Chapter 15 Chapter 15 "What the actual f**k, Kent?" Patrick said once Riley was out of earshot. Kent watched her back as Leo continued to pull her towards the training building. The blood was rushing in his ears, his fists clenched at his side. He kept picturing her, straddling Patrick's waist, her lips near his throat. Logically, he knew they were sparring. He also knew that she had been incredible. He had never seen anyone move as fast as she did. "Goddess," Patrick was saying, "even if she wasn't your mate, she would still be a guest at our pack. A guest from the f*****g Werewolf Council. Couldn't you at least stop being such an ass for just a minute?" Kent blinked, focusing his gaze on his gamma. "I'm not an ass." Patrick rolled his eyes. "Yes you are." He sighed, turning to pick up his shirt and water bottle. "Most days I can deal with it, but she doesn't deserve that." Kent frowned, a feeling an embarrassment washing over him as he replayed how he had spoken. He had watched his incredible mate spar his best warrior and win. Then he had insulted her... because he didn't like her touching someone else, even in the most platonic of ways. "She didn't want me to come over," he said suddenly, not sure why he was admitting that to Patrick. "She was annoyed when she saw me. She was annoyed that you called me over." "Of course she was," Patrick scoffed. "She had just lost a spar and turned to find her mate watching her." Kent's eyes widened slightly. "I didn't think of it like that." "That's because you don't think, asshole." Patrick shoved his shoulder, pointing him towards the packhouse. "I was going to the training center," Kent pointed out. "I need to check patrol schedules." "I already did that this morning," Patrick said, pushing Kent's shoulder. "And I'm not letting you go near the training center while she's in it." Kent frowned as he turned back towards the packhouse. "I don't need to avoid her." "You do right now." Patrick threw his shirt over his shoulder as they walked. "You're never going to win her over if you keep acting like a dickhead." "I don't even know if I want to win her over," Kent countered. "I'm not even sure I want to have another mate." "You do," Patrick said simply. "You're just too stubborn to admit it. I've known you my whole life, Kent. Lily drove you up a f*****g wall before you found out she was your mate. You two used to fight and argue all the time. Goddess knows I would beg her to stay at home just so I didn't have to listen to the two of you yelling at one another." Kent smiled slightly, remembering Lily as a kid and how easy it had been to get under her skin. "Of course the Goddess would see it fitting to give you an equally stubborn mate as the last time," Patrick continued. "But you don't have to insult her fighting skills like that. She must hear it from all the alphas she meets and now she has to hear it from her own mate. You don't need to act like such an insecure asshole." Kent stopped outside the back door and turned towards Patrick. "I'm not acting insecure. I just know how good of a fighter I am. Lily used to pretend she could beat me too, but she never could." 1/3 "You are acting insecure," Patrick insisted, rolling his eyes. "Lily claiming she could beat you never bothered you because we all knew she couldn't. But Riley claiming she could beat you is upsetting you because she might actually be able to do it." Kent scoffed. "Unlikely. No one has beat me since I was nineteen." Patrick shook his head. "You're such a stubborn ass sometimes. And I say that as your friend." He glanced across the field and then back to Kent. "But your mate seems like a good person. I've spent the morning with her and seen how hard she works, how she's focused on helping on our pack. I've sparred with her and seen how strong she is. Even if you don't want her as a mate, she doesn't really deserve to be spoken to like that." Kent frowned, clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides as Patrick turned and walked into the pack house. ** Leo didn't loosen his grip until they were actually inside the training academy. He led her up the stairs to the second floor and into one of the weight rooms. Riley had to admit, it was a pretty impressive room, set up with some of the latest equipment. Fortunately there was no one there this afternoon, so Riley had her pick of where to start. She headed towards the squat rack, stopping midway to rub her temples. Her headache was coming back with a vengeance. "You're still tired, aren't you?" Leo said, watching her. She shrugged. "Yeah, I suppose I am." "Where the hell did you find the energy to take the gamma down? That was a f*****g impressive spar by the way." She smiled slightly. "Kent just pissed me off when he said I couldn't take him down if I couldn't take Pat down. Anger can be pretty powerful fuel. I should know. I ran on that alone for my whole first year at the academy." "Why did it piss you off so much?" Leo grabbed a weight to put on the bar. "You know you can win against the gamma. You can win against the alpha too. Why let it bother you like that? He was just being a macho alpha like they always are." She frowned, pausing from loading her own weight. "I just don't need another mate who tries to tell me all the once. I can't do it again." things I can't do. I went through th Leo stared at her for a moment. "Why did I never know you had a mate before? We've been best friends since the academy. I'm surprised you never said anything." "It doesn't matter." She went back to loading her weights. "It does matter," Leo said, taking a step towards her. "Being rejected is actually a pretty f*****g big deal, Ri. You can't pretend like it didn't happen." "I'm not pretending it never happened." She rolled her shoulders. "It's just that it happened and it's over. There's no reason to keep going over it again." "What was he like? Your previous mate?" She sighed. "Really, Leo? I don't want to talk about it. I was young and stupid. I met him on my eighteenth birthday. He was an asshole and he made his choice, and his choice wasn't me. Can we just drop it?" She 2 looked up to see Leo watching her, his lips pulled into a thin line. "Please?" He sighed and nodded. "Yeah, sure. Let's just lift."