Feral Born (Viciously Yours #1)

Chapter Eleven: I Spoke. Obey.

"Faster." I critiqued the closest pair as I leisurely walked through the sparing trainees.

The large clearing behind the pack house was filled up with close to thirty warriors and trackers in training. Orders were yelled over the rows of sparring pairs by Candice and Marcus with Jasper standing nearby. One male probably being a lot more helpful than the other.

Taking my cue, the girl started swinging rapidly at her male partner who quickly matched her pace. Moving on, I nodded and hummed my approval at the pairs who didn't seem to need my help. Hitting the end of the row, I turned and made my way back up the next one. Grunts and huffs of frustrations were all that could be heard from the pairs whenever someone's hit connected.

Lost in the methodical atmosphere of the training session, I thought back to last night. For now, Ryan seemed to be on my side, a side he didn't know existed yet, and that warmed something inside me. It might have been the admittedly amazing ribs or the conversation that flowed surprisingly easily between us but I was finding it unnecessary to be so stand offish. I could afford to allow him to slither into my personal life a little more and with his insistence on having dinner again, I'd probably have to put my words into action sooner rather than later.

Becoming uncomfortable with my increasingly human emotions, I turned my focus back to the trainees. Scanning over them, I watched the enthusiastic young adults and teens push themselves to their limits. The constant suspicion I carried with me since the newest note, lifted ever so slightly being in my comfort zone. There were a few pack members that I was keeping an eye on, older shifters who had made their dislike of me known throughout the years. Which made my biggest concern about them learning what the shooter had said a couple of days ago but with the crowd that was there they'd find out soon. I could only hope for a few more days of calmness within the pack.

"Kai!"

At the shout, I looked in it's direction to find Candice jogging through the lines of sparring partners to get to me. Raising a brow as she dodged a wild limb to stop beside me, I said, "You know, everyone seems to forget you don't need to yell for my attention."

Her blue eyes sparkled, "Not me. I just like yelling."

Figuring she was going to finish asking for that favor she wanted, I restarted walking through the lines to check the trainees forms. Candice's heartbeat picked up a little bit as we walked in silence, which to be honest was really amusing. She was working herself up into a nervous fever while figuring out how to ask me.

To speed up the process, I told her,"Just spit it out."

Candice let out a grunt before saying, "Look, I hate ask because I don't like to owe anyone anything but-"

An unbelievably sweet and savory smell filled the air around us, "No, your not."

"What?"

"You're lying. You don't hate to ask me." While I talked, I nodded in approval to a little boy who was mimicking the others from the side lines. His little face lit up before growing more determined.

"Lying? Why do you say that?"

I turned my head to look at her, "Most people don't realize they are when it comes to exaggeration but I can smell it."

"Okay, that I completely forgot about but I have to know. What does a lie smell like?"

Uninterested, I muttered, "Something too delicious to be real. Now what's this favor you want?"

"Makes sense." Clearing her throat, she added, "As you may or may not know-"

"The short version." I demanded. I might secretly not mind the way Ryan babbled anymore but that didn't extend to others.