Rogues

Chapter XIV

- Nathan -

- Concentrate, breathe... – Caleb's calm voice guided me through the exercise. – Don't think about it too much. – he added.

I try focusing more on my hand and the small cut on the palm. Werewolves heal faster than humans, or so that's what I've been told. Up till now, I've never really had any severe injuries. Even when playing football things never escalated to that degree, so I've never needed to heal. I've seen others do it, though. My dad tells me healing is probably the most important skill a wolf has, and I must learn it. Jeremiah tried teaching me the basics, but, as usual, to no success. So, I asked Caleb for a little hand. We've been working on this technique for a while now and I still can't get the hang of it yet. I gruff, frustrated with myself.

- Hey... calm down. Otherwise, it won't work. – he spoke firmly.

- How am I supposed to calm down when we've been at this for hours and I still can't get it. – I exaggerated. He simply stared at me, waiting for my tantrum to finish. – Sorry... -

- It's okay. – he limited his response. – Let's try again. -

- No, I think I've had enough for today. Besides, we still haven't finished working on the project. – I spoke tiredly.

We took a break from the project to work on my werewolf skills before Nadia and the others got out of their extracurriculars. It was supposed to be a 30-minute break, but before I knew it an hour had passed by.

- We can finish it later this week. The next advance isn't due till next Monday. – he reminded me. He's right, we still have an entire week to work on it. – Come on... -

I take a breath of air and exhale to calm myself down and start again. I stretch some more just to relax all my muscles. I look down at my palm. I can see the small wound already starting to heal itself from the amount of time we've been at this, not because I've managed to heal voluntarily. It's no longer bleeding, so I cut myself with some scissors. It doesn't hurt much, though. I focus on the injury. I close my eyes and try to picture it through my other senses. I can smell the blood coagulating and feel the small sting it causes.

- Use your other senses to feel the wound. It's small. Let your body tell you what's wrong. – Caleb told me. – Now focus on that feeling. –

So, I tried, I tried, but nothing happened. When I opened my eyes, the wound is still there. I sighed frustrated. Why can't I get this?!

- I suck at this. – I threw outload.

- You can do this, you almost have it. – he tried motivating me, but I'd had enough.

- I'm sorry Cal, but I don't think this is coming out today. – I said a little demoralized.

- Maybe you just need a break. – he said.

- Yeah, maybe... - I agreed and took a deep breath. – Isn't pain supposed to help in this? Jeremiah said that pain triggers healing or something. – I recall my previous lesson with the older wolf.

He looked at me incredulously. He stretched over and grabbed my hand. He turned it around just to stare at it some more. Then he started pressing on the wound deeply. The pain started flooding through my hand, every second increasing even more. I tried removing the hand, but he only applied more pressure creating an even more throbbing pain. I gruff, but my hand is trapped in his firm grip.

- Oh sorry, did I forget to mention it? – he said rather harshly before letting go of my hand. I shake my hand, trying to ease the pain. – Pain is one way to start the healing process. What I'm trying to teach you is the right way. – he added.