(Picture of Lucy's outfit to the side ===>>>)

Chapter 21 – Is he being serious?

Lucy’s POV

Silence: that’s what follows Jess’s little (more like gigantic) revelation. A shocked and tense silence that seems to stretch on for forever until Amy breaks it.

“… Are you sure?” she asks, seemingly not knowing what else to say, and I’m pretty much the same.

What the hell are we supposed to say to that? This is a whole new level of messed up, it’s even worse than me and Justin being paired up together.

“Yeah…” Jess replies slowly. “It’s weird. It’s like, as soon as you see them, you just know,” she looks over at me, “right?”

I slowly nod my head in confirmation, thinking back to the day I found out that I was predestined to be with Justin. I remember exactly what it was like… the way my usually quiet wolf stirred simply at the sight of him, the way I just couldn’t get enough of his intoxicating scent…

I knew immediately that it was him.

Thinking back to a few minutes ago, I suddenly realise what Jess was saying.

“Hey, do you guys smell that…?”

Smell, she could smell his scent!

The reality of the situation crashes down on me like a ton of bricks. This is no mistake. For whatever fucked up reason, fate has deemed it reasonable to try and hook up my best friend with a rogue!

“Fuck!” Jess gasps, her hands reaching up to cover her nose and mouth in horror. You can visibly see her doing her best to push back her emotions, but I notice that her eyes still start to tear up. Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s just come to terms with the reality of the situation. “Oh my god…”

“Hey,” I murmur, keeping my voice as calm as possible and pulling her into a much-needed hug. “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”

“This is so fucked up,” she complains, pulling away from me again. “It’s not fair!”

Neither I nor Amy deny it, she’s completely right.

“No one can know,” she declares, looking at both of us. “You can’t tell anyone.”

I share a look with Amy, both of us not knowing how to go about this.

A Pack member having a bond with a rogue? Even if it isn’t an intentional bond, it’s still a pretty vital piece of information.

“Lucy?” Jess questions, panic evident in her voice when she notices my reluctance. “Please. They can’t find out, you know how they’ll react!”

That’s true. They’ll make her life a living hell. Maybe not all of them, but most of them will, there’s no doubt about it.

“Look, we don’t know that it’ll definitely be as bad as all that…” Amy points out. “Nothing like this has ever happened before.”

“Exactly!” Jess exclaims, her panic increasing. “This has never happened before. Hell, they’ll probably see it as some kind of treachery! I mean, come on, we’ve all seen what can happen, what happened to Lucy, do you really think they won’t just turn on me as well?”

“Okay,” I reply, completely understanding her logic. The Pack can be a real ass sometimes. “Okay, we won’t tell anyone.”

“Thank you,” she sighs, relief immediately shining in her eyes.

“Do you have any idea what you’re going to do about it yet, though?” Amy asks, glancing back into the forest behind us.

“No,” Jess says glumly, looking completely lost.

“Well, hey, I mean you don’t have to figure it out right this second, do you?” I remind her, getting the distinct feeling that she wants this topic of conversation dropped as soon as possible (a feeling that I can definitely relate to).

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” she replies. “Let’s just go home.”

“Do you want him as a mate?” Amy questions as we start to walk, and I give her a look that clearly states she’s an idiot.

As awesome as Amy is, she really can be persistent at times, often to the point that it gets annoying.

“What?” she asks when she catches my look. “I’m just asking.” I roll my eyes.

“He’s a rogue,” Jess says with a shrug in answer to the question.

“And?” Amy replies. “You say that like it answers everything, but it doesn’t. Just because he’s a rogue doesn’t mean you can’t pair off with him. I mean, just think about how romantic it would be, you running off to meet him in the middle of the night, kind of like Romeo and Juliet.”

“That is a horrible analogy!” I say in disbelief, glancing over at her as if she’s insane.

“How is it? Romeo and Juliet is like the most romantic story ever, it totally ties with the titanic!”

“Yeah, if you cut out the fact that in both films both couples die!” I exclaim.

“Okay…” she reforms slightly, “so maybe the endings are pretty tragic, but if you cut the ends off then they’re still totally romantic, especially Romeo and Juliet.”

“Amy…” Jess groans. “Just drop it for now, yeah?”

“No-”

“I’ll give Dean your number…” I threaten, which instantly causes her to backtrack.

“Okay, okay, I’ll drop it,” she says quickly, holding her hand            s up in surrender. “But seriously Jess, don’t just rule him out just because he’s a rogue.”

And, with those final last words, she stops talking, leaving us all to walk home in silence.

***

Training starts at seven o’clock sharp so, when Jess Amy and I all enter the clearing at five to, I’m not surprised to see that everyone else is already here.

The clearing itself is fairly big, I suppose, and it’s always been used for Pack training, whether it was compulsory to attend or not. There’s plenty of room to spread out (making it less of a possibility for someone to accidentally hit another without meaning to) and the entire area is surrounded by a heavy coating of trees (meaning it’s safely hidden away from prying eyes). Overall, it’s pretty useful.

Altogether, there are a total of eighteen of us here (including Justin and Dean), so it’s a pretty big group. The way that the training schedule has panned out is like this: Everyone aged sixteen and above has to take part in the training, but we’re split into two groups. Whilst Justin and Dean teach us teens, David and Wayne teach the adults. Our session is at seven every day, whilst the other group train from nine to eleven.
Nobody’s really sure how long this training is going to go on for. I guess it’s just until David believes we’re all ready and calls it off. Glancing around, I begin to get the feeling that it might take quite a while, a few weeks at least, to get this group prepared. I mean, I don’t really see Melisa being any good at fighting, do you?

Looking over at her, I’m unsurprised to find her stood over by Justin and (as per usual) flirting her ass off. Rolling my eyes in exasperation, I quickly take note of her hot pink sweat shorts, tight white crop top and white tennis shoes. She looks a lot more like she’s about to do a Zumba workout than actual Pack training, if you ask me.

Looking around, I notice a few of the other girls dressed in similar outfits, but there are also a few that are wearing more suitable clothing. I, myself, decided to just throw on a pair of light grey sweatpants, a baggy white tank top with a pair of red lips on the front, and my usual converse.

Jess is being unusually quiet, and it doesn’t take a genius to realise that she’s still shaken up about earlier, not that I can really blame her. Today has just been plain down weird (especially for her) and it’s a lot to try and wrap your head around. From what I can gather, she’s trying to do her best to just avoid the situation, pretending that this afternoon never even happened. I’m pretty sure she knows that at some point she’s going to have to deal with it so, for now, I’m deciding to just let her have this last bit of normality before everything explodes into chaos as it most likely will.

“So, are you going over to say hi to Justin?” Amy asks with a smirk.

“No,” I reply simply. “Why would I?”

“Well,” she says, her voice way too innocent to be believable. “Surely you need to report back on what Beck told us earlier?”

I sigh.

Goddammit, she’s kind of right.

“Fine,” I mutter, ignoring the smug look that takes over her face as I slowly make my way over to where Justin and Melisa stand.

As I approach, I can’t help but overhear the obnoxiously loud flirty laugh that belongs to none other than Melisa herself, and resist the urge to roll my eyes. Some of the girls in this Pack are so pathetic. I mean, come on, she just screams desperation! And it’s not just her either, pretty much every single girl (even the human ones) would be prepared to drop whatever boyfriend they hold at the time to have just one chance with Justin. Like I said: pathetic.

“Lucy, hey,” Justin greets, standing up a little straighter when he notices me approaching.

“Hey,” I reply, keeping my tone light and polite despite the glare that Melisa is sending my way. “Not interrupting anything, am I?”

“No!” Justin says quickly, at the same time that Melisa practically snaps a “yes.”

Raising my eyebrows at their obvious miscommunication, I decide to stay quiet to avoid any more awkwardness being added to the mix.

Jeez, this apparently wasn’t the best time to walk over.

“What the hell are you still doing here?” she asks, sounding highly irritated. “Go away.”

“Oh, I actually have to talk to Justin, so…” I trail off, the levels of awkwardness rising by the second.

“Please,” she scoffs, rolling her eyes, “as if you actually have a chance with him.”

Oh, she did not just go there…

I’m not actually quite sure what surprises me more, the fact that she immediately came to the conclusion that I’m trying for a ‘chance with him’, or the fact that she voiced her opinion right in front of him.

“You know, Melisa, not everyone is a desperate slut like you,” I reply, sending a verbal bitch-slap right back at her.

Her eyes widen in surprise at my words, apparently not having expected my comeback, and I notice out of the corner of my eye how Justin’s lips briefly quirk in amusement.

“Are you seriously going to let her talk to me like that?” she demands, turning to him in disbelief and anger.

He shrugs, leaning back against a tree and folding his arms. “Well, I mean, she’s not wrong,” he replies with a shrug, and now it’s my turn to be surprised.

Did he seriously just insinuate that she’s a slut?!

Apparently so if the way her mouth drops in shock is any indication.

Holy shit…

After a few seconds of her seemingly waiting for him to take it back, she stamps her foot in anger and storms off.

“Well, that was interesting,” Justin says, removing my focus from the retreating Melisa and bringing it back to him.

“Yeah…” I agree, not really knowing what else to say.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” he asks.

“I managed to go and see Beck earlier,” I reply, immediately gaining his full attention.

“What did you find?”

“He thinks that the people in town are possibly being threatened. They’re not as willing to talk as they were to start with and Beck reckons that we won’t be able to rely on them for much longer. The only way we’ll get any real information is if we spy on the rogues ourselves.”

“Shit,” he mutters and I smile apologetically, hating to be the bearer of bad news. “Okay, thanks, I’ll have to tell my dad later.”

Nodding in reply, I swiftly make my way back to where Amy and Jess stand, ignoring a few of the looks I receive on the way.

“What’s up with Melisa? She’s on a complete rampage,” Jess asks as soon as I get into hearing range.

“I’ll tell you later,” I reply with an amused smirk.

By this point, Justin and Dean have both taken up position at the front of the clearing, drawing everyone’s attention to them.

“Right,” Justin begins, and a few people gather around a bit closer. “To start off this training we’ll be starting from the very basics, so we’ll be staying in human form for the full two hours. First we’ll be going through some simple but effective offence and defence moves, which Dean and I will both demonstrate, and then you’ll be getting into partners to try them out yourselves.”

Great, having to pair up when there are three of us, it’s just like being in P.E. at school.

As soon as Justin’s finished with his explanation and has answered any and all questions, he gives Dean a quick nod and they begin on the demonstrations, talking us through the movements step-by-step. Obviously, some of the people here already know this stuff, but not everyone does and so we all still pay close attention.

Once he’s gone through all of the basic blocks and attacks, he orders us to try it in our pairs. Immediately, people start to pair up and set to work, whilst Jess Amy and I all just look at each other, silently trying to decide who the odd one out is going to be.

The dilemma, however, is quickly solved when the two sisters both turn to look at each other with identical smirks (identical smirks that looks way too evil for my liking).

“Hey, why don’t you go over and work with Justin, Luce?” Amy suggests, still smirking. “I mean, Dean looks pretty preoccupied with helping Stacy, so you might as well go and keep him company…”

“You’re both diabolical,” I reply flatly, making it clear that I’m not impressed. Glancing over at Dean, I notice that she’s right… from the looks of it Stacy isn’t even able to punch correctly, meaning he’ll be quite a while with her.

Neither Amy nor Jess replies, they both just back away slowly before turning around and ditching me completely. Great. Just great.

I stand for a few seconds unsure of what to do now. There’s no doubt that Justin just saw that whole thing, but I also don’t want to give my friends the satisfaction of watching me and Justin train together for the next two hours, so this time I find myself caught in a completely different dilemma.

Once again, though, the decision seems to be made for me before I even register what’s going on.

“Wow, I can’t believe they just left you out to dry like that,” Justin says, coming up beside me and sounding highly amused.

“I know, me neither,” I reply, slightly dully, and deciding to ignore his obvious amusement. “My friends suck,” I finally conclude with a frown after a few more seconds.

He laughs in reply, taking hold of my wrist and gently towing me to a slightly more secluded part of the clearing, and I can’t help but throw a self-conscious look over at the others to see if anyone’s noticed. Luckily, most of them are too concerned with their own training to be bothered with what Justin or I are up to, but I still notice the smug smile that Amy is currently sending my way. I quickly reply with a look that obviously says ‘you are so going to pay for this’ before turning back to look at Justin, and find him taking note of what I’m currently wearing. Watching as his eyes slowly trail down to my converse, my arms automatically cross over my chest awkwardly when he lets out a small chuckle.

“Sticking to the converse even in training?” he asks, looking back up to meet my eyes.

Giving a small shrug, I force my arms to relax back to my sides once more. “The way I figure it is, if I run into a rogue in human form, then I’ll most likely be wearing them anyway,” I explain.

He considers this for a few seconds before giving a shrug of his own. “Can’t really argue with that logic,” he admits.

“Nope,” I reply, popping the ‘P’ slightly.

“So, how good are you with fighting?” he asks, getting down to business.

“Not very,” I admit with a shrug, looking over at Melisa and watching her fail miserably. “But I’m most definitely better than her. Beck’s taught me a few things, like how to punch and a few different blocks, but that’s about it.”

He nods at that with a slight frown for a few seconds, before his features smooth back out and he says the two words that I never thought I’d hear him say to me.

“Punch me.”

Now it’s my turn to frown slightly.

Is he being serious?

“Come on…” he says with a slight smirk, moving his arms out into an open gesture. “We both know you want to…”

Okay, so I can’t really deny that.

After a few more seconds of contemplating, I decide to take him up on the offer and do as he says, bringing my fist back and aiming it directly at his face. When my fist is about halfway towards contact, he swiftly catches it in his hand to inspect the position and strength that I’m using.

“Good,” he says, sounding slightly impressed as he realises that I’m not about to break my thumb or anything stupid. “Again.”

And that, right there, is how my training begins, with Justin getting me to attack him but blocking me before I can actually cause any damage. I try to switch things up a bit, with me throwing in different attacks that were demonstrated in the beginning to try and catch him out, but it never seems to work. Every single time he seems to be one step ahead of me, which only gives me more focus and determination. Eventually, it gets to the point that I forget about all the other people around us, no longer caring if they’re watching or not.
After almost an hour of this, my arms are starting to ache but I’m still able to keep going, and Justin decides to switch to offense so I immediately go onto defence.

“Shouldn’t you be helping the others?” I question, slightly out of breath, as I block one of his attacks and move his punch off course.

“Nah, Dean seems to have it covered,” he replies, briefly looking over my shoulder at the others. I quickly follow suit, and am unsure on whether to be surprised or not when I find Dean training with none other than my best friend. Jess is a little way away from the two, training with a seventeen year old called Andrew, and they both seem to be getting along just fine.

Turning my head back around to look at Justin, I notice that he’s already watching me, and I can’t help but frown slightly.

“What?” I ask.

“What are you doing tomorrow?” he suddenly asks, which only confuses me further.

“Um… nothing that I’m aware of,” I reply. “Why?”

Tomorrow is the first free Sunday that I’ve had in a while, and I was planning on making the most of it by sleeping in until midday.

“Do you, uh…” he trails off and rubs the back of his neck nervously, which only causes my curiosity to grow. Justin Detroit being nervous is an extremely rare occurrence, meaning it never happens, ever. “Do you fancy going on a run?”

I take a short while to process the question.

“Going on a run… with you?” I ask, feeling the need to clarify.

“Yeah…” he replies slowly. “I mean, there’s kind of something I want to show you so…”

I think about it for a little while before deciding that there’s no harm. I mean, it might even do us both some good. It’d be nice to get away from this rogue problem for a while, anyway.

“Sure,” I say with a shrug, watching the slight surprise that takes over his features.

“Really?” he asks.

“Yep,” I reply, “but I plan on staying in bed for quite a while so…”

“Just text me whenever you’re ready to set out,” he suggests.

“Alright,” I agree and, with that, we swiftly get back to training.

Well, that was… interesting…

(Hey guys! Sorry for the fairly long wait but, here it finally is, chapter 21! :D I hope you like it, it took me quite a while to write because i struggled a little at some parts but i hope it's still worth reading. Don't forget to leave me your thoughts down in the comments, either of what you think of the story so far or what you think is going to happen next, i don't mind. Any and all comments are appreciated :) Also, thank you for voting, it means a lot!!! 

I'm not sure when the next chapter will be up exactly, i'm aiming for hopefully Friday but in reality it'll probably be more like Saturday or Sunday depending on how long i take to write it haha. I can tell you that it'll definitely be another Lucy POV, though. I've got the next few chapters planned out and the next Justin POV wont be until chapter 26. 

Anyways, i'm pretty sure that's all that i have to say for now :) thanks again for any support shown to this story, i think it's awesome that you like OMEGA so much! Byee!)