Siren -Editing-

chapter five

Training was my favorite part of the day, it was held in a separate field from where the rest of the training wolves were having their drills. If it weren't for the sounds of their own training exercises we would be a shout away from having more of an audience in the vast empty space.

I adjusted the hood Father insisted I wear for training, something about learning camouflage and getting used to how the extra fabric moves as I do, as I waited for my latest exercise to finally show up.

Father had convinced our Alpha to use the trespassing rogues as my mouse in training in exchange for their freedom if they were to survive the ordeal. Most of them were little more than skin and bone, though, so I hadn't had one survive me yet.

I itched for a real fight, the one I had been promised I'd get as soon as my training progressed. But Father said needed to make it, the rogues were no good for anything but speed, and the Alpha wouldn't let me touch the warriors we had here.

Too young, he said.

The cracking of bones behind me signaled the fight had finally arrived, as the pack's young began to show up for their most recent form of entertainment.

They called me their "Siren" from the way I silently drew out my prey and the harmonic screams that sometimes followed my fights. I didn't understand their fascination with me, but I was not one to pass up the opportunity to find new ways to keep my training fun.

I turned to look at my latest prize, a tall, bony man already swaying in the breeze and littered with bruises in several stages of healing. He seemed determined, like he had something to live for, a trait I was learning to deeply admire.

His fire faltered as his eyes met my red gaze, but the spark still burned brightly. I waited a moment before moving, hoping he'd make the first move so I could play. He took a step and threw a sloppy hook in my direction, gracing me with my opportunity to draw it out.

He still didn't last long, though; he didn't have the stamina I had hoped for.
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The medics kept me there for hours as they ran me through every test they could, they drew blood enough times I thought they were trying to start a blood bank with it, sent me through x-rays for every part of my body and talked about an MRI before realizing how much metal I had in my body and had to throw out that idea.

Once Blake mentioned that I couldn't talk, it was like the whole wing zeroed in on me and were sticking cameras down my throat, talking in hushed voices all around me as they took samples from different places along my throat. I watched as they rushed around with their tests and their results, shaking in what I could only interpret as excitement as they talked to each other.

I don't miss being another's entertainment.

We were left alone for a while, a few hours at least, while they pieced together what they think is wrong with me. Blake was in and out of the link, but wouldn't tell me anything that was going on in it, even when I stared him down to try to pry it out of him.

He was content to sit in silence, occasionally pacing back and forth on the floor like he was waiting for the results of tests run on him. I eventually opted to lie back and ignore him again, deciding that whatever it was that he was talking about in the link didn't matter to me. I wasn't sure if he would tell me, even if it did matter to me.

"Well, you certainly are an interesting case, aren't you?" An older man came into the room with a head full of thin white hair and a kind air about him. He chuckled as I sat up, "I don't say that lightly, I'm sure you already know the cause of everything we tested due to the nature of the wounds we found."

"Is she cleared?" Blake stood again from one of the many chairs he sat in.

The man held up his hand, "She is, under no circumstances, cleared for anything outside of a sterile environment."

So I don't have to deal with school again? I'm medically suspended...nice.

"Anything?"

"I'm afraid so, I'm tempted to set up a clean room to ensure her healing properly. But I don't think moving her again will be a good idea." He looked back at me, "I'm going to go through each test we ran and tell you the results, are you ok with him being in the room for that?"

I paused, it would save me from having to tell him myself if my throat ever healed...But I don't know if I want him to freak out before I have had the time to be relieved by how much could be fixed. I looked to Blake, looking confident that I'll let him stay, then to the doctor, waiting patiently for my answer.

Blake was quickly ushered out once I shook my head no. I wanted my story to come from me, not a doctor retelling the results of it.

***

"Dad's coming." I looked at Jes as she walked into my room after a brooding Blake. My heart rate audibly spiked through the machine connected to my finger. "I know, I feel that way too, Lily."

"Why does your dad coming here scare you two so much?"

We looked at my mate, and his big, beautiful, empty head. Jes shook her head and sat next to my bed, taking my hand in hers. "Did he do this to you?" She stared me in the eyes, willing me to finally open up to her about the pain I had been in for years longer than she knew anything was wrong.

I nodded, slowly, almost unwilling to admit what had happened.

"How didn't I notice?" She whispered, looking me over slowly, like she was looking at me for the first time in years. "It seems so obvious now, I don't know how I didn't notice." She took her time looking at everything she could, taking care of where she touched so she wouldn't hurt me more.

I grabbed hold of her hand, squeezing it slightly to reassure her that I'd be ok and that I didn't blame her for not knowing. She didn't know on purpose, she wasn't supposed to know.

"What do you mean, your dad did this to you? On purpose?" Blake stayed on the other side of me, standing over me like a guard dog.

I nodded, more comfortable this time about giving answers. A small part of me wished I could just tell them. But it was small, and I was not interested in talking for long enough to tell the story, even if I had a clean bill of health.

But that would be a long time to wait for, and I doubted either of them would have the patience to wait that long for any answers.

I risked a glance at him; he was rigid, trying to control his reactions to the news. I was sure he was struggling to wrap his head around any parent doing something like that to their child. I couldn't do that most days, and I lived through it.

"You-you were Siren, weren't you?" Jes traced the scar on my left arm as she eyed the matching one on my right. "I thought you were just a fan, cause of the cloak, but...I don't like that." She shook her head, trying to will the thought from her head. "I don't like how much sense that makes. It shouldn't make sense. How much was he doing to you?"

I bit my lip and motioned with my hands a lot.

"Siren?" Blake looked between us. I didn't miss the recognition in his voice; I knew that stories of what I could do had stretched out beyond our territory, but I didn't know that the name stayed the same.

One nod, just one, was all he got as a reply from either of us.

~

Edited