Read The Half Blood Luna by The Black Daisy
Chapter 30
Ella’s POV:
“Ella look…” Sara started to speak, but I couldn’t let her finish. This one, she cannot convince me to accept, no matter what she says.
“Even if he was the last person available to train me, it’s still gonna be a no, I’d rather give up training altogether than accept his help,” I said barely controlling my anger.
“Ella, he regrets everything he did and said to you, he just wants your forgiveness in any way you can give it. I know you have your doubts about him and I can’t say that you are not right to think that way, he gave you every reason to. But he is also the son I raised for the past twenty years after losing his mother at the age of five, and that makes me able to tell when he deeply regrets something. I am telling you the truth, please believe me” said Sara carefully.
He regretted nothing. It was all a trick. How could they not see that? The fact that she raised him surprised me a little, but it didn’t convince me entirely, mothers can be biased. I didn’t say anything for a long time. I was afraid that if I told them what I was thinking, they wouldn’t believe me, they would say I was being paranoid. They knew him for far longer than me, after all. Even if it was true, that his intentions were pure about training, I still wanted nothing to do with him.
I finally managed to say to both of them as calmly as I could “Look, I get that he is practically your son, and you know him very well from the inside out, but I don’t. I only saw one side of him, the cruel side. And that was more than enough to make up my mind about him, that was more than enough to convince me that I am not the least bit interested in knowing any other sides of him. If he truly wants to make it up to me, if he really wants my forgiveness, then tell him to stay as far away from me as he possibly can. Only then will I be able to forgive what he did to me. I honestly don’t think he will be heartbroken over this, since I am basically a constant walking reminder of his loss. I stay out of his way, he stays out of mine, both of us will be able to move on” I take a deep breath then carry on “If you still want to a*s*sign me a male instructor, I will accept anyone but the alpha”
I wait for their turn to respond, hoping to end the discussion without going into a full panic attack.
They stare at me for a while before Joseph says in a determined tone “Whatever makes you happy Ella, I will gladly do it without hesitation. I will make sure that Klaus receives your request”
I take a deep breath in relief. I wasn’t totally sure if the alpha will do what I asked of him, or if he will find another way to torment me.
“Do you feel ok Ella?” asked Sara softly.
“Yes I’m ok”
“I was thinking about having dinner outside in one of the pack’s restaurants, just the three of us. I bet you are sick of sitting in this room for so long, what do you think? We can take a quick tour around the pack as well” asked Sara excitedly.
A restaurant? I have never stepped foot outside the pack house after I turned ten, let alone visit a restaurant. I had a mixed feeling about this, but I figured I should start living the life I was meant to live from the beginning.
“Ok, I’m in.”
Monday arrives in the blink of an eye. It has been two days since Joseph told me that I will begin studying and training on Monday. Ever since then, I have been hanging out with Sara mostly. Joseph would drop by at dinner in their dining room and I would tell him about my day.
I went out of the pack house twice with Sara as she took me around and showed me everything. It was a huge town with a lot more population than my old one. Sara and I talked about a lot of things, I was a little shy at the beginning, but started to be at ease the more I interacted with her. She has an amazing personality, and I realized that if I wished to become like someone, I would want to become like her.
We never spoke about the bad things I experienced in my past, she respected my wish and never brought up the subject. She helped me buy all the books I needed for my studying in addition to notebooks and stationery. I felt embarra*s*sed as she paid for everything. I tried to tell her that I need to find a job to support myself, and she practically smacked me in the head.
“No work for you until you graduate high school young lady” she said firmly then. I couldn’t argue with her further on this matter.
I had breakfast and lunch brought up to my room everyday; as I couldn’t sit with Joseph and Sara during those times because alpha Klaus would be present, while I’d have dinner in Joseph and Sara’s dining room. Joseph told me that it was alpha Klaus’s suggestion to be invited to dinner at their place daily with a*s*surance that he would not be there. He has respected my request of staying away from me so far. I never asked Joseph about his reaction when my message was delivered to him, I didn’t want to know, I wanted as little mention of him as humanly possible. The dread and terror I felt from the possibility of running into him whenever I went out of my room and walked around the house, was so intense. But luckily, I never saw him after the lunch I ran away from that day. I don’t know how long that was going to last though.
I looked at the time on my brand-new phone that Joseph brought to me yesterday. He helped me sit up all the settings and showed me how to use it. It said 8:55 a.m. I sighed nervously. Jake was going to be here any minute and I was on the verge of a full on panic attack.
I tried to take deep breathes and remind myself that he is solid, just like Joseph and Sara said. I trust their judgment… for the most part. Well, not when it comes to the alpha, but other than that I trust them.
A knock on the door almost made me drop my phone. sh*t! My heart was going to explode out of my chest. I didn’t want to do this, I realized. I didn’t want to spend three hours alone with a guy I knew nothing about. I should have said no from the beginning. It was way too early for me.
Another knock woke me out of my downward spiral. It’s too late now. You can’t give up on this Ella. Be brave. Come on don’t let the guy wait too long, he’ll think you are rude. Move, dammit!
I f0rced my legs forward, took one final deep breath, then opened the door.
Jake was… not what I expected. I mean I wasn’t really expecting anything, Joseph didn’t tell me anything about him except that he was a good guy and he graduated high school last year. But I was expecting someone more… normal looking. Jake was so beautiful. I found myself staring at him, unable to form any kind of words like a senseless idiot. While he smiled at me and waited for me to say something, like invite him in.
He was freakishly tall and muscular. He had dark, disheveled, thick, short hair, and the most beautiful green eyes I have ever seen on anyone before. Putting aside my fear and disgust of men, he was so pretty. Not just pretty, something about his features made me feel at ease.
He finally broke the awkwardness by asking “Are you Ella?”
It took me a few seconds to find my voice “Yes, that’s me… umm please come in” I moved aside to let him in and closed the door.
He walked straight into the small dining table where I laid all of my purchased books, while I followed behind him.
Focus Ella, he is here to tutor you. Stop looking at how gorgeous he is. I put up a mental wall to look past his beauty and focus on the task at hand. It’s not like I am going to let anyone touch me like that anytime soon, that door was closed and was going to stay shut for a very long time for me.
He sat down on one of the chairs and started examining the books I had. I sat at the chair opposite from him.
“Joseph filled me in on your educational background. We have a lot of work ahead of us Ella. I hope we can work together and get you up and ready for next year” he said with a wide smile on his face.
“I hope so too. I am a little nervous because it’s been a very long time since I stud*ied anything and I am afraid that I will never be able to catch up” I said shyly.
“There is no such thing as ‘never’. You just have to work for it really hard to achieve it. Not everything can come to us easily. Sometimes we have to keep trying and fighting for it”
We worked on setting up our study plan and talking about how we are going to divide our time properly. I found myself relaxing to him the more time we spent together. He was really easy to talk to and looked very patient.
At the end of our studying session, as I was saying goodbye to Jake at the door, Joseph was coming to my room.
“Morning Ella, how was your first session with Jake?” he asked warily while trying to hide it.
“It was really good. I was so nervous before he came, I almost had a panic attack. But I held myself together and the more we talked the more I eased up. He seems really nice just like you said” I told him rea*s*suringly.
He seemed to relax at my response “Great I am glad you liked him”
He seemed a little nervous as if he had to say something and wasn’t sure how to start.
“What is it Joseph?” I asked him anxiously.
“Klaus had Marcel gather all the possible data about the person who attacked you that night. He sent the data with one of our trusted pack members who is going to arrive at three. We need you to scroll through all the possible suspects and identify him” he said carefully.
I let out a sigh and prayed that he will be captured soon. I was still having nightmares about that guy, scared out of my mind that he was going to find me again and K*ll me for sure this time.
Something about Joseph’s tone made my mouth dry though “What else?” I asked him.
“Klaus asked to be present when you go over the data. He wants him arrested and brought here for questioning as soon as you identify him”
I didn’t say anything for a few seconds.
“Ok, he can be there. Where are we meeting?” I asked in a dry tone.
“My office at three” he answered with relief. He was left in the middle between us and obviously feared I would cause a problem.
My heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing him. As much as I wanted to deny his request, I couldn’t. He was involved in the matter since I was almost K*lled so that a certain secret wouldn’t be revealed to him.
So much for avoiding him. Well, that did not last as long as I thought it would.
He finally broke the awkwardness by asking “Are you Ella?”