because you can easily beat Kai who is one of the best boxers in the pack" I say obviously.
"Uh. Was the best boxer." She adds in.
"You box?" Daniel asks her.
"Yep. Ironically Kai was my teacher." She chuckles.
"Student surpasses the master." Kai grumbles but gives Lilith a playful glare.
"Don't be intimidated Angie. She used to suck." Tyler butts in, earning himself a punch to the shoulder from Lilith.
We all laugh at the exchange just as Alyssa blows her ear piercing whistle.
"5 more minutes guys!" She calls out.
A lot of the first year trainees, including me, all groan while the rest of them stand up and start throwing things away and preparing for the next session.
I stand up and stretch my arms above my head and arch my back.
When I finish stretching I look over at Daniel who has a lust filled look in his eyes as he rakes them down my body. I blush instantly and tug my shirt down earning a small smirk from him.
"Danny boy! Let's get to it!" I hear Jonah call out from one of the mats.
"Go on Danny boy" I say as he stands up and walks over to me with the same lustful look in his eyes. When he reaches me he puts one hand on my lower back and pulls me to his chest. He leans down to my ear and whispers "You're gonna pay for this".
He pulls away from me and gives me one last look before meeting with Noah and Jonah over at the mat where people already began to gather.
I join the crowd and attempt to push my way through the front. Looks like everyone wanted to see the new guy go against Jonah who was up first.
"Don't hold back." Jonah says teasingly to Daniel who only nods with a knowing smile.
Alyssa appears beside me and as soon as she blows her whistle Jonah lunges for Daniel. Of course, he misses. It was clear Daniel was best at defense as he blocked every punch or kick that Jonah threw. I could tell Jonah was getting tired which gave Daniel the advantage when he finally pinned Jonah.
The crowd around us cheered. I remained silent as I stared longingly at my mate who was drenched in sweat. His back was to me but I saw him raise the front of his T-shirt to wipe his face. I'm doing so, some of the back of his shirt had risen, and something caught my eye. I stared at the spot on his back trying to figure out what I had seen but Daniel turned back around to face me.
He had a smile on his lips but it fell when his eyes landed on my face.
"You okay?" He mouths.
I smile and nod not wanting to draw anymore attention to it.
"Alright my turn!" Noah says jumping in the ring.
"Good match man" Jonah says with a smile and shakes hands with Daniel.
Alyssa blows her whistle which starts the spar between Daniel and Noah.
"Your mate uses good strategy. I could use him at the gym for third year training." Alyssa remarks beside me.
I smile to myself at her comment.
"He's from Colorado right?" She asks me.
"Uh. Well he's from New York, but he was in Colorado before he came here."
Alyssa hums at my response as she stares at him curiously.
"Why?" I ask.
"I never knew the pack from New York to use such and old fashioned way of training. See how most of his moves are defensive?" She says nodding to Daniel who just ducked under Noah.
"Yeah?" I question. "We teach the same way though..." I say trailing off.
"Well not many packs do. Specifically the pack from New York. All the fighters I've gone against or even the ones Kai and Lilith faced all use offensive tactics."
I shrug. I wasn't really sure where she was going with it. "Maybe they changed up their strategy."
"Maybe so" she shrugs.
Once again Daniel manages to win the scrimmage. He pins Noah and jumps up once Alyssa blows the whistle.
He smiles at me triumphantly and I can't help but admire how happy he looks. Clearly this was something that he enjoyed, and I can't deny the pride I felt looking at him as everyone around him fawned over him.
It was when I caught Maya's eyes that my pride diminished. She didn't look mad like I expected her to, she looked sad and defeated. Guilt washed over me as I looked at her, and when she caught my eye her face stiffened up and she turned her back and walked away.
When I looked back over at Daniel's smiling face I felt even more guilty, just as he turned to face me I walked away from the crowd. I knew he could probably feel my guilt but I didn't want him to see it too.
I felt uncomfortable and awkward. I hated how Maya was acting, but I could really only blame myself for trying to hide this from her as long as I did.