"Morning," I greeted the others cheerfully, trying my best to make my smile genuine.
Evan stared at me for a moment, his blue eyes probing as I served myself some pancakes.
"How'd you sleep?" Mila asked, taking a sip of her coffee. I shrugged.
"I slept alright. You?"
"Fine." Mila said.
"I had a dream that I got a pony, and her name was Jo," Emmy spoke up, and I smiled a real smile.
"Really?" I asked, overdoing my interest. "What'd she look like? Was she nice?"
"She was soooo nice!" Emmy said excitedly. "And she was black with white spots!"
"Aww, she sounds so cute!" I said. Emmy smiled and returned to her plate, while Anna and I shared an amused smile.
"I want to get some more training done, and see if we can go to Haven." Sarah said to me, and I nodded.
"Sounds like a plan. Although, can I push harder?" I asked, looking over Emmy to look at her.
Sarah shook her head. "That's not safe, it could hurt you-"
"I can handle it, Sarah." I insisted. "I promise."
"No." Evan spoke up, setting down his coffee.
"Evan-"
"No," He repeated more firmly. He said nothing else, which made me mad.
He never gave explanations, just expected you to do what you're told just because he said so.
I opened my mouth to speak but stopped, noticing the people around us were all silent and staring at the man who walked in.
He had straight blonde hair slicked back, with bright blue eyes, and a tattoo poking out of his leather jacket, swirling up his neck.
Evan turned around and shot to his feet, his eyes wide and hopeful.
The man shook his head, a sad look on his face.
Evan lowered his head in pain, and stormed out of the dining room.
I was utterly confused, but the others didn't seem confused.
Mila got up and walked over to the man, hugging him.
"It's good to see you, Axel." Mila said softly. Axel hugged her back.
"You too, Mila. I'm sorry I couldn't-"
"Shh," Mila cupped his face in her hands. "It's okay. We all understand."
Axel nodded and Mila led him over to the table. Axel sat where Evan had been sitting, and offered me his hand to shake.
"I'm Axel."
"Taylor," I said, shaking his hand. Axel suddenly stiffened, his eyes glazing over.
"Evan wants a debrief." Axel said, sighing heavily. "It was nice to meet you, Taylor. I hope to see you later." Axel stood up and left the room.
I looked over at Mila, my mouth opening to question her. She shook her head.
"Evan should be the one to tell you." She said.
I nodded, respecting that. Although hell would freeze over before Evan shared something that seemed so personal with me.
"Want to go spar in the training field?" Sarah asked.
"Yeah, after this," I said, nodding.
--------------------------
"Come on!" Sarah came at me again, and I ducked her punch, punching her in the gut and spinning around, kicking at her head.
She blocked my leg and pushed me away.
I stumbled to maintain my balance, backing away.
"Mind if I have a go?" Axel approached us, his leather jacket gone.
Sarah gestured for him to take the floor, and Axel walked forward, standing in front of me.
"How experienced are you?" He questioned as we circled each other.
"Experienced enough. She's just better than me." I replied.
He nodded, and then he came at me. I avoided his punches, and he looked at me strangely.
"What are you doing?" He asked as I kept backing away, never taking a shot.
I said nothing, I just hit the ground and swept my leg around, sweeping his legs out from underneath him.
He landed on his back and I pinned him, one hand at his throat, the other hovering in a fist, ready to finish him.
"You were waiting for me to be unbalanced," he noted.
"And studying your form," I added. I jumped to my feet and offered him my hand.
He took it and I helped him up.
"Again." He said.
"Fine." I said with a shrug. He punched straight forward and I grabbed his hand, twisting it.
His eyes widened in surprise, but he had no time to react before I was spinning around and using his hip to step up and wrap my legs around his neck, twisting my body around so he landed on his back with my legs around his neck.
I pinned his hand to the ground and Sarah gasped.
"Oh my Goddess!"
I unhooked my legs and moved to the side, helping Axel up.
"I'm trying to spar and you're using freaking martial arts," Axel said, jumping to his feet. "That's unfair."
"Want me to spar?" I asked. "Okay."
Axel came at me again, and this time I left out my martial arts training.
He grabbed me by my shoulders and kneed me in the stomach. I swung his arms around and pinned them with mine, swinging my head forward and slamming mine into his.
Axel backed up and got the upper hand, throwing me on defensive.
I ducked and braced myself on the mat, picking my feet up and kicking Axel in the stomach.
"No assassin stuff!" Axel said.
"Like you don't know it," I retorted.
"Fine." Axel came at me with brand new moves, and it presented a bit of a challenge for me.
I hit him across the face and he bent sideways, which I used to roll over his back. Once my feet hit the ground I hit him again as he rose up and ducked down again, kicking his feet out from under him.
"Sarah!" Axel backed away, laughing breathlessly. "Come give her an ass kicking for me!"
Sarah came back onto the mat while Axel stepped off, grinning.
Sarah curled her fingers, and a ball of flames appeared.
My eyes widened as she threw it towards me.
I hit the ground on one knee, my hand hitting the mat, palm flat.
I surged, the vibrations knocking Sarah off her feet.
"Uh oh." Sarah wasn't looking at me, she was looking away from me.
Evan was storming across the grass towards Orion, who was teaching a couple of the soliders.
Evan looked mega pissed.
"Evan?" I asked as he passed me without a glance.
He grabbed Orion by his shoulder and shoved him onto a mat.
"Oh no, not again. Evan, don't do this!" Axel called, looking worried.
Orion barely had time to process what was happening before Evan was flying at him, practically beating him to the ground.
Orion never once fought back, he just blocked some of Evan's punches.
Evan was beating him bloody.
"Evan, stop it!" Mila ran out onto the field, looking distressed.
"Evan, that's enough!" I cried, horrified as blood poured out of Orion's nose.
"Stay out of this!" Evan raged at me.
"I'm sorry, Evan, I tried, you know I tried!" Orion was saying to my raging mate.
"You didn't try hard enough!" Evan yelled, picking Orion up off the ground and pushing him back hard enough to make him stumble.
My mind was whirling, and my heart was racing as I was thrown back to a horrible place in my past.
"Henry stop!"
"Shut up before I tape your mouth shut!"
Evan came at Orion again, who looked submissive and defeated.
"Stop." I choked out, my voice barely audible. "STOP!" I cried.
I ran forward, coming between Orion and Evan, who's fist was already flying at top speed towards me.
I caught his fist in my hand, the force from his drive pushing me back a few inches.
"Stop this." I said, not even recognizing him.
"This is none of your business." Evan growled, eyes glowing orange.
"Why? Because I'm not part of this pack? Because I'm a woman? Or is it because you're not sure if the Gifted are your enemies, and you don't trust me?" I demanded.
"Taylor, stay out of this, please." Orion groaned, on his knees.
"No! I'm going to walk away now," I said to Evan, who was staring at me. "You hit him one more time, and I swear to the Goddess, Evan, you will never see me again." I threatened, and his eyes widened.
My wolf howled in protest.
"Taylor," Mila tried to talk to me, but I cut her off.
"No! My entire life, I was tortured, beaten, experimented on, and I was raped." Evan's eyes widened to the side of moons. "All by bullies, bullies who treated me like that!" I turned and pointed at Evan.
"Look at him, Evan! He's at your mercy! Just like I was at theirs." I said.
"You're- you're comparing me to the monsters that hurt you?" Evan stammered, and he had the audacity to look hurt, backing up a couple steps.
"You're acting exactly like him. I look at him, and I see me! I look at you standing over him. And I-" my voice broke, and Evan took a step back. "I see the man who raped me, Evan." I said in a pleading voice.
"Taylor," Sarah tried to say something, but I looked away, pain and anger in my heart.
"You wanted angry?" I asked through gritted teeth, my fists clenched. "Well now I'm angry."
I turned and walked away quickly. "Taylor!" Evan yelled, starting after me. I whirled around and surged, blowing Evan backwards.
Evan landed on his back and Axel was quick to help him to his feet, everyone staring at me in shock.
I shifted mid stride and took off running into the woods, despite the fact that my wolf could feel his calling out to me, and I could hear him yelling my name.
I found myself at a small waterfall at the river and shifted, sitting down in the dirt, tears streaming down my face.
I sat there for almost five minutes before Sarah appeared at my side.
"Taylor?"
"I'm so sorry," I sobbed, and Sarah wrapped her arms around me immediately, rubbing me comfortingly.
"It's okay, it's okay."
"I never wanted anyone to know," I cried. "Especially not this way. I never wanted to use my powers on him, but I was looking at him and I just, I couldn't bear the sight!"
"Taylor, Evan's not Henry." Sarah said softly. "And whatever he's going through, he didn't mean to send you back there."
"Why am I mated with him?" I asked, my voice breaking. "What if I can't handle this, Sarah?"
"You can," Sarah said to me. "Twylor, you're so strong."
"I miss my brother," I wailed. "I miss Thomas."
------------------------
“You called?” I stepped out of the SUV and approached Ariel, who stood outside of a large mansion that was styled to look like an oversized wood cabin.
Sarah and a guard- Mila had insisited on someone accompanying us, since I refused to see Evan- followed behind me.
“You can join the other two guards in the living room, help yourselves to any food. Just don’t go wandering around, and don’t touch any tech.” Ariel said sternly, and Jeremy nodded, walking inside.
I looked around, my eyes wide. “What is this place?”
“This is the Haven,” Ariel said, spreading her arms wide and turning around, looking up at the massive area. “It’s our pack house. Doctor Brown had it built for us. Tours will be later, follow me.”
“What’s going on?” Sarah asked her as we started up the stairs.
The place was gigantic, and beautiful. It was simple, yet obviously expensive.
“We were looking for any research Doc had left on the Gifted.” Ariel explained. “Apparently he had an algorithm that contained satellite codes that could detect when the Gifted used their powers. We got here, only to find it was stolen.”
“Stolen? By who?” The brunette with Trusts asked.
“That’s the crazy thing.” Ariel stopped, looking at the us. “Oliver stole it.”
“Oliver?!” I exclaimed. She nodded and continued up the stairs.
There's no way. Are they alive? Where are Jess and Willow? I wondered.
“Yeah, and that’s not the only thing. He knew the combination, and his retinal scan was approved. But he didn’t break in the door.” Ariel glanced over her shoulder and met eyes with her mate. “He walked through the wall.”
“Walked through the wall,” Tristan repeated skeptically.
I wanted to look at my mate like that.
“We’ve seen stranger things,” Ivy pointed out with a shrug.
“We think it was a portal,” Ariel said.
“What makes you think that?” The brunette asked.
“We’ll show you.”