"I'm seriously going to enjoy this, Sweetheart." Caleb threw me a very satisfied smirk and I swore his brown eyes gleamed in the late morning sun.

So much for not noticing each other.

"Enjoy eating dirt?" I goaded him, flashing a toothy smile.

"Simmer down, Flower." Raina's hand clamped down on my right shoulder, then she leaned forward and whispered in my ear, "One rule, no wolf. Theo's brother aside, I don't care what you opt for because everything goes during war."

Theo headed up the training sessions, since Alpha Sandolf and Eyolf took over the warrior recruitment efforts from him. An impressive number of Southern wolves turned up at their Alpha's request, or maybe orders I wasn't sure. Most of them were as young as fifteen or as old as forty. What one group lacked in experience, they made up for it in enthusiasm and vice versa. The lower numbers of wolves between eighteen to thirty made which part of the Southern territory's warrior base Cassius poached from obvious.

Nonetheless, the assembled crowd standing on the training grounds behind the packhouse benefited from three instructors here this bright, sunny morning. Theo had taken the younger warriors, males and females, while Cole worked with the more experienced group. After Raina paired up the few of us in the middle-aged group, I found myself in the unfortunate position of being right across from Caleb in a sparring demonstration.

As if his eyes on me weren't enough.

I hadn't at all considered Caleb's 'popularity' in his territory's pack until the moment I stepped across from him and saw so many female eyes glued on him. As the gossipy rumors flew, since one Southern bachelor was now off the market, the available females' attention drew to his still-unmated brother.

While Caleb lacked Theo's enormous frame with muscles upon muscles, he still towered over me and with his own chiseled physique.

Don't get me started on his skunk powers. Theo might smell like Raina but it doesn't burn my nose from the inside out.

'Mate perfume.'

My eyes closed and I groaned at that reminder.

Peeking one eye open, I used the opportunity of Caleb's gaze on Raina as she went over the 'rule' with him. The sunlight highlighted a glossy sheen on his dark brown hair and cheekbones, giving him a halo look that was so displaced, it was comical. His tight T-shirt stretched under his arm muscles as he palmed his hips, puffing his chest up.

Freaking peacock.

When Caleb saw my eyes on him, he smirked, straightened up. Crossing his elbows overhead, he peeled off his shirt overhead to a few gasps and swoons around us. My eyes, however, traveled to his chest, tracing the remnants of his cuts. Laying flush with his skin, they looked healed, fading much better than mine ever had.

"What are you going to do?" My hand found my hip, which I jutted out for added irritation. "Hit me with your nipples?"

"Whatever works." He winked, leaned forward, and reset his stance. His hands raised in between us, leaning forward. "You should take yours off too, unless you want me to choke you with your shirt."

"I -" I started when Raina's hand found my shoulder again.

"He's right, Flower." Her patting my shoulder did not reassure me. "Best to remove the loose clothes."

At the number of eyes on us, fine Caleb, my voice shrank into a whisper. "Raina -"

"Look at the bright side." She snorted, dropping her hand to her side. "You can blind him with your pasty skin."

That's not funny.

'Not wrong.'

One of my hands palmed my forehead.

Are you going to help me out or just make snarky side comments?

'Mate.'

I gritted my teeth since Lumi sat this one out, content to bask in Caleb's close proximity. How she wasn't bothered by his awful smell, which now I realized was strongest in the mornings and amplified now that he was shirtless, I had no idea.

"This is... ridiculous," I muttered, pulled off my tank top, and tossed it to my right.

As expected, the reactions to my strip-down weren't as positive as Caleb's. Whispered comments hissed through the air behind me like gossiping snakes. Without listening, I already knew the remarks were about the scars etched in my skin.

This morning, I braided my hair, then rolled it up into a bun at the nape of my neck. While that hairstyle was more practical for fighting, the parts of my shoulders and back not covered by my black sports bra were now exposed. My scars had long since faded but would always be prominent and I twisted my mouth to the side to avoid screaming at people to point their curious eyes away.

I get it, they're ugly.

While I hated my scars, I refused to feel belittled by them and lifted my chin.

Caleb paused for a moment, with a different reaction. His jaw clenched harder and a fire burned inside his irises. A slight flash of yellow passed over them but it was gone before a blink so I assumed it was the sunlight reflecting in his brown irises.

Irritation fluttered inside me the longer Caleb and I circled each other. His cockiness led him to step closer and my defensiveness backed me up. The size difference between us was embarrassing, in particular my slim arms against his bulky muscles.

Finally, he got tired of the stalemate and lunged at me. I side-stepped and stuck my elbows up, which deflected his right arm's punch but his left snaked around my waist. He twisted me around until his hands circled around my bare waist and pinned my back against his warm torso.

"Too easy, Sweetheart," he mumbled in my ear.

I ignored the shivers that wanted to escape or how the hairs on the back of my neck raised under his warm breath. Instead, I gritted my teeth and snapped my right elbow back and down into his right ribs.

He grunted, tightening his bear hug around me. I pressed my backside into his pelvis, then used his pause and hinged forward at my hips. As fast as my arms moved, I thrust them up between his, broke his hold, then grabbed his left arm and tried to pin it behind him.

It was like trying to pry open a can with my bare finger.

He was too strong to move and tugged my chest flush with his, gouging his fingers into my lower back. My nose hovered a breath away from his and we shared panted breaths. His skin was damp with a light perspiration that had removed some of his awful stench, revealing a hint of -

"You'd be dead by now if it weren't me," he whispered with a grin.

"Argh, so - " I moved my hands to his shoulders but he blocked the knee I wanted rammed up behind his legs.

"Theo might've fallen for that one, but nice try, no cigar." His grin challenged me to punch it and he caught my fist in his palm when I tried. "Weak, Sweetheart."

"I -" I swung again and again, but he dodged every jab I threw at him, swatting my fists like they were pesky insects. "Am - not - weak!"

"You know you lunge when you punch?" His left hand circled around my wrist, then shoved my arm away like it was nothing.

Each deflection flared my nostrils and surged flares of irritation through me, rushing the blood through my veins and turning my advances sloppy. Drawing a breath, I changed tactics and smashed my right palm up under his chin.

His head snapped back an inch, then cocked his head to each side like he stretched each ear to his shoulder. Once upright, he narrowed his gaze at me. Faster than I reacted, he stepped into me and drove his fist up into my left ribs. A burst of pain exploded on his knuckles' contact and I winced forward.

His hands covered my shoulders and shoved me down. His weight and an elbow hooked around my throat pinned me in a submissive, kneeling position.

The pressure from his bicep and forearm compressed my vocal chords. I squirmed, my fingers clawing his forearms but he squeezed harder. I got one foot grounded and knee jutting forward when black spots dotted my vision.

Raina tapped me out, earning her a low grunt from me.

Her dark eyes filled with concern as I stood up, rubbed the dirt off my knees, then massaged my tender ribs. "His right side is dominant, try to go for the weak points on his left," she said without a blink, then squared us off again.

Caleb's eyes flickered, flashing a rare hesitation when we set our stances again. "Zara, I -" he started, but I moved first this time.

Hooking my left arm, I swung at him with my elbow. As expected, he blocked it with his right palm. Using the circular momentum in my hips, I swung my right elbow, making contact on the side of his left temple. A sharp crack of impact erupted, the contact pitching his head. Before I reacted, his body flinched. Winding up, he delivered a right hook punch and struck into my left cheek.

Pain exploded, biting the skin and slamming my cheekbones. My neck snapped sideways. My teeth rattled and I crumbled over. Numbness rose in my cheek as I gasped between the pain spreading from my eye socket to my jaw. It throbbed hot vibrations over my skin.

Liquid pooled in my mouth, a metallic taste coating my tongue. My brain felt rattled, like all my thoughts were shaken up. The grass matted under our feet blurred from sight, dotted with black spots.

"Zara -" A warm, damp hand pressed into my lower back.

My head rolled to one shoulder and Raina's concerned eyes looked down at me. She took my elbow and pulled me off the sparring area, past the whispering gossip, and stopped at the edge of our training group.

When she spoke, she didn't sound disappointed, which is how I felt. "You all right?"

"My pride hurts the most," I whispered, brushing my fingertips over my swollen, throbbing cheek and wincing at the pain. Tears pooled in my eyes, burning my corneas as I held the tears back.

"Let me be the judge of that." Before I responded, her hands roamed over my ribs. Each poke she pushed shot small bursts of pain and I whimpered.

"Smile," she commanded with a scoff. I rolled my eyes but obliged and she eyed me like a dental inspection. "All your teeth are in place, so that's good."

"Zara?" Caleb's smug face approached us and I turned my back on him.

My tears returned, itching my eyes and I sniffled. Raina patted my arm, then mumbled, "Theo could use the help more but if he sees your face then Caleb might be the one missing teeth. So... go see if Cole needs help."

"Thanks," I whispered and walked away with my eyes averted.

That was embarrassing.

Later that night, I laid on my bed stomach-down with my knees bent and bare feet hovered in the air. My numb, cold palm pressed a bag of frozen peas pressed against my cheek. Sigh after sigh left me while I browsed through disappointing stories about rejected mates. When I got to my third attempt, my bedroom door vibrated with a thudded knock.

The stories were better company once I opened the door to Caleb's face.

"What do you want," I grumbled under my breath. Since he was not invited into my room, I shut the door behind me and leaned against it. "Come in here to gloat? Rub it in my face? Make sure I'm bruised enough?"

"Didn't see you at lunch or dinner today," he stated the obvious.

He was right, I helped a surprisingly sympathetic Cole for an hour, then hid in my room. My cheek doubled in size. Elena passed me bag after bag of frozen peas under my locked door, which helped, but now where he punched me was an interesting shade of blue and purple. A dark gray, almost black, color encircled my eye socket.

I'm not admitting that he beat me though. He can go kick rocks.

"I'm sure you could've eaten with one of your many fan club members from training." I stepped back, reaching for the door handle so I could close the door on cocky ego, which I assumed bloomed worse once my words sunk into his thick skull.

"Fan club..." Sure enough, his lips curled into a smirk and his eyes glinted. "Now who's jealous?"

My non-covered eye narrowed as his elbow propped on the door frame close to my right ear. He leaned closer, getting way too far into my personal space. Rapid beats skittered in my chest but I flared my nostrils at his not true accusation. "They can have every last stinky inch of you, Caleb."

"Did I interrupt your beauty sleep, Sweetheart?" My head pulled back off the peas and I grimaced at the sight of his smug smile a few inches from me. "Although if you stayed in your room yesterday or today, then I wouldn't have so much drama to mop up."

Drama... me? Seriously!?

It's like he forgot our conversation. Or the fact he freaking punched me in the face this morning.

He pushed off the doorframe, stepping to the side and revealing a younger, roughed up-looking guy. He stood behind Caleb, eyes averted and arms crossed over his chest, like he wanted to be anywhere other than here. My eyes softened at the distinctive red puncture marks on the side and center of his throat.

When my lips parted, Caleb coughed. "Ahem, Samuel?" Caleb turned his head away from my view and mouthed words. At least I assumed he did, by the way his jaw ticked but no sound came out of his mouth.

Samuel's brown eyes filled with a weighted sheepishness, matched by his hand rubbing his shoulders. "Miss Zara? I'm sorry. Your wolf ran onto my family's farm yesterday. My wolf, he caught her scent -"

"I get it," I cut him off with one raised hand before we got into the heat details further, giving Caleb any more teasing ammunition. "Thank you for apologizing. I apologize too, on behalf of my wolf, who didn't know she was trespassing."

'Not sorry.'

Not your fault you're in heat, I'll give you that Lumi.

Samuel mumbled, "It won't happen again," then he bowed out under whatever look Caleb stared him down. With shuffled feet, Samuel exited the hallway, leaving me and jerkhead in silence. All I saw was the back of Caleb's head, so like always, I wasn't sure what went on with him.

"Hey, jerk." My free hand tugged on Caleb's sleeve until his head turned slightly, then dropped my hand to my side. "Are you okay?"

"Other than traumatized by your wolf's bath, I'm fine," he scoffed over his shoulder.

See, Lumi? Totally ungrateful.

My lips twitched at her lack of response... until I realized she was drooling at Caleb's presence. He was dressed down, in a black tank top and gray sweatpants. My eyes did not notice the sculpted muscle forms in his back and shoulders, but did see a bruise on his left bicep.

"You smelled a lot better after she licked you." My fingers twitched with an urge twitching to lift up his shirt and inspect his scars. Since that wasn't going to happen, I squeezed my bag of peas in both hands.

"Thank you for Samuel's apology," I mumbled, dropping my chin. "Are you done here?"

"No." He rubbed one hand over the back of his neck, his eyes tracking my hand as I put the peas back against my cheek. "Far from it. Can I come in?"

Both my palms flattened into the doorframe, including one that still clutched the ice-cold bag of peas, and I backed into the door. "No."

"Seriously?" His eyes traveled down my appearance, his eyes flickering when they reached my chest level.

I broke my gaze off his and groaned at my V-neck, pink pajama shirt that read 'My bed needs me more than you right now' in block letters across my chest. My arms crossed over my breasts that Caleb had no business looking at and glared at him. "Yes, seriously."

"Hiding your pictures of me, Princess?" He brushed past me, marching into my room like I hadn't told him how uninvited he was.

With a grunt, I threw the bag of peas at the back of his head. In an annoying move, he caught them without a look back, set them on my bed, and eyed my still-open laptop screen. "Don't tell me you're a hopeless romantic, Babygirl."

A scream strangled itself in my throat.

I think, no I know, that is my least favorite one.

"Don't call me that. Other than you wouldn't know romance even if it punched you in the face, what's your problem?" I ran my fingers over my hair and clenched a few strands.

Before he got any ideas from my poor choice of words, I jogged over to my laptop and snapped it shut.

"Doing your own recon?" he teased.

"You could say that." I snatched up my laptop and hugged it to my chest. "I was reading about... rejected mates."

If my words had any effect on him, he showed none. His face remained passive and emotionless, but he stepped closer to me. The close proximity combined with his awful, eye-watering smell shifted my feet back, holding the laptop between us like a shield.

"And what do you know about mates?" He grinned wider, like I issued a challenge, and stepped closer. We continued with him one step forward, me two steps back until my butt bumped into the dresser against the wall. Leaning closer, his eyes inspected mine. "Rumor is your wolf's mate detector is broken."

Lumi's whine in the back of my mind twisted a pain in my heart.

He's such a jerk.

"Listen..." Caleb leaned closer, taking the laptop out of my hands and setting it on top of the dresser behind me. His eyes never left mine, not even when his arm brushed over my shoulder or his mouth was a few inches from mine. "I'm, uhh... sorry."

"Huh?" I squeaked out. If I wasn't leaning back into the dresser, then my knees would've given out. I looked around my empty bedroom.

Guess I'm not being pranked.

"If I hadn't said anything yesterday then you wouldn't have run and, if I hurt you today..." The soft, sincere sound of his voice blew me away as much as his actual words. "I'm sorry."

While he wasn't touching me, I couldn't breathe with him in my personal space. My body flamed like an internal furnace had been lit, flushing heat through me like a rash. Goosebumps erupted on my skin, raising the hairs on my forearms and back of my neck. His terrible scent that had now flooded into every corner of my bedroom's personal space seemed a lot more... enticing.

Worst of all, a warm, slow ache pulsed in between my legs, pulling my eyes wide.

No no no. Not now.

"I appreciate the apology for punching me in the face, thank you." I leaned as far back away from him as my position permitted, and pointed at the door. My voice quivered as much as my finger trembled. "Now kindly, or in your case rudely, leave."

If satisfaction was a liquid, then Caleb looked like he doused himself in it. His eyes darkened and corners of his mouth curled up. "Zara," he stated in a cocky tone, his eyes glued to mine. "You're in heat."

"I'm fine," I lied, trying to ignore how the hot flush of frustrated aches that my core area emitted like a homing beacon. My skin flushed hot, my skittering heart enjoying his closer proximity when he leaned closer.

"I smelled it on Lumi yesterday but it's all over you now." His eyes darkened a shade and the smirk I now wanted punched off his face deepened, flashing his teeth. "I can help you with that... problem, you know."

"Only mates can," I spat out, rolling my lips inward at how bitter I sounded. "Lumi and I both know you want nothing to do with us."

My heart's pounds filled the silence that followed. Each beat pounded harder and I cringed at him hearing the sound.

After a few moments where he stared at me and I wondered what caused the near tortured look in his eyes, Caleb moved first. My lips parted as his hand lifted and cupped under the bottom of my chin, spreading waves of warmth over my jaw, up into my cheeks, and down my neck. The back of his other hand's fingers trailed over the numb, tingling skin on my left cheek and his eyes softened.

My heart thumped in my chest when his thumb pad traced over my lower lip and sadness washed over his expression. "Zara, I..." he started in a heavy tone. "It's complicated."

As my spine stiffened, the thumps in my chest bordered painful.

Is he admitting... that he's... we're?

At the risk of sounding weak, I whispered, "Uncomplicate it."

He didn't answer, but his gaze froze and he lifted his head back. His eyes glazed over like a mindlink and hands dropped down. Crease lines tensed his forehead, then he straightened up. Shaking his head, he walked away without another word.

My body sagged, shoulders rounding and stomach clenching concave. A pressured tension compressed my chest, constricting my breath. Wrapping my arms around me, I rasped out one shaky breath after another.

What was that? And why do I feel like he shattered my entire world?

I needed every ounce of self-control not to sit crumpled on the floor near the base of the dresser. The worst part wasn't the chill that hit my skin from his withdrawn contact, or the tears that threatened to flood my cheeks, it was how I craved the warmth he took with him.