Page 57 of Sold to the wrong Alpha
Jax stood facing him in the center of the tatami. He took off his shirt and tossed it onto the floor. The mass of muscle was absurd, almost comical if it weren’t so genuinely lethal.
“Whenever you’re ready, blondie.”
Ren attacked first. Straight on. A low hook that Jax blocked with his forearm and answered with a sidekick that Ren dodged by ducking. They moved in circles. Testing distances. Ren landed a blow to Jax’s side that didn’t even faze the alpha but stung Ren’s knuckles.
“Not bad.”
Jax counterattacked. A quick combination that Ren recognized because they’d practiced it the day before, so he read it androlled to the left. He got up with his knees bent, hands up, breathing controlled.
Then Jax sniffed the air.
Unabashedly. With his nostrils flared like an animal tracking. And he smiled. That wide, lazy smile Ren had already learned to fear.
“Hey. You smell amazing today.”
Ren let his guard down for a second. Just a second.
“Shut up.”
“Seriously.” Jax tilted his head and sniffed again, theatrically, exaggeratedly. “It’s like raisins with nuts but mixed with something sweeter. What could it be? I don’t know. Let me think.”
“Jax.”
“Honey, maybe? Caramel? Ah, no. It’s more like…”
Ren threw a right hook that would have knocked the wind out of anyone his size. Jax dodged it by twisting his torso as if he had all the time in the world, and when Ren sailed past on momentum, the alpha gave him a gentle pat on the back.
“…like an omega who’s spent the entire night rolling around with his destined alpha.”
The heat rose Ren’s neck to his ears. Burning. He tried a roundhouse kick that Jax blocked with his shin and returned with a light shove that sent him stumbling back three steps.
“Nothing happened.”
“Ah, no. Of course.” Jax scratched his chin. “Your scent has changed radically overnight for purely atmospheric reasons.”
Ren charged again. Two quick punches: a jab and a cross. Jax deflected both with open palms without backing up an inch.
“Did you know that when an alpha marks an omega with his scent during knotting, the omega’s scent changes permanently until…?”
“I said shut up!”
Ren launched a wild, furious combination. Left fist. Right fist. Knee strike. Jax blocked the first two and caught the knee with both hands before it reached his groin. He held him like that for a moment, balanced on one leg, trembling with rage.
“You’re losing control, blondie.”
“Let me go!”
Jax let him go. Ren staggered backward but didn’t fall. He regained his guard stance, jaw clenched and glassy eyes shining like shards of ice. They circled each other again. They exchanged blows. Ren landed an elbow to Jax’s chest that made the alpha nod with genuine respect.
“Good hit. Seriously.” Pause. “Did Brody teach you that move last night, or did you figure it out on your own?”
Ren roared. He literally roared, a guttural sound he didn’t know he could produce, and lunged at Jax with his elbow raised. The alpha spun on his heel, wrapped an arm around his waist, and lifted him off the ground as if he weighed as much as the t-shirt he’d tossed aside earlier. He set him down three meters away and pointed to the mat.
“Breathe.”
“Fuck off.”
“Breathe, Ren.”
