Page 14 of Poison

You have to keep going, no matter how much pain you’re in!

I frantically swipe at my eyes, trying to clear the sweat running into them. The burning pain in my legs has me biting into my lip as I sluggishly move my feet. The mantra ofleft foot, right foothas me moving—granted, not as fast as I could be, but I have never felt this much pain… ever. The sheer force of will it is taking to keep going is draining me rapidly. I’m desperately trying to keep my senses alert because I can’t see a damn thing, but I don’t want to fall head-first down a hill or into a tree or something. Even Rico sounds like a freight train next to me, the same force driving me must be driving him too. I just hope to the gods that we get to the end soon and that we’re going the right way.

“Pick it up, you two!” Ajax booms from somewhere, but his voice is so distorted I can’t hear where it’s roughly coming from.

I swipe at my eyes again, but it doesn’t do a damn thing and my vision is stilled blurred. I can’t be sure if it’s from the sweat, or because with every stride I take the pain I’m in is causing actual tears.

“Rico?” I push between my teeth. The sound is wheezy to my own ears. “You there?”

“Y-yeah,” he replies, his own breathing sounding heavier than it was before. My legs slow as I try to take in as much air as my lungs will allow, but it’s not much.

“I can’t do this,” I say, a sob following when my legs start to shake. I yelp, my foot snagging on something and I stumble forward, my legs moving a touch faster to try and keep myself on my feet. I fall, landing face first on the floor, and that’s all it takes for the floodgates to open. I lay there, sobbing into the ground, my body feeling like it’s been hit with a truck. What am I doing here? Why would she be so cruel to send me here?

“Time!” I hear the words echoing throughout the area, but I can’t catch my breath between my crying and the pain, I’m a complete mess. Rolling over onto my back, my eyes open and the grey sky welcomes me like a friend. The first drop of rain lands on my cheek; the ice-cold rolling down my overheated flesh would have been so welcome while I was running. My chest rises and falls rapidly as I continue to lay there, my tears finally drying up. Thunder rumbles overhead and one drop turns into two.

“What the hell are you doing down there?” Ajax snipes, standing over me and blocking out the sky with his size.

“I can’t do this,” I whine. My body begins cooling as the cold rain hits against my skin and I welcome the feeling. “You and I both know I’m not meant to be here.”

“Wow!” he scoffs, folding his arms across his chest. My eyes track the movement and, damn, I didn’t realise how stacked he was. His bronze skin glistens with the rain, my eyes widening as a blush spreads across my cheeks when I notice he hasn’t got a shirt on. “I never thought you would be a whiner.”

“I’m not,” I whine.Shit!I really thought I was better than this, but everything here is sending me into a tailspin. He stares at me with a smug look on his face, I know he’s thinkingpoint proven.“C’mon, Ajax, I’m not going to make it here, we both know it,” I say with a defeated tone.

“Get up,” he demands. I look up at him through squinted eyes because the rain is really coming down now. “Poison, get your arse up!” I open my mouth to argue. “Don’t even think about making an excuse. You’re here, so you may as well make the most of it.”

“I’m a dud,” I say quietly. “I’m not worthy of anything from the gods, that’s why I haven’t got any powers.” A sob escapes. It’s all too much. I thought I had my little dud life all figured out, and now this is literally going to kill me. I push myself up so I’m sitting upright with my legs firmly pulled into my chest, and I rest my head on my knees as the emotions steam roll me.

“Are you a Draken?” he demands. I shake my head; I don’t know what I am but if I was truly a part of the Draken Clan, I wouldn’t be like this. “Poison, look at me!” My head whips up on instinct at the command, and his eyes are dark as he glares down at me, his nostrils flaring. “Do you want your powers?”

“Yes,” I say with a shaky breath, my body shaking violently from the now too-cold rain as it continues to hammer us. “Of course I want my powers, I want to fit into the world I know. My family, my frie—”

“Get your arse out of the dirt and finish the damn run,” he snaps. “Do you think your powers are going to manifest if you lie here whining like a child?” he rumbles angrily. I shake my head because I know he’s right. “You need to be stronger than you ever knew you could be, get your arse up and finish this fucking run with me now!”

The command washes over me, and I’m powerless to ignore it. I turn onto my hands and knees, tears escaping from the edges of my eyes at the pain, and I grit my teeth as I push myself up to standing, a hiss escaping me and the world spinning once I’m on my feet.

“I don’t think I can.”

He growls and I shudder at the sound. I couldn’t figure out what he was before. But now with the alpha command, and this, he is definitely a wolf shifter.

“One foot in front of the other, Draken, that’s all you need to do.” Ajax towers over me and his words whip around inside my head along with all the hurtful things my aunt has said throughout my life.

“Use it,” he demands like he knows what I’m thinking, and my nostrils flare as everything becomes too much.

My legs collapse beneath me and I’m a heap on the floor. I push my fingers into the ground, moving them through it like warm butter. The torment I have suffered over the years, all the pain that comes with hiding my emotions so nobody could use it against me. Losing my parents and having to live with someone who hates me, and the worst pain of all is the anguish I feel at not being worthy.

“Do it!”

My head tips to the sky, anger and determination hitting me full force, so I follow his command.

“Arrrrrggggggggh!” my scream splits the air. It echoes through the sky as I continue to pour everything into it, and lightening cuts through the air, thunder clapping louder than before. It’s like the sky is answering my scream with a reply of its own.

A feeling of calm washes over me as the air becomes absent of my scream. Even the storm has calmed, the thunder rumbling every so often but not as loudly as it was before. My chest is heaving and I drop my chin to my chest, enjoying the relief of the emptiness now at my core. The rain continues to beat down around me, and the cold of the water hitting my heated skin is heaven.

“What was that?”

My head snaps up, eyes going wide when I find Ajax staring at me with wide eyes.

“What?” I ask in confusion. I notice the training field is deathly silent. I scan the area finding some of the students staring at me, and Mr Haims watching me with a smirk on his face.

---