Break in Training

Aidan

It was a crisp morning. The sun was waking up beyond the mountains.

Kiarra wrapped herself tight in her sweater, but I only wanted to rip it off her.

We had a job to do, so for now, I’d have to settle for undressing her with my eyes.

“You ready?”

She shivered, but the warmth in her smile was beautiful. It had been a while since I’d seen her smile like that.

“I think so!” she chirped, but there was still some hesitation in her eyes.

“Okay, no time like the present! Let’s see what you got!”

She took a deep breath and squinted her eyes. We stood there for a moment, but after a minute or two, I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing.

“What the hell are you doing?”

She opened her eyes and glared at me, “What? Don’t laugh at me!”

“I’m not trying to, but I do wanna know what the eye thing is about,” I smirked. I could tell she was pissed off, but I was curious.

“Look, I’m trying, okay? I didn’t exactly get a manual for this.”

“I know, I know,” I replied. I wanted to go easy on her; she still had much to learn.

“Okay, try again, maybe this time, think of something that will get you pissed off.”

“Like last time?” she said, a little more hesitant than I expected.

“Yeah, sure, it’s easy.”

“Easy for me to get pissed, you mean?” she pursed her lips.

“Something like that,” I teased again, “come on, get serious.”

Kiarra didn’t say anything else, but she turned away from me.

I waited a few more minutes, but there was still nothing.

“Kitten?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sakes! What!”

“Can I get a status update?”

“Well, I’m pissed off. Do you see any wolf coming out?”

She had a point, and I didn’t know what to do to help her.

“Come here,” I commanded, “look me in the eyes.”

She did as she was told, and I took her face into my hands.

“The last time you shifted, can you remember what you felt?”

Kiarra bit her lip and looked away, “Not really. A lot was happening.”

“Fair enough, but there must have been one powerful emotion that tipped things in your favor. What was that one thing?”

She pushed me away, “I'm sorry I can’t, Aidan.”

“What? What do you mean, Kitten? You have to!”

She stormed off toward the pack house. I ran to catch up, “Hey! Okay, stop. We had an agreement!”

Kiarra turned on me so violently that I was genuinely surprised she hadn’t shifted on the spot.

“I said I’m not doing it!” she screamed.

“If you don’t, you’re not going to the Apex pack, Kiarra! I don’t care!”

“I hate when you do this!”

“Do what? If you don’t learn to shift, how can I be sure you can protect yourself?”

I felt a growl escape my core. I meant it. I wasn’t letting her leave if she couldn’t do this one thing.

“You don’t get it!”

“You’re right! I don’t get it! Why don’t you explain it to me? What do you have against shifting?”

“It’s not that! I’m not against it. I just…”

Her voice trailed off, and she was obviously fighting tears back.

I wasn’t getting anywhere, and it pissed me off.

Kiarra fought me on everything; it was just her nature.

But this, this was non-negotiable. If she won’t do it, I need a good reason why.

“Kiarra, can you meet me halfway? I’m not a fuckin’ mind reader.”

She wrapped her arms around her tiny frame, the steam from her breath cascading around her face’s perfect features.

“I couldn’t protect you or Angela! What makes you think I can protect anyone?”

“What do you mean! It was your first time, Kitten! You didn’t even know you could shift!”

“And it did me no good at all! I was bumbling all over the place like an idiot, Aidan!”

I saw that she was deeply traumatized by the experience. Maybe I was wrong; there was no getting around this.

“What kind of werewolf am I?” she asked, her voice cracked.

The last thing I wanted was to make her cry. I’d done more than enough of that.

“Okay, say you don’t shift. Ever. Then what?”

“What?” she asked, confused. “What do you mean?”

“You tell me, Kitten. I’m not going to force you. I can’t,” I shrugged. “It’s a choice. No one can make you shift. It doesn’t work like that.”

“I have no clue; I guess I’ll be the no-name brand of werewolf, Aidan,” she returned with the thickest sarcasm I’d ever heard.

I couldn’t help myself; I laughed.

“It’s not funny!”

“No,” I sighed, “it’s not, but I guess if you won’t, you won’t. I still love you. It changes nothing.”

“And Apex Pack? You said I wasn’t going to go.”

“There’s ways around it.”

I had her laser-focused attention. “Angela. She’s your beta.”

The look on her face told me that she wasn’t too excited about that idea either. The two of them hadn’t spoken since the kitchen table conversation had started.

“Angela? Go with me? Pretty sure Jack won’t want that.”

“Good thing for you, I’m the alpha,” I laughed. “Last time I checked anyways.”

I pulled her to me. “How about we go for a ride?” I asked as I nuzzled into her cinnamon-scented hair.

“A ride?”

“Yeah, you can hop on top; you’re good at that,” I laughed as she turned and swatted at me. “Come on, you’ll like it, I promise.”

“I always do,” she teased, climbing on my back.

The speed and freedom felt good as we ran through the woods. It wasn’t what I had in mind for our lesson, but I was happy to be with her.

I thought about the amount of bullshit that had gone down in the last few weeks, and it hit me that Kiarra would be gone.

All my life, I’d waited to meet my mate.

Just like that, Alpha James and his Apex Pack had come to claim their prize. What a prize she was. I heard her laugh with a child-like joy.

Right then, right there, I felt my heart break.