I couldn't breathe.

I felt like I had to, I could tell my brain had shut down and my heart was beating so fast I felt like it would be a good time to take a breath now. But I couldn't.

I wasn't uncomfortable around him. But my body and emotions did go into overdrive.

I took a step back, and only then did I take a breath. I couldn't look at him again because I knew now, it was a trap.

I turned away from him and walked a few steps to put a little more distance between us. I needed to calm my heart a little. It didn't take much to excite it.

"Let's go. It's getting dark," he said, and walked past me around the side of the cottage. I quietly followed him.

We didn't say a word the entire way to the back of my home. I couldn't make much of the conversation we had at the cottage, or what he was meaning to do by asking me to come.

When I reached my door, and he started to walk away, I didn't think I'd ever get a chance like this to speak to him again.

"Is this a truce?" I asked him, after mustering up some courage.

"I don't know. Is it?" he replied, with a cocky smirk, walking away.

And just like that, I couldn't stand him again.

...

It had been a few days since my birthday, and as unceremonious as it was, I think it was one of my better ones.

And although I owed it mostly to Gramma and my friends, a bigger part of me skipped a beat thinking about Valente.

"He is kinda hot," said Imadis.

"He's not our mate Ima stop it," I scolded her.

"He could be," she replied back.

I sighed. I knew I didn't want to catch any feelings for someone who may not be my mate. And I won't find out who that is at least till I'm eighteen.

So till then, I need to keep myself clear on that front.

The past few days were pretty dry, from the classes to the lunches to the walking back home. Eidis had been avoiding me, either she took the hint or is planning to 'do better next time'. Either way, to that I'd say 'bring it on'.

All was the usual except for the staring game we played.

Valente had been a little more discrete about his staring, not that he had stopped completely. But I could tell he'd sneak a look thinking I wouldn't catch him, and then immediately look away, pinching his nose as if concentrating on what the person in front of him had to say.

Instead of staring, he'd started mindlinking me about the most random things.

"The spaghetti here is horrible. I should do something about that."

"I hate history."

"When I'm Alpha, half these teachers will be in the dungeons."

"This color suits you."

"If you sit next to that Mordekai guy again, I'm banning him from the cafeteria."

At that, I looked up at his table to find him looking at his plate. Even though he wasn't looking at me, his ever so slight shrug said he was talking to me.

I found his behavior towards me slowly changing from the cold, indifferent guy to a more in-your-face-but-in-a-subtle-way kinda guy. There was no other way to describe it.

Hopefully, things would get a little more exciting from today on, now that we were starting our basic training.

A little after lunch, I caught up with Dilja, Irmelin, and Glo, heading towards the modest locker rooms. Glo and Irmelin weren't all too keen on training, and although the pack doesn't mandate anybody to be a warrior, basic training at fifteen was imperative.

Almost everyone else in the locker room seemed just as annoyed at the sound of training, and Dilja and I were the exact opposite.

Of course, I'd been training with Gramma for years now, even as a child. So this basic training would be no big deal, but a small part of me was looking forward to show off a bit if I could.

I changed into a sports bra, a crop top over it, and yes you guessed it.

Yoga pants!

"It's crazy how you have one in every color and still wear black," Ima said.

"Well yeah in case all the black ones go into the laundry at the same time," I replied back, rolling my eyes like she should get this by now.

I saw Eidis looking at me like I was the dirt of her shoes and honestly I don't get what her problem is. Maybe I just really needed a typical jealous girl in my story to make things a little more cliche.

Ignoring her seething stare, the girls and I wore our shoes and went onto the training field for the first time. Delta Osvald was waiting for us, and most of the boys were outside now too.

We had occupied a portion of the training grounds as the Alpha-to-be and his company used the rest for their training.

Is it even their training day today?

As the rest of the girls joined us, Delta Osvald immediately began the training session with some warm up drills, stretches and sprints.

I didn't want to, but my eyes would find Valente every once in a while. Thankfully he wasn't looking back at all, or else that would be embarrassing.

I turned the other way so that he would be out of my sight. That way I wouldn't have an excuse to stare.

"Don't turn your back on me," he said to me through the mindlink.

I immediately turned around and saw he had a smirk on his face, but he was looking at his opponent.

I wanted to say many things to him, but he was the future Alpha, so I had to think before I said anything that could get me in trouble. After all, it would be his word against mine.

"I'm more comfortable this way, sorry," I told him, turning back around.

"Not that I mind the view," he replied, his cockiness evident.

I was suddenly very conscious of myself, not to mention the warm bubbling feeling I got in my chest. I couldn't believe he did that to me.

Thankfully, Delta Osvald got our attention on a drill change.

The next drill was in pairs and we paired up with those closest to us.

Dilja and I faced each other for a sparring drill.

Punch, punch, block, duck, punch, kick.

It was an easy drill, and Dilja didn't take too long to get the hang of it. It was just movement practice, we weren't supposed to touch each other. Obviously this wouldn't be useful in battle, but it did set a strong foundation for faster reflexes.

As we finished the third round, Mordekai came up to us.

"Why don't you train with me Rayne?" he asked me.

"Uh, because she's training with me?" said Dilja, rolling her eyes.

"You can train with Asael Dil," he said to her, tilting his head to the side where Asael stood.

She just shook her head as she looked at me and walked away.

I had nothing against Mordekai, but he really could be a creep at times.

As we went through the training, I could tell he was looking at me weird and did try to touch me.

"You know," he said quietly, "I think we're mates."

I tried my best not to snort with laughter.

"We both need to be eighteen to know. How can you possibly tell?" I asked him.

"I just can," he replied.

"Petition to kill this guy. Creep," said Ima.

"Well I'm sorry but, I don't think we're mates, so can we focus on the training?" I told him, genuinely annoyed.

"Well yeah," he said. "You sure though? We could-"

"Okay that's it," Valente's voice spoke in my head.

He was eavesdropping!

As I paused for a second to look at Valente, I saw him walk to Delta Osvald, say something to him, enough for the Delta to stop the training.

"Your future Alpha, Valente, has kindly offered to train you all with him and his companions for today," he said.

Some people looked confused, some looked scared, while most of them probably just stood there wondering how the Alpha was taking time out to train absolute rookies.

As Valente came forward, he gave me a look for just a fraction of a second that said, 'watch this'.

"I'll start with a demonstration. I need a volunteer. Is anyone interested? How about you," he said, now pointing to Mordekai without giving anyone else a chance to even consider standing off against the Alpha.

Mordekai was cool and collected as he went to stand with Valente.

"The same drill, but you don't hold back," Valente said to him.

As Mordekai nodded, they started sparring and soon what just was a routined exercise, had turned into proper hand-to-hand combat.

It had barely been five minutes and Mordekai was aching for breath while Valente ruthlessly kept going.

Mordekai couldn't land one punch on Valente.

I could tell by Valente's body language he was holding back so Mordekai wouldn't get seriously injured.

As Mordekai got slower, and it looked like he would stop now, Valente landed a hard punch on his stomach, causing him to double over in pain.

"Sorry that came out harder than I wanted it to," Valente said to the boy now on his knees, offering him his hand to help him up.

By the look on Valente's face though, I could tell it came out exactly as hard as he wanted it to.

"And that is why your defense should be just as strong as your offense," he said, to everyone else.

"Who's next?" he asked, to which a few hands were up in the air.

I didn't want to fight him, although I was confident I'd be able to handle myself.

It was Valente. And that was the only reason I didn't raise my hand.

He told his companions to pick partners from my grade and asked everyone to start training.

Real training.

As Mordekai limped back to where I stood, he gave me a slight smile, and said, "Go easy on me Rayne."

"Why don't you go sit down? I'll train with her," Valente said to him from behind. He had literally come out of nowhere.

Mordekai had no option but to obey.

I crossed my arms and looked at Valente skeptically.

"What?" he asked me.

"What are you doing?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

He gave me an innocent look.

"What we came for. To train. You'll be my partner."