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Matteo was doing his best to act unbothered but I could see the makings of a smile working their way across his hardened features.

"Are you done yet?" He asked and after a moment more of stifling my giggles I nodded and signaled that I was ready to continue.

Before Matteo allowed me to start in on him, he walked across to me and corrected my stance. His strong hands gently wrapping around my wrists and adjusting their trajectory before moving to my waist. Matteo's touch sent shivers down my spine as his fingers grazed my midriff while he was rotating my hips ever so slightly to make my stance stronger.

I knew my heart must be pounding even louder and my face even more red than before so I slipped out of his grasp and batted his all too attentive hands away. "I'm fine, I'm good let's just get this over with."

His eyebrow raised at my sudden change of mood but he didn't say anything of it. Matteo simply stepped away from me and waited for my first move in silence.

I'd been in training all my life, my father had made sure of that, but even after countless years of tutelage I had yet to master the art of combat. Werewolves were always so much stronger than me, it was a never ending and rather frustrating cycle of disappointment.

I swung my arm towards Matteo's temple which he easily blocked with his forearm. I lifted my leg and attempted to ram it into his stomach but he pushed my arm down and barred my leg from making any contact with my very own body.

I huffed in annoyance as he pushed me backwards. Matteo shook his head sadly, "Please tell me you were just warming up." He finished with a cocky smirk.

I threw out a series of swift blows, all of which he easily dodged while still managing to slowly push me further backwards.

Even though I was technically on the offensive against him, Matteo was the one that was driving me back holding all of the power in the situation. I scrambled to keep distance between us as I wracked my mind to strategically plan my next move against him.

"You're thinking too much." He explained as he pushed his hand forward and made light contact with my side.

I groaned and tried to shove him backwards but he was unmovable. "So what do you want me to do, just not think at all?" I retorted sarcastically through my teeth.

Matteo raised an eyebrow, "You know what I meant."

He swung his arm out and instead of engaging into combat with me, Matteo looped his arms around my waist and pulled me close. I pressed my hands against his chest but it seemed like whenever we trained it ended up in very precarious and similar situations.

"I thought you wanted to see what training I had, not this again." I pushed against him, trying to ignore the fact that underneath my hands were those incredibly intoxicating muscles of his.

Matteo didn't budge, it was aggravating how easily he held me immobilized. "Alright, lets see what you got then." He looked over my shoulder, his eyes mischievously finding something behind me. "Get out of my arms by the time I get to the creek."

My head whipped around and sure enough Matteo was already walking slowly towards the calm little body of water. I immediately started thrashing around in his grasp, my hands wrapping around his forearms as I tried to pry him off of me.

"Better hurry." Matteo taunted.

The water was directly beneath me as he adjusted his hold on me to dangle me over the crystal clear water, "Time's up, Olive." His orange eyes stared into mine devilishly, waiting to see if I had any final words or last ditched efforts to escape the water.

It was hanging there above the river where for the first time I realized that I had a golden opportunity albeit a cheap one. I couldn't care less about playing fair at this point, I just wanted to avoid being soggy the rest of the day so instead of finding a strategic solution I threw my fist forwards directly into his crotch.

Matteo's eyes widened and he immediately dropped me. My dumbass clearly didn't think things through because instead of falling to my freedom, I fell directly into the water by my own actions this time. Right before I submerged, I watched a hunched over Matteo lose his balance stumble forward into the water after me as a result of the pain I caused him.

I crashed into the water with a smug smile and emerged significantly more cold but still smiling. My hair was plastered messily across my face and I dove back under the cool water once more to push it off of my forehead, I peeked my eyes open for a split second whilst I was under and came face to face with Matteo.

We surfaced together and although he didn't appear as amused as I was, there was still an easiness to his demeanor as he floated beside me. "That wasn't very nice." He reprimanded me playfully.

The majority of what Matteo did wasn't considered 'very nice' but I knew if I pointed that out, this pleasant attitude change would be gone with the wind. "Too malevolent for you? You weren't impressed? Can't handle me?" I grinned a toothy smile over as him and swam back under the water, swimming against the current towards the other side of the small stream.

When I came up for air on the other side of the bank, my back was facing Matteo as I waded into the shallow end of the river. The plain clothes I wore suddenly clung to every part of my body, the water making some parts translucent and instantaneously anything but ordinary. I pulled my hair to the side of my neck as I tried to keep it from becoming a tangled mess when without warning, Matteo's burning touch made contact with my skin as he helped move my hair.

Suddenly, it wasn't just Matteo's hands that were on my neck. His lips grazed the length of my neck, savoring every inch of the newly exposed skin there. He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled my back into his body as his warm lips reached my jaw. "Olive?" Matteo murmured questioningly against my skin, he couldn't see my face and for that I was grateful.

His proximity alone was igniting something within me I had never experienced before, my mouth was opened in silent euphoria as he explored me. And in that moment, wrong had never felt more right.

It was right then where I mustered up the courage, I abruptly turned and twined my hands through his hair pulling Matteo towards me. His body crash into mine with a force unbeknown to me, sending me tumbling backwards into the shallow water and the soft sandy shore of the river.

Matteo was keen to take advantage of the change, with his knees he spread my legs apart and almost instinctually my legs wrapped around his waist on their own accord. His large hands ran wildly down my sides and down my back coming to rest on my ass, where he grabbed roughly and I couldn't get enough of it.

His every move was the opposite of gentle, it was full of passion and emotion. Matteo was wild and unforgiving, he couldn't keep still. He suddenly was dragging my shirt upwards, funnily enough having enough clarity to avoid ripping it from my frame. I however didn't have the same restraint apparently as I clawed at his shirt, he understood what I wanted and discarded the wet material onto the shore along with my own shirt.

Matteo's lips left mine abruptly causing me to involuntarily let a soft whine out. He hummed in appreciation against my skin as moved his attention lower. His traced the valley between my breasts with featherlight kisses until he was at the front clasp of my bra. My chest was heaving as he reached around to free me from the confines but he paused, "Olive?" Again he sought out my approval and I nodded breathlessly.

"Please." I honestly couldn't form a complex, coherent sentence even if I wanted to. Everything was aflame and I could hardly see straight. My entire being clung to Matteo's as his lips caressed my breasts and drove me up the wall. I gasped out and pulled on the roots of his hair as he torturously halted his assault on my chest and returned his heady attention to my neck.

His amber eyes were lost, replaced with a lustrous black. Matteo untangled my legs from his waist and placed a hand against my hip, pinning me to the soft sand beneath him as the water lapped around us and I didn't think twice about it. I was lost in the ecstasy of his lips against the most sensitive areas of my neck. His teeth teasingly grazed against the juncture of skin where my neck met with my shoulder, gently sucking on the skin there while drawing a feral moan from my lips .

In an instant the overpowering lust was replaced by an excruciating pain that flooded my senses. I realized that Matteo was no longer kissing me but instead his canines were sunk deeply into my neck.

Matteo was marking me.