An eye for an eye will only make the world blind -- revenge is sweet.
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"No matter how horrible someone is made out to be, there's always a little good in them." Ava's words echoed in my head.
It was a new day of training which could bring new wonders — or great pains. I really hoped I wouldn't run into Cael today, I was still angry with him about how he wanted me to forgive him, especially when he didn't deserve it. And to be honest, I was also petty about catching him poking around in my room.
I hopped out of the shower and tied my hair into a French braid, throwing on some yoga shorts and a random shirt. I was running just a couple minutes late, so when I finally scrambled down the stairs, the house was empty.
I strolled leisurely to the field to meet my friends and also to assign the Moonstone members to a bunch of different training activities. It was an overcast today in the sky, with grey clouds littered all over the sky, sheltering the sun.
"Morning Ashton." My face flushed just from the sight of him. Without missing a beat, he pulled me in for a peck, his lips connecting with the square of mine.
Tyler and the twins groaned over dramatically, clutching their stomachs as they pretended to gag. Ashton and I chuckled into our kiss, regrettably breaking apart from each other.
I turned towards Tyler, an insult in mind when my eyes met Cael's. I hadn't noticed his arrival, or that he had been there at all. He studied Ashton and I, eyes narrowed and jaws locked.
"They do this every morning, you'll get used to this." Tyler nudged Cael, who only nodded. His cheeks flushed as his darkened eyes glanced between Ashton and I.
I couldn't help but feel victorious at that. The amount of times I'd felt my heart burn on a Saturday night because of his actions with another girl was infinite. In the beginning, it had hurt so terribly, the throbbing sensation in my chest was unbearable. All I could do was sob and retch in pain in Ashton's arms, until the mate bond faded. Finally though, Cael could see feel how I had felt.
"The only reason why you want him jealous and angry is because you still care." My wolf echoed in my head. I rolled my eyes at her comment. Every time Cael was present, she went on and on about him in my head, clouding all my other thoughts. I was with Ashton, not Cael.
"Alright, we need to talk training." Tyler interrupted my thoughts. Ashton and I pushed ourselves off of each other. "Alright, so I was thinking that we get all of us together, both the Moonstone and Nightshade. We can all train together since we've never done that before, and it would help with the teamwork a lot." Tyler suggested, glancing between the five of us and Cael. I nodded in agreement simultaneously with everyone else.
Hypothetically, it was a good idea. Hypothetically.
When we'd first started training for the last three days, we had decided to separate the two packs to prevent a fight that could make matters worse. It seemed like people across both packs had begun befriending on another, as well, some have found their mates. Only few were still hostile with each other.
Few, including me.
Loud, pounding noises sounded against the grass; the two packs were finally arriving from the pack house.
Tyler sighed clamping two fingers over the bridge of his nose. "Guys if you were in a war you were being hunted, you're all dead from how loud you just were." The two packs stared back at us with drooping and uninterested eyes.
I couldn't blame them completely.
I remembered my first days when Ashton tore me away from my comfortable bed and dragged me to this field. If that wasn't bad enough, he forced me to run ten laps around the field to as a warm up.
"Lila, wanna get started on the warm up?" Tyler asked, turning to me.
I nodded. "Alright, for warm up I want you all to run ten laps around the perimeter of the house and field." I pointed to the starting point beside where Trace was standing.
A series of groans sounded from the field, from both packs. The loudest from Cassie who muttered something about her outfit getting ruined.
They began their run without another word from me or Tyler.
The wolves from Nightshade Pack all knew the drill — though training had gotten a bit unbearable, but nothing they couldn't handle. The Moonstones were still getting used to the vigorous training schedule.
Turned out, they took longer to run those laps than we'd expected, which cut our time to half in training. Everyone in the Nightshade Pack sported irritated expressions on their faces, except the ones who had mates or friends that were from the Moonstone Pack.
It was such a relief to me when I heard that it was finally lunch. The day crawled by like a snail, many wolves fought with one another, verbally most of the time. They held mini competitions with each other — which was irritating — no matter how many times we'd say 'we're a team now', nothing changed.
It seemed like this alliance was impossible, we'd been born to think that we were sworn enemies and suddenly in a course of a day, we were supposed to be in an alliance with each other. It just wasn't logically possible to have that team bond if we were born to believe otherwise. Most of the members on the field were competitive teenagers — which didn't help with the situation. All they wanted was to be better than the other.
I just wanted to be left alone in my room by the time lunch rolled around. To make matters worse, Ashton was off with Tyler and Cael.
The young wolves might think that I didn't notice when they have mini secret competitions with each other, but when they stare at each other, sneering and and growling, it was a big giveaway.
When there was finally an opening, I scurried up the stairs in a desperate attempt to get to my room. Just as I was about to slip through the door, I stopped short when I noticed the backs a man and a woman standing in the hall, admiring the beautiful artifacts Tyler had placed as decoration. When they finally turned around, my eyes widened at the familiar faces in front of me.
My mom and dad.
My mom's eyes grew glassy and I swallowed hard. I shuffled on my feet, expecting them to move aside for me to pass, but they didn't. We stood, staring at each other for what felt like years, though my mom and dad scrutinized every part of me with teary eyes.
"Honey, it really is you." My mother finally spoke in a soft tone as she cupped her hands around my face. I flinched, taking a step hack before I'd even registered what I did and her face contorted with guilt and hurt, her eyebrows crinkling together as the tears threatened to spill out of her eyes. I wasn't used to affection, even before I left Moonstone, they'd never given me this kind of attention.
"We thought you'd died." My dad said, taking in my mother's broken expression.
I scoffed. Now they decided to care, after they thought I was dead. It made me feel so touched.
"Um, hi?" I greeted, though it sounded more a question than a statement. I wasn't about to call them mom and dad, they clearly stopped being my parents the day I left the Moonstone Pack. I couldn't say they were my friends either, they really weren't anything to me anymore.
I felt a strange stinging sensation in my chest from that thought, but there was no use clinging onto a relationship that barely existed to begin with, and it definitely ended when I left.
My father's eyes also turned slightly glassy, and I silently begged him not to cry. I wouldn't know what to do if he did, I'd never been comforted much as a child, and probably as a result of that, I was at a loss whenever someone needed a shoulder to cry on.
Ava was better at those things.
"Lila you need to come with your father and I, we need to have a chat with you." My raised an eyebrow at me, her tone the same as it used to be whenever she demanded I did something for her, dad or Cassie. I used to care, or be afraid, but now I felt nothing.
"Now that we know you're fine, what the hell were you thinking, running away like that?" My mother scolded, his teary eyes suddenly ablaze in anger.
There. That was the look I remember from the two of them. My blood boiled slightly from their tone. As if they hadn't been a silent witness to the way The Moonstone Pack had treated me.
I eyed my mom from head to toe, when it finally hit me that she couldn't tell me what to do anymore.
I almost gasped when she snatched my arm, pulling me along with wherever she wanted me to be with my father. I knew it. My parents still didn't care how I felt.
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" I yanked my arm out of her hands, standing my ground. The two took a step back, a perplexed expression flashed over their faces for just a split second, before it turned to rage, but still, I stood my ground. "You aren't my parents, and you may as well have never been." My own furious eyes burned into theirs.
"What are you talking about?" My mother snapped, glancing around to ensure the hall was still empty. Thankfully for them, it was. "We are your parents." She gritted her teeth at me, all the while my father's face grew flushed.
I didn't flinch, instead, I took a step closer to them, staring them down.
"You stopped being my parents the day we moved into the pack house. The day they started treating me like shit, and all you did was stand there and watch. You may be my parents, but you'll never be my mom or dad." I forced the words out of my mouth, knowing that it would be the only time I could be this honest.
I glanced between the two of them, their puzzled expressions staring back at me before I stalked off, down the hall, and I didn't turn back.
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A/N: who would do the same as Lila did? Don't forget to vote, comment and share!
EDITED 2/28/18