Chapter 33

Zora

The days that followed the awakening of my wolf, I felt a lot like a baby deer walking for the first time. Everything was so much more sensitive. My feet could feel every rock and pebble under them, even in my thick running shoes. Smells were so much more prominent, so much so that I gagged myself when I sniffed myself after basics.

Then, there was my new friend.

Or rather, my old friend who decided to show up more than usual. The wolf inside of me was a constant looming voice in my head. She had comments for everything and it was truly enough to drive me wild.

For example, I’d started up my training with Valentin again. He was coming at me harder than he was pre-wolf. One particular day, he threw me to the ground with such force, I struggled to breathe for a second.

Get up! Getupgetupgetup! My wolf chanted in my head.

Jesus, can you give me a second to breathe? I thought back. I felt her tail swishing in the back of my mind. I had come to learn that happened when she was impatient.

Jesus will not answer your prayers so quit laying around and GET. UP!

I huffed and blew my sweat soaked hair off of my face. I’d tried to slick it back in a braid that morning but the punches Valentin was throwing were causing tendrils to fly out and stick to my face. I pushed myself onto my elbows and glared at Valentin.

“We’ve been going at this all morning,” I groaned. “It’s Saturday. Can I at least have an hour of freedom on a day without classes?”

“No,” Valentin said. He stood in the striking stance he’d taught me and circled me. “Your wolf is still weak. We need to build up your strength and speed. It will help your body become more accustomed to her powers.”

I grunted and pushed myself up to my feet. “You both are exhausting,” I huffed under my breath.

I heard that,

Good, I scoffed. You were supposed to.

Another tail swish. You know, we’d be much stronger with a mate, she goaded.

I took my sparring stance and circled Valentin as he was doing me. My arms ached with overuse but I kept them high. I threw two punches at Valentin. He blocked them easily.

Too bad we got rejected, I threw back at my wolf. I was trying to concentrate on sparring. I blocked a high kick by Valentin then threw it right back at him. I clipped him under the jaw and he grunted.

“Good,” he said before firing back at me.

My wolf’s tail continued to swish. There certainly other people besides the Knight that can make us feel all tingly inside,

I balked at her comment. Valentin took the opportunity to sail a swift punch to my ribs. It was one that would’ve cracked me in half a week ago. But with a wolf, my bones stayed intact and my body flew across the sparring mats like a boulder.

I slammed into the padded wall of the gym with an “oof.” I flew a plethora of curse words at my wolf as I righted myself into a sitting position. She snickered before bouncing off into the back of my mind. I bushed my hand over my face again, chest heaving as I tried to catch my breath again.

A hand extended into my vision. I looked up to see Valentin standing over me. His brown hair was slick with sweat like mine. Seeing him, chest heaving and face slick with exertion did something weird to me. Half of me was proud that I’d given him enough of a fight that he had to actually put effort into throwing himself at me.

The other half was a turning of arousal, deep in the pit of my stomach. My mind began to wander to the other things we could be doing to get all hot and bothered. I took Valentin’s hand and stood up. A jolt of electricity burned down my arm and into his.

I told you, my wolf said.

I yanked my hand out of Valentin’s. He blinked at me as if he was confused. Don’t you have other things to do?

My wolf started to clean her paws leisurely. Just this until you figure out how to shift and let me run free,

Good luck, I snorted back at her. I rubbed my palms against the side of my pants. Valentin’s brow knitted together.

“Are you okay?” he said, softly. I nodded quickly. Valentin brushed his own hair off his face. He sighed then looked over his shoulder at the clock.

“It’s half past one,” he said. “The Queen has requested you call her at three. Shower off then meet me in my office.”

I nodded, still slightly afraid of what words would come out of my mouth. I brushed past Valentin and towards the locker room. I was halfway across the gym when Valentin called my name. I turned back to face him. He smiled at me softly.

“Keep up the good work,” he said.

I rolled my eyes then saluted him. “You got it, coach.”

This is the worst flirting I’ve ever seen, my wolf chimed in as Valentin laughed at me. I rolled my eyes again and started back towards the locker room.

It’s not flirting, I told her. Secretly, I kinda agreed but she didn’t need to know that she was right. Of course, she heard that and started snickering in the back of my mind.

I stripped naked in the locker room. Seeing as it was a Saturday, no one was in there. Most of the students were hanging in the campus lawn, drinking and lounging like normal wolves who deserved a break.

I was not a normal wolf and thus, breaks eluded me.

I turned the showers on to the hottest setting and let the burning water soothe my aching muscles. This was my fourth training session this week with Valentin. That was on top of Basics which I had every other day. I don’t think I truly gave my body a break since before Mateball.

I scrubbed my body with soap before I started on my tangled mass of hair. I gingerly worked it out of it’s braid before wetting it and slathering it with soap. When I was finally done, I turned the water off and felt the clouds of steam around me. I closed my eyes slowly and took a deep breath in. The silence was comforting.

It was ruined by the rattle of creaky wheels on the tile of the locker room.

My eyes flew open and I ran towards my towel. I barely grabbed it to cover myself when someone came around the corner and into the showers. They stopped short and I froze with them. As I recognized who it was, my face turned into a scowl.

“What the fuck are you doing in here?”

Maximus crossed his hands over his chest. “I could ask you the same fucking question,”