The Bite (Book 1)

Original Edition - Chapter 16: Peanut Butter and Jelly

Liam and I never talked about this kiss, but things did 'heat' up between us in a way.

Our time together, when we trained, was filled with heated glances, subtle touches, and words that stirred the bond between us.

It was dangerous. It was fire. Yet I still played with the fire.

Maybe I am just a sucker for danger...

Our training because harder and over time, it seemed that it did both of us a lot of good. Liam started to fill out. He wasn't as lanky as he was in the beginning of the summer, but he was starting to look more like a man; chiseled and rugged. He started to grow his facial hair out so he had a little scruff on his face like Levi; I always told him it made him look homeless, but that was a lie. He looked edible.

My wolf didn't make it any easier. It wasn't her fault either, not really. It was the damn bond.

That and I would be lying if I said that I didn't genuinely like Liam. He was a good listener. He would listen to me talk for what seemed like hours and not complain once. He also knew how to make me laugh, and I mean really laugh. I hadn't truly laughed in years until Liam told me a story about how Lucas and him used to prank their fathers. Apparently putting bright red hair dye in Levi's shampoo will get you on Levi's shit list indefinitely.

I started to fill out as well. There were muscles on my body in places that I never knew you could have muscles, and for the first time in a long time, I liked the way I looked.

My stomach had flattened out as the little lines of abs started to form. I didn't look hard and chiseled like Liam, but I looked fit and feminine. Ironically, it had been years since I felt feminine, since I felt beautiful. Liam also encouraged that feeling; he made me feel desired. It had been so long since I felt worthy of being desired. Yet there were days when he looked at me with such hungry eyes that it shocked me back into the reality of the situation; I was a female that he wanted. I was wanted, and not just so he could take advantage of my body as he pleases.

Levi pushed me harder every day, and to my amazement, I loved it.

If you would have asked me months ago if I would have loved the physical work that Levi was putting me through, then I would have laughed in your face and called you crazy. Funny how things change.

My wolf and I became more confident in ourselves, we trusted each other more. Levi had been teaching us not only how to fight other wolves, but how to properly hunt different game like deer, moose, elk, and a bear.

The bear hunt.

I was both terrified and thrilled at the notion. My wolf was ready to have at a brown bear's throat, as was I; but we still had a lot of work to do before we could have a bear on its ass.

Levi even started working out with us and training again, and to my surprise, he was somehow in much better shape than both of us. Levi could do more pull-ups than us, run faster and further than us, and the one time he swam with us he pulled two boats full of wood like it was nothing.

Ass.

He was a formidable wolf, a worthy alpha to my wolf. She looked up to him and I respected him more than I had respected any male in my life. He took care of me, he always took care of me.

He was furious when Liam told him about the rogues from our Wal-Mart trip. He called a pack meeting at their pack house and apparently ripped into the patrols. For a man who didn't want to be an alpha of his pack, he certainly wasn't doing a good job of staying away.

But he couldn't help it. Derek told me his wolf would start to long for his pack, long to protect them like he protects me.

I understood.