Eclipse

13.

Reborn

The following weeks caught me off guard, because apparently 'eating like a pig', in Kieran's words, wasn't enough. Emory forced me under a training regimen of sorts of long hours on a treadmill and lifting weights. The first days were the worst, despite being the ones when I indulged myself the most. My body was so frail and weak that I could barely lift the lightest barbell, but Emory was forever persistent, annoyingly relentless.

"You can do this," or "How much do you care about being a Lupi?", he'd always play the role of the provocative bastard who'd make me want to drop the precariously held weights to strangle him.

Kieran didn't return to visit me once he'd dropped with the suitcase that I'd filled with clothes, leaving me with Emory. People occasionally visited the place whilst shooting me looks of suspicion, but a short conversation with Emory always cleared their expressions and sent them away, ignoring me as they went about their business.

And so, the weeks passed, each and every one the same.

⤜◯⤛

Beads of sweat formed on my forehead as I struggled to push the barbell above my head, trying my best to ignore Emory's words that acted as a naked flame exposed to fuel.

"I thought after all of this you'd be stronger than this, come on, Megan! It's been long enough, and you aren't that skeleton anymore, so you're fresh out of excuses! You're a Lupi, for God's sake, so lift it!"

"I... trying!" I managed to hiss through gritted teeth, desperately trying to push the weights from its niche above me.

"Then try fucking harder then!"

A sudden bolt of rage surged through my body, and within seconds, I found a hundred pounds of metal and immense weight hovering shakily above my head.

"Hold.. hold... hold... drop!"

My arms instantly buckled, and then he was holding onto the barbell like it was far lighter. Perhaps it was, for him at least. I lay gasping on the bench, trying to cram as much oxygen as possible into my lungs.

"Get up," Emory said brusquely, turning away to replace the barbell.

"I can't," I wheezed through my laboured wheezing.

Emory paused for a moment before saying, "Fine. I guess you don't really need any water, then."

"What?"

Despite the smouldering fire crawling in my skin, I managed to sit up in alarm and anger.

"What the fuck did you just say?" I snarled, lunging at him with fury, only to be batted away with a roll of his eyes.

"Control your emotions," he said after flipping me easily over his shoulder so my face was pressed against the cold basement floor, his boot pressed lightly against the small of my back. "One slip up and you're a goner."

I shut my eyes and breathed in a lungful of dust before rolling away from Emory's boot and stood u, snatching the bottle of water from his hands. "So what's next?"

Emory grinned. "We've agreed to drop you off at Fallen in two weeks' time. In the meantime, you're going to get your new identity into place.

"New identity?" I asked after a long swig of water.

Emory raised his eyebrow at me. "You really thing we'd let you, rogue daughter of an Alpha, into the club as a spy. Yeah, that would be a disaster that would end up with you dead. No, you'll be Jessica Shaw. We'll go into detail once you've cooled down. Maybe tonight."