Betrayal - The Matlock Pack: Book Two

Chapter 8 - Kadin

Monday 18 January

~*Kadin*~

“Takeshi and I have organised a schedule we think should work. I’ll be training Tate for two days a week. Takeshi has another instructor coming in specially for the other three. Even though we’ll try to keep to the same term dates to make things easier for you both, we’d prefer to get him settled into a routine as soon as possible. If it’s okay with you, we’d like to start him in classes tomorrow.”

I nibbled my bottom lip as Charlie explained what the plan was for Tate for the rest of the year. His seventeenth birthday had come and gone on Saturday with no sign of his wolf showing up, and just as expected, Mum and Dad had pitched a fit first thing yesterday morning when they found out, before promptly throwing him out of the house.

I had sent Tate to his room to pack as many bags as he could before I had a screaming match with our parents. Nothing I said made a lick of difference, so I crammed what little remained in my own room into a plastic bag while calling Rowan for help. Thankfully, I had moved most of my stuff on Saturday into my new Building Two apartment in readiness for the Warrior Training course, so there wasn’t much left. Once I was done, I went to Tate and helped him pack, all the while listening to our folks yelling at us about ‘how disappointed they were with us’ and ‘how ungrateful we were both being’.

It made my eyes twitch with fury.

Twenty minutes later, Rowan, Tate and I were filling Rowan’s car to the brim with all of Tate’s worldly possessions and my single, solitary bag. Just as I had told Tate on Friday night, we went straight to Takeshi for help, and Takeshi had done exactly what I thought he would—he took Tate in without question.

We spent the rest of yesterday hashing out with Takeshi what our immediate futures looked like and moving my stuff one more time into the two-bedroom apartment that Tate and I would share until the end of the year.

Takeshi had told me that although it was no longer appropriate, or safe, for Tate to attend school with the rest of the pack, he would ensure that Tate would complete his high school education this year and help set him up with anything Tate might need for his future tertiary studies. As far as Takeshi was concerned, the pack would not abandon Tate, regardless of his wolf status.

Tate had been born into the Matlock pack, and he would remain so until Tate himself chose to leave.

“Okay, Charlie. Sounds good,” I said, agreeing to what she was proposing. “Where is Tate? Is he still in the apartment?”

Charlie shook her head. “No, he’s in with Takeshi at the moment. They’re waiting for the other trainer to arrive so they can finalise Tate’s timetable.”

“Oh, okay.” Unsurprisingly, Tate had been distraught yesterday after everything had happened. I had fully expected him to be sitting in front of the TV playing Street Fighter all day today. Getting lost in the sounds of the game was one of the few things that I knew would ease his crippling anxiety about everything that had happened over the course of the last twenty-four hours. I had to admit that it pleasantly surprised me to hear he was already out and about. “Do I need to sign off on anything?”

“If you do, I’m sure Takeshi will let you know.”

Still nibbling my bottom lip, I nodded slowly. “Okay.”

Charlie gently placed a hand on my shoulder and looked me square in the eyes to make sure I heard her. “You’re doing fine, Kadin. Your brother is in excellent hands, and that’s all because of you.”

My eyes drifted to the ground in front of me and I shuffled from side to side as I uncomfortably took her words in. I wasn’t used to hearing compliments; generally, it was the complete opposite. Her words were welcome but left me feeling awkward.

She patted me a couple of times on the shoulder, then let her hand drop. “Right, let’s spar, yeah? Takeshi wanted me to see you and one other trainee in action. Where is she…” Charlie’s voice trailed off as she looked around at the rest of the trainees already on the mats. “Ah, there she is.” She nudged me gently towards a mat at the edge of the field. “Nat, right?”

My eyes sprang up from the ground to see that we were indeed headed over to where Nat stood. She looked somewhat nervous and uneasy, watching the rest of the class actively avoid her with a small scowl on her face. She paced the length of the mat, her hands wringing as she tilted her head one way, then the other. It was difficult to determine if she was stretching to prepare for the fights or just talking to her wolf.

Only one thing ran through my mind as we approached her. Takeshi wanted Charlie to see Nat and I spar? Why? My brow furrowed as I thought about his reasoning. Could this have been his way of trying to smooth things out between Nat and me after our last disaster of an interaction? Or was there more to it than I wasn’t seeing? I shook my head. Did it matter? I was going to get what I had wanted for weeks now—I was going to spar with her. A nervous smile spread slowly on my face. I was going to fight someone I knew I wouldn’t have to pull punches on and learn from. Finally!

Nat sighed heavily when she saw us approach, her hands rising to rest on her hips as a look of annoyance settled on her face.

Okay, that was fair. I knew I deserved it. I looked at the ground again as I ambled after Charlie before coming to a stop at the mat’s edge.

“Your name’s Nat, right?” Charlie asked. Nat nodded silently, her hands coming away from her hips and folding her arms in front of her as she stared at me over Charlie’s shoulder.

Her body language was plain to see to anyone looking. She obviously didn’t want me to be there.

“Takeshi said that I should see you and Kadin spar.” Charlie tilted her head to one side and watched Nat’s stiff stance loosen slightly.

“He did, did he?” Nat asked quietly, raising her eyebrow when she returned her focus to Charlie. Her hands dropped back to her hips.

Charlie narrowed her eyes speculatively at Nat as she moved around the mat, leaving me at the side. “He did.” She looked at me, forcing Nat to shift her focus. “Kadin? Please join Nat on the mat.”

I did as she asked, much to Nat’s grumblings.

“I’ve been told that one of you is very good at defence,” Charlie said, looking first at Nat, then me. “And that the other is very good at offence. I want to see what that looks like.” She took a step back from the mat. “You have ten minutes. Go.”

Nat clenched her teeth so hard that I was sure I could hear them crack from the effort. “No shifting this time, Kadin.” She pointed at me with a steady look.

I grinned at her and nodded. “No shifting.”

Nat held out her hand to shake on the agreement. I shrugged and put my hand in hers. As soon as our skin touched, what felt like static electricity ran up my arm, starting at my fingers before it disappeared somewhere near my shoulder. I stiffened for a second, then shook my hand when Nat let go of it.

“Sorry about that,” Nat muttered, her eyes studying me intensely, like she was expecting to see something more. She frowned when I did nothing more than shake my hand loose of the electrical tingling left crawling under my skin. “I tend to carry around a lot of static energy.”

“All good,” I said, flexing my fingers to get feeling back into my joints.

Nat huffed, but crouched down in readiness for my attack. As soon as she was ready, I launched my attack, aiming at her midsection. As I expected, she parried them easily. This was the first time we had properly sparred, so we were learning each other’s limitations.

She brought an elbow up to my chin, but I saw it coming and dodged out of the way. A tiny grin appeared on her face before she started to really let loose with her speed.

For every strike I attempted, she was quick to defend, throwing in the occasional attack to keep me unsteady, neither of us giving an inch to the other. We worked each other around the mat, our hits and blocks getting faster and faster until I was sure Charlie wouldn’t be able to see anything other than the blurred forms of our hands flying between us.

A feeling of exhilaration came over me as I tried everything I could to get through her defence, but nothing was working. By Goddess, I was learning a lot from how she was countering me, though. I’d never sparred with anyone with her speed before, not even my uncle. There were moments where I thought she nearly had me pinned, but I was able to move out of her way at the last fraction of a second, barely missing her hands. I couldn’t stop the smile spreading over my face from the fun I was having; nor could she, based on her own grin.

“Okay, girls. That’s time,” Charlie called out, breaking our concentration.

Both Nat and I took a step back and let our hands drop. I leaned forward and rested my hands on my knees and breathed deep to catch my breath. That had been a good workout.

I looked up and watched Nat. She had her hands on her hips again, but was panting. Sweat poured down her face, much like what was happening to mine. She paced the mat as she settled her breathing.

“I can see why Takeshi wanted me to see you two in action.” Charlie strode over the mats, stopping once she was within a couple of feet of us. “I’m going to talk to Casey about letting me mentor you both. Your skills are undeniable, but you both need to work on certain things. Kadin, your aggression is getting on top of you. Nat, you need to control your speed more effectively and work on bringing more offence into your defence manoeuvres.”

I nodded at her words. Uncle Spence had trained me for years, and he was always at me to be more aggressive, even at the expense of finesse. I was glad that she had picked up on that.

I saw Nat nod out of the corner of my eye. Nat’s speed was insane, but Charlie was right. She relied heavily on defence.

“Take five minutes to get your breath back,” Charlie said before she turned her head to look over at the rest of the trainees. “Let me find Casey and then we’ll go again.” She marched off the mat and headed towards a small huddle where I could see Owen and Bells talking with Casey. Owen was shaking his head, while Bells’ shoulders were slumped. Owen was using his hands to imitate certain moves for them both, pointing at one, then the other, to get his point across.

I sagged to the ground and leaned back into my hands, stretching my legs out in front of me. I watched Nat pace the mat. “You’re f*****g quick, you know that?”

Nat paused briefly, looked at me with a raised eyebrow, then continued pacing.

“I mean, I knew you were quick because of what you were like in the clearing at Camp, but damn girl, you are quick.” I chuckled at the exhilaration I felt at finally being challenged.

She stopped again to narrow her eyes at me. “You don’t have to talk to me, you know. I get you’re being forced into fighting me because Takeshi told Charlie to watch us. No-one wants to be near me because of my wolf. I totally get it.”

I let my head drop to my shoulder as I watched her. I chewed my cheek while I let the silence descend between us. “Honestly, Nat? I couldn’t give two shits about your wolf. I’m just trying to have a pleasant conversation.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Why Kadin? You hate me.”

I leaned to one side so I could wave one of my hands in the air to dismiss her words. “I don’t hate you.”

“Are you f*****g kidding me?” Nat laughed, but there was no happiness in the sound at all. “You spent an entire month trying to make my life miserable when I had done nothing to you. How could I take that any other way than you hating me?”

I let out a huff of air. “I was told to do all of that,” I said quietly. “Uncle Spence—”

Nat snarled at me when I said his name, making me chuckle again. Her frown deepened at my reaction.

“At least I can see that we’re in agreement about how much of a douche canoe he is,” I said to her, a smile still resting on my face. I leaned to the side again to wave a pointed finger at her. “I should probably thank you, actually.”

A look of incredulousness crossed her face when she finally stopped her pacing and stood facing me with her hands on her hips. “For what, pray tell?”

“For getting rid of him,” I said, letting my head flop to my shoulder again. “He was the one who beat you up, yeah?”

The frown she gave me was the deepest I’d ever seen her give anyone. “You think he was the one who beat me?” Her voice was quiet, but dripped with curiosity.

“Of course. From what I’ve seen, only Takeshi and my uncle would be fast enough to take you on, and Takeshi would never hurt you. Who else could it have been? That’s why he got booted from the pack, right?”

Nat shook her head, letting a strangled chuckle leave her throat. “I don’t know why Spence was banished from the pack, but he certainly wasn’t the one who put me in a coma.”

I frowned. It had to be Uncle Spence. There was no-one else it could have been. “If not him…”

“It was Tatum and Zelda,” she muttered, just loud enough for me to hear, but no-one else. Not that anyone else was paying any attention to our conversation. She was right. The other trainees were either actively ignoring her or were far away enough from us that they felt safe in sending her curious glances every few minutes.

My eyes widened at her words. “No…” I looked back towards Bells, still fighting Owen, but he wasn’t operating anywhere close to his optimal fighting state. “Is that why Bells looks like s**t?” Another thought crossed my mind and was out of my mouth before I could stop it. “Did you break up with him because of what they did?”

“What makes you think we’ve broken up?”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “Because you two were joined at the f*****g hip over the last half of Camp. Now you’re about as far away from him as you can get.” I looked her up and down slowly. “And you look like s**t, just as much as he does.” I let my head droop into my shoulder again. “Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out something’s going on between you two.”

Nat let out a slow, steadying breath. “You’re very blunt, aren’t you?”

I let out a laugh and shrugged. “I have been accused of that in the past, yes.”

Charlie took that moment to saunter back over to us. “You ready for round two, girls?” She took up her space at the edge of the mat. “Remember what I said. Kadin, work on controlling your anger; Nat, work on controlling your speed. Another ten minutes. Go.”

I got to my feet and motioned to Nat to attack me. The biggest grin spread over her face as she launched herself at me.

A huge smile of my own appeared on my face as I countered her moves. Goddess, I loved sparring with this sss. What good deed had I done to be so lucky?