I met his eyes and I wanted to tell him no but didn’t want him to think of me as a quivering pup. I knew Xander was up to something. He had everybody’s mind wiped out in the class; there’s no way there wasn’t an alternate motive behind this.
I was determined to find out what he wanted and who he was working for.
I said goodbye to Brody and went with Xander toward the nearby benches.
“I wanted to clear the air after our talk this morning. I know it seemed like I wasn’t genuine, but I was,”
he began as he sat down on the bench.
I stayed on my feet until he motioned for me to sit with him. I looked at him for a moment, hesitant, but the firmness in his eyes sent a chill down my spine and I sat down right away.
“Breaking your arm wasn’t intentional,”
he said, shaking his head. “But it also allowed me to see your weakness and where you lack restraint. You are a Volana, so you should be stronger than the others, even without the use of your wolf.”
I knew this, but he had me pinned in impossible positions, making it hard for me to move or fight back.
“I’ve heard about your combat skills and I wanted to test you to the max. I can see how I took things a little too far. However, I see great potential in you. I’d like to work with you. I think with some proper training, with someone who isn’t afraid to hold back when it counts, will do you some good.”
“Proper training?”
I asked, wanting to laugh out loud. My father had trained me my entire life in combat; I was already skilled.
I didn’t say that out loud, but from the look on his face, I knew that he knew exactly what I was thinking.
“Your true potential has been locked away,”
he said, peering down at me. “I want to unlock it.”
“So, you want to do private lessons?”
I asked, still stunned by the suggestion.
The last thing I wanted was to be alone with him, especially during combat. If Becca hadn’t stopped him after he broke my arm, who knows what else he would have broken. The thought left me feeling uneasy, so I quickly brushed it from my mind.
Then again, maybe spending a little extra time with him wouldn’t be so bad. It might be easier to figure out what exactly he wants from me. Not to mention I could find proof that he got Sarah to erase and alter memories.
“I was thinking every Monday and Wednesday,”
he went on to say. “At 6 pm. That should give you enough time to eat dinner and get to the arena.”
After a beat of silence, I finally nodded in agreement.
“Okay,”
I said, meeting his eyes. “Private training sessions it is.”
…
Enzo’s POV
Lila didn’t have to tell me something was wrong for me to know that something was wrong. I could hear it in her voice and even though I wasn’t in the radar of her to feel her emotions, I felt a tugging at my heart.
It was taking everything I had not to go down to that school and scoop Lila into my arms. Whatever problem she was facing, I wanted to face it with her.
I was in the car when I spoke to her, heading into the pack hospital to see my mother. She was doing much better than she was these last few weeks and she was being released this evening. I’m escorting her back to her territory, as much as I wish she would decide to stay with me in my pack. But I knew she wanted to get back to her kind.
“You didn’t have to come all this way to bring me home,”
she said with a faint smile as soon as I arrived at her room.
She was packing her things in a small suitcase.
I’m not allowing you to go alone,”
I said firmly. “That’s where I put my foot down.”
She gave me another faint smile and then zipped her suitcase.
“And how is our Lila?”
She asked, changing the subject and emphasizing “our.”
“She’s good. She’s at school. But I’ll have her back this weekend,”
I answered.
“Will you be bringing her by to see me anytime soon?”
I raised my brows.
“To the rogue territory?”
I asked.
“My village,”
my mother answered. “I’m sure she’d like to meet the others, and they’d probably like to meet her as well. They have heard many great things about Bastien and Selene.”
“I can bring her by,”
I agreed.
She’s right; Lila would like that.
“Good,”
she said softly. “I wanted to give you something.”
She reached inside of her bag and pulled out what looked like a light purple handkerchief. I frowned as she handed it to me.
“Open it carefully,”
she instructed.
I unwrapped the handkerchief slowly, uncovering a beautiful silver band with an extremely rare pink diamond and smaller regular diamonds on both sides.
“It was mine from a long time ago. Blaise was a lot of awful things… but he had great taste in jewelry. I kept it as a memory. A memory of a time when I was happy. A time when you were born and how much love I felt and still feel. That ring doesn’t hold bad memories to me and it was something I cherished dear to my heart.”
“It’s beautiful,”
I breathed. “But why are you giving this to me?”
A smile twinkled in her eyes.
“Because I want you to give it to Lila on the day you decide to propose to her.”
Lila’s POV
Xander was in the arena when I arrived Wednesday evening.
I watched him from the doorway, without him noticing me, as he used a sword to attack a dummy he had set up. It didn’t take long for the dummy to be a crumbled mess on the arena grounds.
Xander paused and he turned to me.
“Stand over here,”
he ordered, pointing to an unoccupied spot in the middle of the arena.
I frowned, annoyed by the order, but I did as he asked. As I walked toward the center of the arena, I couldn’t help but glance over at his belongings that were scattered across the ground in the corner.
I knew that somewhere in there was the proof I needed to get rid of Xander once and for all. But my attention was brought back to him as his body blocked my view. He was rummaging through his backpack for a second before he came across what he was looking for.
He pulled out a shaker bottle with a white liquid inside of it. It almost looked like milk.
“Drink this, ”He ordered, handing me the shaker.
“What is it?”
I asked, furrowing my brows together.
“It’s a protein shake that’ll help make you stronger,”
he answered. “I have powder mix for you and you can keep this shaker. Two tablespoons and 16 oz of water every morning.”
“Are you making everybody in class drink this?”
I asked; I couldn’t hide the confusion on my face.