Back and Stronger: Alpha's Daughter
Chapter 52

After only a week of training with Scott and Connor, each teaching her the fighting styles they respectively were best at, both trainers have expressed their satisfaction with the speed Sophia had been improving.

At the beginning of the week it had been slow going though, especially that first day after they explained everything to her, she’d found out the hard way that understanding something being explained verbally, wasn’t even close to actually doing it.

Then the next day she’d pretty much sucked as well, all the while, Neil kept watching, giving comments here and there, but mostly he’d been a silent observer. Watching her with sharp eyes that missed nothing.

Sophia wanted to ask him a few times what he was looking for exactly, and even found him looking at her in a way as though he dared her to ask it, but decided against it then.

Other than that, Neil had become a little distant again, but she could tell that it was just because he had a lot on his mind and had been working on his computer a lot.

Besides, Sophia didn’t have enough time to really be concerned about his reasons for withdrawing again anyway. She would go for an early morning run each morning, which Scott had started joining her for on the second day when it was clear that he’d healed enough for it by then.

After that, Sophia fell into a happy routine again of making breakfast in the mornings, and more of it than ever before at that, since Connor was staying with them now, and he ate just as much as Neil and Scott.

She would clean around the apartment and do laundry, or do whatever she could do to keep everything spic and span, and to stay busy. But soon after, late mornings or early afternoons, her training with Scott and Connor would usually commence then, taking turns to teach her, with small breaks in between.

Those first few sessions had her panting and sweating, but not once did Sophia complain that she was too tired to carry on, even though she felt it. She would push and push her body to the limit, wanting to learn everything she could as fast as she possibly could. Leo was counting on her. Bella, and whatever other girls her father had kidnapped and were doing Goddess knows what to, needed her.

Every time Sophia would feel hopeless as she kept failing in training, and not getting things as quickly as she’d hoped, images of her father taking out his rage on Leo or Bella would lurch her out of that feeling of defeat into unstoppable determination.

She saw the three males’ wonderment the few times this had happened. Just when it looked like Sophia was about to give out both mentally and physically, then suddenly she would come alive again, with something she imagined that must have made her look like she was possessed or something.

They didn’t go easy on her either, nor did they hold back too much. From day one she had bruises again, but this time Sophia welcomed them, because these marks meant something completely different from what they had over the years. These bruises meant that she was doing something constructive. That she was learning to stand up for herself against anyone that would try to hurt her. To stand up for those who couldn’t stand up for themselves.

Scott might have been more hesitant to hurt her at first, and Neil silently protested with broody dark looks and even flinched as he watched a few times, but they knew that being tough with her in training was necessary to best prepare her for what real fights were like.

As Connor kept reminding her; “Do you think your opponent will hold back on you? No, he will come at you with everything he’s got!”

Stiff and bruised like hell, Sophia would get into bed every night after their brutal training, and every night Neil would climb underneath the covers with her without even asking her if he could anymore. Even if Connor hadn’t been sleeping on the couch, it was as though since the night he tumbled through the door, dying, and after fixing him up and falling asleep holding onto her arm as though he’d needed her to breathe, it had just become inevitable. They would get into bed together and it just felt right, like it was meant to be that way, that anything else would have felt strange and out of place.

And even though Neil had become a bit absent and not talking to her much again, nor touching her as much either, every night he would slip under the covers with her and he would switch to being the affectionate-and-can’t-keep-his-hands-to-himself Neil.

The Neil that made her feel wanted and adored as he caressed the planes of her face. His feather-soft touches would travel to her neck, her arms, her waist, even her hips. And when she was lying with her back to him in an attempt to actually get some sleep, because otherwise, they would just stare at each other all night, and she would have been happy to oblige if she didn’t need sleep to perform better in her training the next day.

But then he would still let his fingers explore the back of her from the nape of her neck and would trail the sweetest and most tantalizing fingers down her spine, jumpstarting nerves as they traveled. It would usually create heated sensations in her body that would make her feel alive and crackling with energy, even while she was bone-tired from a day of training.

And even though Neil’s touches merely seemed to want to explore partly, but mostly to make contact, as though lying together and not touching would feel like the most wrong thing in the universe, Sophia still wanted them to be more. While his hands on her remained innocent and clean, her thoughts most certainly didn’t.

She wanted nothing more than to have the ardent fervor in her body to be quenched by more of his hands, anywhere and everywhere, and not to mention that hot mouth of his. That mouth she had felt on her naked body so many times in her dreams before. The moment she would remember the feel of it, such fierce desire would thunder through her body that there was just no way he couldn’t pick up on it, as she would sometimes feel his touches coming to charged standstills when it happened.

His fingers would tighten slightly as though he wanted to act on it the same time she wanted to, but one heated electric moment after the other would go by, and it was as though each one that they didn’t act on left that unspent and frustrated energy within them. Each adding onto the other. Building and building.

After a few days, Neil was already walking with a nearly imperceptible limp, and his chest wasn’t so bad anymore either. Werewolves healed fast, so considering what all three guys had been through, it was a miracle to have them back to normal so quickly.

They told her it was because she was such a stringent caretaker of their wounds. It had become something of an unspoken task that would be hers alone that she found small pleasure in each day. Especially with Neil. It was almost like he enjoyed being faffed over and being taken care of. Or maybe he just liked her touching him as she worked extra slow with him and would use it as an excuse to get as close to him as possible. It was particularly difficult for her hands to not shake, her body to not feel a little warmer, when she worked on him so high up his thigh where he’d been stabbed.

He’d told her that the stitches would have to come out soon, and she silently dreaded taking them out, thinking it would surely be more sickening than it had been to put them in, but she was willing to do it for him, even though she was sure he could have done it himself as well.

The past two days they had done their usual physical training, and then weapons training on top of that. It was tough, but Sophia could feel she was fitter and stronger already. That was another perk of being a shifter – not only did they heal faster than humans, they also built muscle and fitness at a much more accelerated pace.

She’d gotten pretty good with handling and fighting with all the guns they taught her, and Scott even called her a natural, but when it came to combat training with a knife, she wasn’t as effective as she would have liked. She definitely didn’t have an affinity with it, more like an aversion actually, and she didn’t know why. It was endlessly frustrating because each time she would see Connor coming at her with one, it was like she would lose focus completely.

She knew it was an important skill to learn in cases where a gun might not be available to her, or when her bullets would run out, skills with a knife would become absolutely vital.

Sophia hissed as she sucked air through her clenched teeth.

“Sorry, baby,” Neil said as he sat next to her on the bed, cleaning the cut she’d gotten from Connor when she’d been too slow to respond.

It wasn’t too deep at least, but she knew that it would need the night and a bit to heal enough for her to move without it being too sore.

“No, the sting of the disinfectant was just a bit harsher than I expected,” Sophia said, chuckling under her breath.

She looked over to his broody gaze as he looked at her cut while putting some ointment on now. She thought back to how furious he’d jumped up from the couch when Connor got her, that he had almost looked like he was going to attack him for what he’d done, that she had quickly reacted and told him that she was fine and that it didn’t hurt so much. Even now he had that dark look.

“I hesitated,” she said, trying to explain. “It was my fault. Don’t be angry with Connor. I just need a bit more time.”

Neil’s eyes softened a bit as he looked at her now after he’d secured an adhesive bandage of her own into place over the cut. “I’m not angry with him, Soph,” he said, smiling at her slightly as he ran his hand through her hair. “I know you will get it soon enough.”

For a moment they just sat there, facing each other, with Neil tenderly stroking her hair and her cheek, and as she watched his eyes taking in every feature of her face, she wanted nothing more than to kiss him at that moment, but couldn’t.

“Show me how yours are looking,” she said with her eyes on his chest.

He knew what she meant, and took off his shirt.

Sweet mercy!

One would think after seeing him shirtless so many times, especially every day this whole week when she had to treat his chest wound, that Sophia would have been used to seeing his perfect body by now, but she never did. Would never be able to either. Of this she was certain.

There wasn’t even any need to treat it anymore, as what was once a big gash on his chest was now barely a pink and slightly raised waxy mark. She ran her fingers over it absentmindedly, wondering at the miracle that was healing, and she felt Neil shiver at her touch, and found his eyes darkly trained on her.

She could have sworn that he was about to grab her, throw her back onto the bed, and take her right there. And she would have let him too. Sophia had seen that look a few times before, but it would usually be gone within an instant. It was also a familiar look she’d seen and only felt the aftereffects of in her dreams.

Terrifyingly wonderful aftereffects…

“Let’s go to bed,” he said, his gaze still a bit heated, but she could see that he’d pushed that dark lust down again, and she couldn’t help wondering how he did it, but when his words involuntarily widened her eyes, he looked like she’d slapped him. “To sleep. We need to get some sleep, Soph.”

After they had been lying in bed for a while facing each other, Sophia was struggling to keep her eyes open. Not out of tiredness though, but because of the heavenly sensations his fingers created on her face, neck and shoulders. She heard Neil laughing breathily to himself at how her face must have looked like she was in pure bliss.

“I’m taking you to train outside tomorrow,” he said softly, but her eyes flew open as though he’d yelled it at her, not out of fear but excitement. He chuckled at the sight and gently cupped her face in his palm. “It’s time for the next phase of your training, and I’m taking you to our spot in the woods again...”

Sophia knew exactly where he meant – where they’d spent such an intense full moon together last. But that wasn’t what was responsible for making her heart flutter like a hummingbird’s wings. Not entirely anyway.

It was the fact that he’d called it ‘our spot’ that made her have to hold onto her heart before it could fly away.

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