Inner animal. by Emily Zimmerman. (books to read for 12 year olds .TXT) 📖

can’t guarantee that I won’t kill him if he hurts you” he said, his eyes only showing concern for me.
I smiled and leaned up, kissing my father’s cheek “dad, don’t worry, I trust him, and I’ll probably let you kill him if he hurts me, but don’t worry, trust me on this, he won’t hurt me” I assured.
He sighed and nodded, pulling me into an affectionate bear hug “okay, I trust you sweetheart” he murmured.
I hugged him tightly back “now, you seem strong enough today that you can come to the training yard, let’s see if you have your mothers energy” he said, smiling brightly at my confused look.
“No one has been able to beat your mother’s record of under a minute, not even Bane” he said, wriggling his eyebrows.
It was as if he’d known me all my life, how did he know that I was extremely competitive? I smiled brightly “well, I do feel challenge deprived” I allowed.
He pulled me into another hug “that’s my girl!” he praised.
I laughed as he sat me down.
“Alright, now where is the training yard?” I asked.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me through the halls, into a beautiful music room he pulled me to a window that was huge, as big as the wall, and it looked out upon a clearing, with strange structures that looked like military training equipment. Two walls with rope, a big bulky wall with holes like Swiss cheese in it, a bunch of high jump stands on a track, and at the end was a mile per hour meter.
I cocked my head to the side, sizing up what seemed to be the training yard. “This is the training yard?” I asked hesitantly.
“What’s wrong, are you scared?” dad challenged teasingly.
I snorted “Me, scared? You don’t know me at all” I laughed.
He smiled and mussed my hair, “I know you better than you think” he said, almost in a reassuring way.
“What do you mean?” I asked curiously as he took my arm and steered me toward a large rectangle shaped opening, we walked through into a bright hallway, the ceiling going very high up.
“Your mother wasn’t about to lose all contact with you for eighteen years straight, she had pictures taken, every single birthday party was documented in every way possible, she sent you clothes, and had your mother explain every single trait about you, your personality, who you were most like, your adoptive mother thought the world of you” he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.
I chuckled “I remember my sixteenth birthday, she invited every single one of my friends – which wasn’t many by the way – and piled us all into a limousine, she gave us an IPod full of my favorite music and sent us off, I wondered why she didn’t come with us, the driver wouldn’t tell us where we were going” I paused to laugh “we thought they were kidnapping us, he stopped at a place called Laser ninja, this place was so cool, it was a laser tag place, my mom was standing inside with a bunch of the family, it was so fun” I finished, sighing.
Drake grinned “Jenna especially wanted that event recorded, she got every minute of it” he said softly.
I chuckled “thorough” I muttered.
We walked through two metal doors, and around the building.
Suddenly, mom and Bane appeared beside us.
“So you are going to try and break my record?” Jenna asked, elbowing me softly.
I smiled “no, I am going to break your record” I teased.
She laughed “well, you are my daughter, and you are like Drake, stubborn and very competitive, I bet you could do it” she said.

We stopped behind the sanctuary; I stared at the training yard, sizing up my “competition” so to speak.
“Okay, here, we have the rope walls, this tests your strength, after that, we have the arrow test, it shoots rubber tipped arrows at you, testing your senses, then we have high jump stands, to test your speed” Drake explained.
I nodded, taking a deep breath. ‘here we go’
Chapter eight:

I shifted, it was like second nature, I could feel my inner animal take control of my arms for a split second, and then I was in full control. I stretched my paws out in front of me, arching my back.
“Ready?” mom asked.
I looked back and nodded once.
“Okay, one…two…three… go!” she shouted.
I took off, running as fast as I could, it was no problem at all to dig my claws into the rope and climb, and I was over the two walls in less than a second. I took off toward the wall of arrows. I could hear them being shot, I had to jump over one that almost hit my stomach, and then, once I had landed, I had to duck as one barely grazed my ear.
Once through that challenge, I had to jump the stands, which was a synch; all I had to do was jump, and run, jump and run.
I ran as fast as I could down the track so it could test my speed, barely even out of breath. When I glanced at the speedometer, it read one hundred and six.
I skidded to a stop and looked over at mom, dad and Bane, they were staring at me with their mouths wide open.
I trotted over to them, growing confused as they kept staring at me “what-“ I cut myself off, shocked at myself, I was able to speak without shifting, how did that happen?
“You did that in fifteen seconds” dad muttered.
My eyes widened “are you sure?” I asked, shifting back to human form.
Mom nodded “I was timing it, look” she handed me the stop watch, stopped at precisely fifteen seconds.
I stared at the watch for a second “wow” was all I could say.
Dad started laughing “that’s my girl!” he exclaimed.
I smiled “well, you beat me ten times over!” mom said.
I glanced at Bane, who was smiling, clearly impressed. “Let’s go get something to eat, I’m hungry” dad muttered.
I chuckled as mom wrapped her arm around my shoulder and squeezed it softly. Bane caught my other hand and held it tightly in his own.
Mom let me go and walked over to dad, letting him wrap his arm around her shoulder as she leaned into him. They were two feet ahead of us, so they couldn’t see when Bane wrapped his arm around my shoulder and turned my face so he could kiss me.
The kiss was soft and sweet, but it only lasted a few seconds, making me want more.
I smiled at him and leaned into his side, leaning my head on his shoulder. I sighed in content as we walked, staring ahead at nothing in particular. He kissed the top of my head lightly, sighing also.
“I never thought I would feel this way about anyone” Bane admitted quietly.
I smiled “I didn’t either, to be honest with you” I whispered. He chuckled softly, tightening his hold on me.
“Bane, Hank has informed me this morning that he would like to speak with you, and Nina, your grandparents would like to have lunch with us, along with Lamina” mom informed us, not looking back as she stared into dads eyes.
They both still seemed like teenagers, despite being probably thirty now, the way they acted around each other – like now, dad said something to mom, and she blushed, looking down at her hands, it seemed like such a teenager thing to do, but hey, I don’t know how my adoptive mom would have acted with my dad, if she loved him as much as mom seemed to, but since he left when I was born – or so I thought – I guess I wouldn’t know. As I stared ahead, lost in thought, I hadn’t realized that Lamina had come up beside me and Bane until she started to pull me away from him “wait, what?” I asked, confused as to why this was happening.
“Come on, Nina! We have to go to lunch, weren’t you listening?” she asked incredulously.
I smiled sheepishly “I was lost in thought, sorry” I murmured.
“Oh, well follow me when you are done here” she said, watching as Bane pulled me out of her grasp.
I looked at her and smiled slightly in embarrassment “okay” I nodded.
I looked back at Bane when she walked ahead; he pulled my face to his and kissed me softly, his lips moving slowly with mine. I grabbed a fist full of his shirt and pulled him closer, wrapping my free arm around his neck.
When we both reluctantly pulled away, staring into his eyes “I have to go somewhere with my dad, I don’t want to go, but he is making me, I won’t be back for a week” he murmured sadly, staring into my eyes.
My eyebrows lowered “why?” I asked.
“My dad doesn’t trust me alone with you, and I’m not sure I trust myself either” he murmured, lowering his head to nuzzle my neck.
I sighed when he pulled away, pouting “I don’t want you to leave” I whined.
He stroked his finger down my temple, staring into my eyes “I know, love, I don’t want to leave you either, but my dad is making me, we’ll be together again soon, I promise!” He murmured.
I sighed “when are you leaving?” I asked.
“right now actually, before I watched you in the training yard, my dad talked to me, and told me of “our” plans, he said that he had packed my things, and they were already in the plane, I have to go” he said softly.
I pulled him closer burying my head in his chest “I’ll miss you” I mumbled.
He wrapped his arms tightly around me, burying his face in my hair “I know I’ll miss you too, love” he murmured.
I breathed in his smell of lilac and pine, a very nice smell, actually. I savored it, knowing that this would be the last time I would smell it for a week.
I looked up at him, staring into his eyes “I have to go, Nina” he murmured reluctantly.
I sighed and reluctantly let him go, he hesitated, and then leaned down, kissing me once more on the lips “I love you” he murmured against my lips.
I stared sadly into his eyes when he pulled away “I love you too” I whispered.
He stared into my eyes for a moment more, and then, with a touch to the cheek, walked passed me. I ran my hand along his arm as he passed “miss you already” I whispered.
He looked back with a saddened look “I love you!” he called again.
“I know! I love you too!” I called back.
And with that, he was gone, and I turned to walk down the