Arrow Inferno
Chapter 32: Jeremy Stanton vs. Ryan Hicks Feral attraction in the midst of hatred… Training!

***

'Not bad.' Gloria's wolf chuckled when the beautiful white wolf came back with his kill...a small rabbit. 'Could have gotten something bigger though.'

'Ow come on, there are no big animals around this time and you know it.' Ryan panted as he flopped down beside the beautiful brown wolf who was his instructor. 'Wanna bet?' Gloria asked dryly, amused at how harshly Ryan was panting.

Gloria Stanton had been training her son's mate for the past two weeks. Jeremy should have been the one to train Ryan but Ryan claimed he couldn't stand the sight of the alpha. Gloria wasn't fooled for even a second. Ryan all but drooled just from merely hearing her son's voice. She didn't understand why he couldn't just try to hate the miserable Jeremy less and accept his attentions. One would think Ryan was a soft person. Well, he'd impressed the hell out of her with his stubbornness.

'Why don't you prove me wrong oh mighty warrior?' Ryan murmured, turning to look at Gloria's face.

'Time?' The brown wolf stood up and stretched.

Ryan looked at the clock beside him. 'Five forty-two.' He informed Gloria who immediately sprinted away.

Ryan couldn't help but admire the grace with which the wolf moved. His respect for Jeremy's mother had skyrocketed since she started training him. The woman was a force to reckon with and Ryan had learnt so much from her. When he'd told Gloria, the morning after he was discharged from the hospital that he planned on returning to lectures, she'd pleaded with him to wait for three more weeks...

*

"I can't do that, Gloria." Ryan had shaken his head vigorously. "I'll go insane if I go one more day without teaching. It's my life."

"I understand and you're going to go back to it." Gloria had said softly, sitting down beside Ryan on the couch. "But I just want you to heal completely, and most importantly, learn to control your wolf, Ryan. That's very important." "But I feel fine." Ryan had argued. "I don't think I'm going to harm..."

"Ryan, please." Gloria had pleaded. "Do this for me. You need to be in sync with your wolf, understand it, anticipate its moves, and know how to get him to flow with you. Otherwise, it will control you. You won't know what would make it want to come out and you won't have any clue on how to prevent it from doing exactly that. You can shift in public Ryan. And that's a serious thing because it will expose not only you but the rest of us. Keeping what we are a secret, is paramount to ensure our existence. That's one thing that protects our kind. Humans can never know our secret. That's too great a risk."

"What about hunters? They're human aren't they?" Ryan frowned in confusion.

"They, more than anyone, would want to keep our existence secret. Their goal is to quietly destroy anything that falls outside the norm. They don't want to create fear and panic amongst their fellow humans. What's that saying? Ignorance is bliss."

"If I should mistakenly expose myself to a...human, what happens?"

"They have to be...taken care of." Gloria didn't bat an eye.

"You mean..."

"They can't live to tell another soul. There are rules that we live by, Ryan. Rules that were laid down thousands of years ago. It doesn't protect just us. It also protects humans from us. So we never expose ourselves." "But that is murder." Ryan gasped.

"And that's why we never expose ourselves to humans." Gloria crossed her legs at the knee elegantly and looked intently at Ryan.

"That is why I want you to be trained before you go out there. The new strength you've gained...the heightened senses...all those things have to be mastered, or you won't be able to control yourself should the urge to shift come upon you." "Oh my God..." Ryan breathed.

"If you mistakenly shift in the presence of humans, they will run. The wolf's instinct is to chase. You need to train that instinct down. If you don't acquire the ability to control yourself, you will attack. A trained wolf will tap into the part of themselves that's still human. You have to remain aware that everyone has a life. People you pass on the streets have hopes, dreams, fears, regrets. They have people who love them, people who rely on them. Those lives are forever changed when you kill or bite a human. You have to hold on to that. Tell yourself you don't want to disrupt someone's life by shifting and harming them. Because if you do, it will end in two things: killing or giving a human the bite. And that will be really bad."

"Why?"

"When you become a wolf, your first instinct is to destroy. Imagine such a person going home to his or her family. What do you think he or she would do to them?"

"Kill them," Ryan whispered. "How come I didn't have that urge when I turned? I didn't attempt to attack anyone." "Jeremy must have compelled you not to."

Ryan nodded. Another will, taken away without his knowledge or consent. Good though. "Wow, that's a lot to take it."

"You don't want any of what I've spoken about to happen, my dear. Do you understand what I'm telling you?"

Ryan nodded with a sigh. "I do."

"So will you give yourself three weeks? Please?" Gloria took hold of Ryan's hand and gently rubbed the back with her fingers.

"I want to learn how to control this thing," Ryan said with determination. He sure as hell didn't want to be the cause of any deaths. "Good. Jeremy will train yo..."

"No," Ryan said vehemently. "I don't want him training me, Gloria. Sorry, but I can't stand the sight of your son."

"Ryan..."

"Oh, and when were you going to tell me I'm his mate, Gloria?" Ryan asked heatedly. "All those nice stories about how mates were supposed to feel about each other. How they lived for each other. How blessed a wolf who found a mate was... One would have thought you would tell me I was one of the 'fortunate' few." Ryan gave the word quotations with his fingers. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"It wasn't my place to tell you," Gloria whispered with a soft exhale.

"Oh, I think I know why you couldn't tell me." Ryan gave a humourless laugh. "You couldn't tell me I was the only exception to the rule. That my mate hated me the moment he laid eyes on me. Fuck!"

"I'm sorry, Ryan." Gloria gasped, her eyes filling with sadness. "I wish what happened hadn't happened but it did. He's been so good. He's been amazingly controlled. The only times he unleashed his powers, he saved lives. Once, he saved the pack and the other time, all the alphas in the world when they were faced with a devastatingly fatal threat at a conference. And he did it with so much control. I was so proud of him. I don't know why he couldn't control himself this time." Gloria choked. "Maybe I didn't do my job well as a mother. I didn't teach him how to better control himself." Gloria's eyes welled up. "He didn't ask to be an Ojah. He just was. And I did my best Ryan. I did. I guess my best wasn't good enough. I'm so sorry... So sorry you had to go through all that. I wish I..."

"It's okay, Gloria." Ryan pulled Gloria into a fierce hug. He felt so wretched for driving the woman he admired so much, to tears.

"Shhh..." When he heard the connecting door between his and Jeremy's rooms opening, he was surprised. He'd thought Jeremy was out.

"Forgive me, Ryan." Gloria sniffled. "I take the blame..."

"It's not your fault, Mother," Jeremy said in a hoarse voice. "I'm old enough to take responsibility for my actions. Please, Mum." He hated to see his mother upset. But then his actions had caused his strong mother so much misery. "I... Fuck." Jeremy turned abruptly and left the room.

Gloria pulled out of Ryan's embrace, wiping at her eyes. "I'm sorry Ryan." She said shakily.

"As Jeremy said, it's not your fault," Ryan said softly. "But since you keep insisting on apologizing, maybe you can do something for me. Hopefully, it will make you feel better."

Gloria laughed shakily "What do you want?"

"I want you to train me," Ryan said quietly. "I couldn't ask for a better trainer."

"Jeremy will be hurt. But it will be an honour to train you, Ryan." A brilliant smile appeared on Gloria's face. "Three weeks. That's all I ask. I'll teach you everything you need to know. Then you'll be back to work."

"Thanks." Ryan smiled. "One more thing. Yesterday, I...I told Jeremy that I didn't want this mate thing. I wanted to know if there was any way we could..."

"You'll kill him, Ryan," Gloria said quietly, looking down at her hands which were visibly shaking in her lap. "If you sever the bond, his wolf will die. Jeremy will become a shell...will probably die after three months tops. But knowing my son, he will probably die that very day his wolf dies because as alpha, he shares a stronger bond with his wolf."

"Oh my God!" Ryan breathed.

"If you want to sever the bond..." The elderly woman continued in a shaky whisper. "...all you have to do is tell him that you reject him as your mate. That's it." Gloria looked up at Ryan and gave him a small, sad, tremulous smile. "Now his life is in your hands. Do whatever you feel you have to do."

"I'll never do that Gloria." Ryan gasped with emotion. "You have my word."

Gloria nodded as she got to her feet. "I won't blame you if you do. Training starts at four a. m. tomorrow. Get a good rest today. You'll need it. See you tomorrow." And with that, the elderly woman had left Ryan with a painful tightness in his chest. He'd almost killed Jeremy.