Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, Dyson would be hand-washing my dishes naked right now.

Author's Note: And the Shadow Thief training begins! Sorry for any grammatical errors! I'm about to leave for a wedding and I wanted to get the first half of the chapter posted! More will be posted hopefully tomorrow!

Enjoy!

Sweet baby jesus, Kenzi thought, swallowing hard.

Dyson was across the loft from her, sweat dripping down his naked back as he pounded the punching bag in front of him. His shiny muscles rippled under the florescent lights with each twist of his upper body.

She was tempted to call out to him to let him know that she had arrived for their training session, but after the week she had, she figured she deserved this little treat. But after just a few more punches, Dyson stopped his thrusting and began to settle the bag. Kenzi rushed into action, stepping a little louder than she normally would towards him.

"Hey D-Man, I'm ready to get my training on!" She said with excitement, taking punches at the air.

Dyson turned towards her with a grin on his face. He had heard Kenzi come in a few minutes ago, wolf senses and all. He had to admit though, knowing that Kenzi was watching him, and enjoying her warm scent of satisfaction, gave him quite the rush. It seemed as though she was not as impervious to her attraction for him as he had thought.

Grabbing the towel that hung over the pull-up bar, he wiped his face and neck, before running it down his chest and stomach, eyes on Kenzi as he did. Watching her pupil dilate and her air-punching falter, his grin growing, he finally settled the towel around his neck and walked over to her.

He felt a growl of appreciation begin in his chest as he took her in. She was dressed down in work out clothes. Or, as "down" as Kenzi ever really got. She wore a loose dark purple tank with a big black heart on it over a black sports bra, 75% of which was visible under the loose top. She also wore painted on calf-length black yoga pants and black sneakers. And wouldn't you know it, her shoes had no heel for once. She had also french braided her hair back into two loose braids, her bangs styled back so that her eyes were free. She also had very little makeup on giving her face a much softer look to it. It was an interesting look for her, and while he liked the soft, feminine look of her, he also had grown to love the harder, punk look she preferred. Not that he wasn't going to enjoy the hell out of her yoga pants though.

"Kenz," he purred in greeting. "You look good."

"Well, I didn't want to sweat on my Jimmy Choo's."

Kenzi blushed and gave his arm a friendly punch, in gratitude of course, and let her 'borrowed' gym bag drop off her shoulder to the floor.

When she had seen the name WOLF MAN flash on the screen of her phone last night her stomach had done a funny little flip. 'Training tomorrow at my place, 10:00 AM' it had read. She replied instantly with several texts for more information but all he would reply was 'Be ready to sweat'. Yeah, she had thought, because that didn't make her want to hump him.

"Are you nervous?" he asked. "Your heart rate just shot up."

He walked over to his kitchen and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge, finishing half of it in a few long swallows. Kenzi studied the way his throat moved in a daze.

"Uhh," She mumbled coherently, tearing her eyes off of him and looking around his place. "Me, nervous? Nope, never."

Because his place was a studio style loft, everything was visible, from his glass shower and bathroom area, to the work out area with his punching bag, mats and other equipment to the left by his couches, and then his bed along the wall, covers still a little rumpled from sleep. The steel gray, almost blue, satin duvet looked soft and inviting, along with his dark gray sheets. She flushed as she imagined him stripping naked and stretching out along that bed, ready and waiting. Down girl, she reminded herself, bringing her eyes back to his kitchen where they stood. It was a man-cave in here for sure.

"You sure about that?" Dyson asked, eyes staring her down. "Your pulse is still racing." He heard it loud in his ears, getting louder by the moment, pupils still dilated wide. He fought the urge to growl and push her against the countertop she leaned her arms on, to give her heart something to really pound over. He wanted to crush his lips against hers, full and inviting, parted slightly. To thrust his tongue into her mouth and tangle it up with hers. He wanted to nibble on her lower lip and hear her gasp his name. Then he wanted to bite his way down her neck and hear how her heart beat then.

She shivered under his fiery gaze. His jaw clenched as he took a step towards her with purpose. She took a step back, almost tripping over her gym bag, and he paused reminding himself. She wasn't ready, and she and Hale had just called it quits a few days ago. He needed to be there for her as a friend for now, and when she was ready, he would make it clear that there was no backing down.

He gripped her upper arms and settled her slightly, giving her a smile to ease the tension.

"You don't need to be nervous." He told her, tugging on one of her braids. "We're going to take this slowly."

Her eyes widened at his words. "Take this slowly?"

"Training."

"Ah," she cleared her throat. "So what do I do first? Five hundred push ups, run ten miles, throw some daggers?"

He laughed as he led her over to the punching bag again and reached down to grab the wife-beater tank he had left there. "First things first," he said as he tugged it on.

Swallowing, she met him by the mats. And sat down cross-legged in front of him when he sat in a similar position.

"Shadow Thieves are just as old as fae." He told her. "Just as Fae are as old as time, as are the Shadow people."

"Shadow people?" she scoffed. "We call those peeping toms here, Wolfy. Or Uncle Vladimir if you know my family."

He smiled. "Shadow people, or 'dwellers' are humans who have learned to manipulate the realms." At her confused stare he continued. "When Fae were first revealed, humans grew afraid. They knew that they needed to adapt to change or they could fall below the food chain and become extinct. As it was, Fae were breeding with humans more and more, creating a mixed race. Humans needed something better to protect themselves. The monks were the first to discover this power. Through meditation and rigorous training, humans were able to manipulate the planes of existence to cross from plane to plane."

"What, like Back to the Future?" Kenzi asked.

"No," he smiled softly. "Shadow dwellers can't alter time. However, they can jump from one plane of existence, or 'realm' to another." He put his palms up and faced them towards each other in front of her, but stopped his palms from pressing together, leaving a centimeter or two between them. "There are other worlds just like ours that are parallel to our timeline. When you get that sensation that someone is watching you, or deja vu, or when you see something in the corner of your eye, it's the fabric between those two worlds becoming so thin that for the briefest moments, the two worlds merge." He moved his hands together to show her.

"So we're basically seeing things that are 'on the other side' so to speak?" she asked, trying to keep up.

"Basically." He agreed, "Sometimes when that fabric is too thin, things can cross from one world to another. We call one of those other worlds the 'Shadow Realm'."

"And only humans can learn how to bar-hop between realms? Awesome!" She shouted.

"No Kenzi," he corrected laughing. "Some fae can do this as well. However, there are a select group of humans, like the monks, who have learned to train their minds to do this as well. Most fae can't 'Shadow Dwell', their nature won't allow it. Humans however, are basically a blank slate. With enough training and dedication, a human could essentially cross from this realm to the Shadow realm."

"No offense D-Man," she said. "But anything called the 'Shadow Realm' does not exactly sound like the safest place for humans. And really, what good could 'realm hopping' really be?" Her hands flew up into the air. "What I really need to learn is to shoot fire out of my hands. "Like 'pow', 'boom', 'pshhh'!" She popped out her hands, throwing imaginary fireballs and lighting up imaginary fae with her 'flamethrower'.

"It helps, trust me." He drew her attention back to him, "Let's say a fae had you by the throat. you can't move, can't breathe. Your lungs are burning and your head is pounding. You see darkness creeping up in your eyes as everything goes does dark…"

She gulped.

"If you were able to use your mind to thin the fabric between our world and the Shadow Realm, you could pull yourself out of this realm and into that one. It would look almost the same. Most people say that it is the exact copy of this world except there is little light." He watched her eyes grow wide with excitement.

"So I would basically disappear, pop into that world, grab a nice dagger laying around and pop back in behind the face and stab him in the neck?" She jumped up off the mat in excitement and played out her scenario, fighting an imaginary fae.

"In theory," he told her. "There are serious risks though, Kenzi."

She settled herself back down on the mat. "Like what exactly?" She gasped. "Would I have bad hair in the Shadow world?"

He shook his head. "Probably not. But there are creatures that are in that other realm that aren't here. Under Fae, spirits, trapped souls, and a lot of other dangerous things." He told her. "That's why we need to train your body as well as your mind. You need better fighting skills, to prepare you for these situations."

"You're going to train me to be all badass like Bo?" She asked skeptically.

"No," he replied. "I'm going to train you to be badass like Kenzi."

"You called them Shadow Dwellers earlier." She reminded him. "Is that different from a Shadow Thief?"

Dyson had her doing some light strength training with free weights. She already felt the burn in her arms after just a few reps. Years of dancing when she was younger had conditioned her legs to be toned perfectly. But upper body strength had never been a goal of hers.

Her personal trainer was a few feet in front of her doing one armed push-ups. And once again, he was shirtless. He was also one of the only people she knew who worked out in jeans. But she certainly wasn't complaining, she thought, checking out his firm ass.

He looked up at her to check her form every few push-ups. Making sure her legs were still spread shoulder length apart, that her back wasn't hunched, that she wasn't over-extending her arm. Not to mention he was enjoying the exposed view of her cleavage rising and falling with each curl of her arm.

"Over the years, Shadow Dwelling became less about self-defense, and more about personal gain." Dyson told her. "Humans began using their learned talent to rob, steal from businesses, stalk unsuspecting people." He switched arms and began his push-ups again. "Fae began to refer to them as 'Shadow Thieves'. It's the more common term for it."

"Think of all the shoes I could steal," she eyes grew wide as she thought of all the possibilities. She stopped her reps.

Dyson frowned and stood up. Walking over to her he gripped her arms and forced Kenzi to look up at him.

"Listen to me closely Kenzi," he growled. "Shadow Dwelling is very dangerous. Do you know why you haven't heard about this until recently?" She looked up at him, her eyes wide in surprise at his fierce expression. "Because just about anyone who knew how to do 'dwell', is dead now."

"From the creatures on the other side?"

"Or because they got stuck on the other side." He informed her.

"I could get stuck there?!" She growled at him, dropping her free weight to the side, she pushed his chest, without him budging, though he dropped his arms from her. "Why would you teach me something that is going to get me killed?!"

"Because Kenzi," he growled, "with the right training and dedication, and with a pure heart, it is perfectly safe."

"And you think I'm pure?!" She asked incredulously, turning around and storming away from him. "Have you met me?"

He rushed after her a spun her around.

"I've been inside of you Kenzi. I know you." He growled gripping her close to him.

Her eyes widened at the suggestive image the words brought to her mind. She glanced down at his lips, mere inches away from her, in response. The muscles in his jaw ticked and she wanted to run her fingers along the flexing muscles.

"I was in your body, Kenzi." He said softer. "I know exactly the kind of person you are. And trust me, you are even more pure than you know."

She swallowed, trying to calm her hormones that were suddenly coursing through her veins. Her body was aching for something that her heart was afraid to want. Dyson had this way of looking right into her soul and seeing only the good there. It made her want to crawl into his arms and stay there. She wanted that feeling all the time; him looking at her like the only woman he saw. But she knew that his heart belonged to Bo. She reminded herself that wanting him, would only lead to heartbreak.

Dyson watched her eyes grow wide in wonder, before she closed off her emotions from him.

"I think you're seeing things, old man," she said lightly, pulling away from him and walking back over to the weights she had dropped. "You should get your eyes checked."

He watched her turn away from him and lift the weights up and out by her sides, tricepts and shoulders flexing, and promised himself to work on breaking through her walls.