Steel: The Transformation

Chapter 39

Chapter 39

Cleo POV

His fist swung towards my head and I ducked quickly, in my crouched position I made a split second decision and swept my foot across his two. He lost his balance for a second, by the time he had regained his composure I had run towards the tree next to him, pushing my feet against the stem of it and propelled forward crashing in to him. Our bodles tangled into a fall and my hands instinctively found their way into a hard grip against his neck.

"Sorry," I breathed and quickly released my grip. I pushing myself backwards, away from him.

His brown eyes studied me for a second as he pulled himself up to a sitting position.

"Don't be," he said quietly. Something intense vibrated in the air between us. "You should trust your instincts more, if I had been a Hunter you would only have had to squeeze that grip hard for a moment."

I shuddered at the implication of what he was saying. I didn't want to think about that.

"I know it's uncomfortable," he said and stood up, brushing some of the soil of his running trousers.

"I just don't like to think about it," I replied.

Alec stretched a hand out to help me up. I grabbed his hand and as he pulled me up with some force, my body was pulling in towards his. A small distance of forest air separated his face from mine. 

He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes, "I know you don't want to think about the consequences of these techniques. But you have to learn them and you have to trust your instincts, they are only trying to keep you alive."

I nodded and took a short jagged breath, the intensity of his eyes made me want to ask him how many times he had had to use those techniques. But it didn't seem like the right time to ask such a question.

"Come on, let's head back," Alec's words broke the temporary spell that I had been under.

"Sure," my voice came out more shakily than what I could have expected.

"I bet you can't catch me," he teased and headed off in a quick run.

"I thought you had learned not to make such bets," I muttered underneath my breath before setting off behind him.

The woods passed us by in a quick blur as we speed through them, heading back towards our houses. I threw myself into the running and quickly overtook Alec. I focused on how my body pushed forward with speed and strength, emptying my mind of all my concerns. Forgetting about the Hunters and the mark, the fact that something had made unshakable Rose scared, Jackson and his pack. I jumped across a log and sprinted flat out letting all of my thoughts settle in the dust behind me.

I ran into the back garden of my house and turned the corner heading for the front porch. I leant up against the railing of the porch stretching out my legs. Alec was pulling his arm across his chest in a stretch of his own. He shot me a warm look, "Good run?"

"Yeah it was good."

"You're doing good with the hand to hand combat."

"Thanks," I said hesitantly.

"I was thinking about last night," Alec started softly.

"Yes?" I looked up at his face, from his expression I could tell that he was choosing his words carefully.

"I know you've know Tim for quite a while. I can only say that right now I don't trust him."

He didn't add 'yet' but I could tell that he was trying to mitigate what he said last night.