The Gift chronicles

Chapter 8

Book 2 Chapter 8

"Jwnxkaxbekxm," I grumbled.

"What was that, Onyx?" Clover flashed her canines at me as she stood over me. All text © NôvelD(r)a'ma.Org.

I closed my eyes putting my arms over my head. My whole body was sore. I was positive that I would

be entirely black and blue when I woke up in the morning.

As it turned out, Clover's method for training was to have me do a lot of work outs, and then kick my

butt in hand to hand combat. Clover was not only incredibly strong looking, but she was even stronger

than she looked.

"Come on, Onyx. One more round," Clover ordered.

"Can't I just forfeit?" I whined. I was sick of being repeatedly punched and kicked. It felt like someone

had put me through a wood chipper.

"Really? This is supposed to be our Luna?" A high pitched voice I didn't recognize sneered.

I opened my eyes to see a blonde girl with a small upturned nose looking down on me as I still laid on

the training mat in pain.

"I will not allow you to disrespect her in front of me, Brenna. She may not be the Luna yet, but she is

Alpha Thane's mate which means I will defend her regardless," Clover's voice issued a warning.

"From what I can tell based on the last sparring round, she'll never be able to be the Luna," Brenna

laughed, sounding strangely victorious.

"Do not speak any more of this in front of her," Clover hissed, taking a step towards Brenna.

Brenna stepped back, and looked at me, who looked back at her in confusion. Realization flashed on

her face. "She doesn't know?" She asked, dumbfounded.

Clover just glared at her in silence, folding her muscular arms over her chest. It looked like she was

mindlinking her in response.

An evil grin spread across Brenna's face. She looked like every mean girl in every teen romance movie

I had ever watched. "Regardless of what Thane says, I think that his little mate should know that she'll

be dead next month."

Clover growled and leapt at Brenna, who didn't even attempt to get her off. She just continued to smirk

at me as Clover wrapped her hand around her neck.

I got off of the mat and bent down next to Brenna, who didn't look at all concerned by Clover's hand

around her neck. "What are you talking about?"

Brenna's eyes flashed in a combination of victory and amusement. "What Thane didn't tell you, is that

you get to be challenged for the Luna position. To the death."

My mouth slacked open in disbelief. How could he not tell me that?

"And from what I can see, I can tell that I'll be able to kill you easily. And since we can't use our Gifts, I'll

get to do it with my bare hands, which will make it all the sweeter," Brenna said, her voice still perky,

although her face started turning blue as Clover squeezed tighter.

My blood ran cold at her words. I looked at Clover, and her eyes were cast downward when I made eye

contact with her, confirming that everything Brenna said was true.

"I need some air," I mumbled, standing up.

"Onyx, wait," Clover's raspy voice stopped me in my tracks. "Thane said you can't be on pack grounds

without an escort. Just wait until he gets back, and you can talk to him about this, please."

"Thane is the last person I want to talk to right now," my voice surprisingly guttural. I continued to walk

away, but Clover stopped me again.

"I know I made it sound like a request, but it's not. I will not let you leave this training center until Thane

is here," Clover warned me.

"You don't have the choice," I responded stoically, feeling numb to the world. I withdrew energy from

one of the plants near the door until it was decayed, and turned the energy in my hands until it was

dark black. I sent the ball at Clover, who had stood up and reached out towards me. Part of the ball

wrapped itself around her wrists and ankles, and the rest of it went to Brenna, who was still sprawled

on the ground. The dark matter went around her neck, pinning her to the ground.

I sprinted out of the training center, ignoring the various bouts of pain that brought onto me. Luckily, I

didn't see anyone around. I was worried that Thane would have shown up already, but maybe he didn't

have time to react to Clover's mindlink.

I sprinted across the field, and almost made it into the woods when a muscular man with light brown

hair stopped me. "I don't suppose you're Thane's runaway mate?"

"Nope, don't know her," I responded as I quickly withdrew the life force from the grass on the ground,

leaving a circle of dead grass around me. I threw the photon ball at the man who was no doubt a guard,

and the energy clustered around his feet, holding him to the ground.

"Don't run, girl. You'll make my life and yours so much easier if you just stay here" The guard, rather

than sounding worried, simply sounded vexed. I couldn't blame him. I was sure Thane would be irate

that I got away.

"If I stay here, I won't be alive enough to have a hard life," I hissed in response, and he looked taken

aback by my words.

I continued sprinting into the woods, and drew energy from the various plants to create a fog that

spread behind me, obfuscating the vision of anyone who may be following me.

When I was positive that no one would have been able to trail me, I slowed down so that I was walking.

I was panting while trying to catch my breath. God, I really am out of shape.

Suddenly, I heard twigs breaking to my right. When I didn't see anyone, I laughed.

"Not funny, Greyson. How did you even know where I was?" I rolled my eyes, but was relieved that it

was him and not some psycho rogue.

I waited for Greyson to materialize, but after a few moments of eerie silence, he didn't.

"Grey, you're so irritating sometimes. I know it's you. Stop messing around. I have bad news I need to

tell you about," I pleaded as my eyes searched through the heavy forestry, willing him to appear.

When a couple more seconds went by and Greyson was still nowhere to be seen, my heart began

pounding furiously in my chest. I had seen enough horror movies to know that this is the part where the

main character starts running in horror, breaks their ankle, and then the axe murderer chops their head

off.

"Whoever it is, I can promise you that you really don't want to start anything with me," I pleaded, and I

knew that my voice sounded shaky and made my threat pathetic.

"My mate is out here looking for me and he's a really big dude. Like really big. I'm pretty sure he can

bench at least sev—" My voice was cut off when I felt myself get bludgeoned in the head with what felt

like a heavy rock.

I nearly collapsed on the ground, but muscular arms caught me. I looked into the beautiful green eyes

of the stranger who assaulted me. Despite the warm blood flowing from my wound and dripping down

my face, in a concussed daze, one of my hands reached out and touched the face of the same guy

who caused the concussion.

"Pretty," I mumbled, my head still spinning. When I looked back on this moment later, I would realize

that I wasn't able to picture what he looked like. I just knew he was one of the most attractive people I

had ever seen.

My attacker flashed a brilliantly white grin. "Maybe I should hit pretty girls in the head with rocks more

often if this is how they respond." He chuckled, the sound making my heart beat faster. And not just

because of all of the blood loss.

"Sleep now, Onyx. I promise that you won't remember how much this is going to hurt," The man

promised, and I couldn't focus on what he was saying because I was too distracted by his beauty and

my pain.

I nodded in submission and closed my eyes. And you know what? He was right.