Chapter 3 A Friend

Claudius's POV 

I took a deep breath as I stood with my legs wide open, before slowly leaning to the left. I bring my knee over my ankle, and my left hand slides down my leg, stopping at my ankle while my right hand is held in the air above me. I held my pose, slowly breathing in through my nose, and then slowly exhaling out of my mouth before I was startled by a loud voice and fell on my butt.

"Hey, twinkle toes!"

My head quickly snaps in his direction, and I glare at Noah.

"Really?!" I said and he leaned forward laughing.

"What are you, hiding out over there, and waiting for the right moment to scare me?" I asked as I stood up and dusted myself off.

"No, I was watching as I walked up, and waited for the right moment," Noah said, flashing me a smile.

I chuckled as I shook my head and his smile widened.

"Hey, look at that, you know how to laugh!" He said, and I felt myself blushing as I shook my head.

"All right, come on Indian boy, show me what you got!"

....

I felt confident after my one-on-one training with Noah. It felt so good knowing how to do the movements correctly, and not make a fool of myself.

I was even more proud of myself at the end of training. I actually did really good. Even Marcus complimented me today, and that was a first.

We all stood there, watching Marcus and Noah perform the steps for tomorrow's exercises. Tomorrow, our exercises will be in wolf form. I watched Marcus's large wolf tower over Noah's white wolf.

I thought there was no way Spirit was going to win against him. But he shocked all of us and took Marcus down.

We watched him perform the movements four times in a row, and I was completely lost again.

I stripped down to my underwear and quickly shifted, then stepped back onto the mats.

Niko was nervous. We haven't trained in wolf form in over a week. It didn't help that neither one of us understood how to do those movements. Noah walked up and down the aisle as he talked, stopping next to me as he looked at everyone.

Niko was looking around at the others and his body suddenly stiffened, and his eyes widened when he felt fingers running through his fur. He slowly raised his head and looked up at Noah who wasn't even looking at him.

Noah's side leaned against us as he spoke to everyone. His fingers ran through our fur along our neck, and down our back absent-mindedly.

Niko blinked as he stared up at Noah. He couldn't believe someone was touching him. His eyes slowly closed, and his head leaned into his hand as Noah began scratching Niko behind the ear.

"You really like that, don't you?" Noah's soft voice said, and Niko's eyes opened, snapping us out of it and realizing he was purring.

Our stomachs dropped and we instantly stopped purring. Niko's eyes darted around as he looked at everyone, afraid of everyone's reaction to hearing us purr like that.

To our surprise, no one was even looking at us or paying any attention. They had already turned to their partner and began the next exercise.

"Come on, Marcus is going to work with you."

....

"Hey, wait up!" Noah hollers out as I was walking home.

"You did really well today!" Noah said as he came running up beside me.

"Thanks!" I said, smiling.

I listened to Noah talk as we walked. He was giving me extra pointers on how to enter certain situations while in wolf form. I felt Niko near the surface with me. I could feel him looking out of my eyes at Noah, listening carefully to what he was saying.

I stopped walking and he looked at me confused.

"Oh, I live down here, at the end of Hickory Trail," I said scratching the back of my neck.

"Oh, well, you've got quite a hike then! I guess I'll see you tomorrow at training." He said, waving at me before he continued walking. I watched Noah walk for a moment before I turned and headed home.

"He's very nice," Niko said.

"Yes, he is," I replied with a smile.

"Do you think he'll be our friend?"

"I, I don't know."

"He touched my fur! It felt amazing!" Niko said, and I swore I could see my wolf smiling.

....

I don't know why I felt so nervous before training this week. I found myself nervously trying to pick out something to wear each morning.

Around the time I knew Noah would show up for training, I felt excited as I finished up my stretching. I felt a strange sensation in my stomach like something was fluttering around inside.

I would find myself looking around for Noah, and as soon as I spotted him my face would light up, and a sense of relief would wash over me. For some reason, just laying my eyes on him made the world seem right, and everything was okay.

I didn't feel lonely anymore when he was near. I'd find myself staring at him. Goddess, he's beautiful! I don't think I've ever seen anyone like him before. He has the most beautiful white hair. It's longer on top and he styles it messy. It kind of sticks up, and goes every which way. But it looks amazing! His eyes are the brightest blue, I swear they shine. His skin is so pale, creamy, and flawless.

He's an Omega, but he has muscles. They're not big, but they are somehow perfect. Everything about him is perfect. All the way down to the way he fights, and the way he smiles. His laugh is music and makes my heart race.

"What do you have planned after training?" Noah asked as I grabbed my towel and then wiped the sweat off my forehead.

"Nothing. I usually just go home and go to bed."

"I was going to go for a run to the lake, and go swimming, want to join me?" He asked.

"I, I don't have any swim shorts with me."

"That's okay, we can swing by your house on the way there. Your place is in the same direction anyways."

My stomach was in knots, the excitement felt like it was pouring out of me. He actually wants to hang out with me!

"S-sure!" I said, feeling a smile spread across my face.

....

I smiled as I listened to Noah talk. My goodness, I've never seen anyone talk as much as he does. But I don't mind, I'm glad he's the one talking. I have no idea what to talk about. But I am a good listener, and I love listening to Noah talk.

I was so caught up in his voice, his expressions, and everything he had to say, that I forgot about something until it came into view... My stomach dropped when I saw my ugly house.

I instantly regretted bringing him here. I felt my face heat up and I tried to think of a way to turn around or keep walking. I couldn't think of anything, so I kept walking.

"Um, isn't this your house? I don't think there are any more houses after this one." Noah said and I cringed as I stopped and slowly turned around.

"Oh, yeah. I wasn't paying attention," I said as I scratched the back of my neck and slowly turned around.

"I'm sorry, don't mind my house," I said without looking into his eyes.

"What are you talking about, it's a cool house dude! Look at you, you have your own house and I'm still sharing a room with my father... That sounds weird, doesn't it?" Noah said as he tapped his chin while staring off as if he was thinking of something. He shrugged his shoulders before flashing a smile at me.

"Oh well, I'm not ashamed of it! Show me this bachelor pad!" Noah said and I couldn't help but chuckle. I love how everything with him is so fun, and light. I don't think he has a judgmental bone in his body. I know he definitely lacks shame, that's for sure. I thought and chuckled again.

....

This little shit is fast and annoying! I thought as I tried to bite the snout of this little white fluff ball, that was gnawing and tugging on my tail. My body bends as I reach behind myself with my mouth open. Spirit lets go at the last second, and my teeth snap shut.

Spirit jumps back and brings his chest to the ground, and his butt is high in the air as his tail sways from side to side. His tongue hangs out of the side of his mouth, and the damn thing looks like he's smiling at me before he barks.

Niko barks back before pouncing on him and we both go tumbling. I gnaw on his neck, as he chews on my tail. I laugh at these two and smile, loving that Niko finally has a friend. And for the first time, he's playing with someone instead of training, or going for a run alone.

....

The days go by, and I've never been more happy than I am now. I can't remember the last time I cried and felt alone. Each night I come home from training, I'm no longer sad and exhausted when I walk through the front door. I'm able to cook myself a meal and go to bed with a smile on my face.

....

"No, that's not what I'm asking you to do. You're not pushing and hitting me hard enough. You have to put all of your weight into your fist as you throw it at me. And when you take me to the ground, you have to hit my chest right here as hard as you can, while kicking my legs out, and pushing me to the ground.

Now try again, I know you can do it. I've seen you do it before. Let's go!"

I feel frustrated and I run my hand down my face before taking my position again. 'I can do this, I know I can do this!' I say to myself...

The only problem is, every time I look into his face as I take my position, I can't bring myself to hurt him. Both myself and Niko cringe and it makes us want to whimper.

I try to do what he says. I try to hit him, but each time I swing, I just can't do it. I instantly know he's going to yell at me.

I can see he's getting frustrated, and it only makes me feel worse. I'm angry at myself, and I'm hurt.

"Listen, I told you this is training. You're expected to hit people, and I'm one of them. Now when I tell you to hit me, you hit me. Now let's go, hit me!"

I close my eyes and take a deep breath, then slowly let it out as I stand on the mat and face him again.

I look at his face, that beautiful, delicate face that I desperately would love to run my fingers down. The face that I'm supposed to be hitting right now. I throw my punch and hit his shoulder instead and he growls frustrated.

"I gave you a command. Are you fucking listening to me? I said to fucking hit me!" He yelled angrily and shoved my shoulders back causing me to stumble and almost fall backwards.

I felt my eyes burn as tears threatened to fill them. It felt like someone was squeezing my chest. As if someone had a hold of my heart and was squeezing it. I felt so hurt, I couldn't believe he yelled at me and was so angry. So angry I could see it, and feel it. So angry he pushed me out of anger, and not training.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and heard my voice tremble as I spoke.

"I can't! I'm not going to hit you in the face!"

"You can and you will, or you're going to be terminated as a warrior, and you won't serve anymore!... You can go work in the fucking pack house, cooking and cleaning! Or go work the damn fields, I don't give a fuck!" Noah yelled, even more, angry this time, and shoved my shoulders again.

I was so hurt, I couldn't believe how much my heart was aching. I haven't felt this kind of pain since my mate died.

For just a brief moment, I could have sworn I saw guilt flash across his face before anger quickly replaced it. Noah growled as he began rapidly swinging his fist at me.

His fist kept flying at me and I had no choice but to defend myself and try to block them. I couldn't block them all, and I felt the ones that I missed hit me, and hit me hard.

Initially, I was even more hurt as he began trying to hurt me. That hurt turned to frustration until something snapped. I roared as I quickly moved forward, grabbing Noah by the throat and lifting him into the air. I spun him around and slammed Noah to the ground. I straddled his waist as I held him by the throat with my left hand, and had my right hand cocked back, ready to punch him in the face. My face hovered over his as I growled at him. The strangled sound he made snapped me out of it and I quickly let go as my eyes widened.

Noah takes a deep breath in and then instantly begins coughing. I felt panicked as I began profusely apologizing.

"Oh goddess, I'm so sorry Noah!" I said, terrified I hurt him.

As I try to check his neck he shakes his head, and grabs my hands, as if he's trying to calm me down.

"No, you did exactly what I wanted you to do! I wanted you to snap, I wanted you to take me down. That's all I've been trying to get you to do... You did it!"

He said, and that's when I realized he wasn't mad at me. The things he said he didn't actually mean. He was pushing me on purpose, trying to get me to hit him. Trying to stop me on this path that I was walking down, the path of not being able to hurt him during training.

I felt the smile spread across my face. I was both happy that he wasn't really mad at me and happy that I was able to do what he wanted.

"We're done with private training. I don't think it's appropriate for us to keep going. Plus I don't think you need it anymore." Noah said.

I knew he wasn't going to privately train me like this forever. But it still hurt and made me sad. I liked these little 15 minutes I got with him every morning before training.

It didn't even feel like training, I felt like I was hanging out with a friend each morning... But now that's gone.

I nodded my head and forced a smile on my face. I suppose nothing lasts forever. I felt Niko retreat to the back of my head, with his head down and then curled into a ball.

I could feel he was afraid we just lost our friend. We both wondered if this meant we weren't going for a run tomorrow to the lake as we had planned. I guess I'll find out tomorrow.

I nodded my head, " I understand." I said.