Chapter 6 Chapter 6
Kaelani POV
The moment I walk onto the field for combat again eyes are on me.
What is wrong with everybody today?
“You look like a girl today,” Nyra says.
I roll my eyes.
“I always look like a girl.”
Apparently half the school disagrees.
Liam spots me as I step onto the field and walks over.
“Hey, I’m sorry for walking off on you earlier,” he says scratching the back of his head.
“No need for the apology. I shouldn’t have assumed you were trying to impress me with a cup of coffee.”
“No, my winning personality will do that all on its own.”
He grins.
The dimples in his cheeks are distracting so I turn and start walking toward the teacher.
He jogs up behind me.
“Trying to escape me and my winning personality?” he asks, still smiling.
No, I'm trying to focus on the rapidly approaching magical disaster that is apparently my life now.
The last thing I need is a handsome Alpha heir making me forget about it for five minutes.
“Good morning students. Today we will be doing two minute spars to determine where you are before we begin splitting you up into your groups for the year. So when I call your name step into the spar circle.”
Mr. Connors looks down at his clipboard.
His eyes scan the page.
They move all the way to the bottom and he smiles.
My stomach drops.
That smile never means anything good.
Because I know it’s me.
“Kieran Vale and Kaelani Quinn, you’re up first.”
Of course.
I find Kieran in the crowd and he seems to be enjoying this.
Me?
I would rather be sparring with anyone else.
We step into the circle and he smirks.
“Ready?”
I tighten my ponytail and smile.
“Always.”
Unlike conversations, fighting with Kieran actually has rules.
There are no confusing questions. No weird stares. No trying to figure out what he wants from me.
Just two people trying to put the other on the ground.
Fighting makes sense. It always has. If somebody throws a punch, you react. If somebody leaves an opening, you take advantage of it. There is no hidden meaning behind any of it. No guessing games. No trying to figure out why somebody suddenly cares about you after three years of acting like you don't exist. Combat is simple. People are complicated.
We get into fighting stances.
Mr. Connors blows his whistle.
We circle each other before he comes at me quickly, like he already knows he’s about to win.
I sidestep his first punch and watch his shoulders instead of his hands.
People always make the mistake of watching the hands but the shoulders show where the hit is going before it happens.
His second punch comes faster but I block it and pivot to the left.
A few students watching start cheering.
Ignoring them is easy.
Ignoring Kieran now that he’s this close is becoming a lot more difficult.
Not because I'm intimidated.
Because every time our eyes meet I remember that he still wants answers and I still don't know why he suddenly cares.
“He’s good,” Nyra says.
“Yes and cocky,” I reply.
A grin spreads across his face.
“You holding back?”
I roll my eyes.
“Shut up and fight.”
He grins wider and moves to attack again.
There it is.
My opening.
Every time he moves all his weight to the right his left foot drags a half an inch behind him.
It's small. So small most people would never notice it.
But my father taught me years ago that fights are won in the details.
When I was ten he made me sit through spar after spar without letting me participate. For weeks all I did was watch. Every time I missed something he would point it out. Where somebody favored one leg. When somebody dropped a shoulder before throwing a punch. How their breathing changed when they got tired. At the time I thought it was torture. Years later I realized he was teaching me how to survive.
The second he steps forward I swipe his leg out from under him and he hits the ground hard.
All the students around us gasp before cheering erupts.
I look over at Mr. Connors and he has this big stupid grin plastered on his face.
Apparently proving a point at Kieran's expense has made his day.
I hold out my hand to help Kieran up and the moment our hands touch the same warmth that I felt when I shook Liam’s hand shoots up my hand and down my arm.
The moment he is on his feet I let go and walk out of the circle.
I look down at my hand as the warmth lingers.
Once is weird.
Twice is a problem.
I truly don’t need whatever the hell that is.
The first time it happened with Liam I convinced myself I imagined it. Maybe I was nervous. Maybe it was because he caught me off guard. Now it has happened again and with Kieran of all people. If it happens a third time I'm going to have to admit something strange is happening and considering my life already includes mystery magic, I really don't need another problem.
Liam jogs over to me smiling.
“You really are good.”
I smile a little at that.
“My dad has been training me since I was old enough to walk.”
In reality he’s been training me to be the ultimate warrior because he said Selene came to him in a dream and told him that when I got my wolf I would be hunted by people who wish to see me dead.
Because apparently me having my wolf is a bad thing.
Dad never tells me everything. He says I'll understand when I'm older, which is his favorite answer whenever I ask questions he doesn't want to answer. All I know is that every lesson, every extra training session and every ridiculous workout has always felt like he was preparing me for something specific. The problem is nobody has ever told me what that something is.
“That sounds purposeful. Nobody trains their pup that young to fight like that for nothing. That was less than two minutes.”
Most people hear about my training and think it's impressive.
They don't realize it came from fear.
He’s right about that.
Every minute of our private training sessions is indeed for a purpose.
To make me someone's biggest threat.
“Yeah I don’t know what it is but it comes in handy in a spar,” I say with a shrug.
He looks at me and shakes his head.
“Clearly.”
The rest of the class goes by in a blur as I watch the fights.
Some of the students are actually pretty good.
You can tell who spent the summer working on skill and who spent it relying on their wolf to do the work for them.
This is going to be an interesting tournament this year.
Maybe Principal Rivers was right.
Maybe hiding behind Ezra's shadow isn't an option anymore.
For years it was easy. Ezra was the heir. Ezra was the champion. Ezra was the one everyone expected great things from. If I won, people compared me to him. If I lost, nobody cared because I wasn't the future Alpha. Somewhere along the way I got comfortable letting people underestimate me. It was easier than dealing with the attention. Easier than dealing with expectations.
Now people are looking at me whether I want them to or not.
Goal for the year:
Focus on the tournament.
Find the tree.
Avoid boys.
Preferably in that exact order.
