Forever in the Past and Forever in the Future

On Thursday, James calls Marco. Marco puts it on speaker and listens while James tells him to bring

me to his house for

training. They want to teach me more about hand-to-hand combat in small spaces. Two against one.

“James, have you cleared this with your mate? Three wolves performing hand to hand combat inside

your home...your home where your pacifist mate also lives, I mean?” I ask, skeptical of this plan.

“Yeah, Delilah’s totally fine with it. She understands now that you need to know more than just how to

block and escape holds. Plus, she said if we break anything it gives her an excuse to use my bonus

money to go shopping. Speaking of which, she said to bring your change of clothes, you can shower at

our place and then go on this shopping trip with her when we are done.”

I laugh out loud, “Okay, will do.”

Marco and | make our way to James and Delilah’s little house .I go to knock on the door but it’s already

cracked open. I look at

Marco who shrugs and unholsters his pistol and I push the door open slowly and call out.

“James? Are you here? Delilah?” A large fist comes flying from behind the door. I block the initial

attack, smacking the forearm hard against the door frame. James reaches out from behind the door

and catches my collar and roughly throws me into the living room. I land on the edge of the sofa and

roll off landing in a crouched position. He charges at me again, launching another heavy punch aimed

down at me. I dodge and crawl onto the coffee table before he can recover his balance. Standing on

the table, I’m the same height as him. I use my foot to pick up the decorative serving platter, never

taking my eyes off him. As soon as he is close enough, I thrust it up striking the underside of his chin,

catching him in the throat. James falls back coughing and trying to catch his breath.

Marco is right behind him and launches a series of punches and kicks at me. He’s at an advantage

since his reach is so much longer than mine. I’m able to deflect most of the strikes but one kick hits

hard against my knee, knocking me off the table. I hit the floor flat on my back with a thud. All the air

knocks out of my lungs upon impact. I reach up to the coffee table and grab a decorative plate. As

Marco leans forward to grab me, I slam it across his face, shattering it into a million little pieces. As he

rolls to the side, grabbing his face in pain. I kip up onto to my feet and take a defensive stance.

James is right there with a kick headed straight for my face. I block him and give him a kick in return

just below his gut. I will have to apologize to Delilah later. As he bends over in pain, I knee him in the

face. Blood starts flowing on the beige carpet. Now I really have to apologize to Delilah. :

Before James has even completely fallen, Marco is directly behind him, throwing a lamp at my face. I

kick my leg up and knock it out of the air back at him. He catches it before it falls. Before he can throw

it again, I roundhouse kick and land the top of my foot right against his ear, he stumbles but keeps his

balance. He throws the lamp to the side and lunges forward with a growl, grabbing my wrist. | swing out

to the side bringing my free elbow down on his arm. I feel the crack of one of his bones, forcing him to

let go and grunt in pain. At the same time, I use the hand that was just trapped to chop his throat.

Sending him stumbling backward.

Practice has just begun.

We have been practicing every day since | had discussed training with them. On day one, I told them

about my conversation in the hospital wing with Bronx, and I didn’t want them to take things easy on

me. My goal was to beat Bronx in a one-on-one sparring match. Even though it had been less than a

month, Lex was in her wheelhouse. We were stronger and more focused every day. To the point that all

James and Marco have to do is show me a technique once or twice and she is able to help me catch

on. It has now progressed to both of them being able to attack me and I can occasionally come out on

top.

Training has made Lex more and more powerful which makes me stronger too. The upside to Lex

being stronger is that all my abilities are stronger too. I am helping out in the hospital wing multiple

times a week, which is a relief for the doctors and nurses.

With Delilah’s help, I am now able to fully control the heat that comes from my hands. in private we

practice time control. I have full control over slowing time for hours. If it was just one or two people, I

can fully stop time for three or four minutes, but large crowds a little less than a minute. 2

Lex is in her glory and can’t wait until she can train with the pack warriors. Bronx makes me agree to

wait until after the wedding to start working out with the pack. I have a lot going on and he doesn’t want

me to get stressed out. Goddess forbid I have another vision. Now that Ryan is out of the picture, who

knows what it would involve.

The timer on James’s watch chimes, indicating we're done with practice. All three of us stop in our

tracks, panting heavily. I drop the piece of bannister in my hands. It lands on a throw pillow making a

puff of feathers fly out. After just an hour, the entire downstairs of James and Delilah’s house is

destroyed. There are also a couple of bullet holes where Marco's nine-millimeter handgun went off.

Like I said, I told them not to take it easy on me. ° I finally look around, “James, are you sure this is

what Delilah meant when she said it was okay if things got broken?”

He looks around with his hands on his hips with an unsure look on his face, “Uh, maybe this is a little

more than she was expecting?" Just then, the door opens and Delilah steps in. She freezes for a

second and her eyes immediately go wide. Oh no, she's going to cry. I step forward prepared to

console her but she composes herself quickly and clears her throat.

“Come on Kas, let's get you a shower, this is uh...yeah, definitely need a shopping trip for some new

furniture, oh...and flower pots... and dishes...and new paintings...and maybe carpeting?...oohh-kay, uh

okay, yeah, let's go upstairs before I cry.”

As we get to the top of the stairs, I take her by the hand, “Delilah, I’m so sorry, things got completely

out of hand. I knew it was a bad idea.”

“It's okay. I have been wanting to redecorate. Ashley did a great job getting us set up with the basics,

but James and I haven't had time to make it ours. You know? Go get freshened up,” she smiles

nervously, “Oh, before we go out, can we stop by your apartment and pick up your wedding binder? I

told Ashley I would stop at the tent rental place to give them the deposit.”

“Oh sounds good! Yeah, of course, we'll go pick it up.”

kkk

When I open the door to my apartment,

Bronx is on the other side, opening it at the same time.

“Hi Baby, I was just on my way out. See you later!” he gives me a deep kiss then trots off before I can

question him. Why was he even in the apartment? He should be at work.

I step inside with Delilah right after me, to find Lenora and Ashley standing in the living room

surrounded by racks and racks of wedding and bridesmaid dresses and three women in black pant

suits.

There is a low platform set up in the middle of the room and giant floor-to-ceiling mirrors leaning

against the wall. There are also portable stand lights set up, shining down on everything, making the

beads and sequins on the dresses sparkle and dance.