CHAPTER 17

My second week of training on Saturdays had arrived. Unlike last time, we had a lecture about werewolves and the different levels. Lycans are the most powerful; the king of alphas. They are the leaders of all the alphas of the different packs. Luckily, the town doesn’t have it. Chaz said they’re living in cities and they could be the richest person we know. He didn’t answer but I have I guess who the Lycan is.

The second most powerful is Alphas. They are the ones who rule a pack. They’re the most powerful warrior of the pack that’s why they earned that position. Werewolves have a monarchy-like government. Once the Alpha wants to let go of the position, he had to decide on which sons he’s going to give it to. And the name of the Alpha’s wife is a Luna. It’s rare to have a female Alpha which they could call Luna as well. Chaz didn’t give an example for that.

Betas are the assistants of the Alpha. They are the closest men that can reach the Alpha. Some of them are wicked and bullies because they’re stronger and they have a connection with the leader of the pack.

The last one is Omegas; ordinary people or slaves of the Betas. They weren’t powerful enough or close enough to the ruler so they have the least power of all the kinds of werewolves. I don’t bring a notebook so I wasn’t able to take notes. At least, I could still remember them now.

“Do you have notes?” I asked Gelo. We’re sitting on the floor like anybody else.

“I don’t have a paper and a pen. In short, I don’t take notes. It’s a waste of time since Chaz’s going to repeat the lecture two to three months from now.”

So Chaz wanted to emphasize the information about werewolves that’s why he’s telling them over and over again.

After a few minutes of break, Chaz clapped his hands as a signal to get back to our seats. We sat in the second row of anyone else. Like last week, Kaz was the one in front of us while Stacey and Skip were on Gelo’s left side.

“We’re going to start meditating again for an hour. I wanted all of you to close your eyes and feel your breath.” Chaz counted to three and we all closed our eyes. Though I can disobey the whole meditation process, I wanted to try it for my mental health. For the past few days, I searched about its benefits. When I read about the article, I knew I had to incorporate it into my routine.

My brain’s a mess. I would constantly think about things I shouldn’t be thinking. It would drift away in one way or another. That’s the reason why I can’t meditate for even a few minutes. Like now, instead of focusing on my breathing like everyone else, I’m thinking of meditation. My attention span sucks!

I fixed my posture and relaxed the muscles on my face and whole body. I could feel myself floating on the ground, carried by air. I inhaled for four seconds, slowly and calmly. And let it out after three seconds of holding it. I repeated the breathing for moments I could handle and let my mind stay blank.

I feel like dreaming as I stayed longer staying still and focusing on my breathing. When my mind was already distracted and annoyed, I opened my eyes. Chaz was looking and smirking at me. He showed his hand with a ‘five’ sign. It’s just five minutes of meditating? I thought I was staying still for days! I hate it.

I closed my eyes again. This time, I wasn’t meditating. I daydreamed about our family, the time we were still complete. My favorite moment in our previous home was our dinner, wherein Mom and Dad would check on us three.

“Felix, how are ‘ya doing?” Dad asked in a cool voice.

“Okay, Dad,” Felix answered swiftly as he does most of the time.

“Jay, how about you?” Mom asked in a sweet tone of voice. Her voice was a mixture of honey and gummies.

“My boss liked how I performed in my job,” Jay would answer and start to eat his meal.

At that moment, I knew I was the next one. I wasn’t fine that night. I hate how I failed one of the quizzes in arts. I didn’t review for the exam because I understand the lesson when it was discussed by our teacher. It’s the test that was difficult. It felt like it was asked by an alien.

“How about you, Cath?” It was a mixture of Dad’s and Mom’s voices. Cool and sweet. A perfect combination.

“I did…” My eyes roamed around my family and the food served on top of the table. “I did not do well enough in our quiz.” I can’t say that I failed. My parents weren’t the type who would be disappointed with their daughter for failing a simple quiz. They understand that students sometimes go through hard times. But I am the one who’s ashamed of myself. I had a lot of time to review, but I binge-read books in that span.

“It’s okay, Cath. It’s just a quiz. It doesn’t define you.” Jay smiled at me. He then offered the chocolate cake we had on the table. Our family doesn’t need an occasion to bring a dessert to the table. For mom and dad, every meal spent with your family needs a celebration. When they died, it was difficult for us to celebrate dinners. I missed them so much.

I opened my eyes again. This time, there were tears below my eyes. Chaz looked at me worriedly. He looked like he wanted to hug and talk to me. It would ruin the focus that others did during the meditation practice. So we waited until his alarm created a noise.

“Everyone, your hour of meditation is up,” he announced.

I glanced at Angelo who looked like he was lasered by sunlight. He smiled as soon as he saw me.

“Everyone had to run for five kilometers. And after your running activity, we’re going to have a duel. Pick up your pedometers and start running—now!” I was about to stand up and copy what the others are doing when Chaz talked again. “Except for Catherine. You’ll stay in here.”

“Did you do something again?” Gelo asked. “Didn’t you meditate for an hour?”

I can’t answer all of his questions. He was just a friend who was worried about me for being called by our trainer. I don’t know what’s the reason for me to stay here. Maybe it’s Chaz who caught me or he saw me crying. I don’t know.

I tapped Gelo’s shoulders. My skin slid through his soft face. I instantly pulled my hand from him. “Don’t worry. There’s nothing that will happen to me. I won’t be punished.”

“Fine. I’ll get back here. Update me later.”

Since Gelo was the last person in the studio aside from me and Chaz, his steps were audible as he grabbed the pedometer and started running. When we felt Gelo was already not close to where we are, Chaz strode towards me.

“Why did you cry earlier?” he asked. He wasn’t mad. He wasn’t enraged when I cry instead of meditating. He was worried and caring.

“I thought of my parents. I thought of my family and our dinner every night. I missed them.”

“I lost my parents when I was your age too.” My jaw dropped because of his confession. I couldn’t believe that the two of us were orphans at an early age. “Unlike you, I don’t have anyone to lean on. You have your brothers and Nana’s family. I was all alone at that time. I thought of killing myself back then because there was no reason for me to stay. But look at me now, a respected trainer.”

“What happened to your parents?” My lips were dry so I wet them with my saliva.

“They were killed for training omegas like what I do. Higher-ups were threatened with omegas training for themselves. They thought it might cause a rebellion. Instead of stopping the activity, they killed both of my parents. Later on, I decided to train some of them myself. Instead of training them at night or in the afternoon. I trained them early in the morning until noon. And everyone knew this is a tutorial center, not a training center.”

“Didn’t you seek justice when they were killed?”

“You can’t seek justice when you’re an omega and you don’t have a strong pack.”

I gritted my teeth. Injustices don’t just happen in humans but every creature in this world. “I wanted to find out who killed my parents. I wanted to revenge or fight justice.”

“What you’re thinking isn’t right, Catherine. The best way you could seek revenge is to win. Win every fight and challenge you are facing. A win for your parents. A win for your brothers. Win for Gelo and Nana. And the most important part of it all is to win for yourself. Crying isn’t bad. As long as you’re crying be stronger the moment you stopped crying.” Chaz tapped my shoulders. “I wanted you to win next time. I believe in you.”

I’m nothing but why do people are believing in me?