Yusef and his men stopped midway through their training. They looked at Dragnea, who led a trail of youngsters behind her.

"That's them?" a man asked one of the older warriors.

"Right. Another pack of meat to process, all right," the latter replied.

Yusef ran his slender fingers across his damp mid-length black hair, before bringing his hand down to mirror the other on his waist. His polyester spandex shirt was layered with a thin trail of sweat, and there was an excitement that tickled his veins as he caught the scent of his now personal ecstasy — his mate.

King caught his breath. His head swiped around; eyelids narrowed as he looked at the open training ground. The floor was of rich grass, and the ceiling, well, reached to the heavens above.

Even though the high mountains and its tall hairline of trees provided a quarter shade from the glaring sun, King still felt good that he wore a sleeveless shirt this time to combat the heat.

Dragnea bowed in the upper commanders' presence.

"Everyone already here?" one asked her.

"Yes, sir," she replied.

"All right, let's start."

Yusef moved to the center. His eyes processed their number before he started the training. "Good morning, everyone," he greeted. "As an intro for our guests, we're going to have a short orientation."

It was actually only King who was new there right now.

King rolled his aching shoulder, eyeing the alpha as he did. His gaze raked down, and well... Yusef's deceiving body betrayed his first impression. King didn't expect that under all those layers of long sleeves that he always saw Yusef in, the man would be, well, smoking hot like six-packed buns. King swallowed a small knot in his throat.

"I'm here to teach you how to defend yourselves, without claws nor fangs, just plain teeth, and bare hands. Now, that's a common misconception for us. Like humans, doesn't mean you can throw the greatest punch means you win. Doesn't mean you're the biggest and baddest wolf out there means you're in the top of the food chain." Yusef smiled as he oriented them.

Wendy leaned over to King, cupping a hand around his left ear. "Scary, right? See? Even his smile is scary." She accused the princely charm on her cousin's face.

"... How scary?" King said indifferently.

"Enough to screw someone up."

The werecat moved his head away from her and shotgunned her a dirty look. Wendy looked confused before her face carved into a creepy smile. "Oh right," she said while she brought three fingertips between her lips. "Hee-hee."

King bore his eyes into her, unamused. Why did they tell her about it, when Wendy obviously got a loose tongue wobbling around? He mentally questioned himself. He will have to file a complaint to the brothers later on.

"Are you embarrassed?" She snickered. "You know, it's bound to happen one of these days. He is your m—"

"Stop it!" King screamed, hurling a hand over her mouth. "It's not going to happen!"

Wendy's wide blue eyes rapidly blinked as she stared at the human tomato in front of her. There was silence that followed their noises. King realized his actions, and his and Wendy's head darted around them, seeing eyes all over them. He gave a wry smile, and withdrew back to his previous stand, clearing his throat as he did and discreetly shielding his face that was as bright as a flare.

"... What's not going to happen?" Yusef asked with a slight smile.

"Nothing, sir," Wendy replied instead, holding a giggle as she discreetly poked King, who wanted to throw her off from a nearby cliff right now.

Yusef studied them for a bit, explicitly eyeing his younger cousin, who replied with a wide smile back at him. Her angelic looks was a trap. She was one of the people they least wanted to know about their mate. But when Wendy overheard Yusef one time, Yusef had released a ticking bomb. It was good she only heard about Yusef's part and not the one about her cousins slash three alphas having the same-mate part. Who knows what kind of natural disaster would have happened.

"... All right, then." Yusef stared at her for a lot longer before deciding to let it go. "Anyway, I need a volunteer."

"Me!"
"Pick me!"
"No, choose me, alpha!"

"Well, someone's popular," Wendy lowly blurted out.

"Perhaps a guy for the first time..." Yusef chuckled, scratching the side of his forehead with a finger.

The girls groaned, disenchanted.

Yusef's gaze raked at the group, from reserved people to uncaring bunch, past the disappointed girls, and he saw the perfect partner. Hypocritically like his cousin, he thought a little tease wouldn't be so bad.

"Perhaps Mr. Stefan."

It took a little time for King to register that it was his name that Yusef summoned, and his eyes grew wide. He darted his head around, seeing another round of drilling eyes on him for the second time before he looked back at the alpha.

"H-huh?" he pointed a finger at his chest with a questioning look on his face.

Yusef held back a chuckle. "Yes. You."

King looked confused again. He wasn't listening earlier.

"He wants you to go in front," Wendy whispered, filling him in.

Gulping down, King reluctantly moved towards the center where Yusef stood. The alpha's smile somewhat grew darker in King's eyes at every inch he took until he finally reached beside Yusef. He crossed his arms against his chest, trying to keep six feet away from the man.

"Okay, so first course. I know most of you have already been trained in this part, but let's rewind. Basic defenses." Yusef turned around and inched closer to King, who twitched at his advances. He was taking none of the extra space.

Shit, King cursed. His body was as stiff as a tree. Yusef stared at the others, then down to him. He studied the boy's blank face, who quaked on the inside, before he uttered, "Try to throw a punch at me, Mr. Stefan."

Oh, how King wanted to. He narrowed his eyes and looked back at Yusef. "... Can I do it hard?"

Yusef's brows rose. "You want it hard?" there was entertainment in the man's voice.

"Yea–" King stopped his mouth midway, noticing the amusement on Yusef's face and the variation in the words. His face turned so red.

"All right, we're starting. Attention on us," Yusef immediately said, creating a distraction to give the werecat a short duration to regain his composure. Yusef turned his head back at the flushed face again, suppressing a chuckle. He gestured at him. "Come on."

King threw a weak punch. Well, technically, it wasn't even a punch. Yusef didn't react; he just stared at King and his stretched out fist. He chuckled again. "I thought you wanted it hard?"

King hurled a real punch this time, which Yusef swiftly blocked with the back of his forearm. The werecat didn't even get to blink when Yusef locked his arm in his much greater hold, and when Yusef's other arm came crashing around his neck, taking all of his earned balance away and dragging him down on Earth. Yusef made sure King wouldn't crash down, and not painful as it would if ever done full out, just firm enough to make King stumble back, and depend on his sturdy arm to lever him away from the ground.

King was now annoyed. He felt like he was being made a fool off, and he hated that. However, when he looked up, his annoyance drew back. Yusef's eyes were breathtakingly blue, like sapphires that sparkled underneath a field of blue, and when he smiled at King, so gentle, so purely, unlike the ones he usually saw him wear, King's heart skipped a beat... Wait, what skip?

King finally realized how close their faces were, painting his face pink at the process, and he gasped. He immediately wiggled away, which Yusef allowed.

Yusef looked unaffected, the same princely smile on his face, as he stood straight and stared at those who are present. "So when he's about to move in, you also move in. You counter his swinging arm, and after that, there's a lot of ways to go on next. It depends on the situation." Yusef explained, and King took this time to breathe the fuck up, cause he felt like he was going to hyperventilate anytime soon.

Yusef continued explaining, and King sighed through his nose, forcing his system to ease. On the first hand, why was he even reacting?! He thought to himself, calming himself down.

"Next course," Yusef said, creeping beside King again. "Now, when someone holds you like this—"

Just when King thought the storm was gone, this time, it was a tsunami that crashed down on him. He sharply gasped when a heavy forearm wrapped around his neck, another one locking his head in a solid hold. King tried to wiggle out.

"Shh," Yusef calmed him down, and King stopped dead on his track, eyes round and wide. There was an electrifying current that crawled into his body when Yusef's fingertips brushed ever so gently on his skin. He could feel the man's breath on his left ear, and his blood boiled in his veins once again.

Yusef leaned in, whispering, "Your heartbeat is awfully fast, Mr. Stefan."

King tried to draw his scarlet face away for a glare, but he couldn't even budge. His eyes lowered to the audience, seeing the gazes that bore on them, so he tried to calm down.

Calm down. Calm the fuck down, King.

Yusef chuckled, sending a small quiver in his chest that travelled front towards King.

King shut his eyes. "I-I was shocked. Just do the freaking lesson, man."

Yusef suppressed a laugh. "All right," he said. "Now when someone puts you in a chokehold like this, arms secured around your head, you got to link your hands, clamp down, force the assaulter's hand to pry up, and then you go and break his fingers, better yet hand, off."

The part where Yusef said that while still smiling would have probably crept King out. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately for him, he didn't see it. After going back and forth to show and explain the move, they finally moved to the next step.

"Next course," Yusef turned to look at King. "Are you ready?"

"I am," King replied, finally feeling unaffected at their interactions after getting a bit used to the previous move. Oh, how he was wrong.

Yusef smiled again. "All right then."

King raised both brows when Yusef laid him down on the grass. His eyes grew so round (it wasn't only him) when the alpha slowly took a scandalous position — mounting on top of him, under his legs, while pinning his wrists down on the ground.

He was doing it on purpose. He was really doing it on purpose.

"Next top, mounting position. I'm going to show you what to do when someone drags you into this situatio—"

King aimed right for the nuts.