The next afternoon, after her leadership class, Noelle headed back to her dorm and changed clothes. She wanted to go down to the gym for a bit and burn off some energy.
She planned to go home over the weekend, partly to see her family and partly to let her wolf, Holly out for a good run. She missed both so much.
She was actually contemplating calling her sister, Aria, and asking her if she'd like to come home as well. Aria was a year and a half younger than Noelle, and was attending school with Astrid's step brother, Matthew. Aria and Matthew were very close, and Noelle had wondered occasionally if they were dating. They both adamantly denied it, but Noelle still wondered. If she brought Aria home, she'd have to bring Matthew as well. Not that she minded. Matthew was like a brother to her as well. But he'd waited a year to start college so he could go with Aria, instead of Noelle.
She also had a younger brother named Oliver, who was five, and made a point to call him daily. He loved to video chat with his Big Sissy and Noelle adored him as well. She couldn't wait to get home and see him.
She was also worried about her mother, and hoped that Jenna was taking it easy. She usually chatted with her when Oliver called, or her father, lecturing him on making sure that Jenna stayed off her feet and had plenty of help.
"She's immortal, Noelle. You worry about her more than I do, and that's saying something," Daniel had told her the last time she'd spoken to him.
"You're not a woman," she reminded him.
"And you've never had children," Daniel had retorted.
She'd gotten lectured in return by Jenna, who said her father was growing more overbearing by the day. "Momma can you imagine how he would be if you were still human?"
"Honestly Noelle, I might have appreciated it some. I was fairly miserable when I was pregnant with you. Even being pregnant with these two has been easier," Jenna admitted.
"Momma, you had so much on your plate then," Noelle reminded her. She'd been dealing with her own mother being sick, and missing her mate. Jenna had not known at the time that Daniel was her mate or that he was looking for her.
Noelle changed clothes and headed down to the gym. She had no idea where everyone was today. Probably with their mates, something she was a bit envious of.
'We wil find him,' Holly told her.
'Hopefully this century.' Noelle rolled her eyes. She walked into the gym and hit the treadmill first before moving over to a punching bag. She was aware of someone's eyes on her and wondered if it was Persephone. She hadn't seen the she-wolf since her confrontation yesterday. She breathed in deeply. Male wolf, not ranked, probably a warrior.
"You've got great form," a voice said off to her right.
That's because I've trained with the best. "Thanks." She turned to see a gorgeous man standing off to the side, his arms crossed as he looked at her. He had dark hair and brown eyes.
"Want to spar?" he asked with a sexy smile.
Noelle eyed him appreciatively. She wouldn't mind getting close to him. "Sure. But I can't guarantee I won't hurt you."
He laughed. "I'm sure I'll be fine."
"Well let's go then," Noelle smirked at him.
She went easy on him, but she still bruised him good. She'd noticed that he was holding back at first, so she went after him a bit harder, forcing him to put more effort into their sparring. Everyone was always afraid of hurting her because of her size. Everyone except Ragnar and Nick. They never went easy on her.
Of course, they both also knew the truth about her. Neither of them could hurt her much and even if they did, she healed almost instantly.
"Well that was fun," he said when they were finished. "You're tougher than you look. Think I'm going to be sore for a day and you barely look winded."
"Maybe you shouldn't have held back then." Noelle gave him a cheeky smile.
He laughed. "So do I at least get a kiss for allowing you to beat the crap out of me?"
Her eyes widened at his request. The room they had been sparring in was mostly private. The door was open, and people would walk by and occasionally stick their heads in. 'Should I?'
'Why not.' Holly said.
Noelle stepped forward and kissed him. She was the dominant one, whether he realized it or not. She would never let any man dominate her, except her mate. This man was definitely not her mate.
He was a good kisser though. She licked his lip and he immediately opened up his mouth to her, and she dove in. She felt his hands on her back as he pulled her closer, then gripped her waist. He ran kisses along her jaw and buried his face in her neck. She breathed in deeply, taking in his scent.
'Persephone,' Holly muttered.
Noelle buried her own face in his neck and took a deep breath. Sure enough, she could catch traces of the she-wolf. Interesting, she thought with a smirk. She let him kiss her one more time. The man was a good kisser, she'd give him that. Too bad he was mixed up with the wrong she-wolf.
"Do you want to go somewhere more private?" He asked near her ear.
"I don't think Persephone would like that."
He pulled back and looked at her in surprise. "What?"
Noelle smirked at him. "I can smell her on you. Faintly, but it's there. Tell her that I told her I'm not Liam's mate." She pulled back her T-shirt, making sure he saw the bare spot on her neck. "Tell her she has no idea who she's messing with."
"You do know we're one of the biggest packs in the country, right?" He blustered.
Noelle smiled as she picked up her water bottle. "Sierra Nevada. I know." She walked past him and headed towards the door.
"And which pack are you in?" He called after her.
"Wouldn't you like to know." Noelle slipped out of the room, and disappeared out of the building. 'Well that was disappointing.'
'He's not mate,' Holly said.
'Yeah and I'm glad he's not,' Noelle muttered, slipping into her own building and onto the elevator. She hit the button for the fourth floor.
***
Brandon watched her go and sighed, not bothering to chase after her. He'd enjoyed playing with the little she-wolf. She was way tougher than she looked, and sparring with her had been fun. And her mouth... He wouldn't have minded putting something else in it besides his tongue.
He left the gym and headed back across the campus towards Persephone's dorm. He sometimes hated that she was his mate. Persephone was beautiful, but she was promised to the Anderson twins, and had been since she was born. She was also spoiled, and refused to give him up, and given that she was the Alpha's daughter, he had no choice in the matter. Anything Persephone wanted, Persephone got.
He didn't want to share her though, and the idea of sharing her with anyone from Redwood Pack thoroughly disgusted him. He was secretly glad Liam had mated another she-wolf. Now, if only Finn would find his mate, then Brandon could have Persephone all to himself, and Sierra Nevada could burn Redwood to the ground for all he cared.
He arrived back at Persephone's dorm and walked inside. He needed a shower to wash all of the sweat and the smell of that little she-wolf off of him.
She was in the shower, and Brandon grabbed a change of clothes from his bag. He walked back out of her bedroom right as the bathroom door opened.
"How did it go? You were gone long enough," Persephone walked out of the bathroom completely naked.
Brandon's gaze looked her over slowly, as he felt his body react to her. No matter how badly he didn't want to want her, he couldn't help himself. "Depends on how you look at it. She's definitely not mated to Liam, but I didn't find out anything else about her. She's pretty tight lipped."
She walked slowly across the room to him, stopping a few feet away. "What did you learn?"
Brandon couldn't keep his eyes off of her. No matter how many times he had her, it still wasn't enough. "She's not marked, and she's very strong. Well trained. I went easy on her at first, but she would have beat the crap out of me if I didn't fight back harder."
Persephone took a step closer to him. "Did you kiss her?"
She had told him to if he got the chance. He hadn't really wanted to until he'd actually started kissing her. But Persephone had wondered if perhaps she had marked Liam and he hadn't marked her yet. "Yes."
"How?" She crossed her arms beneath her breasts, putting them on even better display for him.
"She had her tongue in my mouth and I was sure to kiss her neck. I couldn't smell Liam on her at all. But.."
She raised an eyebrow. "But?"
"She could smell you on me."
"What?" Persephone frowned. "There's no way. I watched you scrub yourself."
"She knew. She also knows which pack you're from, though she wouldn't tell me hers." Brandon could tell she was getting pissed. More than likely, she'd take it out on him, and that excited him.
"Liam probably told her," she muttered.
"One more thing. She said you have no idea who you're messing with." Brandon crossed his own massive arms across his chest.
Persephone rolled her eyes. They flashed as her wolf surfaced. She closed the distance between him and stopped barely a foot away. "Strip."
Brandon sucked in a breath and did as she asked. He stood before her a moment later, as naked as she was and waited to see what would happen next.
She placed a hand on his chest. "Did you enjoy kissing her?"
He frowned. "No." Was that a trick question?
"Did she kiss as well as I do?" She traced her fingers down his stomach.
"Of course not." He swallowed as she stopped right below his waist.
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yes."
She grabbed his balls, and he froze. "Never forget that you belong to me, Brandon." She squeezed a bit, causing him to wince. "Every part of your body belongs to me." Her hand came up and circled him and slowly she slid it up to the tip. "Now, I think you need to clean that tongue of yours, since you wanted to put it in some other woman's mouth. Get on your knees."
He watched her lay down on the carpet and spread her legs. "Once you're done, I'm going to take you into the bathroom and scrub her scent off of you.
Brandon crawled forward and grabbed her hips. "Yes, Alpha."