“We’re going to do sight now,” Zayne tells me. I nod my head sitting up and taking the meditation position. My back already feels better from relaxing for a few minutes. “Close your eyes, relax and breathe. Tune out the sound and scents around you, when you feel it’s at the lowest you can get it, when you can’t hear anything and smell anything or feel, I want you to open your eyes.” I nod, going with what he said, my closed eyes, breathing to relax my senses, I stop smelling the damp earth and listening to the trees and feeling the wind on the skin of my cheeks. It was difficult, having to tone down these senses after I’d just learned to open them up. I don’t know how long it takes, I don’t know if Zayne is still here with me but after a while, I'm able to suppress them, my senses. And then I look. Before me is lush green grass, so clear. I see a grasshopper hop and land on the grass, I see its wings, its tail, and a lighter yellow shade of its inner belly. I notice that the sun
I’m a little surprised when I notice Zayne standing at the side of the arena on Monday, he hasn’t come to watch us train for some time now. At least we are almost done because I don’t want to imagine the ass-kicking I would have to receive and it would totally be his fault, you don’t have to be a genius to notice how distracted I get whenever he’s around. I just can’t help it, my mind and my eyes, and my thoughts just keep wandering over to him. I wonder, is he looking at me? Did he see that cool move I just did? Does he notice I've improved from the last time he was here, all the while praying he didn’t see the mistakes that get me on my ass? I exchange a series of blows with Naya, ducking beneath her swing and going in with a double hit. She blocks one and steps sides the other. Colin claps a moment later signaling the end of today’s training. “Keep working on your upper body strength” Naya comments before leaving, her ponytail swinging as she walks. I go to the side to
A moment later we hear it. A loud howl, victorious. Dominant. A few others call back in answer. My heart finally stops pounding in my chest. And I sighed, unable to hide my reaction. He’s fine. “You might want to go, shower, get some rest. The threat has been taken care of” Tate says, a handful of female clothes balled in his arms. “Oh? I wanted to wait, to make sure everyone is fine” I say slowly as my hands go to rest on my hoodie now tied around my waist. “I’m sure. But Zayne might not… be himself when he returns” I blinked. Confused, why wouldn’t Zayne be himself...? Then I remember, “Oh, the bloodlust thing? I know about that.” I assure Tate Having recently experienced it myself. The door opens and Lily rushes out. Face flushed, trying to smooth down her glossy chocolate strands, Goodness, these two, is there any time they are not doing it? I don’t tell her she missed one button on her dress. “Babe, were you with Zayne earlier?” Tate and I both
For the nights of the next week, I practice sensory exercises just before going to bed on the days that I remember to, it does make me feel a little better, at least I haven’t gotten in any unplanned fights or lost control and I have been sleeping better. With every night that passes, the full moon draws nearer, I try not to think about it, the thought makes me antsy and ruins any stability I manage to achieve. But on those nights when the thought steeps in, I do wonder, what if I sleep walk again? It happened on the full moon last time, it might happen again. I could just stay awake all through the night as I’ve done a few times but I can’t live like that for the rest of my life, avoiding the moon, one day I’ll lose guard, fall asleep and wake up in the middle of no where. I have no idea of the direction I'd being heading or I’d go and check it out in the light of the day, maybe Zayne knows, he asked me to point it out that night and I did but I don’t even know where he found t
Freshly showered, I dress in jeans and a red sweater before going to find Zayne for our session. I catch him on the staircase on his way downstairs. “Are… you going out?” He looks at me from the roots of my hair to my booted feet before answering “Yes” Not knowing what to do with that look I simply turn around to leave “Great, no trading today” humming under my breath. A hand lands on my shoulder, rooting me in place “You, are coming with me, we can train on the way. No slacking off” My shoulders drop “I never knew you were such a hard ass Zayne” I complain. “Whatever gave you that idea” he turns and continues walking, expecting me to follow along, which I do dutifully. And he doesn’t seem like a hard ass, mostly because he’s chill, he doesn’t push his weight around like most Alphas would to get their point across, I’ve never seen him ordering anyone around, mostly, it seems like they have a system and everyone does what they are meant to do, and if he has to, he just tells the
*** I’m in a mood when I wake up the next day. And the day after, probably because I’m by myself the entire weekend as my friends went to the hot springs on Saturday leaving me to read a book about the ancient Korean dynasty, then again, I did reject their invitation to come along. I think it’s a fairly good book, I just couldn’t enjoy it, probably because my mind was somewhere else. So, I’m a bit of a grouch when I wake up on Monday morning, when I do my warm ups, shower, and get dressed in black leggings and a dark blue long sleeves shirt, I’m still irritated as I braid my hair back, pulling on the strands impatiently when I find a tangled strand. “Ohoo!” I break it apart forcefully, losing some hair in the process. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve had to talk myself out of going to find Zayne and giving him a piece of my mind. I thought for some time that he’d come find me to smooth things over, I mean he could see that I was clearly upset. But did he come? No.
I paused mid-stride, my hackles rising as I spin slowly. Behind me is a female, her honey brown hair cut short to just under her chin, a slim nose, and heart shaped face, with her short hair, it gives her an overall edgy look. Frankly, she looks striking and she knows it. And I would compliment her but she just called me homeless so… “Who are you?” I narrow my eyes at her. I don’t think I’ve seen her before; I should like to think I would remember a face like that. She brings a hand to her chest. The brown leather jacket she wears parting to show a tank top underneath. “And here I thought our first time would be a memorable one” I don’t look away from her for a second, whoever she is she doesn’t like me and I sure as hell don’t know her, she’s probably friends with Tiana, the homeless comment and all. I resist the urge to sigh, this is becoming bothersome. “At least it was for me.” She continues. “My knife, your face, ring a bell?” she shakes her head, a false wide eye lo
Naya gives me more pointers on using my claws the day after, we practice slashes. "Think of them as an extension of your fingers, because they are an extension of your fingers” She moves from my left side to my right. “And you don’t want to throw your hands like you would your fist. So more slashing and less hitting, go on” she says behind me as I make slashing motions with my invoked claws. I go with my right hand and then with my left because Naya says “What happens when your right hand is incapacitated?” After that, we work on backward slashes, for when I’m being attacked by more than one opponent. “Keep working on it” she tells me before going over to where Colin seems to have his hands full with Micha and Philips. I keep practicing but my attention is drawn to where the others are training, it’s safe to say I no longer train with them, not even when they’re having special exercises. I see Oliver having it out with Jude, they go at each other, claws out, when did they get s