Forbidden: Part One – Chapter 29

“I’m not leaving her here alone.”

I anxiously watched Cam and Luc’s standoff. Theo and Ben had begrudgingly stayed home to catch up on work while Cam and I picked Clementine up. She and I held a silent conversation in the car, with lots of suggestive eyebrow raises from her and lots of giggles from me. Cam pretended to be annoyed, but I saw the corner of his lips twitch at our antics. His scowl returned once we pulled into the alleyway, as if remembering that I had been venturing out alone late at night for months.

Westin and Poppy squealed in excitement when we walked in, and all of us were currently watching the two alphas argue back and forth like a ping-pong match.

“So you’ll be fine to sit here quietly without interrupting, even if she gets hurt?” Luc asked.

“Why the fuck would she get hurt?” Cam asked, getting louder. I needed to de-escalate the situation.

“Cam, please, it’s going to be fine. You can go upstairs and work out, and then if something happens, you’ll be close by.” I started nudging him towards the door even though I knew I had no chance of moving him without his cooperation.

“Be careful. I expect you to be unharmed and in one piece at the end of class. Your safety is more important than anything,” he said fiercely, allowing me to slowly push him to the exit.

“Yes, alpha,” I said, giving him a quick kiss. He melted at my endearment, and he finally left the room.

“Wow, I thought my alphas were bad,” Poppy said, a look of awe in her eyes.

“They are just as bad,” Luc said dryly. “Remember your first class?”

Westin and I burst into laughter.

“What happened during her first class?” Clementine asked.

“All five of her alphas showed up. Things got so heated one of them challenged Luc to a fight,” I said between fits of laughter.

Poppy blushed with a dreamy look in her eyes. “Yeah, okay, they were over-the-top ridiculous.”

“Who won?” Clementine asked.

“Luc and Poppy’s alpha each landed a punch, and then Poppy threatened to withhold sex if her alpha didn’t stop,” I said.

“I’ve never seen an alpha freeze that fast,” Westin added with a giggle.

“We had the most amazing angry sex when we got home. And the way he spanked me was sooo…”

“Poppy!” Westin and I shouted, doubling over with laughter. I turned to Clementine, whose cheeks were red.

“Poppy has a very active sex life with her alphas and likes to tell us all about it,” I said, rolling my eyes. “But she’s the best, so we put up with it.” I winked at Poppy and she blew me a kiss.

“Okay, now that we got the overprotective alpha nonsense out of the way, let’s start class,” Luc said.

“Are you saying you’re not just as overprotective of your Charlie?” Poppy asked teasingly.

“Not relevant,” Luc muttered. “Partner up. We’ll start with punching and blocking practice, and then we’ll review how to get out of various holds.”

I partnered with Clementine and caught her up on everything we’d learned so far. As a beta, she was naturally stronger than omegas, and she caught on quickly. We practiced getting out of holds and she was a great partner—she made me work for every escape. The hour flew by and before I knew it, there was a knock at the basement door.

“I wonder who that could be,” Westin said in a sing-song voice.

Luc opened the door and Cam strode in. He had changed into workout gear and his gray tank top was damp with sweat, showing off his muscular, tattooed arms. I hadn’t understood what people in romance books meant when they said they wanted to climb their partners like a tree, but it was rapidly becoming clearer to me.

“Damn, Josie, if you don’t bond with him, I will,” Poppy said in a stage whisper.

I whipped my head around and growled. He was mine. Poppy just laughed and sauntered away to grab her things.

“Ignore her,” Westin said with a grin. “I’ll see you next class. Enjoy your time with Mr. Scary Hottie.”

Cam stalked over to me and ran his eyes up and down my body.

“What’s this?” he growled, gently grabbing my forearm and inspecting the red marks before turning to glare at Luc.

“I got those practicing holds with Clementine. You going to beat her up now?” I asked, my lips twitching with amusement.

Cam whipped his head to look at Clementine and then back at me. “No, of course not,” he said gruffly.

“Good,” I said cheerfully, launching myself into his arms. His scent was deep and sweet, making me want to rub against him. He gripped me by my thighs and lifted me up.

“Did you have a good class?” he murmured in my ear.

“It was great,” I whispered back, trailing my tongue down his ear and neck.

“Baby girl,” he growled out in warning. I felt him growing hard against my core, but I resisted rubbing against him since we had an audience.

“Thank you for letting me come and only being medium ridiculous and overbearing,” I said.

“Only medium overbearing, huh? What would push me to the highly overbearing category?”

“You would have to fight Luc to reach that category like Poppy’s alpha did. But I’m very pleased with the medium level.”

“As long as you’re pleased,” he said, giving me the sweetest smile.

I signaled him to let me down and I gathered my things.

“Ready, Clementine?” I asked.

“Yep!” she responded with a bright smile as she looked between Cam and me. We both thanked Luc—Cam offered a gracious grunt—before heading out.