Chapter 33
-DAX-
Anxiety skyrocketed through his body, and he immediately tensed, clutching the blanket to his chest.
She tugged twice before looking up at his fists gripping the blanket. His knuckles had turned white from how hard he was squeezing it. Thankfully, she couldn’t see that he was aroused yet. What would she think?
“Dax, you won’t get stronger if you don’t move and exercise the muscles in your legs.” She stared at him, keeping hold of his gaze. When he didn’t say anything, she huffed and said, “You can move your arms well, I admit that,
but you won’t be able to bear your own weight if you don’t first stretch and move your leg muscles. Now. Let. Me. HELP!” She said the last sentence, tugging on the blanket with each word.
When he wouldn’t let go, she slapped the bed and stepped back, closer to the dresser. “FINE. Stay weak.”
Bluster. That’s the best word for the emotion that coursed through him. How DARE she call me weak! So blown
away by her statement, he pressed his hands into the mattress and shoved his body up to a full sitting position. Shoving his butt as far back against the headboard as possible.
“What are you doing? Stop!” She was at his side again and trying to push on his shoulders.
Frustrated, he slapped her hands away. “Woman!”
At his outburst, she brought her hands up to her chest, palms out. He expected her to be shocked or scared, but her brows were drawn down, and her frown was deep. The light in her eyes seemed to shine too, highlighting the different flecks of gold and black that were scattered throughout them. It was distracting but only briefly. The
woman needed to SEE.
He shoved his body fully upright and, while keeping eye contact with her, he flung his arms into the air and swung them side to side while kicking his legs under the blanket.
However, she didn’t react other than showing a bit of concern in the expression on her face.
In a final attempt to prove that he wasn’t weak, he grabbed one of the extra pillows and hurled it across the room like he had earlier with the balled–up blanket.
That was when she finally responded. “WHY must you keep throwing things? If you continue to make such a fuss, the whole house will hear you. Is that what you want?” As she spoke, she stalked across the room and grabbed the pillow, bringing it back to the bed.
Instantly, he became embarrassed by his outburst. Of course, she was right. He wanted the household to continue thinking he was inactive until he felt more confident in their loyalty.
An apology was on the tip of his tongue, but he just couldn’t spit it out. He was once again acting no better than an angry child, but she believed him weak, and that thought made him feel uneasy and determined at the same time.
Uneasy because she was right. He had work to do to become the fierce Alpha he was before the accident. Yet, he
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Chapter 33
also felt determined because he wanted her to see him as more than a weak master that she had to care for. Determined to BE her Alpha, in all aspects of the word.
So instead of an apology, he said, “Obviously it’s not what I want, but I’m not as weak as you believe either. I have to do things on my own to prove that fact to myself, Bea. Let me bathe first, and then you can explain what the exercises entail, and we can do some of them. Okay?”
Her shoulders fell, and he saw the fight leave her eyes. She was going to consent. The fact made him feel like he’d won first place in the Moon Games.
“Okay.” Her mouth pulled to the side as if she was biting the inside of her cheek. She pulled the table closer to him so he could reach the water bowl and rag. “I don’t want to bring a tub in just yet, so you’ll have to settle for this.” She watched him as he inspected the table. “I didn’t mean for it to seem like I meant you were weak as a man. Only that you’ve been lying here for over a year, as your muscles grew lazy and weak. That’s all.”
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