8. Foreign

Tyler and I met that afternoon. We exchanged numbers and agreed on tutoring sessions twice a week. Once that was done, Tyler and I headed out and began to spar playfully.

Neither he nor I were serious about this spar in particular. We were just allowing some excess energy out.

We were still at it when the smell of blood reached my nostrils. My eyes widened at once, and that moment of distraction earned me a blow. I fell to the ground unceremoniously.

“Are you okay, Jade?” He asked as he extended a hand out for me.

“I am but someone’s obviously not,” I told him, my eyes still wide as I rose to my feet in haste.

“What?” He frowned slightly.

“I smell blood,” I told him before bolting in the direction of the smell that had me so distracted.

Since I was so slender and so petite, I could be a fast runner. Tyler followed after me without hesitating but I was a few steps ahead of him.

I was the first to come across the clearing where Eli, the late gamma’s son, the same boy who had earlier taunted me and – dare I say it? – tried to bully me on my very first day at school, was hunched over in pain, and blood was smearing his lips. There were three devilish men standing nearby, looking like they could care less about what was happening, despite being no doubt the cause for it.

They focused their eyes on me and I was almost startled back by the color.

Red.

Vampires, I told myself, aghast.

I had fought rogues before but had never crossed paths with vampires. They were said to have vicious ways, and I was about to find out for myself, it seemed.

One of them smirked at me, and I readied myself for the attack. No amount of mental preparation would have enabled me to guess how quick he was. Nevertheless, I managed to dodge his blow, almost reflexively.

Tyler who had just reached the clearing growled and turned into his wolf form.

Eli shook his head negatively and told us but one hoarse word, “Run.”

That had the knack to break me out of fear. My opponent barely even allowed me the time to breathe. His attacks were relentless, calculated, somehow controlled, but no doubt destructive should they land.

“Where’s your proud alpha, huh?” One of them taunted, his emphasis on the word alpha quite strong. “Alexander Bad is his name, isn’t it?”

The airs on the back of my neck rose to attention, not quite liking the blatant disrespect to my alpha.

“He has better things to do than to take care of the likes of you,” I told him acidly.

And for the first time since I stepped into the clearing, I managed to land a blow on my opponent, almost as if proving my point.

“Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with, little girl?” The man I had been fighting popped his dislocated shoulder back into place without allowing a sound out.

“I’m no little girl,” I told him haughtily as I stood my ground, and looked at him with challenging eyes. “The name’s Jade Falls.”

“Foolish,” he muttered mockingly.

“Indeed, you are,” a voice almost unrecognizable with bloodlust reached us before we even saw the alpha.

Tyler must have been distracted by his arrival for he took a harsh blow that sent him flying back, right into the trunk of a tree.

I felt ire like never before. The first peer who had acknowledged me properly, and welcomed me into the pack, laid on the grass, naked, hurting, and grunting.

I felt compelled to go to him, and thus completely dismissed my opponent, allowing my alpha to take care of the matter. I rushed to Tyler’s side, and unbothered by his state of undress, I touched his shoulder once I crouched down.

My heart felt for him, and I could almost picture the broken bones and the punctured flesh.

I then touched his abdomen and he grunted even louder. He opened his eyes and looked at me in wonder.

I looked down at him and saw that my hands had a green-ish aura to them.

Oh how I wished I knew what was happening. Oh how I wished I could stop whatever it was too.

But I was in a trance, too far gone to stop.

Tyler had stopped grunting after a moment, and I retracted my hands, almost as if the very touch burnt.

I looked up and saw the shock written on my alpha’s face.

I too was shocked. This exhilarating feeling of power was so foreign, it made me tremble.

A fallen vampire rose to his feet again, and I pointed at him in worry, saw the alpha take care of him deftly and promptly… and then, everything went black before my eyes.

.. .. .. .. ..

Soon enough, I came to, and found myself in the alpha’s arms.

He was carrying me, bridal style, with utmost care, almost as if he was afraid to break little fragile me.

He looked down at me and smiled, “Glad to have you back among us, Jade.”

I tried hard to keep the blush from my face as I said in a feeble protest, “I can walk.”

“I’m not sure you can. You fainted back there.”

“I’m sorry?” I let out a sigh as memories rushed back to me.

“Don’t be,” he told me in a tone so caring, I could have melted.

Be still, my heart, I told myself.

“What happened?” I then asked in a perplexed tone.

“You saved me,” Tyler said from where he walked a few steps behind the alpha.

“You’re healed, Tyler!” I almost shrieked as I made to sit up straighter.

“No shit sherlock,” he chuckled.

“Stop moving around, Jade, lest you want me to drop you,” the alpha’s hold on me grew slightly tighter.

“I can walk,” I told him sheepishly again.

“Says the girl who fainted,” Eli let out in a tone that was hard to decipher.

“I’m not sure whether you’re worried about me or angry at me,” I let out pensively.

He blushed and averted his face, whereas the alpha chuckled and said, “Probably both.”

A few more strides, and I asked the question that burnt my lips, while looking at the alpha as if he held all the answers, “What am I?”

“A born healer,” the alpha said without preamble, his voice soft, his eyes hard.