Unfortunately, the burn in my arm became too much. As much as I hated to, I had to concede. Panting, I dropped the weight to the floor. Connor kept going. Be that way.
Moving away from him, I positioned myself on a nearby mat and began doing stomach crunches. When my arms were rested, no longer quivering, I went to the chin- up bar, jumped, and grabbed onto it, my fingers curling toward me. Facing the brick wall, I brought myself up and back down. All around me, I could hear heavy breathing, the grunting of us working hard, preparing mentally and physically for the battle with Bio-Chrome.
Exerting a great deal of effort, I brought my chin to the very top of the bar before lowering my body again. Over and over, quickening my pace until my arms begged for mercy. I slowed. It was a mistake. Without the momentum, it was too hard. I dropped back to the floor. Bending over, my hands on my thighs, I dragged in deep breaths, relishing the high that came from working out to the max.
"You should always expect an attack," Connor said, his voice low, his warm breath whispering along my neck.
I glared at him over my shoulder. "That's what I'm preparing for."
"You can never be completely prepared."
Before I could respond, he wrapped his arms around me, lifted me up, and slammed me down on the nearby wrestling mat, his body straddling mine. The gym had grown impossibly quiet. How had I not noticed? The only grunts and harsh breathing were coming from Connor and me. The others were circling around to watch the show.
Connor was strong, impossibly strong. I couldn't match him in strength, but I figured I had agility on my side. With a quick thrust of my leg, I leveraged myself up and slid from beneath him, safely rolling to the side. Part of me wanted to run away. It's always the smartest choice.
But another part, the part that had desperately longed for the moment when I would be able to shift, commanded me to pounce.
I jumped onto Connor's back, wrapping my arms around his chest. Instincts drove me to sweep my left leg against his knee, causing him to lose his balance. As we fell, he turned just in time, putting me on bottom. But it didn't matter, I was in control and he knew it.
Connor's body flexed, his muscles knotting up, and with one slick move he was again in charge. For several minutes we changed positions. Never speaking, bodies sliding over each other's. At times, it was difficult to tell where my skin ended and his began. Connor's body was slick from working out, making it hard to grab on to. But so was mine. His hands, large and powerful, slid down my back and across my thighs. My fingers were digging into his shoulders.
We broke apart and scrambled to our feet. Breathing heavily, we circled each other. His eyes held the glint of a predator, along with something more. I could feel the tension in the air—but it had nothing to do with competitors. It was all about girl-boy. The sexual awareness was humming between us.
"You're good," Connor said, and I heard the respect in his voice.
I wanted to swell up with pride, but I didn't dare let my defenses down.
"I told you she would be." It was Lucas. I hadn't seen him come into the room. I wondered how long he'd been observing.
Connor gave a barely perceptible nod and then he was coming for me again. He went high and I went low, grabbing his leg and using his own weight to toss him to the floor. In the fierce moments that followed, I twisted around, grabbed his arm, slammed his elbow across my thigh, and torqued it. Some referred to the maneuver as an arm lock, but I seldom paid attention to the technicalities. I just knew it gave me an advantage when my opponent was bigger than I was. Connor roared, the beast within him not at all happy with being restrained.
I felt his muscles relaxing, knew he was about to surrender. I loosened my grip—
He had me on the floor, his body pressing down on mine before I could blink. I stared up into his blue eyes. Maybe he thought he had me where he wanted me, but the truth was that I had him exactly where I'd always wanted him—so close, skin on skin.
I watched as his gaze wandered over me as though he was trying to figure out exactly who I was. His head dropped just a fraction, his nostrils flared, and I knew he was inhaling my scent. I had an urge to say something stupid, like, "Let's make love, not war." It would be just like me to ruin an intense moment with a cheesy one-liner.
But luckily my survival instincts were on high alert, controlling the part of my brain associated with speech. Instead, I just said, "I'm done here."
Connor's heated gaze settled on my mouth with more intensity than it had last night. Then it shifted up to my eyes. His brow furrowed. Finally, he nodded and rolled off me. He held his hand out to me and I wrapped mine around it, feeling the strength of his hold and roughness of his palm. Both sent pleasure rippling through me as he pulled me to my feet.
"Okay," Connor said, looking past me. "She'll do."
"What?" I jerked my head around to see Lucas, arms crossed over his chest, appearing incredibly pleased with himself. Beside him, Kayla smiled at me.
"Connor's in charge of his own group of Guardians," Lucas said.
"Yeah, I saw the list on the wall," I told him.
"Every leader needs a second in command he trusts to guard his back," Lucas said. "I suggested Connor select you, but he had his doubts. Think you just beat those into the ground."
I glared at Connor. He was running a towel over his slick skin as though he had no idea of the magnitude of what I'd felt pinned to the floor beneath him: the way my heart had pumped with more force than it ever had, how I'd thought he was actually becoming more interested in me as…a girl. I swung back and slammed my fist into his arm.
"Hey'" He rubbed his arm. "What the hell?"
"You were testing me? Testing me? God, Connor, you've known me forever, and you had doubts about me?"
Anger burned in his eyes, but I had a feeling it didn't come close to what he was seeing in mine. "Sorry if you're offended, but I've never seen you in warrior mode, so yeah, I wanted to confirm what you're capable of."
I got right up in his face. "Don't you dare try to test me in wolf form. If you do, you won't be getting up from the mat." It was a lie, bravado that I couldn't back up with action, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to let anyone force me into revealing my dirty little secret.
The challenge darkened his expression, turned his anger into something primal—and my body reacted strongly to the message he was sending. Suddenly we were breathing heavily as though we were near the end of a workout, our hands tightened into fists—not to fight but to control the impulse to touch. It took every bit of willpower I possessed not to pounce and take us both to floor. I could tell he was engaged in the same battle. He was scenting me again, and I was afraid my fragrance was laced with the heat of passion.