When I got to the training room after stalling a bit, not really in the mood to watch the other fights I only saw how two members carried an unconscious Ivy away, face bloodied and bruised while Alex, one of the male initiates was doubled over in the ring.

When he straightened up I saw to my satisfaction that it seemed as if Ivy had given him a hard time winning his first fight. One of his eyes was swelling shut and numerous cuts littered his face, while Alex held his ribs in a way that made me assume at least one of them was cracked.

Making my way over to Owen and Avery who both seemed concerned but still proud I bumped my shoulder into Owens, prompting him to tell me what happened.

Owen sighed, arms crossed over his chest before he turned towards me, speaking lowly.

"It was a pretty even fight and Ivy got a lot of good hits in but when Alex managed to trip her and she landed on the floor it was over."

Nodding my head slowly I knew, what happened to someone who couldn't get off the floor fast enough from experience. At first, whenever one of my male training partners got me pinned to the floor it had been almost impossible to get up again. But with a lot of hard work and countless pain filled hours I had developed my own technique to get out of a choking grip and away from my opponent without getting hurt to such an extent that I would be immobile.

"Avery vs. Lyssa." Turning my head, I was pulled from my thoughts by Dante who stood in front of the ring, eying me and Owen up. I guess it was because we still stood so close to each other like we had when we were talking.

Or when Owen talked to me.

I raised my eyebrow at Dante but he only blinked, face expressionless before turning towards the two girls in the ring, giving them the signal to start.

Sighing, I walked over to another matt, sitting down and making myself comfortable.

This would be a looong morning.

.

.

.

The fights turned out like I thought they would. Avery won against Lyssa with a few difficulties that had been caused by her flaunty stance, but she got out with only a few bruises while Lyssa had to go to the infirmary to get her broken nose fixed.

It wouldn't take the bone longer than two or three days to heal, thanks to the healing serum which I could already feel working for my wrist, but a broken bone hurt nonetheless.

Avery joined me with a triumphant grin on her face obviously not yet feeling the hits she had taken and after nodding in congratulation we turned to watch the next fight, the most intense one of the day.

Owen against Marc.

Both of them had the best stance, the best techniques and the most strength in comparison to the others, resulting in a fight that lasted well over ten minutes.

Both threw numerous punches, blocking and always circling each other before the fight really started. Throwing the other one down, Marc and Owen ended on the matts countless times, forearms turning purple and faces taking the brunt of the hits.

They were pretty even until Marc decided to play dirty, placing a punch below the belt.

Literally.

When Owen doubled over, Marc only had to push once to get him to the ground before he managed to take him out with one kick.

To place punches on intimate areas was frowned upon, but not forbidden.

I just hoped they would deduct points for sloppy technique, Marc certainly deserved it.

And interpreting my brother´s expression he would do just that.

As I watched Owen being carried away, I came up with strategies in my head how to beat both of them after internalizing their fighting style.

Strength wise I would be no match to either of them, but I was faster and smaller, agiler and had fought against bigger opponents all my life, so it shouldn't be too hard.

At least that´s what I told myself.

The next fight was Cat against one of her friends, Kitty.

To sum it up, Cat didn't show mercy at all and Kitty had to go to the infirmary with claw marks adorning her face. I´m sure the makeup that was running down her tear stricken face must have burned in them like hell.

Jackson´s and Josh´s fight was mediocre, both a little reluctant to face each other and when Josh knocked him unconscious after five minutes Jackson was only out for a few seconds, not even needing to go to the infirmary.

But nothing could have prepared any of us for the last fight.

Knowing Riley and his personality I should have expected the violence we all were faced with, but I didn't. I couldn't have fathomed that he would want to hurt Candy, a girl he hung out with all the time, so much.

The only way to describe this fight was that he was the cat and she was the little bird that had fallen out of the nest.

Riley toyed with her, flaunting his superiority, as he planted his fist on Candy over and over again, but never on the same place and never with enough force to knock her unconscious. That would have been too merciful for him after only a few agonizing minutes.

Standing up, I walked closer, arms crossed over my chest as Riley continued to pummel Candy´s face, asking myself why she didn't just concede.

It may be frowned upon by most dauntless but I rather she would stop him before he killed her.

Being closer to them now, Candy writhing on the floor while Riley sat on her hips effectively pinning her to the matts, I saw her lips moving. Straining my ears, my head whipped up towards my brother when I heard that she frantically muttered that she indeed conceded.

Dante and Theo both looked at me with questioning gazes, jaws gritted at the bloody display in front of them, while I gestured towards Candy who slowly started to lose consciousness, while no one except Riley was able to hear her or see her lips moving.

"That´s enough Riley!"

Dante spoke up, but if he didn't hear him or choose not to I have no idea, I only knew he wasn't stopping hitting her.

So before even my brother could step up I was on the matts tackling him off her, narrowly avoiding a punch that was aimed at my face as we barreled down onto the floor. Landing a few feet away from him I immediately got up again to defend myself when I saw Riley coming towards me with anger blazing eyes.

But before he could reach me someone grabbed his collar and I found myself once again shielded by Dante´s back, who was detaining Riley while Theo was crouched down beside an unconscious Candy, checking her over.

I watched how the same two members like before picked her up, carrying her away to get immediate medical attention, my brother´s gaze following them out of the room.

Furious I stormed towards Theo, pushing him backward when I reached him. He stumbled back but managed to maintain his balance, glaring at me he looked like a carbon copy of dad, before grabbing my shoulders and hissing at me.

"What the fuck, Lexi?! We were just about to handle it! You had no right to do so yourself!"

Ripping myself out of his grip, I slapped his hands away before gesturing him that Candy had conceded but no one heard her. Theo´s expression turned solemn, observing me quietly for a moment.

"Are you sure?"

I nodded once, watching how Theo gritted his jaw, lost in thought before marching over to a stern Dante who seemed to lecture Riley.

Following quietly, I saw how Theo asked Riley something. As his eyes flickered through the room and he shrugged his shoulders I knew I had been right, as did Theo.

He only smiled sarcastically for a moment, whispering something at his initiate before pulling back and knocking him unconscious with one solid punch.

Turning away from the crumbled dauntless born seemingly unbothered Theo faced us, his expression stern as his voice rung through the vast space.

"I´m going to tell you this once: If someone concedes you stop the second he or she speaks up. If you fail to do so you will experience the joy of facing one of us." He gestured between him and Dante. "And there won´t be any conceding either. You understand?"

As the initiates muttered that they indeed had understood my brother nodded, meeting my stony gaze.

"Dismissed."

Staying where I am, I watched the other initiates leave the room shaking my head at Avery who threw me a questioning look, gesturing for her to go ahead. I wasn't done with my brother yet. The least thing he could do was watch out for his initiates, which he failed to do so today.

But before I could approach him Dante came up, stopping right in front of me while my brother was busy talking to someone who had rushed in, handing him a few papers.

"You did the right thing, Lexi."

Looking away from Theo I realized Dante had stepped even closer, his face now hovered close to mine, hot breath brushing over me. Unconsciously tilting my head, exposing my neck I shivered when I felt his stubble graze the sensitive skin.

Facing him again Dante pulled back, smirking when he looked deep into my eyes while I was too stunned to move.

He took a step back, gaze never leaving mine as he spoke up.

"You better get going. I don´t want to keep you from eating."

Throwing me a wink Dante turned around, striding towards my brother who was clueless about what had happened less than 20 feet away from where he was standing.

Still, a little bit dazed I walked towards the door, forgetting all about the anger I felt towards my brother I walked out of the training room to search for Avery.

.

.

.

After checking Ivy and Owen in the infirmary who were alright, we spent our break chatting with the transfers, or at least Avery did, while I listened. They hadn´t started the fights yet because none of them were skilled enough after only one week of training. Still, it was obvious they would start soon.

All of them liked Ben but Blade was a pain in the ass always picking on the weak ones, especially the abnegation twins. Those two didn't look like stiffs at all in their black attire showcasing their not so insignificant muscles. At 1 pm, when we all got up to get back to training I saw several dauntless females eying them up as if they were pieces of meat.

In the training room, we divided, the transfers following an agitated Blade over to the punching bags while Dante led the rest of us to the shooting range on the rooftop. Ben and Theo were busy doing some leader stuff so he had to handle us all on his own.

Not that we were many after the fights, only five.

The losers were still in the infirmary getting treated just like Riley and Alex, who had gotten his own share by Ivy and I could see it in Dante´s face that they hadn't thought about injured initiates.

Still, it wouldn't be too bad.

Every one of us knew already how to shoot and throw knives so one missed training session was nothing to worry about.

Today we would start with small firearms. Dante had them lying on a table, passing them out to each of us with a warning look before ordering us to take them apart and assemble them a few times.

Following his instructions, Dante took our time, writing it down.

After that, he lectured us about how wind and distance influenced the angle we would hit the target with and what we could do to counter it. I only listened with half an ear, constantly rubbing my arms that started to sting from the cold wind that blew around us, glaring at Dante because he could have just as well told us all of this stuff inside. Even though the sun shone brightly it was relatively cold on the draughty roof and I damned myself for not thinking about grabbing a jacket.

When Dante was finally done with his sermon about gun safety he ordered us to start shooting and I happily obliged. Relieved to be able to warm myself up a little I grabbed a gun and faced the nearest target, immediately starting to shoot.

Dad had started the shooting training when I was about five, with pellet guns of course and even though it didn't come as natural to me as knife throwing I had mastered it over the years.

So when Dante came over to correct my stance I may have had not an inkling what he hoped to achieve but it wasn't to improve my shooting abilities. Nonetheless, I was grateful for the heat his body emitted as his arms caged me in, his hands gripping mine as he aimed for the target.

"You really should have worn a jacket." Whispering into my ear, Dante pulled the trigger and I knew without looking that he had hit bullseye. Pulling back, Dante rubbed up and down my arms a few times while shivers ran down my spine. If it was from the warmth or his touch I had no idea but I didn't want him to leave me in the cold again.

As Dante walked away to help another dauntless born my gaze followed him all the way.

.

.

.

He pushed the door open, holding me to him with one arm under my butt. My legs were slung around his waist, fingers tangled in his hair as my lips hungrily moved in sync with his.

Carrying me over the threshold with some difficulties, he kicked the door shut behind us, before sneaking his hand into the back of my shirt. Caressing my lower back he pulled my hair tie off, freeing my untamable curls.

Shaking my head to make them at least a little presentable, my hands were all over him and I was fueled by an indescribable desire as I trailed them over his broad chest, admiring his defined abs. Letting them wander lower I lured a strangled groan from deep within his throat that was soon silenced by my lips.

I had no idea how we ended up here, only knowing training had ended early, but my mind was way too occupied to comprehend any of this as he started to nibble on my neck.

Pulling his hair only seemed to increase his efforts and I tangled my fingers in his t-shirt when he found an especially sensitive spot.

I smirked at his eagerness as he bypassed the kitchen carrying me right into his bedroom where he threw himself onto the bed, leaving me on top of him.

One of my favorite positions.

Shifting in his lap, I straddled him, pushing his torso back onto the bed and keeping him there with my hands on his chest I grinned down at him.

Rolling his eyes, he grabbed one of them and leading it towards his head he pressed a kiss to my palm.

Biting my lip, I observed him, unconsciously caressing his stubbly cheek, my eyes never leaving his as I finally tilted my face.

He met me halfway, our tongues intertwining as our mouths clashed and he pulled me even closer by my hips as he started to trail kisses up and down my neck.

In this position, my hair was all over the place and when he went to kiss me again and it got into his way he only chuckled lightly. Grinning up at me, he brushed the long curls out of my face, forming a make-shift ponytail while I let my fingers wander beneath his shirt, trailing them over the hot muscles on his abdomen and his V-lines.

But just when he went to kiss me again, I started to get this strange feeling. Turning my head away, I blinked rapidly, while the man under me pushed himself up onto his elbows, observing me worriedly.

"Lexi?"

I just shook my head, gesturing for him that I needed a moment as the tingling feeling in my nose got stronger until I couldn't hold it back any longer.

I sneezed.

"Is everything alright?"

Sniffling slightly, I nodded but immediately had to sneeze again. And again.

Chuckling at my less than sexy performance, Dante pressed his hand against my forehead but it soon turned into a scowl as he looked up at me.

"You´re burning up. And I thought I was the one to make you so hot."

Winking in a pitiful attempt to make me fill better, Dante lifted me off him situating me on his bed before he got up. I fretted as Dante pulled the blankets over me, only now realizing I was feeling like shit.

The heat I felt, what I had pegged to the close proximity of Dante must have been me catching a cold.
Fabulous.

.

.

.

Not even half an hour later I felt like dying.

Holed up with at least four blankets, I alternated between feeling too hot and too cold. My nose was running in the most unattractive way and it hurt to swallow, while my head was killing me.

Dante came back into his bedroom with a hot cup of tea and a regretful expression on his face, knowing it sort of his fault because he didn´t tell us to bring a jacket.

"How are you feeling?"

When I shot him a look that told him exactly how I felt, while coughing violently, Dante bit his lip to suppress his laugh at my misery as he handed me the tea and a pill.

"It´s medication from erudite."

Grimacing, I eyed it wearily not really trusting the little thing in my hand but when Dante raised his eyebrow at me I swallowed it out of necessity with a mouthful of water. He watched me the whole time.

Letting myself fall back into the mattress I curled up, closing my eyes for what I told myself only a moment. The last thing I felt before falling asleep was a hand brushing over my cheek. Leaning into his touch I smiled tiredly.

"Sleep now, Lexi."

And I did.

.

.

.

I spent the whole next day lounging around in Dante´s flat, not doing anything. After taking the medicine I felt a lot better but I suspected it was also some kind of sleeping pill because I woke up at 10 o´clock the next morning.

Alone.

Groggy how I was I scrambled out of bed knowing I had missed the first hours of training, ready to run to the dormitories, but hesitated when I realized I was only dressed in an oversized t-shirt that sure as hell wasn't mine.

But when I came stumbling into the kitchen I found a sealed bowl of soup, another pill and a note saying I was excused from training and should make myself at home.

Shaking my head little I couldn't help but smile a little at his attentiveness. The only other person that ever took care of me like that was mom and she was still an abnegation at heart. So no wonder there.

I warmed the soup up before flogging down on the couch zapping through the channels until I found a soap opera that had been labeled as trash TV. Sniggering to myself at their stupidity I devoured the food, asking myself if Dante had cooked it himself because I had never eaten anything like it in the mess hall. It was delicious.

After doing the dishes I took the pill he had left me, making myself comfortable and like the night before it didn't take me long to fall asleep again.

The rattling of keys woke me up again and this time around I felt as if I hadn't been sick at all. Propping myself up, I watched as a tired looking Dante walked through the door. He sighed deeply, closing his eyes for a moment before walking towards the kitchen, throwing his keys onto a cabinet and ridding himself of his jacket and shoes.

Dante almost walked past me but halted in his steps when he saw my disheveled self, sitting on the couch and the smile that crept onto his face as he came towards me made my insides churn in the best way possible.

"Hi." Dante breathed, as he let himself fall onto the couch pulling me into him. "You look a lot better. I´m glad you didn't die on me, but I guess that´s because I´m such an awesome nurse."

Nuzzling my face into the crook of his neck I tried to hide my stupid grin but when he laughed quietly I knew he had felt it against his skin. Even though he must have trained the whole day he still smelled heavenly. I trailed my finger over his biceps, thankful for the tight shirt he was wearing.

Dante checked my temperature and my pulse, trying to be inconspicuous about it but I slapped his hand away from my forehead, scooting down the couch until I could lie back again.

"Where do you think you´re going, Lexi?"

Dante tried to pull me back into him, however, I was faster and placed my head in his lap, raising my eyebrow as he shook his head in mock exaggeration at my behavior. But soon after Dante laid his head back onto the sofa rest, shielding his eyes with his arm.

I watched him for a few moments, asking myself if he fell asleep and when his breathing evened out I had my answer. But it could have been that he was trying to wind me up, so I poked him. But when my finger met his abs multiple times and Dante still didn't react I sighed, getting up.

Asking myself, what he would do I gently laid him down on the couch, tucking him in before hesitantly making my way over into the kitchen.

.

.

.

The eggs were just done and I flipped them around with a spatula when two big arms slung themselves around my waist pulling me back into a broad chest.

"Sorry that I fell asleep. It was a tiring day." Leaning into him I turned my head, trailing my nose over his jaw. "What are you cooking? Smells great." Dante murmured into my hair, breathing in deeply. I snorted. Scrambled eggs were pretty much everything I was able to cook and they were nothing compared to the things he always made for me.

"I´m serious." Dante turned me around but kept me caged in with his arms on either of my sides on the counter. Rolling my eyes, I knew he only wanted to be nice about my lack of skill, which I really appreciated even though we both knew it wasn't true.

Dante started to laugh when he saw my scrunched up face, that was caused by the thought of eating my self-made food, shaking his head at me with a grin.

But he soon turned solemn again. Surprised by his sudden change of mood I furrowed my brows as he started to speak.

"You think you´re still contagious?"

Even though I had no idea why he asked, I shook my head. The erudite medicine was always working fast and after almost 24 hours there shouldn't be any trace of the cold left in my body. That much I had learned in school.

"Good." Dante said, tilted his head and captured my lips in a soft kiss. My eyes fell shut on their own accord and before I knew it my hands were once again tangled in his soft hair.

It was nothing like yesterday. It wasn't rushed, but slow, nonetheless passionate. And even though I´ve never been kissed like that before I knew I wouldn't ever get enough of it.

When Dante's tongue traced my bottom lip asking for entrance I happily obliged, losing myself in his comforting touch.

That was until a biting smell reached my nostrils.

Pushing him away from me I hurried back to the stove, groaning when I saw black smock rising from the frying pan. I quickly took the handle, thrust it into the sink and opened the faucet. I heard the water sizzling and watched the now ruined meal with sad eyes.

It´s the thought that counts, isn't it?

Dante came to lean on the counter to my side and I knew without looking at him that he tried his hardest to suppress a grin as he patted my back empathically as if I were a puppy.

"Looks like your eggs are burnt."

Seeing the murderous glare, I shot him, Dante bit his lips before smiling his most charming smile. "Come on. I´m going to fix us something."

Lifting me up, Dante set me down on the counter, before busying himself with cutting up vegetables and stirring the sauce for the chicken he was frying. Every time he started something else he let me try first, feeding me with a spoon like you would do with a little child.

And even though I had never imagined finding myself in such a domestic situation I realized with a shock that I liked it.

That I liked him.

Maybe a little too much.

.

.

.

The second half of this chapter didn't turn out like I had imagined it, but I thought it was fitting. I hope you like it! :)

Thanks for reading & reviewing! :)