curious noses sniffed at her, would’ve been enough to negate all the tension within. Not today. She was still wound up tight when she arrived at the training arena—after leaving the pups in their father’s care. It turned out the siblings had run gleefully away while he was putting together their nursery bag for the day.
Leaning against the back wall of the arena, she watched Kenji take her second-year offensive/defensive class through a routine that was different from hers, but just as effective. He’d changed into plain gray sweatpants and a black T-shirt that hugged his pecs, his feet bare. She wanted to pounce on him. So when he asked for a volunteer to help display a set of moves, she raised her hand while jumping up and down.
His lips twitched before he fixed his features into a stern expression. “It seems we have an eager volunteer.”
The students looked on with wide grins as Garnet sauntered over to join him.
“Be gentle,” she said, loud enough to be overheard. “Don’t forget I’m not as big as you.”
Kenji snorted. “I haven’t been taken in by that since you put me flat on my back when you were fifteen. I’m pretty sure you were wearing dangly earrings and a sparkly headband at the time.”
Garnet’s muscles stopped hurting, her stomach stopped churning.
She laughed, knew her eyes were dancing. Because Kenji was the one who’d taught her the move that had eventually put him flat on his back. He’d grinned while lying on the ground that day, after she’d successfully integrated the move into a sparring session; his green eyes had been wild with a pride that had made her feel ten feet tall.
Kenji Tanaka was one boy who’d never been threatened by her strength.
Wolf so happy to be sparring with him again that it was as eager as a pup, she fell into a relaxed stance. “Well, then, baby,” she said to a round of excited gasps, “shall we play?”
Kenji’s stern expression slipped into glittering frustration. Stern didn’t really suit him anyway. He was meant for smiles and teasing and affection. Meant for stolen kisses and tumbling her to the floor with sneaky tricks.
Now, his slick black hair sliding forward a little, he showed her his teeth. “Let’s play.”
That was it. They went at it.
No slow motion to show the students how to do the same. This was about displaying what SnowDancer wolves could do if they worked hard and stayed in peak condition. The one thing she and Kenji did do was pull their kicks and punches so that nothing would leave a permanent bruise. At their speed, however, it wouldn’t appear that way to their audience.
Garnet tapped Kenji with a roundhouse kick; he hit out with an open-handed jab to the side of her throat that was a featherlight kiss; she blocked a gut punch; he blocked one to the face.
If they hadn’t pulled any one of those hits, the two of them would’ve been black-and-blue, with a few broken ribs into the bargain. As it was, by the end of the bout—ended by mutual agreement after a meeting of the eyes—they were breathing hard and sweating, but in otherwise much the same condition as when they’d started.
Putting her hands on her hips, she raised an eyebrow at Kenji as her pulse continued to race from the exercise—but mostly from tussling with the sexiest man she knew. “Glad to see old age hasn’t slowed you down, Tanaka.”
His lips curved without hesitation this time, wolf eyes full of the same joy that lit her blood. “I try, Sheridan.” Turning to their grinning students, he said, “So, what did you learn?”
A hand went up. “That I never, ever want to meet either one of you in a dark alley.”
Laughter ran through the ranks.
• • •
Smiling at the smart-aleck remark that could’ve come from his own mouth when he’d been younger, Kenji caught the bottle of water Garnet threw over from the small cooler to one side of the training area. It felt so normal to do this, to play with her, to teach with her, that he was a little terrified. Not enough to regret a second of his time with her, however.
Never would he regret time spent with Garnet.
“Aside from that?” he prompted the kids after he’d taken a drink.
“That size doesn’t matter if you know what you’re doing,” a smaller young male said slowly. “Jem was holding her own even though you’re bigger and heavier than her.”
Kenji thought of how he’d used