Page 29

I could feel him smiling as he kissed me again, and I moaned even louder. His nose trailed up my neck until his lips reached my ear. He whispered, “Honey, you look sexy.” Especially when it comes to what you’re wearing. It’s only fair if I made you believe I’m attractive too.”
Then he laughed when I slapped his shoulder, going red all over. “You’re the worst boyfriend ever,” I said, stalking off to the bathroom and lowering my head, embarrassed.
Just to let you know, I’ve got a few more things to add.
“So, why’d you throw the plate?” Kieran asked, stroking my hair.
We were cuddling on my bed after we’d showered separately. Luckily, we were all dressed appropriately. I was lucky enough to find some clothes for Kieran that my brother doesn’t use, so he doesn’t have to keep going back and forth.
I let out a sigh, looking at the now clean floor. I’ve got to thank Aunt Mabel. She hasn’t bothered me today yet because she knew I was in a bad mood. But she did give me a telling off. “Your mum’s just trying to do the right thing, and God only knows how rude you were to her,” she said, in her Southern accent.
I played with Kieran’s fingers before finally answering, “The Iron Justice decided to make a visit.”
I could feel him tensing up his fingers, frozen in my hair. “What!” He started to raise his voice. He started to get up, but I pushed him back down. I was just fed up with arguing.
“Kieran, relax, please.”
“No way! Tali, he’s been in your room… for the second time now. He might do that if he decided to come in your sleep, you know.
“Kieran, I’m all right. We’ll worry about that when the time comes. We’ll have to figure out what my options are. But let’s not go into that. I’m tired of immaturity.”
“Tali – ”
“No.”
He let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “Just tell me what was on the plate.”
“Well, it was just the porcelain plate from my brother’s party last night. And on top of that, there was this brown bottle filled with poison, I think. It’s the same poison that Mum had. The plate had a message on it saying something about being careful and that my mum was lucky. Saying how easy it is to get close to my loved ones.” I could feel the tears starting to well up because I was so scared.
“That explains the wolfsbane,” Kieran said, concluding with a comforting rub on my arm.
“What?”
“I found this,” he said, pulling out the brown bottle from his pocket. He opened the cap and my nose scrunched up. “It’s got a bit of a stench, hasn’t it?” I nodded and pushed the bottle away. My nose felt like it was burning now, actually. Kieran put the cap back on. “It’s wolfsbane. They put it in your mum’s food last night to poison her. Wolfsbane is the weakness of a werewolf. It’s like kryptonite for Superman. If you eat or come into contact with it, you might have a reaction that could be fatal to wolves. If it wasn’t deadly, then you’d get ill, in this case, your mum.”
“So, my mum’s a werewolf?” I asked, feeling a bit unsure.
“Yeah, and your brother too. Your family is quite an interesting bunch. Yes, your mum was right. The Sinclairs are the top dogs when it comes to werewolves. Actually, it’s higher than the experts predicted. You remember the council my dad is on? The only reason the Sinclairs aren’t in it is that they have no reason to be. We bow down to whichever Sinclair, human or not. When I heard your middle name, I was gobsmacked – I couldn’t believe you were one of the highest casts.”
“Why am I different?” I asked quietly, remembering the look on my mum’s face. “Why did you say, ‘It’s her’?”
Kieran ran a hand through his hair, sighing again. “You’re a healer.”
My mouth fell open and I stuttered when I said the next part. “Huh? I thought you said Healers didn’t exist. Don’t you hate me?” I started to panic and tried to get off him, but he just chuckled and pushed me back down.
“Chill. I was a bit confused myself. I’d never hate you. I asked your mum while you were having a shower. It turns out it’s the Sinclair secret. It’s the reason you’re now number one instead of second to the Healers. Because you guys are the healers.
“The Sinclair family is an interesting bunch. As it happens, a female healer survived, and she ended up having kids with a human. The four kids were half human and half healer. So, the lines could only skip a generation before the next batch of Healers were born. So, your Grandpa’s a healer, but your Mum’s not because it skipped her generation. That makes you and your brother the next in line to be healers. But your brother was born a regular werewolf because Mother Nature decided it, I guess.”
I was gobsmacked. My mouth opened wide, and I was lost for words. I was gobsmacked by the info Kieran gave me, but it seemed like it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t enough.
“I’m not werewolf material. I’m not really the healer type. I thought Healer was supposed to be the bad guy, right? Or is it good? Healers were supposed to heal, weren’t they? I don’t know anything.”
“That’s why you just got to take it slow and get your lazy b**t up. We’re kicking things off tomorrow,” Kieran said, ignoring my protest.
–
I crouched down, my fingertips almost touching the ground. My flyaway hairs were sticking up all over my forehead with sweat. My purple tank top was soaked in sweat, and I wrinkled my nose at the stink.
“Go!” Kieran yelled as I heard the beep of his timer.
So, I just did what Kieran said and flew from my position. I could feel the cold breeze hitting my face, arms and legs, and I got the goose bumps. I was running perfectly, turning to dodge the trees in the forest while I heard the crunching of leaves under my Nike trainers.
I’m much better at running now. I couldn’t run at all before, but now I was running like Flash. Before I got these new skills, one mile was enough for me, but now I’m doing ten miles. My vision narrowed to focus on obstacles in my path, telling me to move out of their way.
As soon as I saw the orange cone, I knew I had to turn and run back to where I started, so I did. I could feel my feet on the ground, and they weren’t pounding like a normal person’s. I rounded the cone, running back to where Kieran was.
When I crossed the cone, I heard the timer beep again. I had to put my hands behind my head to open up my lungs. I remember the first time I had put my hands on my knees, wheezing, and Kieran barked at me that I was just straining my lungs.
I looked up, and Kieran was looking at his timer, clearly shocked, before smirking. “Wow, babe,” Kieran winked. “I like it fast. Fast is sexy.”
That got a bit of a laugh out of me. “Stop thinking nasty,” I said quickly, as I felt my wet ponytail with a sense of disgust.
“Well, if you knew I was thinking nasty, then you were thinking nasty too,” he retorted, defending himself.
I felt my cheeks flush, and I said, “Ugh, whatever! Just let me know if I’ve broken my record.”
Kieran gave me a smile that made my heart melt and won an award. I’ve never had someone be so proud of me for something so small. He threw the timer in my face, pointing at the time. “Wow,” I said, jumping up and down and giving Kieran a quick kiss on the lips. “Four minutes and thirty-eight seconds?”
When I’d calmed down a bit, Kieran gave me another smirk, folding his arms across his chest. “Now, drop and give me four.”
“Two push-ups? That’s super easy,” I said, already dropping down to my hands and feet.
“Four hundred, babe,” Kieran said, a hint of amusement in his voice. “After four hundred sit-ups.”
“What?” I yelled, looking at him from where I was standing. “You’re joking, right? I can barely do seven!”
“Am I being serious? Also, you’re a werewolf now. Anything is possible. I’m doing this to help you out. I don’t care if you’re tired, scared, hungry, thirsty, or if you don’t like me,” he said in a high-pitched coach voice.
I looked at him, a bit dumbly I must admit, and then I blinked, and said, “Actually, you do.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” he said, shrugging. “Just drop and give me four hundred!”
He blew his whistle that he wasted his money on. I rolled my eyes, but I was amazed at how easily I did four hundred pushups and sit-ups. I was on my last ten sit-ups, and my stomach muscles were really hurting. That’s when I started to slow down. “Come on babe,” Kieran cheered. “Don’t stop now! Ten more! Here, I’ll give you a quick kiss every time you come up.”