Chapter 195: Grace
I stared at my mate in shock. Blood dripped down his chin. Sweat clung to his body. He was shirtless. Oh Goddess, help me now. I shouldn’t have been so turned on at the sight as he lunged toward Sawyer, but my goddess, he was attractive like this. In two swift movements, he had Sawyer exactly where he wanted him. Sawyer was able to give him a couple swings, but there would be no getting out of that. In this moment, he was completely himself. He wasn’t playing politician. He wasn’t trying to solve the world’s problems. He wasn’t mine. He was just raw, sparring with his brother, letting out all the emotions he had been feeling lately, and there was a lot of them.
Sawyer got another shot in; bur Rhys was unaffected, still closing in on his prey in the exact way he wanted to. They still clearly hadn’t noticed us, lost in their own worlds of whatever this was.
Heather cleared her throat, and Rhys’ eyes snapped to mine, releasing his brother from the hold he had had on him.
“Grace!” He exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
I crossed my arms in annoyance, and didn’t answer. He had the nerve to hide here and worry me, but he was fine other than some pent-up rage. I hadn’t even known this room existed which made me even more mad.
“The meeting started 30 minutes ago,” I said angrily.
Surprise filled Rhys’ face as he looked from me to Heather. He then grabbed his phone out of his pocket and looked at the time.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize the time.” He apologized. “We got distracted.”
“I see that.” I answered, not budging, mad he had made me leave Maizie and Michael alone with Arlo.
I glanced at Sawyer, who was sporting a nice black eye, and blood dripped from his shoulder.
“Are you alright?” I asked him a little more gently.
“I asked his to spar me,” Sawyer responded tiredly, maybe even a little defeated.
“And do you feel better now?”
“No.” Sawyer whispered.
“I’m sorry.” I told him. “Come on though, they’re waiting on us.”
Heather and I turned on our heels, and the guys followed, their heads hung low as if they were in trouble. In truth, they weren’t, but I was annoyed that I had been worried for nothing.
Rhys wrapped his arms around me, and I squirmed trying to get out of his grip.
“Ew, you’re sweaty. You can hold me again when you’re clean.” I told him as I pulled away.
“So, you want me to go shower before the meeting?” He teased.
“You are incorrigible,” I told him, turning so I could face him, leaving Heather and Sawyer to make their way to the meeting without us.
“That’s a big word,” He answered sounding impressed.
“I know a lot of big words.” I told him, feeling a little snippy.
“Bet ya can’t spell it,” He taunted just before his lips crashed into mine.
For a moment, I forgot myself. Goddess, the sweat on lips tasted salty, but I barely noticed as his tongue forced entry into my mouth, not that I really fought it. Why did I have to find him so attractive while sparring? A few months ago, I would have coward in a corner, now, I knew exactly who Rhys was. Blood, sweat and all. He was mine.
“I am sorry for worrying you,” He said as he pulled away.
“I’m just glad you weren’t really lost.” I admitted.
“Me too. Because then I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
He leaned in and kissed my lips again, long and sweet, but nothing more, and it was perfect.
“You can do that forever,” I told him.
“Good,” He smiled. “I expect everyone is waiting on us?”
“Yea,” I answered. “We should go.”
“Yea, we should,” He kissed me again.
“If you keep kissing me, we’re never going to make it. And I left Arlo with Michael and Maizie, so we really should go.”
He gave me another kiss and then grabbed my hand to tell me he was ready to face whatever was in the other room down the hall. Neither of us had particularly high expectations for Arlo to actually be polite, but Maizie was a firecracker. She wouldn’t tolerate disrespect. She gave Alpha wolf vibes to me, even if she wasn’t born one. I wasn’t really worried about her, but I still felt the need to be there to protect them in anyway I could.
We walked into the room, but nobody bothered to look up. Michael was flipping through the magazine still. Alana and Arlo were looking at something he had setup on the desk. Heather was scrolling on her phone. And Maizie and Sawyer were in stare down...
“What happened to you?” Maizie finally demanded.
“Nothing...” Sawyer answered with blood dripping from his eyebrow, and his eye black. And those were only the obvious issues. I wasn’t sure what other injuries lied underneath his simple white t-shirt, but I knew his wolf would heal him soon enough.
“Nothing?” Maizie shrilled. I had never heard that amount of worry or care in her voice ever. “You call showing up here late, looking like that, nothing?!”
“I was just sparring with Rhys...”
“You were just sparring with Rhys?” She repeated aghast. “Sawyer, you are like half his size!”
“Hey now-” Rhys interjected, but I placed my hand on his arm to silently tell him to let it go, and they both glared at him with looks that said ‘This is not your fight.’
“I’m not going to let her insult my brother,” He whispered in my ear before nipping it.
“She was just worried. Let them figure this out themselves.” I whispered back as I jumped up onto his desk, my favorite place to sit.
They bickered for another few moments before an awkward silence fell over the group.
Rhys looked around at everyone before saying, “Alright... Now that whatever that was is over. Are we ready to finally begin?”
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