Chapter 39

(Chapter song ‘Breathe’ by Prodigy)

MICHAEL Is it wrong to take pleasure in the fact that River is a dick and Anna sees it now?

As much as I hate the fact that she got hurt, deep in the pit of my stomach, I’m glad she sees River’s true colors now.

Now, she will see how much better I am for her. She’ll see how supportive I am. How only I can keep her safe. She’ll see that the only wolf for her is me.

By Sunday afternoon, I hadn’t heard from her and I need to see if she’s OK.

I decided a little beer and burgers should help.

I wait at her door and she opens it.

I give her a warm, friendly smile when she opens the door. She looks like hell, but she's still the most gorgeous creature on the planet.

“Hi.” She says as she wipes her nose with a Kleenex.

“Hey, Anna. I, um, brought food and beer.” I hold up the paper bag to her.

She sniffs and tilts her head. “Thanks. I’m not very hungry.”

I let myself in. “Nonsense. There no better disaster food then burgers.”

“Michael…” She whines as she closes the door behind me.

I drop the bag on the coffee table. “Anna…” I turn to her and hold her arms. “You need this, ok. So, why don’t you go take a shower and then come down and help me drink this beer.” I stare into her eyes and nod.

She nods back. “Maybe a quick one.” She mumbles.

“Good girl.” I kiss her forehead.

She walks upstairs and I sit on the couch. I pull out a beer, crack it and lean back with a hand behind my head. I take a swig when I hear her phone on the table ding. I turn my attention to it and it dings a couple more times.

I turn my head to the stairs behind me and back to her phone.

I sit up, set my beer down and pick up her phone.

I’ve known Anna’s pin forever. David’s birthday. I input it and open up her messages.

I chew on my cheek and sniff as I read the text messages from River wanting to talk.

I hold the phone and rub my mouth and chin.

I shrug and tick my head. “You blew it, buddy.”

I delete the messages and put the phone back where it was. I’m sparing Anna from that asshole. He’s been nothing but problems for her since he showed up and I’m not about to allow him to do it to her again.

I lean back with my beer again, this time with a smirk on my face.

I raise my beer to my lips. “I win, dick head.” I tip my bottle back.

“You say something?”

I sit up and turn. Anna is coming down in her pink, fluffy robe and towel drying her hair. Fuck she looks sexy. My jeans get a little tighter, but I have to cool it. I’m the supportive friend right now. Plenty of time to make her mine.

“Me? Nothing. You…You feel better?” My eyes follow her to the couch and I’m internally doing a happy dance as she sits beside me.

I hand her a beer.

“Thanks. I do kind of feel better.” She gives me a half smile.

I turn to her and throw my knee up on the cushion. “Anna, don’t think about him, ok. Just think about you. You deserve to be happy and you shouldn’t let a guy like that ruin you.”

She leans her head on the back of the couch. “I know. It’s totally over now. He’s not coming back. He told me today that it’s my fault we ended because I’m a loose canon. His career can’t have that.” She’s fighting herself as she speaks.

“Yeah, well, fuck him. He hurt you, Anna. Regardless of what you did. He had the balls to physically hurt you. I’d lose my fucking job before I laid a finger on you.” I say as I move her hair away from her forehead.

“He’s an Alpha, Michael. Their rules don’t apply to us. His packs respect is a big thing. That’s thousands of people. If he disrespected the Alliance, his father and him would be challenged for their positions.” She leans her head on her hand.

“If you ask me, the Blake’s have been running us for too fucking long anyway.” I lean to her and smirk.

She huffs a little laugh.

I smile. “I miss your laugh.” I mirror her image. “I miss a lot of things. We never hang out anymore.”

“We are now.” She says.

“Only because I forced you.” I give her a little playful shove.

She sighs. “I’m sorry, Michael. I just got so caught up in…in River and my rank…”

“Hey, I totally understand. I’m just saying I want to hang with you. Be with you to help you through this. You need anything, I’m your man.” I run my fingers through my hair.

“At least that’s one good thing. I’ll always have you, won’t I?” She grins.

“Always and forever.” I lean to her again.

****

Come Monday morning, it took everything to not throw Anna in Rivers fucking face. I have to keep reminding myself that I don’t just want to be her rebound. If she’s going to be mine, she needs to have me for real. So, I need to go at her pace not mine.

Still, eyeing River from across the field as I spot for Anna on the circuit is sweeter than fuck. I can see it kills him inside, but he brought it on himself.

Anna herself, was clearly struggling. I’ve never seen her spar so badly. She better snap out of it. The finals are tomorrow and if she wants Alpha, she needs her head in the game.

I’m trying to encourage her to pick it up, but she’s not hearing me. The dick is still in her head. I need to fix that.

As I was thinking, Sloan came and took Anna with him. My guess is, he’s been watching her performance and means to fix it. He can try.

I grab Tyler and try to put on a good show for Anna.

I take offense and rush him. He’s a slightly bigger guy than me, but that just means he goes down that much harder.

I rush his space and throw my punches. I’m a man on a mission. To impress my girl. Tyler’s not landing me today.

I’m blocking is blows left and right and I hook his foot. He goes down and lands right on his ass.

“Come in Ty. You can do better than that.” I huff as I smirk at him.

“You had your cheerios this morning haven’t you?” Tyler smirks back as he gets to his feet.

“I’m feeling good, buddy. When I feel good, you get hurt.” I say as I bounce lightly on my toes.

“We’ll see about that.” He growls and sprints at me. He hits my waist and end up in a power struggle to try and best each other.

I get distracted when Sloan drops Anna for the third time. Tyler pummel me into the ground.

“Ugh…” I groan ad I roll to my stomach.

He bounces to his feet, chuckling. “Now, who’s having the good day.”

“Whatever.” I pick myself up and dust myself off.

I stand and watch Sloan talk to Anna. I hate seeing her fighting with this. River’s not worth a second of her time.

I think I know exactly what she needs to take her mind off the jerk and maybe move us along a bit faster.

I smile as I watch Anna fight. She’s such a good fighter. She deserves to have everything.

As I stared, I thought out the details of my plan.

I was so engrossed, I didn’t see Tyler square up again. He hits me and I go crashing to the ground again.

“Ugh…Man, I wasn’t ready.” I wince at the pain in my back.

He gets up. “Pay attention and quit drooling over girls.”

“What would you know about it, Mr. Rejection.” I get to my feet.

He points to me. “Hey. Don’t get personal.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let’s go.” I wave him to me and prepare myself for another round.

****

ANNA I thought by Monday, I’d be able to function, but nope. Seeing River on the field made everything come back in full force. I've been so numb to everything, I can't concentrate.

My sparring is sloppy and Blades getting frustrated. He's been trying to snap me out of it, but there's no removing the hell I'm in.

"Come on, Riker. Quit fucking around and hit me!" Blade yells.

I rush at him and strike out a left hook. He dodges it, grabs my waist and trips me. I land on my back with a thud. I wince and groan as I roll to a sit up position. I'm breathing heavy. We've been doing this for an hour and I haven't won a single spar.

He squats down in front of me. "Girl, you gotta snap out of it. You're better than this. Finals are so close. You can’t be putting out garbage like this."

I shake my head. "I know. I'm sorry. I just can't get my head straight."

He sits and crosses his legs. "I get it, but Anna. If they called us for Karver right now, you think you could hold your own out there?"

I shake my head no.

"Right." He threw a small rock he was playing with. "Then get over this. You need to be prepared for Karver. You need to be prepared for the finals. You go in like this, you're going to fail."

I blow out a heavy breath. "I get that."

"Good." He stood and offered me his arm. "Now...Get your head in the game and kick my ass." He smirks and crouches preparing for an attack.

I stand, closing my eyes. I push everything away. I search my mind for something I never thought I'd ever see again. I put in my mind the person I was before River, before the unit, before everything that's happened. I call that bitch that was hell-bent on self-destruction. The badass that caught Karver once and the badass that will do it again. The woman River saved me from.

I open my eyes and give Blade an evil smirk. I run at him; he swings, but I lean back completely dodging his move. Then I deliver a left and right hook. Fast and square to his face. I jump, plant both feet to his chest and push him over before he even has a chance to recover from the punches.

He's on his back, groaning.

I stand over him with an arm outstretched. "How was that?"

He smiles. "Ugh...Better." He takes my arm and gets to his feet.

He looks around. "Ok, recruits. That's it. Hit the showers." He shakes his head, rubbing his jaw.

Everyone heads to the barracks.

He claps my shoulder. "Good job, today. Keep trying." He jogs off to catch up with the other Alphas.

I slowly start across the field when I'm nudged by Michael. "Saw you drop Sloan. Nice."

I smile. “It was nothing."

He slung an arm around my neck. "Come on. Let's get some dinner."

"Ok." I whisper with a half-smile.

We walked to the dining hall.

We sit down at our table and I find myself staring a bit too long at the back of River's head. He moves his head and I shoot my eyes to my food.

My eyes flick back up to him again. Seeing him keeps the wounds open. I don't know how I can get over this.

"Anna..." Michael’s voice snapped me out of self pity.

"Mmmm." I slowly turn to him.

He turns to River. "You don't need him, Anna."

I push my food around my plate. "I know."

"Let's do something." He smiles. "You and me."

I glance at him. "Like what?"

He leans in. "Let's go for a run. Just the two of us. When's the last time our wolves ran together?"

I smile. "Too long."

"Right." He finished his food. "It would be good for you."

"You know. You’re right. I’d love a run.”

He stands and smiles. “Great. I’ll meet you by the treeline tonight.”

I chuckle. “It’s a date.”