Both Crispin and I turned when we heard the bubbly voice echo in the training room. I jumped down just in time to catch Trace launching into me and I wrapped my arms around him securely to support him on my hip."Hey, Trace. You aren't causing the guardians trouble, are you?" I teased with a light tone.Trace shook his head fervently. "No. Al is here with me.""He insisted on finding you as soon as possible." Ali sighed, running a hand through his hair.As he moved, I watched as the muscle in his arm flexed and couldn't help but be somewhat startled. He was wearing a black t-shirt so his arms were relatively bare and for some reason, I couldn't tear my eyes away. He wasn't too muscular, but his muscles were evident nonetheless. This wasn't the Ali I remembered. He hadn't been lanky back then, but he hadn't really developed any noticeable muscles back then either. He didn't attract girls with his muscle power. It had been through his charm, winning smile and natural playboy-like charac
I dug my hands through my hair and took deep breaths. I watched mutely as he took my hands gently but firmly away from my head and just held them between us. He didn't do anything. Didn't say anything. He simply held my hands and looked at me. Recognition was there in his eyes and it terrified me. Why did he recognise me? It didn't make any sense. No one knew me personally enough to be able to recognise the way I reacted and behaved now. No one except for my little family unit.So why did Drew Ozera seem to pick up so much?It just wasn't fair when I built up more defences around him than when I was with anyone else. I didn't have to be nearly as careful and cautious around others as Drew since I knew that they wouldn't be able to see the signs. Most people wouldn't see the sign even if it smacked them in the face simply because they didn't pay attention to me back then. All they knew was I was useless and pretty pathetic. I used to be rather invisible and I'd somewhat accepted that.
Thankfully, I didn't bump into anyone on the way to Rosette's office and I managed to straighten my clothes a little before entering. She was at my side in an instant before I even stepped through the door and I had a sudden sense of déjà vu. I vaguely recalled that she'd done something similar when I first saw her again on Monday."Martin has already texted me the vague outline. What happened, Kalani?" she demanded, sitting me down on the bed in front of her.Her finger found my lip and a small stab of pain coursed through me. "It's just a cut, Rosette.""It's fang made.""I'm fine.""You don't look fine, Kalani. You look confused, agitated and angry."I stared at her in surprise before giving her a wry smile. "You're reading my aura again, aren't you?""Of course I am. It's the only way to get the truth out of you. It was the same back then and it looks like that hasn't changed.""It's nothing to worry about." I tried to reassure her."Kalani, Martin found you being pressed against
"Ali, Ali, calm down!" I squealed, holding onto him as tightly as I could and trying desperately to hold my ground as he continued to walk dragging me with him.Luckily, Joe stepped in and shut the door before Ali could get out and I somehow manage to throw Ali onto the floor using some kind of Judo move I'd learnt a while back."Alster, seriously, cool it." I whispered, brushing my hands against his cheeks. "I'm fine. I'm totally fine.""That bastard is going to be shot and torn to a million pieces, little sky," he growled. "I swear it, if I see him, he's dead. If I hear that he so much as gets within six metres of you, I'm going to stake him."I shuddered at the idea of getting on Ali's bad side and remembered just how protective he used to be in the past. When Ali got seriously protective, he got violent and rather scarily so. He wouldn't just kill someone who hurt someone he cared about. He'd think of a way to make them suffer a million times worse than their offense. That was the
After dinner, I excused myself from the others and headed over to the training room to meet Christian. When I walked in, he was simply resting on his back on a pile of mats."So what happened to Eric Cooper?""Well, as you saw, he's been suspended.""He finally got caught red-handed, huh? I never really thought of him as some that bad until our conversation before.""I guess he's just the perfect example of the saying 'You can't judge a book by its cover'." I scoffed. "But with everyone who's been telling me this past week that they didn't think Eric was my cup of tea, I wonder why I haven't been paying much attention to their warnings.""Since you've brought it up, I have to admit that I've been pretty curious about that," he commented cautiously. "You seem like you like to rebel once in a while but definitely not someone who would totally ignore a good piece of advice.""You know, that's one of the things that I don't understand at all as to what's been happening this past week." I
I wasn't really sure how long we stayed like that, just hugging each other. "I need to get back to the dorms soon. I'm going to miss the curfew.""Just send Joe a message saying that you're going to get back late.""I can't just abuse my connections like that, Ali.""Sure you could. I did.""You tried." I corrected with a laugh. "And got your ass kicked by Aunty Jules every time for it.""It's so unfair that I was the one getting beaten up when you were always there with me.""I had my fair share of lectures!" I protested."Lectures are better than getting your ass kicked.""I beg to differ." I scoffed. "Seriously, though, I need to get back. I promised Martin that I'd be good.""That's a shame. I thought we'd get to sneak around the Guardians on patrol like we used to.""How about during the holidays? That way there aren't many students around and Martin would have less to worry about." I suggested."You're staying here during the holidays?" Ali sounded surprised by the idea and I pu
Understanding grew and grew in his eyes as he marched in with long paces. While the emotion was there in his eyes, his expression was firm and unreadable. I backed away as he stalked towards me until my back hit Martin's desk and I was more than surprised when Drew suddenly pulled my top up and tugged the bandages away. I should've known that he would know about the mark."I knew it…" he murmured as he stared at the mark that was placed on my hip by the alchemists all those years ago.In my shock I let out some sort of a strangled scream and pushed against his chest whilst tugging my top down at the same time. My mind was in a flurry of incomprehensible thoughts and I had no idea what to do. Millions of things ran through my mind. Thoughts like I had to run away again or knock Drew out cold or wipe out his memories somehow flashed through my mind. The thoughts were endless and Drew just made everything worse by getting down on one knee and taking my hand gently in his. I watched with
We turned away from each other so that we could get dressed. Once ready, we managed to get a few blankets together so that we could use them as shelter from the rain. Drew put the fire out and we readied ourselves before making a mad dash through the rain towards the main building for Martin's office.Luckily, we didn't bump into anyone along the way since we would've no doubt attracted a few odd stares and questions. When we burst into the office and shut the doors behind us carefully, we found Ali pacing frantically around the room and the others were all seated with heavy frowns marking their faces.Hearing us crash in, they all looked up and Ali stopped pacing. When our eyes met, he rushed towards me and pulled me into a tight hug. "Are you okay?" he murmured into my hair, holding me away from Drew."Yeah, I'm good, Alster. We're all good since Ozera's going to be a nice guy." I reassured him.Peeking over Ali's shoulder, I could see everyone stare at Drew expectantly. Rosette had