Previously, on Love bite
I then walk over towards Shelby and put my arms around her neck, since odds are Luka and I will be asleep before she even gets home. As I do however, a chill runs down my spine, I break apart from Shelby sooner than I meant to.
Once Luka's done saying goodnight to Shelby, him and I walk out the door, but as we do, my mind starts to wonder.
How much do I really know about Shelby anyway?
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Now Sophie's P.O.V
Listening to our footsteps make contact with the ground, Luka and I make our way towards the training center, him out in front and me on his flank.
Last night, Luka went to bed right after we got home and ate dinner, while I stayed awake, tossing and turning in the bed, wondering about Shelby. I know that pretty soon, I'm going to have to get to the bottom of what's going on between her and my Aunt, though when that time comes and when it's going to happen remains to be seen.
Around Midnight or so, I did end up falling asleep, it may not be as much sleep as I wanted, but I'm sure that it'll be enough to get me through the day.
Luka and I shift back into our human forms as we approach, the cold wind taking a bite out of my face. Unlike Luka, I can feel how cold the wind is as it fans out across my skin. For him on the other hand, well now at least, it feels like a fly landing on him, or so he tells me.
Not wanting my nose to get any redder, Luka takes the lead and opens the door. I give him a smile as I pass, thankful for the heat the inside of the center brings to me.
After a few moments, Luka joins me, I then turn on the light and look around. Like yesterday morning, we are the first ones here, or so it seems. Suddenly realizing I'm parched from the run over here, I turn towards Luka.
"I'm going to the kitchen for a bottle of water."
"Alright, I'll be here, in fact grab me one while you're at it, Sophie, would you please?"
"Sure thing, you just hang tight, my uncle will probably be here any second."
I walk over to the kitchen and enter in. As I do however, I'm greeted by a soft snore, or at least I think that's what it was, but it's so dark in here I can't see a thing. Feeling my way around, I walk over to where I know the light switch is and flip it.
Surprisingly when the lights come on, I find that I was right with my first guess. Right next to me, sitting in a chair with his head resting on the counter top Is Elliot, fast asleep and dead to the world at the moment. I'm shocked when I see him, has he been up here all night? I ask myself. I shake my head. No, that can't be, then I move closer.
I can tell just by looking at him that he has dark begs under his eyes. So he has been up here all night, but why? I ask myself. Then by looking in a nearby corner, I get my answer. In the floor of a corner to the right of Elliot's sleeping form are a few cardboard boxes of what looks like plastic bottles filled with an orange fluid of some kind.
I take in a sniff, it smells like my homemade electrolyte drink, I then look at the words on the sides of the boxes themselves. The first box says it once contained oranges. The second, celtic salt. The last, Calcium powder.
I then walk over to Elliot and gently shake him awake, Elliot, Elliot wake up," when his eyes open they're slightly blood-shot, but he still sleepily smiles at me.
"Hey Sophie, is it time for training?" He mumbles.
I shake my head, "No, Luka and I are early again this morning." "Elliot, did you fix all of these drinks last night?"
Elliot nods, "Drinking that stuff is better than drinking water when you're training for an upcoming battle."
"Did you do this all by yourself, or did you have help?'
"Actually, Dylan helped me, After Angie and the others left, Dylan and I went to the store for the ingredients."
"Oh, where is he now?"
"Around two this morning, I asked him to go home, he was looking pretty tired."
I smirk a bit, "That's the pot calling the kettle, Elliot have you seen yourself in a mirror this morning?" I joke.
Paying no mind to my teasing, Elliot brings his head off the counter and stretches his arms out. "Well Sophie, I'm going to start heading to the main part of the center, so that I can be ready when your Uncle and everyone else gets here."
Elliot then gets off his chair, and then sways from side to side a bit before he regains his balance. Just before he can walk out of the kitchen though, I stop him.
I then make a small suggestion to him, "Elliot, instead of training now, why don't you go over to the first aid station and take a snooze?"
"But your Uncle, what am I going to tell him when he gets here?"
I think about this for a quick moment, "I'll cover for you, besides, my Uncle will understand. Trust me, Elliot, I've got you covered"
Elliot nods, "Thank you, Sophie, I owe you one"
I smile, "Come on, I'll take you over there now."
Elliot slides an arm across my shoulder, "That would be swell."
I then walk out of the kitchen, partly walking and dragging Elliot with me, I look up towards Luka. He's just standing their staring at us, looking for an answer, I stop real quickly and give him one.
"Elliot's been up all night, he needs some sleep," Luka nods, I start walking again.
I take Elliot into the first aid station and put him in the bed closest to the door, I then reach down and start to pull the covers up. As I do, I say to him.
"There, now don't you worry about a thing, you have nothing to worry about," I then get up and start to make my way out, "See you in a few hours."
Once I softly close the door, I get back to the task at hand, the water bottles. I walk back into the kitchen and open the fridge again, I am about to grab two of the water bottles but I stop myself. The corner of my eye catches on the boxes of homemade electrolyte drink. Well we can't let Elliot and Dylan's hard work go to waste, now can we?
I walk over to the box in the corner and grab two bottles, on my way out, I close the fridge door with my foot. As I walk up to Luka, I hand him his bottle, he takes it, gives it a small whiff, and then gives me a confused look.
"What is it?"
I stand beside him and then unscrew my cap, "its homemade electrolyte drink," I then lean my head back and take a huge swallow.
I see Luka unscrew his own cap, but unlike me, he only takes a small sip, I then see his eyes light up a bit.
"Orangey" he says, but only after he swallows.
"I know, right?" "You can also use Lemons, limes, pineapples, You know pretty much any fruit you want, I only use Orange because it's the flavor most people always go for," I take another swig of mine.
"Well, I can tell you one thing, Sophie Jane," he takes a step closer to me, "Like so many, I am also one of those people" he says right before he kisses me.
I close my eyes, tasting the tangy, sweetness of the drink coating his lips as they move in almost perfect sync with my own.
***
We stay like that until my uncle comes walking in with the rest of the pack, I stare in amazement when I realize I've still got my drink in my hand, how did I do that? I ask myself.
After I give my uncle a few moments to recover from the sight he just walked in on, I walk over and tell him that Elliot won't be taking part in the first half of training this morning. He asks me why, instead of telling him, I decide to show him with my wolf eyes. I show him me as I walked into the kitchen, me finding Elliot asleep, and what he told me once I'd woken him up. The last thing I show him, is me walking with Elliot's tired form to the first aid station.
When I have shown all that is needed to be shown, I come out of it and my eyes return to normal, my uncle gives me an understanding nod.
"So that's why I didn't see him leave last night, he never did."
"So, is it okay if Elliot sits out for a while?"
"That will be perfectly fine, Sophie," my uncle smiles down at me, and I smile up at him.
Luka and I follow the rest of the pack to the front of the room, just like we did yesterday morning so that my uncle can give us the low down before training starts, so that we'll know what to do.
My uncle first clears his throat, "Okay, first off, sorry, I was a bit late getting up this morning." "So, unlike yesterday, I'm just going to get right into it. Today, we're going to be working on attack and multiple opponent training again, however today, it's going to be a little harder, cause today , we're going to combined the two," He pauses, I can hear murmurs coming from amongst some of the pack members. "Now allow me to explain to you how this is going to work, the hybrids will go first followed by the humans, they will come outside to the training grounds. There, they will go one on one with a fellow member of the pack in wolf form."
Everyone nods.
"Okay now, before we move on, there's something that I'm going to have to show you, Chris." my uncle informs before turning his head towards my head Beta, "Do you mind tossing me the knives that we're going to be using in today's training session, please?"
"Sure, Liam," Chris then tosses something over towards him, my uncle catches the object, and then holds it up for all of us to see.
"These are the knives we're going to be using today, they look just like the ones Beta Chris showed you the other day, the only difference is, these knives are made of plastic," uncle then demonstrates this by tapping his fist lightly on the side of the blade, the blade makes a hollow sound when my uncle's fist makes contact with it. "See, it's a prop knife, Sherry and I tried, and it won't even cut the butter."
Everyone chuckles a bit.
"Now, while I'm helping the hybrids out, Chris will be in here, watching the pure humans run some more laps. When the hybrids are done, I'll then call the pure humans out, and they'll get to do the same thing, does everybody understand?'
Everybody nods again.
"Good, now, aside from that, I'm going to need some volunteer wolves to spar against the hybrids while they're training, just raise your hand if you would like to help out."
Cody is the first one to raise his hand, "I'll help, Sir" he says
Kyle is the second one to raise his hand, followed by Dylan
My uncle looks at him, "Dylan," then he looks around for a moment, as if he's looking for something, "Is Angie not here today?" my uncle asks, turning back around to face him.
At the mention of his mate's name, Dylan starts to tremble slightly, "No sir, she had to work."
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that son."
My Uncle then faces the group again, "Lastly, I've got a job for Luka." At the mention of his name, Luka raises his head slightly and faces his former teacher. "Luka, now that I've gotten your attention, your job will be to teach Karl how to fight. I was going to have Elliot do it, but since he can't attend training at the moment, you're the next best wolf that can."
I then look over to see that Karl has a smile spreading across his face from ear to ear, both from shock and excitement that he'll be learning from his idol. I look over towards Karl and give him a small smile myself this is a big day for him. After a moment, I turn back to face my uncle.
"Can do Uncle, sir" says Luka respectively.
My uncle then looks towards Luka, "Just teach him the basic skills I taught you, and he'll do fine" he reassures.
Luka then turns towards Karl, and like me, he gives the young Omega a smile himself. It's then that something hits me, this is going to be Luka's first time teaching a young wolf, a student himself, oh boy, I better watch out. Then, just like I did Luka turns his attention back on my uncle.
My uncle again clears his throat, "Now, before we begin, does everybody have all this down?"
Everyone acknowledges.
"Okay then, let's..."
"Wait" Dylan calls out. Once he hears my uncle stop, he steps out of his spot in the group, and runs into the kitchen area.
My Uncle eyes him curiously as he enters. "Dylan, what are you doing?"
My uncle's question goes unanswered, Instead, I hear Dylan walk over and pick something up. He comes out a few moments later carrying the top box of the drink, Dylan then sets it down gently and looks up at my uncle.
"I was going to get this, Sir," Dylan then looks at all of us and continues. "You see, Elliot and I figured that if we want to make it through the rest of training, then we're going to need this. It's better than drinking water, in our own opinion."
My uncle just smiles at him, then the box. "So that's what you two were doing all night, I'm impressed"
My uncle then steps up and grabs one of the bottles for himself, he then turns back around and faces the rest of us. "Well, now that we have our drinks taken care of, let's get started."
Everyone nods, and the group starts to disperse into different directions.
I start to go with Beta Chris and the pure humans to watch them run track again, but when I look back I see Luka walking over to Karl, giving him a fist bump with his free hand and holding onto his bottle with the other. Something hits me, and I stop.
"Guys, you go on ahead, I've just got to ask Luka something. I'll catch up."
Chris looks over his shoulder, "As you wish, Alpha."
I walk over towards Luka and Karl, "Hey" I greet, Karl is the first one to see me. He looks up at me, then smiles like he always does.
"Hi, Alpha."
"Karl, congrats on being able to learn how to fight with Luka today buddy," I pause and look at the expression on his face again, I then smile myself. "You're not excited about that, are you?"
"Are you kidding me, Alpha Sophie, I'm ecstatic," Karl then turns to Luka, practically bubbling with energy. "Come on, Alpha Luka, let's go," he then books at towards the door.
With Karl out of ear shot for the time being, I look towards Luka. "Nervous about having your first student?"
He looks back towards me, "All I can say Sophie is pray," is his only reply.
"What, pray for him?"
He shakes his head, "No, for me, to keep my sanity in tact," he pauses for a second, "And I also don't want that kid to be dead after the confrontation with Ace because of my actions."
I smile, "I'll pray for the both of you" I say and press my lips lightly to his, hopefully Karl's out of eye shot of us as well.
"Well, come on" Karl says, sounding inpatient.
Luka then breaks apart from me and looks after him, he then turns back towards me. "I'm sorry, Sophie Jane, I have to go."
I just give him a smile, "its okay, same here," I pause and give my mate a sweet hug. "I'll see you for lunch" I inform as we break apart,
"Alright, see you for lunch."
My mate then walks away from me, I watch after him for as long as I can. Once he and Karl are out the door, I turn around and start to chase after Beta Chris and the pure humans.
I come to stand at the side of the track, looking at all the faces before they get started, my eyes fall on Shelby's.
I'm only watching for you and no one else, let's see what happens today, shall we.
***
After lunch ends, Luka and I are standing by the kitchen, waiting for everyone to get finished so that we can get back to training. Well, to be truthful, only Luka is, I'm zoning out, lost in my own thoughts. Ever Since track let out, I can't shake the memory of what I saw.
I was watching the humans run around the wide oval of a track, they mostly moved in tightly formed groups, Maple, the mother of little Posy was in the lead, a couple of people I barely knew were in the middle, while my aunt and Shelby brought up the rear. I hadn't taken my eye off Shelby, not her or my aunt. From where I was standing, I could clearly see that they weren't laboring, I looked closer and could see that my aunt was trying to keep pace with Shelby. That's when I started to wonder.
Could they be holding back on purpose?
A few seconds later, I got my answer. Beta Chris was watching the humans along with me, when he saw Shelby was lagging behind, he told her to speed up. I then watched as my aunt turned her head towards Shelby and shook her head no. It was a gesture so small, Beta Chris couldn't see it, but I could.
I then watched with as much amazement as disbelief when in less than six full strides, Shelby was leading the pack, and in double that, she was in front by a whole lap. I was stumped, in all of world history, no human has been able to charge up and get the lead that fast, not even a werewolf in human form. I think back on it, Shelby did the same thing on the track yesterday. Whatever Shelby is, I now know she's not a pure human, and the sooner I can find out what she is, the better.
I'm snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of a door opening, before I can figure out who it is, Luka beats me to it.
"Hello, Elliot," he says waving his arms, beckoning to his brother to come over, like a moth to a flame, I look up and see a sleepy looking Elliot heading towards us. When he finally gets to us, Luka wraps a gentle arm around his neck, "Did you have a good sleep?"
"Yes I did bro, I feel so much better now, thanks for asking."
Luka then unwraps his arm.
"You look so much better to, you don't look half dead like you did this morning, no offense" I tell him.
"Thanks, Sophie, and no worries, no offense taken."
"Good, I'm glad to hear that."
"Elliot." my uncle calls out, "Now that you're up, you can Help Cody and the others with one on one attack training."
"With pleasure sir."
Elliot then turns towards Luka and I, "I'm sorry you two, I have to go, Cody needs me to help."
"No worries bro, we understand, I'm just glad to see you up" Luka tells him, Elliot then walks away from us.
I then hear the front door open, Luka and I both turn and see Keith walking in the door with Alex hanging out in his arms. Luka waves his hand, Keith looks, then he walks over to us.
"Hey you two."
"Hey Keith, hi Alex" Luka says to him as they come to a stop in front of us.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here this morning, I had to babysit her, and she doesn't take being left alone, it reminds her too much of being chained to the pole at Ace's pack."
At the word pole, Alex starts to ball up and cry. At the sight of this, Keith turns the frightened girl around and begins to comfort his mate, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder.
"Shh, don't cry My Angel, don't cry. Come on, come on, I'm not going to let anything happen to you, you should know this by now, calm down, calm down" Keith mutters, patting her back gently as if she was an infant.
After a few more moments of this, Alex dials her crying down to just a whimper, she then takes her head off Keith shoulder and looks at him.
"See, I told you, I'm not going to let them hurt you again, and if they do, then they'll hear it from me" Keith tells her.
Alex smiles, her eyes still tearing a bit, and wraps her arms around her protector's neck.
"Keith," someone calls out, we all turn and see my uncle heading over towards us, "I thought I saw you finally come in."
"I'm so sorry I didn't come in earlier sir, I had to watch after Alex when Cody left this morning."
My uncle comes to a stop and looks over towards Alex, "And you couldn't leave her alone?"
"Not really, no sir."
My uncle then smiles, "No worries, Keith, I can clearly see why," my uncle then reaches his hand over slowly towards Alex, giving her time to turn around and face him. "Hello there, I'm Elder Liam, what's your name?"
I connect the mind link to his.
"Pardon me, Uncle, but Alex can't speak."
He then looks and raises his eyebrows at me.
"Can't, or won't?"
"We don't know" I reply to him, I then cut the link.
Alex then takes my uncle's hand, but instead of shaking it, she starts bouncing up and down with it, just like an excitable toddler would.
My Uncle chuckles.
"A toddler like personality, huh?"
"Yes sir, for now at least."
After a few moments, Alex is done bouncing and gives my uncle back his hand.
"Well, that was fun," "Well, since you're here, Keith," my uncle then looks at him, "Do you want to go lift some weights with your brother?"
For a moment, Keith perks up, "I would love to, oh, but who would watch over Alex?" he asks, the mate, protector side of him returning again.
"I'll do it, I don't have anything to do" I say.
They all turn towards me, "Are you sure, Sophie?" Luka asks.
"Of course I can, as long as it's okay with her and Keith" I tell him, turning back around to face the couple in question.
"It'll be fine with me, Sophie," Keith pauses, "But I'm not the one who decides this." He then looks down at Alex. "Hey Angel, would you be okay hanging out with the Alpha and her mate?"
Alex takes a moment to think this through, then she looks at him and gives a silent nod.
"Well, alright then," Keith then walks over towards me, and I hold out my arms, Keith then holds out his arms and then nods for Alex to slide down into mine.
Alex looks back up at Keith, a nervous look on her face. This triggers a memory and my mind flashes back to a time when the same thing happened to Luka during his rescue and I had to give him up to Keith and his brother so I could help the pack finish the fight. In the end, it was Cody who ended up carrying him back, Luka didn't trust Keith enough to do it, just like Alex doesn't trust me fully.
With a whimper, Alex lets go of Keith's neck and slides down into my arms, weighing almost nothing as she lands. Scooping her up and holding her close, I can still feel her rib bones sticking out. At least it's not as bad as it was when she first got here.
Keith then gets down on his knees, near her eye level. I shift my stants, facing Alex in such a way that she can see him.
Her gold flecked eyes sparkle with happiness.
"Okay, I'm going to have to leave you, My Angel," at the words ''leave'' and ''my angel,'' Alex's eyes start to tear up and she starts to cry again. Keith then places a soothing hand on the side of her face, "There, there, sweetheart. I do have to leave you, but it won't be for long I promise, and the Alpha will take really good care of you, you have nothing to fear from her."
Keith then turns around slightly and points across the room, "That's where I'm going to be, Alex, not that far away, I'll still be in earshot. If you should need anything that the Alpha can't do, just whimper for me and I'll come running."
Alex then stops crying, but her eyes still stay teary.
Keith gets up and turns towards me, "Like I told her, I'll still be in earshot, if she needs anything that you can't do for her, I'll come back and take care of it."
The Keith that just spoke to me isn't the same Keith I knew when I first met Luka, it's a different Keith all together. I think back to the way Keith's world shifted when he first saw Alex's image in my thoughts. At that moment Keith wasn't focused on only himself anymore, he was instead focused all on her. It was in that moment, that Keith grew up, left his past behind him, and became a man.
I give him a nod.
Keith then leans down and gives his mate a soft peck on the forehead, before running off to join his brother in the other room. Once he's out of eyesight, Alex's eyes fill with longing as she watches after him, poor girl.
Letting go of your protector is tough.
"I didn't think Keith had it in him" Luka mutters, still standing beside me.
The comment was so low, I'm pretty sure that Alex didn't hear it.
"Neither did I, Luka, neither did I" uncle replies back to Luka as he walks off.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end, I then look across the room, and see Shelby, standing up against one of the walls.
A curious shiver races down my spine as my mind travels back to the one question I've had for the past few days.
Shelby? What are you?
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Hope you've enjoyed the chapter, I know I enjoyed writing it for you. Just when you think Elliot couldn't get any kinder, he kicked it up a notch by staying at the training center all night to help his pack out. We had some cute Alex and Keith moments, Alex is such a fun character to write. Lastly, we found out another clue about Shelby, and now, Sophie's curious about what she might be. Gives you guys a lot to ponder over, doesn't it.
1. What do you guys think Shelby could be?
2. Do you guys think Elliot out did himself in this chapter?
3. Can you guys tell a different Keith now that he has Alex?
To all of our new Emerald Shifters please be sure to keep reading, because we like to watch the numbers go up. Vote, because we love the support. Comment, so that you can give your opinion, and if you find any mistakes, feel free to let us know. Add it to your reading list and library, to stay updated. And share it, to get it out there, Bye guys
See you guys next on the 31st of October.