Caleb hit the ground hard. He had prepared himself to block against Ashleigh’s knee when he saw her raise her leg. However, he was not prepared for her to change tactics and throw herself back into a roundhouse kick instead.
He laughed after he caught his breath.
Ashleigh stood above him, her hands up and ready to block or hit as she panted heavily. His laughter triggered her own. She reached her hand down to him.
“That was a nice transition, I didn’t even see it coming,” Caleb said as he took her hand and she helped him up.
“Thanks, I worked hard to get it right,” she replied with a smile, still taking several deep breaths.
“I can tell,” he smiled back.
He noticed suddenly that she was still a little winded, and very flushed.
“Are you ok?” he asked, “you seem a bit off.”
“Oh really?” she huffed. “I am pretty sure the score is you with two takedowns, and me with three.”
“No,” he laughed, “I wasn’t implying you were weakening or slowing down. I meant your breathing seems strained and you look hot.”
Ashleigh raised her eyebrow at him.
“I meant overheating!” he shouted, feeling the heat rushing over his face. “You look like you are overheating!”
“Now who’s overheating?” she thought to herself with a laugh. But he was right, she did feel like she was overheating.
“Honestly, I do feel very ho—overheated,” she smiled. “Do you guys have the heat on in these rooms or something?”
Caleb walked over and grabbed his water bottle, he handed it to her.
“Hydration might help,” he said. His eyes glanced over her before he added, “also, and please don’t take this the wrong way, you might have too much clothing on.”.
She spat the water she was drinking, luckily not at him.
“Excuse me!” she shouted.
“I said don’t take it the wrong way!” he laughed.
“How should I take it?” she asked, holding back her laugh.
“As I intended it,” he said, “as an observation that you are used to sparring in a place that is always cold. Now you are in a place much warmer.”
She still didn’t understand what he meant.
“Maybe next time you spar, consider taking off the sweatshirt?” he offered.
Ashleigh looked down at her outfit, sweatpants, a t-shirt, and a sweatshirt over it.
“Huh,” she began, “I guess when I packed, I didn’t consider the huge weather difference.”
She laughed as she took off the sweatshirt, wrapping it around her waist. Almost immediately she felt relief from the heat. Taking another sip of water, she laughed.
“I guess you were right, I was just too hot.”
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” he sighed
Ashleigh shook her head to indicate that no, she would not. Caleb smiled and she smiled back. It was a calm, comfortable smile. Both were enjoying the time they were spending together. He started to turn away from her, feeling like it was too comfortable.
But something caught his eye.
He hadn’t seen it before because of her sweatshirt, but now her arm was exposed. Just below the sleeve of the right arm, there was a deep scar. The coloring and texture told him it wasn’t old.
He thought back to her birthday party, she had worn a dress that exposed her shoulders and bare arms, he remembered it very well. There was no scar then.
“What is that?” he asked, monitoring his tone.
“What?” Ashleigh asked, looking behind her thinking he saw something.
“On your arm,” he replied.
She looked down on the left, then the right, she saw the scar and realized that was what he meant.
“Oh,” she began, “I was in the woods when the rogue’s attacked for the first time. I barely managed to dodge as an arrow was coming at me.”
She rubbed it lightly as she remembered.
He moved closer to her and reached a hand up to it. His fingers grazed it gently, he felt the bumps and grooves. The color was wrong. This kind of scar should have had a redder tint throughout, but this had small black dots scattered through it.
“What are these flecks?” he asked softly.
“Uh…” she began, struggling to keep her breathing under control. “The wound was infected.”
Ashleigh was struggling to concentrate. His gentle touch was stirring her emotions, his proximity was stoking the flame that always burned within her, his soft tone left her breathless.
“Infected?” he asked, raising his eyes to look at her, his breath caught when he saw the flush in her cheeks and the look in her eyes.
He jumped back from her, his heart racing. He looked away from her, wondering how he hadn’t realized how close they were.
“Calm the hell down!” he shouted in his mind.
“It was wolfsbane,” she said softly. Hoping that focusing on the conversation would help both calm down.
A feeling like ice ran down his spine.
“Did you say wolfsbane?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied, “in the first attacks.”
He watched her carefully, her reaction was calm, as though this was common knowledge.
“You were poisoned with wolfsbane?” he asked, holding down the growing anger that was swelling within him.
“Yes, I told you,” she replied, confused why he was asking. “I got hit in the first attack. You already know they used wolfsbane in the first wave.”
His jaw clenched. He turned away from her, grabbing his towel and wiping the excess sweat from his body as he fought to calm himself.
“Are you ok now?” he asked.
Caleb wanted to ask her what she went through, how bad it was, how she had survived. He wanted to go back and be by her side.
“Obviously,” she smiled, “I was one of the lucky ones. We lost almost a dozen by the afternoon.”
She tried hard not to think about how she felt those first few hours after she woke up, the agony of the wolfsbane traveling through her system.
A thought occurred to him suddenly.
“The first attacks, did they happen during the day? Or the night?” he asked.
“Day,” she answered.
Caleb suddenly turned and walked to the door, he opened it before turning back to her.
“It was truly a pleasure sparring with you today. I hope next time we will both quit holding back,” he smiled.
Ashleigh didn’t have the chance to stop herself from giggling.
“Also, I am very glad you are ok. I would genuinely miss you.”
He left the room, the door shut before she had a chance to react.
“Meet me there,” Caleb said into his phone as he left the sparring rooms.
***
A mile away from the main campus, inside of an old treehouse, on top of an old tree, Caleb sat waiting.
The trap door of the treehouse opened; Galen climbed in.
“Were you followed?” Caleb asked without looking back.
“No, though she did try very hard.” Galen scoffed.
“If you saw her, she wasn’t trying hard.” Caleb rolled his eyes.
“Ok, you’re in a good mood.” Galen laughed.
“Were there any reports of Wolfsbane being used in the attacks?” Caleb asked.
“What?” Galen asked, a shock plain on his face.
“Did any report at all, here or at any other pack report the use of wolfsbane in the rogue attacks?”
“No… why would—”
“Not even the reports from Winter?” Caleb turned and looked at his Beta.
“No. No one reported wolfsbane. That is something neither you nor anyone else would forget reading in any of the reports,” Galen answered, feeling slightly irritated.
“Fatalities?” Caleb asked.
“By wolfsbane? Again none. In general, I believe there were reports of a few deaths in Winter, complications from infected wounds, and severe injuries I believe. Autumn may have also had one or two.” Galen sighed. “What is this about Caleb?”
Caleb walked back to his chair, he sat down and put his head in his hands.
“Caleb, what’s going on?” Galen asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Before the attacks began,” Caleb started. “In the afternoon, do you remember what happened?”
Galen thought for a moment, the attacks had begun during the late evening hours. The day had been relatively routine, except for the afternoon.
“You got sick,” Galen answered.
“Yes… fever, chills, pain in my skin. It felt as though fire and ice fought for dominance in my veins.” Caleb clarified.
“I know, it was sudden and frankly terrifying. But you wouldn’t let me call the doctor. You just writhed in pain on the floor for almost an hour.”
“I knew it would pass,” Caleb whispered. He thought back to that moment, he did know then that it would pass, but he never understood why until now.
“Are you going to tell me wha—”
“Ashleigh was poisoned that afternoon,” Caleb interrupted. “The attack on Winter, it was before all the others, and the rogues used wolfsbane.”
“What? But that’s not possible. The reports—”
“Are lies,” Caleb stated, a rage darkening his eyes.
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