“Should I put something not boring on here?” I tease him.
“Preferably not. I may be 18, but my mom still checks the thing like she thinks I’m a drug dealer.” We both laugh. “Actually, pictures of girls who aren’t my sister, might be helpful though, now that you mention it.”
“I’ll work on that, thanks for this,” I waved the phone. “Not many people seem to be ready to jump in and be helpful.”
“It’s not that they don’t want to. It’s just that you’re new and they don’t know you yet. Not gonna lie, the sh*t Audrina is spreading my make it a little tougher, but I’ve seen you fight and you seem to be a decent person. They’ll see that too and come around eventually. Your whole situation is crazy, and some people here don’t like change. We’ll get through it.”
“Thanks, Nathaniel. I appreciate it. I’ll see you in the morning. I’ll bring your phone with me so you can have it during the day. I wouldn’t want your mom to get mad at you for not responding.” I tease again.
“NO!” I jump a little at his forcefulness. He’s not one to raise his voice. “Sorry, no. Just no. Drina will have your head if she thinks you brought a phone to training with you tomorrow. And I wouldn’t put it past her to check you for one. I’ll just get it at lunch, or whenever. My mom actually might not mind if she knows I was helping out a pretty girl.” He winks at me, effectively breaking the tension and making me giggle.
“If you’re sure. I’ll leave it in the top drawer on my desk if she separates us for rotations and we aren’t back at the same time. Night Nathaniel, and thanks again.” He waves me off as he closes the door.
I set the alarm for 3:30, so I have plenty of time to actually wake-up. It’s been over a month since I’ve gotten up at my usual time and I’m not sure if my brain and body are consistent. I got up early today, but I think that was more out of excitement than anything.
I was not wrong, my brain does not like this time of the morning. I think as I stop the alarm and drag myself out of bed. I fell asleep almost immediately after Nathaniel left last night, but it still feels like I just went to bed. This adjustment is going to suck, I just hope it only lasts a couple days and I can get back to my usual routine.
I get dressed in my training gear and for good measure pack an extra set in a bag. I don’t trust Audrina at all right now. I grab my things and pad downstairs carrying my shoes, there’s no reason to get everyone else up if they can have a few more minutes of sleep.
It’s super important for us to get rest, especially if we have been shifting, it takes a ton of energy to shift to and from our wolf form and we have to build a stamina for it during a fight. Lillian and the guys said that one of their early training experiences was having to shift and fight as a wolf then shift back to human and keep fighting. The trainers just blew a whistle and were taking notes on how long it took you to shift from one form to another and if you were able to avoid attack while doing it. I guess they did that for hours and then let the new recruits sleep it off for the rest of the day, because they were so tired.
I make it to the kitchen and it is already bustling with life. Steam is coming from pots and I can hear sizzling from the pans on the stove top. Dozens o metal pans have been lined up on the prep island and are being filled with various hot breakfast items by the kitchen Omegas.
“Excuse me.” I flag down one of the Omegas who isn’t carrying a large hot pan. “Is Stella or Jack around?”
“Are you Skylar?” I nod. “Perfect. I just got this done for you.” She hands me a protein shake and a large paper bag.
