Picture of Cassandra above.
JADA
It had been three days since we'd arrived.
72 hours.
4,320 minutes.
259,200 seconds.
And I still wanted Isabelle.
Everything she did drove me crazy. The quirk of her lip when she smiled at me in the hallways of the pack house, the dimple that appeared on her right cheek when she grinned. Hell, it took every ounce of willpower I had not to drag her into my bedroom when she drew her bottom lip into her mouth when she was nervous or thinking.
She was oblivious to it all. And while I was glad she didn't notice the effect she so effortlessly had on me, it troubled me wondering if she was as effected as I was.
Even now, at five a.m, with her hair pulled into a high ponytail, in a pair of leggings that hugged her legs and a long sleeve training shirt, she looked stunning. She had captured my attention since she entered the training centre half an hour before, and so far, nothing had been able to pull my mind off of her.
It was unfair.
Every living thing on the planet, every species, supernatural or not, had a soul mate.
For werewolves, they called them mates, and their God, or Goddess, had made it clear as to who your other half is. Your wolf knew immediately.
Vampires are similar in that sense, although their soul mates are called their beloved. While they did not have wolves to inform them of their other half, it immediately becomes clear to them.
Hunters, on the other hand, held more of a resemblance to humans. Humans, while they have a soul mate, are not aware of it immediately. Sometimes, not at all. It's a feeling that can begin as soon as you meet, or gradually get overtime. Hunters, unlike the humans, have a stronger sense of self, and therefore it's easier to know.
Hell, Katherine and Gabriel Caine were soul mates. Albeit, they were both too over ruled by their desire for power that they failed to notice each other, but that didn't mean they weren't meant for each other.
So how was it fair that I was not allowed to be with mine?
Isabelle understood my distance to an extent, so she kept her own distance enough to allow me comfort, or what she imagined to be comfort. She didn't ask questions, but it'd been obvious she was getting as impatient as I was.
I glanced across the room to find her setting up a few mats and equipment for the thirteen to seventeen year olds that were due to come in any second.
Julian and I were at the front of the room, going over the basics of training for today. Isabelle had caught us up on what they were currently learning, and since it was Wednesday, it was the day they had to train in their wolf forms. Not very beneficial for Julian and I, in my opinion.
Isabelle had offered to take over Monday, Wednesday, and every other Friday lessons, when the members were expected to shift, but we'd told her it was quite alright. We said nothing more, but it was practice for us as well.
Julian now stood beside me, glancing casually around the room. He was still hesitant around the wolves, but he'd grown to adore Isabelle's daughter, who'd taken quite an interest in him as well.
"You're not going to speak to her, are you?" He asked calmly, not moving his eyes from their position staring straight ahead.
I grimaced slightly, tilting my head to glance up at him. "What?"
He didn't respond because a large group of teenagers came stumbling in, all looking confident and, surprisingly, awake. One of them was a tall blonde, maybe only two inches shorter than my 5'9.
The group of teens broke off and stood at each mat in pairs. She didn't reach a mat right away, and instead bounced happily over to Isabelle, who greeted her with a graceful smile.
There was a boy who flanked the young blonde, the exact opposite of the bubbly girl. His hair was a deep raven and reached just past his ears in loose curls. He was a lot less defined and muscular as the rest of the boys in the room, but a lot taller, and indescribably pale.
He turned around to glance around the room and my eyes caught his, a deep amber. I perked an eyebrow is shock as he turned around towards the girl again.
That boy was a vampire.
I turned to tell Julian, but his eyes were locked on the boy who now had his back to us. "I assume him and the blonde are mates," my best friend informed me, "though that doesn't explain why he's taking part in werewolf training."
Isabelle was now walking towards us with the two polar opposites trailing behind her. The blonde girl, who I now saw as having baby blue eyes, smiled brightly when she saw me. She waved the hand that was not holding the vampire's, and I found myself waving back.
"Jada, Julian, this is one of my younger sisters, Elena." Elena smiled widely again, and reached forward to shake both of our hands, her left hand still not letting go of the boy's.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Julian," she beamed. "And you!" She turned to me with an even brighter expression. "I've heard so much about you! It's so wonderful to finally put a face to a name."
When I smiled politely back at her, she tugged the boy forward. "This is John, my boyfriend."
I was shocked when she had introduced him as her boyfriend rather than her mate, but I didn't question it. I could tell she was grateful by my silence when she leaned her head against his shoulder and hummed.
"Elena has not stopped speaking about you for quite some time." John's voice was thick and rich with the heaviest English accent I'd ever heard. The way he spoke was formal and proper, and it didn't take a genius to know he was older than every person in this room, by centuries, at least.
Vampires proved the majority of folklore wrong, in many ways. Most of what is said about werewolves is true, besides the shifting on a full moon. Vampires contradict almost every stereotype.
They do not burn in the sun, nor do they sparkle. They don't need daylight rings, either. They can step into church without burning alive, eat and much garlic as they want, and see themselves in mirrors. They did survive on blood, though they could eat human food if they please, despite its lack of use to them, and they were paler than any other species.
"I can assure you I'm really not that interesting," I responded with a light laugh.
Elena took this an opportunity to giggle and retort, "That's not what Isabelle thinks."
John wrapped an arm around her tanned shoulders and dragged her to a mat before she could say anymore. Isabelle stood blushing for a few seconds, before the rest of the class settled and made their way to their mats, when she cleared her throat and turned to the students.
"Good morning, everyone, happy Wednesday. As you all know, two hunters have been living in the pack house for the past three days and will be staying with us for an unknown period of time, due to rogue issues. They'll be helping and potentially leading training classes multiple times a week. I ask that you treat them with respect, as if they were just another visitor from another pack. If you have any questions throughout the training, feel free to ask either of them, or myself."
They all turned their eyes from their Alpha to the two of us, and Julian took that as his opportunity to speak.
"I am Julian Cartridge and this is my partner, Jada Warren. While we have never before worked or trained with wolves before, we hope some of these lessons may be beneficial to you. Let us begin." He nodded at me.
"We were just recently informed that everyone is expected to shift and train in your wolf form today. We are going to slightly shift this plan. You're already in partners, did you choose these partners yourselves?"
They all nodded and glanced around, expressions of confusion and wonder spread across their faces. They'd obviously never done this before.
"I'm going to number you off. Number one is on the left, number two on the right." I began to number them off and they separated, still looking quite confused. When everyone was split off, I paired them again, differently to how they were paired previously.
Elena was partnered with a tall, ruggedly handsome blonde boy. She didn't oppose to the partnership as she grinned at him, bubbly as ever. It occurred to me that she was most likely friendly to everyone.
John, on the other hand, was not as pleased. His eyes were focused solemnly on his girlfriend across the room, while the poor girl next to him was scowling in discomfort.
"The reason for this pairing," I began, earning the attention once again, "Is because you need to become comfortable with fighting people you are not as familiar with. If you are partnered with your significant other, you won't try as hard than if you were up against an acquaintance. Does this make sense?"
A chorus of affirmative responses echoed across the room, and I nodded to Julian.
"I want one person out of each pair to shift."
The room suddenly raged with multiple voices, all confused. Isabelle stepped forward to silence them all, but Elena had slipped out of her shorts and t shirt, not ashamed, and shifted easily. There was no sound as she did it, which confused me, but I watched her sit down, her blonde coat thick and warm looking. Her eyes, normally a bright blue, were glowing slightly, most likely to show her wolf was also in control.
I found myself glancing at John. His face, normally rather void of much emotion, was twisted into a rather prideful look. Elena tilted her giant head and barked when she saw him looking at her, to which he sent her a soft smile.
Her shifting caused the other wolves to glance at their partner and decide who was going to shift. "Don't worry," Julian had said, "everyone will have at chance to shift, except those of you who are exceptions." His eyes did not turn to John, though it was clear that was who he was speaking to.
When one person from each pair had shifted, we were met with an array of different shades and fur types. Some wolves were a deep black, some pure white. Others had mixed colours in their coat, and some had random splotches of different colours across their fur. I'd never been so intrigued by a wolf before, as the only other time I'd seen them was in battle.
"You will have two minutes to pin your opponent to the ground. If you cause any intentional harm, you'll be expelled from this lesson."
What I said sparked another round of voices throughout the room. "That's not fair!" A young girl called out, but she was glaring at her shifted opponent, a large grey wolf. "They're in wolf form! They're stronger!"
"That's not true," Isabelle spoke for the first since the lesson began. "You are only as strong as you want to be. If you constantly train your wolf and never your human form, you won't get as far. You are of two beings. Even if you're not in your wolf, does not mean you are not one."
Listening to her voice was so calming to me, and all the students listened intently, hanging off her every word, as was I. It was clear that every person in the pack respected her. Not only as an Alpha, but as a person.
Silence filled the room again until I yelled a brisk, "Start!" And they began to fight. I walked around the centre, trying to find a weakness in all the fighters. It was best to use your weakness to your advantage in a fight, which was difficult seeing as most tried to believe they did not have a weakness.
Elena's was easy to spot, but it was also clear she knew what it was, and knew how to control it. She was too emotional over her opponent, too involved in the emotional side of the fight. The blonde boy didn't seem aware of it when he lunged at her, but she swiftly dodged his attempts to knock her down.
I could not figure out why John was in this particular class, as it was clear he was older than seventeen, in the physical sense. There was no possible way he had been turned before, or even at, seventeen. I also couldn't find a weakness, but it was difficult to when his fiesty opponent continuously pounced at him without any break.
"Time!" I called when I reached the front again. The majority of the pairs were still standing, with a small amount of pairs having successfully taken down their partner.
Elena was one of the people who'd successfully taken down her opponent. The blonde boy was laying flat on his back, and Elena was sitting on his stomach, licking her paw in a teasing manner. He laughed and shoved her off and they both stood up again.
"Find your own weakness and use it. You may think that you don't have one, but every single person in this room is suited with a weakness. If you know what it is, you can find ways to protect it." They all took in the information silently, and I let myself continue. "Find your opponent's weakness and use that to your advantage. If they're slow, be fast. If they have a tendency to lunge for your neck, duck and get them lower. If you find their weakness, you can control them."
The class continued until six, when the next class began to pile in, and the first class shifted back and left.
Elena stopped to speak to Isabelle briefly before her and John slipped from the training centre. I found myself liking her optimism and her company. She was a breath of fresh air, and it seemed I wasn't the only one who thought so.
The second class was easier to handle than the first as the members were older and therefore easier to maintain, but they were also more skeptic towards Julian and I.
Isabelle taught the beginning of the lesson, but stopped it half way through when a bunch of them refused to listen to a word we said.
"Be respectful!" She demanded, yet her tone was not rude. "The younger group was more polite than you. I am the Alpha, I make the decisions, and while I take in every single person's opinion, I do not want to hear another impolite word about the two visitors who have graciously offered to help train us."
Her eyes glowed slightly and Julian nudged my arm and jutted his head in her direction. I stepped closer to her and let my arm brush against hers. She gripped my hand in her own, not completely herself at that moment.
When her eyes dimmed again, she smiled gratefully at me, and whilst my stomach dipped, she let my hand go and walked off to help someone in the lesson.
At seven, Isabelle left with the group to go and get Arabelle ready for school, and Julian and I cleaned up the training centre and then went off to shower.
I left my bathroom after drying off, stepping out while shaking my hair out with a towel. Julian was reading, spread out across my bed carelessly. He lazily glanced up to my naked figure, his hazel eyes meeting my own without much thought.
"I was thinking of going out for breakfast. There's a small buffet in the town just down the beach. Are you interested?" He asked with such a soft tone, I almost didn't hear him. He had closed his book now, but remained in his position.
"That sounds good." I rummaged through my clothes that were now in the deep grey drawer in my temporary room, trying to find an appropriate outfit. My eyes travelled out to the doors leading to the veranda, and I scowled at the rain that continuously pelted against everything in its way.
I shrugged on a pair of leggings and a light striped long sleeved shirt. I collapsed beside Julian so my back was facing his left side and pulled on my white runners. When I finished, Julian gripped my waist and pulled me down on top of him.
My back was sideways against his chest when he pressed his lips to my cheek and hugged me tightly. "You did good today," he spoke gently and squeezed me ever so lightly.
I perked an eyebrow at him. "Did my parents call again?"
He let out a burst of laughter and I could feel his chest vibrate under me. "Can a man not compliment the most important person in his life?"
I pursed my lips and he sobered up. "Yeah, they called." I stood up before he could say anymore. He was so persistent in me calling my parents back, but I wasn't up for talking to them at the moment.
I opened my bedroom door and walked straight into Isabelle, who had her fist raised, looking as if she were going to knock. She blushed when she saw me but didn't step back.
"Oh, hi," she smiled, "I was just looking for you."
Don't fall for her charm. Don't fall for her charm. Don't-
"We were actually just leaving. Can we talk later?" I kept my face as blank as I could, despite my desire to take her into my arms.
Her face fell slightly and with that, my stomach fell in guilt. Then she straightened up and shook her head. "No, I need to speak with you now."
She sent an apologetic glance to Julian and pulled me down the hall.
When I glanced back toward my best friend, he sent me a thumbs up and turned to walk away.