Kalysta POV
I don't know how it happened but I've been slowly developing a crush on Jakob.
Actually, I know how it happened. I saw him in a towel and he has a great body. Unfortunately, he pays attention to me so closely that I'm pretty sure he knows that I'm attracted to him.
I've gotta push that attraction way down to the bottom of the barrel, and then bury the barrel in a 6 foot deep hole. Especially since today I am helping him with some skills that he needs to improve on. I don't want to be attracted to anyone at all right now because my link has me so stressed out.
Fenix is amazing and I love her dearly but the weight of a Goddesses expectations on my shoulders is too much to carry and I don't want the burden. I'm so stressed out I haven't even figured out how to shift yet.
Jakob came from a place where there were very few shifters. No one he knew had a link, yet the day he met Onyx he was able to shift. How the hell is that even possible? I've been taught about links my whole life, our instructor is my great great grandmother and for 19 years I've learned about links from her, and still I cannot shift.
Jakob isn't even the better pupil and still he surpasses me. If he wasn't so damn handsome I'd hate him. Envy has eaten me up and I hate how damn perfect he is. The only thing he lacks in is weapons training and hunting in human form. Honestly he can just shift to hunt. Why does he need to do it on two feet? I mean the man is a freaking tiger!
I wonder if he is a tiger in the sheets too?
"Fuck" I said the word out loud as I slapped my forehead to rid myself of the intrusive thought.
"Uhm, am I interrupting something?" Looking up I saw Jakob looking at me curiously. Heat stained my cheeks red as I got a nervous shy feeling.
While I was working through my inner monologue I failed to hear his approach. The man is a apex predator and a freakin ninja too apparently. Fenix looked at me and just shook her golden head. She is frustrated with me. Not that I can blame her. She hopped off the ground and flapped her enormous wings until she was in the air heading to our home.
Fenix thought she was getting a badass human for a link and instead she got a stressed out worry wart who can't even shift. She expected more from me. If I can't even please my link beast how the hell am I supposed to make a goddess happy?
"Seriously Kalysta, are you okay? I've been standing her for a few minutes and you're so in your own head you haven't really acknowledged me. Are you too sick to work with me today?" Jakob's voice sounded so worried for my well-being.
He watched my face for a reply. Maybe venting out my worries will help. At the very least take the edge off of my anxiety. "No Jake I'm not okay. I'm a linker who cannot shift after weeks of being linked. I'm an embarrassment to myself, my family, Fenix, and Mother Nature. The only thing I'm good at is hunting and I've been failing at that too lately. I'm just so frustrated with myself and I feel like I am nothing. My eagle and the goddess could have done so much better and I feel like I'm just not enough. I mean my bird doesn't even like to hang out with me anymore!"
Jakob took it all in and said nothing. Then he did something so unexpected that it shocked me. He pulled me into a warm tight hug and kissed my forehead, "You've got this Kalysta. Even if you think you don't I will have your back and help support you. We are a team."
That hug and kiss on my head was like an antidepressant. In his arms everything faded and I felt okay. Well I did until he released me. Once he let go I wished to be right back in his arms. They are warm and strong. I gotta stop crushing on him though.
Shaking my head I pulled myself back to reality. "Thank you Jake, getting that off my chest helped. Let's go start our day of training. I want to hit some basic weapons training first. I need to explain bartering a bit more too."
We started walking down the worn dirt path from my family home to the weapons vendor. Once we arrived to his tent where he sells his wares I explained to Jakob how our bartering system works. "It is so simple. If I have something you want you must give me something I want. For items or services more time consuming the cost is greater. Instead of some venison and foraged mushrooms I may have to add the deer's pelt, antlers, and some of our chicken's eggs. If that doesn't satisfy the cost of my purchase I typically offer my services. That can be anything from doing a simple favor to helping them with a task."
"She is too prude to offer any favors or services," David said as he approached us. "I've been trying to get favors from her since she was 14 and I still haven't been able to get served."
"How about I serve you and arrow to the heart? It would be a quick death unless the callous organ is too hard to penetrate." I hate speaking to David. He pisses me off to no end.
"Easy now Kalysta, any penetrating will be done by me not you." His lips smirked up into a vile smile as he said his comeback.
"Again you've threatened me with your tiny dick. Rejection isn't an easy concept for you to consider is it?"
David was about to spew out more of his bullshit when Jakob interrupted him. "I don't know you but you don't take a hint. Go the fuck away and if you come near her again I will rip out your insides."
David scoffed, "So says the pussy she is teaching how to hunt. I've heard about you and you're crush on her. I'm not afraid of a guy who can't even kill a squirrel."
Jakob looked down at David and a dangerous smile lit up his face. It was almost like he enjoyed conflict and finding new people to hate. I don't know much about his past but I do know he is pursuing some type of vengeance. That part is easy to see with how excited he was when he learned how to maul his prey in his link form. He has a thirst for blood. It's a hypothesis of mine that someone had really screwed him over in a really bad kind of way.
"You fool. You haven't heard anything about me. If you had you wouldn't have picked a fight with a fucking tiger!" As Jakob said the words white gold shimmer erupted from his body and suddenly a huge feline was in front of me roaring at David while in a defensive stance.
The smell of urine hit my nostrils and that's when I saw David cowering with pee dampening his shorts. My brain made sure to mark this day on my mental calendar as the best day ever.
As Jakob roared at David, Onyx circled him at his back. When the bully turned around to run he ran smack into Onyx who pushed him down to the ground and put his giant paw up onto David's neck. The claws were out and pressing into his skin causing droplets of blood to run down the sides of his neck.
"Easy Onyx, I doubt he will bother me again." He retracted his claws when I said that and let David up who promptly fled the scene to probably go tell Kyrhen that I attacked him with a big kitty cat. I rolled my eyes knowing that is most likely exactly what he is doing. Kyrhen will once again take his side for some unknown reason.
Fenix was not around for this. She has been avoiding me, but I heard her voice in my brain, "Are you injured? I feel your pulse quickening in my own chest."
"Fine Fenix, just watching Jakob and Onyx make David pee himself." I was so amused by the fact that my bully had wet himself. I finally felt vindicated. Someone finally saw David's horrible nature and was on my side.
I felt Fenix getting sad. She wishes she had been here too. Through our link I asked her to join us. I needed to talk to her in person.
We had walked away from the tents during the incident. It's a good thing too because soon I felt the wind from her giant wings beating down me. I looked up and marveled over how beautiful she is.
Once she landed I said, "I don't like us being apart, but that is my fault. So I want to say that I'm sorry for being so self conscious. I'm sorry for doubting you and Nature. I'm sorry for making you feel like you wasted time on me. Most importantly I'm sorry I made you feel like I regretted our link. I don't regret anything about you. I see things clearly now. I will start trusting you so much more, and I want you with me the next time we make David have an accident."
Fenix's laughter echoed in my head through our link. As I heard her voice a warm sensation spread across my body and I felt different somehow. I blinked hard not knowing what I was feeling, but I realized what it was once I opened my eyes and saw my shiny golden wings.
Fenix spoke to me again. Her joy was undeniable, "Kalysta!!! You finally shifted!!!"
"Fuck yeah I did!"