To Claim A Crown Book One: The Half-Blood King (Complete)

33.

The first week had flown by in record time. The four had fallen into a comfortable routine. They would have breakfast together and Jackson would spend the morning with the Alpha learning as much as possible, Raurlin trained with the young wolves and often spared with Naomi. Sarah would spend the morning working through spells with Dezra.

They had lunch together and often spent the afternoon regrouped planning the way forward once they returned home. There was no definitive plan but they all knew it was a reality they would be faced with soon.

Sarah and Jackson had fallen into a comfortable routine that only they knew about. With each day they grew closer and closer. Naomi and Raurlin had also fallen into a routine but often Naomi found herself increasingly annoyed with her aeturnum.

Raurlin had started showing signs of extreme jealousy during their sparring sessions. If another wolf even so much as looked at Naomi he damn near growled at them. Naomi chalked it up to the drastic change in emotion that comes with awakening his wolf side.

Today is Monday. Raurlin is two days away from undergoing the awakening. The air is different, there is an almost tangible tension around the breakfast table. Naomi pokes at her scrambled eggs with her fork, her stomach in knots.

"You going to eat this, doll?"

"Have at it."

Naomi slides her plate to Raurlin and watches on for a few moments as she shovels food into his mouth. Naomi stands up and walks outside and Raurlin hasn't even noticed that she's left.

She does some stretches and starts a slow jog around the perimeter. Sarah and Jackson were not at the breakfast table and Naomi assumed they were doing something together. She runs along the perimeter of the nature reserve.

The air is crisp and cold and Naomi's nose feels wet with the change in season. Armon told her that they often had snow in the winter and it was only a matter of time before the snow fell.

Naomi's jogging slows to a walk as she hears almost shouting in the distance. She walks closer into the forest and eases gently around a bend. Sarah is standing in front of a large pine tree. She kicks the tree muttering "stupid tree" on a loop.

"Sarah? What the hell are you doing?"

"Naomi! You scared me! What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm out on a run. Why are you attacking the tree?"

Sarah huffs and crosses her arms. She slumps against the tree and slides down until she's sitting. Naomi sits down in front of her.

"Look, I just needed to get away from everyone for a bit. The air has just become so tense I can't stand being around everyone like that."

"I know right. And it's so annoying because it's like Raurlin is so oblivious to the change and even the change in his behaviour."

"Him and Jackson both."

"Jackson's also behaving like an asshole?"

"No things are actually really good but it's almost as if he's oblivious to everything that I'm trying to tell him. It's so annoying."

Naomi pushes herself up and dusts the mud off her hands. Sarah holds her hands out and Naomi pulls her to her feet.

"I was trying to work on a small defensive spell. Done right I should be able to at least put a dent in the tree but I feel like my magick is blocked up."

"You're emotional right now, that's probably why. Hey I have an idea why don't you do some sparring with me today? It'll be a great way to work out that excess anger."