Chapter 25

Cassia’s pov

It’s another day waking to an empty bed, and a piece of paper, on a tray of fruits, ‘I didn’t want to wake you up, have a nice day’ narrowly written by Hadrian,I held unto the sheets, as I beamed to his tender words, I imagined waking up to him, my cheek flustered as erotic moment from last night flashed in my mind,I read it over again, it felt foreign.

Before me sat my training attire neatly folded on chair , slowly my joy began to deplit, I would be going back to picking wooden debris and dried up leaves, for a cocky trainer who doesn’t find my company exciting and probably hates me for bringing havoc to his lovely pack, but then I had to do this if I wanted things to be different around here.

I took my bath, then traced my way back to the valley. The castle felt different this time. A combination of so many emotions. I ran through the corridor in tears, the same corridor he took me in his arms, it’s totally going to be different.

I got to the valley, expecting a load of chore as we got off on a wrong foot yesterday, he seemed so pissed I was certain he was going to make me pay dearly for it, but I was stunned by the clean view of a valley with several hay puppets suspended on a stick, he stood beside it, with two wooden sticks in his hands .

“ You would be earlier next time” he said, tossing the wooden sword at my feet, just as expected he was cocky, at least something changed. “ Today we will see how well you can handle a threat, talking about your arm strength, you are weak and pathetic, you should work on that as well” it still hurts but I knew he wouldn’t be so kind with words with me, even if it meant saving his life.

“Pick up the wood”

Just as I leaned to pick it up, he tossed it further with the edge of his stick, it sparked a sense annoyance within me but I don’t say anything, I motioned further, trying to pick it up, then he repeated it over and over till I couldn’t take it anymore, I wasn’t some kind of toy he gets to tease because I couldn’t fight back.

“You know what I get that you are trying to get back at me for my puky charade, but it’s my first time seeing blood” my word broke at the verge of escape, and for weird reasons he seemed unfazed by my feud. Instead he flexed his wrist while battling an enemy visible to only him, “ you are weak, and need a routine” he said after excruciating hours of making me stare at his cue.

“Ok what routine”

“Be creative, you are not so dumb”he hovered around me. Sniffing me, he held my arms, lifting it up, “you need to be tone at the very least” he left my hands, then proceeded to the hay puppet, “ here’s your task for the day, this here is your opponent, about to attack you so what do you do?”

“Attack back?”

“How?”

“Anyhow you know how to, make sure you don’t let yours of that” he pointed at my hands, I did as commanded, hitting the hay with everything I got, but only a few strands were victims of my attack, it felt futile half way, till I finally came to a halt, he was sprightle with his foot, kicking the wood to the floor, immediately disengaging it’s head, my sword fell from my hands in shock.

He had just outdone several strokes, with a kick, and there was doubt he would kick a real opponent, the solemn memories of stepping on a missing arm and so much blood dancing in my mind.

“ What will Hadrian do about them?.”

“ Don’t talk external matters when training, and for what’s it’s worth, they won’t be beheaded” he rolled his eyes exasperated, “ you were acting like a child” he added, taking a seat on a chopped wooden trunk, “if acting childish meant being scared at the face of gruesome death orchestrated by a mate you were assigned to spend the rest of your life with meant childish then I would gladly be called childish”

His jaw tensed with anger “ then if you really want to be with Hadrian you need to learn how to stay with so much contradiction, Hadrian is not a werewolf he’s a lycan” his words laced with utter bitterness and clarity, I never thought about it like that, lycan were purebred wolf, strong and pure defendant of the moon goodness they were like gods to wolf and having one was rare, and more of a disaster than good.

“Then tell me how you got to take care of so much blood without flinching” he scoffs, with a prideful stance, his face gleamed with sovereignty “Well I grew up in the castle what do you expect, I killed my first wolf at the age of ten, went on a battle alongside Hadrian at 16”.

He stood to his feet again, his sword poked at me, “ learn how to defend, every great fighter had a unique war of defense”, he throttled a foot forward, followed by the swift movement of his hands, which took me off guard as I lost my footing.

“Do you horse race” I waved my head in disapproval, he wrinkled his face in disgust, “ why did you decided to learn how to fight” he said, my hands stretched for an assistant beneath him, he leaning further lending his hands, till I was back on my feet, I reminisced to that very day I made that choice to try something new, it was the first time touching him, the sense of incapability was all I felt, my hands were so weak, and all it did in my years of existence was plead, so I chose to fight instead.

“Being capable,” I said.

“Well you are capable of crying and running away, so you need to change that, here’s a routine for the training, first you will learn how to ride a horse, get to practice dagger handling, that’s all you would master to get more physical momentum before we get on with training you, when you have your first shift”. The excitement, so much comes to my mind like a wave of flame

“Did you go on wars with your wolf or you fought in your physical form” a smile crawled on his lips, once more a gleam of cockiness strolled his faces, “ first time Hadrian and was led to conquer the hollow howler pack, led by his father and he had just shifted and I was yet to shift” he swung his sword at an invisible enemy, still maintaining his smile, “ he was unstoppable and couldn’t stop talking about it for months, how much soldiers he fell before we came back, there were so much experience together, our first women, liquor, kills, horse rides” his eyes were wishful as he looked into oblivion.

They seemed so close, just too close for an alpha and beta, too close for a boy who was adopted by the pack heir “You must be inseparable” I said but then his face falls blankly as he stared at his feet, the sudden change in mood was questionable but before I could speak further handrian walked in.

“ that’s not how to fight”