Page 27 of M.A.Y.A
“It’ll get easier the more you do it.”
“Sure, if you say so.”
She’d been practicing with the Betas for the last three days, and every time she thought she was getting better, she’d be tossed on her ass. Literally.
Sonya was her least favorite to spar with because the Beta didn’t hide her apprehension when it came to Maya’s presence in Isaiah’s life.
Wiping the perspiration from her brow, Maya advanced, fists raised, bracing herself for another ass kicking.
“Stop dancing,” Sonya snapped.
“I’ll show you dancing.” Maya lunged and managed to land a blow against a shoulder. Sonya blocked the next strike and then hit Maya in the thigh hard enough for her to worry about a fracture.
“Ow! What the hell?”
Sonya smirked. “Is that what you’re going to tell your assailant when he tries to hit you?”
“No, but we’re just sparring.” Maya went for a throat punch.
Sonya barely managed to pull back in time. “Use your legs, cyborg!”
“Call me that again, and you’ll really find out what it’s like to fight with a fucking robot,” Maya snapped back.
“That’s what we want.” Sonya tried to tackle Maya to the mat, but Maya managed to slither out of her hold and got to her feet and backed away. “It’s our job to protect our Alpha, and you have become his greatest weakness. Can you handle your own, or are we going to have to compensate for your failures?”
“You’d rather let me fall, wouldn’t you?”
“Maybe.”
Realization dawned, and Maya stumbled on the edge of the mat. “You still think I’m a threat to him. You think I’ll be the one who attacks him.”
Sonya held her hands up, palms out. “You said it, not me.”
The fact that Sonya was validating her fears only made her angrier. She vaulted forward and landed a solid punch against Sonya’s cheek. The Beta’s eyes darkened at the impact.
“Bitch!” she hissed.
“Takes one to know one,” Maya replied. It was a juvenile comeback, but she was tired of Sonya’s bullshit.
This was exactly why any conversation with Isaiah about mating was fruitless. Maya didn’t belong in his world. Even though they were compatible in bed, it didn’t mean they were good for each other. Isaiah had obligations to his pack, and the pack had the same beliefs as Sonya—they were not her biggest fan.
Before Maya could slam Sonya to the ground, an alarm blared through the gym. Sonya’s fighting stance relaxed, and she walked over to her discarded sweatshirt at the edge of the mat. Retrieving her phone, she read the screen.
Maya didn’t miss the eye roll.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Alpha wants me to bring you to dinner. We should head out now so we can shower. You don’t want to be late. We’ll be dining with just the Betas tonight, but even though there are only six of us, we can clear a table faster than the kitchen can deliver it.”
Her anger retreated like fog under sunlight. Was that it? Was Sonya just going to threaten her and then…tell her to come to dinner?
More importantly, dinner with the Betas was a first. She couldn’t help but wonder if this was a test, or another way that Isaiah was trying to bring her into his world. Either way, she wasn’t going to embarrass him by ignoring the request. Regardless of what was going to happen to them during the last seven days before their two-week mating period came to an end, she’d show him the respect he deserved. It was the least she could do.
And because she wasn’t sure if he would still want her nearby once their mating period ended, she had to talk to him about going back to the portal site. She’d move forward with her plan to destroy the opening. That was the only way she could keep this shifter pack safe.
* * *
It took them less than twenty minutes to shower and then meet in the corridor of the Den. Sonya led the way in silence to the main dining hall. As they walked through the central bypass in the cave, Maya met a few of Isaiah’s packmates. Most families lived in homes aboveground, but the single shifters who were in school stayed in the Den until they mated or found jobs in other regions within the territory. They were all polite but reserved with her.
