The Mark of an Alpha

Chapter 27

NOT EDITED*
The sheer beauty of the sight around me darkened.

The sun did not feel pleasant against my skin; it felt blistering. Nor did the shimmering water amaze my eyes; it angered them. Memories of when Noah had taken me here last flooded my mind-memories of why he had taken me here.
The smile on his face slipped ever so slightly when he saw my reaction, his arms dropping back to their sides.

"Why would you bring me here? After everything that happened." I asked appalled. The idea of Noah forgetting what had occurred at this exact spot frightened me even more. Had he forgotten what he'd done? How much he'd hurt me?

Noah took a step towards me, reaching his arm out to touch my forearm. The tingles that shot up the area and into my heart, spreading down into my torso, over rid the feeling of disappointment.

Noah's blue eyes bored into mine, softening as he looked down at me. "Sky, I didn't just take you here to hurt you. I took you here to train you."

His words confused me more. "What does any of this have to do with training? Why couldn't we just do it at the gym?"

Noah's lip tugged at the corner, his eyes scanning the area around him with a dark, knowing glean. "Because, your first lesson is control. And you've already failed." His hand dropped from my arm, the breeze made me feel cold suddenly. I didn't understand Noah, what was he talking about? He seemed to understand my thoughts as he opened his mouth to clarify. "Everything you do: sleep, speed, feel, fight, it all requires control to work. The base of a good fighter is control. You must know when to hold yourself back from beginning a fight, and when to stop yourself from hurting someone more than you want to when in a fight. You must control the force of your punch, the weight of a body slam and the face of your emotions. They all start with control, which is why I brought you here. I know this place would arise strong emotion in you, but you didn't control it. You just let it out." Noah's stare was intense, the soft eyes he had given me moments before we gone, and in their place remained the trainer who snapped at me for walking too slow.

I swallowed. I knew I had control, more than Noah believed I did. Growing up with my uncle gave me that, I learned how to suppress my emotions, feelings, and my pain. I hadn't realized how much I'd lost my grip on that until he pointed it out moments ago.

I met his gaze. "Okay. So what are we doing today?"

His face flashed back to the man I knew momentarily, his eyes seemed to drift from my face and slide quickly down my body. I squirmed uncomfortably from such a look.

"Today, we focus on scent control. Locating someone from their scent, expanding your scent sense, even picking up on the scents of emotions: anger, fear," Noah's eyes bored into mine with a intensified darkened look,"lust."
My heart picked up at his words. Emotion was the one thing that seemed to make me weaker these days. Was Noah able to smell my fear this whole time?

"How are we going to do that?" I asked curiously.

His eyes scanned the trees around me, before returning to me with an attractive smirk playing on the corners of his lips. "Hide and seek."

Memories of long days and playful childhood hidings briefly swam into my thoughts. I smiled softly at the thought, trying to picture Noah crammed into a small space and me sniffing him out. I laughed quietly, "Hide and seek? How is this training exactly?"