Bumblebee x OC [Books 1 - 6] (Old Series)

6 | 01 [ROSE]

"Get up!" For the fourth time today, Axel was shouting at me. There was an ungodly amount of bruises littering my body, and I had to spit out the blood gathering my mouth before I could force myself to stand.

It had been barely a month since I'd woken from my coma, and the training from Axel was brutal. So far, I'd learned a set of rules. He'd never verbalised them. It was just drilled into my head from all the punishments I'd received.

Rule No.1: Never show fear.

Rule No.2: Never talk back.

Rule No.3: Always aim to kill.

Axel wasn't the most patient teacher. He didn't have time for weakness, or emotions, not even pain. If I flinched, he hit harder. If I cried out, he aimed for the weak spots. I learned quickly how to survive training against him.

Becoming like a machine was hard. Every night I went home with Cade and he'd patch me up, let me cry on his shoulder. He never asked me what we did, or how it went. He just helped me move on. Night after night.

I don't know what I'd do without him.

"Focus!" The angry voice of Axel snapped me from my daydreams, and I was left to stagger slightly, my head pounding. "You can't get distracted in the field, otherwise you're dead."

Shooting him a glare, I circled him like a predator stalking its prey. I had to go hard during training, otherwise, I'd be injured worse than usual.

I'd spent the entire day with Gideon, and the one time I asked about taking a break, a single backhand warned me not to ask again. The gentle sting reminded me of it repeatedly.

Axel darted forward, taking me by surprise. The hard gravel surface we were practising on made it hard to avoid the punch since my shoes refused to grip as I'd like them to. Instead, I opted to brace with my forearms and take the oncoming hit.

Axel anticipated the movement, instead bringing his knee up to smash into my left side. The velocity of his movement had me crumpling to the ground, pangs of pain blossoming in my ribs. Several of them were definitely broken.

"Idiot," Axel hissed, unimpressed as I cowered beneath him. "You should have moved away instead of trying to block!" As I held my ribs, Axel kicked me again and again. Blood started to pour from my nostrils, the acrid scent reminding me all too much of the last time I'd been bleeding.

"ENOUGH!" Stopping mid-swing, Axel's head snapped to whoever had shouted out. Cade was standing beside his Mustang, a small dust cloud forming from the tire tracks dug into the gravel. He'd finally finished with his patrol for the day.

Axel huffed as he backed off, briefly kicking gravel my way. Hot tears had begun to roll down my cheeks, mixing with the blood covering my chin. "Baby,"

Cade was gentle as he helped me up from the ground. "What hurts?" Leaning heavily on his form, a soft whimper left my lips. "Everything." His hands found my waist, keeping me balanced as he glared at Axel over my shoulder.

"I told you to train her, not beat her up!" With a quick kiss pressed to my temple, Cade helped me towards his Mustang. Axel was left to clean up the training area as I was placed in the passenger's seat of Cade's Mustang.

It started up within seconds of Cade getting in, the brief shake making my ribs feel worse. Every part of me felt bruised, and I wanted nothing more than for it to end. I hated the training. Being a killer, I just couldn't see myself doing it.

Kicking up another dust cloud, Cade headed for the highway home, his Mustang roaring along the open stretch of asphalt. "Fucking asshole," Cade gripped the steering wheel as I curled up in my seat, trying my best to keep the bruised parts of me off the leather surface.