The Human Alpha

[]=-Chapter 3-=[]

Christian’s POV

My opponent’s stone-cold face gave me no hints as to where he planned to strike next, so I watched his body movements to make sure I stayed one step ahead of him. He must've realized this though, because as I dodged his swing toward my face, he was quick to send his leg out, connecting with my ribs and having me stumble back. I grunted a little at the impact but prepared myself for the next swing that quickly came toward my stomach.

I faked right and then left in a quick attempt to make him lose his balance, which was a mild success. I only managed to get a little stumble out of him, giving me the chance to go for his knees once with my leg, before he straightened himself back up. I sent a fake punch toward his face before he had the chance to go at me again and as he moved his arms up to block his face, I went straight for his body, which was left unguarded.

The two punches I sent to his stomach had him doubling over, and I kicked his legs out from under him, making him fall to the ground. I quickly jumped back away from him when he tried to grab my legs and put some distance between us as he stood up. He snarled a little as he started running toward me, and I waited until the last possible second to do a roundhouse kick, sending him stumbling back a few feet back and onto the ground once again.

I could tell that he was determined to beat me because as he got up, he made eye contact with me, a silent message evident on his features. He came at me quickly, sending a combination of punches and kicks at my body. I backed up enough to get out of his reach and try to catch my breath, but he didn’t give me much of a chance.

Leaping to my left just in time to dodge a blow that would have surely hit me in the gut, I dove at my opponent's waist, tackling him to the ground. Of course—him being a werewolf and all—he is much larger than I am, but I’ve learned how to use my size and momentum to bring my opponents down. I smirked to myself in a slight victory, but quickly snapped back when I felt myself get roughly flipped over and find myself pinned to the ground. My small size benefits me by giving me more agility and suppleness than larger opponents. However, once I find myself pinned under them, I am certainly screwed.

I flinched and shut my eyes tight when I saw my opponent’s fist come straight toward my face. However, when it didn’t make contact with my skin, I opened my eyes, seeing it stop inches away from my nose. A heavy breath that I didn’t realize I was holding escaped between my lips as he backed off of me, reaching out a hand to help me up.

“You should have seen your face,” Ethan chuckled as he pulled me to my feet, making me roll my eyes at him. “I know not to hit it, man. You really think I forgot?”

I didn’t really think that he forgot, just that he had gotten carried away. He’s the best fighter in the pack and has been training me for years to protect myself and never once has he left a bruise or cut in a place someone could see. It was the rule we came up with when we started. Nobody in the pack knew that I was training like this, much like my ability to draw, except for Ethan. He understood me in ways others didn’t, so he never second-guessed my decision when I asked him to train me.

“Whatever, let’s go again. And don’t go easy on me this time!” I backed up a little, raising my fists and bending my knees, waiting for him to do the same. Before positioning himself for the fight, Ethan gave me his award-winning smile, which surely would have brought me to my knees begging for him if I didn’t already know he had a mate. Maybe in another universe, I thought before shaking those thoughts from my mind. Now’s not the time to get all thirsty for my best friend.

***

I stepped out of the shower which helped to relax my achy muscles a lot after getting my ass handed to me by Ethan. I need to make a mental note to never tell him to stop going easy on me because I definitely regret that. Either way, at least I’m not nearly as sore as I was before I got into the shower.

Wrapping the towel around my waist, I opened the bathroom door and stepped into my room, almost jumping out of my skin when I found Ethan laying on my bed smirking at me. I quickly tightened the towel on my waist and calmed my racing heart before opening my mouth. “How long have you been out here?”

The smirk on Ethan’s face grew. “Long enough to know that you were doing more to your body than just washing it.” Ethan chuckled at my bright red face, and I debated turning around and hiding away in the bathroom again for all eternity. Unfortunately, I knew that wasn’t realistic, so I just avoided eye contact with him while I went into my closet to get my clothes on. “Clearly we need to find someone to satisfy you a bit,” he added with a wink when I came out of the closet.

“Or I just need to find my mate,” I grumbled, more to myself than to him.

Ethan’s face showed a small amount of pity as he stood up. “You can’t rush that, it will happen when it happens. For now, let’s get you out there somewhere and find you someone to get lucky with.” Ethan winked once again before grabbing my arm and pulling me out the door.

We were already out of the elevator and partially down the hallway on the first floor of the packhouse when I spoke up again. “Are you sure your mate is cool with this?” I was practically running to keep up with him and was looking for any excuse to get out of this. Clearly, it was going to be a lot harder than I thought.

“She suggested it!” Ethan chimed, making me even redder than I was before. Was he really talking to his mate about my… personal experiences? “Besides, it’s not like I’m the one looking for someone to hook up with.” He was talking loud enough for anyone walking by to hear him which was not helping my situation at all. I did not need word getting around the pack about this situation. The last thing I need is for all the unmated she-wolves to come begging on their knees for me to mate with them and make them Luna.

I decided it was best to keep my mouth shut so that people wouldn’t overhear our conversation, reluctantly followed Ethan to his car—not that I had much choice in the matter since he was practically dragging me by my arm—and let him drive me to wherever it was he thought I needed to go. I wasn’t too surprised when he pulled up at a club that was not too far away from the pack territory.

As soon as we got inside, Ethan directed me to a table to sit down at and he went up to the bar to get us drinks. I understood why he wanted me to drink since he and I both know that I would never go up to a stranger like he wants me to do while sober, but that doesn’t make me happy about the fact that we will be drinking. Knowing Ethan, he’ll probably end up getting me drunk as hell.

It didn’t take long before Ethan was back at the table with half a dozen shots, three of which he placed in front of me. I wasn’t even sure what was in the glasses, but I was too afraid to ask as I lifted the shot glass to my nose and took a whiff.

“Bottoms up!” Ethan quickly tossed back his first shot and looked at me, motioning for me to do the same. I copied him, swallowing the bitter liquid and cringing a little at the taste. Ethan just laughed at my reaction as he took his next shot and waited for me to do the same. He really was trying to get me drunk fast.

After my second shot was down and Ethan had already taken his third, he grabbed the last shot that was left in front of me and downed it when he realized I wasn’t going to do it myself. It was partially because I couldn’t stand the taste of the alcohol, but also because I was afraid of how fast I would get drunk since I rarely ever drank.

A waitress was soon at our table with another round of shots, and I stared at Ethan, wondering how much of this alcohol he actually expected me to drink myself. “You know I am not like you,” I commented after the waitress disappeared. “I can’t drink shot after shot and not even get tipsy.”

Ethan laughed. “Yeah, but I also know you are going to have to be more than just a little tipsy if I am trying to get you to work up the nerve to talk someone into sleeping with you, so…” He motioned to the array of drinks on the table. “Besides, as you said, it’ll take a lot for me to feel anything at all, so whatever you don’t drink, I will.”

That was one of the few things that I didn’t envy about werewolves; they could drink so much alcohol and it somehow didn’t do much of anything to them. It took way too much to get them to feel even slightly drunk, and I was glad I didn’t have to suffer through that much drinking for it.

I don’t know how long we were at the club, nor how many drinks I ended up having, but after some amount of time and several drinks, Ethan pointed out someone across the club and encouraged me to go talk to them. Since I was already drunk enough to not care to argue, I stumbled across the room, almost falling straight into the man who was sitting at the bar. I don’t know how long he had been there, but even as drunk as I was, I could tell he was also very intoxicated. I even heard the bartender say he was cutting him off as I approached.

My phone buzzed in my pocket and I fumbled to pull it out, looking at the message on the screen that was left by Ethan.

“I was talking about the woman a few seats over, but apparently you had your eyes on a different target.”

Had I been sober, then I would have been embarrassed by the comment, but right now I can’t feel anything of the sort. Instead, I leaned into the counter next to the man and tried my best attempt at flirting, which I don’t think sounded as good as it did in my head. Luckily for me, the guy was drunk enough to not even notice my struggle, and it wasn’t too long before I was following the man like a puppy dog out of the bar and down the street to his house.

I didn’t see Ethan before leaving the bar to let him know where I would be, so I made sure to make a point of sending my location to him once we got to the man’s house. It’s a good thing I did it when I did, because once the door closed behind us, everything else turned into a hazy mess and I have no idea what happened after that.

***

“What the f**k?” The shout, along with my pounding headache, ripped me out of my sleep, and I rubbed my eyes as I sat up. Cool air blew against my chest as the sheets fell off my body, and I looked down, trying to figure out where I was.

“What. The. f**k?” The voice came again, and I looked to my right to find a man sitting on the bed next to me, holding the blankets around his body tight. Oh yeah, that’s what happened last night.

I could tell this man also had little memory of the night before, and since he seemed too shocked to do anything at the moment, I decided that I should remove myself from the situation. “I should probably leave.” I stood up, grabbing my pants off the ground. “I take from your reaction that you don’t want to see me again?” I tried to make light of the situation, but this man clearly wasn’t having any of it.

“I’m not even gay!” He hadn’t moved from where he was sitting, but was still staring at me in shock as I pulled my clothes on.

I held back a scoff and gave him a look, thinking about what he had just stated. “Clearly, you aren’t straight either,” I shrugged after I pulled my shirt over my head. “So I mean, if you want to explore some more-”

“I have a girlfriend!” He stood up, wrapping the blanket around his waist to hide himself from me. Not like I didn’t do more than just see him last night but… “She is coming over here right now, you have to get out of here.”

“Okay, just let me call my friend to come-”

“There’s no time!” He grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to the front door, practically throwing me out of the house once he got it open.

“Wait, you still have my phone!” I called out after he slammed the door, and it only took a few seconds before he cracked the door open, tossing my phone at me. I sighed as it hit the concrete, and bent over to pick it up, looking at the now shattered screen. Great.

A car horn honked behind me and I looked over my shoulder, seeing Ethan’s car sitting on the side of the road. At least I didn’t have to wait for him to pick me up and risk running into this guy’s girlfriend. I quickly climbed into the front seat, dropping my phone in my lap.

“Looks like you had a fun morning.” Ethan chuckled, and I looked at him, rolling my eyes.

“You think?” I wanted to go off on Ethan, but I didn’t have the energy to. I felt disgusting and just wanted to get in my own bed and forget about what had happened.

“At least you had a fun night.” He motioned to the mirror, and I quickly turned to look at my reflection, seeing several hickeys on my neck.

I groaned trying to pull my shirt up to cover the bruises even though I knew it wouldn’t work. “Just take me home.”