Page 5

Bastian

I can’t wait to get back to Self-Defense to see my Firefly. She’s been on my mind since I saw her on Tuesday. Liam and I were almost the last ones to arrive at Professor Stone’s English class yesterday and as such there were no open seats anywhere near the shy nymph that had drawn all of my attention. Then when we got to Professor Goldman’s math class after lunch it was almost as if Liam was avoiding her as much as she was avoiding me. In short, I hadn’t had a single opportunity to talk to her, and it was starting to drive my inner beast mad.

That all changes today though, I will get her to talk to me. It is imperative I find out as soon as possible why she is denying our bond. My tiger is sure of it and I’m inclined to trust him because when I first got a whiff of her scent it reminded me of running through the woods back home and my tiger roared a definitive MINE through my mind. When I make it into the Self-Defense room, I draw up short.

Gone is the typical classroom from yesterday and in its place is a large open gym complete with padded floors and a variety of practice dummies. I scan the room before my eyes narrow in on my Firefly across the room. Her thick black hair is pulled up in a high ponytail. Her exposed neck is dying to be kissed. She’s breathtaking even being fully covered from her collar bone to her toes. I’m not sure why she wears gloves all the time but I am happy to see she’s traded out her usual ones for some full coverage sparring gloves.

I linger in the doorway longer than intended just admiring her from afar. She’s shorter than me only by half a foot or so and she has curves in all the right places. Her skin is light bronze, like she just got back from a beach vacation, even in early spring. When one of the girls she’s standing with makes her smile, my heart stutters. Never in my life have I seen a smile like that before. I finally understand what people mean when they say someone lights up a room and suddenly the urge to go to her is overwhelming. As I stride across the gym floor with a single purpose in mind I’m caught off guard when a hand whips out grabbing ahold of my bicep.

“Hey Cap! I thought I already told you, I called dibs on that one.” Trent’s smirk makes anger ripple under my skin.

“And I thought I told you not to fucking talk about her like that,” I growl at him yanking my arm from his grasp.

Professor Rains enters the room, breaking the tense moment and claps her hands drawing everyone’s attention.

“Alright everyone, nice to see that you all followed my instructions and came prepared for class today. Now find the person closest and pair up to start stretches. When we are done with those we are going to work on some basic holds and escapes.”

I groan realizing who I’m getting paired with.

“Looks like it’s you and me, Cap,” Trent says, bumping my shoulder, obviously oblivious to the fact that mere moments ago I was debating on how to best rip his throat out.

Once again I lose the opportunity to talk to my firefly as we work through the instructed stretches and techniques. When we are dismissed for the day my girl makes like her namesake and disappears out of sight faster than I can track. One blink and she’s gone. Again. The only trace left behind is the echo of her laugh and the faint pull in my chest.

I try to find her in the crowded corridor and fail. Sighing I sling my bag over my shoulder and make my way to the stadium for practice.

The last practice before our first game is brutal. You’d think after a month of intense all-day everyday training, Coach would give us a break. Hell, I guess he did. Since classes started, we’ve dropped to two practices a week on top of our conditioning. It’s like he thinks giving us the day off yesterday made us soft.

After our usual stretches, we split into groups. The outfielders head further out to the open grassy area and work on their throwing while the infielders run bases. As captain, I lead my group through the bases, my tiger begging to be let free as I haul ass around the diamond. My foot hits the bag at home and Derrick claps my shoulder.

“Not bad, Cap. Looking to break a record? Slow it down a little, you’re making the rest of us look bad.”

“You do that all by yourself, bud.” I smirk as I walk to the fence and grab my water bottle as Lucas starts his run.

“Pft. Ain’t nothing bad about the way I look. I meant the rest of ‘em.” He nods to the field.

Lucas is already rounding third when Axel takes off from home.

Damn it, Axel.

He should have started when Luc hit first. He’s going to slow the whole line down with that delay.

I get that not everyone can be as fast as me and my boys, but does he have to be so damn slow ? Elliott is up next and thankfully takes off at the perfect moment. Now let’s just hope he doesn’t overtake Axel, that’ll mean wind sprints for sure.

Lucas joins us and shakes his head as he reaches for his water.

“He’s gonna be the reason Coach makes us run sprints again,” Lucas grumbles before taking a big swig.

“Step it up, ladies! Gotta be faster than that when we play against the Shadowpeak Predators Saturday!” Coach Mace’s gruff voice carries across the field. He’s built like a brick wall and never seems to take his sunglasses off, no matter the weather.

“Better go show ‘em how it’s done.” Derrick puffs his chest out before taking his spot in line behind Liam.

Unlike Axel, Liam also has perfect timing and D follows suit. He’s not as fast as me or the twins, but he’s strong and the best catcher in the league.

“D! Watch out!” I yell as a ball sails through the air right at his head.

Fucking Hopper.

Derrick turns his head as he rounds third, breathing fire and turning the ball to ash seconds before it can slam into his face.

Hopper’s smirk melts away with the ball and I can smell his fear from here as D changes course and heads for him instead of home.

“Ashford! Get your ass back here!” Coach roars, running after him.

I’m already halfway across the infield and closing in on D fast, Liam and Lucas right behind me.

“We’ve got him, Coach!” I shout as I run past.

Coach Mace may be more than a few years older than me, but he can still hold his own. No doubt if he were in his prime, he would out run me any day. Lucky for D, I’ve got youth on my side as I reach him first.

“He’s not worth it, D!” I cut him off, blocking him from getting to the idiot kangaroo that’s currently hopping away.

Fucker can’t run for shit, but if I slow D down enough, he’ll be able to escape with his tail between his legs.

“It was an accident!” Trent cries as he retreats.

“Accident my ass. That was aimed straight at my head!” Derrick roars.

The twins surround us, helping me block Derrick.

“Calm down, bro. Let Coach handle it. You don’t need to get in trouble right before a game. We need you. I don’t give a shit if he gets benched. But where would we be without our star catcher?”

His nostrils flare as he takes deep breaths. Derrick and I have been best friends our entire lives. He’s not normally one to get so worked up. The guys and I razz him on the daily. But he doesn’t back down when someone comes after him or those he loves.

What the fuck was Trent thinking?

“Practice is over! Get him out of here, Rana. Hopper. My office. Now.” Coach growls through clenched teeth.

“You heard Coach. Let’s go.” I grab D’s shoulder and turn him around, not giving him any say in the matter.

Louder, I call to the rest of the team, “Don’t think this means you have the night off. Get to the gym and finish your workouts.”

“Ahh, man,” a few players grumble, but no one argues as they leave the field.

Derrick is back to his easy-going self before we make it to our dorm. We eat a dinner specially curated by the team’s nutritionist and then gather around the TV to watch the tapes of Shadowpeak’s players before they were recruited to the college team. It’s not long before we’re bored of it and Lucas turns his attention on me.

“What’s up with you?” Lucas asks.

My eyes look around trying to determine if he’s actually talking to me or if his question was meant for one of the other guys.

“Yeah, I’m talking to you, dummy. You’ve been all quiet and reserved the past few days. That’s not like you. That’s Liam’s gig. Don’t take it away from him. He’ll have nothing left.”

D huffs a laugh as Liam glares at his twin.

D and I grew up in a town only one over from the twins and were on rival teams until a month ago. I’ve known them almost as long as I’ve known Derrick. They’re opposites in every way. I swear the only things they have in common are their DNA and baseball.

For identical twins, they are surprisingly easy to tell apart. Beyond the fact that Lucas is always carefree to Liam’s uptightness, they also have vastly different styles. Liam is always dressed in a way that can only be described as a polished outdoorsman and his camera is almost always strapped around his neck when he isn’t practicing or playing baseball. Lucas on the other hand has a more casual approach wearing whatever is clean which is usually a pair of athletic shorts and a team t-shirt. Even something as simple as their hair seems to be at odds with each other, Lucas’s shaggy blonde locks falling into his eyes while Liam’s is buzzed closer to his head on the sides and almost always perfectly styled on top.

I’m lost in my thoughts and must take too long to answer because Derrick joins the inquisition. If anyone knows when I’m hiding something, it’s him.

He pins me with an intense stare and I know I’m seconds away from cracking. The fucker’s always been able to pull my secrets from me without even trying. A skill he picked up from his councilman father. Mr. Ashford would be proud.

“I met my mate,” I blurt. “Well, I think I did… She didn’t seem to recognize me. Wouldn’t even look at me in class.”

“You met your mate? Man, that’s awesome! Congrats!” Lucas cheers.

“I said maybe . I could have sworn she was. But she didn’t bat an eye no matter how close I got. Think something’s wrong with my nose? Wait, what if something is wrong with her nose?” The thought strikes me for the first time and I am instantly concerned about her.

D huffs a laugh and I glare at him.

“You know not everyone can sense their mates through scent, right? I mean dragons know at first sight so she probably isn’t a shifter who mates on sight or scent.” He rolls his eyes. “Maybe she doesn’t know you’re her mate. When have you ever doubted your nose? I swear you could find a cheeseburger in a trash heap.”

My eyes widen and my jaw drops. “So she is my mate?”

“I mean… she could be.” He shrugs. “I’m just saying, maybe whatever kind she is mates differently. Did you touch her? Sing her a little ditty?”

“What? No. Why would I do that?”

“Well, do you know what kind of shifter she is?” He arches a brow.

“She smells like the forest.”

Liam hasn’t said a word all night, but his eyes flash as I describe her scent.

Does he know her? We had both English and Math with her and it seemed like he was actively avoiding her. He obviously has some idea who I’m talking about .

“Okay. Forest… That could still be a lot of different animals. Wolves, birds, deer, squirrels…”

“She’s not a squirrel.” I scowl at him.

“I hope not. Can you imagine a tiger with a squirrel?” Lucas joins him in laughing at my expense, but I don’t find it the least bit amusing.

“Yuck it up. Just wait until you meet your mates. Then we’ll see who’s laughing,” I grumble.