“Please stop scaring my friends.”

Elliott raised a dark brow. He looked infuriatingly pleased with himself. “I was only admiring how big and strong you are.” She hated how sultry his insults managed to sound.

“I don’t find that funny.”

He gave her a long look. It felt like her insides were being stirred with a big spoon. “You’re actually very strong for your size.” His mouth quirked at the corner. “I was genuinely impressed watching you.”

River squirmed on the spot in front of him. “Oh.”

He hefted up his weights, letting them lower with a slow, dragging flex. “Good form, too.”

She felt the need to push the compliment away. To lower herself beneath his praise. “I’m a lot slower than everyone else.”

Elliott shrugged, his expression gentle. “Better to do it right than do it fast.” Another curl of the dumbbells. “You’ll be the fittest on the team eventually.”

“I’m not on the team.”

“You will be when you’re lifting more than them.” Elliott winked. He swapped the pair in his hands for a heavier set. When he bent forward for the trade, he kept his eyes up on River. It was devilish, a sinner peeking up during prayer.

“I’m actually not in the rowing club,” River admitted. Her voice shook a little.

A huff of a laugh. “So, you just crashed their gym session for fun? Or does this help with the fencing?”

“I’m not a member of the fencing club, either.”

“Just a fitness freak, then?” His eyes seemed to eat her up for a moment, dragging from top to toe. “Or really determined to not be little and weak?” He made another advancement to bigger, more intimidating dumbbells. He also changed the rotation of the movement he was performing with them, targeting new muscles.

River rolled her eyes. “You’ve certainly proven how big and strong you are,” she mumbled.

Elliott chuckled. Once again, he lifted the weights with ease and control. “I’m sure some personal training could be arranged if you really want to bulk up.” He ran his tongue over his teeth and cut his eyes to somewhere just behind her for a millisecond. “I promise I shout less than that coach.”

River shook her head, unable to fight off a smile. Sierra was… a lot to handle. Luckily River got special treatment from the tough team leader - there were some omega privileges she was willing to accept.

“For the record, I think your size suits you just fine.”

In desperate avoidance of the heat rolling off of her, burning as he sized her up with inappropriate appreciation in his gaze, she threw out a joking question. “And how much would this personal training set me back?”

“Come here,” he murmured, letting the weights lower to the ground either side of him. “Let’s discuss terms.”

The end of the bench stuck out from between his legs and he broke his stare to glance down at the edge, then back to River, inviting her to take a seat. Across his thighs were two paintings inked to him permanently. On his right: Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. On his left: The Great Wave by Katsushika Hokusai. Each was contained to a rectangle just above the knee, tattooed in their original styles as mini replicas that would follow wherever his legs would take him.

River hesitated. Elliott grabbed her arm and pulled it across her body, turning her one-eighty and guiding her down to straddle the bench between his knees. It was a tight fit, and he had plenty of room to shuffle back and loosen it. He didn’t. He flicked the one thick curl that was her ponytail. Now slick with sweat instead of rain. “This is cute.”

“I thought we were discussing personal training,” she said over her shoulder.

He hunched over her, gripping the corners of the bench by her knees, and took a long inhale through his nose. “You’re right,” he said on the exhale. “It’s most important that we set a clear goal in mind. Let’s do our best to focus.” On the last word his bottom lip bumped the tip of her ear. A mild shiver shook her against his chest. The warmth pulsing off from it almost triggered another. She wasn’t cold, he wasn’t cold, so why did her skin tingle like it was? “What do you want to be able to do with your body?” His voice had gotten so quiet, a murmur of a dirty secret. “What do you want me to do to it?”

“Um.” River closed her eyes, trying to gather her thoughts. “I don’t know.”

“Is stamina an issue for you?” Elliott purred. His lean became heavier, squishing her bare thighs between his forearms and the bench. He dropped his chin to her shoulder. “What about core strength?” Her core clenched at the question. She could only hope he didn’t notice the flex of her tummy. “Or… are you just looking for someone to burn some energy with?”

River’s eyes opened.  “St-stop it.”

His weight shifted back, releasing the pressure from her thighs. “Was I hurting you?” The words rushed out of him.

River scoffed. “I’m not that delicate.” She attempted to wriggle free and he pressed down on her again, keeping her seated. Lips brushed her neck.

The rowing club returned up the stairs in a flurry of chatter and laughter and took their spots around the circle of equipment. Eyes drifted over to River, then flicked away.

“I need to get back,” River mumbled.

Elliott relaxed his posture. “Sure, petal.”

She hopped up, stumbling over the bench, to return to them.

Sierra watched her approach with a coy smile. “You good?”

River nodded.

“He good?”

River let out a quiet, shaky laugh. “Yeah. No need to worry.”

“I’ll try to keep the doms from wetting themselves, then.”

River returned to her station with a grin. She was one exercise away from returning to the rowing machine.

“Remember what was next?” Hawk asked, dropping to a squat beside her mat.

“Haven’t got a guess,” River admitted. Everyone else had already begun and Sierra had announced the start of the timer.

“Overhead press.” Hawk handed her a pair of weights with the number one printed on the ends. “Kneel on one leg like this.” He demonstrated with one knee up and one knee down. “Then, one at a time, you press them up straight.”

“Weren’t you doing this with kettle bells earlier?”

“Yeah, but they start a lot heavier.” He stood with a grunt. “Better to learn how to do it before you start upping the weight.”

“Understood.” River took her first attempt. It wasn’t so hard. After two reps the urge to look back over her shoulder, just across the room, to Elliott was already prickling along her skin. Maybe that was his stare. Not her fault at all. Her body was simply succumbing to its scenter…

Those dark blue eyes were burning into her. His body moved, but his gaze held steady. He had one foot hooked over the bench, the other brought forward in a lunge. The weights in his hands were thicker than River’s head. With every drop, his shorts strained against the muscles of his thighs. From afar his tattoos looked like blue-toned bar codes. A wink, and River forced her face forward again.

Press and press and press. Next round. She took extra care to wipe down the rowing machine, overacting on her fear of picking up another dominant’s scent. Row and row and row. Her back to the alpha, but his presence impossible to ignore. Next round. Another rowing machine. Again with the wipe down. Maybe she bent a little far in reaching to clean the handles. Maybe she liked the feeling of her alpha’s eyes on her butt. Maybe it prickled at her in the exact same way as when his hands had been on her. Next round. Back to the floor. Round after round passed and River managed to keep herself from peeking at Elliott… too often.

Sierra’s timer rang. “And that’s the final round!” Everyone flopped to the ground where they were.

“Good work, everyone!” Hawk hollered from a puddle of his own sweat. “Showers then smoothies?”

“You go.” Sierra began collecting weights. “I’ll clean up.”

The team was hit with a bolt of energy, scrabbling up and hurrying away to get clean.

“Let me help,” River offered. She snagged some wipes and started on her own mat. “I can’t stay for smoothies.”

“That’s a shame.” Sierra risked a look at Elliott. “I can understand why you’d want to get going.”

“I’ve got painting to do.”

“Uh huh.”

River lined up the rolls of mats against a wall. “Thanks for inviting me. I had a lot of fun.”

“You’re always welcome, River.” Sierra tied the final skipping rope in a knot on itself.  “And you know, if you ever feel like getting out on the water…”

“Thanks. One day I’ll have to give it a go.”

“We can keep that hunky mate of yours on standby for mouth to mouth.”

River almost squeaked in embarrassment.

“Oh, River, you’ve gone so pink,” Sierra laughed. “Go ruin his workout with your cuteness.”

Without a clue how to argue against that, River obeyed. She walked away, grumbling something like a ‘see you later’, face burning and palms sweating. Elliott stared her down with such intensity that she forgot how to walk like a normal person. By the time she reached him, she felt like Bambi.

“Need loving arms to fall into?” It was almost a sneer.

River froze. “I was going to say goodbye,” she huffed. “Seemed like the polite thing to d-”

“How’re you getting home?” Elliott lined up his assortment of weights by his feet and stood. “The rain won’t be stopping.” He wiped the bench and tidied away the equipment around it.

“Same way I got here - walking.” River shuffled backwards. “And I’d better get going. I’ve got painting-”

“Come on.” Elliott re-racked the last of his dumbbells. “I’ll drive you.” He snagged up his bottle and towel.

River backed up to the top of the stairs. “I don’t need a lift.”

He took her elbow in his hand, shocking her with the touch, and pinned her to his side. “We’ve already been seen together and I’m supposed to let an omega wearing my scent walk out in the rain?” He walked her down the stairs. “Got anything to collect from the lockers?”

“Y-yeah.”

“In you go.” He pushed her into the changing rooms, and was leant against the wall outside when she returned, bag on her back. She didn’t change - Elliott seemed to be in a hurry.

They strode through the turnstiles. Elliott kept a few fingers in the small of River’s back, guiding her to the doors. Rain was splashing against the glass, warning against exit.

“See that black splotch over there?” Elliott tapped at the view of the car park. “That’s where we need to get to.”

River blew out a nervous breath. “Run on the count of three?”

“You don’t want to be carried?”

She gave him a dark look.

“On three.”

They burst through the door and River ran as hard as her feet could hit the ground. Elliott kept pace without raising his knees. He had the car unlocked well before they had reached the doors. Despite the downpour, he jogged ahead to open the passenger side for her. River shook her head, and was smacked in the ear by her soaked ponytail, at the needless chivalry. She jumped inside.

Elliott slid in, shut the door and turned the car on immediately to get the heat running.

River brought her hands up to the air blasting on her side and sighed. “I can admit this is better than walking.”

Plugging his seatbelt, Elliott stilled, his fingers still wrapped around it. His nose twitched.

“What’s wrong?”

He lifted his head and looked out his window, then the wind shield, like an animal scoping its cage.

“Elliott?”

“Fuck,” he whispered.

“What?”

“I fucked up.”

“How?”

“I’ve trapped myself in a car with a sweaty omega. One that I’ve marked.” He threw an arm back, scrabbled around behind them and yanked a pile of black material through the seats to the front. “Put this on.”

“Why?”

“Because we can’t open the windows and I need air.” He cranked the AC to full and Arctic air hit River’s soggy body. “Put it on or freeze.”

She hurried to pull on the item she’d been given - a huge hoodie. It wasn’t warm but at least it was dry. She wriggled her head through the hole and rolled the sleeves up a little. Elliott’s scent had been rubbed all over the inside. She snapped her seat belt over the top as Elliott pulled out of the gym car park.

“You can still smell my scent?” River couldn’t anymore. Elliott’s scent had smothered hers entirely.

Through gritted teeth he answered, “Of course I can.” He drove carefully in spite of his obvious discomfort, taking them through the town centre, wind shield wipers working overtime.

“Can other people?”

“No one on this campus.”

“It’s an alpha thing?”

“Mm.”

“Are you okay?”

“Mmhm.”

“Maybe you should try breathing through your mouth.”

“And taste you instead?” he snapped.

River’s own breath rushed into her mouth in shock. “Is that so awful?”

Elliott groaned through his bottom lip snagged between his teeth. “Stop provoking me. I’m not known for my self-control.”

“Provoking you?”

He shifted his hips back, knees widening a little, and swallowed. “Unless you want an all-over fresh coating, stop.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing that’s so terrible,” River mumbled through chattering teeth.

He changed gears with more aggression than was necessary. “Stop pouting. Stop sitting like a cherub. Stop speaking with your soft voice. Stop smelling so damn good.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t.”

Elliott swung into the open space outside River’s house share and let out a tense exhale. River snapped the handle out and jumped free of the blizzard-like interior. Outside wasn’t much better. The rain was pelting through icy wind and it almost knocked River back into the car. She yanked her hood up over her head. It would last her to the house. If she didn’t slip over on the path there.

Inside in five seconds flat. She slammed her back against the front door, shutting out the storm. Her hood slid over her eyes, far too big for her head. Because it wasn’t hers. River jolted. She’d stolen Elliott’s clothes. She spun on sopping, slippery trainers and threw the door back open.

Elliott’s sleek black car was gone.