Page 67 of The Feral Alpha
“I guess it’s ‘cuz it makes your hands look like dicks. It’s like telling someone to suck your cock because you hate them so much.” Storm frowned. “No, I don’t get why that’s such a bad thing. But it’s fun to flip people off though!”
“Are you ever going to introduce us, or what?” one of the other alphas said. This alpha was all scowls, like he was ready to rip someone apart.
Jag flicked his fingers at him. “That’s Hades. Not sure why I invited him along. He’s such a grump.”
“I’ll be sweet to an omega, not you,” Hades scoffed.
What would that look like? Rex got the feeling Hades wouldn’t show them the side of him that he saved for an omega.
“Rex,” Rex said, tapping on his own chest.
The alphas nodded at him.
“And I’m Fury,” the last alpha said, giving Jag an exasperated look.
Jag lifted his chin at Fury in a greeting, waving to some rolled-up mats to the side that Rex hadn’t noticed before. “We’re going to go over some simple self-defense moves. Rex needs to get proficient, fast.”
Hades and Storm rolled out the mats across a quiet, shaded area of the parking lot, pushing the edges together so they had a larger space to work with. Jag beckoned Rex onto the mat.
“Show me what you’ve learned so far,” Jag said.
He lunged. Rex dodged him and countered with a punch of his own. He didn’t manage to land it, but Jag’s smile was proud. “Good work.”
Jag took Rex through all the moves he’d learned over the past months—how to get out of a headlock, how to disarm someone. How to create an opening with an assailant, and attack them to make them stay down.
When they reached the last of the things Rex knew, the other alphas showed him different moves for different situations. Rex realized that they all had different ways of fighting, and it was important that he learned it all.
The alphas made him repeat each move several times, testing him until he was familiar with what he had to do in those situations.
“You’ll need more practice to build your muscle memory,” Jag said, observing Rex and Hades from the side. “A lot of being good at fighting is being aware of your body, and having the experience to let you predict moves. Luckily, you have us around to help.”
He made Rex take a break. While Rex gulped down cool water from a bottle, Hades pulled out a dagger and lunged at Storm.
Rex froze, wanting to call out a warning except the words got stuck in his throat.
Storm turned with lightning-fast reflexes, sidestepping Hades and grabbing his wrist, twisting it behind Hades’ back. Except Hades somehow turned and flipped Storm onto the mat, pinning Storm’s arms behind his back, his knife glinting against Storm’s throat.
Storm grinned.
Hades leaped back just in time to avoid being stabbed by a flash of steel that came out of nowhere. Had he been any slower, he’d have gotten badly hurt.
Yet there was a confidence in their stances that said this was just a play-fight. That they’d faced down worse, and come out alive.
Rex gulped, awed and made nervous by their skill, their ruthlessness.
These men had killed people before.
At the back of his mind, he knew he’d have to practice a lot more, if he wanted to get anywhere near these alphas’ skill levels and keep his omega safe.
But what was stopping Olson from choosing them instead of Rex? Olson hadn’t wanted to give him a bonding mark.
“It’s okay, we’ll go over it slowly so you can see why that happened the way it did,” Jag said kindly.
Rex gulped and nodded, his throat tight.
He watched as the alphas repeated their movements, showing him where they’d left openings for each other to attack. Except some of it was them baiting the other into a move, because it was a trap.
It made Rex’s mind hurt. “How... How... better?” he asked Jag worriedly.