Page 75 of The Finder

Emma waited for them to say something more, but they didn’t. She heard the click of the door latch and realized she was alone once again. For the first time that night, serious doubt lingered in Emma’s mind. Maybe she was wrong about Garrett.

Chapter 42

The next morning, Emma woke up early, ready to get to training; but she groaned when she sat up. Her body had taken a beating last night, that was for sure. She sat on the bed a little longer than usual before she finally made it into the bathroom for a warm shower. She stopped when she entered the bathroom. On the countertop was a beautiful bouquet of yellow roses in a glass vase. There was a card sitting in front of it with her name on it. She slowly walked over and picked up the card.

Emma,

Please forgive me.

Garrett

Emma turned the card over. That was all it said. She sighed and put the card down. Thoughts ran through her mind while she was in the shower. Maybe she was being too hard on Garrett. He was an alpha after all; he probably wasn’t going to be great with relationships. She thought through everything Barbie and her minion had said last night and knew she needed to give Garrett a chance to defend himself.Thatwas a conversation she wasn’t looking forward to. So much had happened and been said last night.

“How do you even start a conversation like that?” Emma asked out loud to herself. “Hey, so Barbie claims you slept with her and that you will return to her once you’re not interested in me anymore? Is that true?” Emma groaned out loud. She finally pushed those thoughts aside and finished and climbed out. She put on her workout clothes and braided her wet hair. She needed to go work some of this frustration out.

Emma made her way to the basement. She didn’t see anybody on her way, so she figured Madison and Kyle were already downstairs. As she descended the stairs, she heard someone going at it on the punching bag. She turned the corner and was surprised to see Garrett. He had his shirtless back to her and was beating the large punching bag to death. He was in a rhythm, and she didn’t think he knew she was down there. She stood for a moment and just admired his strength.

“He’s been beating that thing to death for the last hour.” She jumped when she heard the quiet voice next to her. She turned to see Liam standing next to her. He too was shirtless and sweaty.

He looked down at her in concern. “You okay?”

Emma sighed. “Yeah.”

“I’m sorry for laughing at you when you showed up to the fight last night. That was rude and mean, and I’m sorry. I was wrong. You deserved to be there.” He grinned. “You did really well.”

Emma was shocked to hear him apologize. “Thank you,” she said. “Liam,” she paused. He patiently waited. Without looking at him, she asked, “Do wolves ever have human mates?” Liam looked away from her and watched Garrett. “The truth, please.”

“No, they don’t,” he finally said. He turned to look down at her. “But nothing about you has been normal. You’re a mate finder, Emma. We’ve never had one of those before. We’ve always heard of them, but we’ve never had one in our lifetime, or even in the last few generations.”

“Because Garrett’s an alpha, he should be with a wolf, right? I mean, he’s going to need an heir—a wolf heir,” Emma said without revealing any emotion, even though the words were painful to say.

Liam narrowed his eyes at her. “Emma, I don’t know who’s been talking to you, but you need to talk to Garrett.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if I just disappeared from his life? Then he could mate a wolf,” she said.

Liam’s eyes widened and he grabbed Emma’s shoulders. “What are you talking about?” They heard steps, and Emma knew Kyle and Madison were on their way down. “Emma, please don’t do anything stupid,” Liam said, desperately. “Talk to Garrett.”

“I will.” She looked up at Liam. “Please don’t tell him what we talked about.” Liam shook his head like he was going to argue. “This has to be between me and Garrett.” Liam looked away for a moment, then back to her. He only nodded and moved away from her. Emma watched him walk away as sadness filled her. She turned back around and saw Garrett’s eyes boring into her. She looked away and greeted Kyle and Madison.

“How’s our new female champ?” Madison asked with a big grin.

Emma smiled back at her. “Stiff and sore,” she responded. Kyle and Madison chuckled.

Madison moved close to Emma. “What’s he doing down here?” she asked, nodding her head at Garrett.

Emma shrugged. Before she could respond, Garrett called out, “Emma you’re with me.”

“Uh, oh,” Madison said, but she moved away from Emma before Emma could ask her what she meant by that.

Emma thought about defying Garrett’s order, but she figured it would just cause more problems. So, she walked towards the man who was glowering at her. “I underestimated you, and I’m sorry. I won’t make that mistake again. I will take over your training from here,” he said. Emma wasn’t really sure that was a good thing, but she didn’t say anything. He started walking away, and Emma had no choice but to follow him. He stopped in front of the smaller punching bag. “Let’s see what you’ve got,” he said without any emotion.

Emma realized that he was in straight-up “trainer” mode. There would be no talking about last night, no talking about anything at all. If that’s what he wanted, that’s what he would get. She pushed all emotion from last night deep down inside. She took a deep breath and tuned out everything around her. She rolled her neck, before stepping into position. She released a deep breath and began her routine. She could feel Garrett’s eyes boring into her, but she kept her focus on what she was doing. He moved in and put his hands on her waist; she tried not to show any reaction to his hands on her bare skin. He angled her slightly. “Again,” he said. Emma started up again. He let her go for a little bit. It felt good to release her frustration.

When she was really starting to sweat, he stopped her and led her to an empty ring. “I watched you last night. You can handle your own when you’re on two feet, but as soon as you go down, you’re useless on the mat.” Emma scowled at him, but he ignored it. “Just because you’re small doesn’t mean you can’t protect yourself once you’re down.” He moved into position and motioned her to do the same. “Let’s go.” Emma reluctantly moved towards him, but he didn’t wait for her to get settled. He came at her hard and fast. She ducked at the last possible moment. He growled at her. “Too slow, Emma,” he said.

Emma came at him and let her frustration carry her. He deflected everything she gave him. They got into a rhythm. Then he took her down. Emma grunted under his weight. “Now, this is where you need help,” he said. “Once you’re pinned, you just give up. Instead, you need to focus on creating space between you and your opponent. Straighten your legs and lift your hips and push your shoulders into the mat. Continue to push backwards so you can’t get pinned. When you have enough space, shift your hips hard and fast. Where your hips go, your spine will follow. This creates unbalance for your attacker. If you get a kick in, make it hard and fast. Then roll out from under your attacker.” Emma took it all in. He talked her through each step and they worked through the motions slowly first, then up to speed. After a few tries, Emma was starting to feel good about it. Garrett stood up and pulled her to her feet.

“Madison,” he called out. Madison came towards them. “I want Emma to try something. Pin her, please,” he said and walked away.

---