Trials of the Bitten

Part 29

Martin was exhausted after training. The others had been kind but it didn't stop the fact he couldn't quite keep up with them. Virgil had spent the entire day switching between strict instructor and kind mentor. He had appeared often when Martin was lagging to give him some support or encouragement. A warm hand on his back as he panted for breath, a tussle of his hair as he adjusted Martin's stance, Virgil was the same with everyone. Even those who he hadn't planned on training. Stein collapsed next to him, curling against him smelling fresh from the shower.

"Hard day," Stein yawned, stretching out slightly before snuggling on the sofa against Martin again. Martin knew it had to have been difficult if even Stein was tired. That was slightly reassuring.  "You did well," he smiled sleepily at Martin.

"I have a lot of work to do," Martin smiled back sheepishly. "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to walk tomorrow." Stein just laughed, slinging an arm over Martin's waist and humming contently. Martin could almost see a tali wagging slowly in contentment. All was well in Stein's world at the moment.

"You did a great job for your first day," Leon backed up, sitting heavily next to them on the ground with Andy sitting down next to him. "You haven't had training before so the first few weeks are always going to be a little tough but Virgil goes a lot easier on all of you compared to my brother," he chuckled, missing how Andy flinched at the mention of the man. Martin dimly wondered what became of the man. Leon seemed unconcerned about his fate though. "You can still walk at the moment," he beamed, his teeth distinctly more canine in that moment. "Gem would have had you training until you collapsed out of exhaustion. He'd carry you back here, but you wouldn't be walking."

Martin pulled a face not liking the sound of that. Leon only laughed more.

"Yes, well. Not every family insists on the old ways," Nick scoffed as he walked in the room carrying a collection of snacks stolen from the kitchen. He dumped them on the ground before stealing the last chair in the room. "Our family does well without having to retort to extreme training methods," he added, "Just look how well Andy did today."

"He did well enough," Leon smiled, fondly at his love.

"What do you mean by that?" Nick asked darkly, clearly not liking the insinuation.

"Well, Andy used to be pretty useless before but now he's not. Just needs to fill out more and he'll look like a normal wolf," Leon chuckled, kissing Andy's cheek.

Martin winced. Andy was already wearing his mask. The one he used to hide when comments like that affected him. Leon had no clue what was wrong with saying that and it showed in his body language. Everything from his eyes to how he had their bodies pressed together in a familiar way screamed of his devotion to Andy. Just a shame if they couldn't get him to curb his comments, it was going to do a lot of harm. The adults often interfered but they were elsewhere at the moment which meant...

"Andy has never been useless," Nick growled, standing up and shifting his stance threateningly. Stein shifted from his content state exhaling unhappily. This was not an uncommon occurrence in the household. Leon said something accidentally insulting about Andy and Nick jumped to Andy's defence. Only unlike the adults, Nick didn't reason with Leon, he just fought with him.