Chapter 80: Chapter 80

~NATALIE~

Cracking my neck, I stretched the other parts of my body. Sweat was dripping down and I still didn't think it was enough. I needed to practice more until my limbs couldn't take it anymore.

Until I was stretched apart and my body was unable to go on.

I hit the wooden stick and kicked the part that had flown to the side. The impact from my feet broke the stick again into smaller pieces.

Non-stop, I threw blows at the dummy I had lined up for practice. Each attack sent with precise calculation, I kept pushing hard until I was numb to the pain.

I always wondered if continuous practice on the training ground could make a person immune to pain. Yet with each thorough and intense session, the pain kept multiplying. The only benefit was that it stretched you and ensured you had a high tolerance for pain.

If Natalie were to see me here, she would scream her lungs out. People think I am obsessed with being perfect, but they don't know how it feels when the only source of your power can be harmful even to people dear to you, and you have to choose who to save.

The promise I made those years ago had stuck with me — I would never rely on my siren powers alone. The door of the training ground opened; I panted heavily as I withdrew my hands from the dummy.

Who would be here at this time of day?

Grabbing a towel, I cleaned the sweat dripping from my face down to my chest before striding towards the door to see who it was. I hadn't even taken two steps when that enormous body appeared.

My heart skipped a beat and my curiosity was replaced with annoyance and unease. The room was dimly lit, but I could see his face clearly.

Suddenly, the atmosphere became chilly. It was hard to move when he was staring at me that way.

I swallowed.

"What are you doing here?" I said through the mindlink, breaking the silence between us.

O'Lean sighed. "You are pushing yourself too hard, Natalia," he muttered. The concern laced in his tone made my stomach churn. Deep in my heart, I wanted to be in his embrace and tell him how hard it was not to think about the past. However, when the face of the young girl he had brought to the pack flashed across my mind, I snarled.

"I asked a question — what are you doing here?" He winced at how sharp my words were, but I cared less. He could flaunt his girl around the pack whenever he wanted, but he needed to stop coming to where I was. And how had he found me?

"I came looking for you," he responded. I crossed my arms under my chest.

"I don't want you looking for me. Don't you have things to do? Leave, O'Lean — I am busy," I retorted coldly. A sharp gaze was sent his way, but the giant seemed determined not to leave.

"I can't. Not until I've cleared things between us," he said flatly.

I closed my eyes, sighing. "There is nothing to clear between us! Didn't I warn you last time?" My tone was getting louder.

"You only said what you wanted to say, and now you have to listen to what I have to say," O'Lean declared with all seriousness. He took a step forward, stretching his hands out, but I slapped them away.

"Get your hands off me."

"Fine, but listen. There is nothing going on between Alia and me — she is a child who helped me on my last mission, and I brought her here since she had no one in her former pack," he explained.

My eyes widened; for a moment I was filled with hope. I turned my back on him. "It doesn't matter what your relationship with her is. The truth is there is nothing going on between us!"

He held my arms and met my gaze. "You need to stop running away. I know that you pretend to hate me, and in that pretense you try to push me away. You try to make me hate you…" he trailed off, exhaling deeply.

His eyes locked with mine; it felt like I was held in a spell. "It is impossible for me to hate you, Natalia, and I won't be pushed away like before. I love you — I want you! I can't see you so close and yet have you so far away," he blurted out. Tears rimmed my eyes and a sob escaped my lips.

"You know why I am doing this! You know why… so why are you making it hard for me?" I cried out through the mindlink. O'Lean drew me closer until my head rested on his chest.

"It's dangerous! I don't mind you being with someone else as long as you are alive — then I am more than happy," my voice cracked around the edges.

"Shhhh. Do not say that, Natalia. I can never be with Alia — I want you. It's you that my soul and heart call out for," he confessed. His fingers grazed my back; my body shuddered at his touch.

"But…"

He interrupted by lifting my chin up. "How about we take it step by step? I want to know, Natalia — do you love me? Do you want me? What does your heart say whenever I am here, or when you think of me?"

I felt my heart thud loudly in my chest. My throat went dry as he asked those questions. Years of yearning for him after coldly throwing him out of my life — those feelings that had been kept hidden burst open.

It was too heavy for me to hold onto any longer, and finally I decided not to hide them anymore. I stood on my toes, hands stretching out to reach his neck… but O'Lean was huge. Seeing my struggle, he lowered himself a little. I used that to brush my lips against his.

"I love you, O'Lean! I have always wanted you too — but I don't think I can hold back any longer!"