This Dark Wolf (Soul Bitten Shifter #1) - Everly Frost Page 0,34
train you in the mornings. Helen will work with you in the afternoons.”
Her statement doesn’t explain anything. I narrow my eyes at her. “Train me? In what?”
Iyana grins. “Self-defense. Offense. Weaponry. Whatever you need to learn.”
I fire back a response, my pain finally making me cranky, not to mention my pride is suddenly hurting. “I don’t need your help.”
She arches a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at me. “Your bruises disagree.” She strides forward and leans over me, so close that I finally catch a sense of her scent. As elusive as it is, it reminds me of frost on a cold morning.
“Tessa, you have a chance that none of us has,” she says. “When I’m done with you, no man will ever fuck with you again.”
My eyes widen. She’s offering to train me. My father made sure I was fit and knew how to box, along with some basic self-defense. I haven’t seen Iyana in action, but judging from her familiarity with the gun range, there’s a fair chance I could learn a lot from her.
She promised that no man would ever hurt me again.
I clench my teeth. “If that includes Tristan, then I’m in.”
My declaration settles into sudden silence.
Iyana blinks at me for a moment, slowly withdrawing, as if I stung her.
“Tristan?” she asks. “Why would Tristan want to hurt you? He brought you here, didn’t he?”
Helen clears her throat loudly enough to make Iyana’s attention snap to her.
“Tessa’s situation is a little more complicated than normal,” Helen says.
The fierce crease in Iyana’s forehead deepens. “What am I missing?”
Helen starts to speak, but Iyana suddenly jolts, as if she realized something. Her eyes widen as she stares at my face—at my bruises.
“Fuck,” she whispers. Her lips part and her cheeks turn a paler shade of white. “Did Tristan hurt you?”
Waiting for me to answer, she reaches out to grip the edge of the examination table, frozen, pinning me with her wide, blue eyes.
At the side, Helen is poised as if she’s about to answer for me, but she closes her mouth. After all, she wasn’t there, so she doesn’t really know.
I bite my lip as I return Iyana’s wild gaze. She said that Tristan saved Danika’s life and brought her here to safety. He brought all of them here. She clearly believes he’s one of the good guys. The anxiety written all over her face tells me it would break her world if the answer were yes, that Tristan had hurt me.
“No,” I say, truthfully. “Other than manhandling me, Tristan didn’t hurt me.”
Iyana relaxes her grip on the table. She lets out her breath with a grateful moan. Dragging the back of her hand across her forehead, she says, “Of course he didn’t. He wouldn’t hurt someone in need.”
She squeezes her eyes closed, leaning over the space at the side of the table just like Danika did, as if her whole body hurts. “He wouldn’t do that.”
Until this moment, I couldn’t understand why Iyana is here. She said she was physically messed up six months ago, but she seemed to have it all together. She acts strong. No chinks in her emotional armor. Now I catch a glimpse of extreme vulnerability. Only a severe break in trust could cause an insecurity that deep. Her reaction tells me that if Tristan had hurt me, Iyana’s ability to trust would have been broken irrevocably. I’m not sure how she’d react if that were the case. I wouldn’t want to see it happen.
Iyana sucks in a deep breath before she opens her eyes again. She appears in control again, but her shaking hands say otherwise. “Like I said, you have a real chance, Tessa. I can’t teach you everything. I don’t know everything. But I’ll teach you what I can. Now… do you want to learn?”
“I want to learn,” I say.
“Good.” She spins to Helen, holding her head high. “I need to take a break. Tessa has to heal before I can train her anyway. I’ll be in the garden if you need me.”
Her boots click across the floor as she strides from the room before Helen has a chance to reply.
The room is silent after she leaves.
I bury my teeth in my bottom lip, studying the magical book that floats in the air at the foot of the examination table. “I take it Tristan reserves his asshole mode for me.”
Helen folds her hands in front of her. “Tristan Masters is as ruthless as his reputation makes him out to be. Take every