Changing Fates: A Sons of Satrina Novel (The Sons of Satrina Book 3) (19 page)

BOOK: Changing Fates: A Sons of Satrina Novel (The Sons of Satrina Book 3)
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Chapter Sixteen

 

Aisline was thoroughly looking forward to seeing what Jackson had planned for them on their day off. She had no idea. It was like they could actually go somewhere and doing something, like a real date. Although that would be pretty difficult. On their day off, they didn’t actually have to stay on the property, but she knew that there was no way that the warriors would allow them to go into the city unsupervised, especially after the abduction. Plus, the snow wouldn’t make it easy to travel anywhere, so whatever he had planned would have to be on the mansions ground.

She’d woken up slightly later than usual. It was blissful not to have to wake up with the screeching alarm, lazing in bed and not being in a rush to get the day started. Last night, it had felt like a real luxury to not have to set it, determined to enjoy every second of this unexpected time off from the moment Kelton had granted it. Ash couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a lie-in. It was way before she’d started at the academy, that’s for sure.

Obviously, she hadn’t been the only one to have the idea of making the most of the rare day off. The boys had fun enjoying their gaming time, staying up late. She knew that they were all planning on having a lazy morning, relishing the extra sleep to recharge their batteries.

The trainees ate at specific times, which was designed to make it easier on the kitchen staff to keep up with food preparation. The academy had to cater for so many people that it was a wonder that they had all pulled off eating together at Christmas. Funnily enough, Ray the head chef, told Ash in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t do that kind of thing more than once a year. He’d gotten so stressed out but he had to admit that it was worth it to see so many happy faces. By the time Aisline had gotten dressed and made herself look somewhat presentable and got down to the dining hall for breakfast, the place was bustling with some of the older students who were grabbing mountains of food before heading out to training.

Sitting down with her tray of food, some of the other guys in her class walked in wearing their casual clothes, waving over to her. When some of the older students asked her why she wasn’t in training yet, she explained about Kelton giving them the day off. She’d half expected them to be annoyed, but funnily enough, that wasn’t the case.

“It’s about time, too.” Kyron said, laughing.

“What do you mean?” Ash looked up puzzled as she poked at her food, unsure where to start with the mountain of deliciousness she’d piled up.

“Well, we’re not blind. Kelton’s been running you all into the ground. It’s pretty obvious to anyone that if he didn’t let up on you lot soon, it was going to end ugly. Even we’d struggle with that level of training and we’ve been doing it a lot longer than you lot.”

“It’s not been that bad.”

Kyron laughed again. “Don’t be daft. You all look exhausted.” He reached over to grab a glass of milk. “You know that every single guy that comes into this place hopes that they’ll have Kelton, the master of his trade, training them and guiding us through the years. I can honestly say that I for one am grateful that I’m not in your class. What he’s been putting you through has been brutal.”

Ash grinned over at him. It was totally true what he was saying, she just didn’t realise that everyone else could see it too. In a way, it made her feel proud. The other guys at the academy had seen what Kelton had been throwing at them and they’d see the group battling their way through it. She saw a new found respect in the faces of those trainees she was sitting with and it was hard to keep the smile off her face.

 

Now that she was back up in her room, waiting for Jackson, she couldn’t wait for the day to start. There was a restlessness in her bones, her body used to being active by this time of day, but she was enjoying the unexpected relaxation. Even just sitting there on her bed and waiting for Jackson gave her body time to get over the abuse she’d been giving it for months since she’d started her training.

She and Jackson had both been so consumed by their training schedule and their desire to be the best they could be that it was easy for them to forget that they had something else to work on. Being a relationship meant building foundations, looking to the future, but sometimes they were so blinded by their training that they didn’t give each other enough time to build those things. Relationships didn’t come easily, especially in that kind of environment, but they both really wanted to make it work for them. Today was going to go a long way to helping that.

She couldn’t wait to be alone with him. They needed that down time to just relax and be together. Hell, she was just looking forward to a day of not feeling so exhausted that she fell into bed at the end of the day, feeling like a zombie.

The shock of the warrior mark had thrown her for a loop, turning her entire life on its ass. She’d left her old life behind her and had embraced everything the Sons of Satrina had to offer her. The training came easier to her than she thought it would, or at least it had until Kelton had upped the pace to a nearly impossible level. But even then, she’d managed to hold her own most of the time.

But, even though she had thrown herself whole-heartedly into this new life, she wasn’t blind or stupid. She was a girl, after all, and she was now living with hundreds of fit and sexy male trainees and warriors, but it was Jackson who had caught her eye from the very beginning. She still wasn’t sure what it was that had called to her, but from that moment, it was all about Jackson for her.

It hadn’t been an easy ride for them. There had been mutual attraction, but reservations on both sides. They were worried about how a relationship would work in that kind of place, how it would affect their training and vice versa. But, more importantly, it had been Jackson that had sensibly pulled away from her in the beginning. The thought of her going out into the real world, putting herself into dangerous situations and facing the enemy had almost been too much for Jackson to bear, making him pull away from her.

He’d been right, of course. When the field exercise that they’d gone out on had gone drastically wrong, his worst fears had played out before his very eyes. Aisline had ended up in the hands of the Lamia Mortuorum, at the mercy of those vile creatures that they tried to protect the world from. However, as bad as that whole experience had been for both of them, they’d gotten through it and it was what had finally brought them together.

Aisline had done well to recover from everything that had happened to her during the abduction, forcing herself to move forward and try to forget what they’d done to her. She’d spoken about what had happened to her, but the problem was now was that she wanted to forget and get past it. She didn’t want to let what happened to her define her. She was more than that. She was stronger than that.

Luckily, her vampire physiology helped to heal the physical wounds quickly, but it was the psychological scars that still haunted her. She did well to hide it from most people, but Jackson could see when she was struggling. He never pushed her to talk about it, knowing that by being there for her, he was doing everything she needed. Talking and going over and over what happened wouldn’t do her any good. Getting on with her life and making a success of herself would heal the wounds they’d inflicted on her.

Even training was a battle she had to fight to overcome. Back when she’d been healing from the physical wounds of the attack, they had pulled her from the training programme. It had been so hard for her to sit out and watch as the other guys advanced in their training. The warrior mark called to her, urging her to fight and protect. Sitting out was its own kind of torture for her. That’s why she couldn’t understand how Rhian was finding it so easy to dodge the training. The warrior mark held some kind of magic that made you want to train and prepare for the future, even when you felt like you were going to fall dead on your feet from exhaustion, you kept on going. It’s just how it was.

However, when they’d allowed her to start training with the others again, it had been just as bad, if not worse. Even though she knew the guys she was working with, it didn’t stop the chill of terror that threated to grip her when she was put in a defensive situation. All she could see in her mind’s eye were the faces of those vile creatures that had taken her, beaten, abused and violated her.

It was irrational. She knew that now and she knew that at the time, but as Doctor Phillippe and Kayleigh had explained to her, it was understandable. She’d been through a traumatic experience and anyone would have struggled with it. Not that it made it any easier for her to cope with, but Aisline appreciated them being there for her and explaining that what she was feeling wasn’t unusual.

It was getting better over time. She fought hard to get through it, to get past it. It had been a horrific time in her life, but she didn’t want it to affect the rest of her life. She didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of having that kind of hold over her future. That had taken something from her and she had to build on getting that back. She would not let them destroy her.

In a strange way, what they had done to her had made her a stronger person. She’d been through all the shit that they’d thrown at her and come out of it on the other side. Aisline would never go as far to say that she was grateful that it had happened, but it had made her into a better trainee. She was now a fighter. She was ready to protect everyone from those creatures, especially after seeing first-hand what they could do. It made all the training and the pain that she went through at the academy all worth it. If she could go out there and stop at least one person from going through what she had, then her job would be done.

But, it wasn’t only her position as a trainee warrior that had been affected by the whole attack. It was her personal life, too. There was no way you could go through something like that and come out of it unaffected. Every part of her body and mind would always remember what had been done to her, there was no taking that away. Every so often, someone would say something or do something that reminded her of that night and the shock of her froze her to the spot. That was one of the things she was working at overcoming. She didn’t want it to affect her like that. She wanted to get past that kind of thing and use only the memory to spur her on to protect those that she loved.

At the time, Kayleigh had been a constant support and someone she could speak to. Kayleigh was a never-ending source of comfort to her. There wasn’t many people that Ash could open up to like that, but Kayleigh was one of them. There was something about her that inspired confidence and you knew that whatever you said would remain with her, taking it to the grave. Now that Kayleigh wasn’t there anymore, Ash had to try and get on with things on her own. Of course, she knew that she could talk to Doctor Phillippe if she needed to, but it wasn’t the same. The doctor knew of the physical injuries she’d sustained and some of the psychological ones, but not everything. Ash didn’t have the emotional strength to open up that can of worms again. It would have been like ripping a scab off an old wound. Hurtful and pointless. She needed that like she needed a hole in the head.

She was at a point where the events were now buried and rarely saw the light of day. Ash didn’t feel right talking to Jackson about it. He didn’t know the full extent of what had gone down in that warehouse. He didn’t need to know about it. He’d seen the state of her when he’d come to the rescue, her own personal knight in shining armour. He could probably guess some of the things that had happened to her and was more than happy to take things slowly between them. It was another hurdle that she had to overcome, but Jackson was a constant support, never pushing her further or faster than she wanted to go.

Aisline wanted to forget, and to do that, she had to move forward. That was what she was hoping was going to happen today. She wanted them to move forward as a couple, something to bring them closer together. Not that she was ready to dive into bed with him, but a little more intimacy would go a long way to help her heal and to connect them on another level. She wanted Jackson’s touch to erase the memories of their hands on her. She wanted him to help heal her and forget.

Grinning to herself, Ash couldn’t wait any longer. She was ready to go. She’d even put on a little make-up and spent some time making sure that she looked different to how he saw her every single day. It wasn’t really like her to want to be all girly, but a slick of lip-gloss went a long way to making her feel more attractive. Jumping up from her bed, slinging her coat over her arm. She thought that it would be prudent to be prepared. Even though they couldn’t really go far, maybe he had decided on a romantic walk in the snow? She would love that. Smiling to herself, she made her way out of the room.

Jackson had said that he would come and collect her, but he was taking so long that she thought that she’d go and find him instead.

Jogging down the stairs, as soon as she reached Jackson’s room, she knocked on the door. There was no answer, so she knocked again.

“They’re not in there.”

Ash swung around to see Caleb and Rees standing behind her. She hadn’t heard them approach and her heart was beating fast.

“Do you know where Jackson is? And where’s Trey?”

“I’ve no idea where Trey is, but I just saw Jackson downstairs.” Rees smiled.

He was a good kid and fit in well with the rest of the guys at the academy. He was easy going, eager to learn and easy to get along with. Much easier than his uptight brother, Caleb, who Ash actually got on really well with. She saw another side to him that the others didn’t and knew how much of a struggle his life had been. It wasn’t easy for a shifter to come into this place and make it his home. That was something the two of them had in common. They’d both been thrown into this situation, feeling like fish out of water.

BOOK: Changing Fates: A Sons of Satrina Novel (The Sons of Satrina Book 3)
4.11Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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