Never Run

039 ::: Never Wait

Hi everyone. This story has this chapter and then the next with possibly a very very small epilogue and then that's it. 

Enjoy! :)

I was losing.

"Come on, Rizzo," Cal huffed from above me. His eyes stared down into mine as we both tried to catch our breath.

It had been a couple months since I started training with the rebels and each time there was some type of situation that pulled Xaler away from whatever it was that we were doing. Even when I was around him, I trained the moves in my mind, trying to feel my body going through the motions of what an actual fight would be like.

Tonight, we were having dinner with my family. Dinner with my family went well until Xaler was called away. Nothing happened afterward but the emergency that pulled him away from the dinner was actually perpetrated by the rebel group as a farce to get me away from Xaler.

Or better yet, to get Xaler away from the house, from the humans, to give me a chance to get out to come and train more with the rebels.

It's what I was currently doing and I was losing against Cal as we practiced hand-to-hand combat. Normally, I was on top of my game, but I was too slow today and kept missing some pretty rookie moves.

"You may be their Luna, but they won't hesitate to protect Xaler over you," Cal began as he stuck his hand out for me to take. He hauled me up and placed his hand on my shoulder, making sure I was looking at him. "You need to be more aware. You need to be ready."

My eyebrows dipped in annoyance, "I've been trying, Cal," I responded in a huff. What did he think I was doing? Sitting around with my thumb up my ass? I wanted just as much as he did to change things and to be free once again; he wasn't the only one to lose things after the takeover.

We were all hungry. We were all scared. We were all fed up with the way life had become for the humans.

"I know, but-"

"No, Cal," I knocked his hand off my shoulder and turned away from him. I swiped my water bottle from the ground and left the wide-open gym. I found a spot underneath a tree and gazed off into the night.

How dare he?

Out of everyone in my life, I thought Cal would know how much I am trying. Just because I had the unfortunate fate of being mated to the king of wolves didn't mean that I had to do everything.

Granted, I knew I wasn't doing everything, but not only did I have to learn to fight, I had to prepare for essential war, but I was responsible for seducing Xaler, which I was successful in doing to get the mating ceremony on its way, and make sure my family was safe-everything felt like it was piling up with no real direction of what to do.

"I didn't mean to upset you Rizz, I just can't handle the thought of anything happening to you because you were caught off guard-"

"I'm trying, Cal. It's hard," I expressed.

"I know-"

"No, you don't, Cal, you don't," I cut him off. "I am trying and it is so damn difficult." I fretted, shoving the palms of my hands into my hands to ward off the oncoming tears that wanted to trail down my face. I let the tears burn in my eyes before looking up at Cal's face.

His face was soft, concerned, like looking at a defenseless animal that was frightened to its soul. "Then tell me," he breathed, sitting next to me, his own breath slowing down from the practice.

I had gotten good over the last couple of months, and I felt as ready as I would ever be. Our time in the human village was drawing to an end and soon I would be walking down to a platform where Xaler would be waiting to mark and claim me, snapping this godforsaken bond fully into place. While I still wouldn't be able to feel it, I knew it would make Xaler go feral.