Chapter 3

"Nock!" Xavier's booming voice orders over the felines' roars that are fighting against each other.

I take the custom-made red arrow from the leather quiver resting on my back and place it on my dark bow. Rangers besides me take their aims, each with different weapons.

I love training; ever since the war ended, more solitary werecats decided to join us, which means more work-out had to be done, but I don't mind. It's not only useful to keep a healthy lifestyle but also to defend yourself from strangers.

Our training session is divided into three groups. The first one concentrates on the human side, and the second on the feline. Both finish off by learning how to fight from a close range. That's when the third one comes into the picture. It was created for those who are better at fighting from a distance, also known as Rangers.

Cardboard human silhouettes are a few feet away from us. I slow down my breathing and glance at Xavier, whose eyes are already set on me.

"Draw!" he yells to me, and I fully draw back the arrow, focusing back on the cardboard.

Xavier stays silent for a moment, making my arm start to burn for the static position. I peek at the others, seeing a few arms shaking as they hold the heavy, different types of guns.

"I can see you shake Jason!" Xavier yells, receiving a curse from the redhead feline.

"For fuck's sake, let us fire this shit," another guy voice says. I purse my lips, holding back the laugh that wanted so badly to come out. Meanwhile, my arms are starting to shake.

Xavier laughs at us before finally giving us the order to shoot. I breathe in one last time before releasing the arrow and watch it fly away from me, hitting the heart of the cardboard.

The sound of multiple guns firing soon ring in my ears. Most of the shots went perfectly.

"Perfect! Now I want the gunmen up on the roof, find the objective I put far away from here, and shoot it. There are ten objectives in total, ranging from a plastic bottle on top of a tree to a cardboard human, imperfect hiding in the woods," Xavier says. Everyone around me walks away, leaving me alone.

"Archers! Well... Archer," he murmurs seductively on my ear. I roll my eyes, turning around and pushing him off, putting some distance.

"We're training," I say with narrowed eyes.

"Look around, everyone's training," he says, taking a step ahead.

I glance around, seeing on my left some felines fighting each other while others are staying in their human form doing the same thing. Looking up to the roof of the stone-built villa, I catch the gunmen searching for the objectives.

"I need training as well," I say turning around, and picking another arrow, smoothly drawing it back and loose it, watching it hit the center of my objective.

"You've mastered the bow, so you're your own master at this point. My knowledge for archery doesn't compare to yours," he says, standing beside me with crossed arms.

I keep loosening my arrows until none are left in the quiver with Xavier silently watching me.

The last shots didn't go perfectly, and I blame my weak, burning arms for it. I should train them more.

"What are you thinking about?" I ask, lowering my bow.

"Do you think we'll be attacked by another pack?"

I glance at him before looking away from his gaze. "If you think about it, werecats went into hiding because of Alpha Riven. He controlled half of America, but now he's dead, and our country got equally divided to prevent different species from killing each other. I don't think someone will attack us. Plus, if they do it, the Creatures Council promised us that they'll do everything in their power to stop it."

Xavier snorts. "Creatures Council, huh? They didn't lift a finger with the pack that attacked us, and you expect them to protect us from others?"

"That's because Richard told them to stay put," I say, shrugging my shoulders.

The Creatures Council is a system that was created decades ago to stop upcoming wars between different species. Each species has a pack, a clowder, a coven, whatever you want to call it, that controls a particular territory.

Each continent has different rules. For America, each species controls a state, such as the Oregon Harrison Pack, that owns part of the Oregon State. The other part belongs to another werewolf pack.

For each species, there's one person who's part of the Creatures Council that represents them.

Since the werecats have gone into hiding, we have no one inside the Council yet. Hopefully, someone powerful enough will become Head of Werecats soon.

A warm presence pulls me back from the little history moment, and I look down, seeing a pair of inked arms circling my waist.

"After lunch, I want to continue our TV show," Xavier softly says.

I chuckle, nodding. "That's fine by me, but now, let's go back to training."

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅

Everything was going great until a certain someone decided to piss me off.

Lunch at the clowder is made in a large dining room filled with round wooden tables and eight matching chairs. I eat with my closest friends, but lately, a wench has been way too passive-aggressive toward me for no reason whatsoever.

"I mean, what kind of best friends sleep in the same bed?" dear old Nala asks before shutting her pretty plump lips with raw meat.

"Where's that even coming from?" Kai pipes in, giving her a disbelief look.

I smile, wiping with my napkin the sauce stain on the corner of my lips.

"Yeah, Nala, tell us more about it," I say, receiving a deadpan look from her.

She sighs, pushing back her long dark box braids from her shoulders. "I'm just saying that it's weird for a guy and a girl to be only sleeping in the same bed."

"That's pretty closed-minded of you, don't you think?" Kai asks, lifting his straight dark eyebrow, contrasting perfectly with his pale complexion.

Nala shakes her head. "Nah, I don't believe in friendship between a man and a female."

"Alright, now that's ridiculous. What do you think we are?" I ask, pointing to everyone sitting with us.

"We're friends, but I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if something happened between Kai and me, for example, when we're alone," she says.

Kai's lips turn into a smirk as his almond-shaped eyes are twinkling in happiness. "Good to know," he retorts, receiving an eye roll from Nala.

"Just tell us the truth, woman," Xavier speaks up with a pissed-off look.

Nala clenches her jaw, her dark eyes glistening with tears. "Fine. Are you and Alexa fucking?"

My eyebrows shoot up as Xavier leans against his chair, lazily putting his arm around mine. "Why do you care? You and I only fucked once, Nala, and I told you not to get attached to me," he says.

Nala bitterly laughs. "So, you did it. I should have known."

Huh?

I drop my fork and cross my arms over my chest. "Okay, first of all, we did not fuck. Second, what the hell is that supposed to mean?"

The girl in front of me is a complete stranger. I don't recognize her anymore. Is that what a one-night stand looks like? Because damn, losing a friend over a guy is just pathetic.

Nala openly glares at me, and I mimic her with as much hatred. "I'm saying that it's obvious that you guys are into each other. Plus, you're known to be possessive with literally every guy you sleep with."

"That's not true," I retort, shaking my head.

"We're just friends," Xavier adds with his jaw clenching, and his eyes are glowing a deep, yellow color.

Nala rolls her eyes. "Oh, please, so you don't mind me sleeping with, what was his name? Sam, I believe?"

I can't help but glower at her as my nails elongate and my ears turn into my tiny feline. Red pointy ears are perked up, and I figure my eyes must be glowing by Nala's wide-eyed look.

Sam is a guy I used to sleep with, but he ended things because he was sick of having Xavier always around us. So yeah, maybe Nala is right. I don't like sharing, especially with my friends, but she doesn't need to know about it. Plus, I told her that the guys I sleep with are off-limits, so I don't get why she's bringing it up. It's nothing new.

A hand touching my ear snaps me back, and I look at Xavier petting it.

The inner feline in me happily purrs. My cat is known as a red Somali Cat, also known as the fox cat. That's the only reason why I named her Foxy.

She doesn't talk much, and she usually lets me know about her moods through purring, hissing, and meows.

Domesticated felines are different from the big ones.

"Alexa?"

I blink my eyes and focus on Xavier, who is looking at me with a confused look. I release a calming breath and lean into his touch.

"It's so obvious," Nala says under her breath before finishing her last piece of meat.

Xavier groans at that. "Look," he starts, and then, as if a bucket of water has been thrown at me, his lips touch mine.

My eyes are wide. I'm frozen in place as Xavier pulls away. "See that face?" He points at me. "That's the face of someone who just got kissed for the first time by me. Now shut the fuck up, and finish your damn lunch."

Nala falls quiet, and our cute little Asian boy, also known as Kai, changes the subject for us.

It was just a peck, but I can still feel his soft lips on mine. Nervously, I glance at Xavier, finding him already looking at me. He quickly looks away and scoots a little bit away from me. Meanwhile, my heart is drumming against my ribcage.

What the hell did he just do?

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