Tilly

Be real. Once.

The lift doors opened and Jackson walked out, without a tee shirt, only wearing a pair of grey sweatpants, confidence personified. He was breath-taking, and I took that breath back as his tall, muscular frame prowled to me and then around me, showing me he was utterly an alpha. His chest with a shirt was bloody gorgeous, but without one was delicious. I wanted to lick across his hard stomach, up his chest, and lick every inch of those tattoos that covered his body.

I raised my gaze up his body. His tattoos went up both arms and across each collarbone. There was a feeling once he turned around, I would see something amazing on his back.

As his lip curled upwards, all I could do was swallow at the lump that formed in my throat, but the bloody thing wouldn’t budge.

This plan wasn’t working.

“Okay darling, let’s make a move before I pounce on you,” he said, letting me know he liked what he saw too. “Over here.”

I followed him to a large, soft matted area, ready to kick ass.

“Okay, let’s start by showing me a punch. Let me see if you’ve got any strength at all,” he said, arching an eyebrow, which I assumed meant he didn’t think I had any.

He held a pad in each hand, holding them out to me.

Punch. Punch.

I made my first two hits from one pad to the other. Jackson smiled.

“Not bad,” he said. “Again.”

And we continued like this until my arms ached. That was quicker than I would have hoped. As much as I feigned being a beta. My biology was omega, from my bones to my muscles, and everything in between—I was all omega. I didn’t have the strength of an alpha or the stamina of a beta, at least not in exercise. Sexually, I could surpass either.

But this wasn’t sexual, this was physical torture, and my arms and legs burned.

“Let’s see how fast you can move. I won’t hit you, but I want you to avoid my fist, hand, feet. Whatever I throw at you. I want to test your reflexes.”

He nodded, and his hand flew to my face. I stepped to the side as his leg flicked out. I jumped back. This continued, and I danced around his movements. I was slight of foot, but not strong, and I could see how this would help me. But I also needed to work on my strength if I was ever going to bring down the people that hurt my family.

He lunged toward me.

I froze. Eyes wide.

His hands held my biceps, but the force of his body weight kept moving and toppled me over and him on top of me. I ricocheted onto the mat. He fell on top of me, plastering me underneath him.

Oh, my god. I hurt.

“Shit, are you okay?” He hovered over me, his hands on either side of my shoulders, as he stared, his eyebrows furrowed and a tiny line creased in the middle of his eyes.

I drew in the largest inhale I could find, along with too many of his pheromones, but I was desperate to breathe again. “I’m just…” Holding my stomach and turning my head. “Winded.”

“Don’t move. I’ll get you a seat.”

I couldn’t move. Every bone and muscle in my body had gone into hiding.

“Do you hurt anywhere? Does anything feel broken?” Jackson asked, stroking my hair from my sweaty forehead.

“No, I’m fine.” I held out my hand, he took it and I rolled onto my side, trying to get up but Jackson peeled me off the floor and picked up my body, embracing me over both of his arms, and he took the seat, keeping me locked inside him.

“Are you sure you feel okay? Do I need to get a doctor or take you to the hospital?”

“Jackson, stop fretting,” I said.

“We’ll leave the boxing bag for tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” I shook my head.

“With Luca too and maybe we’ll add in weapons training because an unclaimed omega is in danger at all times,” he said. He was so bloody insistent I was an omega.

“I’m a beta. I don’t need to worry about it.”

He pulled me closer to him, my head in the curve of his neck and against his chest, and purred above me.

Fuck.

He never stopped purring. He took a towel from the floor and patted away at the sweat that covered my face, murmuring to himself something I couldn’t catch. My eyes fluttered closed as I fell into his purr, feeling the vibration as it resonated through him and to me.