Genetics

Chapter 9

"Again!" Cole ordered Caleb and me.

For the past few weeks Caleb and I had been practicing nonstop. We had little time for anything else. We would eat breakfast about four in the morning and then Caleb would accompany Mark and I to the forest. Mark had us practicing how to fight each other without our swords for four hours and very few breaks to rest and recuperate.

Then we had to run around the perimeter of the property until we had gone two miles in our human forms. Mark would chase us in his tiger form to give us an incentive to run faster whenever he saw us lagging. My limp had become less and less noticeable to the point where I really didn't need my cane anymore.

Afterwards, he would give us a few minutes to rest before giving us our swords. Mark had us duel each other. We did that for four hours before we were able to return to the house. By that time, we were exhausted and hungry.

Mark passed us off to Cole who allowed us to eat lunch before ushering us into a ballroom. I didn't even know there was a ballroom here until the first day we began this routine. Cole would have us following Izadora and his lead to teach us how to dance properly in a ball. Mark would watch every now and then, but every time he looked like he was looking past us and into his thoughts.

"Don't space out. If you space out in the middle of a dance in a crowded ballroom, you're bound to get in the way of vampires and it could lead to you getting knocked into or worse, injured. Caleb and you can't risk any injuries unless you want to be found out." Cole called out to me.

Caleb was standing in front of me and was holding his hand out to me with an apologetic look on his face. I was sitting on the ground and upon Cole calling out to me, I grabbed Caleb's hand. Caleb pulled me back up with ease and continued to hold onto my hand as he moved his other hand to my back. I moved my free hand up onto his shoulder and we began to dance again.

"Just wait. Tonight, we don't have to worry about those werewolf classes they were giving us, and we can pack up. Then we can rest in the car while we make our way to the cruise ship." Caleb whispered as we danced.

"I can't wait for all of this to be over. These contacts are frustrating to handle." I whispered back.

Caleb chuckled as we danced, resulting in me chuckling as well. I swear that the last few weeks have made our friendship close enough to the point we could tell what the other was thinking just by watching their facial features. Caleb was right though. Normally we had classes on werewolf etiquette, the way the werewolves who weren't betas or alphas treated their betas and alphas, and the amount of territory the Lunar Pack had to defend from other packs.

It was those classes that I learned how awful it was for anyone not born a Beta or Alpha. It was grueling to have to defend so much territory and be third to eat or even last where all you got were scraps of what everyone else didn't want. Cole and Chiron had explained to us that we would be treated as normal members of the pack since the vampires knew the Betas and Alphas of the Lunar Pack due to prior dealings with the pack.

After those classes, Mark pulled me aside, having me work on my control over magic while everyone else ate dinner. Mark and I would return to find Caleb had saved us plates. We would reheat them and eat them. From there, I would make my way to my bedroom where I would sit down with notes on everything for the classes I had learned to review them. By day four, Caleb would come into my room, and we'd review the classwork together, but due to the exhaustion, we only spent half an hour focused on the notes before having to go to bed.

Tonight, we wouldn't have to worry about the class or the notes, but I knew Mark would want me to still practice my control over my magic. It was something I absolutely needed to work on if I was to learn how to do magic that would be able to defend me that wouldn't be such a risk to my life.