Inevitably Yours

MICHAEL

The training with my dad wasn’t what I’d expected. I thought it would be like what Lawrence made us do at Stary, but it was vastly different. There, the only thing we did was constant conditioning as we were screamed at by an overzealous Alpha or Beta. It was an over-glorified gym class. Instead, I was learning about our heritage, what it means to be an Alpha, and how to use various weapons.

“The pack has to respect and trust you if you’re going to lead them,” my dad told me.

“I don’t even know what that would look like,” I replied honestly. The only thing I had ever known was a pack controlled by fear and anxiety. Wolves wouldn’t even live in the packhouse, let alone voluntarily be around Lawrence; I know I didn’t want to be. “Not long before we left, Lawrence told me the best way to break a male wolf was to a*s rape him so he’d never disobey you again. I started sleeping with a knife under my pillow since real weapons were outlawed in the pack.”

My dad paused; his face blanched. He clearly wasn’t expecting that, and it took him a moment to regain his composure. That was the reaction I usually got when I told him about how I’d grown up. I’d left out some of the worst parts, but sometimes I’d let something slip, and he’d look at me like I was insane. It was hard not to think that it was only possible because he left me there, but I knew he had his own s**t to deal with too.

“I don’t have to tell you how wrong that is, do I?”

“Of course not,” I grumbled. That was a stupid question. “It felt aimed at me because I was disobeying him at the time, but he would have had to kill me.”

“I think that’s enough for today,” he told me softly. Sometimes when we talked about Stary, he needed a break. I didn’t think he could handle the guilt.

–

I was preparing for the tournament Ash suggested, and my parents were on board to go with me. It was a few hours away, so we were planning on staying the night and driving back after. In the meantime, I felt like something was missing in my training. I enjoyed the grappling and the atmosphere at Tri-Wolf, but I was only learning one facet of martial arts. I started contacting local Taekwondo schools until I found one I thought was a good fit. I’d picked up a part-time job to pay for training, but my budget was already tapped out. So, we worked out a deal for me to clean mats, assist in classes, and help out around the school as needed in exchange for my tuition.

“What rank did you end at?” Coach Madden asked as he rummaged through a box of belts.

“Brown,” I replied. “I was pulled out as a kid before I could get my black belt.”

“Hmmm…” he pondered to himself. “Throw this on.”

He threw a blue belt at me. I’d already been given a school uniform and changed into it.

“We are under the WTF, so we don’t do brown belts. Here, it would be a red belt black stripe before the black belt in our system. You were most likely at an ITF school before, which teaches a combination of karate and Korean martial arts stemming from the Japanese occupation of Korea. The Koreans stripped most of the Japanese elements from our art, and our style of Taekwondo is supposed to be wholly Korean.”

“That makes sense,” I agreed, thinking back to the time I’d done karate too. “The kata from the karate style I learned and the forms I learned in Taekwondo were similar.”

Kata was something I’d never been a huge fan of. They were like a simulated fight with predetermined movements that you had to do in order and within a set space. Usually, each belt rank would have one associated with it.

“We call them Poomsae,” he corrected. “Let’s try you at blue belt since it’s been a long time, see how you do, and reevaluate rank. It puts you right in the middle.”

“Yes, sir,” I replied, bowing before I stepped onto the mat to show respect. I tied my new belt around my uniform and pulled out the mop to clean the mats before class. I expected to put on a white belt like any other new student, so I wasn’t worried about it.

A kid who couldn’t have been more than twelve walked in a few minutes before class, and as he set his bag down, he openly stared at me. He pulled a red belt on his waist and bowed himself onto the mat, where he stood proudly at the front. I assumed we would be lining up by rank, regardless of age. So, I waited for the rest of the class to file in before taking my place next to the red belt with his chest stuck out.

“You’re next to me; I’m in front,” he declared proudly.

“Thanks for helping me. I’m new here, and my name is Michael,” I answered, unable to keep the smile off of my face. He was kind of adorable. It made me miss Stary’s youth wrestling program. That chaotic tournament with the miniature wrestlers was my favorite part of the year.

An uneventful class went by, all of the techniques familiar from when I was younger. I wasn’t learning anything new, but I’d missed the art. Madden called on me a few times to use me for demonstrations, and the red belt looked at me murderously.

“Pair up for sparring!” Madden called out across the mat. This was a mixed-age class with a few other adults, so I tried to find one relatively close to my size.

“You’re with me, Michael,” Madden ordered as he neared the center of the mat.

He threw me headgear, a chest protector, and shin guards. I pulled them on quickly, and he stepped behind me to help tie the chest protector. I’d never worn one like this. It laced behind me and seemed impossible to do on your own. As he set the timer, I realized he wasn’t wearing any protective gear. I knew he was a black belt, but that still seemed a little cocky.

The beep came, and our round started. He made a movement that looked like he would kick, so I stepped backward, switching my stance. It was a feint, and he stepped right through to score a solid kick to my chest. It was hard enough to get my attention but not so hard it hurt me. I felt the adrenaline begin to flow, and I started moving in and out, looking for an opening of my own. I threw a punch towards his chest and followed it with a round kick towards his ribs. As he stepped away from the punch, I caught him with the kick. It doubled him over, and he held his hand up with one finger, motioning to wait for a second as he wheezed. Straightening himself up again, he fixed his belt, and we were back at it.

“Coach, are you sure you don’t want to put gear on?” I asked. I wasn’t even annoyed at the cockiness anymore; I just didn’t want to hurt him. I kicked pretty hard, and I had just proved it.

“I’ll be fine; you worry about yourself,” he fired back with a smile.

We sparred a few rounds, going back and forth on points. He was ahead, but I kept it interesting, landing more than I think he expected. As the last round began to wind down, I wanted to score a good kick to leave an impression. I started pushing and pressuring him to get him to naturally want to step forward and throw a kick. The setup worked, and I threw my all-time favorite kick. It was a turning back kick straight into the solar plexus. I looked over my shoulder right before it connected, and I felt my heel hit home. It drove upward, picking him up for a moment and driving the air from his lungs audibly. When his feet were fully on the ground again, he dropped to his knees and waved me off as he tried to catch his breath.

“Enough,” he barked right before the beep declared the end of the last round. He sounded angry, and my heart fell.

“s**t, I f****d up my first day,” I thought.

“It’s his fault,” Eros reasoned. “He asked you to spar with him, and he chose not to wear protective gear.”

“I know, but still… I don’t want to get kicked out before this really starts.”© 2024 Nôv/el/Dram/a.Org.

“If he kicks you out, kick him again,” Eros yawned dismissively.

“Very helpful,” I snapped.

The class lined up again, and Madden stepped to the front, showing no sign of what had just happened. He formally closed the class, and they filed out the door slowly as parents picked up their kids and adults finished their conversation. Madden went to his office while I went to make more bleach water for the mat and set to work cleaning it. I also grabbed the squeegee and glass cleaner to get the floor-to-ceiling mirrors we had. I was about halfway done when Madden walked back in quietly with something in his hand. He bowed himself onto the mat and walked directly over to me.

“Take off your belt,” he said directly.

“Here it comes, I guess,” I worried. Eros stayed quiet, watching from within.

As I handed him my new blue belt, he handed me a translucent wrapped package that was open at the top.

“From now on, you’ll wear this,” he nodded towards what he’d handed me. When I overturned it in my hand, a black belt fell into it. My heart stopped beating for a moment as I realized this was a good thing, and I wasn’t getting kicked out.

“You don’t have to clean mats; just act as my assistant instructor in classes. We’ll consider you an ‘in-house’ black belt for now. Once you learn the Poomsae at each rank, we’ll formally test you to get your paperwork from Korea. That work for you?”

I was stunned, but I forced out words, “Yes! Of course! Thank you!” He shook my hand and turned to walk away. I looked down at my partially completed cleaning job, “I’ll still clean the school, though. It’s what I agreed to.” It felt like the right thing to do.

“We can take turns then,” he said gruffly.

I looked down at the belt I’d coveted but narrowly missed out on, and I couldn’t help but be excited. I knew I had plenty of work and training ahead of me to be worthy of it, but I was a black belt from now on.

–

After Alpha training in the morning and Taekwondo the rest of the day, I was exhausted. I looked over at my nightstand where I’d set my new belt, and I broke into a stupid grin. There was only one person I wanted to share this with.

ME

| what’re you up to ?

It didn’t take long before I saw her name flash across my screen, the only thing that could make the night better.

BLUE

| just making dinner for me and the kid they insist is my brother

| you ?

I laughed. I knew Kent got her nerves as much as Tyler got on mine. If I was being honest, I was still surprised those two didn’t end up together.

ME

| i have some cool news

BLUE

| Well quit being a tease and tell me!

ME

| you couldn’t handle it if I stopped teasing you…

I stared at it for a long moment before deleting it. We hadn’t crossed the line to flirty in a while, but we were talking so much again that I didn’t know if I’d be able to help myself much longer.

ME

| look what i got today

I snapped a picture of my new belt laying on top of the crumpled white uniform below it, and I sent it along with the message.

BLUE

| omg

| congratulations!!!

| since when do you do karate?!

I knew she’d be as excited as I was about this. Pleasant tingling went down the back of my neck and spine as I thought about how to reply.

ME

| Taekwondo and since i was little

| and i can’t tell you everything

| how would i surprise you?

BLUE

| ugh

| i hate surprises. they are giant teases

I couldn’t take it anymore. If Quinn thought I was teasing her now, I wasn’t sure she could handle what was actually going through my mind. Too many times, I had stopped myself from sending her what I actually thought to keep the peace between us. The selfish part of me didn’t want to do that anymore.