My Mate Can't be a Bird! (I swear I'm not into that kind of stuff)

11: A disastrous student

Warning for some swearing and slight suicidal thoughts.

The lands near Mistward. 

Calaena.

"Shift." Rowan had taken her to the ruins of a temple on a hill, and commenced the first day of training with a simple order: shift.

"I can't."

The problem was that Calaena had completely forgotten. She'd been telling Rowan as much, but he clearly did not believe her.

"Shift," Rowan repeated with more force. His eyes promised pain and suffering if she failed.

Calaena sighed with exasperation, and just barely managed to keep from rolling her eyes. "As I've said numerous times, I do not have the ability to do so."

"Yes you can," he growled like a mountain lion, "now shift!"

"Oh allow me to correct myself, O Great Master, although I might have been able to do so once upon a time, right now, I have no rutting idea how to shift!"

Rowan snarled, his tattoos contorting along his face, making him look even more frightening. If Calaena had not seen all that she had in her short life, she'd be pissing in her pants right now. But she had seen a lot of shit in her life, so she merely smirked.

"Let's cut the horseshit, girl. I have no time for it. Now wipe that smarmy, lying smile off your face."

Calaena widened the smarmy, lying smile on her face. "I don't know what you're talking about."

He stepped towards her, canines peeking through the snarl on his face. "I'm probably the only one who doesn't give a damn about whatever the hell you're going through–"

–somehow, despite her best efforts, Calaena's heart stopped for a while at hearing that–

"–so stop that attitude and focus."

Calaena dropped her façade and snarled back. 

Rowan merely nodded, unperturbed at her display of aggression. "Good. Shift."

"I can't control it. Never could." It was the truth. Even as a child, her shifting was spontaneous and unpredictable, just like her fire. It was also one of the first things Arobynn beat out of her.

"Did I ask for any rutting excuses?" 

"I hope you wrote your last will and testament, because we'll be here forever if we wait for this miraculous shifting of mine." 

"You're really going to make me enjoy training you." Calaena felt like that was code for "literally eating you alive". Then her mind went to other, dirtier paths that also had to do with "eating" women, mainly–Oops! She stopped that train of thought, just in case Rowan could somehow sense what she was thinking. Stupid Rowan and his stupidly handsome face and the stupid mating bond that made him look as beautiful as a god the first time she'd seen him!

Calaena pretended to hold back a scoff and replied, "I've been through too much Master-Disciple shit, so why don't we cut that out too?"

Something changed in his smile; it was smaller, yet exuded more danger. Calaena felt a chill go through her, and she felt like she'd suddenly crossed a line that she hadn't known existed.

"I'll say it one more time," Rowan said quietly. "Shift."

A monster lurked beneath her skin, and she didn't want to let it out. "No." 

The he attacked her. A punch here, a kick there, all of which she dodged, although it was done rather easily; at the last moment, Rowan's limbs would swerve off into odd directions, as if sensing his intent to harm his mate. Finally, as Calaena stumbled back from another failed punch, Rowan tripped her and she fell, twisting to brace herself, and failed as a rock thudded against the side of her brow. By the time Calaena stopped seeing stars, she was pinned to the ground by Rowan's massive thighs.

Calaena tried to twist and turn but she couldn't fight him off.

A strange wonder and dread creeped upon her. Rowan had hacked the mating bond. She tried to push that away and focus on the present.

He is nothing to you, she told herself.

"Want to know something? I'm rich as hell. So let's pretend all's well and when we go to Doranelle and do what we need to do, I'll leave continent and never come back–and you can have all the gold you want."

Rowan pinned her arms to the ground and leaned down so his canines brushed the space between her ear and neck. "Want to know something, princess?" His breath fanned her skin and Calaena really wished she was not such a pervert. Unfortunately some god must be intervening with her common sense today, because all her perverseness seemed hell-bent on focusing on Rowan.

"I hate people like you," Rowan continued, oblivious to her quiet suffering, "you're nothing but a greedy, spoiled little brat who expects everything to be handed to you on a silver platter. You just hate it when people don't give you want they want don't you? Just a greedy coward."

Calaena growled, struggling against him again. Rowan laughed, sensing her anger. "Coward. You're a coward who hid and lived in luxury and watched as your people were slaughtered for ten years..."

She stopped hearing. Stopped thinking. Stopped seeing. She was drowning in an ocean, all alone. The clouds were nice. Pretty and bright against a blue sky.

"...up. Get up!"

Her lover had said that, once. Chaol. He'd loved her. Or she thought he did. And when she confessed one of her deepest secrets, he broke her. 

Suddenly the world shifted, and large, rough hands hauled her to her feet. Everything spun–the trees; the sky; Rowan's snaring face. Perhaps he knew of a way to murder her. Perhaps he was preparing to do just that. That would be nice. 

"Pathetic," Rowan spat and she glanced at him. "Do you even bother trying?"

Nehemia. The Wrydkeys. The King of Adarlan. She had to, just for those things. But she could not. 

Rowan sighed and spun on his heel. "Follow me." 

A/N: As you may have noticed, some of the dialogue is from HoF. I tried to avoid it but it's also necessary for the plot arghhhh.  In other news...KINGDOM OF ASH asdfghjkl I'm dying guys I can't wait that long! ;_;  Someone leaked the title, so SJM's's publisher had to write up a synopsis and release it early! Now even if she changes the title or plot, it's going to be a pain in the a** for her, and Sarah doesn't need any more sh*t than she already has on her plate, what with a baby on the way and all. Anyways tell me what you feel about insiders who leak stuff.

And please vote if you liked this chapter and comment your thoughts below!