“Maybe you should tell her all of it. It does you no good to keep that kind of thing to yourself. The pain will eat you up inside.”
“Perhaps I’m not ready to talk about it yet.”
“Well, when you’re ready, you’ll know and it’ll make it easier. Talking will help you to work through what happened out there. It’ll help you to move on.”
“Is it helping you? Talking?” Aisline wanted to try and steer the conversation away from herself.
“I guess it is.” Caleb grinned cheekily. “I feel like I’m finally making… a friend?” he asked tentatively.
“I guess you are.” Ash laughed. “Look, I’ve really got to go now, but I’m glad you came in here.”
“I’m glad, too.” As she turned to walk away, he called after her. “Do you fancy grabbing a coffee or something sometime?”
Aisline felt herself blushing a little again and called out as casually as she could muster, “Sure, I’m sure we can manage to work something out.” And she was pleased that he couldn’t see the face splitting grin on her face as she exited the library.
She wasn’t into Caleb in that way, but it would be good to get to know someone different around here. Especially seeing as he was a shifter. There was a whole world out there for her to explore and Caleb was just the start of it.
Ignoring the strange glances she got as she burst out laughing at the thought of telling Lana that she was having coffee with the shifter, Aisline headed back to her room to dump her things before going up to the new medical suite for her appointment with Doctor Phillippe.
Chapter Fifteen
“Denver! Jackson! Follow me.” Master Warrior Dixon barked as soon as they had finished their breakfast.
Jackson was glad that he had managed to actually get up on time or he wouldn’t have had time to eat for the fourth day in a row. As it was, Denver was busy stuffing his face as he got up to follow Dixon out of the dining hall. Jackson threw a pained look at Trey, who smiled sympathetically.
“Can’t I even get a shower first?” Denver moaned.
“Move your ass.”
The boys had no choice but to jog to keep up with him. Jackson wondered what this was all about. His muscles ached and complained as they trudged after the warrior. The punishment was had been a work out in itself and what Kelton put them through was nothing short of gruelling. However, Jackson could now see the benefits of the job that had been assigned to them. Over the last couple of weeks, he’d worked muscles that he never even knew he had. He couldn’t wait to get back into training, but this had been a good thing for him.
They followed Denver through the mansion, ignoring the curious gazes of the other trainees. No one else knew what they had been doing as the back area of the house had been cordoned off.
Heading outside to the rear of the building where they had finally completed the exterior agility course, Jackson could have groaned. His shoulders started to slump as he guessed what Dixon was going to want them to do. They may have finished up the frame and all the hard work, but someone had since added the finishing touches to it, such as the ropes and nets. Wishing he was back in his warm bed, Jackson really didn’t have the energy for this.
“We need to test this bad boy out.” Dixon said, trying to hide his mocking grin.
“We?”
“You two.”
“Shit.”
Dixon grinned, showing teeth like a Great White. “Well, what are you both waiting for?” He shoved the pair of them towards the course. He knew full well that they were both exhausted from building this monster of a course, but Kelton had specifically told him to work them to the bone, which was what he had done. Dixon stood back and watched as the boys wearily began the last part of their punishment.
Kelton walked up behind him, standing and watching the boys as they struggled their way around the course. “How are they doing?”
“Nearly ready to drop on their feet, I think.” Dixon laughed.
“Good.” Kelton grinned.
He left them sweating and struggling their way around the course to go and catch up with the others. This would be the last day that they would be out there, until they were out training with the rest of their class, so they might as well work the hell out of them while they could. Dixon wouldn’t let them slack off and Kelton grinned to himself as he thought about the state they’d sure to be in the next day. He glanced back one final time to see the pair of them clambering up the ropes, sweat glistening on their foreheads.
Aisline knew that she was going to have to have a word with some of the guys and quickly. They were watching Caleb like he was a dangerous freak, a time bomb waiting to go off. He had really come into his own during the sparring session, kicking every guy’s ass who came up against him. It was clear that Kelton was extremely impressed with how he was progressing, but it made some of the boys wary of him.
Luckily, word had it that Rees was having a much more hospitable time of it. That may be because the kid always had a ready smile and was happy to talk to anyone and everyone. They took his progression in the physical side of things as less of a threat as it was with Caleb.
Caleb was still standoffish and hating every second of being at the academy and Ash was doing all she could to make his life a little easier. It didn’t seem that he had anyone else to talk to, so it fell to her to make sure he was settling in. Trey was also trying to befriend the shifter, but Caleb wasn’t making it easy for him with his unwillingness to talk.
After he had pummelled another guy into the ground, Ash smiled over at him and received a stiff nod in return. His manner was so much colder than it had been since their chat in the library and she wasn’t sure what had happened to cause it. All she could do was hope that life got easier for him.
Watching Caleb out the corner of her eye, she was able to appreciate him on a whole other level than the rest of the trainees. His little brother Rees may have been ridiculously cute, but in a way, he looked much younger than his sixteen years. From the little she had seen of him in the dining hall at meal times, it seemed to be very true what they say – that girls mature much faster than boys. He seemed like a kid to her, even though he was close to her own age.
Caleb held much more appeal. They both had messy brown hair, the kind that couldn’t be tamed no matter what you tried. They had almost identical eyes, eyes that Caleb used to glare menacingly. The brothers also had similar builds, although Caleb towered over Rees by several inches. The other major difference that told them apart at a mere glance were the intense, intricate ink designs on Caleb’s arms and upper torso. They added to his rough appearance, making him seem tough and someone not to be messed with, which was quite accurate.
Aisline knew exactly what the other guys were seeing when they looked at the shifters. Rees was easy going and Caleb looked like he had been kicked out of some down and dirty biker gang and was ready to fight anyone who stood in his way. The hostility emanating from him hung heavy in the air. Ash had tried to talk to him about it, but things just seemed to be getting worse for him and lashing out seemed to be the only way he could handle it.
It was getting that bad that she was thinking about speaking to Kayleigh or Kelton about it. Sure, Kelton was with him for a good portion of the day, but he was seeing what a promising warrior he was becoming. He wasn’t seeing the problems that were in front of him. Caleb needed help to adjust and she couldn’t seem to do enough for him.
It had been a shock to all of them, to see the Sons of Satrina warrior mark on a couple of shifters, but she thought that the others would have got used to it by now. Apparently not. Each of the guys were slipping looks over at Caleb as if they couldn’t believe what they were seeing. He was a threat to them. They didn’t know what to expect from him, he was unpredictable and his excellent fighting skills were making them suspicious.
Ash could see both sides. Caleb hated being the centre of attention, just like her when she had first joined the ranks of the trainees. It made her want to step
up and work her ass off to show that she was worthy of being there. Caleb was simply doing that in a different manner. As a man, he felt that he had to prove that he was tougher and scarier than the rest of them. And it was working. However, it wasn’t helping him make friends.
Watching Caleb, Ash remember when Kelton had first explained to them that they were having two more warriors joining their group. She had kind of hoped that the mark had shown up on a couple of females. Sure, most of the guys treated her just the same as everyone else, but it would have been nice to have another girl around to share this experience. Being the only girl in this group of men was tough on occasion. She had to live up to working alongside them, but still be a girl. It was a tough balance. The last thing she wanted to do was lose her femininity.
The academy could be tough. Especially now that she was being side-lined. They were treating her like a girl again, like fine china. She could totally understand Caleb’s frustration at being treated differently.
“Ash, come sit over here with us.” Trey called over to her from the other side of the room. He was already sitting there with Dylan and Jase. They waved her over as Dylan glanced nervously at Caleb who was currently talking to Kelton. They were all breathing heavily and were pleased to have a few minutes break.
“You should try and make an effort to get to know him.” Aisline hissed at Dylan.
“I said hello to him and he looked like he wanted to kill me!”
“Keep trying. None of this is easy for him.”
“How are you feeling?” Trey interjected as she sat down next to him.
Trey was an absolute star. Ash didn’t know what she would have done without him there at the academy. To look at him, he looked like the kind of guy you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley. He was taller than average, well built and an overall intimidating package, but she knew better than to judge this particular book by its cover. He was one of the most polite and friendly boys she had ever met, her own personal bodyguard and teddy bear shoulder to cry on if she needed it.
“You should talk to him again.” Ash cocked her head to indicate she meant Caleb.
“I’ll keep trying.” Trey nodded. “So, how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine.” She waved a hand at him absentmindedly. Ash was getting royally fed up of everyone constantly asking her the same old questions over and over again. She felt fine now, or as fine as she was ever going to feel, and she hated the feeling of being wrapped up in cotton wool.
She had time to heal since the attack, both mentally and physically. Emotionally, there was still a way to go, but it wasn’t doing her any good sitting around and twiddling her thumbs. That was why she wanted to get back into the training. It would keep her mind occupied. It was a hurdle that she was waiting to overcome. Fighting, even with her friends, was going to be hard and would bring back memories that she’d buried deep. She was now ready to overcome them. It would be a struggle, but it was something she had to do. It was frustrating waiting around for them to give her the go-ahead.
It was, in a way, worse that it had happened to her. Not that it wouldn’t have been a bad thing to happen to any of them, but they were all treating her differently because she was their only female trainee. There had been many other warriors that had gotten caught up with the enemy, and they had never been treated as carefully as they were treating Aisline.
Not that it made the slightest bit of difference now. It had happened to her and she had to deal with how she was treated. Being beaten, burned, bruised and abused by the enemy was enough to cause a slump in confidence without everyone else waiting for her to break. She was stronger than that and she thought she’d proved that to them all, fighting her way to be accepted when she received the mark in the damned first place. But, no. There was no way that she was going to let that little ‘incident’ get the better of her and she would just have to convince the others of the same.
It was clearly easier said than done, though. Everything was so up in the air at the moment. The trainees and warriors were pussy-footing around her and no matter how much she tried to reassure them, it wasn’t making much of a difference. Now they all had the shifters among them to get used to as well. As much as she wanted to get things back to normal, there was no chance of that at the moment.
Aisline kicked her bag under the bench. She brought it with her every time, just in case. All she wanted to do was train, and she thought that she might have been some help to Caleb if she was allowed. There was so much at stake. Ash understood where the shifter was coming from when he said that they were fighting an enemy that wasn’t his. But, she had seen up close and personally what they were like and what they were capable of. She could make him see that truth.
If she was honest, the thought of helping out Caleb made the thought of training a lot easier. Thinking about training and going back out into the field someday, facing those monsters again, scared the living crap out of her. She and Caleb had their own battles that the others could not comprehend. Working together could help both of them.
Kelton had stepped out of the room and his return saved her from saying anything else as he strode into the room, trailing a bedraggled Jackson behind him. The group quietened down immediately and watched as Jackson walked slowly to sit down in the space next to Aisline. He looked beyond exhausted. It had only been a few hours since Dixon had frogmarched him and Denver out of the dining hall, but he looked like he had been through the mill. It was still a mystery to the rest of them what they had been doing, but it sure didn’t look like much fun.
Kelton glared around the room and the class fell silent. “Today we’ll be having a representative from the council attending the academy to view our new location and observe some of your training. It goes without saying that I want you all to show your best. You all know what will happen if you don’t.” The words dared them to defy him.
Ash couldn’t help but smirk at the mention of the council. They had sent a formal apology to her family with regards to the ‘situation’ she had been in, but had they uttered a single word to her? The one that it had actually happened to? Nope, not a word. They had only contacted her father because he was a prominent member of their community. Ash knew that they probably didn’t actually give a rat’s ass about what happened to her. They were the ones that had come up with the idea of sending barely trained recruits out into the field, and she doubted that they were sorry it had gone wrong. The council were a bunch of pencil pushing pompous men who had no idea what it took to be a warrior.
“Are you training today?” Jackson whispered to her in a quiet, concerned tone.
She turned to look at him for a moment, she still had no idea what was happening between the two of them. It was time to get their friendship back on track and ignore any other feelings that she may have for him. This was the first time that he had willingly spoken to her in what felt like weeks. It was a start at least.
“I think they still want me to sit out for a while.”
“That’s probably for the best. You should make sure that you’re ready. Don’t push yourself too hard. They’re trying to do right by you.”
Ash rolled her eyes at him, but smiled. At least he was finally showing her some friendly concern. “I’m fine. I feel ready for it.”
“Perhaps he’ll let you back to train in a couple of weeks?”
“A couple of weeks?” Aisline’s voice rose a little higher than she had meant to, drawing the eyes of those closest to them. “You must be kidding. There’s no way that I’m waiting another couple of weeks.”
“You don’t want to be doing too much too soon.”
“I’ve been waiting for long enough already.”
Jackson grinned. “You’re so stubborn.”
“Damn right I am.” She laughed, pleased that the air between them was so easy going once again.
“Do you want to go back out and join Denver?” Kelton bellowed at Jackson, making the pair of them jump.
“No, sir.”
“Shut the hell up then.” Kelton wasn’t in the mood for any of their nonsense today. He had a killer headache, especially after having to speak to the council and the thought of their imminent visit put him on edge. They could always make a good day turn crappy.
It wasn’t going to be a good day. Jackson was lucky that he had taken pity on him and allowed him back into training. Denver was still outside on the exterior agility course being watched by the eagle eye of Dixon. He had meant to bring them both back into training after they’d completed a couple of circuits, but when Denver had started bitching and moaning, he decided to make him go a few more rounds. Dixon was going to send him in when he thought he’d had enough. He wouldn’t be out there much longer because he didn’t want the boy too exhausted to train, but Denver really needed to learn when to keep his mouth shut.
Kelton was already kitted out in his work out gear so the guys knew that they were in for a gruelling time of it. He was one of those men who didn’t like to just teach. He liked to do it all himself. It was a way of proving to the trainees that the things he was asking of them was possible. If he could do it, then there was no reason for them not to give it their all.
“Right. Team up. Four to a group. We’re heading outside.”
The trainees looked at one another but didn’t make any comment. Jackson inwardly groaned as he knew that it probably meant that they would be going out as a group to test the new course, but when they moved through the mansion and out of the front of the building, he was surprised when Kelton stopped there.
“We’re working in relays. One member of the team will run the path around the exterior of the academy while the other three members will be doing continuous wide-arm press-ups. Ready?” Kelton glanced around at the group. “Go!” and several of the trainees raced off. They didn’t need to be told twice that there would be a penalty for the team that performed the worst.
“What do you want me to do?” Aisline asked.
Dawn of a New Age: A Sons of Satrina Novel Page 17
