I look around at my friends, waiting for anyone to answer. None of them look ashamed though. I narrow my eyes at all of them and settle on Oliver. He may be angry with me, but he has never beaten around the bush.
“Talk.”
He takes a deep breath and rolls his eyes back at me. “Fine. They meet with us and run the full, original, patrol loop, then are in the gym for an hour doing bag work, with no break, then head to morning training and must be in the front near the trainers working full out the whole time. It’s not really an insult to you, it’s actually an insult to them, because they can’t do it and it was your everyday normal.” He shrugs a shoulder.
“Oh sh*t! How long does it take you to run the border?” Lil asks.
“If you’re not actually running a patrol and just doing the loop, it’s about an hour if you go full out.”
“And how long is morning training?”
“It’s now two hours, mandatory.” Cam looks serious. “We’ve had too many attacks. All the surrounding packs have, so everyone has increased training and security. We’ll show you in the morning.”
I nod. “Well, in that case I had better eat up, I’m going to need the energy.” I start to get up to go get seconds and Lil and Jena follow suit.
“No wonder you came into Elite camp and didn’t struggle at all. We were all wondering.” Lil says and then looks shocked. “I mean, it’s not a secret, you’re small. It’s deceiving, cause you come out and beast mode everyone.” Lil says as we walk back towards the kitchen.
I see Kevin out of the corner of my eye start to move like he is going to stand and I know he’s going to be like a five year old and try to take our seats.
“We’ll be right back, I need seconds so I can carbo load for training in the morning.” I look right at him and then my dad, who has a curious look on his face, and head in.
We were outside longer than I planned and I can feel my eyelids drooping, no longer able to fight the sleep my body needs.
“Alright Tiny, that’s it, you girls need to sleep. You have been through a lot in the last couple days. Let’s go.” Cam pulls my chair out from the table and scoops me up. I’m too tired to react quickly and once I’m in his arms, I don’t even care.
He’s so warm and his scent is so familiar and calming, it’s almost more difficult to stay awake now. I hear a yelp and look over his shoulder to see Oliver carrying Lil and my brother has Jena, who is actually trying to fight, but she’s no better than I am and doesn’t resist for too long. (1)
“Where are you going? I thought we were going to hang out tonight.” It’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, Kaley just doesn’t fit with our group and either she doesn’t get that or doesn’t care.
“We didn’t have any plans tonight and since we do have Sky training in the morning we need to head up and get some sleep, clearly the girls’ mission has taken its toll.” Kota said somewhere near me.
We started moving and the swaying was so nice and he was so warm, I just snuggled into his chest. I could care less where I sleep at this point, I’m so tired and so comfortable.
“We’re all going up to the third floor. I’m not dealing with Kaley tonight or in the morning.” I don’t who said it, as I’m in and out of consciousness. The next thing I know is I’m laying on a pillow soft bed, I take a deep breath in and feel my body just drift off.
“SKYLAR!” I shoot up from a dead sleep. I have no idea where I am, but I look around for Jena. “SKY, HELP! Please!” She cries. I try to move but the blankets around me are holding me down. I can hear her panic and I can’t move to get to her, making me panic..
My heart starts to race as I scramble to try and get my legs free.
“SKY! HELP ME!”
“HOLD ON JENA, I’M HERE, I’M COMING!” I fight harder.
“What the hell?” I hear groggily next to me. I turn quickly and see Cam looking around. “Tiny, what’s wrong?”
“Smalls?”
“It’s Jena, I have to get to her, she needs me, get me out of here.
“SKYLAR!?”
This time she’s crying and I shove, I don’t know who, off the bed and take off running. I’m a little disoriented as I run out into the hallway. “Jena, I’m coming, where are you?”
“Here.” She cries again.
I ran towards her voice. She’s in my room, I run in the door, straight to her on my bed and wrap her up in my arms.
“I’m here, you’re safe. You’re in my pack. You’re in my room. You’re safe, I’m here.”
She just grips my t-shirt tighter and buries her face in my neck and cries as I repeat my words over and over. It’s like this any time we change locations. She just doesn’t transition well. Most of the time if we share a room she can calm the panic pretty quickly because she can find me. But if the dreams are too real or vivid then it takes a little bit to get her to hear me, like now.
“What can we do?” I’m startled. I can smell all the guys here now, but I was so focused on Jena, I didn’t know they followed me in here.
Lil walks over and sits on her other side. “Nothing right now, she just needs a minute, then she should be alright.” I say to all of them.
Lil and I just rock her until she is calm enough to pull away herself.
“I’m sorry, I should be okay now. You can go back to sleep.” “That was a bad one though, are you sure?” I ask.
“Yeah, I’m good. I think it was just the unfamiliar scents in here, that’s all. I know I’m safe, go back to bed, it’s okay.”
“Do you want one of us to stay with you?” Lil asks. I have no idea where she was sleeping, but if it wasn’t in here, It must have been Dakota’s room. They would have given my friends their own bed up here and shared the couch in the media room. But I don’t know why the thought of her in Dakota’s bed sends a shard of ice down my spine. He was with me and Cam in Cam’s bed, so it shouldn’t matter.
“No, no. I’m good, go back to sleep, we have to get up early.” “You two go back to sleep, I’ll stay with her.” My brother volunteers. When Jena doesn’t argue, I nod my head and get up. I walk to Cam and Kota, who has his hand out.
“Let us know if you need us.” She nods and lays back down.
We all go back to our beds and I look at the twins, “Don’t ask. Not my story.”
