Chapter 193: Rhys
I paced my office anxiously. It was nearly dinner time. Nearly time for our meeting. Grace was still out at training; they were going on a group run today. I had popped over, but I preferred to have my workouts in the gym. Leon and I used to spar several times a week, and my body was itching to move in that raw way, but without Leon here, I didn’t really have an equal match. I knew I should train more with some of the warriors, but that would be too easy for me. I needed a challenge to get all this pent-up energy out.
I needed to do something. There was still too much time before the others would get back. Fuck it. I made my way to the ‘secret’ gym here on our floor. Most people only thought that our offices were up here, but we actually had our own private gym. I used it a lot more before Grace had come into my life. I hadn’t even told her this one existed. When we trained before, I had used the pack one. And I honestly didn’t know why I had never showed her this one. There was something about it that felt sacred between me and the guys. Sawyer had never really liked to train, he still didn’t, but it was something I shared with Leon, and Heather when we were younger. And for a while it was the only thing that Caleb and I ever did together. We both had liked to beat the crap out of each other, especially in our teenage years. Before there was too much distance that even fighting together couldn’t fix.
I hadn’t been in our gym since Leon had been taken. There really hasn’t been any time, or reason to. I mean, I probably should have been training to be better prepared for whatever was coming, but besides the basics, I hadn’t really been able to force myself to do it, and now, I was feeling it.
I creaked the old door open and to my surprise, the lights were already on and the sound of someone punching something met my ears.
“Sawyer?”
My scrawny little brother looked up at me in both surprise and a little bit of horror. I studied him carefully. I hadn’t seen him use the gym in years. I had thought he was at the clinic working, not whatever this was. His dark hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat. He also looked as though he hadn’t been sleeping, just like the rest of us. And his hands were so raw, they were bleeding.
“What are you doing here?” He asked a little aggressively which wasn’t really like him. He was usually the peaceful one between the three of us.
“I came to beat the shit out of something, same as you.” I answered.
“I-”
Before he could argue any further, I nodded at his raw, bleeding hands. He looked down, and he immediately deflated.
“Is everything okay?” I asked tiredly. I may have a lot going on, but so did he. He had also lost his brother and his beta. He had taken up some of the slack with Heather’s help, but he was still doing his job as Gamma and still running the clinic doing doctor things. I had Grace to help keep me balanced, but Sawyer was handling it all on his own, and obviously not well.
“It’s fine.” He answered shortly, wrapping his hands the way they should have been wrapped when he started punching things.
“It’s not.” I responded gently. “You’re drowning.”
Sawyer stiffened, and I knew I was right.
“You can take a step back, Sawyer, I won’t be mad. I’ve asked you to take on too much. I’m sorry.”
“You need me right now.” His voice came out soft, and vulnerable. This wasn’t my gamma or doctor speaking, this was my little brother.
“I do. I need you always. But not to the point that you’re hurting yourself. This isn’t worth anything to me. I will reallocate some of your tasks. Heather might be willing to take on more. Or maybe we bring someone else in. But that’s not your problem to figure out. It’s mine.”
“I just want to help, but I feel useless.” He admitted.
“I also feel useless,” I revealed. “It isn’t easy knowing my mate is in constant danger and there is literally nothing I can do about it. All we can do is prepare the best we can, and handle it all just one problem at a time.”
“The old you would have gone on a killing spree.”
“The old me would be dead already.” I replied bitterly. “I want to do this right.”
“You look like you hate that option.”
“I do.”
“Well, do you want to spar till the meeting? Get some of that energy out?”
“Are you volunteering?” I asked in surprise.
“I don’t normally spar... But you’re the best. I think we both need it for different reasons.” He answered with little hesitation.
“Are you sure?” I questioned. I didn’t want him doing anything that he didn’t want to.
He nodded and took the mat. I rolled my shoulders back, relaxing a little, knowing I was about to get exactly what I needed. I would not go easy on Sawyer, even if he was my brother. He knew that when he asked to spar. It would be a disservice to him, and a disservice to myself. We both needed it. Badly.
Sawyer made the first move. Speed had always been his advantage in any fight. Despite hating to fight, he had been trained as a fighter from a young age. Dad had wanted us all to be warriors. When he died, I had told Sawyer to pursue a path that made him happy, and he immediately dove into medicine. It had been a long time since he had trained like this. It had been a long time since we had sparred.
I dodge the hit easily, returning one of my own. Sawyer took it and swiveled out of my reach before I could get another. I steadied my stance and prepared for his next move. When he didn’t take it, I advanced. I gave him three quick punches to his stomach, and used my momentum to swing behind him, and pull him down, pinning him to the ground. It was too easy.
He scrambled to his feet and retook his fighting stance before surprising me and saying, “Again.”
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