Chapter four - Seraphina

This has felt like the longest week of my life, everyday after school I’ve come home with my mother to cook and clean the house, forbidden to go for a run unless I’m with someone from my family and even then it’s restricted to a short one before we go to my Grandparent’s to check on them.

My Gran is a kindly old woman, but she’s like a replica of my mother and Tabitha, she doesn’t understand why I would want anything more than to settle down with my mate. The fact that I want to study baffles her completely and the idea of leaving, she somehow takes as a personal insult, so I don’t mention either in front of her.

My Grandad on the other hand is much more understanding, he’s very old and was a warrior when Abaddon’s Grandfather, Alpha Isaiah, was in charge. They travelled to many packs across the country searching for Alpha Isaiah’s mate and even a few abroad. For years he’s told stories of the way packs are run, some a lot worse, but some seem to give their citizens a lot more freedom.

In the pack that he finally found her, women held high ranking positions, including a female Beta and many female warriors worked alongside the men, and, according to my Grandad, Luna Helena was deeply unhappy when she came here and found that she was expected to stay at home making children while being protected by numerous Warriors, so she took a stand, told him she would be returning to her pack unless things changed.

My Grandad said the old Alpha was persuaded, he doted on her and wanted her to be happy, so he allowed her to train, along with any other female that wanted to, although there weren't many since most of the pack still believed in specific gender roles at that point.

The new ways lasted up until the moment she was killed and the old Alpha went mad with the loss of her. Alpha Eligor had to take his place and he blamed the patrol for his mothers death, stating if it had been an entirely male patrol then they would have been able to overpower the group of male rogues who took the Luna’s life. He immediately ended patrols and training for the female members of the pack and since everyone was confused and in mourning, no one fought him on this knee jerk reaction.

My mother fusses over my grandparents, making them drinks and tidying the already tidy house around them while my Gran asks me questions I struggle to answer about what I intend to do once I find my mate, talking to me as as though I’ll find them at midnight and immediately want to move in with them and start a family.

Although since my mother is one of twelve siblings, I’m fairly certain that was what my grandparents must have done.

“Sera honey, can you walk me down to the shops to get some milk?” My Grandad asks and I jump at the offer. As soon as we turn the corner and are a safe distance away from the house, he asks what I know he’s been dying to ask since I arrived. “What did you do this time?”

“I got caught training by one of the patrols. I’m grounded until tomorrow and that’s only if I promise to watch the tournaments with my family.” I haven’t told my parents that I actually want to watch the tournaments. I’ve even got a little notepad to write down anything that I think might help Ana and I with our own training, but I’ve tried to pretend that I just want to go to ‘support the pack’ like Tabitha and my mother. In fact I think I’ve done a pretty good job of pretending I’ve learnt my lesson this week, my parents have been looking at me with less concern the more the week;s gone on, so I must have been convincing.

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting more, my girl.” My grandad says warmly. “You’ve got one life Sera, you don’t want to get to my age and find you’ve got a lifetime full of regrets.”

“Grandad, I don’t know how to do that and stay part of this pack. It’ll mean leaving everyone behind and maybe never seeing them again.” The corner shop comes into view, so my Grandad stops, his hands on my arms and bending to look me directly in the eyes.

“Don’t talk rubbish. You leave the pack, we’ll all come visit you, just like we do your older sisters. Even your Gran’s got a mobile phone, you don’t have to worry, you could move to the other side of the world and you wouldn’t be able to get rid of us.” He pulls me into a bone crushing hug, pulling me along to the shop and grabbing a carton of milk. “Now, lets get home and see if we can’t get your grounding lifted.”

True to his word, my Grandad somehow talks my parents into letting me go tonight, I don’t know how, I don’t ask questions, I just thank everyone and stay for another half an hour just so I don’t look like I’m desperate to escape.

I mindlink Ana on the way to the clearing behind the quarry.

‘I’m free. You want to go try out the new training field?’

‘Hallelujah, yes, give me five and I’ll meet you there.’ Ana comes back almost instantly and I stop in the bushes to strip off before shifting and letting Dina take over, racing the long way through the fields to get to the clearing, more for fun, but once I start I realise it’s a good way to avoid anyone knowing where I’m heading.

“Hey, how’d you escape? Also, is Gene coming?” Ana asks oh so subtly, her face the picture of nonchalance, so I mindlink him and invite him along.

‘Sure, I’m just at training, I’ll head over in about fifteen minutes if you’ll still be there?’ He comes back quickly, and, after telling him that we’ll be here, Ana and I start on training we’ve missed for the last week.

Gene arrives part-way through our first match, leaning back and watching us with an appraising eye, then offering us both pointers on our positions. Once I successfully force her to submit, Gene takes her place, annoying me because I can tell he’s only showing me what to do, he’s not really trying to fight me properly.

I try to force him into going all out, giving it my all and I’m pleased when suddenly he’s treating me like a real opponent, knocking me away from him and leaping on my back so I have to flip him. The guy’s about double Ana’s weight and my muscles are going to hurt tomorrow, but I feel like I’m holding my own, and if he trains with us more regularly, we’ll definitely improve.

He pins me face down on the ground, pulling my arm back until it’s so painful I can’t help but tap out, switching places with Ana and just as they’re getting into position, I swear I see movement in the trees.

Panic fills me and I race towards the location, hoping it was just a deer or something and not someone who's about to alert the patrols or my family. I just got off a week's grounding, I don't think they'll be so lenient this time around. 

I'm preparing myself to beg, to bribe, whatever it takes to stop whoever was watching us from telling on me when I see his back and my heart sinks.

His tousled black hair and ample build is unmistakable, but he's moving awkwardly, like he's injured, badly and when he finally turns to face me, I gasp at the blood and bruising all over his face and down his body. He's carrying his left arm gingerly in his right hand, as though it hurts not to but at the sight of me, he drops it, wincing briefly before his stoic mask is back in place.

"What happened to you?" I rush to his side, moving my hands gently over his skin, assessing the damage and mentally calculating how much of which remedies I'll need to help him heal.

"Nothing. I'm fine." He mutters and I roll my eyes, looking up and meeting his gaze.

"Clearly." I shake my head at him, prodding one of his deeper bruises and watching his jaw clench just to prove my point. "There's no one at my house right now, I can get you cleaned up and you can tell me why you're not healing properly."

"I said I'm fine." He tries to put some authority in his voice, but I prod another injury while he’s talking and his ‘fine’ goes up an octave. Instead of saying anything, I just raise my eyebrows and he gets my point, scowling at me. “Fine, lead the way.”

We walk in silence to my house, well, conversation wise, his breathing is laboured and his injuries are just as bad when we get to my house, which is unnatural and unheard of in the shifter community.

I point to the chair in my bedroom and he sits down, watching me as I gather everything I’ll need. Washing the open cuts first, I slather them with an antibiotic cream and cover them with bandages, before moving on to the bruises and gently rubbing arnica over each one. The arm is more difficult to assess but it doesn’t feel broken, so I make him a sling and tie it behind his neck.

“That should do until your body has fought the Wolfsbane going through your system and starts to heal.” His eyes snap up to mine, accusation and suspicion shining out of them. I turn to pack away my kit, rehiding it under the floorboards in my room. “It’s obvious. What's less obvious is the how and the why, but I don’t expect you to tell me that.”

“Thank you.” He says, surprising me and I turn to find him standing directly behind me, his huge presence making my room feel smaller by the second and it feels like I’m breathing his air we’re so close. Dina is strangely quiet and my instincts are pulling me towards him. I need him out of here before I do something stupid, like throw myself at the beautiful but injured man in front of me, becoming just another one of his conquests.

“It’s no problem. You need to rest before tomorrow, can’t have the future Alpha losing to his cocky Gamma, can we?” His lips twitch and he almost smiles at my words, making him even more attractive somehow. 

I take a step back and he follows with a step of his own, his eyes fixed on mine as he moves even closer. His tongue darts out, licking his bottom lip and my eyes follow the movement, darting back up to his eyes when I finally see him smile.

This can’t happen!

“Please.” My voice cracks, so I clear my throat and try again. “Please don’t tell on me.”

“What?” His voice is just as hoarse and my body wants to betray me by reaching out for him, but I stuff my hands into the pockets of my shorts, stopping them from grabbing his t-shirt.

“My parents don’t know I’ve got this stuff, they think I’ve given up on wanting to study medicine.” I can’t believe I’m sharing this with him, the future Alpha, Mr Enforcer of the Rules himself. “And they grounded me all week for training, if they found out I still was…”

I leave the sentence hanging, unsure what they would do but knowing at the very least I’d never be left alone again. 

“Gene says you want to leave the pack.” Chancing a look up at him, I can see the confusion in his face and I nod, shaking it a second afterwards.

“I want to leave to study, that’s all, well… I’d like to be a doctor too, so I guess I might not be welcomed back.” The reality of my choice hasn’t hit me before, I’d always envisioned coming home with my degree, but if I want to have any sort of a career, it won’t be here.

“I won’t tell anyone.” Abaddon says quietly. He’s looking at me intently when I raise my head. “Thank you.” I whisper, feeling the atmosphere in the room heating up again.

“Gene can train with you twice a week, make sure you know what you’re doing, but no one else can know. If you get caught, I’ll lose my best friend as well as you.” He pauses, his eyes meeting mine briefly before he steps backwards and reaches for the door handle. “Thank you again for your help. Goodbye Sera.”

He leaves the room and it feels like he’s taking all the oxygen with him, I have to fight the urge to run after him.

'Sera, Sera, where are you?' Ana's worried voice suddenly cuts into my mind and I hadn't realised I'd been blocking everyone.

'Ana?' 

'Oh thank goodness, where are you? We've been looking everywhere, I was on my way to find your parents.' The relief in her voice is obvious and quickly replaced by confusion when I explain I'm at home.

She tells me she's on her way, but Gene has to go and when she gets here I pretend that I saw my dad so headed home, keeping any mention of Abaddon to myself.

She's easily distracted when I ask her how it went with Gene, raving about how much better she's getting with a real trainer helping, rather than us just trying to replicate what we see at the tournaments. About half an hour before my parents are due to get home, we put on a film, scattering a few snacks across the table, knowing they won't question what we've been up to if the evidence is there in front of them.

My mind drifts to Abaddon, although he won't tell me why, there's got to be a real reason he's got Wolfsbane in his system and I can't figure out what it would be.