"What are you doing here?" Zenah snarled.
It was Thursday, and she was three blocks away from the dojo, three blocks from Zach.
"I'm following you to your class. Everyone in the pack is worried about you. I am the only one with the balls to track you down and find out what's going on.
"Nothing is going on. I'm going to my Taekwondo class, and you're not coming, clear?" She spun to see David standing not five feet from her, a stupid, prideful grin plastered all over his face.
"And I'm coming with you."
"No, you're, not. I don't need a chaperone. If you don't leave now, I'll have to report you to my father. But I'm sure he'll be fine with you giving me a hard time." She sauntered back to him, his eyes fixed on her swaying hips.
"My big brave protector. Didn't want this poor little she wolf have to fend for herself, huh?" She got within arm's reach, placed both arms on his shoulders, leaned forward and whispered in his ear.
"I'm going to tell you what I told you the last time you tried something like this." She felt him tense, but he was too late.
She drove her right knee so far up between his legs that he'd be tasting his testicles for a week.
"I don't want, or need your protection. Now scurry back to your mother before I break more than just your worthless balls." She hissed as he slumped to the sidewalk.
"You bitch, your father is going to hear about this, everyone's going to hear about this when I'm done." David wheezed between gasps for air.
"Oh, I sure hope so. If you don't, when I get back I will. He'll get a kick out of how I made you taste em." Zenah kneeled down next to him. "Now go back to the Den and stay there, I can take care of myself. I don't want you here." Standing, she spun and marched down the street.
Before David could get to his feet, she ducked into an alcove made into a store front.
What am I doing? David had never been that big of a jerk. Sure, she'd never liked him very much, but she'd never had the urge to make him walk funny for a week. Why had she done what she just did?
Zenah had seen David and snapped. Her over riding thought was to not let him follow her, to not let him near... Zach. She pounded her head against the heavy wooden door frame until it rattled. What was she going to do now? If he followed her anywhere near the dojo, David was sure to smell him. If she didn't go Zach was going to wonder what happened to her.
Peaking out around her hiding space, she watched David pick himself off the concrete and wobble to his car.
How did I not notice him pulling in there? But she knew. She'd been so obsessed with getting to Zach she'd noticed nothing, observed nothing. What would have happened if David would have walked into the sparing room with Zach standing there? He would have tried to kill him, not then and there with all those humans around, but he would have never let him leave without being followed.
She heard Davids car pull away from the curb and knew she didn't have much time. Watching it until it turned the far corner and disappeared from view, she gave it the count of five, then sprinted for the martial arts studio. Racing in the front door she slammed it open them back shut, turning she saw everyone inside staring at her.
"Nice of you to join us, I think." Zach ran across the room to steady her as Ted spoke.
"I need to talk to you, now." She told Zach.
"Sure, what is it?"
"Not here, some place private." The look in his eyes told her he understood.
"This way, we can talk in here." Zach took her by the arm, leading her into what looked like a storage room.
"What is the matter with you? You can't just come barging into class like that. Do you have any idea how many questions I'm going to have to answer?" He realized he was still holding her arm and let go as if she was on fire.
"I didn't have any choice, I was..."
"Don't give me that, you always have a choice, everyone does." He cut her off, shaking his head.
"I was followed okay!" She shouted. "I had no idea he was there until I was about three blocks from this place. I can't stay here for more than a few minutes. I know he's going to come back with more of the pack with what I did to him. I wanted to tell you before they came around." Looking up into his face, she saw nothing but hardness, his jaw set like iron.
"I told you this wasn't gong to work. Now you've made my life nearly impossible, but thanks." His voice softened just a bit.
"But what we going to do? I can't come here anymore, I can't go anywhere near you now." A single tear ran down her cheek. Before it fell he reached out and caught it with his index finger.
"You could come to my place. I could give you private lessons. I mean, if you want to?
Zenah's heart lept in her chest. "But wouldn't that put us in even more danger. If they follow me and find your house. Hey, aren't you supposed to live in the cat house?"
"I'm supposed to yeah," Zach rubbed the back of his neck. "But I can't stand it there."
"Why not? It's dangerous for you to live by yourself."
"To many horny mollies, always having my mother remind me I haven't mated with any of them. I got tired of it and moved out."
"But Zach, if my pack found out where you live they'll kill you." Zenah reached for him and for once he didn't pull away.
Her hand touched his cheek. With the contact, a warmth spread through her entire body and she gasped. In her mind she saw seven wolves getting closer to where she was, they were within three miles and closing.
"I have to leave!" She told Zach, yanking her hand back.
"Why, what's wrong?" She spun around as if looking for danger.
"David called in back up. Seven of my pack mates are on their way right now, they'll be here in a couple of minutes." She looked up into his eyes. "I have to leave, if I can get far enough from here they won't know about you."
"But Zen," she had been in the process of leaving, but spun at his word. No one called her Zen, put her parents, and now him. She loved the way the name fell from his lips.
"What?"
"They already know about me. They come in here all the time making their threats. As long as I stay here and make sure they don't follow me home, they don't dare attack me in the view of all these humans."
"That won't matter if I'm seen with you." She stopped as a thought struck her.
"But if I'm just a student, and you're only one of the instructors here. If my father already knows about you, they won't be able to do anything to you."
"If this is going to go down, then we'd better take it outside, Ted won't ask as many questions that way.
They both stepped out onto the sidewalk as seven men walked around the corner at the far end of the block. Seeing them together, they all let out deep growls and froze. The wind was blowing down the street from Zach to them, so they knew what he was in an instant. Zenah could see them tense, their nostrils flaring.
"That's them," she whispered to Zach as they approached.
"I gathered that, but thanks for the heads up."
"Gentlemen can I help you?" Zach asked when they gathered around him and Zenah.
"What are you doing with, her?"
"I am doing nothing with her. She came to the class for instruction and my fellow black belt Ted Leo is her instructor. She picked him over me." Zach shrugged.
"Then why are the two of you out here and not this Ted?" The biggest of the seven stepped forward.
"Because Zenah told me she wanted me to meet someone, so here I am."
"Don't play games with me, cat. The only reason we haven't torn you to shreds in the past is because you tend to stay close to these humans. But if you have so much as touched her, they'll be no place you can run that will keep you safe from us."
"Back off, Jason. If I was worried about one single cat, I'd have never come here. Just go home and tell my father that I'm fine and I really appreciate his concern." Zenah stepped forward, pushing both men apart.
"We will be watching you, cat. A single slip up and you're dead. You don't get another chance when dealing with the alpha's daughter." Jason jerked his head to the side and all the men turned as one and walked back down the street.
Zenah looked up at Zach and laughed. He was staring at her, his mouth agape.
"Your alpha Loadstones daughter?"
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