Fighting - Anaya Phoenix (free books to read .txt) 📗

as my heart throbbed for him. Not in romantic way, he’d been through so much. While his family, one of the many, went into hiding his mother and father had been killed protecting him and his two siblings. They were too young to remember anything, but it haunted him. Sometimes when he dreamed, he would dream of them. I’d felt it through the link, a pain so much like my own just amplified. In my dreams, people I didn’t know died because of my incompetence. For him, his own mother and father was shot down because he wasn’t strong enough to protect them.

                When we’d all first grouped together he sought me out the second night, he felt something kindred in the both of us.

 

~ 4 Years Ago

                I hadn’t been able to sleep so I had just been laying in bed, Ander was trying to move on and integrate into human society more. He’d made excellent headway, I wouldn’t drag him back into my shit again just because of a ad dream. I took a deep breathe, taking in the night air from my open window and nestled in further to my bed, not trying to get too comfortable. It seemed that the more stress I was under, the worse the dreams got. I’d just met the rest of the victors and I hated them so much, and I’m supposed to protect everybody on my own and it wasn’t fair. I close my eyes and sighed before rolling over. When I opened them again bright amber eyes stared down at me. I squinted slightly and saw it was the lion boy, Leotis.

“Why aren’t you sleeping?” His voice was gruff, as to be expected since he was so close to his lion.

“Why are you in my room?” He lowered himself to my levele and squinted slightly.

“You dream too, don’t you?” I didn’t answer, I just looked at him. His hair was short but still messy, and there were bags under his eyes that I hadn’t seen before. He laid down next to me and I moved over for him, and we talked. We talked all night long about everything. Our dreams and our fears, our families and our friends. We talked about the injustice of everything that was happening here; we talked until the sun rose. As the light hit my room and night air turned to early morning air we just stared at each other. We were so alike, and it was the first time I’d been comfortable enough to talk to anybody that wasn’t my family for very long. He looked at the sun rays that came into my room for a while before looking to me, and I didn’t feel vulnerable even though I’d laid everything before him.

“Wanna go for a run?” He had this tiny little cocky smile that belonged there and my spirit lifted with the idea that I’d helped him even when were both , still, so very broken. I nodded and jumped off the bed and out the window, shifting into my wolf in mid-air. He watched before jumping down and changing into his animal. He was a cub still, he had yet to grow a full main but there was slight growth. I wagged my tail and nipped at him before backing up. He swiped at me before mewling at me and twitching his tail. I barked and stretched before running to into the woods with all my speed. He roared a tiny roar before he following me. I’d found a friend even through all the madness.

 

 

~Present

 

                He’d been my best friend throughout all this, our closeness even managed to make his mate jealous; no matter how many times I tried to assuage her. He huffed through the link and I noticed he’d been peeking at me.

“Get out of your sad sap mood, the time for that is over. We need to focus-“

“Oh blah blah, when did you become the mature one?”

“Since never, I just need you to stop feeling so sorry for yourself; it’s stinking up the place.” I smiled and took my hand away from Urse’s.

“We should all get something to eat.” I said, standing up and ignoring the tremendous pain that it caused in my back and thighs. I’d need a really good shower and massage tonight if I was going to be in working shape tomorrow morning. We all stood, except for Leo and prepared to leave.

“Can one of you carry me there, I don’t think I have the energy to move.” I rolled my eyes at the desperation in his voice and shook my head. I heard Filly groan and knew she wouldn’t be able to leave him there.

“Aww, thanks sugar puss.” He said sweetly, before groaning again in pain.

“Told you not to call me that, countless times Leotis.”

“Gotcha, my bad for forgetting.” He said through clenched teeth and I fought the urge to laugh. My stomach rumbled and I realized how hungry I actually was. Leaving them behind I went to the dining hall, content to get my grub on.

 

 

                Ander met me at the dining hall with a knowing smile, he leaned up against the wall and stood up as I approached. He kissed my forehead and laid his arm around my shoulders.

“You OK today?” He asked softly as we entered, there were a few people here and they were mainly older mates. I nodded, grabbing the hand that was dangled and bringing me closer to him and I took a deep sniff of his scent.

“Better now, but I wasn’t that bad to begin with. I can handle myself against a couple of cats.” He huffed and handed me a plate before letting me go. I didn’t play around when it came to food, a hangry Luna was not a fun one. I stocked the plate with meat and potatoes, only putting on a little bit of vegetables before going to sit down. Ander sat next to me, providing me with his presence while I ate meant a lot. Putting down my plate, I sat on his lap and brought my plate together. He sent me a pointed look and I shrugged before shoving potatoes in my mouth.

“My butt hurts.” He huffed his disbelief and adjusted me on his lap to suit him, while I steadily shoved more food in my mouth. I watched as Vixie towed Ivan in behind her and as Louie watched from behind them with disdain.

“I can’t believe you haven’t had mashed potatoes before!” She yelled, her anger fake but dramatized to a larger scale.

“I have had potatoes before, da. I just haven’t had them mashed up before, is all. No big.” Ivan said, shrugging and walking at a steady pace. He was smilling at their hands and I grew interest but Ander tapped my shoulder and told me to eat through the link. I did, but slower than I had wanted to. My eyes flew to Louie and he was looking at the hands too but he was uncomfortable, I could tell.

“It’s no biggie, not no big.” Louie commented, crossing his arms and walking along as if he was the one that was being dragged. Vixie turned back quickly to glare at Louie before picking up a plate and plopping a healthy plateful of potatoes on it and dragging them to the nearest table. She sat near him, making Louie sit on the opposite side and just glare at the both of them.

“It is lumpy… from the potatoes, da?” He asked, picking up a spoonful and examining it.

“Yeah, and it’s made from the Gods’, so you don’t have to worry about it being yucky. It’s the perfect texture.” She said, shaking his arm in excitement. Her bright blue eyes were watching him closely and he looked at her.

“The potatoes, eat them. We were playing a rather enthralling game of Uno that I’d like to get back to.” His words were clipped and Vixie looked back at him, fire burning in her eyes. He wasn’t looking at her though, he was looking directly at Ivan.

“Whoa, chill out dude.” Ivan said, the lazy smile still on his face; he didn’t see Louie as a threat and I couldn’t blame him. Even as a cub, dragons were still lethal. All Louie was, was a little polar bear. His eyes narrowed dangerously and I could see his little body tensing up. I geared myself to stand up, things between us and the dragons were already tense enough as it was. We didn’t need a brawl to make things worse. Vixie stood up and quickly walked to the other side of the table, grabbing Louie’s arm and dragging him outside the dining room. I smirked and leand over the table, my curiousity not letting me drop whatever was about to happen. Ander gripped my abdomen and pulled me back, sticking his nose into the curve of my neck and took a deep sniff; a sweet warning. I looked back at him then and saw the amusement in his eyes, but also the concern. I smiled and purposefully loaded a spoonful and ate it.

“Happy?” He laughed and pressed a quick kiss to my lips. He grabbed my face and rubbed the circles under my eyes. A creature of the night I might be, but that didn’t mean that I was never tired and my body never showed it.

“Why haven’t you been sleeping?” He asked softly, his eyes the sincerest shade of blue I’d ever seen. I smiled and nudged him.

“I’ve been sleeping, it’s just the training that’s been kicking my ass is all. Not like I get a lot of sleep in general, then add the fact that I have to wake up early and go to sleep last means that sleep is halved. I’m fine.” I tried so hard to keep the lie out of it, and it had worked. It was so perilously close to being the actual truth that it I’d managed to bury the lie. He watched me closely and reached down to grab my hand, giving it a tight squeeze. He nodded and my wolf took a deep breathe, it was a risk to lie to your mate. They were always in your head, they knew what was right and what was wrong when it came to truth and lie. I finished up my plate, his hand still holding on to mine as we walked out.

“Why are you being such a dick?!” Louie’s eyes widened and he showed shock before his face was wiped clean.

“The pot calling the kettle black, and here I had so much high hopes for you.” He said, shaking his head and walking away, Vixie growled and grabbed his shoulder. She seemed hurt whe he pushed her hand away but covered it with anger.

“What’s your fucking problem?”

“You!” He turned around and his eyes were black and wide, he’d snapped. Luckily he wouldn’t attack her, of that I was sure.

“Ever since dragon boy got here you’ve been acting… different.” Her mouth popped open and her face reddened, she lokoed down and rubbed her arm.

“No I haven’t.” She was timid, and it was a new look for her.

“Yes, you have, and I don’t think I like it anymore. You used to be cool, but now it’s just… look, I don’t have a problem with dragon boy. I do have a problem with losing our friendship over him though. That doesn’t seem very fair to me.” His eyes bled back to blue and he looked embarrassed.

“Sorry.” She said softly, and Ander dragged me away from them.

“Don’t peek on them, love. It isn’t fair.”

 

 

                We went through our nightly schedule, we each took our own shower and met up in my room showered and ready for sleep. His skin was smooth, his chest bare and his legs clad with sweatpants. He was sitting on my bed, his elbows on his knees and his eyes serious. I cocked my head and asked with my expression, I didn’t want to go through his