My Unknown Wolf

Chapter 6 Working and Workouts

Declan’s POV

I strolled out of my new corner office with a stack of reports and placed them on my new assistant Lacy’s desk.

“When you’ve got a second, these need to go to the R and D department. Tell them that if they have any questions, we can go over them in the meeting tomorrow. I’m headed home.” I advised her.

She gave me a sultry smile, leaning forward just enough to allow me to get a good look down her top, “Right away, Mr Rivers, and if there is anything else that I can do for you, anything at all, I’m right here.”

Lacy had been making advances at me since I started working in our flagship office. My family had started a single security firm more than sixty years ago. Since then, we had grown into one of the leaders in both personal security and building security. Since Dante took over the pack in the past few years, we had diversified into real estate, clubs, restaurants, and hotels and were now a multibillion-dollar corporation. All children born into the Alpha’s families automatically became shareholders in the businesses and had healthy trust funds so I could spend the rest of my life sitting on some beach somewhere sippy fruity drinks and staring at women in bikinis, but I was raised by a father that taught us that working for what we had was better than anything we could get for free.

I worked my way through school and had barely touched the interest my trust fund earned during that time, and so far, I was enjoying my new job. There had been a little push back from employees originally when I arrived as I was immediately put in charge of the entire cybersecurity department fresh out of college. They all believed that it was nepotism in action. However, after the first day, they finally acknowledged that I knew my stuff. I grew up coming into the office with my father and knew this business backwards and forwards and had been hacking computers since I was in my early teens.

I was good. I was tempted to get in touch with Human Resources and request a new assistant. As, unfortunately, she wasn’t getting the hint that I was not interested in anything other than a professional relationship. She was also human, so I could talk to her like I did any she-wolf back home. The problem was she was also good at her job, and I needed that right now to get this place in order. Before Cassie dangled the idea of my mate in front of me, I would have happily mixed business with pleasure and enjoyed every minute of it. The thought of my mate had always been in the back of my mind, but Cassie telling me I would meet her soon had pushed it front and centre. I didn’t want to still be a man-w***e when I met her. She deserved more than that.

Once wolves started having s*x, it was extremely difficult to stop. It was in our nature. I was crawling the walls trying to control my urges, and I would probably get carpal tunnel in my hand from the amount that I was using it, but I could do this.

I ignored Lacy’s advances and reiterated that I would be going for the day. I went to my office and changed out of my suit and into my motorcycle gear. I was a businessman, but I was not giving up my bike for anything. The bike made the hour-long commute more tolerable, and as soon as I got back home, I changed into my workout gear.

Dante met me in the gym each evening to train. Four years away from daily training sessions had put me a bit off my game. But with Dante’s help, I was slowly getting back on top. Jaxon and I trained whenever we could back home, but between school, work and having fun, the sessions were far and few between. I had even signed up at a local MMA gym but could never go full throttle like I could with Jax or Dante. Humans didn’t heal the way we did.

By the time I got to the gym, I was running ten minutes late and knew it would earn me an ass-chewing, but I was surprised when I saw the Luna there in workout gear instead of my brother.

“Luna, what are you doing here?” I queried, dropping my bag on the ground.

She gave me a warm smile and started to stretch, “You are my mate’s brother Declan. You are family, please call me Cadi. Dante got caught up in a meeting and asked me to come and spar with you until he’s free.”

“What about the kids?” I asked, trying not to hurt her feelings, but I was hesitant to spar with her.

She stopped stretching and studied my face, “they are with your parents. Am I sensing some hesitation on your part? Do you have problems sparring with a woman?”

“No!” I exclaimed, “I have met some great female warriors.”

Cadi crossed her arms in front of her chest and raised her eyebrow at me, “So you just don’t want to spar with me.”

I rubbed my hand across the back of my neck. I was digging myself a very big hole. “It’s not that. It's just that you’re my Luna, my brother’s mate. I worry that if he comes in and you have one hair out of place, he will beat me senseless.”

She snorted, “I think I can hold my own, plus your brother was the one that suggested this. You’re one of the few males that he will agree to let me train with, and the other two are gay, so you should feel privileged. Look, I could order you to spar with me, but that seems like a big abuse of power, so grow a pair and let me help you train. I’m just like any other woman that you’ve trained with.”

“Come on, man, let's just do this. We will go ag half speed until Dante gets here to take over.” Ace suggested, and I happened to agree with him.

I pulled off my hoodie and kicked off my shoes and socks, leaving me in just my black sweatpants and a white muscle shirt, “Okay, let’s do this, but if my brother comes in here and kicks my ass, you and I are going to have some serious issues.”

Cad laughed loudly as she headed to the sparring ring and getting situated, “I promise to keep your brother in line.”

I followed her in, bouncing better the balls of my feet as I tried to get ready. We stood opposite each other for what felt like hours, each waiting for the other to make their move. I thought for a moment that maybe I could just wait her out but then decided that maybe if I could just pin her quickly, she might realise that we weren’t a good sparing pair. I made the first move, reaching out to try and grab her shoulder so I could force her to the mat. I was surprised that she seemed to anticipate this move, and before I could touch her, she grabbed my wrist, turned her body so that her back was towards me, leaned forward and threw me over her shoulder. My back hitting the mat with enough force to cause me some pain.

“Ouch,” I groaned.

Cadi smiled down at me, “don’t underestimate me just because I’m a Luna. That is your first mistake.”

I realised that she was right. Growing up, my mother hadn’t been much of a fighter. It just wasn’t in her nature. She was a great Luna in every other way but preferred to take care of the weak members of the pack instead of fighting. I had just assumed that Cadi was the same. But I should have known better. Dante knew how I fought and wouldn’t have sent his mate to spar with me if she couldn’t keep up.

I stood up, “you want me to go full throttle?”

She nodded and got back into position, “I wouldn’t expect anything less.” “

You heard her, Ace. We aren’t holding back.” I told him.

“You got it”, He growled back.

We sparred for a good hour, and in that hour, Cadi had pinned me about double the amount of times than I had managed to pin her and to say I was impressed would be an understatement. She moved quickly and with more force than most wolves that I had ever met. I would love to watch a match between her and Dante.

I called a time out after she threw me to the ground again and got up in desperate need of water. When I stood up, I saw Dante sitting on the bleachers watching the two of us, the biggest grin on his face for his mate. I had been concentrating so much on the fight that I hadn’t even heard him enter the gym.

I walked over to him and grabbed my water bottle, taking a large swig of it, “Dude, you mate is a machine are you sure she only had a baby a few weeks ago.”

He laughed as his mate sat on his lap, “She’s a machine, but I guess I should tell you she has a bit of an unfair advantage.”

I gave him a confused look, “Huh?”

Cadi took that as her opportunity to explain, “My father was beta, but my mother was of Alpha blood, so keeping up with Alphas’ is a little easier for me. It also helps that the Moon Goddess blessed my wolf, so again I am naturally quicker and stronger than most wolves.”

If my jaw could have dropped to the floor, it would have. Of course, all wolves heard rumors about those blessed by the Mood Goddess, but I thought they were just that, rumors.

“Part of me feels like I just got played,” I advised, still in shock.

She shrugged her shoulders, “that will teach you not to underestimate your opponents in the future. If you will excuse me, I need a shower and spend some time with the kids before they go to bed. But that was fun. Let me know if you want to do it again sometime.”

With that last comment, she grabbed her stuff, gave Dante one last kiss and left us on our own. I

watched her leave and then turned my attention back to Dante, “She is amazing, brother. I hope when I meet my mate, she half as kiss ass as yours is.”

“So you’re finally getting serious and starting the search for your mate?” He asked as he took off his shoes so we could start training.

I told him all about my conversation with Cassandra, and I’m not sure if he was more surprised at the fact that I was friends with a witch or took her visions seriously. Our pack had dealt with a few witches in the past. Some were good experiences, others, not so much. Dante would never write a witch off completely, but he was careful about dealing with them.

We spent another hour sparring together before we called it a night. Dante wanted to get back in time to help tuck the twins in and read them a story before they went to sleep. After watching him the last few weeks, I knew he put his family before his duties as the pack's Alpha. He was an amazing father.

I walked with him back to the packhouse, but that was where we went our separate ways. I went to the kitchen to warm up some dinner because I had worked up a large appetite. Once I had had my fill, I went up to my room on the second floor and grabbed a long, hot shower to soothe my muscles before crawling into bed myself. It was still early, but I had an early start in the morning and wanted to make it to the office before the rest of the staff and get a few things done before my morning meeting tomorrow.

As I closed my eyes, I prayed to the Moon Goddess and pleaded with her to send my mate my way soon. I wanted what my brother and his mate had.