The War God Alpha’s Arranged Bride Novel

---- Chapter 288 Instead of helping him up, | actually reached down and snagged one of his ankles and, with all my strength, dragged me across the room. | heard the faint chuckles of Erik and Alexander as they watched this entire scene unfold. I'm sure it looked utterly ridiculous. Thomas was more than twice the size of me and there | was trying to haul him back to the training mat. He struggled to gain some kind of traction to keep me from succeeding but failed. However, Thomas did manage to get a hold of one of the wooden training sticks.

My stomach flipped as soon as he tried to take a swing at my shoulder. | blocked the hit with the side of my forearm. It hurt, but my body was willing to absorb the pain for as long as | could. Again and again, he tried to take a swing on either one of my arms and | was able to block each one. Erik and Alexander's notes of approval slipped to the back of my mind. Somehow, | got him back to the mat. | let his leg fall to the ground while | lowered myself down. | pressed one of my knees to his chest and grabbed at the collar of his shirt.

"If you so much as think to come within ten feet of my greenhouse right now, | will drag you through this entire ---- campground by your literal toes," I told him. "Am | clear?" Thomas stared up at me through wide eyes. "Yep." | gradually stood up and gave myself a few deepening breaths. | was feeling a whirlwind of emotions. Yet, oddly enough, rage wasn't one of them. | was suddenly pulled out of my thoughts by the sound of Erik clapping his hands together. He wore the broadest smile | have ever seen since | met him. "That was absolutely incredible," he said. "Do you see, Evelyn?

That is what we mean when we say defensive training. You defended yourself." "Thomas's strikes were minimal compared to my own," | noted sheepishly. Alexander shook his head. "That doesn't matter. What matters is that you did what was necessary to protect what you care about. Tell us, what did you feel at the beginning of this?" "Shock. Disbelief. Fear." They all nodded their heads. "And what you felt in return, it wasn't anger was it?" Erik inquired | shook my head. "It was...Determination." ---- "Defiance," Thomas remarked.

"Whenever you face off against someone like that, it's imperative that you keep these feelings in mind. Even if their motives may not be exactly what we used as an example here, they are still considered the enemy." "| still feel a little bad for punching you," | said meekly. Thomas smiled. "Don't. It doesn't hurt as badly as you believe. If anything, it took me by surprise. And | sure as hell wasn't expecting you to drag me across the floor," he laughed. | joined in on the laughter. "Well, you guys did say whatever was necessary." Erik nodded his head.

"I think you did really well today." The buzzing feeling of pride buzzed within my chest. "Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go shower and find something to take care of the bruises I'm bound to have. But before | do that..." | walked over to Alexander and sent the palm of my hand across his cheek. The slap hadn't been hard enough to sting but certainly got the point across. "lL understand what you did for the sake of the lesson.

But if you ever threaten to destroy my greenhouse or burn a single book in that library, | will never let you touch me again," | hummed while reaching up to press a chaste kiss to his lips. ---- Alexander's gaze turned heated as a sultry smile curved his mouth. "Noted."