I mean, I wasn’t blind or dead, so I couldn’t help but notice that Alex wasn’t entirely disgusting to look at–okay he was drill sergeant hot–but I had a boyfriend. A boyfriend that I was in love with. But you couldn’t simply shut off your body; it reacted with a mind of its own. Still, I didn’t want or need that kind of distraction. Especially when I was here to learn about fighting and killing and how to fit in with all these crazy yoga kids. I was determined not to let anything get in the way of my goal.
“Anyway, you’re not the worst I’ve seen,” Alex finished. He was, thankfully, oblivious to my silent argument with myself.
“Thanks,” I muttered, pretty sure that most of what he’d said in the last five minutes had fully negated his earlier compliment.
“Let’s start with the basics. You can’t win if your enemy is in better shape than you. But if you can outlast them in endurance and energy, you can find a way to outmaneuver them as well, even if they’re stronger and faster.”
“Endurance,” I repeated, not sure if I liked where this was going. “How do we train for endurance?”
Alex’s lips parted in the first genuine smile I’d seen on him, so far. “We run.”
I ignored the way his smile lit up his eyes and grumbled incoherently. “Run? Seriously? I hate running.”
His smile twisted at the corners, and I realized the mistake I’d made in complaining. Maybe he wasn’t going to forgive me so easily after all. “Then this is going to be a long semester because my trainees run. A lot.”
“Your trainees? So I’m not the first student you’ve trained?”
“No. But you are the last.” He spun as he talked, and kicked off, jogging towards the clearing head, where the trees parted to reveal rolling green hills. “Talk and run. Come on,” he called out.
“What about my bag?” I called back.
“You better carry it,” he yelled, obviously not caring what happened to it.
I rolled my eyes and slung my backpack onto my shoulders. I caught up to him as he broke free of the trees, and we headed into the open space that made up the endless front lawn of the grounds. We were climbing up, coming closer to the top of a hill that would take us down towards the front gates. I was already winded by the time I matched my pace to his.
“So why am I the last?” I asked.
“Because I’m graduating at the end of the year, and with any luck, I’ll get placed on a strike team and won’t have to train anymore. Unless it’s in the field, of course.”
“What’s a strike team?”
He glanced sideways at me and then shook his head. “I keep forgetting you don’t know anything. A strike team is assigned a specific area or region of the country. They are paid by the Hunter community to do nothing but search for Werewolf packs and take them out. Sort of like a SWAT team on a police force.”
“So you just go in and kill them all?” I asked, shocked enough that I stilled my body, and stood staring after him. A rush of unexpected anger washed over me at the thought. It was barbaric. Inhuman. Genocide. At least it would be, if humans knew about it and labeled it. Apparently for Hunters, it was all in a day’s work.
Alex finally noticed I wasn’t beside him, anymore, and jogged back. He came to a stop in front of me, his eyes on mine in an expression of curiosity and something else…accusation? “If we determine they are a threat, yes, we kill them. If we find they are aligned with your little Cause group, then we leave them alone. If they are peaceable, we can’t touch them.”
I narrowed my eyes at his tone. “You say it like it’s a bad thing.”
“The concept of peace is not possible for a Werewolf. It never was and it never will be. They were born monsters. We were born to eradicate them.”
“You can’t be born a monster,” I said, in a low voice. I was tempted to be angry but I wasn’t sure what to think anymore. Alex was the epitome of a true Hunter to me. Strong, powerful, and obviously, completely prejudiced against Werewolves. If that was how they all were, who was I to try and change it, or judge it. Then again, where did that leave me? Did he think I was a monster?
“Monsters are made through outside influences in their environment,” I said. “By definition, you could be labeled a monster, for hating someone because of their DNA.”
“You really believe that?” He continued to stare me down, challenging me to continue the argument. A vein bulged in his temple, and we both breathed heavily, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t from the short run.
“You’re relieved of your trainer duties,” I said. “I’ll speak with Headmaster and find someone else. I can only hope that all Hunters aren’t as prejudiced and close minded as you are.” Without waiting for an answer, I pushed past him and strode quickly across the lawn, heading for the main building that loomed up at the bottom of the hill.
I hadn’t gone far when a hand clamped down on my shoulder and spun me around. Alex’s eyes were no longer quietly angry, but blazing with fury. I opened my mouth to cut him off, to yell about equality and acceptance, but something made me stop.
“What?” I demanded.
“You think you’ve got me all figured out. You think you’ve got all of us all figured out. You don’t know anything about me.”
“I could say the same about you,” I shot back. “You think I don’t see the disgust when you look at me?”
“We all have our reasons,” he said, not even trying to deny it. “But this is what we were born to do.”
“That may be true, for you. I’m not so sure I can fit into that mold. Either way, we definitely should not be working together. How can you possibly trust me, knowing that I’m half monster? That must bother you.”
“It’s not the same. I won’t be going into battle with you.”
My eyebrows shot up, and I had to hold my hands behind my back to keep from hitting him. “That’s why it’s not the same? Because you don’t have to fight me? Aren’t you afraid I’ll turn on you in a training session and kill you?”
He shrugged. “Maybe. If you were capable.”
That did it. Maybe it was the events of the day, as a whole, that snapped my temper–the dog comments, and the note, and the threats. Maybe it was that Alex was way too cocky and condescending for his own good. Either way, I’d had enough.
I brought my fist around and connected with Alex’s jaw. His neck snapped sideways and from his profile, I could see the momentary shock on his face. I knew enough to take advantage of that, and that it wouldn’t last much longer, and I swung my other fist out, and smashed it into his gut.
Alex doubled over, clutching his stomach with one arm, and scrambled back a few steps, putting some distance between us. I didn’t try to close it. Not yet. I knew he was ready for it, now. It wouldn’t be that easy. Still, I was mad enough that I wasn’t finished.
“What the hell was that for?” he growled.
“To show you I’m capable.”
“Message received.”
I took a step forward, eyes narrowed, hands fisted, letting all the tension and stress rise to the surface and boil over. “It’s clear we are too different to work together, much less be friends. I am half Werewolf, after all.”
Alex winced a little at the word Werewolf, as I expected he would. Then he planted his feet and his eyes hardened. “Fine,” he said. “You’re right. You’re a dirty blood. But you fight like a human.”
With a hiss, I launched myself at him. When I landed on him, we went down, and I had the satisfaction of hearing the breath whoosh out of him as his back thudded against the dirt. Before I could do anything more, his fist came up and landed hard against my rib cage. I felt my body curl in on itself, but I resisted the urge to roll off. Instead, I let myself go limp, becoming dead weight against him, pinning him down. He was wriggling and writhing under me, and I knew that any second, he’d land a second rib punch and be out from under me. I knew I had to keep him there, because if I ended up on the bottom, I was dead meat.
So, I resorted to fighting
dirty – again.
I found a bare patch of skin where his neck and shoulder met, and I bit down. There was a yell and then a grunt in my ear, and then his hands came up to pull me off. When they did, I cocked my fists back, and brought both of them into the side of his stomach as hard as I could. They landed right where I wanted them to; in that small unprotected space of flesh between his ribs and his hips. I felt his body jerk under me and I pulled my teeth away from the flesh I’d torn underneath his collarbone.
I caught a glimpse of blood trickling out of the wound and then his hands were pinning mine out of the way and a knee came up, driving into my ribs where the first hit had landed. The already bruising skin was too sensitive and I jerked sideways.
I could feel myself falling off and Alex’s hands pushing me, but I knew if I lost the advantage, it was over. I grabbed his shirt and curled my fingers against the fabric and then jerked hard to the side. For a second, I felt only my body falling away from his, but just before my back hit the dirt, I felt his body give and pull towards me, landing with a thump on top of mine. I wrapped my legs around his, pinning his feet, and then tried doing the same with his hands, but he was already wriggling against it. The movement of our bodies, trying to writhe free of the other must have been too much because, then, we were rolling.
I thought we’d only roll a few times and then stop again, but after the first couple of disorienting turns, I realized we were picking up speed. We must’ve been closer to the edge of the hill than I thought because it felt steep underneath my overturning limbs. The ground was turning over and over beneath me at a dizzying rate, with no sign of slowing.
My legs were still wrapped around Alex’s, pinning him against me. If I let go, I’d be able to roll free of him, and stop myself, but that felt too much like losing. I couldn’t lose.
Instead, I clamped tighter to his legs and, ignoring the bumps and jerks caused by our bodies tumbling over each other, brought my fist out and then into his ribs. He grunted; it sounded like it was more out of frustration than pain. He stopped trying to break free and started fighting back. After that, it was all knees and fists and teeth. I think I even felt my hair being pulled once or twice.
We finally rolled to a stop, and it took me a minute to notice, I was so busy protecting my face from Alex’s fists. What eventually got my attention was the clapping–and the whistles.
Chapter Eight
I groaned. “No way.”
Victoria shrieked and threw Levi off of her. He rolled to the side, a cocky half-grin on his face as he took in the situation. He obviously didn’t mind getting caught. Knowing that grossed me out even more.
“Get out!” Victoria yelled and looked wildly around the room. I think she might have been looking for something to throw.
Despite my urge to gag and run away, I planted my feet and crossed my arms. “No,” I said. “This is apparently my room, too. I’m not leaving, so wrap it up.”
“What? That’s your crap in the corner?” Victoria gestured to my bags. “What the…?” She rubbed her temples. “This is not happening.”
Someone came up behind me in the open doorway and stopped short of running me over. “Oh, wow.”
I turned at the sound of Cambria’s voice and caught her grinning at the scene in front of us.
“Shut up, Cambria,” Victoria snapped.
Cambria grinned wider.
I turned back to Victoria and waited. She looked down at Levi, who was still lying where she’d thrown him, on the edge of the bed propped up on his elbow. He smiled up at her, and she narrowed her eyes at him and pointed.
“Get out,” she said.
Levi sat up, still smiling. “Aw, come on Vic. It’s a party now.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
“Get. Out.” She continued to glare at him, and in that moment, I didn’t doubt Victoria could easily take him out in a fight.
Levi finally slid off the bed and planted a loud kiss on her cheek. Victoria didn’t move or react; just waited for him to leave.
“I’ll call you later,” he said.
Maybe he was used to her ignoring him because he didn’t seem bothered at all by her lack of reaction. He turned and walked towards the door, which Cambria and I still blocked. I felt Cambria move over, to allow him to pass, but looking at the challenge in Victoria’s expression, I couldn’t allow myself to move aside. So I kept my feet planted and made him move around me to get by.
His body brushed against mine, a lot more than was needed for him to fit through the gap, and he stopped next to me, leaning down to speak into my ear. “We’ll all party next time.”
His breath tickled my ear, but I didn’t look away from Victoria. Finally, I felt him leave. Cambria came around to stand beside me, and I felt her eyes on me.
“Well, I can see you two have a lot to discuss. So, I’ll leave you to it,” Cambria said, heading for the door.
“No. Wait,” I said. “I need a shower. Can you show me where it is?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll get my stuff.” I broke eye contact with Victoria and moved past her. I grabbed the bag that I knew held a couple of changes of clothes and my shower stuff and threw it on what was now my bed and zipped it open. I rummaged around until I found what I needed. No one spoke while I did all of that. I could still feel Victoria’s eyes boring into my back.
I gathered everything I needed and tucked the pile of clothes under my arm, trying not to let it rub on the dirt that still covered my clothes. I ignored Victoria and looked at Cambria.
“Ready,” I said.
“Let’s go.”
I followed her out and closed the door behind me with a harsh thud.
“Oh, wow,” Cambria said when we were alone in the hall.
“I know.”
She shook her head, tossing her hair in and out of her eyes. “I don’t know where to start. The fact that your roommate is Satan’s spawn, or that you look like you got mauled by a tree-hugging hippie.”
“Not a hippie. Alex.”
Cambria shot me a look, eyebrows raised. “Did you two train in a mud bath? Because that actually sounds kind of hot.”
I sighed. She’d hear about it soon enough. “No. Actually, I sort of attacked him.”
She snorted a laugh as we passed through the door at the end of the hall. “Explain.”
We were in what resembled a large gym locker now. Bathroom stalls lined one wall, with a line of sinks to match. A dividing wall separated that from the changing areas where I could see curtained stalls with benches, and the metal glint of shower heads tucked further inside the stalls.
I walked that way. The air felt moist and warm, and I followed the sound of running water to the showers. I chose one at the end, farthest away from the already running shower near the front.
I still hadn’t answered Cambria’s question, but she wasn’t deterred. She followed me into the changing stall and sat down on the bench. “Go ahead.” She gestured to the attached shower stall I was already standing in. “Talk and shower.”
I shook my head and gave into her demands. While I showered, I filled her in on my wreck of a training session.
“He told me to attack him, so I did,” I said.
“Holy hotness, you touched his body, didn’t you?”
I laughed as I rubbed shampoo through my grimy hair. I was already glad for Cambria’s friendship. It helped lighten the mood after the most stressful day I could remember. The feeling of finally being clean helped, too.
“Yes, I guess I touched his body. If kicking him in the groin counts.”
Cambria gasped. “You didn’t.”
“It was the only way to win. He had me pinned.”
“Oh, wow. That was low, Tara.” Cambria laughed. “So how did you get dirty? Did he literally drag you through the mud after that?”
“No. He said he understood why I did it, to win the fight. But then… he said some things, about Werewolves.” I could feel my muscles tensing at the memory of the conversation.
“Like what?” Cambria asked. She no longer sounded amused.
I repeated the conversation that had led up to me tackling him.
“That sucks,” Cambria said when I was done. “I mean, it’s basically what we’re all taught, though.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
Cambria didn’t respond, and I finished my shower in silence. When I pulled the curtain open and stepped back into the changing area, Cambria was gone. I pulled on fresh jeans and an old tee shirt with a picture of roller-skating penguins and stepped out. Cambria was at the sink waiting for me.
“Are you pissed at me, now?” I asked.
Cambria shook her head. “Of course not, but you have to understand something, Tara. While most Hunters are taught to hate Werewolves from birth, Alex has his own reasons for doing things. He’s had it rough, and it’s because of Werewolves. He’s probably a little harder than the rest of us because of it.”
“What happened?”
“The way I hear it, his dad was an elite member of a strike group that worked directly for the Committee. He made a lot of enemies. One day, a Werewolf pack tracked him back to his house. They waited until Alex’s dad left and went in and killed Alex’s mother. They made Alex watch and held him hostage, and when his dad was coming home, they bit Alex. Just enough to make it hurt like hell until his dad found him and got him to a healer. By the time his dad was able to go out and look for the pack, they were gone. Alex didn’t know who they were, and they were never identified. After that, his dad quit the strike team and started drinking really bad.”
“Geez. That sucks,” I said. “How old was Alex?”
“Like, twelve, I think? I don’t know. Most of it is passed around like gossip since he won’t talk about it to anyone.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I picked up a comb and ran it through my wet hair, staring at my reflection without really seeing it.
“I’m not saying you should feel sorry for him,” said Cambria. “But I thought you should know he’s not a complete asshole. Well, not without reason, anyway.” She grinned, and just like that, I felt the mood lighten. “So, you never finished telling me. What happened after he talked all that crap to you?”
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