Page 65 of Escaping Wildfire

“I’ll go with you, Jas.” Jade quickly got up to go with her. She seemed nervous to let Jasmine go on her own.

“Hey guys,” I turned to the twins, “How about we watch a movie in my room before bedtime?”

“Yeah, can we get popcorn?”

“Sure, how about you guys head over there and pick something out, my laptop is on the desk. I’ll help the guys clean up here and then get the popcorn.”

“They rushed out, actually looking excited.”

Once we were alone, Jordan, Cristian, and I all looked at each other.

“So…they’re not doing too great,” Cristian said what we were all thinking.

“Not at all…Jasmine’s lost so much weight, and did you see she hardly ate?”

“Should we see if this pack has a counselor or something? Maybe that would help?” I suggested.

“Yeah, that’s actually a good idea. I’ll ask Alpha if we have any way of helping the girls through all this. I need to talk to him anyway because I was hoping I’d be able to take over their guardianship.”

Guardianship…that was a big responsibility, but I was glad Jordan was able to be there for his sisters in that way. They still had a long road to recovery, but Jordan being there for them would help.

“Yeah, that sounds good.”

We finished clearing the table, and I went down to the kitchen to get popcorn as promised before heading back up. The boys were eagerly waiting for me in the room. They had picked out some animated superhero movie, and I set down the popcorn and pickles I had brought up for them before getting settled on my bed.

They each sat on one side of me, and we enjoyed our snacks as the movie played. We put on a second movie once the first finished, and both twins ended up falling asleep halfway through. I didn’t have the heart to move them, so I left them there and slept in between them. In a regular world, we would all be complaining about space or about being too grown for sleepovers…but in this world, we drew comfort from our proximity. As I snuggled into my bed and looked at my brothers one last time before closing my eyes, I suddenly felt Cosmo relax for the first time in weeks.

29 Training

GEMA – Age 13 (Flashback)

“Gema! You’re starting training today?” Noah asked, seemingly excited to see me.

“Yes, I wanted to start up with the next group because I’ll be the youngest here, but Alpha wants me to go ahead and start now.”

Noah smiled at me, and I felt the crazy butterflies in my stomach that I always felt around him. I looked down, hoping he couldn’t tell I was blushing.

“Alpha’s right, I’m sure you’ll do great! Do you want to be my workout partner for today? I can help show you the ropes.”

“That’d be great, thanks,” I bit my bottom lip, trying to keep my cheeks from flaming up again. I had known Noah my whole life, but in the past year, I had somehow started to notice how cute he was. He’d also shot up and was now nearly a foot taller than me…not that I was all that tall to begin with as Cristian had gotten all the height in the family.

“Come on, let’s get started.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me over to one of the mats. We had held hands a few times before, but lately, every time he touched me, my brain went to mush. He was the only guy I had ever held hands with…the only guy I wanted to hold hands with, but I was sure he didn’t see me that way. I was just his school friend and his beta’s little sister.

We stretched and then got called over to the center mat after running a few laps.

“Alright guys, let’s pair up for sparring.” Annie, Noah’s mom led our training group. She was an amazing warrior, and I could only hope to be as good as she was someday.”

“Come on, let’s get started, you come at me first.” Noah got us a spot on the mats and got ready for me to take on the offensive first. I had been sparring with my dad and Cristian since I was little, so I felt comfortable with the activity…even if looking at Noah and his vibrant green eyes did make my heart beat like crazy.

I lunged at him, and he veered to the right. He was faster than I expected, but I should have known he’d be fast as he’d been doing this practically since he was in diapers. I shook off my nerves and shut myself off from his distracting eyes before lunging at him again.

This time I made contact with Noah’s shoulder, catching him off guard and twisting my body to land a hit on his stomach with my elbow. He doubled over, and I was able to swing him over my back and land him with his back flat on the mat.

He stayed down, with his eyes wide, not having expected that from me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Gamma Rodrigo walk over to us laughing.

“Alpha asked me to come check on you, with it being your first day…but I can see you’re doing great.”

Annie came up behind him, “What’s so funny?”