Zayne “Jida grew the blade,” Tate says as the door slams shot behind him. “Says it’s an accident but it looked very intentional to me” I have to resist the urge to hunt her down and snap her neck. The attack was uncalled for. Jida has been acting like a bug crawled up her ass and died for months now because she’s getting old and hasn’t mated yet. She’s been more irritated and aggressive lately, going off at the smallest things, the maternal females say it’s the wolf inside that is unsettled by not being grounded by a male, so I’ve given her some leeway but this is going too far. She could have seriously hurt Alina, an innocent girl. Goddess, she is… I shake my head, refusing to think about it. I noticed the eyes. Who wouldn’t? Just one look and it was like staring at the moon itself. A beam straight to the temple, and I’m still reeling from it. At least some things are beginning to fall into place. She had been scared, like a little mouse. and for the
ALINA I don’t know how long I stay in wolf form. The few times I shift, the wolf is thrilled, probably from the freedom of being locked inside. As I run through the woods, I don’t try to reign her in though, I let her do as she pleases, not so keen on facing my reality. So I hunt and eat and play in the grass, then doze for a while, only to repeat it when I wake up. Living through the wolf’s eyes is always a marvel, we are so fast, nd strong, we are one. We zip through the woods like the wind itself. In my early teens, after I shifted for the first time, I returned to the compound naked as the day I was born, my hair all around me, my mother had wrapped me in a blanket, looking just as shaken as I was, maybe even more, though it was I who just went on four legs for the first time. Just as I entered the house I saw our alpha and my father sitting in our living room in deep discussion. Father joined Mama and as soon as I was covered they hugged me, trying to surround me with love,
I stand along with fourteen other teenagers as we stare at the death trap a few feet in front of us. And I say death trap because that is what it is. I decided this morning that it was time to begin moving forward. And the best way to do that would be to get strong, so as Zayne suggested the day before, I decided to sign up along with three others from our group. Logan and Ethan. Lily didn’t come with me though. Not like I expected her to do everything I wanted to do, I just couldn’t find her when I woke up this morning, did she even come back to the room last night? Me thinks she’s spending lots of time with Tate, I guess she really likes him, and I’m happy for her, that she’s finding happiness here. A life. With other people, I just… we usually do everything together, and she didn’t seem interested in wanting to get any training. To get stronger. Sometimes I feel like I might be the only one that still thinks about our pack, about what happened to them, and who wants to get reven
It’s a brand new say and we're at it again, my left foot is set on the beam I take a moment to look at the swaying levers in front of me, knowing I have only four steps before I reach the first one, I’ve done this eight times and for three days straight, so, of course, I know how many running steps I need before I to get to the ducking and blocking, I just need to time it right. Timing is everything. “Sometime today if you don’t mind” a loud voice calls out and I don’t think, I just move. One, two, three… at the next step I come to a stop after the first lever, the moment the swaying lever passes my face so close I swear I feel it scrap the tip of my nose I speed away. Bypassing the second and third without stopping. After that is the circular contraption, Aka the bane of my existence, I wait a moment, keeping my feet steady on the beam beneath me, and when the time is right and with just enough space for my little body to fit through, I jump through making sure not to look back,
With legs like jellies, I climb the wooden stairs to my room, undress, and take a long shower, I know Zayne already left, I heard him leave a while ago. I’m pulling on a shirt over my sweatpants when Lily walks into the room, a goofy smile on her face. Just by the flush on her cheeks and the dreamy look in her eyes, I can tell she’s been with Tate. “Hey,” she says as I slip my hands through the sleeves. “What’s up?” I ask as I pull my wet hair out from under my top. “I’m fine,” she says then bite her lips. “How’s Tate?” I finally ask when she doesn’t volunteer any more information. Which is a little weird, Lily always wants to tell me things, she tells me everything. “He’s fine” “He’s fine? That’s it?” I asked with raised eyebrows. After a bit of silence, I move over to my bed and point beside me for her to sit. When she complies, I get straight to the point “Lily, what’s going on?” She’s quiet for a moment, for a second there I think she won’t tell me, and then she starts tal
“Let’s go to the den, we can play games there, or would you like to see a movie?” Oliver questions as he leads me out of the kitchen. A movie? A year ago, that would have been a far-fetched concept, we were mostly worried about how we were going to stay hidden and feed ourselves. I smile at him “A movie sound really nice, thanks Oli” Holding my hand, he leads me up the stairs, opening the first door to revile an empty living room. They are large comfy couches and love seats with fluffy pillows, a huge television dominates one wall. “Get comfy” he tosses something small and black at me, I only have a second to catch it against my chest. Before he goes to the popcorn machine and starts it up. Bringing my hand down I see it’s the television remote. I sit on the middle couch, turn on the TV and start going through the available movies. “What should we watch?” I ask out loud, my eyes on the screen. I’m not much of a movie person so most of the movies here are new to me. He shrugs “w
*** I don’t step outside the lodge on Saturday, by Sunday I begin to feel cooped up, and a little restless so I go for a walk, I don’t venture too far though, not wanting to risk running into Zayne. When Monday comes, I’m almost eager to return to training. I look forward to doing something new. We meet in an open field, away from the obstacle course. Today, someone is waiting with our instructor Colin when we arrange ourselves in two lines. A female, she wears dark jeans tucked into boots and a black long-sleeved shirt. She looks a little familiar but I can't seem to place her. “Today your combat training begins, congratulations on passing stage one. Today you’ll be learning some basic defensive maneuvers. How to block, shield, duck, how to fall, and get back up. Basically, how to not get killed. Naya and I will show you how it’s done. The rest of you will pair up for this exercise and take turns practicing both for offense and defense."They turn to face each other. “I will at
*** After training, before our daily run, Oliver assists me with my assignment, holding my feet to the ground as I pull myself up and down using only my stomach muscles. I take a few minutes to catch my breath before moving to my hands and knees for my push-ups. Knowing I will be too winded to attempt any form of exercise after our twenty-mile run. The run was harder today, I thought I was already getting better at it but at the end of our run, I was hurting. Everywhere. My shoulders ached, arms felt like logs of wood were attached to my shoulders, so heavy. My stomach was killing me I felt like throwing up, and I probably would have if I had any food in my belly, and don’t get me started on my legs. I felt a little bad for Oliver, he had to help me walk back to the lodge, supporting me with an arm around my waist while I sipped out of his bottle of water, seeing as I forgot mine in the main pack house the other day after escaping Zayne. My legs are still trembling as I shower