The Hunting

Tobias has been training with Clayton for a few weeks now, every day still feels like the first to him, even though Clay reassured him that he's doing better every day.

Kia joins the training every once in a while but she prefers to train alone and in her own way. Which Tobias has learned meant hitting a boxing bag until it split open. She has gone through at least four bags this week alone. He also noticed she'd started training with various weapons, why he couldn't understand since werewolves rarely had use for them.

Bang, bang, bang...

"Woah, that's loud." Tobias said as he walked closer to Kia.

She pulled back the trigger of her rifle, bang...

"I know, that's why I wear these..." she said pointing to the earmuffs she had on.

"Right." Tobias said uncomfortably. "Want to go for a run?" he asked, in the last few weeks he had learned that was her favorite thing to do.

"No thank you, I need to get this right." she said, pointing at the gun again.

"You can barely see the target?" he asked as he squinted to see the piece of paper with the target on.

"It's long range..." she explained half-heartedly as she squeezed her one eye shut to take aim.

Bang...

"Dammit Kia, could you stop doing that while I'm right here?" Tobias snapped, rubbing his ears to stop the ringing.

"Then. Go. Away. Tobias!" Kia snapped back. She glared at him with a coldness in her eyes he couldn't quite place.

He turned around and walked away, irritation eating away at him. Timber was growling in his head, he wanted him to go back and kiss her senseless.

"I don't know about you, but I value my life and she has a gun." Tobias barked at him.

Timber just huffed at him, turning his back to Tobias.

Tobias walked back to the house to cool off.

"I can't remember ordering a thunderstorm?" Elaina said as she looked out the window and then back at Tobias with an amused smile.

"Sorry..." he grumbled, feeling guilty for bringing his sour mood into her house.

"No need. What'd she do?" Elaina asked, patting the seat beside her.

"What makes you think..." Tobias started.

"I'm a mother, Tobias. And I also have a mate, I know the look." she said, giving him a small smile.

"She's so frustrating. It's like she doesn't cafe whether I'm here or not.. Well not just me, she's like that with everyone. And it's only gotten worse." he said, sighing.

"I know. She's not taking Layana's death well. To be honest we didn't expect her to, Layana was part of her, their souls were connected, you know? We never understood their bond, but we always knew they were closer than we'd ever be able to understand. And Niri, well you know how wolves are? Family is everything, and twin wolves are like mates too, but only worse.

They grew up together, have been together through everything. You know our girls shifted on their fourteenth birthdays? Yeah, huge surprise to us as well. They weren't even anywhere near us, they helped each other through their shifts. Those girls were like Ying and Yang, two halves of a whole. Complementing each others shortcomings. I'm afraid with Layana gone, the calm that she brought to Kia went with her. Niri is restless, we can all feel it. Did you know that Kia hasn't slept in over a week?" Elaina asked him.

"No, I wasn't aware?" he said, confused.

"Niri has been keeping her up, sometimes when Kia is over-exhausted, she lets her mental block slip. In those small moments we get a glimpse into her mind and it's not pretty. Niri is unhinged, she's borderline feral actually. She howls all night and whenever Kia askes her to stop she'd just growl at her and force a shift on Kia, which she then has to surpress because she knows that if she let her out, she'd have a hard time getting the control to shift back again.

"Kia is exhausted Tobias, she's not only dealing with her own grief but also with Niri's completely irrational way of expressing hers. Aside from that she's also haunted by the idea that she didn't try hard enough to protect her sister, she's feeling guilty beyond any rationality. She's hurting, a lot and none of us really know how to help her. My way would be with love and by talking about it, but that was Layana - Kia is nothing like that. Clayton's way is through training, that's why it's all Kia has been doing, but she's also been doing it alone, so as not to show the whole pack how out of control her wolf is. I mean, you see her with those punching bags, they hardly last a day before she needs to replace them. She's been pushing herself too hard and I'm literally waiting for her to break, because I know it's coming." she explained, tears streaming down her face.

All the anger Tobias felt towards Kia dissipated, he felt so stupid for being upset with her right now. He couldn't believe he was so self absorbed that he didn't notice his own mates distress.

" I asked her to go running with me earlier, why didn't she want to go?" Tobias asked.

"I think Kia is fed up with running by now, it's what she's been doing every night so far, when Niri keeps her awake Kia takes to the forest. Clay and I have been making turns to follow her, to make sure she doesn't hurt herself or someone else for that matter. She's been upping her game too, in the beginning she'd only go for slow jogs, now she's full out sprinting for miles on end. It's unhealthy, she's not eating either so I don't know where she gets the energy to keep up with all this. " she said, waving her hand through the air.

"She's going to crash and burn and I don't know if we'll be able to pick up the pieces." she said, sighing deeply. "I just wish she'd accept you, your bond could do wonders for her right now."

Tobias nodded along, he knew what she meant. He'd seen the mate bond pull people from the deepest pits of depression and despair, he knew it would work. But she had to accept it, she had to want it. He sighed and gave Elaina a hug.

" Thank you. " he said as he walked out to Kia.

She was done with the guns, but as usual she wasn't done training. She was busy attacking a Wing Chun Wooden Dummy, the type Japanese fighters use to improve their fighting speed. Clayton was standing off to the side watching her intently.

"Your left is slow..." he said.

Kia let out a growl of frustration, hitting one of the wooden pieces to her left so hard that it snapped off.

"Dammit dad, do you think that maybe my left is slow because I'm fucking tired? Has the thought crossed your mind?" she snapped, throwing the broken piece of wood at him.

He ducked to the side and the piece went flying past him. He looked at her with a hard expression for a long time before his eyes settled on Tobias, he gave him a nod and turned to leave.

Tobias slowly approached Kia.

"Here to snap at me some more?" Kia asked as she continued to assault the dummy.

"No, I came to offer my help." he said, grabbing her hands and holding them tightly.

Her knuckles were all split open, blood dripping down all over her and Tobias' hands but he didn't let go, even when she struggled against his grip.

"Let me go!" she yelled.

"No." Tobias simply said. "I'm not letting go until you allow me to take care of you."

"I can take care of myself!" she growled out, her eyes switching from green to black and back.

"Clearly.." he said with sarcasm, looking her up and down.

He doesn't know how he hadn't realized it before but she was skinny as hell, she'd lost a lot of weight since the Hunting. He thought it was because she trained so much, but add the not eating factor and this was getting dangerous.

A growl ripped through the air. Tobias looked at Kia again and met her death-glare head on.

"I'm not afraid of you, little one." he said, giving her a smile.

The nickname only made Kia more livid as the memory of Julia pushed its way into her mind, she grabbed onto his wrists and flipped him like an egg, in seconds she was on top of him, punching, scratching, going all out. Tobias blocked her attacks and shoved her off of him, his lip was bleeding. Kia got to her feet and ran at him, her eyes a pitch black pool of nothingness, Niri had fully taken over and all of her wrath was being unleashed.

Tobias remained calm, he stood still with his hands behind his back, waiting for her. He effortlessly dodged each one of her punches and kicks without lifting a finger in her direction, mostly because she was so consumed by rage that she didn't really try hard to be tactical. She screamed in anger and frustration, hating the fact that he was avoiding the pain she wanted to inflict. She lifted her leg and did an aerial spin kick, aimed directly at Tobias' head. Timber stepped in and took over control of Tobias' body, grabbing her leg mid-air. He yanked down and sent her crashing to the floor.

Kia stayed there, lying on the ground, staring at the sky. Suddenly she burst out crying, Timber retreated and Tobias rushed over to her side.

"Shit, I'm sorry Kia I couldn't stop him. Are you okay?" he asked, frantically searching for injuries. Finding none he looked back into her eyes. Shining green orbs met him, they were glowing with the tears that were just pouring out.

"I couldn't save her..." she sobbed out, her body shaking.

Tobias scooped her up into his arms and she tucked her head into the crook of his neck, clinging to him like he was a lifeline. He felt her nails digging into his back and he smirked. What I wouldn't give to have you do that under different circumstances. He thought before he started walking towards her house.

He walked in and both her parents looked at him in alarm. He gave them a reassuring smile and shook his head when her mother tried to come closer. She understood and backed off. He carried Kia to her room, gently lying her down on her bed. When he tried to move away she grabbed his shirt and pulled him back.

"I'm not leaving, I just want to get something to clear you up a bit." he said, prying her hands off of him.

He returned to her side with a warm cloth and a first aid kit. He gently cleaned her hands and dabbed on some antiseptic. When he was done he wrapped her hands with bandages and put everything away.

She looked up at him and started crying all over again, she could hardly breathe.

"That's it, let it all out." he said as he got on the bed next to her. She climbed onto his lap and sobbed into his chest. Tobias just sat there holding onto her, allowing her to just grieve.

Timber was hard at work trying to connect with Niri but she just kept pushing him away. Luckily he was a stubborn wolf, so he'd just keep trying until she let him in.

Kia had been crying for close to two hours before she finally fell asleep. Somewhere along that time Timber finally wore Niri down as well and he somehow managed to calm her down too. They were both sleeping peacefully, all other thoughts lost for the moment.

Tobias looked down at Kia, soundly asleep in his arms. He could visibly see the effects of the last few weeks. She had dark circles under her eyes, she looked pale and he could practically count every bone in her body through her skin. She looked so fragile in this moment, but he knew she was everything but fragile. She was one of the strongest people he had ever met. A small smile graced his lips, My mother would have loved you, he thought as he brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes. She sighed in content and snuggled into him further.

"I love you, Kia." he whispered as he touched his lips lightly to her cheek.