The Moonlit Curse

Ch 29: Submit

"Concentrate, Kiya," August snapped as Kiya snapped out of her most recent vision and slumped over gasping for breath.

"I'm trying!" She snarled back. "It's not as easy as it sounds!"

Kiya clawed her sweat-drenched hair back out of her face and tore out the tie failing to hold it back. To say that she was frustrated would be an understatement. Day one of training and she utterly failed to enter her intended memory as a vision, instead landing in the memory of a dream that she wasn't sure was even real or not. But it was a moderate success considering she had so much more control until the silver started burning her skin.

The day after she couldn't even do that much. She tried for nearly twelve straight hours, breaking only for quick meals and regular lectures from August, but the only thing that happened was the tension growing thicker between them.

And now, day three, she was starting to claw her way back into the visions at will, but they were blurry, and she had no control over where or when she went nor any control once she was in the vision. Once she got lost in the dark while heavily accented voices spoke in foreign languages around her until she managed to drag herself back to reality.

It didn't help that every time she closed her eyes, she felt the ghost of August's arms around her. His body pressed against hers and kept her warm. The faintest hint of his breath against her lips. His eyes shifting between the storm grey she was growing to love, and the burning red that both scared and intrigued her.

All of that, just for her to open them again and see that handsome face giving her a look as if she was deliberately struggling to piss him off. What happened to the quiet and stoic innkeeper? What happened to the man who was content to keep to himself, but jumped at every opportunity to help his community? Who was this surly and irritable grump who scowled, growled, and ordered her around?

Every muscle was beginning to twitch in discomfort, so Kiya shot to her feet and started to pace. "Can't we take a break and do something else?" she asked, tugging at the clasps of her coat to peel off another layer. The heat in the caves was relentless. A nice contrast to the oppressive cold outside, but it was just another extreme that she didn't know how to deal with on top of everything else. "This obviously isn't working."

"It would work if you just applied yourself and focused."

"It's kind of a hard to focus when there's a moody alpha snarling at me all day!"

Tossing the coat aside, she started rolling up the sleeves of her shirt and tried to ignore August tracking her every move. She could feel his eyes roaming her body, from the curve of her legs outlined by her tight leggings, all the way up to the low cut of her shirt and the way her bodice accentuated her waist and breasts. It would be a lie to say that she didn't enjoy the knowledge that he was clearly enjoying what he saw. But his sudden change in demeanor since arriving in The First Village made her skin prickle in ways she couldn't explain.

"Look," she forced herself to stop and turn to look down at him, combing her fingers through her hair again. "You either need to piss off and let me try this on my own. Or you need to teach me something else so I can clear my head."

"You are still being hunted by the other alpha. We don't know if he's able to track you or if he followed us here. I'm not giving him the opportunity to take you while you're alone. Not when, by your own words, he can lure you half naked into the middle of a blizzard."

"Then you should be teaching me how to fight him, not wasting our time on this. The other alpha is the immediate threat, whereas the less control I have over my visions gives me a better excuse to leave the Monster Corps. Not to mention that the other alpha probably wants me for my visions. Why would I make myself a more enticing target? Priorities, August. We can come back to this after the other alpha has been dealt with and after you've pulled that giant stick out of your ass!"