Page 67 of Escaping Wildfire

“Please, why would I be scared of a cheater? If you had any real skill, you wouldn’t feel the need to cheat.”

‘That’s right, you tell her…now let me at this bitch.’ I felt Amora rise up in anger.

‘Don’t worry, Amora, I’ve got this.’ I took back over and signaled for the girl to attack first.

She surged forward at my gesture, and I moved to the left before she could make contact. I then kicked her in the back, letting her momentum push her forward and onto the ground. She glared daggers my way, and just as she was getting up, the trainers announced that time was up for our session.

I turned to walk to where I’d left my bag and water, but as I went, I felt a strong shove on my shoulder from where the girl hit me as she walked past me. I wasn’t sure what her problem was. As far as she knew, I was going to be her future Luna, and she had absolutely no respect for me. Maybe she had a secret crush on Larkin and was just jealous. Either way, I decided to keep my distance from her for all future classes. I was there to learn, not to have to deal with her petty behavior.

“I’m sorry about Scarlett.” The other sister from the car showed up beside me and spoke up.

“She doesn’t really like new people, and she can be a bit rough around the edges.”

“I can see that.” I paused, taking a drink from my water. “Is Scarlett your sister?”

“Yeah, she’s my older sister. I’m Hadley, by the way…we sort of met before…” She trailed off looking embarrassed about where we knew each other from.

“I remember…you were nicer than the other guards.”

She nodded and looked down at her hands, as she fumbled with her bag. “You were really good out there. Were you a warrior in your last pack?”

“Not yet, I didn’t have my wolf until a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been training since I was a kid, though.”

“That explains it then. Scarlett and I have been training forever, too. Our parents were warriors, but they’re retired now.” I was a little confused as to why she was being so friendly, but I just nodded at what she said. If she wanted to be nice to me, who was I to stop her?

She stood eagerly beside me seeming to want to say more but looking like she didn’t know where to start.

“Maybe we can be partners in the next class, instead of you and Scarlett?”

“Umm…yeah, sure.” I was a little confused about why she would like that, but I’m sure she had to be a better pick than her sister.

“Hadley, let’s go.” Scarlett came up to her, not looking happy that she was talking to me.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then.” She gave me a small wave as she took off with her scowling sister.

I made my way back into the pack house but was stopped as Alpha Marek walked my way.

“Gema, just who I was looking for. We’ve managed to reschedule everything for the wedding, which works out wonderfully. Looks like you and Larkin will be getting marked and married on a Blue Moon. Blue Moons are lucky, you know. We’ll announce the date change to the pack at the full moon run tomorrow. One month left until the big day.” He smiled his creepy fake smile before leaving. One month…that left us with just one more month to figure out how to get me out of here.

30 Friends

GEMA

I had settled into my new routine after a few days. Training in the morning, the pup class in the afternoon, and then I’d have dinner with Larkin and Rory. Larkin hadn’t been himself since Nora left, but that was understandable as he missed her. Rory had finally healed up completely but hadn’t fully moved back into her room. I think she was scared to be on her own, but I didn’t mind her presence as it made me feel less alone.

Hadley had proven a much better training partner than her sister. She was a good fighter, and she was usually smiling and happy during training, which made training more fun than before. We were pretty evenly matched which provided a bit of a challenge for me, but Noah would always be my favorite training partner.

I had taken to having lunch in the dining hall as I wanted to get to know the warriors better, and I also wanted them to see I wasn’t actually crazy like they’d seen when I had my little spat with Jasmine.

Jasmine…I missed her. Even with our age difference, she’d been my best friend since we were in diapers, and it broke my heart to see her hurting. My brother said they were getting Jasmine help and that she had been eating more now than when she first got there. I kept asking the Moon Goddess to help her, and I hoped the Goddess was doing more than just listening to my prayers wherever she was.

“Hey, can I sit with you?” Hadley walked over to my table with her tray of food. She had been friendlier than her sister, so I scooted over to let her sit.

“Thanks, Scarlett’s helping one of her friends with something, so I decided to just have lunch here instead of at home.”

“You two live together?”

“Yes, but really, we both still live with our parents.”