“And I know your crappy work, and even that is worthy of a gallery. Keep putting yourself down, and I will have you in my class doing basics and drills,” I see Ember cringe at this.
“I hate your version of basics and drills”, Nate comes out and sits next to Liam.
“If you’re planning to publish only under a pen name, it’s a good idea to do bread and butter things in your real name so you don't fall off the face of the planet; it stops people looking deeper into you”, she nods at all of them, sits for a moment watching Miles carefully going through the sketchpad but only answers me.
“I’ll get up and watch Ren train in the morning and get some preliminary sketches done so I have a reference to muscle movement, stance, things like that, if that’s okay?” she fields the last question to Ren.
“Fine with me! Bray?” Ren turns to her Twin.
“As long as she doesn't kick my ass like she did, Decs, if you break a nail,” Bray says with a chuckle; when Ember just rolls her eyes, we spend the rest of the night sharing stories. Nate’s stories of past adventures with Liam have us in stitches. I pay close attention to Ember throughout and realise she doesn't hold anyone here above the others, she mated to Ren and Creed and has done stuff with River, but she’s happy curled up between Me and Jace, and she isn't bothered that Darby’s arm is around me, playing with her hair. We have started being more open with the others about our relationship, even holding hands while we are at school. Maybe things with her are a good thing, not something of dread like I thought.
Ember
I spent the night with Creed; my Period started just after dinner, and shockingly, all the guys noticed and went weird. Bram and Trick didn't, as they were there for the ones in the cage when they didn't supply pads or anything; they quickly got over the normal boy reaction of Eww! Grose! Ren seems grumpy even though he has contraception; Devin looked in pain and left not long after with a confused Darby following him; Declan walked in looking furious, Nate managed to cut him off and whispered something to him and then Declan left without a word.
“Have none of you boys been around a girl on her period before?”Lily asks in Russian, even though it is Liam who answers.
“To be honest, Dec's reaction is normal, he smelt his sister's blood and went into attack mode, these idiots have no clue as it's natural but might feel different to their alters if she’s their mate, which I’m guessing is why Devin will probably keep his distance, and when he’s fully bonded he will likely hide away with her for the duration” with Liam’s announcement I excuse myself to bed, I send Devin a quick text to say I understand and get a love heart emoji back. Creed caught up to me and asked me to sleep in his room so he could have cuddles as a top-up. I showered and put some super-strength tampons in. They have a bonus to cover the smell; I braid my hair and head to Creed's room. At some point in the night. Jace joined us.
I wake up when my alarm goes off.
I quickly lean over Creed to silence it, who pulls me into a kiss; I kiss Jace on the cheek as I slip out of bed and head to my room to shower again 'Hey shhh, I always feel yuck when I’m on my period, and this helps' I don’t wash my hair though, I do all my normal bathroom stuff then get dressed in sweats and a sweater, don’t care how much Miles grumbles I WILL be comfortable, I stick my wireless earphones in that appeared in my bedroom 'thank you Miles'. Grabbing a sketch pad, some charcoals and watercolor pencils, I head to the gym, grabbing a travel mug of tea and a couple of bottles of water on the way past the kitchen.
I’ve beaten the boys here and have no idea where the light switches are as they aren’t in view; I head over to the bleachers 'Yes the gym is that big' I can see okay with my shifter night vision, but it kind of looks like when you watch the live cameras on most haunted (Dan and I used to watch them on the nights Elise was at her knit and bitch group, and a few times she managed to scare us both which had Dan grumbling like a lion with a thorn in his paw) it’s not fully clear and a little blurry, the gym is in the basement at takes up most of the same square footage as the pack house, there are a few storage areas and an armoury down here too, its huge.
Because I’ve never used these supplies before, I tear a page out of my pad and practice shading and doing basic lines; this is what Liam meant by basics and drills to an extent. I’m just finishing up when the lights flick on
“Fucking hell, what the fuck are you doing in the fucking dark? Wow, I think I’m having a fucking heart attack. Uncle Luc is half in/out of a door I thought was a closet, as he throws some more expletives.
“I think it would be the left side, not your centre chest, if it was a heart attack, and I didn't know where the light switches were,” I put my earphones back in and smiled; he gave me a cheeky grin before he started pulling out mats and weights, getting them into place. Eventually, the guys turn up looking sweaty; looks like they have been for a run around the lake Ren hops up the steps to me, giving me a quick kiss on the lips before smirking and heading back to Bray, whipping his sleeveless hoodie over his head one handed, while he goes, glistening back muscles flexing 'yummy' pure porn I tell you, sweat droplets running down his spine and everything.
Right, I need to focus less on my hot mate and more on the job at hand, putting buff sweaty mate on paper and not threatening to kill lusty females; remembering my uncle and brother are also in the room helps distract me from the reactions my body is having to him.
I spend the next two hours sketching individual parts of Ren,his wrapped hands loosely at his sides, how his back muscles sit when he’s in a fighting stance, and the position of his feet before, during and after certain moves, I struggle with some of the footwork as he moves too quickly, making a note at the top of my page to ask Darby if the cameras in here record so I can stop and start the playback. They aren’t done, but I’m out of tea and need to pee, so I pack up and decided to head for some breakfast, I grab my phone as he starts to do one of his kicks again so I can record it in case there aren’t recordings in here, I then head down the steps, phone still in hand I moan at the sight in front of me and snap a quick photo, Ren’s back is to me. Even relaxed, every muscle is poised, ready to move for attack. At my moan, he glances over his shoulder with an eyebrow raised and a smirk on his lips. I snap another photo, 'pure fucking spank bank material right here, ladies.' Wow, I am one lucky bitch. I blow him a kiss and wave to Bray and Uncle Luc.
“Fuck I am a lucky bitch”, I mutter again as I leave the gym, heading straight for the bathroom down the hall from the kitchen; I grab some more tea and head out to the deck. Being February, it's still cold, but I snuggle under a blanket and sip my tea so I’m good. I fire off a text to Miles, letting him know where I am if he needs a snuggle buddy; I receive a photo back: Miles is curled into Bram's naked chest, still sleeping and hair an adorable mess; Bram still looks half asleep, I chuckle when I notice only one of his eyes is actually open, so I leave them to it with no reply.
I sit for a while 'playing' in a way, putting odd pieces together until I have two full sketches with basic shading and minimal color; I start to work on another with the basic outline done when Trick plonks next to me.
“What time did you get up if you've already got that much done?” he yawns next to me, then flops so his head is on my shoulder, he yanks out one of my earphones and sticks it in his own ear. I know I enjoy a variety of music, but do tend to loop back to the same type. At the moment, Wheatus Teenage Dirtbag is playing. Elise loved most stuff between the late 70s and early 90s, so I tend to gravitate towards the old school stuff; it’s definitely better than people yelling about umbrellas, swiping left and swinging on chandeliers.
“I got up to sketch Ren in the gym so I can work on his promo stuff”, I say as Bon Jovi, Always comes on; he grunts and then heads inside. I just start my drawing, the image a faint template; he plonks back down with a breakfast roll, ketchup and a side of hash browns; he then cuts the roll in half so I can eat one-handed; I kiss his cheek as he rests the plate on his knee so I can reach it. He's made himself a breakfast wrap, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, egg and hash browns wrapped in 2 pancakes with maple syrup dripping from it; the Rasmus Guilty comes on.
“Yuck, skip this one, Quinny”, he mumbles around a mouthful. Trick is back to bouncing to Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, muttering about Light Square Man in a funny voice, but I have no idea what he's talking about. I've just finished my last hash brown when Creed plonks down next to me, placing a fresh cup of tea on the shelf behind my head.
“I don’t like waking up thinking you’re next to me and finding out it’s my stinky brother”, he mutters into my neck. I just chuckle with the last of my breakfast gone, I reach for my tea, Queen, Who Wants to Live Forever, comes on
“We need to have a movie night”, I bump my shoulder into Tricks
“You can watch the Highlanders without me; too much blood yuck”, he mumbles, with his nose scrunched up.
“So that means no Braveheart for you either, then?” I chuckle as Miles arrives
“I’ll watch those with you if he won’t”, Miles offers, digging into his bowl of fruit.
“Deal,” I say with a smile; Leah Kate, 10 Things I Hate About You, comes on, and Trick is up dancing around with Miles, both doing high-pitched voices while singing, soon Bram joins in, all pretending to dance around handbags holding umbrella drinks,
I see a few pretty girls arrive. We’re kind of in the communal area, not that many try to join at the moment. They both have fake tans that have run marks, one has died pitch black hair,and the other is blonde, but the bleach has gone more yellow. I thought they were pretty, and they would be if not for the fakeness shining through. One is a wolf shifter, and the other is a vampire.
