In Spirit and Truth (In Spiritu Et Veritate Series)

by Reed, Zoe

  “No, but I want to watch this.” She made her way to the porch steps and sat down. “I got to watch so I can let you know when Kyla gets good enough to kick your ass.”

  I laughed and shook my head. “Luna, you think too highly of me.”

  “Or you think too highly of Camille,” she teased, and when Carter walked out the door a second later she scooted over so we could all make our way down the steps.

  “You ready Kyla?” Carter asked, not wasting any time as he took his place in front of me. I nodded and looked around at Luna and Camille, who had also sat on the porch, as I started growing slightly self-conscious that I was being watched. “Okay, well the first thing I want you to know is that whether against a werewolf or a human, if you can run, you should.” His blue eyes watched me closely, looking for any sign that I wasn’t sure about being trained. When again I nodded, he looked over at the porch and motioned for Camille to come over. “You didn’t think you were getting out of it that easy did you?” he asked her as she sauntered over.

  “Guess not,” she shrugged and stood behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist in a hug and resting her chin on my shoulder.

  Carter casually walked over and pulled Camille’s arms away, moving one of them up so it was wrapped around my neck. “The chokehold is probably the most common way you’ll get attacked from behind. Don’t be a sissy Camille, squeeze tighter.” I could hear Luna giggling from the porch. If I didn’t feel my air supply getting cut off I would have giggled too, but Camille had me tight enough now that I was beginning to feel trapped.

  “Kyla, watch me.” Carter must have known I couldn’t breathe well, because he spoke expeditiously. “First thing you’re going to want to do is panic. Don’t.” He put his hands on my shoulders and directed my body inward. “Turn towards Camille, this way, and bend over a little.” Once I followed his directions I could feel enough space between my neck and Camille’s arm for me to slip out of her grasp, which I did without needing to be told.

  Luna could be heard clapping her praise from the porch, so I playfully bowed. With a chuckle Carter wrapped his arm around Camille’s neck, continuing with his instruction. It was clear Camille knew what to do and she turned just as I had, but before she slipped out of Carter’s grasp she paused so he could explain.

  “Now after you turn, you’ll put your inner leg behind your attacker’s,” he waited for Camille to put her leg right behind his, clearly in a position to trip him, “Then you’ll put your hands on their chest and push as hard as you can.”

  Camille didn’t demonstrate the last part but instead walked over to me, placing me in another chokehold so I could try it. “Don’t hold back,” she whispered in my ear and then pecked me on the cheek.

  I laughed, half in disbelief. She didn’t really want me to use full force, right? “What if I hurt you?”

  “You won’t,” she laughed and tightened her grip on my throat. “Werewolf, remember?”

  With a shrug I took a deep breath to prepare myself. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Luna lean forward expectantly, waiting for the entertainment to begin. Without further adieu, in as fluid a motion as I could manage I leaned, put my leg behind Camille’s and pushed her backward almost as hard as I could. There was a slight ‘oof’ as she hit the ground, and worried she’d been hurt I kneeled beside her.

  “I told you she’d kick your ass!” Luna hollered at Camille in hysterical laughter. “It hasn’t even been thirty minutes yet!”

  Camille sat up laughing while she brushed the dirt off her back. “That was really good.”

  “It didn’t hurt?” I asked worriedly, still reluctant to believe I hadn’t been too rough. But when Camille shook her head with a grin, my pride told me I shouldn’t have held back, so I playfully pushed her back to the ground. “Next time you won’t be so lucky.”

  “Those’re fighting words,” Carter laughed and held his hand out to me for a high-five. Turning to Camille he teasingly tried to rush her. “Camille, if you’re ready for another beating, would you mind hurrying it up a bit?”

  “Geez, tough crowd,” the dirtied blonde complained as she pushed herself off the ground and dusted herself off. I was worried she might be offended by the banter, but my worry disappeared when I kissed her on the cheek and she received it with a genuine grin.

  The training continued much like that for the rest of the session. Most the time Carter just used Camille to demonstrate what he was trying to teach me, but every once in a while he had me use her as a test dummy. It was at these times that Luna could be heard enjoying herself way too much and teasing her sister from the porch steps. If I didn’t know how close Camille and Luna actually were I’d have thought that Luna’s pestering would have been getting on her nerves by the end of it, but Camille took it in stride and a couple times couldn’t help but laugh along. Carter promised that he’d get in another session before the Alpha arrived, but I already felt as if I was more equipped to handle myself. However, from what I understood about Jonathan, I could use all the help I could get.

  “Were we really doing that stuff for five hours?” I asked in shock as I gladly took the cup of water Camille was handing me and sat at the kitchen table.

  “Hard to believe isn’t it? You’re a natural though, you’d make a great–” As Camille took a seat next to me she stopped her sentence short, but I knew what she was about to say. Werewolf. I’d make a great werewolf.

  She had asked my opinion on being Changed, and I’d been honest in my desire to remain human as long as possible. As much as she tried to hide it and tried not to push, it was obvious she wanted it for me. Never did I believe she wanted it for selfish reasons. The bottom line was that it would be safer for me if I were a werewolf. I knew it as well as everyone else did, but that didn’t stop me from fearing the loss of everything unrelated to Camille, most of all family.

  “I’m sorry,” she started, but worried she’d made me upset she was at a loss for words. After another moment she added, “I don’t want you to feel like I’m pressuring you.”

  “Hey, it’s okay,” I told her, and put my hand on her thigh for added reassurance. “I know what you meant.”

  Camille turned up the corner of her mouth in an understanding smile, but it was clear it was still on her mind. I mirrored the smile awkwardly as I thought about what to say. I’d never felt about anyone the way I already felt about Camille, and I knew I wanted to be with her for the rest of my life. If things went according to plan, sooner or later I knew I’d be a werewolf. Not just so that I could be with her for an unnaturally long time, but also because I did want it eventually.

  With a sigh I leaned into Camille and put my head on the girl’s shoulder. “I don’t feel like you’re pressuring me. I do want to, eventually.” I felt her lips press against the top of my head. “When the time is right.”

  I walked in to chemistry on Monday nervous as all hell. I knew that I wouldn’t physically be helping to catch Jonathan. I’d be more of a distraction than I would be useful, but the fact that I’d be taking part in something so thrilling made every muscle in my body tense up, ready for action. Sitting at my desk I folded my arms across my chest and fixed my eyes on the door, waiting for the satisfying second he walked through it. As the tardy bell rang a few minutes later and Jonathan had yet to walk in, a small ball of disappointment started to form in the pit of my stomach. I waited ten more grueling minutes before pulling out my cell phone.

  “He’s not here,” I texted Camille, almost fuming.

  I had barely put my phone back in my pocket when she texted back. “I’ll meet you right after class. Let me know if he shows.”

  Paying attention to the teacher was impossible, and I kept my eyes on the door the entire period. I barely heard the bell ring at the end of class as I stared, trying with all of my might to make Jonathan materialize from thin air. Camille was already outside the classroom waiting for me when I finally made my way out of the room.

  “What do we do now?” I
took stride next to her, still raging that he hadn’t shown. Though, now that I thought about it, it would have been stupid of him to show up, and he had to have known it.

  “We try again tomorrow. We wait this whole week for him to show, and if he doesn’t we’re screwed. Hopeless.” The monotonous tone of Camille’s voice already sounded hopeless, like we would never find him and never get Julian back.

  “You don’t think he’ll come?” I asked.

  “You’ve met him,” she started as we entered the cafeteria and sat at the table where Luna and Niko were waiting for us. “And you know he’s not dumb enough to come back. I think the only way we’ll see him again is if we go to him.”

  “I can’t believe that bastard didn’t come.” Niko slammed his fist against the table, and then gave an awkward glance to the quiet students at the table next to ours who he’d startled. “I was really looking forward to kicking his ass.”

  Camille reached into her backpack and pulled out two lunch bags, one of which she had made for me. Grinning and looking in the bag curiously I gave her thigh a thankful squeeze. She shrugged as if to say ‘no big deal’ and then turned to her brother. “You can still kick his ass Niko, we just need to find him first.”

  Luna sighed. “Where are we supposed to look? Our searches aren’t coming up with anything and we don’t have the resources or the energy to search the whole west coast.” She tapped her chin thoughtfully, talking mostly to herself. “If I was a bad werewolf, where would I hide?”

  Each of us stared at the table for a brief minute in deep thought, but none of us could think of a place. My head shot up as I remembered one of the things my parents had said to coax me to California in the first place.

  “State parks!” I exclaimed. The other three looked at me like I was speaking another language. “If I was a bad werewolf where would I be? I’d be far from Tranquility, but somewhere that I could run and take captives without having to worry about humans. A state park. If they found a cabin to stay in, they have limitless land and privacy.”

  The confused looks directly turned to brightened smiles, but Camille’s was the first to fade. “I think you’re right, but do you know how many there are just within an eighty mile radius of here? Way too many to search without an army.”

  “The most likely place would be east, but there’s over two-hundred miles of forest out there.” Frustrated, Luna propped her head in the palm of her hand. “This is impossible. They’re just going to pick us off one by one.”

  My jaw dropped as I looked at Luna, horrified. “That can’t happen. We can’t let it. Let’s start looking now. The faster we move, the faster we cover ground.”

  I stood up, ready to go, but Camille pulled me back into my seat, chuckling to herself. “We won’t let them pick us off. This weekend was a mistake. One that hopefully won’t happen again.” I sighed in defeat and wearily nibbled at the sandwich she had made me. “We’ll try again tomorrow. I’m going to the bathroom.”

  Getting up to follow Camille to the bathroom, I linked arms with her and sighed heavily. After a curious eyebrow raise from her, I squeezed her arm fondly. “I just can’t help but worry, a little for Julian, but mostly for you. Out of everyone, it seems Jonathan has the biggest problem with you. I’m just scared he’s going to take you away from me.”

  Camille pulled her arm out of my grasp and wrapped it around my waist, pulling me close in a reassuring hug. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’ll be okay. You’re going to be stuck with me for a long time.”

  I grinned as we entered the empty bathroom, and as I leaned against the wall I spoke in the most teasingly suggestive voice I good muster. “Good, because I’m not near done with you yet.”

  I heard Camille chuckle, then a flush as she came out of the stall. As she walked to the sink to wash her hands I couldn’t help but stare. The way her long, curly blonde hair fell over her shoulders. The way the hips of her perfectly slender body swayed when she walked. And like now, when she knew she was being watched, the way the corner of her mouth turned up in a smirk and the underlying smile beamed in her eyes. I had always been attracted to Camille. Anyone could see how obviously beautiful she was. I never considered my feelings for Camille strictly sexual. I was falling in love with her, but here, now, what I felt was pure lust. It made me bite my lip and I had to glue myself to the wall.

  Camille dried her hands and continued to let me look at her for a moment, then turned and raised a confident eyebrow. “Are you checking me out, Kyla Walters?”

  “I might be,” I said it neutrally, but let my eyes give her an obvious up-down.

  Now that we were a couple I didn’t feel at all uncomfortable showing her affection, but I couldn’t disregard the fact that she had never been intimate with anyone before. It made me cautious about how much I let that lust show, because even though being with a girl was new to me, having that kind of relationship with anybody was new to her.

  Grinning that playful smile, Camille strode over until she had me pushed against the wall with her body. While pressing her hand flat against my stomach, she lowered her mouth to my neck. “I’m glad to see you’re getting closer to admitting it.”

  The words themselves were far from provocative, but the way those lips felt on my neck caused me to shudder with desire. Each and every time her lips touched or even came close to my neck it made me wildly unstable. Just like that night at the school, and just like with the cookies, it sent waves of craving throughout my body. With each passing day my desire for Camille grew beyond powerful and undeniable to commanding and irrepressible.

  After planting a few more gentle kisses on my neck Camille pulled away, and I looked her in the eyes, trying so hard to think of something to say. Be it witty, cute or sexy. Eventually she grinned, clearly flattered by the fact that I was staring at her.

  “What?” she asked shyly.

  Failing to find the right words I simply lifted my lips to hers, where I would have left them for hours if the bell hadn’t rang for fifth period. Taking her hand I followed her to the cafeteria to grab our backpacks and then let her walk me to fifth period.

  After school ended Camille had to go home for early patrols, and I had to prove to my mom that I was still the responsible teenage daughter I always had been. I went straight home after class to do some of the chores I’d been neglecting. First on my list was the pile of laundry that had begun stacking up in the corner of my bedroom. While those were in the wash I finished unpacking the last two boxes that I’d set on the desk.

  There was nothing in the first box of great importance. I pulled out the handful of novels and the Bible I owned and stacked them on the corner of the desk. A few of the novels were ones I’d been required to read in school, and the others were ones I enjoyed enough to go out and buy. The Bible I had completely forgotten I had. I considered my family religious, though we were the typical family who only showed up to church on Christmas, Easter and other special occasions. For the few years before we moved my dad had to work so much that he was in the fields seven days a week. Once he stopped going, the rest of us had stopped.

  Returning to the box I pulled out a small picture frame with a photo of my family and me in it, and set it next to the books on my desk. The next picture frame I pulled out had a picture of me and some of my friends from Texas. Before I’d started dating Aaron I didn’t have a lot of friends, only about three good ones that moved up with me from junior high. The friends in the picture were girls I’d met through Aaron, and who had been friends with him first.

  Considering this, I was sure he’d gone home and told them all about what had happened on his visit to California. I could just hear their shocked exclaims, and since I always knew they’d been jealous of me for dating the football player, upon hearing of our break up I imagined they were already competing for his attention. Feeling like I wouldn’t be hearing from any of them, I held the picture in my hands for a minute in thoughtful consideration, and then dropped it into the trash under the de
sk.

  As I reached into the box to pull out another book that had fallen to the bottom, I heard someone knock on my closed bedroom door, and seconds later my mom walked in and sat on the bed. “I’m glad to see you’re finally unpacking.” I smiled the affirmative as I set the book on top of the others. “Does that mean California’s starting to feel like home?”

  “Yeah, it does.” I couldn’t keep from giving a grin. It wasn’t California that was starting to feel like home. Rather, it was Camille. Anywhere that curly-haired, affectionate werewolf was would feel like home. “I like it here.”

  “I’m glad, honey.” My mom smiled happily as she looked around my room. As she scanned the books on top of the desk her eyes finally led her to the trash can beneath it, and they grew full of concern. “Why’d you throw that picture of your friends away?”

  I sighed. The drama of being a teenager wasn’t a conversation I was particularly interested in having with my mom, but I hadn’t yet told my parents that I’d broken up with Aaron. Now was as good a time as any. “I broke up with Aaron, and they were always better friends with him.”

  “Aw, I’m sorry,” my mom said with a sympathetic sigh, as her eyes carefully looked me over in case I needed a hug. “When? What happened?”

  “Just before he left,” I told her apathetically, glancing toward the door in hopes she would be satisfied with the conversation and leave. The details of the break up weren’t something I was ready to explain. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

  “Okay.” She nodded understandingly, and before I could kick her out continued, “What about Camille? Does she have a boyfriend?”

  My heart dropped. Why did she keep bringing up Camille? Did she know about us? No, I was just being paranoid, and if I let it show that I was nervous then she would really figure it out. “Nope, no boyfriend.”