Page 1 of Forced Mate Bride
Chapter 1 - Jasper
“You need to pull your elbows in a bit more,” Jasper said, adjusting the stance of one of the women in the room. “That way, you have a better angle to ram them into your attacker’s stomach. Like this.”
He demonstrated, shoving his elbow back behind him as if attacking an invisible assailant right behind him. He stood in front of a row of mirrors, and he could see his reflection copying himself. His sandy hair, a little shaggy and in need of a cut, obscured a little of his face.
Behind his reflection, he could see that of about twenty other women in a decent-sized room that was mostly empty, save for bags lining the wall and some gym equipment that had been pushed out of the way for the purpose of the meeting.
“If you think you need a bit more space to execute any of this, what I would suggest is driving your foot back and slamming your heel into their foot. That should startle them enough for them to loosen their grip enough that you can use this move. If they’re wearing boots or the foot doesn’t work for some other reason, try going for their shin instead.”
He showed them what he was talking about, shifting his foot back and demonstrating as he spoke. The women filling the room watched with rapt attention. Some were studying the technique fastidiously. Others had their attention locked specifically on him.
“Does that make sense?” he said. “Right. In that case, get into pairs, and I want you to practice on one another.”
He watched as the women shuffled around as instructed. They began practicing the move, some with more skill than others, but all with the same enthusiasm and determination.
Walking around, watching the women practicing, he paused groups every so often, adjusting positioning and giving pointers, trying to explain what they needed to change and why.
So far, the self-defense program that Jasper had started was going well. He had taught the women in the room a half-dozen different techniques that could help them with an assailant. All the women in the room had been enslaved by the Ironbrand pack before Jasper and several other Silverrose wolves had killed the alpha and set them free. After that, most of the women had joined the Silverrose pack and integrated into the new pack seamlessly.
The training program had been his idea. Ever since they had rescued these women from the Ironbrand pack a few months ago, Jasper had wanted to make sure they felt safe and secure, like they could defend themselves. They were good learners, too. It had taken no convincing whatsoever to get the women to start attending.
While he watched, he let his mind drift to other things for a brief moment, thinking back on the changes since Camden, his leader when they had both been members of the black-ops team and now the Silverrose Alpha, had taken over.
Despite some of the more conservative members of the pack having issues with the program and some of the other changes Camden had made as alpha, for the most part, the transition had been smooth. They had scouted the nearby woods to get rid of any lingering members of the Ironbrand pack. Jasper, Franco, and Cillian had uncovered a handful of pockets of resistance, but nothing that they couldn’t handle. They’d dealt with far worse over the years when they had been in the military. At this point, sometimes it felt like the hardest part of the transition had been getting used to calling one another by their first names again after the years of military life.
“Jasper?”
One woman’s voice brought him back to reality. A blond woman was batting her eyelashes at him, smiling and waving him over. “I have a question on technique. Would you mind correcting my stance?”
The class continued, Jasper, demonstrating another couple of moves, explaining their uses and potential pitfalls. The cycle repeated itself, with Jasper breaking the women into clusters and helping the ones who needed work on their forms. He might have been imagining it, but some of the women’s forms were so terrible, he could have sworn they were doing it to get him to come over.
After an hour, he clapped his hands. The murmurs and sounds of scuffling stopped, and all the women turned to look at him.
“All right, that’s it for today,” Jasper said. “Good work, everyone. I’ll see you all next week.”
There were a handful of disappointed mutters and some quick, appreciative thanks, and that was it. Some of the women began to disperse, grabbing their bags that lined the room, talking animatedly with one another. Others, however, walked up to Jasper.
“Thank you so much,” a woman named Isabel said. “That was a great lesson. You’re such a good teacher.” Her hand went to his bicep, fingers tracing the muscle there.
“You really are,” said another, Silvia, coming to stand next to her. “I was wondering if you might have time for some private classes?” She batted her eyelashes. “I really learn so much better in more intimate settings, you know?”
“You’re all doing incredibly well without any extra help,” Jasper said.
Silvia frowned, a mock pout. “But I think I would learn so much better if you could help me after hours. Maybe at my house? I could make dinner, too.”
On the outskirts of the cluster that had formed around him came more than one annoyed murmur at the proposition. Jasper wasn’t entirely sure why, but he dismissed it from his head and kept a pleasant smile on his face. This happened after nearly every meeting. He couldn’t figure out why the women kept persisting, but he had a funny feeling it was going to continue whether he liked it or not.
His eyes strayed past the small semi-circle of women toward a woman at the back of the room, currently slipping on her jacket. She brushed her auburn hair away from the jacket collar and gathered the rest of her belongings. She didn’t glance at him, instead keeping her head low as she dipped out the door.
Jasper politely extracted his arm from Isabel. “Unfortunately, I’m way too busy at the moment to run any extra lessons,” he said.
Silvia gave another mock pout and sighed, then straightened, returning to her coy demeanor. “If you’re sure. See you next week.”
She winked and waggled her fingers at him, then sauntered off, swaying her hips far more than necessary. He didn’t miss the way she turned to look back over her shoulder at him as if to check if he was looking, but he didn’t react to it.
Wasting as little time as possible, he hurried out of the gym and glanced around. There was no one. But he had an idea where he should go. He shouldered his bag and made his way down the street toward the nearest coffee shop.
When he reached it, he slowed. He glanced into the window, not keeping his head low necessarily, but not drawing attention to himself, either. He peeked inside, and he felt a jolt lurch through him at the sight inside.
